End of August Ramblings, Recipes and Roadtrips

Ok, so I know I didn't post any pics with yesterday's blog of what I've been up to around the   house. So this one is to make up for that!

I've kept busy with work (surprised? No??) and have been working on a few projects as well as taking a few little short roadtrips around the area. So that's whatcha gonna get today....LOL...don't you love that slang?

First up.....I'm making progress on the Christmas present quilt wall hanging!!!! YEA!!!! It's not done yet, but getting closer!!!!

It's taken a few months to decide what I wanted to back it with and I finally settle on red that matches the thread in the embroidery. I used a fusible batting (you use an iron to mesh the front and back layers together) in between, pinned it together, and sewed with my machine around the squares.

The next step in the process has been to pin the edges to create a border.....I finally got that done Saturday morning!

The next step is going to be creating the tabs to go along the top for a rod  to go thru so it can be hung. Not sure when that will happen exactly, but once those are done, I can then proceed to the final stitching around the edges of the quilt. Oh, see that little funny thing in the lower right hand corner? That's where I put my initials and the years (yes, years!) it was done. This is a project that has taken me almost (but not quite!) two years to complete! It also lets me know which part is top and bottom! ☺

Cooking......hmmmm....let's see now....I've made a few new recipes! First up, Chocolate Cobbler!

This was actually super easy to make, but I must admit when I first was putting the ingredients together in the baking dish....I had my doubts about how it was going to turn out....let me show you what that looked like!

Yeah, I had my doubts about how that was gonna ever cook up into something edible! But it did! It reminded me of a warm pudding cake in the end and was tasty both warm and cold! Here's the recipe!

Chocolate Cobbler

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9x13 glass baking dish, melt two sticks of butter in the oven.

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together:

1 1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c self rising flour

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c milk

3. Once the butter is melted, pour the batter over the butter. DO NOT STIR!

4. In a separate bowl, mix:

1 c sugar

6 Tbsp cocoa powder

5. Sprinkle on top of the batter. DO NOT STIR!

6. Pour 2 c boiling water

on top of that (agan, DON'T STIR!).

7. Bake for 30-45 minutes until you have a nice golden brown crust. Serve warm. Great with ice cream.

*My tips*: If you find you don't have any self rising flour, you can do what I did and use the following in place of the self-rising flour:

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

I plan on making this one again, but the next time, I think I will use less butter as I felt it was a little greasy for my taste. But it was very good!!!

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Yesterday morning, I was up early and  cooking by 5:30 am! My cooking is now done for a couple of days, but I did try a new recipe or two! First up, I relied on Betty Crocker (thanks, Betty!) and made double chocolate bars from a couple of her cookie mixes. Super easy and simple and tasty! Here's the finished product:

*BTW*, I bought the mixes on clearance at Walmart for just $.75 each....half price!

Next up: What was in my slow cooker yesterday! (Recipe will follow!)

Slow Cooker Ground Beef Barbecue

1. Place 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (I used a 1 lb pkg) in a large skillet over medium heat and cook until brown, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 15 minutes. Drain excess grease.

2. Place cooked meat,

1/2 large onion, chopped (I love onion, so I used a whole one!)

1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp already minced garlic)

2 1/2 stalks celery, finely chopped

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar ( I didn't have any cider vinegar, so substituted (after online research) 1 tsp of white vinegar)

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

1 3/4 c ketchup

into slow cooker and stir to combine.

3. Set the cooker on Low, and cook for 6 to 8 hours.

Can I just say.....it smelled heavenly out in my kitchen yesterday morning?  I think this one is also a winner. I can use it just like sloppy joes...or they even suggest you can use it as a hot dog topping! Yum!!

I love finding new recipes and a couple of sites that I recommend are http://www.allrecipes.com/ and http://www.justapinch.com/. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the things I really like about the allrecipes.com site is that you can, if needed, adapt the recipes. For instance, the original recipe for the slow cooker recipe above served 20. That, for me, was too much! So instead, I put in for 10 servings and got the recipe you see above. There are numerous internet cooking/recipe sites out there and that just means more ways to be creative with cooking in the kitchen! My idea of a great time! ☺ And cookbooks….need I say more?!

Travel...I made a trip over to the Knox area earlier this week after having a place called Sharp Shopper recommended to me. It was a beautiful day out, I had the day off, and was in the mood for a drive! (I just remembered...this was the day of the East Coast earthquake that I didn't feel!)

This place was cooooooooooool!!!!! They don't have the same items in all the time, but what they do have, they have really good prices on! It's a big building, clean interior (clean bathrooms, too!), friendly staff.....and some really good bargains. You have to check the expiration dates on things, but they have everything from canned goods to paper goods, to candy, to frozen things, veggies, deli meats.....a nice selection. And easy to find!!!! Not far off of the Knox exit on Interstate 80 - it's gonna be a place I go back to again!

On my way back, I stopped off at Trader Horn in Clarion, which, in my opinion, is another interesting store. (Trader Horn is also where I picked up the embroidery project from earlier in the blog!)

What a beautiful day it was....gotta love that blue sky!

I loved the ivy growing on the silo across the road from Trader Horn. It reminded me a little bit (only a little bit!) of the kudzu that had grown around my home in Georgia! So, yeah, just had to take a picture of it!

While I was out and about, I had fun playing around with the camera taking pictures of me....LOL...I was hoping to come up with a new profile pic for Facebook. Here's some of what I got!

 

While at Trader Horn, I picked up a couple of $1 decorations for fall to hang out on my porch!

I already had the welcome hanging….I just added the “I Love
Fall” deco to add some fall color that is gonna come sooner than we know! I like how it looks!

The other little hanging is in honor of my niece and her hubby and all those who have/do serve us. Becky and her hubby Frank are both in the Army and Frank is now overseas while Becky is at Fort Hood in Texas, serving and raising their daughter, Liliahna.

Here's what they look like together:

Well, that’s about it for today. I need to finish some other tasks before I get some rest before my shift tonight. The internet was acting weird yesterday afternoon/evening, even though the router shows I have connection, Internet Explorer was a different story! I'm happy I'll be able to post and share these with you today!

Be blessed beyond measure, stay safe, and may the peace of God rule your heart and mind!