That’s Just the Way I Roll…..

As promised, here is another attempt at one of the wonderful recipes from Baking Bites. I multiplied the recipe by 1 1/2 because that is the amount of yogurt I bought (two individual serving cups). It made so much dough; I was afraid it would take over the kitchen! But they are so spectacularly soft and yummy.

I had one straight out of the oven with some butter, there’s nothing like fresh rolls, still warm so that they melt the butter, yum! I’ve also made some egg salad sandwiches and some buffalo chicken subs on the longer rolls. I’m so glad that I’m on a bread kick lately!

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

These delicious brownies were made from this recipe over at Baking Bites. (Has anyone noticed that in general, I’m in love with her recipes? In fact, look for another one coming up soon here!) I replaced the nuts with 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips - I reserved a handful that I didn’t mix into the batter and sprinkled them on top right before they went in the oven to give them a pretty look.

I also reduced the baking time by 5 minutes and didn’t use the water bath at the end to cool the brownies. I like my brownies a little undercooked so they are fudgier, and I can’t not eat a warm brownie straight from the oven. The really excellent thing about these brownies are the edges are really chewy, not crispy or hard. Also, they are chocolate and peanut butter so they have to be great!

Conclusion of the Quilt Chronicles

After a very busy day of quilting and embroidering, the quilt is finished! I used the same dark blue of the backing and the middle stripe to add a wide binding, which I top stitched closed using the same light blue quilting thread as the rest of the quilt. Here’s a wide shot of the whole quilt, finished and ready to go.

I then embroidered the Japanese characters for marriage and love into the upper left and lower right corners. Here is marriage:

And love:

And finally here is a picture of it all folded up and ready to go.

I am happy to report that it was very well received, and I think that the extra touch of the embroidery really helped make it special. Surprisingly, just as with the last quilt I did and gave away, I’m a little sad that it’s finished. I really enjoy making these, and to give them away is always a little bittersweet!

Coconut Shrimp Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

Last night’s Lost dinner was most excellent. It was pretty warm yesterday, so my original dinner plan of sloppy joes and mashed potatoes didn’t sound very appetizing. This was an amazing alternative. I breaded some raw shrimp in coconut (flour first, then egg, then coconut) and pan fried them. It is really easy to burn the coconut, so the oil shouldn’t be too hot!

The salad is just a baby arugula mix. The peppery flavor of the arugula was a little strong for the lightness of the dressing, so next time I might go with baby spinach instead. The dressing was fresh lime juice, honey and olive oil. It was like a lime kick in the pants, which is awesome if you like lime as much as I do. This recipe is definitely going in the must have again, over and over category!

Cucumber Sproutlets

The cucumbers have sprouted! Aren’t they adorable? They grow really fast - some days about 3cm in 12 hours! Once they get their first “real” leaves, I’ll put them in the big pots outside.

I also planted the other seeds outside - some lettuce, basil, lemon basil and green onions. Hopefully they will sprout soon!

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

Banana cake with peanut butter chips and peanut butter glaze. I love the combination of peanut butter and bananas, and this cake was no exception - it turned out great! I replaced the butter in a standard glaze with peanut butter and it worked wonderfully. I used about half a bag of peanut butter chips for this recipe, although next time I might think about using the whole bag since they are a little sparse in the cake.

Knit-Obsession

I have a definite problem with these dishcloths knitted from cotton yarn. The problem is that I can’t stop making them. I buy the cotton yarn whenever it is on sale (which is too often!) and I will make them until I’m out. I don’t even need to look at my hands anymore when I am knitting them - it is mostly garter stitch, with a few yarn overs thrown in for good measure. I am especially fond of these, with the brown and green they remind me of Andes candies!

Anyone need some dischloths?

Playing With Dirt

It doesn’t look like much right now, does it? Soon it will be twelve tiny cucumber sproutlets. In about two months they should be yielding delicious ripe cucumbers, which are my favorite thing about summer! Watching cucumber plants grow is absolutely amazing, they climb so fast and attach themselves to things so strongly - sometimes I get a little worried that they might try to take over the planet!

Also in the planting queue for the balcony: basil, lemon basil, leaf lettuce and green onions. Yum!

The Quilt Chronicles, Continued…

I finally basted the quilt sandwich together, and I’ve started quilting! Hooray! I decided to quilt in the center of each strip, in a straight line to the center diagonal, where I’ve quilted three parallel lines. Each line coming in from the side will meet the outside line on the diagonal…. like this:

I got a little frustrated with it, so I’m taking a tiny break - I really need a long armed quilting machine. All of this bulk gets a little bunched up in my tiny sewing machine. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up sewing a random corner to the back of the quilt!

Pattern Sale

Butterick patterns were on sale this weekend for $1.50 each. The top two were impulse buys. I might make another pair of jeans from the first pattern, the version on the far left. And, it might become the summer of the skirt based on the second pattern - they are so pretty.

However, I was really coveting this last one, particularly dress B. They had this dress made up in the store with a beautiful blue eyelet material. So, naturally, I wanted that exact dress! I found the blue eyelet material, but decided to pair it with a cream lining to give it a little depth, instead of trying to match the color exactly. A cream ribbon will pull the whole thing togther, and it will be beautiful to wear to a summer wedding! Here’s the fabric with the cream lining underneath: