Sunday Sundry 5-21-23

It's been awhile since I did a Sunday Sundry post, a smorgasbord of this and that.  I have been sewing, too, so let's start with what I'm currently working on.

This four-patch quilt is coming along nicely.  It started with a pull of some fat quarter remnants and similar scraps I've accumulated over time.  These muted colors don't typically resonate with me when I'm fabric shopping, but somehow, by gift or thrift, I've ended up with enough of them such that they can all now live their best life together in a quilt.  I'm happy to do the honors.

When I saw this pattern on Mary Quilts, I decided it would work well for this project.  It's called Four Patches on the Diagonal. 

I actually have the top mostly together now except for the outer border, so you'll see it soon.  The more I work on it, the more I like it!

Happy Mail!

A few weeks ago, I got a happy mail package from The Joyful Quilter!  She sent me some nice John Deere themed fabric, as well as a couple bags chock full of blue and green scraps.  I was oohing and aahing over the green ones here.

I may be putting these to good use soon, as Jo's Country Junction is doing a YouTube tutorial series on a scrappy star block quilt she is calling Picadilly Circus.  It looks like fun!

Joyful also included a fun mug rug.  The happy colors make me smile! :)

Like Another Hole in the Head

I had my ears re-pierced a few weeks ago.  Yay!  Since I quit in-office work a dozen or so years ago and thus didn't wear earrings regularly, one of them had completely closed and the other needed way too much effort to shove a post through.  So I met my daughter at the tattoo and piercing salon and we made an afternoon of it, shopping and having lunch after the deed was done.

We even stopped at the thrift store and made a pretty good clothing haul.  Dear daughter spotted this colorful shirt on the rack and waved it as I was getting ready to check out, and I gave it an enthusiastic nod (under $4, I think it was).  It's a Lands End rash guard with UPF 50. 

I tried it on at home and it fit perfectly (always an iffy proposition with my long arms).  Having had my first skin check in February this year (and the scars to prove it; nothing cancerous, thankfully), I probably need to get serious about protecting my skin.

Suddenly Spring!

It took forever for spring to arrive—or feel like it was sticking around, anyway—but it finally seems to have made up its mind.  I planted flowers this past week, mostly in pots scattered here and there around the house.  

Lily of the Valley always reminds me of my grandma.  She had a patch of it in one of her gardens, but she also had some kind of scented powder that smelled like it.  

I did battle with it in the flower bed on the north side of my house, but it persists in finding a way through the cracks.  Ah, well.  I pinch off a sprig and inhale and am transported back to Grandma's house on Hubbard Street all those years ago.

Today was also my first bike ride of the season.  We did a respectable 15 miles with a couple rests stops along the way to give my knees a break.  The idea of an e-bike is looking better every year, but I'd like to keep pedaling under my own power as long as I can.  We tend to bike fairly flat trails so it's still doable for now. 

It was about as perfect a day for biking as there could be!

It's rhubarb season, and I picked a fresh batch a couple days ago.  Earlier this month, I used up the last of the frozen rhubarb and some mulberries from last summer in a rhubarb-berry crisp.  Delicious!

~Paulette

Making Mock Apple Pie

Here in the Upper Midwest, September means apple season and all the good things that go along with it.  Apple pie, turnovers, caramel apples, apple crisp—the list goes on and on.  My favorite variety has always been Cortland, followed in close second place by Macintosh, and then anything else that's a bit more tart than sweet. 

So with all the ripe, authentic bounty of the apple orchard, why in the world would I want to make a mock apple pie?  Well, it all comes down to my sensitive digestion (darn it).  I love apples, but they no longer love me. 

You see, apples are a big source of FODMAPs, an acronym for certain types of carbohydrates that IBS sufferers like me have trouble digesting.  I won't bore you with the entire list of delicious foods I've had to break up with, but if you ever need a good cry and want something to tip you over the edge, do an internet search on FODMAPs.

Anyway, as I passed by a loaded apple tree on my walk the other day, I wondered if there was a recipe for mock apple pie that I could eat.  Not the old RITZ cracker mock apple pie (no thanks, gluten) that I remember printed on every box in my youth.  But maybe something made with, say, zucchini?  Zucchini is a low-FODMAP vegetable that I tolerate well and, given its basic blandness, might be amenable to the ruse.  It also happens to be that lucky time of year when gardener friends are desperate to share their overgrown zucchini, the ones that look  like baseball bats.

So I sat down to Google "mock apple pie recipes with zucchini" and found...it's definitely a thing!  

After scanning the ingredient list of a half dozen such recipes, I finally settled on one that had a lower amount of sugar (see the above preference for tart over sweet).  It was this recipe for Zapple Pie.  You're going to want to click that link and save it.  Trust me.

Then I got down to business.  First order of business:  Procure a big-ass zucchini.  Luckily, my sister had just been gifted one and let me have it.  Literally, that is; she didn't bop me with it, although it did resemble a small club.

I substituted my own gluten-free pie crust in this recipe.  I mixed that together and put the pie dough in the refrigerator to chill.

Then I peeled and de-seeded the zucchini and cut it into slices.  The recipe called for 6 cups, but I used 8, thinking it'd cook down (it did somewhat, but surprisingly not that much).  Also, I just like more pie filling.

Next, I simmered the zucchini in lemon juice for 5 minutes, then added in the sugar, spices, and tapioca.  I used tapioca flour in place of the Minute tapioca because that's what I had on hand.  After simmering another 5 minutes or so, it had thickened up nicely and totally looked like apple pie filling!

As that was set aside to cool a bit, I pressed half my gluten-free pie crust into a square glass pan.  My gluten-free crust recipe tends to be crumbly and doesn't always roll out as well as a regular flour crust does, but I've learned that patting it in the pan works out fine.  I patted it in the bottom and about an inch up the sides of the pan.

After the filling was added to the bottom crust, I flattened out the other half of the crust as best I could, then lifted sections of it with a spatula onto the top of the filling.  I proceeded like that, adding sections of crust and fitting them together until the top was covered.

Let's call it rustic.  It sounds nicer than "cobbled together."  By the way, this is the first time I've baked a two-crust pie in a square pan.  I normally use a round pie plate, but I decided to try a slab pie this time.  I may make more pies this way from now on.  Not very pretty, but easier and just as good.

I brushed the top with some almond milk and sprinkled on about a tablespoon or so of coarse granulated sugar, and popped it into the oven.  Pretty soon, the house smelled wonderful!

After it had baked per the directions, I took it out to cool.  I could hardly wait to try it, but I knew it had to cool almost completely before I cut into it.  I went for a long walk.  When I came back it was still a bit warm, but my patience had given out.  I cut a piece and took a bite.

Ding-ding-ding!  It tasted JUST LIKE APPLE PIE!!  Had I not made it myself, I would not believe it wasn't real apple pie!  It hit all the marks for taste, texture, and just the right amount of tangy sweetness.

Yes, yes, yes!  I will definitely make Zapple Pie again!  I know I'm using way too many exclamation points, but I am so stoked that this pie turned out so well.  It's the little things that make me happy!  Except it feels like a BIG win to enjoy a piece of what tastes like real apple pie!

So tell me, have you ever made or eaten mock apple pie?  If you like apples, do you have a favorite kind?

~Paulette

This and That

Last week, we were marveling how nice it was to be able to go for a walk in December with temps hovering near 50.  Then the weekend came and with it snow, enough to get the snowblower humming to clear the driveway.  It's definitely beginning looking a lot like Christmas here in Wisconsin.

Mm, zucchini bread fresh from the oven on a snowy weekend. What could be better?  Okay, losing 10 pounds, maybe, but let's not go there.  Besides, I wasn't going to let those two zucchini in the fridge go to waste.  (To waist?  Oh, dear.)

I've tried a lot of gluten-free, dairy-free zucchini bread recipes through the years, but I think I've finally settled on my own that I've adapted from a "regular" recipe.  I substitute one-third of the flour with almond flour, and make up the rest with gluten-free flour (I've used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and Great Value brand gluten-free flour from Walmart with success).  I use almond milk instead of regular milk.  Here's the complete recipe:

Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread

1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk + 1/2 t. vinegar (let curdle a few minutes)

1/3 c. white sugar

1/3 c. brown sugar

3 T. avocado oil (or your oil of choice)

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. gluten-free flour

1/2 c. almond flour

1/2 t. xanthan gum (improves texture of gluten-free baked goods)

2 T. ground flax

1-1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. sea salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 c. shredded zucchini (I use the food processor, no need to drain)

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a small bowl, stir together the gluten-free flour, almond flour, xanthan gum, flax, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vanilla, sugars, and milk.  Stir in shredded zucchini.  Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir until combined.  Pour into greased loaf pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.  Makes 1 loaf.

This recipe also makes a good carrot bread.  Just use a cup of shredded carrots in place of the zucchini.

* * * * *

I ran into a bit of a snag with the neckties project.  The interfacing was not adhering well to the tie fabrics.  I had ordered a whole bolt of Pellon 911FF featherweight fusible interfacing based on what I'd read others had used when making necktie quilts.  Well, it just wasn't working for me.  It would partially adhere, or adhere but then release when I started sewing the pieces together.  I made just this one sample block and then decided to do some more research.

(All from neckties - love that red/purple print!)

According to the Pellon website, the better interfacing for silk and acetate is their 865F Bi-Stretch Lite interfacing, which is a lightweight woven with an adhesive with a lower melting point.  I'll admit the "stretch" part of the description concerns me a little bit, but we'll see.  I've ordered several yards of that and it should arrive sometime this week, if it's not delayed due to the holiday package volume.  Fingers crossed it arrives and does what it needs to do, as I'd like to get at least one of the tie projects done by Christmas.

* * * * * 

I have made a baby quilt for a little boy who's due in January.  I used a free pattern on Jo's Country Junction called Stacking Bricks.  It turned out super cute!

I had this fun little robot fabric in my stash, so I pulled some bright scraps to coordinate with it.  I cut the outer border at 4.5 inches instead of the 2.5-inch border in the pattern, so I could see more of those endearing little robots!

The backing was pieced from some of the leftover bricks running down the center, and a striped binding finished it off.

Grateful

It's been an extremely cold week here in the Upper Midwest.  But the mercury has risen a full 60 degrees higher than where it was just a few days ago.  It's a balmy 35 degrees Fahrenheit right now, and foggy and drizzly.  

A perfect day for baking. 

I just tried a new recipe for carrot banana muffins and it was AMAZING.  You can find the recipe (and much better pictures) HERE.  I've eaten two fresh from the oven, and think I'm going to need to have my husband hide the rest from me.  They're that good.

And the house smells wonderful, wafted with the scent of warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger baked goodness.

As I was grating the carrots for this recipe, I remembered a crafty project I had done back in the fall (when I was on a break from blogging).  It was a creative idea for repurposing a kitchen grater from Carlene at Organized Clutter (link to the how-to).

How many vintage graters have I walked past at the thrift stores over the years?  And now that I'd found a sweet little crafty use for them, do you think I could find one?  Of course not.  Thankfully, there was eBay, where the best deal happened to be on a two-fer.  If one is good, two is "grater", right?

Instead of chalk paint, as the tutorial mentions, I enlisted the help of my hubby who is pretty good with a can of spray paint.  He hung them from the clothesline on a nice day and gave them a good going over with some cream colored Rustoleum we had sitting on a basement shelf.

Then I gave them a little shabbying up with a bit of sandpaper and used some brown wax, otherwise known as shoe polish, to further distress them.  Then went over the whole thing with clear wax and buffed with a soft cloth.

I thought I'd probably find the label holders in the scrapbook section at JoAnn, but that was a bust.  I found them instead on Amazon.  

I had fun creating the magnets from old buttons, a metal bobbin, and a dab of hot glue.

That's me and my grandma, the one I had mentioned in the last post.  She had come from Louisiana to visit us back in the 1960s.  While she was here, we drove to Door County, Wisconsin to pick cherries.  From the look on my face, they must have been a little sour.

And that's my dad when he was a young teenager, having picked a bag of garden lettuce on the family truck farm.

I initially thought of these as Thanksgiving decor, but I still have them out on display.  Being grateful is always in season!

Two Weeks from Everywhere

I am without running water in the kitchen at the moment, due to a leaky faucet.  This is one of those faucets that doubles as a sprayer with a removable handle and telescoping hose.  The faucet itself is fine, but the hose developed a leak, resulting in a minor flood under the sink that was, thankfully, caught early.

The plumber was out last week to address the situation.  He said it'd be a matter of replacing a) the hose, at a cost of $$ plus a half hour's labor, or b) the entire faucet, at a cost of $$$ plus two hours' labor.  We chose a).

The problem, however, was finding the replacement hose.  A large plumbing supply store failed to have one available, so the plumber called the manufacturer, Delta, and was advised it could be ordered.

"It'll be here in about two weeks," he said.

Which made me laugh.  Not the reaction one might expect, faced with the reality of being without water in the kitchen for that long.  But I was thinking of the scene from one of my favorite movies, O'Brother Where Art Thou, where George Clooney's character goes into the general store in Middle of Nowhere to get a part for his truck...and some hair pomade (see clip here).

So we're toting water in buckets from the nearest working faucet (which happens to be in the basement) to cook, clean counter tops, and rinse dishes.  In other words, multitasking, getting some exercise in with the usual kitchen chores. Thankfully, the dishwasher still works.

* * * * *
While we're in the kitchen, I thought I'd share a recipe I came up with recently, when the idea of reheating some leftover plain rice to have alongside supper one night seemed ho-hum.

It turned out tasting like something I'd want to remember how to make again, so I jotted down how it went together and titled it Carrot Rice Pilaf.  Maybe a better name for it would be Golden Rice, because of its lovely color due to the turmeric. 

It is baked it in a covered dish in the oven, but I've also made it from scratch with raw rice on the stove top (following the usual method of making rice, but tossing in the other ingredients with the raw rice).  Honestly, I prefer the baked version.

If you're sensitive to gluten and/or FODMAPs, this fits the bill.  It can be dairy-free as well if you use a nondairy butter substitute. 

Carrot Rice Pilaf (Golden Rice)

2 cups of cooked (leftover) rice
1/2 carrot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon Tajin seasoning (or regular salt)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh chives (or 1 teaspoon dry chives)
2 Tablespoons melted butter (I used ghee, or clarified butter)
2 Tablespoons slivered almonds
1/4 cup water

Combine everything in a baking dish.  Cover and bake 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Optional:  We splashed on some Bragg Liquid Aminos (or you could use soy sauce) and chopped cilantro, and it took it to another level.  Next time, I am going to try adding the Bragg's (about 1 Tablespoon, I'm guessing) right into to the mix before it goes into the oven.

Going Fourth

I hope those of you in the States are having a magnificent 4th of July! It's been a pretty low key holiday for us, and that's just fine.  We did do a little grilling at suppertime, since the weather was not just cooperative but spectacular.  After I get done with this post, I'm looking forward to taking a walk at sunset and enjoying the beautiful evening.

Are you a cloud watcher?  I sure am.  Is there a better word for someone who likes looking at the changing sky?  (No, not an airhead or space cadet, thanks brain.)  We live in a fairly level area but with some gently rolling hills.  My favorite walking route takes me up a couple small hills that are great vantage points for cloud watching or sky-gazing, and, in the fall, noticing the changing colors of foliage.  It's a highlight of my day, strolling along, feeling the breeze or the humidity, as the case may be, the warmth of the sun as it sinks toward the horizon.  Listening to an audiobook or sometimes just the birds...or barking dogs...or the highway...or the lawnmowers...or the Med-Flight helicopter...

Although I haven't blogged for a month, I have taken a lot of pictures.  In general, there hasn't been a whole lot of quilting and sewing, though there has been some.  There are plenty of other things to engage and distract me this time of year.  Here are a few of June's highlights—in alphabetical order, how about that.

Backing - Baking (with Beets!) - Biking - Bird-watching:

Family (Father's Day) - Flora:

Listening:


Mini-Making - Mural Marveling:

 

Planting - Picking:

Quilting:

Reading - Relaxing:

 Watching (Wrestling!):