Roasted tomato sauce

I like to kick off the tomato-sauce-making season with roasted sauce. It's perfect when you have a fair amount of tomatoes, but now enough to justify going through all the effort of canning. I found this recipe years ago in Everyday Food (you're the best, Martha), and have made it countless times since.

I start by coating my pans with plenty of olive oil, thyme, salt & pepper, then layer sliced onions, and halved & cored tomatoes. Add a little more oil on top, and toss them in the oven.

After about an hour or so they look like this.

I let them cool on the counter for a bit, and then pinch off the tomato skins.

Then I toss everything in a pot, and break out the emulsion blender. (This is the best thing ever -- and so cheap!)

Sometimes I puree just a little bit, and sometimes I make it smooth. I let it cook down for a little while, then let it cool and get it ready for the freezer. Damn, it's good!

Scrap quilting part 3: hand piecing

Okay, here we go, ready to finally start sewing. I decided to hand piece (as opposed to using a sewing machine) because I wanted a portable project that I could easily take with me anywhere. Also, I really don't like all the noise a sewing machine makes. Here's how I do it:

1. With right sides together, insert a pin into one corner, making sure they line up exactly.

2. Insert a threaded needle into the other corner.

3. Continue pinning, making sure the pin lines up perfectly along the guides.

4. Start sewing, beginning with a backstitch (you don't knot threads when quilting).

5. Make little stitches along the guide.

6. Before pulling the needle through, check the other side to make sure you're sewing on the guide.

7. End with a backstitch and snip the tread.

8. Admire your work.

9. Rub your fingernail along the seam to press it.

10. Sew three strips.

11. The seams flip each row (press away from center, press to center, press away from center).

12. Insert a pin right beside a seam along the guides.

13. Check the front to make sure the pin is as close to the seam as possible.

14. Line the pin up with the other strip, again making sure everything is lined up.

15. Insert another pin, so that there are pins in the middle seams.

16. Lining up the seams, continue pinning.

17. Do the same steps with a third pin, and insert a threaded needle into the opposite end.

18. Sew along the guide until you get the the first seam. Make a backstitch right up next to the seam.

19. Sew though the seam. Then repeat the same steps on the other side of the seam.

20. Repeat until you have your completed square.

20. Flip the piece over and push the seams in this complicated pattern. (And yes, I know there are two number 20's but I'm too far along at this point to fix it.)

21. Press gently with an iron, and admire your handiwork!

Cooking the "KAF Guaranteed" recipes: dinner rolls

Ever since I got my KitchenAid stand mixer, I've been trying to find easy & successful recipes for yeast breads. Well, I think I might have stumbled upon a damn good source: the King Arthur Flour Guaranteed Recipes. To quote their website, these recipes don't call for any hard-to-find ingredients, and they've been tested over and over again -- so they're practically guaranteed to come out tasty.

Today, we're baking soft white dinner rolls. The ingredients are pretty simple -- the only 2 things that didn't have in my pantry were dry milk and instant mashed potatoes. But, they were cheap and I didn't mind spending a little money to see how this came out.
You start like you do with any yeast bread, with the yeast. You need to add the yeast to warm water and wait 15 minutes for it to activate. Do yourself a favor, and set the timer. Otherwise, you're sure to rush it. Another hint, if you're making this in a KitchenAid mixer, warm the metal bowl with hot water before you start.

While the yeast is doing its thing, get your dry ingredients measured and ready to go. My favorite method for measuring is with a scale. I bought one of these after my last cooking class, and I really love it. Before, measuring flour was a headache: is the flour too dense, too loose, is it really a proper measurement? No need to worry with a scale: 12 3/4 oz. is 12 3/4 oz. And, the King Arthur Flour recipes have a radio button, where you can choose whether you would like your recipe given in cups or ounces -- brilliant!

Then, add you ingredients all together in the mixing bowl, make sure everything is incorporated well, and then let the dough hook work its magic. (Again, set the timer and walk away -- way less stress that way.)

Then you put the dough in a bowl for its 1st rise -- about an hour or so until it's doubled. If I'm pressed for time, I'll set my oven for 100 degrees and put the bowl in the oven to help it along -- but if it's a sunny day I'll just put the bowl in a sunny spot.

Once the dough is ready, you'll divide it up into 16 pieces. I like to use my handy-dandy dough scraper for this job.

Then you put the pieces into buttered pans for their second rising -- again, about an hour or until doubled in size. Then, you bake them in the oven for about a half hour.

Viola! Hot, freshly baked rolls, ready for butter. I have to say this recipe was really, really good. We ate about half of them the 1st night, and the other half were gone in a day or two. But then again I have a roll-loving husband, who said to me with a mouth full of warm roll: "yeah, you can make these again."

Scrap quilting part 2: getting ready to sew

Continuing my scrap quilting series, here are the next steps after your pieces have been cut:

Arrange your squares. This can either be the most fun part, or the trickiest part. I guess my approach is to have each little 9-patch have it's own story. Sometimes I just arrange by color and pattern or sometimes I select squares that come from the same time in my life. They're all different, and that's part of the magic of a scrap quilt. 

Once I have my nine squares selected, I use a template to draw a 1 inch square on the wrong side of the fabric. (I found the template at an art supply store.) I use a thin-tip permanent marker, which may be the wrong thing to do, but it works for me.

After all the squares are marked, I pile them up in order (cause there's nothing worse than forgetting how you had them arranged and have to start all over again), and pin them together. 

And after a little trial and error, here are the supplies I've chosen to use. The thread is a Mettler off white 100% cotton thread made in Germany. The needles are tiny, and took some getting used to, but they don't bend -- they're made in England.

My pins are 1 and half inch long, and very sharp -- they're from Japan.

And here's my little kit. I love that I can take my supplies anywhere in this little bag. Once last note -- it's important to have good scissors (I'm using Gingher).

Seed planting

It's about 6 weeks until our last frost, so it's time to start my indoor seedlings. This year I decided to try growing more plants from seed instead of buying plants. I've been looking forward to this all winter!

After a trip to the hardware store, I decided to try the Jiffy peat pellets (1). They only costs 10 cents each, and so far they've been easy and fun to work with. You just add water (2), wait a few minutes until they fully expand (3), and then peel back the netting (4).

I planted a few seeds in each peat pellet. 

I set up a little mini greenhouse in my studio. I cleared off a whole row of shelves to make room for all my new babies: peppers, lots of herbs (dill, oregano, basil, thyme, parsley) and plenty of flowers (mostly impatiens because they did so great last year). All that's left to do now is to wait.

It's the economy, stupid

I have to admit that all this bad economic news is getting to me. Ricardo & I had our own "economic summit" a few weekends ago to go over our finances, and surprise-surprise, the conclusion was that we need to cut costs where we can.


I do most of the grocery shopping, and I think I'm a pretty good home economist, but I wanted to see for myself how much I spend per meal on a critical ingredient: meat.


Another thing I have to admit, is that I'm really choosy about my meat. Basically at this point I buy almost all of it at Whole Foods or at an occasional shopping spree at the local farmers market. Not to get all lecture-y or preach-y, but gone are the days when I can buy Purdue chicken or random ground beef from Safeway. Anyway, here's my recent bulk haul from Whole Foods: boneless chicken breasts, spicy pork Italian sausage, ground beef, and some pork.

How much does all of this cost per meal? Is one cheaper than the other? I have no idea, so let's find out. Follow me as I prepare the food for the freezer...

First, I started with the ground beef. I put aside some for tonight's taco dinner (avocados are in season and only cost a buck a piece), and I decide to make the rest into hamburgers. I pulled out one of my Weber cookbooks, and found a simple recipe for hamburgers (thanks to my dried herbs from my garden).

Okay, in a few minutes I have 6 hamburgers (3 meals) ready.

Here they are, packaged for the freezer. It may not be grilling weather just yet, but I want to be ready on the first warm day.

Next up, boneless chicken breasts. Ricardo used to give me a hard time about buying chicken from Whole Foods, but compared to Safeway's organic brand, it's much cheaper and way better tasting. Ricardo and I can only eat a half breast between the two of us, so I cut them up and trim off the yucky parts.

Then, the trouble starts. Samantha smells chicken.

Samantha loves any kind of bird. But raw chicken is her favorite.

When I take too long to fill up her treat bowl with the scraps, she climbs up as high as she can, giving out a loud, demanding meow.

Okay, Samantha's head is now deep in her bowl, allowing me to finish cutting up the chicken, and sealing them up in individual bags, and then packing four servings together in another bag, for an added layer of protection.

And here's the spicy Italian pork sausage, each one wrapped in parchment so they won't stick together, then put in a big zip lock. I don't usually buy 8 at a time, but they were on sale, and Ricardo loves sausage on his pizza. (I like to peel the label off the package and stick it in the bag.)

Here's everything, ready for the freezer. If you decide to do this, make sure you label the packages with the date. I used to think I'd remember what's what, but it's all too easy to get confused. (I use freezer tape, and I love it -- it stays on but is also easy to peel off with no residue.) Also, I've been re-using my ziplock bags in another attempt to save money -- it's kinda a pain in the neck to wash them, but I figure it's worth the extra effort.

And here's everything put away in my giant freezer (along with a lot of other stuff like my homemade raviolis, chicken broth, tomato sauce and pesto).

I broke out the calculator, and was pretty pleased with the results.

Cost for a dinner for two:

boneless chicken breasts: $2.75

ground beef: $2.85

sausage: $1.08 (but there's also the cost of cheese to consider)

pork cutlets: $2.71

Not bad!

Linen closet makeover

Our house is over 70 years old, and the linen closet was definitely showing its age. I've been putting off this project for a while now, but a long weekend in February seemed like the perfect time to get started. Like all home projects, it took about 3 times longer than I anticipated, and required an extra trip to the hardware store (Strosniders, what would I do without you?).


Here's the before shot of the closet. Try not to be too judgmental -- I know it's pathetic. We'd been using the closet for anything but linens, because it was just too yucky inside.
Once I took everything out, it looked even worse. I had originally planned on re-papering the side shelves, but when I saw how shabbily they had been installed (not sure why I never noticed this before), I knew they had to go.

So I ripped out the side shelves and started spackling.

Then I realized I better remove all the shelves so I don't miss any spots, so out came the hammer again. (And the cats did not appreciate this.)

I put on two coats of paint, and installed the shelves I picked up at Strosniders (they really do have everything in that store) -- and look, it's like brand new!

But the job still wasn't done -- I had to wash all of our sheets, towels and blankets that had been stuffed in boxes for almost a year and a half. Folding was the worst part -- I just don't have patience for it. The stuff that was old and didn't fit got added to the thrift store pile.

My favorite part is the handy little hooks I installed -- how cute is that? (I think I've spent way too many hours working in the closet -- I've clearly lost it.)


Now I just need Ricardo to finish refinishing the closet door, but in the meantime I'll enjoy the view of our organized closet.

Introducing my “lifetime project”

My lifetime project is a postage stamp quilt. I call it my lifetime project because the scraps of fabric that will make up the quilt have been collected during my lifetime. My Mom made a patchwork scrap quilt when I was little, and I always loved being able to point to a fabric and remember where it came from. (Luckily my Mom saved some of these old fabrics, and they'll be incorporated into my own quilt.)


I first came up with this idea in 1991, when I purchased this book and fell in love with this scrap quilt from 1935 which is comprised of over 5,000 1 inch pieces. (That's my first test 9-patch on the pattern page.)

The first step in making a quilt is cutting the clean, pressed fabric. I've been collecting Ricardo's old shirts for a while now -- it was time to slice them up for the quilt.

I recently bought this fancy ruler thingy with cutting slots that makes the job much easier.

After I cut each piece of fabric I pile up all the little squares...

...and stack them into neat little piles.

Unfortunately the piles tend to get messed up -- I've never come up with a good organizational system.

This box of squares cut up years and years ago is completely out of control.


Next up: hand piecing