Friday, August 30, 2013

Summer Cooking With Garden Vegetables

This has been a great year for our little vegetable garden.  We were blessed with a lot of yummy vegetables.  I think I accomplished by goal of eating something home grown daily :).  Here's some shots of some of the great foods I was able to make with my little humble garden - keep in mind that this is for a family of 5!  Yes even baby Aya had a lot of yummy baby foods made from this garden.

Pizza!
Great any time of year, but especially summertime.  Sorry I forgot to make a shot of the veggy loaded pizza.  But this one has fresh tomato marinara sauce - fresh the garden of course!


Marinara Sauce
First time making marinara sauce.  Can't go back to the bottled stuff!  Next year I am definitely growing more roma tomatoes.  I mixed in some overripe heirlooms and early girls into this sauce.

Pesto
A family favorite around here.  Lots of basil this year.  We also use the pesto for pizzas, spread for breads or other yummies.

Cucumber Salads
We made this for home, parties and to bring to potlucks.  A good (and cheap) way to enjoy cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden.

Other yummy stuff from the garden not pictured: 
GREEN BEANS (many many many meals of this stuff and we're still loving it.  Growing more for a late fall harvest)

BOK CHOY: Not a lot of it, but enough for an occasional stir fry or baby food

LETTUCE: Baby lettuces, butterhead, etc.  Great by itself and used plenty in burgers and sandwiches.

Love our garden! :)
 



Thursday, August 29, 2013

WIP and Diet Coke

Just a little post to prove that I am actually still making quilts ;).  I've been working on a couple of baby quilts to add to the shop.  I couldn't resist starting this project because I have been in love with this coral for a while now and have been itching to use it before I run out.

There's been a whole lot of trimming...


...don't you wish you could use these little pretty trimmings for something???  Does anyone use these?


...and Diet Coke drinking

I'll try to sneak in some more quilting time soon and hopefully get these quilts DONE :).

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Made By ME #93 Linky Party and Features

I'm back!  And so is this week's linky party :).  And now my kids are ready for their first week of school - starting Wednesday.  My oldest is starting 1st grade and my second is starting his home 'preschool'.  Exciting times!   Here's some beautiful (and super creative) creations from the last party.  As usual, scroll down to add your project this week :).

CRAFTS & DECOR

FOOD


SEWING AND KNITS
 



...and onto this week's "Made by ME" Linky Party.  
Happy Linking everyone! 
... and don't forget to visit our fellow bloggers :)
  

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Pickling...A Lot

We were blessed with a LOT of cucumbers from our vegetable garden this year.  I've made cucumber salads, gave them to family & friends and eaten most of them sliced along side our meals.  So after my last harvest I was left with over 20 cucumbers.  So I decided to do some pickling...and it was FUN :)!


I used a variation of this recipe (added less sugar and a ton of bell peppers and onions).

First do a lot of slicing.  Remember I had 20 cucumbers to go through...


A lot of other yummy stuff like bell peppers, onions and garlic.

 
Then I salted the pickles, drained it (after 3 hours)...

 
Then poured in the prepared pickles mixture (with the lowered sugar content).

 
Voila! Seven bottles of pickles ready to refrigerate and enough to last for months...and months :)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

No Linky Party This Week :(

Back to school madness this week!  Yep, it's that time of year again for shopping, last minute summer activities and getting the kids back to the 'school mode'.  Linky party will be back next week :).

Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Making Twill Tape Tags

If you've ever ordered my napkin sets (shameless plug ;)) you know that I use twill tape as a tag on each set up napkins.  They are each individually printed, ironed, cut and attached by yours truly.  I know it's tedious at times but I believe in the concept of making things from scratch...plus the process is relaxing when I have the time :).



So once in while I make a big batch of it and today I want to share with you some photos of this process.

 

Step 1: Design your logo and the REVERSE (aka mirror image) of it ready to print

Step 2: Print it on transfer paper like this one from Amazon

Step 3: Cut out your logos 

Step 4: Iron on (aka transfer on) to your twill tape


Step5: Cut to into individual labels



I make a bunch of these at a time and save them in a zipper bag.  A little tedious...a little therapeutic...but from scratch and saves a little bit of $$ :).

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Made By ME #92 Linky Party and Features

Hi everyone and welcome to another week of my linky party.  Beautiful projects last week - lots of favorites and highlights ... and few featured below. 

Please scroll down to share your creation this week :)

FOOD



CRAFTS & DECOR


SEWING AND KNITS 

...and onto this week's "Made by ME" Linky Party.  
Happy Linking everyone! 
... and don't forget to visit our fellow bloggers :)
  

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Made By ME #91 Linky Party and Features

I'm ready to get back to a regular (re: normal SCHOOL) routine.  Now that I have 1 (of 3) child in school, summers are becoming verrrry long.  I feel like we've done it all - camping, swim practice, library programs, playdates, beach, etc etc.  So when does school start again???  Wow, not for another 3 weeks...  I guess we'll have to keep on keeping busy with the kids.  Notice the lack of finish projects on MY part?

On a more productive note, I'm so glad that there's been so many great project by my wonderful readers out there :).  I love browsing through the projects weekly - Truly amazing!  Here's some highlights from last week - and of course scroll down to the bottom to add your beautiful creation.


FOOD
 


CRAFTS & DECOR


SEWING AND KNITS 


...and onto this week's "Made by ME" Linky Party.  
Happy Linking everyone! 
... and don't forget to visit our fellow bloggers :)
  

Monday, August 5, 2013

Watermelon Aqua Fresca

I remember last summer - I was pregnant and LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh watermelon.  Don't get me wrong, I still love it but haven't been in the mood for cut up watermelon.  So I had a little idea - Watermelon Aqua Fresca.  I used to make this years ago and totally forgot about it until recently.


Super easy recipe:
- Half a small watermelon (the big ones don't fit in our fridge)
- 1 cups of simple syrup (1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water ... put into a pot and boil until sugar dissolves.  Then cool :))
- Optional - Lime or Lemon

(1) Cut watermelon into cubes and blend well

(2) Pour blended watermelon through a shifter.
(If you have a baby around, save the pulp - makes for a yummy treat for your little one!)


(3) Pour in the cooled simple syrup.  
(4) If you like, squeeze in some fresh lime or lemon juice to taste.
(5) Chill in fridge for a couple of hours, pour over ice and enjoy!


LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...