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New Quilts

Posted by Wendy on March 7, 2014 2 Comments

I haven’t done a crafting post in a while, so the time seems ripe. Actually, it’s because I hadn’t done much crafting, but now I have. A little bit, anyway. And since I’ve been really bad at taking pictures this week, I don’t have a Picture of the Week, either… So today’s all about quilts!

The older boys were both drastically outgrowing their quilts. Because they don’t have standard size beds, I make their quilts more to fit them than to fit the beds. (They have Ikea beds that are essentially extra-long toddler beds. They’ve had them for two years, and we love them!)

When I went to JoAnn’s a couple of weeks ago, I had a bit of money but no idea what to make or who to make it for. I found these flannel rolls for really cheap

so I got three of them. When I got home, Munchkin loved the fabric prints, and since I’d been noticing that his quilts were much smaller than Seahawk’s (he is three years younger, after all), he got a quilt first. I didn’t give him any choices in the fabric (since I bought it with no one in mind) or the design (as soon as I decided to make a quilt from these prints, I had the design in my head). But he loves it all the same.

After Munchkin’s quilt was done, I started noticing that Seahawk was way too big for his blankets too! I thought his blanket that I’d made him a couple of years ago (actually, it’s been about 4 now that I think about it… where does the time go?!) was still okay, but seeing him trying to huddle underneath it while Munchkin was stretched out nice and warm under his flannel quilt made me see the old quilt for what it was… So the kids and I all went to the fabric store and Seahawk got to choose his own fabrics. And his own design. It might be a little unfair to Munchkin that Seahawk got to have his way with his new quilt, but Munchkin got his first, so it all evens out.

The day we went to get Seahawk’s fabric, the flannel was on sale for 60% off, so that was a huge win. It took him a long time to find exactly what he wanted, but as soon as he spotted these dinosaurs, he knew that they were it. I talked him into getting a plain color for the contrast so as not to take away from the dinosaurs, and he agreed. The brown was just perfect. (Have I ever mentioned that brown is one of my favorite colors? It is.) He had a blue picked out for the back that would have been awesome; it matched the blue dinosaurs perfectly, but there didn’t end up being enough of it, so we picked a grassy green instead. It worked out great.

I got the quilt all done and quilted, ready for binding, and then horror of horrors, realized that it was too narrow. I should’ve figured it out before I quilted it – adding borders to make it bigger then would’ve been a snap – but I didn’t. So I had to do some intense research to figure out how to add quilted borders to a quilted-but-not-bound quilt. I found a YouTube video tutorial for a Quilt-As-You-Go quilt that turned out to be just perfect. Using her technique, I was able to make the quilt several inches wider before I put the binding on, and now the quilt is actually a good size for my son.

Both boys are in love with their new quilts. And because both are made of flannel, they’re crazy warm – which is good since my children are anti-pajamas.

I’ll have another quilt to show you guys in a couple of weeks. I’m having some trouble getting it just perfect, but once I do, it’s going to be gorgeous. I can’t wait to have it done and ready to show off!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Posted by Wendy on September 25, 2013 Leave a Comment

Fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls are something special. Very little is as satisfying in the morning – especially when you’ve made them yourself rather than reverting to the cans. (Incidentally, I hate those things! The cans, not the prefab cinnamon rolls.)

Start with your favorite biscuit dough. I use a basic baking powder biscuit recipe that I’ll share at the end of the post.

Roll the dough out as though you were making biscuits, only thinner.

Spread softened butter over the dough. You could also use margarine. I don’t happen to buy margarine; I figure something natural (churned cream) has to be better than a bunch of chemicals formulated to taste like the natural item. Anyway.

Next, mix about 1/3 cup sugar (granulated or raw/turbinado) with about 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Or you could use the pre-mixed stuff from the spice aisle.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the buttered dough.

Roll the dough up, starting from the long side.

Cut the dough into discs.

Place in a pan, cut sides up (and down…).

Bake at 425° for 12-15 minutes.

You can make a glaze to go on top if you want, but I never do. These are good enough that they don’t need one!

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in shortening until dough resembles peas in size and shape. Mix in milk until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

You can use this dough for a variety of things: drop biscuits, cut biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and pot pie topping just to name a few.

Enjoy!

–Wendy

New York Style Bagels at Home

Posted by Wendy on April 29, 2013 7 Comments

We love bagels at my house. On Sunday mornings before church, I make breakfast sandwiches – egg, cheese, and bacon on a bagel. Yum! We used to buy them from a local coffee shop, but they got a new owner who raised the prices (drastically) and lowered the quality. So I figured out how to make them at home instead. Until this week, I’ve been buying the bagels, but a couple weeks ago there was an article about bagels in the local newspaper, which was accompanied by a recipe. I’d been meaning to try it, but never remembered until it was too late on Saturday night. Well, this week, I remembered on Saturday morning!

So here we go: New York style bagels in 6 basic steps…

Make the dough and knead it for ten minutes. (Recipe to follow)

Let it rise for an hour until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into balls.

Using your finger, create a hole in each dough ball. Let the bagels rest for 10 minutes.

Boil the bagels. This is the step that turns “bagel shaped bread” into bagels.

Bake.

I hope you enjoy making – and eating – your own bagels as much as I did!

EASY NEW YORK STYLE BAGELS
Yield: 8 bagels
Recipe from The Oregonian, Tuesday April 2nd

1 1/4 cup water (more as needed)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar (I use raw, not granulated, and they turned out fine)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading (I used 2 1/2 cups King Arthur bread flour and 1 cup generic whole wheat flour)
2 1/4 teaspoon salt
Egg wash (optional)
Various toppings (optional)

In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water. Pour in sugar and yeast but do not stir. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve.

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast/sugar mixture.

Add enough of the remaining water (it took about another full cup for me) and mix well to form a moist, firm dough.

On a well floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes, being generous about working in additional flour. Your finished dough should be firm and stiff.

Lightly brush a large bowl with oil. Add the dough and turn it so it’s coated with oil. Cover and let rise for an hour, until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.

Using a bench scraper or knife, divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball by rolling gently on the countertop.

Coat a finger in flour and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about a third of the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Cover bagels and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

*note: use a bigger baking sheet than you think you’ll need in this step to avoid dirtying 2 pans. The bagels grow considerably during the boiling process. Mine was 11×17 which was about perfect.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and heat your oven to 425*. When water is boiling, reduce heat to a simmer. Working in batches of 2 to 3 bagels, gently slide into the water. They should float almost immediately. When they do, set the timer for 2 minutes. Turn and boil for 2 additional minutes. Move to a wire rack to drain.

Return to the oiled baking sheet. If you want to add toppings, brush the bagels with an egg wash and add toppings as desired. If not, omit the egg wash. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Posted by Wendy on March 27, 2013 5 Comments

I know I’m not the first, and I probably won’t be the last, to blog about the joys of making your own corn tortillas, but I gotta tell you, if you’ve never tried it, you MUST!

Tortillas are one of those things that I always thought just kind of “existed.” I never even considered the idea that I could make my own. I started with flour tortillas a few weeks ago, and while they’re better than store-bought, they’re not “I’ll never buy them again” good. The corn tortillas, though, are to die for! It takes about an hour start to finish (plus the time to make your filling), but it’s completely worth it! Here’s how you do it:

First, buy some Maseca from the Hispanic foods aisle of your grocery store. It’s priced comparably to flour, so not too much :). In case you don’t know, Maseca is corn flour – NOT to be confused with corn starch. Maseca won’t thicken your gravy, and corn starch won’t make good tortillas.

Here’s what it looks like out of the bag:

Now, I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but it’s just adding water according to the specifications on the bag to make a dough.

Then you form your dough into balls. I actually made 12, not 5, but again, forgot to take a picture in the beginning.

The next several pictures are essentially one step: flatten the balls into tortillas. If you have a tortilla press, I’ve heard (read) that this is a lot easier. If you, like me, don’t, it’s still not worth not trying over. The most important thing to remember is that you have to use plastic wrap on either side of your tortilla. Using additional Maseca, like flour on a pie dough, doesn’t work. Trust me on that! I tried it that way the first time I made these and almost gave up. Plastic wrap, or a cut open plastic bag, is the way to go.

First, place your tortilla ball between two pieces of plastic:

Then flatten it with a cast iron skillet (I found that it’s best to squish it down, then turn the whole thing, plastic wrap and all, over and do it again before moving on):

Finally, without removing the plastic wrap, roll it out with a rolling pin (again, flipping it over inside the wrap a time or two):

Carefully peel the plastic wrap away and place your tortillas on a baking sheet (with layers separated by plastic – are you sensing a theme here?) to await their turn on the griddle:

I then put my plastic wrap into my jar of Maseca so I can use it next time. I hate throwing away plastic, so I’m going to use that baby as many times as I can!

Now you’re ready to cook them! They take 45-60 seconds per side.

You’ll more than likely end up with small pieces that break off; cook them anyway and enjoy them as a cooking snack!

That’s it! Once they’re all done, use them the same way you would their store-bought counterparts.

Have you ever made your own tortillas? How did it go? If you haven’t, are you interested in trying? Let me know in the comments!

homemade

New Quilts

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Homemade Corn Tortillas

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