What's Cooking? - Walnut Balls with Apricot Barbecue Sauce

My friend Jennifer is looking for a good recipe for veggie meatballs, and my friend Dawn asked me today what we eat for Thanksgiving if we don't eat meat. One year my Aunt Shanna made these Walnut Balls for Thanksgiving when I was visiting at her house. It is a versatile recipe. You could make it with the Apricot Barbecue Sauce and serve it with Lo Mein and stir fry. You could top them with marinara sauce and serve them with spaghetti. You could top them with gravy and serve them for Thanksgiving with all of the traditional sides. They are hearty and delicious.

Walnut Balls

2 1/2 cups cracker crumbs

1 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon sage

1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

8 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together and form into balls. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with sauce. Bake for 30 minutes.

Apricot Barbecue Sauce

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice

1 1/2 cup apricot jam

1 teaspoon oregano

1 cup ketchup

4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons onion

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes.

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What's Cooking? - Corn Soup with Fresh Tomatoes

I wasn't able to find fresh corn or fresh thyme at the Commissary so I used frozen corn and dried thyme. The soup was still delicious. I loved the twist of having the tomatoes and basil on top. It was really fresh tasting. I served it with with melted cheese over pumpkin seed toast.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely diced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme (I used about 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

10 cups fresh corn kernels (from 8 large ears) (I used frozen corn in a pinch)

4 to 5 cups water

3 medium tomatoes (cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Melt butter in a stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onions, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in corn and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.

Pulse mixture with an immersion blender until chunky. Thin with up to 1 cup water if desired. Reheat soup before serving. Toss together tomatoes, basil, and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish soup with tomato mixture.

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Sophia Update - Second Fifth Birthday Party

Sophia got to have a second fifth birthday party since she was sick for the first one. This time we played games and ate dinner. She wanted to have an egg and spoon race and a pinata. We had guests from two to five years old so it was fun to watch the difference in technique and ability at both games.

She had a cowgirl party and she decided on the menu herself.

Menu:

Three-Bean Chili with Vegetables

Cornbread

Two-Cheese Dip

Mango Peach Frost (See recipe below)

John's Three-Layer Apple Cake (See recipe below)

Mango Peach Frost

adapted from:

2 cups unsweetened orange juice

2 cups frozen mango chunks

1/4 cup mango juice

1 cup light soy milk

2 tablespoons sugar (I tripled this recipe but only used 4 tablespoons sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in an electric blender; process mixture until smooth. Keep cold in refrigerator or serve immediately over ice.

Serves 5

John's Three-Layer Apple Cake

adapted from:

I made this in a 13x9 inch pan and then cut into thirds. My cake leaned a bit so it's probably a good idea to use three pans as suggested in the recipe. The buttercream is really, really rich so I prefer a really thin layer.

for the cake:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pans

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, two coarsely grated and two diced

for the buttercream:

4 large egg whites

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter, then flour paper and sides (tapping out excess); set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and eggs until well combined; fold in grated and diced apples. Add flour mixture; mix just until combined. Divide batter among prepared pans; smooth tops.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 20 minutes, then invert onto wire racks; peel off parchment. Invert cakes again, and let cool completely on racks.

Make buttercream: In a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water, whisk together egg whites, sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved; remove from heat. Using an electric mixer on medium, beat mixture until fluffy and cooled, about 15 minutes. Increase to high; beat until stiff peaks form. Reduce to medium-low; gradually add butter, beating until fully incorporated, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Assemble cake: Place one layer on a serving plate; spread top with 1/4 buttercream. Top with another layer; spread top with another 1/4 buttercream. Top with third layer; spread remaining buttercream over top and sides of cake. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 4 days). To serve, bring cake to room temperature; slice with a serrated knife.

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Papercrafting - Bake Sale Tags

Sophia's swim team, the Vipers, is having a bake sale tomorrow at the Crown Jewel Bazaar at Grafenwoehr. I wanted to make something good but familiar so I went with Nestle's recipe for Choc-oat-chip cookies. I followed the baking instructions for chewy cookies. If they look good, please stop by the booth set up outside of the bazaar. The mamas that are braving the cold to make the fundraiser happen deserve some love.

To make the packages look extra cute, I added a stamped tag. The leaf is second-generation stamped (stamp on a piece of scratch paper first) and then I stamped over it with the name of the cookies. I punched a hole in the tag and the bag and tied with a fall colored ribbon. Even though we have snow outside it is not even Halloween yet, so I stuck with a fall theme.

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Sewing Room - Mini Tree Skirt

I made this little tree skirt based on a pattern in the Bella Bella Quilts book. The book is filled with beautiful quilts based on Italian mosaics. The tree skirt is the perfect size for a table top tree.

Okay, the real story. I was trying to make a mosaic from this book to applique onto a wallhanging. The book comes with patterns but you have to buy a separate book with foundation patterns. If you don't have the foundation patterns you have to photocopy or trace them. I don't have the book. I don't have access to a copier that will copy larger than 8 1/2 x 11. So I did the tracing onto freezer paper route. I have worked with foundation piecing and curves before and I could tell as I was working that my pieces weren't going to be accurate enough to fit together. Sure enough, the completed piece was full of puckers and would not lay flat. It had a beautiful slope to it though so I made a slit in the side, set aside the circle I was going to applique into the middle, and sewed on a binding. Voila. A mini-tree skirt. Helen, the woman who taught me most of what I know about quilting always used to say, "We don't make mistakes, we make new patterns." So, this is what I made today.

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Papercrafting - ETSY Inspired #50-Fabric Scrap Card

I originally made this card using fabric scraps for an ETSY Inspired challenge. I love the card so much that I keep it on a table in my living room. Now, during the month of October, the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog is featuring ideas to use fabric scraps. This card was a quick and easy way to use up some scraps so I thought I would add a step-by-step tutorial and share it with them.

This week's ETSY Inspired challenge shop was Mrs. Kwitty's Cottage. Her store read 30s Reproduction to me so I sewed three strips of reproduction fabrics to my card base. I snipped the edges to achieve a fringed look. I loved her 3-D butterfly so I made my own glittered version.

Step-by-step:

1. Cut a 6x12 piece of cardstock and fold in half to make a card base.

2. Layer strips of scrap fabric to cover the card base, overlapping by 1/4-inch. Adhere.

3. Zig-zag stitch over the places where the fabrics meet.

4. Trim fabric flush with card base.

5. Straight stitch around the edge of the card leaving a 1/4-inch border.

6. Cut a fringe around the edge of the front of the card going no further than the sewn border.

7. Embellish. I added a stamped and glittered 3-D butterfly and a sentiment.

Supplies:

CTMH White Daisy Cardstock

CTMH Butterfly Wings Stamp Set

CTMH Black Ink

CTMH Clover Meadow Ink

Martha Stewart Glittering Glue

Martha Steward Aquamarine Crystal Glitter

30s Reproduction Fabrics

White Thread

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What's Cooking? - Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

My friends who are near-professional cake decorators will laugh along with me when they see this cake. Ah well. It tasted delicious even if it looked like a sad, election day donkey.

Note that the unsweetened chocolate has to be melted and cooled.

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; add to the creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Divide batter in half. Stir melted chocolate into one portion. Spoon chocolate batter into a well-greased 10-inch fluted tube pan. Top with pumpkin batter. (You may use a smaller cake pan or a muffin pan, you'll just need to adjust the baking time.)

Bake at 325 degrees F for 65-70 minutes (40 minutes for a smaller cake pan, 30 minutes for a muffin pan), or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Makes 12 servings.

Cream Cheese Icing

This ended up being delicious, but too runny to make precise shapes out of for decorating even after chilling overnight. Check consistency before adding milk.

1 cup butter, softened

2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, about 2 pounds

2 tablespoons milk (add as needed to get desired consistency)

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)

Makes about 5 1/2 cups of icing.

In medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar one cup at a time. Mix well. Beat on high until smooth. Add orange juice. A mild until desired consistency is reached. Thin with corn syrup to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping.

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Sophia Update - Cowgirl Birthday Party

Here are the invitations and thank you cards I made for Sophia's party. Boys were invited so I wanted to use colors that would be appropriate, but I liked that the paper had butterflies to give it a girly touch.

Sophia wanted a cowgirl party for her 5th birthday. Here she is all dressed up with Kimberly Bear for the party. I was in a little bit of a pickle because she wanted a hat and boots for a long time, but added a vest as a fashion requirement after it was too late to figure something out. Luckily I remembered this vest that she got as part of her school clothes shopping loot. She hadn't worn it before and I was able to convince her that it was appropriate. The other trouble we had this year was that Sophia was sick. I thought she was on the mend yesterday so I went ahead and made the cake, which was no small undertaking since I quadrupled the batter so she could have enough to take to school. And, she was of course looking forward to her party. So, we had friends over for a short time just to eat cake and ice cream and open presents. We will have a second party later when we eat chili and cornbread and play games.

Here is the pony cake that I made using the IKEA Swedish horse pan. The frosting was delicious but I had a hard time getting it to set up enough to decorate with. Usually I don't like to repeat recipes, but I liked this Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake recipe from last year so much that I made it again. See separate post for recipe.

For parties I usually like to focus more on the handmade invitations and food. Games and decorations aren't so exciting for me. Sophie is getting big enough now though that she wants games. She planned on having a pinata and having a spoon race. We'll do that when she's feeling better. I made a simple "Happy Birthday" banner by stamping directly on patterned paper cut into 2x3 inch rectangles and stapling the paper onto a ribbon. For a tablecloth, I folded a piece of red fabric to conceal the raw edges and topped with a piece of burlap. The cake of course was the centerpiece. This of course does not compare to the people that turn their houses into barns for these types of parties. Ah well. We all have our own style.

Getting ready to blow out her candles. It was especially important for her to have her own little cake this year so she didn't blow her germs all over the cake that everyone else would eat.

Here is Sophie with her friends from the neighborhood. I'm still following the 1 year=1 guest rule so we couldn't be all-inclusive in our invitation list. You'll notice we have one extra guest. That's because we had three sets of siblings over.

For favor bags I simply stamped paper lunch bags and tied them closed with some hemp twine. I enclosed four cupcakes (enough for each family member) with plastic horse figures on top along with a sticker sheet for each child.

I also had a cowboy hat for each child. I attached a star with the child's name to each one. Sophie was dressing up for the party and she wanted to make sure her friends dressed up too.

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Sophia Update - She's 5!

Sophia is five today! My big girl. She likes being active...riding bikes, swimming, playing at the park. She is also an aspiring computer addict. She likes to play pbskids and Webkinz and would do so all day if we didn't limit her time. She picks out her own clothes (often with great style) and tells me how to style her hair most of the time. She has been going to German Kindergarten for one month and can sing several songs and say a few things in German. She likes to hang out with me in the craft room. She paints at her easel and makes cards at her craft table. She continues to be a good eater. There are only a few things she doesn't like and she'll try just about anything. She is very aware of being a vegetarian and I find myself quickly changing the subject when she starts talking about the "poor piggies" and such with her friends. Many other children have enough issues with food that I don't want her to be responsible for casting a shadow on a whole food group. She is well-behaved a lot of the time, but when she is naughty she is very, very naughty. She can be stubborn and digs in her heels for a battle of wills, mostly when it comes to personal care things like going potty or wiping her nose. It is fun to have a big girl that we can take places without worry. It is great to not have to bother with diaper bags, sippy cups, and strollers. It makes it so much easier to travel. She wants to help her daddy plan a trip to Paris, among other places. I hope that we will be here long enough for her to have some memories of Europe.

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