Amy

Sloppy Joes

August 4, 2010 by Amy 12 Comments

My husband and I usually keep two types of meat on hand for cooking: chicken or ground beef. Sometimes we stray from the norm and do seafood or steaks, but to make our food budget happy, those are our staples. Chicken is so versatile and super easy to find meals for, but ground beef? I always feel a little limited there for some reason. I find it hard to find new ways to incorporate ground beef into our meals (feel free to comment if you have good ground beef recipes).

A while back, the hubs made some killer sloppy joes, and I thought I should challenge his with a good solid Cooks Illustrated recipe that I found. This recipe was pretty good, but a little bland compared to what the hubs came up with. Next time, I think I’ll have to spice things up a bit. 🙂

I paired this with some awesome oven baked fries and enjoyed the meal with a glass of lemonade. Classic summer meal, right? 🙂

Sloppy Joes
Source: mildly adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion , chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon table salt

2 cloves garlic , minced

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 pound lean ground beef

Ground black pepper

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 cup tomato puree

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon tabasco sauce

4 hamburger buns

Directions:

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and salt and stir until coated with oil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 10 minutes (if onion begins to burn after 5 minutes, reduce heat to low). Add garlic and chili powder and cook, uncovered, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until just pink, about 3 minutes.

Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper, brown sugar, tomato puree, ketchup, water, and tabasco. Simmer until Sloppy Joe sauce is slightly thicker than ketchup, 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Spoon meat mixture onto hamburger buns and serve.

Encouragement please?

July 29, 2010 by Amy 10 Comments

When I called in sick to work one day, I was basically bound to the bed watching daytime talk shows. I happened to come across the Bonnie Hunt show, and 5 minutes into the show, I got inspired by a color palette on there (pictured below).

A few days later, I got an email from Paper Source. New colors…at first all I could sulk about was the fact that Paper Source came out with a teal AFTER the wedding (our colors were teal/brown) and how helpful it would have been had this color been around, say, 2 years ago in the planning days. (oh my gosh, planning was two years ago?)

A week later, I found myself stalking the site and noticed that the Bonnie Hunt show inspiration was VERY close to Paper Source’s new colors. My brain started cranking.

Wouldn’t it be pretty to somehow bring that palette into a quilt…no…better yet, a blanket with soft plushy YARN? Knitting, I know how to knit….I can search for a blanket. Well, that search came up empty handed, and as I was ready to click out of my go-to site for patterns, I stumbled across this. Crochet…oh cruds…I can’t crochet! Or can I?

In my inspired moment, I made a little inspiration board. Not sure if I like grey or beige with the colors, but I’d do the three colors (in either pale or brights) with beige or grey and a white. Yeah, a little obsessive with projects, aren’t I?

1. www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/new/new-colors.html
2. www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90699AD.html
3. sophiabush.net/gallery/albums/tvappearances/2009/oct13_bo…

Anyway, I’ve tried crocheting before, but was discouraged by the teacher who could only show me right-handed techniques. (yep, I’m a lefty..did I mention that?) However, I REALLY like that blanket and I REALLY like those colors. I want to make it a reality. Am I crazy? Wouldn’t this be so fun to cuddle up in this winter?

So, I need some encouragement. If I can knit, I can crochet, right? Please tell me I can. Please?

Done and done!

July 28, 2010 by Amy 14 Comments

My first quilt has been quite a great experience. I learned a lot about sewing straight lines and really feel proud that it all started with this. I now have a fun blanket that will keep me warm, and I’ll cherish it even more since it all started from a few yards of Hobby Lobby fabric. Amazing, no?

This quilt is a tied quilt with some funky green yarn that I had in my knitting stash. Yeah, I have a stash of yarn too…eep!

I found this to be an excellent quilt for a beginner and it gave me much confidence to try this again! I can’t recommend this book enough to people. I’ve learned the most from this book, as well as sewing blogs. 🙂

Without further ado, here is the quilt. Isn’t it just so much fun? It’s now hanging over a loveseat in our living room until I can figure out a permanent place for it. 🙂

Oh, and another thing? I finally hung up our fleur de lis from the painting class we took last week. Hubs is embarrassed of his painting, but hey, I think they look great in our room!

By the way, feel free to leave lots of comments with painting love for the hubs. He thinks his painting is terrible…he needs a boost. 🙂

Blueberry Scones

July 27, 2010 by Amy 25 Comments

Scones are the typical coffee shop pastry item. They are crumbly, fruity and just so delicious. However, at about $2/each, I really wanted to see if I could make coffee shop quality scones on my own. I’ve tried making scones before, but they always ended up cakey and not quite the texture I desired in a scone. This time, though, I think I found my recipe.

I will admit, the directions, especially for rolling the dough, sound completely ridiculous, but I almost always follow a baking recipe exactly the first time I make it, so that I can give a proper critique of it. It’s a pet peeve of mine to go to a recipe site and see that a recipe has 3 stars because people made 4-5 substitutions that didn’t work. It’s fairly stupid, in my opinion, since those substitutions were the reviewer’s doing and had nothing to do with the original recipe.

Anyway, this recipe is really good. The only thing I will change next time is subbing dried blueberries for fresh. I didn’t really like having fresh blueberries in it, because as much as I love blueberries, the random bursts of juice from the berries just were not expected or desired much in this recipe.

Blueberry Scones
Source: Cooks Illustrated (Annie’s Eats‘ adaptation)

Ingredients:

8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen whole

1½ cups (7½ oz.) fresh blueberries

½ cup whole milk

½ cup sour cream

2 cups (10 oz.) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface

½ cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Adjust an oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425˚ F. Grate the frozen butter on the holes of a large box grater. (I like to use my food processor for this – fast and easy.) Place the blueberries in the freezer until needed.

Whisk together the milk and sour cream in a medium bowl; refrigerate until needed. Combine the flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the grated butter to the flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula just until combined. Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour, and knead with well floured hands, 6-8 times, just until the dough holds together in a ragged ball. Add small amounts of flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter (a dough scraper really helps with these steps). Fold the short ends of the dough into the center in thirds, to form an approximate 4-inch square. Transfer the dough to a plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Return the dough to the floured work surface and roll into an approximately 12-inch square again. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the surface of the dough, and gently press down so that they are slightly embedded in the dough surface. Using a dough scraper, roll the dough up to form a tight log. Lay the log seam side down and press the the log into a 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using a sharp, floured knife, cut the rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Brush the tops of the scones with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar. (If freezing ahead of time, flash freeze on the baking sheet for 20 minutes, then wrap individually and store in a freezer bag until needed.) Bake until the tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

A little confidence…

July 26, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

I’m afraid I’m turning into a fabric hoarder. Originally when I started sewing, I bought fabric for projects as needed. I did this because I didn’t want to spend too much money on a hobby I might hater, but now, well, I buy them when I find a great sale. I basically went a little nuts here, but I have projects in mind for most of these fabrics.

Oh, and did I mention that pre-washing/ironing fabric is quite a task in itself? The not-so-fun parts of sewing.

I also laid out the baby quilt. There will be some Kona cotton in between the rows to break it up a bit as well. This is the pattern for the quilt, just to give you a general idea. I can’t wait to start sewing this together. 🙂

This weekend, the Amy Butler fabric was screaming at me to make something out of it. I made a cover for my planner that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I love the way it came out! 🙂 There’s still some minor tweaks I might make, but overall, it’s an improvement than the black cover it had. 🙂

More Kabobs

July 23, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

Whew! This is the last post about the party we held. I’m sure you all are ready to move on with blog entries, so I’ll keep this one quick. There are no recipes, because these kabobs are very simple to put together, and most of the ingredients are from a bottle. 🙂

First of all, I always soak my skewers in water for a good hour. You don’t want flare-ups in the wood, and this helps to avoid it.

For the steak, we basically marinated the steak overnight in store-bought marinade (specifically this one) and then cut them into smallish square pieces and skewered them (about 5 pieces per skewer). We then seasoned with salt/pepper and threw them on the grill, flipping after a couple minutes to get a good sear, until the steak is cooked.

Vegetable kabobs are very versatile. You can include/exclude whatever you want. For ours, I used red onion, yellow/red bell peppers, zucchini and mushrooms. After they are skewered, lightly brush on some Italian dressing or just plain olive oil and then grill. This will ensure that they don’t stick to the grill. Just be sure not to drizzle or brush with a heavy hand, because that would cause major flare-ups and you don’t want burnt mushroom, do you? That’s what I thought.

On a side note: I like to keep my meat/vegetable skewers separated, because some vegetables take longer to cook than the steak does (especially if you like them cooked less than well done) and also raw meat on vegetables just grosses me out.

Bye ‘Maters

July 22, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

I remember in March, when I scoured the local nursery for my beloved ‘maters. They were little babies and I was so excited to see them grow and make full-blown ‘maters for me to enjoy.

I was so giddy when I saw the first ‘maters on the vine. So perfect and organic too!

After fighting squash bugs and stink bugs, most of these ‘maters got infested. Organic gardening was making me impatient, cranky and worrysome. I only ended up with 5 good ‘maters out of the crop of 7 ‘mater plants.

And now, in the heat of July, the ‘mater plants are dead. Full of flowers, but nothing happening. I knew it was their time. I’m fairly sure after this season, I need to brainstorm ways to keep things organic without the bug fuss. I’m not a bug person, and definitely lost to the bugs this year.

I am, however, very hopeful for the future. The future of the peppers.

Perhaps this plant will make me lots of jalapenos to make lots of happy jalapeno jelly with. It will take me out of the garden fail that was my beloved ‘maters.

How has your vegetable garden been this year?

I dip, You dip, We dip

July 21, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

Sorry, couldn’t help it. Short 90’s flashback. Anyone else remember that song? I know the meaning of the song has nothing to do with food, but it mentions dip three times, and well, I had 3 different types of dip/sauces for our kabobs at the party. So, eh…ok, I guess I lose on the cool points. ::stares at RSS to see subscriber numbers plummet::

If you’re still with me, wow. You must really like me…or, hmm, maybe it’s the food that you guys like. 🙂

When it came time to plan for this party, I already had a few sauces/dips in mind. Chimichurri, which I’ve never had. Compound butter, because, well, butter makes everything better, and also the worcestershire-chive combination just sounded amazing. And then lastly, onion blue cheese sauce, because cheese and onions? Win! (Onion-blue cheese sauce is not pictured, because ravenous eyes were staring me down since the camera was the last thing holding my family back from chow-down time.)

The chimichurri was a huge winner. Everyone loved the flavor that it added to the meats, and it was probably the healthiest sauce/dip offered for the kabobs as well.

Chimichurri Sauce
Source: Bon Appetit
Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

Ingredients:

1 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Puree all ingredients in processor. Transfer to bowl.

Worcestershire-Chive Compound Butter
Source: Bobby Flay

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons dry mustard

3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat grill or side burner. Heat oil in a medium skillet add shallots and garlic and cook until soft, let cool slightly.

Place butter in a small bowl and add shallot mixture, Worcestershire, mustard and chives and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Scrape mixture into the center of a piece of waxed paper and roll into a log. Refrigerate until firm.

Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce
Source: Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons Butter

1 whole Very Large Yellow Onion, Sliced

1 cup Heavy Cream

½ cups Crumbled Blue Cheese

Directions:

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dark and caramelized.

Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in blue cheese until melted.

Spree

July 16, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

Since I started sewing, I’ve started making a list of places where I like to shop for fabrics. I don’t prefer to order fabrics online, because I’d rather feel/see fabrics and heck, I’d much rather support local businesses! Usually owners of small businesses are very helpful, whereas online, it can be very overwhelming.

One of the businesses had a 50% off sale for gift cards to redeem at a later date. I went a little wild, and excitedly waited for the next weekend when I could redeem the cards.

I actually took a while, because there was just so many drool-worthy bolts of fabric. I wanted to take pictures in the store for y’all, but I got shy. I’m fairly shy in person, and I was afraid of what the customers would think with someone half their age shooting pictures. (Yes, most of the customers in the store were over twice my age.)

Because of that, they had an EXCELLENT Amy Butler selection still available. I got a little giddy…my first Amy Butler fabrics!

Since I finished my first quilt (pictures coming soon), I already started planned out my next one. This will be a baby quilt for hubs’ cousin (she’s expecting a girl). I found the cutest pattern online using charm packs, so I’m very excited to get into this with most of the fabrics pre-cut.

I had a little bit of credit leftover and this charm pack caught my eye. It’s July, I know, but a lot of fabric shops are already thinking Christmas since projects can take a while. I think I know what I’m making with this, but for now, I’m going to keep it a tiny secret from y’all.

I bought a few small accessories too, but those are boring. I just wanted to share the fabric pretties with y’all. I can’t wait to create with all of this!

A look around…

July 15, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

I like to think about life. When I was in college, I dreamt of a paycheck larger than $100. I thought about how nice it would be to have a job, zero studying and just lay back at home after work.

At the time, school was all I knew. If I was sick, it was OK to miss a day. If I didn’t feel like going to Calculus that day, I had a friend who would give me notes (I did the same for him). Things were so different then. It was a shock when I threw myself into the real world.

I remember my first few weeks on the job. Everyone, to me, was Mr. this and Miss that. They were, after all, my mentors into the real world. I was used to showing people older than me some respect with the prefixes. However, that got fixed pretty quickly when a big boss told me it makes me sound like a child. I didn’t want to be known as the young one, so I started to call people my parents’ age/grandparents’ age by their first name now. It was so weird, but I learned and caught on quickly. Now, people of that age see me as a colleague. Even weirder.

Now that I’ve been in the real world for over 3 years, I think ahead to what life will be like professionally. Will I ever be trusted to lead a team? What will my salary be? What will I know now that I didn’t know today? It’s hard to just sit there and do the same old, same old everyday without wondering where I am headed.

Marriage wise, I’m always thinking about the future. Will my husband still find me pretty? Will we still have our date nights? Will I be a good mother? Will I be able to handle a monster blow-out in the middle of Bath & Body Works? How much sleep will I get?

I know l will adjust in the future. Will it be a struggle for a while? Of course. Will I miss today? I’m sure of it. Will there be surprises along the way? Definitely.

Oh yes, surprises. Surprises are a different ball game. Adjusting to the unexpected…welcoming some new twists. Never in a million years did I think I would be taking pictures of food that I cooked and people would CARE about them. Now, my kitchen is my therapy. I play music and make up lyrics to songs I don’t know while onions sweat it out in a pan. I dance around while pounding down bread dough. Me? Sewing? That’s something I didn’t expect to be able to do. I’m no longer cussing at my rotary cutter or finding myself too lazy to change a thread color because I’m afraid the machine won’t work after. I’m making things when I want something, rather than going to a store and buying it. I’m thinking up crafts for gifts and finding constant inspiration in fabric shops. Never thought that would be me. Nah-uh. I didn’t think I’d be able to grow a garden. I used to be that kid who would throw temper tantrums in the middle of the Garden Center of Home Depot. I didn’t care about plants…didn’t want to. Sucky thing was, Mom is a horticulturist and Dad, well, he’s a hobbyist in veggie gardening. Garden Centers were their haven. Now look at me. I email my Mom or Dad when my garden wilts or when I see a funny bug. They think I’m weird now.

I guess a good look around at my life is bound to happen. With paths that I thought I would once encounter closing and new ones always opening, it’s hard not to. Life is really truly what Forrest Gump says it is, but I love it!

Amy

In my inspired moment, I made a little inspiration board. Not sure if I like grey or beige with the colors, but I’d do the three colors (in either pale or brights) with beige or grey and a white. Yeah, a little obsessive with projects, aren’t I?

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