Fun with Freezer Paper

Every year our LYO makes T-shirts emblazoned with the LYO logo. And we use Freezer Paper stencils to do this...

I print a copy of the pattern on 11 x 17 paper for each youth...

And they use an exacto knife to cut out the pattern...

Needless to say - some stencils are prettier than others...

Then we iron them onto the shirt...

And use a little sponge thingy to 'trounce' the white paint on...

They are invariably happy with their shirts - I think they feel a real sense of accomplishment and I try to help (or interfere) with their creative process as little as possible...

Date Ball Donut Holes

I made these Date Balls - they sure are yummy - not what you would expect from the ingredients list at all. Recipe here - http://www.neaforever.org/recipes.html it's pretty far down on the page - search on the page for Crumb Donut Holes.

You'd never guess from this picture that this was going to be anything good.

Here I mixed in a cup of zucchini - yep - raw zucchini...

And here are the cute little donut holes - they don't really taste like donut holes - but they are yummy - when the Man-Cub got home from school these were on the counter and he promptly popped one is his mouth and said YUM!

Granola

I have heard the word 'granola' used to describe people with a 'hippie' bent - this probably includes me...

"Granola" as slang
"Granola" is also used as a slang term (metonym) describing a person who is hippie-like, a modern bohemian, environmentalist, or leftist in outlook[1]. The protagonist of Neal Stephenson's Zodiac delights in the nickname "Granola James Bond". Prop comic Gallagher, and one-time candidate for governor in the 2003 California recall election, uses the term in a similarly pejorative manner – "California is like a bowl of granola; full of fruits, nuts, and flakes."

Anyway it's a yummy breakfast cereal - now made much easier to make with BRYANNA’S MICROWAVE FAT-FREE MAPLE-COCONUT GRANOLA http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/661699.htm
This was super-duper-easy-peasy. Just mix the ingredients with your hands and spread on parchment paper in the Microwave (the recipe calls for wax paper - but I prefer parchment)...

I couldn't even wait until it cooled - it smelled so good - I poured some soymilk over and...

YUM - I know you want some - go make it now...

Puzzle Mat

As you probably already know - the Man-Cub and I love to work puzzles. We had a black roll up mat with a blow-up tube on the end - but somehow the tube got popped and it was covered with flocking so it was impossible to patch. So, I made us a new and improved model. This one is as big as our kitchen table and it's a light color which I prefer to the black.

It was easy-peasy - I took a tube out of a roll of Christmas wrapping paper and sewed one seam to fit it.

Here's a sketch of the pattern.

The flaps fold over the edge of the table while we're working...

And then fold up over the puzzle when we want to put it away...

Then you just roll it up and put it away - no pieces get lost - you do have to do some minor straightening when you roll it back out - but the more of the puzzle you get done the less you have to do this as it all holds together better then...

This is a super difficult puzzle of penguins - pretty much all black and white - fun, fun, fun...

Properly Prepared Spaghetti Squash

I thought the title of this recipe/article was funny http://www.recipezaar.com/162765
as though we were all im-properly preparing it before. And I guess I was. I had had spaghetti squash before and was never really pleased with it - it was too crunchy/mushy at the same time - and you know I love my pasta anyway. But Mom had left me with a nice spaghetti squash from her garden and I finally got around to making it.

I sliced it open and scooped out the seeds.

Sprinkled it with olive oil, salt and pepper and some of the garlic sent by my sweet brother - thanks bro.
Baked it in the oven for about 1 hour...
Scraped out the strings...
This was so good - I could eat it plain - right out of the oven...

Campanula-for-the-Cure Sock

I turned the heel on my first toe up sock - it's a pretty neat heel - don't ya think...

I think I'm going to have plenty of yarn for this one and I'm really happy with this soft comfy cotton yarn...

Let'se make Lefse

I had never really heard of Lefse until we moved up here - I think I may have read about it in one of Rolvaag's books - but I didn't know what it was. Well, what it is - is a really thin potato flatbread.

This is Juanita's recipe - Juanita passed away years ago - but we still use her recipe for the Church Bazaar Lefse:

4 cups potatoes
1 1/2 cup flour
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 t baking powder

That's pretty simple and it's Vegan - YAY!

This is my freshly polished Lefse griddle...

You'll need some sort of protector for your countertop - as the Lefse griddle gets very hot and you don't want an ugly brown spot on your counter...
This is my pastry board covered with a pastry cloth - note that it even says it's for Lefse...
Your rolling pin must be covered with cloth as well - I cut up a tube sock and tied it on so it doesn't move around and spoil my lefse...
This is the dough being cut and formed into little rounds for rolling...
These are the little rounds - they go into the fridge to await being rolled...
Put some flour on your board - not too much...
and start rolling - lightly - it's pretty time consuming - it takes about 4 - 5 minutes to roll out a piece of lefse...
You have to roll it until it's very thin - you should be able to read the letters on your pastry cover easily... and your lefse should be as round as possible - purely aesthetic - I've rolled ones that looked like the state of Texas...
Then you lift it with your lefse stick and gently put it on a griddle...
wait until there are some brown spots and turn it over and count to ten and your done...
Then put it in a stack to cool and soften...
Cover this stack with some towels with a sheet of plastic in between - so they sort of steam...

That's it - a very time consuming process - I'm not really that fond of lefse and it seems to me like an awful lot of trouble - people mostly make it here for the holidays - and it sells for $1 per sheet at the bazaar - they'll make over $1000.00 for all the lefse we made over the 4 days - they usually eat it with butter and sugar - I would prefer just a little Earth Balance as it's more of a potato pancake to me...

Testing Snacks

The Man-Cub's grade is participating in state-wide testing and they asked for volunteers to bring 'healthy' snacks for each of the three weeks of testing - lucky me - I got the first day...

I made applesauce muffins - there are only 17 students so we had a few extra to enjoy at home...




Vegan Applesauce Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups turbinado sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance - or other vegan margarine
1 1/2 cups applesauce - I used some of my home-made applesauce
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
egg replacer - equivalent to 2 eggs - I used flax seed goo

Heat oven to 350. Grease cupcake tin or use liners. Beat all ingredients on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on high speed 3 minutes. Bake until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

*Do not substitute self rising flour in this recipe.

Pita Bread

Pita Bread is one of those things (like English Muffins - more on that later) that I buy all the time - without ever even thinking about making it myself.

Well, not any more - I found a super easy (vegan) recipe at http://www.cookingcache.com/brmach/bmpitabread.shtml - and I made the dough in my bread machine - flattened out the circles with my nifty tool

Here are the little pitas on a cake rack about to go into a 500º oven - man that's hot...
but in no time at all they puff up...
See how pretty and poofy they are...
They're kind of hard when they come out of the oven so
you put them in a paper sack and they soften up and deflate...

My post number 352 - Cassady's 333

And she's having a contest - go here - http://shutupimcounting.blogspot.com/2007/11/333-contest-few-of-my-favorite-things.html and sign up...

Cass is like a 'home-girl' to me as she lives right across the mountains from where I grew up - one day we'll have to have a big meet up in Asheville...

Fruit Leather Failure

While I had the dehydrator out for the apples (one of our parishoners brought me two more bags full) - the Man-Cub asked what that funny white sheet was for - I said it was for making fruit leather - like fruit rollups - so he said 'can we?' - so I said 'of course'...

If anyone knows the proper way to make fruit leather (maybe Denise?) - please post and let me know.

I bought a pound of strawberries - frozen of course - this time of year...

put them in the blender and made a slushie...

Then I poured that on the funny little white sheet and put it in the dehydrator and turned it on - pretty simple - right...

That looks pretty doesn't it - so far so good...

Then when we tried to peel it off the sheet - it was stuck??? ARGHH.

But I was determined not to waste all those pretty strawberries so I scraped and scraped and scraped it off the sheet...

and the Man-Cub got some crinkly fruit roll ups - which tasted great anyway...

Vader Returns

Here are some pictures of last nights festivities. We had a lot of fun - I manned the 'Pumpkin Toss' - so lots of bending over and setting up for me (it was a toss the bean bag in the pumpkin bucket game - mostly they just knocked over the buckets).

This is 'Darth' just after he put on his apparatus. (I forgot to mention that 'Vader' decided against wearing the groin protector thingy - probably a good idea)

We went over to the church to show Papa and the Confirmation Class - yes he made them come to Confirmation on Halloween - ARGGH! - and he snapped a picture of 'Darth' with his captive...
At the Fall Festival they had a booth set up - for $1.00 you could get a picture in front of their snazzy background - so here 'Darth' poses...
And here is 'Darth' with his best friend the 'Headless Horseman'...
A few trick-or-treating shots...
mainly so you can see some more of the detail of the costume...
'Vader' had a hard time seeing out of his helmet and had to keep pulling down on his 'breather' so the eyes were in the proper place - even so - because of their convex nature things were distorted - I'm sure they were for the 'real' Vader as well...