Recipes – Page 10 – Thimbleanna

April’s Recipe Box Swap

30 Comments / April 2, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Recipes

It’s the first Thursday in April, so that means it’s time for another recipe box swap. Our hostess, Randi, at I Have to Say, has chosen Pasta as our theme this month (well, ok, I helped choose LOL).

My pasta recipe is suspiciously a lot like the one that Randi posted. This is one of our new favorites. I wrote it down in one of my recipe books years ago and never tried it. A few months ago, I was looking for something new so I tried this recipe, and now we have it all the time. (And SweetiePie, I’m betting you and TheFirstChild would like this too.)

Smoked Sausage Primavera

8 oz. uncooked spaghetti — broken in half
8 oz. sausage, cut in slices (we like kielbasa)
1 head fresh broccoli, or 3 cups frozen broccoli
1/4 c. water
3/4 c. evaporated skim milk (I’ve substituted heavy cream before and it was fine)
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti. Place sausage, veggies, and water in skillet. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 7 to 8 minutes or until veggies are crisp/tender.

Add milk, butter, and seasoning to skillet. Heat until butter melts. Toss mixture with spaghetti and parmesan. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken.

On an unrelated subject, here’s a little addendum to the twitter conversation we had a few posts back. I still don’t get it. I do get that it’s not facebook and that it could be a powerful tool, but I don’t get how it has much use to me. I’ve been very sad to see several bloggers move to facebook and now some are heading to twitter. Hopefully they won’t abandon their blogs, but I do think their blogs suffer. Because I’m a visual person, twitter just doesn’t appeal to me, and having another account to keep track of is even MORE unappealing.

All that said however, I have been reading of one AWESOME use of twitter. If you have some spare reading time, check out the story of twitchhiker who traveled half-way around the world, and all for free. If I could do that, I’ll bet I’d love twitter!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

A Bunch of Random

42 Comments / March 5, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Crafting, Recipes

It’s the first Thursday of the month so that means it’s time for another recipe box swap. As always, Randi, at I Have to Say, is hosting and this month it’s a no-theme month, so we can post one of our favorite recipes.

I have a new favorite this month! When we had our quilty peep sewing day last weekend, Peep Jewels brought an awesome Lemon Dessert. I LOVE creamy foods and nuts and this recipe combines the two. Jewels has very kindly allowed me to share this recipe — I think you’ll like it, especially if you need something good for your next friend or family get-together. You can find the recipe HERE. Thanks Jewels for sharing your great recipe! (Excuse that stray nut in the creamy top, it jumped up there from the crust.)

I’ve recently been given several awards and {gasp} I can’t remember who they’ve been from. Two that I do remember were from the adorable Petits Details and Not-So-Plain Jane. They both have beautiful blogs that I enjoy reading, and just like Jewel’s Lemon Dessert, I think you’ll enjoy them too. If you’ve given me an award and I’ve forgotten it, I’m so sorry — it’s a well known fact here in ThimbleannaLand that I’m forgetful and that I’m just awful with awards. They make me blush. Anyway, thanks are in order, so THANK YOU. I do very much appreciate the blog love!

And while we’re on the subject of extreme blogging kindness and my awful manners, Ms. Geranium sent me a cute little Valentine pillow and I’m dreadfully late in expressing my thanks. In my defense, apparently the postman was fondling my pillow, because the postal service had it for 2 1/2 weeks. It could have gone to Scotland and back twice in that amount of time! So, THANK YOU Sharon, I love my new little pillow and I’m looking forward to adding it to my Valentine decorations every year. Isn’t it cute?

Thanks to Woollie Wanderings (another fabulous new discovery) I found out that the woman who did all those teeny tiny sweaters for Coraline lives right here in Indiana. If you haven’t been to her website, you should check it out — her art is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. (And look Cassie — she has 10 yr. old triplets, too!)

After the last post, Miss Marzie asked if she could see more of the pendants that the quilty peeps and I made last weekend. Of course you can … and please excuse my poor manners! We shamelessly copied some of the Keep Calm and Carry On knock-offs. We also tried a new thing this time … we put fabric on the back side of some of them. It worked out surprisingly well. This one is 2 x 2 inches.

Can you read this one ok? Is says I Am (next time I’ll put I’m) a Material Girl (want to see my fabric?) I really like the fabric that we put on the back of this one. This one is 1 x 3 inches.

This one is probably my favorite, with my all-time favorite quote from Despair.com. They have some REALLY funny stuff over there and I’ve been a huge fan for years. And boy, if there’s ever been a better time for their de-motivational stuff, now is it!

And finally, I’ll leave you with a shot of my two little buddies. Whenever I’m on the computer, they insist on lying on the desk by me. I put them on the floor…they jump back up…I put them on the floor…they jump back up…over and over again. I finally gave up and put a blanket up here to protect the desk. I figured I could spend all my time messing with the kitties, or I could get something done. TheManoftheHouse is having a Cow. But then, he’s in the other room and the kitties know that. ;-) These are going to be two very sad kitties when little Paul has to go back home. ;-(

Whew! That’s it. I’m sure you’re relieved — if you’re still with me — I heart you! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

A Good Weekend

62 Comments / March 2, 2009 February 12, 2012 / Peep Days, Recipes

Well Hello! Did all you invisible friends have a good weekend? Mine was pretty busy with activities that ranged from some cleaning, knitting and then ripping out that which was knitted, and stripping wallpaper. Good clean fun! In the middle of it all I had a wonderful day with my quilty peeps (we missed you Gurney!) We like to get together every now and then for a sewing day, and Saturday was the day.

We started the day off by teaching the peeps how to make soldered pendants. I’m paying forward the skills that Beckie taught me just over a year ago. I sure wish Beckie had been here though — I think I’m not quite up to Beckie’s standards. The pendants I made at Beckie’s are still my best ones. Anyway, Junie and Jewels did a great job — I hope they’ll try them again.

Shortly before lunchtime, MeMum joined us which added to the fun. We stopped soldering so that we could make an appetizer (more on that later). Then I made lunch while Junie finished up her pendants, Jewels started sewing and MeMum got her project unpacked.

After lunch, it was back to work. Junie worked on an Amy Butler bag. This is the lining. I forgot to get a shot of the rest of the fabric — I think it was Amy Butler fabric and I loved it. The handles were big blue/gray polkadots.

Jewels worked on a bunny pincushion. She’s a HUGE I Love Lucy fan and she decided to use some of the cute new Lucy fabric in her bunny. This is going to be one adorable bunny!

And MeMum worked on binding her flying geese quilt. She hand quilted this quilt, which as you know, takes a long time, so it will be fun to see this quilt finally finished.

And I worked on….puttering. Didn’t get much done. I had a hard time deciding what to do and finally just ended up cutting out some blocks. Not much exciting to show there.

So … back to that appetizer. MyDadLovesMeBestSister is the queen of fabulous Brie recipes and she made some last year for SweetiePie’s wedding shower. I liked one of them so much I made it for my book group in December and it was a big hit. Junie hosted a wedding shower last weekend and she used it too. Since she had some extra ingredients, we decided to make it for our sewing day and take pictures for all of you invisible friends — you know, just in case you need a great appetizer recipe to add to your repertoire.

You will need:
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 Small wheel Brie Cheese (the one pictured here was perfect for the four of us, but I used a bigger size for my book group)
1 small jar apricot preserves
1 bag slivered almonds

We debated about whether to trim the crust off of the Brie or not. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I didn’t trim it and it was fine. But Junie did trim it, so she showed me how she did it. I’ll probably trim the crust from now on — I think it makes the finished brie easier to cut into and it’s good to make things easy on your guests.

The package of pastry should have two sheets in it. Place one sheet on top of the other one and roll them out into a 14 inch square.

Take the cover of the Brie and press it lightly onto the puff pastry. This will give you a guide for placing your ingredients.

Sprinkle a layer of almonds onto the puff pastry.

Spoon some apricot preserves onto the almonds. We made the layer about 1/4 inch thick.

Place the Brie wheel on top of the apricot preserves.

Pull the corners of the puff pastry up around the Brie. Trim off excess dough and then put a bit of water on your fingers and then onto the dough to help seal the seams.

Flip the brie pastry over and place seam side down onto a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash (one egg whisked with a tablespoon or two of water) and place some decorative cutouts (from the leftover puff pastry) onto the brie.

Finish by brushing the entire puff pastry with the egg wash. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes. To keep from browning too much, we tented aluminum foil over the Brie for the first 15 minutes. After 25 minutes, I thought it could use a little more time, so I bumped the temperature up to 400 degrees and kept an eye on it for another 5 to 10 minutes. I really don’t think 25 minutes is quite long enough to get the brie nice and soft.

Remove from oven and Voila! Serve with crackers while still warm. This is YUMMY, Yummy!!! I promise, your guests will love it.

Thank you, Thank you Junie, Jewels and MeMum for spending a fabulous day together (and for being the hand models in my pictures LOL.) A day spent with the quilty peeps and MeMum is the BEST! I hope we can do it again soon.

XOXO,
Anna

You Say Potato…

42 Comments / February 17, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Recipes

Well, how’s it going out there? Are you all still on a Valentine’s luuuuv high?

Not much going on around here. We’re having a quiet week. Our little Valentine dinner on Saturday night was Wunderbar (if I do say so myself!) so I thought I’d post the potato recipe that I made. We love these potatoes, but they’re expensive to make, so it doesn’t happen very often. And the expense is compounded because I always make them with the Steak Au Poivre* recipe, because the sauce made for the steak is awesome and even though these potatoes are plenty moist, they’re even better when they’re dragged through the steak sauce.

Potatoes Savoyarde

1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. finely chopped parsley
1/2 lb. (or a little more — the more the better!) Gruyere cheese, shredded (Gruyere is very expensive and you could probably use other cheeses, but I think Gruyere cheese is why we love this dish so much.)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 – 6 russet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (this is a very generous amount — I think you could get by with a little less.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees**. Brush the bottom and sides of the baking dish with melted butter. In a small bowl, stir together the garlic, parsley, cheese, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Layer 1/3 of the potatoes in the prepared baking dish, sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the potatoes, and dot with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Repeat once more. Then, layer the last 1/3 of the potatoes. Pour the chicken stock over the potatoes, sprinkle the last 1/3 of the cheese mixture and dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter. Cover with buttered aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and continue baking, uncovered, for 30 – 40 more minutes or until the top is crusty and browned and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve immediately.

On a totally unrelated subject, look who’s back!

It’s Paul (TheSecondChild’s 8 month old kitty), who’s here for several weeks, since TheSecondChild will soon be going on spring break. And, as you can see, Paul is displaying some very poor guest manners. In case you can’t tell, that’s the ceiling behind Paul, and he’s on top of my kitchen cupboards. Our ceilings are 9 ft. high, so that’s quite a feat for and adventurous kitty, and he had to have help getting down. When I expressed my dismay over Paul’s lack of manners to TheSecondChild, he responded, “Well, he thinks he’s a cookie jar.” I think he was just letting that dog know who’s boss.

Tomorrow is a travel day for me and I’m already behind on your posts. I hope you’re having a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

* The Steak Au Poivre recipe that I like calls for beef demi-glace which is painfully expensive. It says it will keep for 6 months which, considering how infrequently it’s used, isn’t nearly long enough. I keep my jar in the freezer. It’s been in there forever and it’s still working just fine. If you don’t want to spend that much money, Ina Garten has a Steak Au Poivre recipe without the demi-glace, which she claims is just as good.

** So, what do you do if you don’t measure your oven temp the way we do in the states? You go HERE, to a fun and very helpful British cookbook primer for some conversion tables!

February Recipe Box Swap

36 Comments / February 5, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Bunnies, Quilting, Recipes

Oh well, once again, it’s the first Thursday of the month so that means it’s time for another recipe box swap.

Our hostess, Randi, at I Have to Say, has chosen Fun Foods as our theme this month. In my book,

Fun = Easy.

For fun and easy, I have one Go To snack … but wait, how many of you remember THIS commercial? (And while we’re sidetracked here, can someone please tell me how to embed a video into a wordpress blog? I’ve done it before, but I can’t seem to make it work. ???)

I’ve always loved that commercial. It’s one of my favorites — that’s one of the few old commercials I can actually remember (and now, through the magic of YouTube, I can re-live my childhood commercial experience — woohoo!)

Rice Krispy Treats are one of my very favorite FUN foods. Kellog’s Cereal company feels the same way, because if you go to their website, you’ll find lots of fun things to do with Rice Krispy treats. (And, apparently Judy and I think alike too, because she has posted a recipe for Scotcharoos — Rice Krispy Treats on steriods.)

And, because the hardest part about making Rice Krispy Treats is throwing flour all over yourself, I wanted to show you another of my favorite fun foods that you’ve probably already seen.

The Pear Bunny Salad. MeMum used to make this little salad for us all the time when we were little. It’s so simple to make. Put a pear half on a piece of lettuce. Add a cottage cheese tail, raisin eyes, almond slice ears, and a red hot nose. The cottage cheese and pear are a perfect compliment and one bite sends me instantly back to my childhood.

So. A little weekend sewing coming up. I hope you have some fun plans too — and if not, make some Rice Krispy Treats and turn it into a fun weekend!

XOXO,
Anna