Pin Cushion Teacups

I am finishing a few items for my last craft shows of the fall season.  One of my latest projects is pin cushion teacups. 

My mom has a huge collection of teacups she no longer wants.  She was going to just sell them, but I persuaded her to let me have them and put a crafty spin on it.  After browsing Pinterest, I found this really cute idea to make them into pin cushions.

Using fabric remnants, batting, and a little tacky glue, VIOLA!  These are perfect for anyone who sews, or just a cute little decoration tucked into a nook.

Supplies

Tacky glue
needle and thread
craft batting
scrap fabric

• Simply cute a circle of fabric twice the circumference of the teacup. 
• Run a basting stitch along the outside of the circle and gather slowly.
• Fill the gathered material with batting until smooth and firm.
• Stitch the fabric circle closed and apply a little glue to the inside of the teacup.
• Nestle the fabric puff into the teacup.

 

 

I did not glue the cup to the saucer, but you could if you wanted it all in once piece.  I would use a ceramic or glass glue for that.

 

The saucer also makes a great place to place bobbins, thimbles, or any other small notion while working on a project!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

This week Brandon is star of the week at school.  There are a lot of November birthdays in his class, so he gets to celebrate his a bit early in the month.  He loves this idea, basically because it extends his celebration to almost three weeks.

Brandon is having an Olaf party this year.  So for his treat at school he chose chocolate chip cookie cups with Frozen decorations.  I was able to find Frozen cupcake rings and snowflake candies on Amazon, yay!  Here's how they turned out.

The cookie cups are easy to do and are a fun alternative to a cupcake. Follow the easy steps below, and impress your friends and family this holiday season.

• Start with your favorite cookie dough recipe (or a tub of store bought dough, I won't tell)
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a muffin pan with cooking spray
• Press about 2 tablespoons of dough into the muffin cup, pressing on the bottom and up the sides.  Be sure to hollow out the middle a bit to create a well.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then take a spoon and knock down the center of the cup to re-create the well.  The bottom naturally puffs up during baking.
• Bake for additional 7 to 9 minutes or until golden brown and the cups no longer look soft in the middle
• Allow to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, this allows the cup to cool and hold its shape
• Using a sharp knife, carefully lift the cup out and allow to finish cooling on a rack
• Dollop favorite butter cream recipe in the center of each cookie cup

To make it look extra fancy, pipe the frosting into the cup using a star tip and a pastry bag.  If you don't have a pastry bag, simply using a food storage bag and snip off the end, which makes a perfect hole replicating the round pastry tip.

Chicken Enchiladas

Like most bloggers, I have an obscene amount of food, craft, and other useless pictures taking over my camera.  Never knowing what I am going to blog about, I snap random pictures of various things.  Some pictures and ideas never see the light of day, while others manage to make their way to My Little Blogspot.

Today's lucky winner is chicken enchiladas.  I make this so often. I also make a double batch and always throw one into the freezer.  Then on a busy night or when I just forgot about dinner, I pop it in the oven.

This recipe is so easy and will be a go to favorite.  This recipe yields sixteen good size enchiladas, I usually make eight for dinner and then freeze eight.

ingredients (16 enchiladas)

16 oz. cooked shredded chicken breast
16 flour tortilla shells, 8 inch
16 oz. shredded taco cheese
1 large can enchilada sauce, I use Chi Chi's about 26 oz.

1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. adobo chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

*If you don't have these spices, you can use a taco seasoning packet, I prefer low sodium *

1. In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken with seasonings and about 6 oz. of cheese. Set aside.
2. Pour about 1/2 c. or so of enchilada sauce onto a plate.
3. In a baking dish (I use disposable lasagna pans for freezing), pour about 1/4 c. of sauce in the bottom of the dish.
4. Now we are going to make the assembly line.  Lay out the tortillas, plate of enchilada sauce, chicken, and baking dish...in that order.
5. Take a tortilla and turn it in the sauce to coat both sides. 
6. Take a few tablespoons of chicken and lay it in the middle of the shell. Fold the side of the tortilla in to meet the middle, and then roll the tortilla up to form a log. 
7. Lay seem side down in prepared baking dish.
8. Repeat with the remaining shells and chicken.

You will need to refill the plate with sauce as you go, but leave enough to coat the top of the enchiladas in the baking dish.  Top the finished enchiladas evenly with remaining cheese.

At this point you can wrap with foil and freeze, or bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

When cooking from frozen, allow to bake for about an hour, covered.  Remove the foil the last 20 minutes to brown the cheese.

I serve with salad and rice.  The enchiladas freeze nicely for about four months!

New & Improved Easy Garlic Knots

Sometimes you need to improve on an old classic.  That's what I did a few weeks ago with my garlic knot recipe.  The original was just fine, but after a few years of making them, I thought.....it could be better.

The tweaks to the recipe were very simple.  I just allowed the dough to rise a second time and it produced a softer and better texture garlic knot.  I also used a little extra garlic butter when brushing them out of the oven, and that never hurt nobody ;)

recipe for the dough

1 c. warm water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 to 3 c. all purpose flour

Simply dissolve the yeast in warm water with honey.  Set aside and allow the yeast to bloom (or wake up a bit) and get foamy.  In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, pour yeast mixture in with olive oil.  Add the flour, about 2 1/2 cups to start, and begin to knead on low (speed 1 or 2).  Add salt and continue to kneed for about 8 to 10 minutes.  If the dough climbs, up the dough hook, add more flour a few tablespoons at a time.  The dough should pull away from the bowl and be soft and smooth, not sticky.

Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rise for 2 to 3 hours. 

On a floured surface cut the dough into fourths.  Working with one fourth at a time, roll into a rectangle about 12 inches by 5 inches.  Cut the rectangle into 5 or 6 pieces lengthwise. 

Roll each strip into a little flour to remove tackiness, and tie into a knot.  Place onto greased baking sheet.

Repeat with remaining dough.  Cover with a towel and allow to double in size, about an hour.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray the tops of the knots with cooking spray.  If you want to add cheese, do it now.  Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the knots are baking, melt a stick of butter with 1 tbsp. minced garlic and 1/2 tsp. parsley.  As soon as the knots come out of the brush them liberally with melted butter mixture.  Serve immediately by themselves or with marinara!

First Day of School Jitters

Heart palpitations, sweaty palms, butterflies in the tummy....yep all those things were present this morning at our house.  While you may think it was the boys, you would be wrong, it was me.  It's not a huge secret that I don't like the first day of school.  I miss my babies so much, and I have a really hard time with the silence.

I don't always deal well with those emotions.  I am a type A, highly sensitive person who likes routine and consistency.  In my head I know that we are embarking on a new routine, and in due time I will be just fine.  It's just those first few days, that really throw me for a loop. 

So how did I do today?  Well, first to stop myself from emotional eating, I kept very busy.  I cleaned like crazy (that would be my go to therapy when I feel out of control), I did laundry, mowed the lawn, and now I am blogging.  I believe the vacuuming and mowing the lawn helped with the silence issue ;)

My emotions have settled a bit as I look at the clock that is reading 2:30 p.m.  Ok, I can do this.... one more hour.  I will be so excited to hear about their first day.  Hopefully dinner conversation tonight is filled with giggles, stories, and perhaps the mention of meeting a new friend or two.

Tomorrow will be better and Friday even better.  To all the other parents who share my jitters, hang in there :)

Greek Pasta Salad

I did a small container of tomatoes, basil, and rosemary this year for gardening.  I planted three little tomato plants that consisted of a grape tomato plant, plum tomato plant, and a yellow heirloom plant.  I have tomatoes out my ears. Well, not literally out my ears, that would look really silly. 

I have shared some with neighbors, but the majority of them Jay and I have consumed.  My favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes is with a little salt and pepper.  Jay prefers tomato with feta cheese and dressing, and that my friends is the inspiration for today's recipe.

One of Jay's most favorite salad is a Greek salad.  He will eat it anytime of day.  He has been known to eat it for breakfast.  I decided to put all his favorite Greek salad toppings into a pasta salad.  I made it the other night, and thought for sure it would be a couple of portions.  I was mistaken, he ate it all in one sitting.  I guess it was a success.

recipe (serves 2)

1/2 lb. short cut dried pasta, cooked and cooled (penne, rigatoni, etc.)
1 cup tomatoes, I used a mix of yellow and plum tomatoes sliced and quartered
1/2 c. black olives, sliced
1/4 c. pepperoncini, sliced
1/8 c. sliced red onion
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c. prepared Greek dressing, you may use more or less depending how you like your salad dressed

Simply cook pasta and allow to cool.  In a large bowl mix all the sliced veggies with pasta.  Gently add the feta cheese with the dressing and toss until well mixed.  You may want to season with salt & pepper, but be careful feta can be quite salty.

Allow to chill in the refrigerator for several hours.   Serve with pita bread or nice crusty baguette.

This would be great for this coming Labor Day picnics!

Also, here are a few pictures of my littlest playing soccer.  I still need to get pictures of my oldest.

15 Minute Shortcakes

We are busy busy busy with soccer season upon us.  Both boys are playing and with them being in different divisions, it means we have soccer Monday through Saturday.  Fun times!

With our busy schedules, dinners need to be quick and easy, as well as the occasional dessert.  So today's post is a quick shortcake.  Just a disclaimer, my shortcakes here appear a little more brown in color than yours will.  The reason behind that is, Brandon was helping to make them, and decided we needed extra vanilla (which equated to triple the amount).

ingredients (yields 6 to 8 shortcakes)

2 1/4 c. baking mix
1/4 c. plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp. melted butter

2 c. sliced strawberries
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. water

whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Combine sliced strawberries with sugar and water, set aside to form sauce.

In a large bowl combine baking mix, yogurt, vanilla, melted butter, and lemon zest.  Stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms (the dough will be tacky).  Drop biscuits by tablespoons onto an ungreased non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Biscuits will be golden brown and no longer tacky.  Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Slice biscuits in half.  Spoon berries over the sliced biscuit and top with whipped cream.