A Fat Quarter Skirt...how to make one!

I dreamed this up today.  I am sure I am not the first, there is nothing new under the sun after all, but it was new to me.  A skirt from fat quarters was my idea.  I dug around in my sewing stuff to see what I had that would coordinate.  If I would have gone to the fabric store I would have picked out something much more lively, but this worked in a pinch so I could get my idea rolling.

Here are my two fat quarters.

I cut each quater in half and then cut each half in half, which gave me eight strips of fabric that were 18 inches by 4-1/2 inches.  (I would say this skirt is a 2T and you would probably want to add another fat quarter for each size you go up, 3 for a 3T, 4 for a 4T.) With right sides together, pin and sew down the long side with a 5/8 inch seam.

Continue adding strips until you have used them all.

Once you have sewn all the strips together, pin the ends, with right sides together and sew at 5/8 inch.

Press all your seems flat, or if you are really cool you will have used a serger to sew all these strips together!

Make a casing for your elastic.  Fold over 1/2 inch and press, then fold over 1 inch and press and pin.  Sew along edge, leaving an opening big enough for your elastic to fit through.  (Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of the opening.) I was using 1/2 inch elastic.  I use my elastic as a guide for how big to make my casing.  Thread elastic through the casing and check for fit.  Sew ends together using a zig-zag stitch, going over it several times for strength.

In the same way you made the casing, make the hem.  I like a wide hem.  It is less likely to curl up in the washer.  Fold and press fabic 1/2 inch and then fold over again and press at 1 inch.  Stitch close to the top of the fold.  Your done! 

I have never written directions on sewing anything.  I hope these are clear enough.  This is really simple, but you can always leave me a comment with a question and I will comment back with an answer.

Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is yummy and easy.  You don't have to have a fancy garlic roaster either.  You can just use foil.  Once roasted you can spread on crusty bread, throw in mashed potatoes or just eat along side a slab of steak!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  After removing most of the paper from the outside of the heads of garlic, chop the top off being sure to expose the tops of all cloves.  You may have to do some tricky cutting if you have some cloves down low on the sides.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  If you are using foil, place cloves on foil in a pie tin, prepare as directed and then seal the foil.

Roast garlic in a 400 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes until they look nice and caramlized on the top.  To remove from skins I use the tines of a fork. 

Strawberry Banana Smoothies

I have often wondered why people would be interested in such simple recipes.  I have now decided that sometimes we just get in a rut and need some inspriation, no matter how simple.  Once while reading the kids a book, we read of a family that rolled out store bought biscuits and then made mini-pizzas.  Totally simple...but I would never have thought to make a biscuit pizza.  I don't know if it is a home school phenomena or what...but my kids expect more than a sandwich, more than just an apple.  Maybe they are just spoiled.  Today we made smoothies for a mid-morning snack.  The boy is hungry all the time.  He would probably starve to death if I sent him to school  :O)

Throw 1 cup crushed ice and 8 ounces frozen strawberries into your blender.

Add 1 cup strawberry yogurt.

One "rotten" banana.

Pour in 1/2 a cup of milk and begin to mix, adding more milk to make the desired consistency.

Strawberry Banana Smoothies

• 1 cup crushed ice
• 8 ozs. frozen strawberries
• 1 cup strawberry yogurt
• 1 "rotten" banana (really ripe and sweet)
• 1/2 cup milk plus more to make smoothie desired consistency

Throw all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Serve to happy children.

Enter to Win a Berkey Light Water Filter

Stephanie at Keeper of the Home is giving away a Berkey Light Water Filter.  You have until February 25th to enter.  Apparently California is totally against its people drinking clean water, so if you live in California and you win you will need an out of state address to have the water filter shipped to. 

Mini Pecan Pies ala Mode

I have posted about these before.  They are billed as Pecan Pie Muffins, but to me they are much more of a dessert.  In fact, on my Pecan Pie Muffin post I metioned at the bottom that these would be amazing as dessert.  I was right.  These are better as dessert than breakfast.  We mixed these up after dinner clean up and ate them hot with vanilla ice cream.  Every bowl was licked clean!

Pecan Pie Muffins

• 1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Chopped Pecans
• ⅔ cups Softened Butter
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat oven 350 F. Grease your muffin pan well. In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and pecans. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and eggs together until smooth. Stir into the dry ingredients just until combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Cups should be about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. This made 10 muffins for me, but this will vary depending on the size of your muffin pan and how much batter you put in each cup.  These are sticky little guys.  You will need to go around the edges with a knife and then let cool a couple of minutes before removing.  For best results, flip the pan upside down to remove to avoid tearing the muffin into pieces.  Top with vanilla ice cream.

Nana's Apple Crumb Pie

My favorite pie is apple, but only if it is my Nana's apple pie recipe.  Cooked at a high temperature, for almost an hour leaves you with very soft, almost mushy apples.  I do not like crunchy apples in my pie.  If I want a crunchy apple, I will grab one out of the fridge and eat it.

APPLE CRUMB PIE
1 pie crust
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, chilled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare pie crust in your favorite manner. 

Peel and thinly slice apples.  Toss apples with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more). 

Evenly layer the apples into the crust.  Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 cup flour.  Cut butter into eight slices and put in with flour.  Cut in butter with pastry cutter until you have pea size and smaller crumbs.  Sprinkle evenly over apples, being sure to cover the entire surface. 

Place pie on a cookie sheet to catch anything that might bubble over.  Bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes check pie to be sure it is not getting to brown.  If it is getting to brown, lightly tent with foil.  Spin pie around 180 degrees and cook for another 20 minutes, making sure it doesn't brown to much if not covered with foil. 

Cool on rack for a couple of hours before serving.

Check out more fun stuff at Works For Me Wednesday.

Chicken Pot Pie

This is the best Chicken Pot Pie ever!  The crust is what really makes this pie.  It isn't really a crust, but crumbles of flour, butter, heavy cream, fresh Parmesan cheese, baking powder and salt.  How can that be wrong?  I think we could have just eaten the pan of crumbles and been happy.

THE WORLD'S BEST CHICKEN POT PIE
This is America's Test Kitchen's Pot Pie, modified to omit MUSHROOMS!

• 1-1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (you can use a mix of thighs and breasts if you like that sort of thing)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 4 ribs celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3/4 frozen peas
• 3 potatoes, cooked and diced
• 4 T. butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups broth (that the chicken was poached in)
• 1 cup milk
• 2 t. lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 6 T. chilled butter
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 3/4 cup plus 2 T. heavy cream

Place chicken breasts and broth in a large pot.  Bring to a simmer and cover for about 15 minutes, until chicken breasts are cooked through.  Remove chicken from broth.  Strain broth through a fine strainer.  Set broth aside.  Shred chicken.  While chicken is cooking, peel and dice 3 potatoes.  Steam in microwave for 5 minutes, or until soft.  (I just put diced potatoes in microwave safe bowl with a 2 tablespoons water and cover plastic wrap.)  In same pot that you cooked the chicken, add oil, carrots, onions and celery.  Saute for about a minute on medium heat and then cover the pot to steam the veggies for 7 to 10 minutes, until wilted and soft, occasionally stirring to be sure they are just wilting, not burning.  Add veggies to a bowl with shredded chicken.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Time to make crumbles.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until the texture is that of coarse cornmeal.  Mix in cream and Parmesan.  Stir until all floury bits are wet. 

Pour dough out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and crumble/tear the dough into small pieces, about 1/2 inches in size.  There will be some very fine bits and some larger pieces.  Bake in oven for 10 to 13 minutes, until very lightly browned. 

While this is baking you will make your sauce.  In the same pot that you cooked the chicken and veggies, melt butter.  Once butter is melted whisk in flour, whisking for about 1 minute.  Slowly add the chicken broth, whisking vigorously to avoid lumps.  Add milk.  Bring to a simmer, until you see bubbles form around the edges of the pot and reduce heat, stirring until thickened, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and add chicken, veggies, potatoes and frozen peas.  Stir to combine. 

Pour into a 13x9 inch casserole dish.  By this time you should have removed your crumbles from the oven.  Carefully re-crumble the crumbles (careful they will be hot!) and cover the top of the filling.  This will seem like a lot of topping (until you eat it...you will wish there was more.)  Place pie into the 450 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until filling is bubbling (which was already hot to begin with) and crumbles are golden brown.

Find more yummy recipes at Tasty Tuesday.