Monday, April 30, 2012

You Too Can Make This Casserole!

 

Turkey casserole

I had many requests for this recipe so I am sharing it with you. I received the recipe from a friend.

I purchased an uncooked package of turkey breast which was so much easier than cooking a whole turkey which I did the first time I made this.

I cooked the turkey several hours before I put the casserole together and refrigerated it before I diced it.

TURKEY CASSEROLE

Ingredients

  • 1 (12 pack) King's Hawaiian Original Rolls (3 cups cubed)*
  • 3 cups diced cooked turkey
  • 8 oz. mild cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp. Dijon or spicy mustard
  • 3 tbsp. butter, melted
  • 4 large eggs, beaten
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Preparation

  1. Place bread, turkey and cheese in a large bowl and blend with a large spoon gently. In another bowl, whisk eggs, add flour and whisk, and then add mustard, melted butter, eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Whisk thoroughly.
  2. Pour milk mixture over the bread, turkey and cheese; stir gently to blend (be careful not to over-stir as the bread can become overly moist and break apart).
  3. Let stand for five to ten minutes for bread to absorb liquid.
  4. Pour into a buttered 2-quart baking dish.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350° F and bake for 50 minutes (should be lightly golden and puffed). Test with a knife inserted into center — it should come out clean with little liquid on the knife.
  6. For a lighter dish, consider using low-fat mild cheddar cheese and low-fat milk.
  7. *Any King's Hawaiian product, cubed, will be ideal for this recipe, including Snacker Rolls or Original Round Bread.
Makes 6 servings

It is easy to put together and everybody will love it.

It would also be a good recipe to file away to use when you have left over Thanksgiving turkey.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I Really Can Cook!

Yesterday I made this casserole and took it to a friend’s house.
Turkey casserole
I got this recipe from the friend’s relative. I would not have picked it out myself, but it was very good.
This was the second time I made it and the first time I made a small portion for myself.
First I had to cook turkey as the recipe called for 3 cups of turkey. If you don’t count the time to cook the turkey it was quite quick to make.
I thought I was so smart bringing it in my casserole carrier. Guess what? I left the casserole carrier at their house! Duh………….

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Washington Park High School Class of 1957 Reunion 2012

We try to have a reunion for those of us who live in this area of Florida each spring.

We schedule it around a visit from a classmate who is visiting from another area.

toim's instant facelift

Tom was our long distance visitor this year. I am wondering if he is trying to give himself an instant facelift? Gotcha, Tom!

reunion12

Arlene, Jim and Pat took a moment out to have their picture taken.

reunion2

Ron, Jacque, Tom and Jane.

reunion3

Arlene, Jacque, Pat, Jane and Kay

We like to take a picture of all the ladies – and there will be one of the gentlemen next.

reunion4

Jim, Ron and Tom! Why do all the  guys only have 3 letters in their name?

Can you tell from our smiling faces we had a lot of fun. It’s so easy to remember more than 55 years ago when one person starts telling about something and it triggers memories for the rest of us.

Let us know if you will be in Florida next season so we can include you too.

There’s no friends like long time friends!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Long Time No See!

 

jacqueandtomblog

This is Tom and Jacque’s arrival picture. But then, you knew that because they have their flamingo necklaces on.

I had not seen Tom in almost 55 years but I would have recognized him anywhere.

I had never met Jacque before. She was delightful.

They arrived on Friday about noon. We spent some time catching up and then went to The Villages for dinner and listened to the music in the square and watched the dancers.

You’ll hear what else we did on my next blog post.

tomandjacquedepaqrture

The time passed quickly and before we knew it it was time for them to be on their way. Let’s hope it’s not 55 years before we see each other again!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Long, Long, Long Time Friend

I had a visit over the weekend from one of the people I have known longer than most of you!

tomandkayforblog

This is what we look like today!

tomkay19511

This is what we looked like almost 60 years ago.

He calls this our lumberjack picture.

All I Do Is Dream Of You–Shibori!


Today I was showing some of the pieces from this shibori dyeing session to my quilting friends.
I fell in love with some of them all over again.
dyeing session april2012 diagonalkmagentastripes
This is another one done with that favorite damask of mine. This fabric would make wonderful clothing if I don’t dye it all before I make something to wear from it.
dyeing session april2012damaskwithmultiunderpaintteal2
A lot of good color is happening in this piece. The more color and design in a piece, the simpler it has to be handled when creating.
dyeing session april2012 greenteallongsimple
This piece with it’s simpler design and the cool colors would work great with either of the above pieces.
dyeing session april2012simplecormertealdamask
This simple piece could also work with either of the first two. This shows the color of the teal dye I used quite accurately as I was dyeing pure white fabric.


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Black And White Shibori Quilt – It’s Quilted!

blackwhiteshiboriquiltedfull2best

I quilted this with transparent thread so the quilting is a little harder to see than had I used regular thread. The quilting adds some texture to the pattern of the shibori.

blackwhiteshiboriquiltedback2

You can see the quilting much better on the back of the quilt. I used that wonderful cotton/linen damask I dye for the back of this quilt.

blackwhiteshiboriquiltedcloseupfront2

This is a close up of the center section of the quilt. You can see the quilting clearer in this photo. I let the pattern created by the shibori suggest the way I quilt, but I do not attempt to follow the lines exactly.

All I have to do know is decide how I am going to finish the edges of this quilt and add the casing and label.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Project Plans For This Week





My schedule this week is more open than it has been the last few weeks. I "think" I only have 3 things scheduled.

With that in mind I decided to pull out the projects I hope to work on this week.

That doesn't necessarily mean I will finish each one of them.

It also doesn't mean I won't decide to work on others. These are the things that really have the highest priorities as I see it TODAY! Since my life is not controlled by goals and a rigid schedule these days, this is about as structured as it ever gets.


These are the four projects I plan on working on this week.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

More, More, More Shibori

I am doing a blog post with a different browser . I am hoping it works as I can barely see the commands - even though I downloaded what it said I should. I am not a happy camper about this and hope I'll get some help to get things straightened out so I can continue to share on this blog.
This was done by clamping plexiglas squares onto fabric that I folded into 8 layers. Some of the dye crept under the plexiglas.
For this one I just started with a piece of mint green fabric, scrunched it up and wrapped it in netting. It is a very simple way to get an interesting texture.
This was done with one of my new favorite techniques I learned in Jan Myers Newbury's class "A Pole And A Piece Of Fabric." I thought this piece would make an interesting puzzle. Click to Mix and Solve

Friday, April 20, 2012

Dye, Dye, Dye!

Yes, I have more photos of the fabrics I dyed.

It's hard to pick my favorites as there are so many different ones.

I'll just show you "some" of my favorites!


This one came out of the burgundy dye pot. These are colors I have never dyed with before. I sure love them.


Another favorite from the burgundy dye pot!


This one has a special texture that I learned in Jan Myers Newbury's class "A Pole And A Piece Of Fabric".

I just love seeing each piece as they are all so different even though they have some design characteristics in common.

Sometimes I choose fabrics with those similar design characteristics to create my art.

More often though I find using different designs and colorations creates more interesting work. There is a fine line when it comes to putting different textures and designs together to make it work.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Zentangle, Schmen-tangle!

I stay away from controversial subjects and negative issues on this blog.

At the risk of life and limb I am going to talk about something that might be considered controversial.
I have been doing what is now called Zentangles with the quilting on my quilts long before there was such a thing called Zentangles.

In this closeup you can see how I used a different filler design on each section, leaving the "Bolt" unquilted to make it stand out.


This is a closer view of one section of the quilt.


This quilt was made by dye painting a design and then overpainting the dye painted area with paints.



Using filler designs is not unique to me. Many quilters have used this way of working for a long time - even before the popularity of machine quilting.

Basically I see Zentangles as simply creating a design with open spaces and filling those empty spaces with a design. Correct me if I am wrong.


This shows the entire "Bolt Of Color" quilt.
The border was done with a piece of hand dyed fabric that related to the painting in the actual quilt design area.
The painted sections have been extended to divide the border into areas relative to those sections.
The quilting filler designs also are happening in the dark border areas, although they are not as easy to see.

Are Zentangles the result of someone taking a basic design idea, taught in many art classes, and capitalizing on it to make a lot of money?

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I've Dyed And Gone to Heaven!

Yes, the results of my recent dyeing marathon are heavenly.


This bucket contains all the fabrics I dyed or overdyed with a deep teal color.


In this bucket I am dyeing fabrics burgundy.


This is one of the pieces I underpainted and immersed in the teal bucket.



This piece is also from the teal bucket. It is a piece of damask which adds an interesting texture in addition to what the dyes creates.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I'm Dyeing!

Fabric of course!

This is my last dyeing hurrah for the season. I am making it worthwhile.


I spent several days wrapping fabric on poles to do arashi shibori dyeing.


I use large fat poles and short skinny poles.
I wrapped 31 poles and have several other bundles to add to the poles.


I am mixing dyes to underpaint some of the fabrics.


These are just a few of the fabrics I have underpainted. I lay them on the bags the newspaper comes in outside. The heat and the gentle breeze helps dry them. After about 24 hours I will be able to dye them in the buckets to get the texture that arashi shibori adds to the fabric.

I am anxious to get them dyed and finished so I can see the results. Each time I finish a group of fabrics it is like opening presents. You never know quite what you are going to see when you are done.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Yarn Restyle - Cowl To Hat


If you are a regular reader of my blog you may remember when I posted this cowl. After a comment by a reader I tried it on and realized I had used too few stitches and knit it too tight.
I still felt I could use it but it wouldn't work to double wrap.

When I went back to the Yarn Lady she had one more skein of this. I decided to knit another one correctly. I am currently working on it.


I found a pattern for a hat knit with Malabrigo Rasta and decided I'd knit it from the small cowl. My friend Kaye Rhodes had mentioned reknitting without unraveling by knitting and unraveling at the same time. That is what I did. It worked so well. I love this hat and it was super quick to knit. The pure Merino yarn is so beautiful and soft.

This will make a great set for those cold northern winters. It's 80 some degrees here today so it is hard to imagine wearing this, but I know it will be perfect.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Spiral Hat

I have been doing a lot of knitting recently.
I also have finished a lot of projects that just need the ends woven in or to be sewn together.


I finished sewing this spiral hat together.

It is one of those things that is easy to knit, but confusing at the same time. You can't quite figure out how it is going to work as you are knitting.

I had enough yarn for more than one, so gave some to a friend. Each time I saw hers I was confused and thought maybe she was doing something wrong. I also thought her gauge had to be off.

She was doing everything right and I'm hoping she'll be finishing hers soon too.

Since making this hat was a real puzzle, I thought it appropriate to give you a puzzle to put together for this hat!
Click to Mix and Solve

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Best Chicken Soup

I hadn't made any Chicken Noodle soup since October 2011. It has just been too hot to think about making soup. It still is hot but there is nothing like homemade soup so that is what I did last night.


When I make soup I make a BIG pot of it. This is my largest kettle. In this photo the noodles had not been added yet. I have learned not to add the noodles until it is almost done or they turn to mush!


This is the finished soup after adding the noodles.
The green stuff you see is dill. It adds a wonderful flavor to the soup. I never was a big fan of chicken soup until someone made it for me with dill and some potato chunks. Now I can't get enough of it.

I have a lot of varioius size containers of it in my freezer now. I like to share it with friends for various reasons. I also make little individual containers of it holding just a portion size for lunch for myself.

I think this is the very best batch I've ever made!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

These Eggs Say Happy Easter!

From the time I was old enough to no longer believe in the Easter Bunny, the Saturday evening before Easter was the time we decorated eggs.

I hate to tell you - there is NO Easter Bunny.

The tradition continued with our children and grandchildren and I decided I want to keep it alive.

Tonight I decorated eggs for YOU!





















I hope you all have a very Happy Easter!