Journal Entry #3

Life is so good! The weather is warming up and the sun is shining. I went to a quilt show and that just brings joy to my soul.

Jake introduced me to someone recently and said “She’s retired. She likes to cut fabric into little pieces and sew them back together.” lol I guess he nailed it.

Even if that is not your thing, I’m sure you can appreciate the unbelievable work of others. Just look at this picture. I can’t imagine the mastery required to cut and sew bits of fabric to produce this photo-realistic piece of art. Just incredible. It is the Painted Ponies on the Prairie by Melissa Sobotka and was Best in Show at the Dallas Quilt Show.

New Puppies in the Family

Addi and Bennett have a new puppy – Archie! Goldens are one of my favorite dog breeds and I cannot wait to meet him!

And JD and Wes have a new little furball – Tate. What gorgeous eyes!

The grands have been busy

Baseball is back baby!

And we have two ball players in the fam!

 

Wes is blowing the competition out of the water in hurdles and high jump!

Addi’s school is shining in color guard competition. Hoping to see her perform this weekend!

 

JD, along with four other Pewitt teams, competed at the big Houston Ag Mechanics Show and all came home with blue ribbons!

New Bags

No new quilts to show this month. I am clocking a lot of hours on my newest endeavor and hope to show it to you next month. No Casey honey, it’s not yours.

I needed new bags for a recent trip and made these lovelies in an afternoon. It is so rewarding to be able to start and finish a project quickly. I have been making these for ten years and they really are practical and a lot cuter than a Walmart bag lol. I bought the expansion pack pattern but here is the link for the free pattern if you want to try it out https://www.incolororder.com/2011/10/lined-drawstring-bag-tutorial.html

New (to me) Recipes

It’s not as much fun cooking for one so I often scour the refrigerator or pantry for something quick to eat BUT what is fun is occasionally trying new recipes and sharing with friends or family. They love me and wouldn’t dare turn me away lol.

Baked Southwest Egg Rolls

I had never cooked with egg roll wrappers and these were good https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134404370121010533/ I dipped them in (semi) homemade ranch dressing. To make the dressing, use one cup of buttermilk, one cup of mayonnaise with lime and one package of Restaurant-Style Ranch Dressing mix. So good.

What if I made them with hamburger meat? Maybe add some cabbage and soy sauce. What if I fried them?

Apricot Fried Pies

  

Growing up it wasn’t uncommon to watch a movie on TV (thanks to channels 3, 6 and 12) and to notice Mom had disappeared into the kitchen. She would be back in a few minutes with delicious fried pies. The standard was chocolate (made with cocoa, sugar and butter) but she also made peach, apple or whatever fresh fruit was available. They were amazing!

I decided to try my hand at making some. My best friend Pinterest recommended a recipe that promised a flaky crust. I agree, when fresh, the crust was flaky and delicious. I used apricots because honestly, that is the only dried fruit I found at Aldi’s but it was a good choice. I cut them into smaller pieces and cooked them slowly on the stove for 45-50 minutes with a little water. Not as good as my memories of Mom’s but not bad. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134404370121023348/

Cinnamon Rolls

While this isn’t the first time I’ve made cinnamon rolls, it is the first time in a hundred years. I enjoyed the process and loved sharing them but honestly, I had no choice. The recipe said it would make two pans but I managed to get four + pans of cinnamon rolls! Whoa!

I followed the recipe except for adding four ounces of cream cheese to the icing. No need for me to look for another recipe, I loved these.  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134404370120075462/

Chocolate Ice Cream

My husband used to call when it was storming to see if I was shopping or cooking lol. I don’t know what it is that makes me do one or the other, but he was right. During a recent storm, I felt I was called to whip up a batch of ice cream. I used two cups of carnation milk, one can of sweetened condensed milk and a half cup of unsweetened cocoa. I would have used heavy cream but (of course) didn’t have any and I don’t think you can tell a difference. I used one-fourth cup of dark cocoa and one-fourth cup of regular cocoa and it hit the spot. The process took 25 minutes in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, then I placed it in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easy to scoop. Note: store your ice cream maker pan in the freezer and refrigerate all ingredients before making.

Some of my favorite things

Not new but something I use a lot – Mini Cuisinart Food Processor

On this blog, I may sometimes use affiliate links, which means a small commission is earned if you make a purchase via the link. The price will be the same whether you use the affiliate link or go directly to the vendor’s website using a non-affiliate link. I have temporary permission from Amazon to use affiliate links. If three people purchase an item I share within 180 days, they will review it to see if I am awarded that status. No pressure. Thought I would give it a try.

For Christmas, I bought a cheese shredder as a gift and received one as a gift. How awesome is that? It has three different blades and suctions to your countertop. Packaged shredded cheese always has a waxy texture to me that is hard to melt and tastes fake. I now buy block cheese and shred and store it in ziplock bags. It’s wonderful and takes your cooking up a notch 🙂

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I originally had included common ways to use ChatGPT in your life as the next topic but it was getting way too long and I would lose any audience I had But I couldn’t shorten it or rather I didn’t want to shorten it because there are so many things it can do. Is the technology a little scary? Yes. Is this technology also blowing your mind with endless possibilities? Ummm Yes.

Let me know if you would be interested in a separate blog post on how I use it. I may decide to post it anyway just to have a historical record 🙂

Now sharing a couple of pics of spring break kids living their best life!

    

Hope you find your joy this week!