How to make peanut butter cookies

Steve had to run lots of errands today, including several for me.  When it is below 15*F I don’t breathe well outside, so he was the errand man in the zero weather.

I decided I would surprise him with…

 

…peanut butter cookies.  I started with this recipe.  Checked to be sure I had all the ingredients.  Oh good, enough to make a double batch!  I put the butter in the microwave to soften.  Put the peanut butter and sugars into my mixing bowl and got to mixing with my super duper handy dandy kitchen aid mixer that I love so much.  Mmmmmm smells good already.   Can you smell it?  Added the eggs and mixed some more.  Then the flour and other ingredients.  Mixed some more.  It should be ready to put onto cookie trays.

Or not.  Wow.  It looked like gritty crumbly nasty pie dough with dirt mixed in.  What the hell?  Tried to make balls… it won’t hold together in fashion.  I have no idea what to do.

So I call my friend Mary Jane, who bakes alot of cookies.  She says to add oil.  Maybe another egg if I think it needs it.  Ok…..

I add oil.  More oil.  An egg.  More oil.  Not hanging together.  Add some milk.  More oil.  More milk.  FINALLY I can smoosh a ball together that mostly holds in a ball.   This is the weirdest experience of cookie baking I have ever had.

Baked the cookies.  All 8 dozen.  Steve thinks they are great!  Whew!  I feel successful!!  (I don’t eat PB cookies, so will have to take his word for it that they are great)

I cleaned up the kitchen, got the cookies bagged for the freezer and sat down to do some other things.  Several hours later I walk in the kitchen and notice the microwave says “Food is cooked”.  huh?  I don’t remember putting a cup of coffee in to reheat.  I know Steve didn’t because he was gone and hadn’t even been in the kitchen.  I open the microwave….

 

 

…yep… that softened butter ready to put in my cookies.

 

Oy.  Not feeling so successful.

We both laughed so hard that we cried!

Steve thinks they must be a diet version since they don’t have butter in them.  I am just glad they are edible and he is enjoying them.

Star Borders

I’ve been working on my star borders for my Feathered Star quilt.  And damn if they aren’t too big.  I haven’t done exact measurements yet, but I think I need to put in a 1/2″ finished coping strip.  At first I was NOT happy about that.

But you know what?  I think it NEEDS this strip in here.  What a great design opportunity to make it even better, right?  That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

 

If you double click on the photo, you will see the narrow strip of lighter green on the left side.  That is the fabric I plan to use for the coping strip.

 

Today was another snowy day.  Steve was gone most of the day so I quilted for about 5 hours, then worked on the border shown above.  This afternoon I took all the leftovers out of the fridge and put together dinner.  I was anxious to use my new pie plate and pie bird from Tumbleweed Pottery.  Neil and Yvonne sent it to me for Christmas.  They know I have several other pie birds and thought I would enjoy this.  I DO!

 

Isn’t it cute??

 

It worked perfectly for making a turkey pie with leftovers.  The pie plate is very deep.  Steve will be glad, he loves deep dish apple pie too.

 

Hope you all had a good day, no matter what you did!

Look what I won!

I won the apron from Lizzy Jo!  Wow, am I lucky.

It fits, it is comfy, and it is reversible.  Steve says I should wear one side for quilting, the other for cooking/eating.  Suppose I could, but I won’t.

Here it is:

If you look, you will see something turquoise hanging behind me.  That is my other apron that my friend Judy Whitehead made for me.  I wear it when quilting.  Now I will have a change of uniform with the apron from Lizzy Jo.

On another note, here is a cake recipe I made tonite.  We love it.  Peach pound cake.  Made with fresh peaches from my friend Phylis.

right out of the oven….

cooled, and on our plates.  We have plenty….. drop by for a piece of cake and cup of coffee.

Kitchen Bitch and WIP Wed

My pre-thanksgiving chores started last nite.  I made potato soup using Terri’s delicious recipe.  Since I had to chop onions and celery for that, I chopped the rest for the turkey stuffing.  It is in the fridge, ready for tomorrow.

So, the day before Thanksgiving is the day I am the chief kitchen bitch! Steve takes over tomorrow and does everything else.  I am so darn thankful he loves doing it.  I would just as soon eat a burger…. but that would be breaking tradition.  Steve cant have that!

Before noon, I had done this:

I also opened the cans of olives and cranberry sauce and put those in fancy containers….. called glad containers.  And popped them in the fridge.  Did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen.

Worked on some quilting while this was baking:

So tomorrow, Steve gets his turn at kitchen bitch.  I get to eat, quilt, and do the dishes.

Here are some things I have been doing in the quilt studio:

Ive been making some small gifts that I cant really show here, because the recipient might see them…..

and I have been trimming quilts to be ready to bind:

and making the bindings…. (7 quilts total to do)

Steve got all the curtain rods up in the studio.  And I got all the curtains up.  But then they needed tie backs, so I made them.  For 10 windows and 3 doors.

And its been a snowy week.  We have mostly stayed in, but yesterday we had to trek thru the crappy weather to get my feet casted for my shoe inserts.  I was so happy to come home and put my jammies on after a stressful drive.  I hope it will be good weather Friday for the annual boob smashing.  November seems to be medical month!

Steve and I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for….. each other, relative good health, a warm home, food on the table, a new studio, Steve’s quilting business is fairly steady, friends and some family that we remain close to….. all good.   We wish the same for all of you.

Delivery

The delivery guys made it.  They come up from a warehouse in Pittsburgh, and only make deliveries in our county once a week.  They called at 8:15 to say they were 20 minutes away.  15 minutes later they pulled in the driveway.

We had gotten about an inch of rain last nite, which helped melt some of the snow.  But this morning it was freezing rain and ice, so it looked yucky like this:

Steve quickly took the sliding door out of the track, while I unloaded the rest of the fridge.  The guys (there were 3) were pretty efficient.  They were gone by 9.  It took me until 1 or so to finish getting the kitchen all put back together.

The bonus with the sliding door is that it hadnt worked right for the last year.  Steve thought a wheel was broken on it.  It wasnt.  But a screw was loose, which dragged in the track.  Now that is fixed and the door works perfectly!

This is the only time the fridge will be this organized and clean, I am sure.

I think Elizabeth needs to send me some art for the bottom.

And here is my favorite:

Did you notice the pretty blue interior?  Steve says it is so clean and pretty, he hates to cook in it.  I kinda know what he means, but I plan to put a lasagna in tonite for a test.  I will just be thrilled if it isnt 75 degrees too hot like the old one.

The flat cooktop will be a new experience for both of us.  So will the convection part of the oven.  Like everything, I am sure we will get used to it soon enough.  Our other appliances were beige/off white.  These are bright white.  Sure makes things look brighter in the kitchen.

(What) Was I thinking?

What was I thinking? Translate that: Was I thinking??

Example 1:

Take 7 packages to the post office. 2 are already in boxes, labeled, ready to send. The other 5 need large envelopes or priority boxes. All 5 recipients in different states. All 5 have different contents. Some have similar contents. Pack up stuff in the appropriate envelope with the appropriate address, in the post office lobby while “catching up” with a friend I havent seen in a long time.

WRONG address on the packages. At least 2. Maybe more? I am still waiting to know. And of course, these are on the most important things I sent: my triptych art quilt pieces for the MQResource triptych challenge.

What was I thinking? Was I thinking?

Example 2:

I was cooking supper tonite, and see this…….

What was I thinking? Was I thinking?

And this is what I have been working on all afternoon:

I took the arch photo transfer, put it on a stabilizer, loaded it on the machine.

Then I tried to do some threadplay.  I have never done this.  Only in VERY small areas, not on a piece that is 8×10.  Which is funny….. cuz it is NOT 8×10 anymore.  Nowhere close.  I really should have started 4 or 5  inches bigger in each direction when I did the original photo print to transfer.   But then …… WAS I thinking?

My new machine is a dream.  It is running like a top.  The little piece above has 15 different thread colors/kinds in it so far.  I have even been able to run Signature variegated cotton, which I have never been able to do.  YAY!!

Quesadilla Chicken Casserole

Here is a recipe that I think I have finally refined to our taste. The one in the picture, I made yesterday. It was made with leftover turkey.

Quesadilla Chicken Casserole

2 cups diced chicken or turkey

1 10 oz can cheddar cheese soup

4 oz. pepper jack cheese, cubed or grated

1 16 oz jar chunky salsa

8 (8 inch) tortillas (corn or flour, as preferred)

1 10 oz can enchilada sauce

1 cup grated cheese (I like the taco flavor shredded)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat through completely, until pepper jack cheese is melted.

Grease bottom and sides of 8”x12” baking dish with shortening or cooking spray. Line bottom and sides of baking dish with 1 layer of tortillas. You can use any size of tortillas, just tear them to fill in the empty spots. Spoon half of cheesy chicken mixture over tortillas. Repeat with another layer of tortillas and then cheesy chicken mixture. Add one more layer of tortillas. Pour can of enchilada sauce on top. Sprinkle cheese on top of sauce.

Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake approximately 45 mins. Take cover off during last 10 minutes to brown the cheese.

You may want to serve with a dollop of sour cream and wedges of avocado, or a few black olives.

 

One of the reasons I like this recipe is that I can make it several hours ahead and refrigerate it until I pop it in the oven. That works really well with our longarm quilting schedule.