Snowman, Quilt and Chowder

I have been in full swing with crafting, and cooking. It has been fun finishing up projects, and trying fun new recipes. Here are a few.

9 patch Christmas quilt. Who would have thought it first started out as a tree skirt.









Mr. Snowman

And finally, chowder.
We love going to Market Street Broiler and they have the best Chowder. It is a little too spicy for the kids, so I changed up a few things. Here is how I did it.


1 cup potatoes, diced ½ inch
1 cup celery, diced ½ inch
1 cup onion, diced ½ inch
¾ cup chopped clams (canned or fresh)
¾ tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon salt
¾ tablespoon whole thyme
6 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Tabasco
2 cups water
¾ cup clam juice (drained from canned clams or purchased separately in can)
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
2 quarts half-and-half ( I used 1 quart and just added a little bit of milk)

Combine melted butter and flour in oven-proof container and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. In large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients except half-and-half. Simmer until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Stir butter-flour mixture into chowder and stir until thick. Mixture will be slightly less thick than cookie dough. Remove chowder from heat. Stir in half-and-half until blended. Heat to serving temperature, stirring occasionally.

The BEST blueberry muffins

I saw this recipe on my favorite Saturday afternoon cooking show. America's Test Kitchen. They truly are the Best Blueberry Muffins, so yummy with the Lemon -Sugar topping. A perfect Saturday morning add on to breakfast.

Here is how I did it.

Lemon-Sugar topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
1 1/8 cups sugar plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the topping:
Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

For the muffins:
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

**photo courtesy of America's Test Kitchen

Chessy Vegetable Chowder

I have felt a little cold the last little bit, and so that always puts me in the mood for some good soups. I have found some great recipes on Pinterest that I have been trying, so of course I have to share.

Here is how I did it:

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

1 stalk celery, finely chopped (love the celery)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk (I used half and half)

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used Colby Jack)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender. Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through. Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

**pic and recipe courtesy of Lulu the Baker

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was such a wonderful day spent with family. Dinner was great and the day was nice and relaxing. I made my traditional pumpkin, apple, chocolate cream and coconut cream pies. They turned out great!

This year I started a new tradition. According to my little brother, I am going to have to make them each year. I don't know about that, maybe I will find something new each year. These little guys took some time and a pretty steady hand. But they did turn out pretty cute, and the kids gobbled them up.


Hope you all had an amazing day with your loved ones. There is so much that we all have to be thankful for.

What happened to Thanksgiving?

My sweetheart doesn't usually have much to say about the decorations around the house. Until yesterday. His comment? It's time to take down the Halloween stuff and put out the Thanksgiving decorations.

Ummm, what Thanksgiving decorations? Every year I go from Halloween right into Christmas. I love the holiday, turkey and all. and I can see how he is a little sad that so many forget that we have a holiday before the bearded man comes to town.

So I got a few fun ideas and put the Halloween away and now I have some Thanksgiving decorations.

Its Fall again

I think there is a switch inside my brain that triggers when it starts to turn fall. It turns on a lot of things for me. Like, more baking, cooking warm soups, doing crafts, and major cleaning.

For instance, today I decided to totally gut out my room and rearrange everything. It took all morning, but there is nothing like a clean and clutter free room.

Another thing that has helped my fall obsession, is an awesome site that I am truly addicted too. pinterest. I have found so many fun ideas. This is one that I did for my kids and Dave's lunch today.

Another fun idea I did for my friends new little baby boy.


Chase must have the same little switch, he woke up this morning saying he wanted to bake a cake, and he wouldn't let it go. He wanted a mountain cake with a Y . So I did this yummy spice cake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese frosting.



What a perfect fall day, rain and all.