Hawaiian Quilt

I finished the final touches on the Hawaiian Quilt last night. After many hours, lots of finger pricks that resulted in blood, and more than my fair share of cussing, the quilt is completed... and I LOVE the way it turned out.

You might remember this quilt from my manic weekend of quilting post. This back was pieced from Hawaiian fabric that a friend of mine had from back when she used to make her own hula dresses. She has been diagnosed with cancer and gave me a huge box of the fabrics because she decided that she wasn't going to be able to do hula much more. So I used the fabrics to make her a quilt.

The other side of the quilt features more of the colorful Hawaiian fabrics, but pieced into some very calming white-on-white blocks. So one side is bright and colorful, and the other is a little more soothing.

The binding was hand-stitched (hence the cussing and bloody fingers), and the quilting is a simple stitch-in-the-ditch between the white blocks. I used pure white batting of a medium loft in the quilt so it will be light weight but fluffy. This will be a birthday present for her this weekend (she turns 80 on Sunday)! So happy birthday to Beverly... I hope this Hawaiian Quilt brings you happy memories and a lot of comfort.

*Special thanks to Mike who was my quilt model.

 

One UFO down...

 I am very excited to share that I finally get to cross something off the UFO list! Last night I finally finished, and I mean COMPLETELY finished one of my projects. A friend had given me some beautiful fabric for my birthday and while I was at the quilt retreat last weekend I made a table runner out of it. I got the top done, the backing, batting, and quilting finished while I was at the retreat. And last night at Craft Night (aka "Bitch 'n Stitch") with the ladies, I did the binding. The runner is for my dresser top, and the colors of the fabric match my room perfectly, so that is great!

It's the perfect length for the dresser, fitting right in front of the mirror.

The quilting is very simple - stitch in the ditch for the border, and basic channel quilting in the center.

This is my first hand-stitched binding.

Thank you for letting me share!

Manic Weekend of Quilting!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a safe and delicious Cinco de Mayo. I wanted to share with you the wonderful weekend that I had. I was given the opportunity to join the North End Quilters at their annual retreat in Orting, WA. This was my first time at this retreat, and it was amazing! The facility is really quite awesome - you have to check it out! http://www.thewildrosequiltshop.com/ The retreat facility has a six foot table and outlets for each person, cutting tables, color-corrected lights and natural skylights, a full kitchen, five bedrooms with two twin beds each, ironing stations, and my favorite part: a quilt shop down below, just in case you run out of fabric, thread, batting, ideas...

And the little town of Orting was very cool, too! It is nestled at the base of Mt. Rainier, and you just can't ask for a better view!

So armed with my six foot table, my trusty Janome, my rotary cutter, and several projects, I spent the weekend quilting like a maniac. None of these are 100% finished, as they still need backing, batting, quilting and binding, but the tops are on. So not quite ready to be crossed off the UFO (Unfinished Objects) list, but getting closer! I apologize for the low resolution photos, but these were taken with my phone.

Runner for my dresser - needs the binding finished.

Hawaiian quilt - this needs batting, backing, quilting and binding.

Red and White quilt - this needs batting, backing, quilting and binding.

I will share more when they are finalized. I hope you all had as much fun as I did this weekend!

Chicken Paprikash - a little on the lighter side

Back in ancient times, also known as the early days of Mike and my relationship, Mike did the majority of the cooking. This mostly went very well for me, as Mike is a great cook, but back in those days he was not known for eating the wide variety of food that he does now. So when I was craving some variety in the meal plan I would occasionally step up and cook something. And even back in those days I  liked to experiment in the kitchen. Yes, there is a point to this brief family history. Please be patient and try to keep up.

So one day I found a recipe for Chicken Paprikash in a Cooking Light magazine. This was a completely new recipe for me, and I am pretty sure it was a dish I had never tasted before, homemade or in a restaurant. I was pretty excited about the new recipe and I made it for dinner. It was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Mike ate all of his, which I took to be a pretty good sign. So I asked how he liked it. The response: 'It's not bad, but my Mom's is better'. Yup. You heard correctly. Needless to say, I was marginally annoyed. Well, slightly more than marginally, but I am not one to hold a grudge. For long.

So I didn't bother to make the recipe again. Some things you just can't compete with. And eventually the memory slipped to the back of my brain and got put in cold storage. Until one day, over a year later, when we went to Mike's Mom's house for dinner... where she served Chicken Paprikash. And you know what? His Mom's was better. WAY better. This could be due to the pound of butter she used (slight exaggeration), but whatever the reason, her's was definitely better. And amazingly, this didn't bother me at all. In fact, I might just ask her to make it again one of these days!

In any case, the recipe I am sharing today is NOT her recipe. It is also NOT the Cooking Light version. This is adapted from a recipe that I found on www.allrecipes.com. I changed it quite a bit to make it slightly healthier. The reason that I am happy to make this version is that it is NOTHING like Mike's Mom's version, and therefore cannot be compared (and subsequently deemed 'not as good'). So I hope you enjoy this lighter version of Chicken Paprikash.

Chopped onion, because I put onion in everything.

Onion and garlic sauteed with the butter and spices. Yup... all that red stuff is paprika!

Added the water and started cooking.

One hour later...

This is the mixture from the sour cream (I used light), reserved juices from the can of tomatoes, and the flour.

Stirred in the sour cream mixture and the tomatoes, and voila!

Delicious Chicken Paprikash served over noodles.

Chicken Paprikash

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
3 Tbsp Paprika
2 lbs Chicken, cut into pieces
1 Cup Water
1 (14.5 oz) Can Diced Tomatoes

2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 (8 oz) Container light or fat-free Sour Cream

Directions

Heat butter in a dutch oven (or you could use a LARGE skillet) over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and paprika. Stir together and saute until onion is translucent. Add chicken pieces and pour water over all. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour, adding more water if necessary.

Stir in tomatoes, reserving liquid. Stir liquid into a medium bowl with flour and sour cream; mix until well blended, then slowly add mixture to chicken, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture is thick.

Serve with pasta or rice.

Burgundy Pork Tenderloin

Happy Monday, everyone! The sun is out, it looks like Spring is finally here, and I am actually being somewhat productive today. I am sorry this post is a little late in coming, but since today is the first day in about two weeks that I have actually been somewhat productive, at least I'm finally getting to it.

I would like to share a recipe that I made last Tuesday (see - almost a week behind schedule here!) for dinner. I am always trying new recipes, so it is really rare that Mike gets to eat something that we call "Tried and True", but this is one of those. And seriously, folks, I have an old-school, blue, three-ring binder with a label on it that reads "Tried and True". The really really good recipes go in there. You should see this binder. Maybe I will actually take a picture of it one of these days. Some of the recipes have been printed off blog posts or All Recipes (www.allrecipes.com), and most of them are covered in my handwriting with all the changes I have made. And to be honest, most of them are also covered in... well... things like chocolate fingerprints, butter smears, tomato sauce splatters, and other things that I have decided not to examine too closely. In other words, it's a real cookbook.

This recipe is in that cookbook, and I have written all over it, and it is liberally splattered with red wine. Burgundy wine, to be exact. The recipe is Burgundy Pork Tenderloin. It's easy, it's delicious, and it is made with two cups of wine. What's not to love?

So this particular journey begins with a pork tenderloin, a baking dish, and some spices. Not a lot, oddly enough. I know most of the recipes that I share have a long list of spices, but this one has salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Rub spices into the pork loin.

 Then you add a coarsely diced onion to the mix. I used a sweet onion for this because I like the combination of flavors when you add the wine, but yellow onions work well, too.

Yes, that's the wine. Two cups of it. And the really nice part is that there are two cups left over for drinking!

 

 You pour the wine over the tenderloin and the onions, and then you bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

 When you remove it from the oven 45 minutes later, it is burgundy in color. Yeah, I like my food purple!

 Remove the tenderloin from the pan and stir the secret ingredient (a package of brown gravy mix) into the wine and onion mixture. Okay, I realize that you are thinking that brown gravy mix has no business being a secret ingredient, but just trust me on this one.

 Slice the pork and serve with the onions and the wine/gravy sauce over the top. And of course any wine that still remains after the 45 minute cooking period.

We had ours with green beans and mashed red potatoes. Delicious!

I originally got this recipe off of All Recipes (original recipe can be found here), but these are the modifications that I have made:

Burgundy Pork Tenderloin

Makes about 8 servings. Cooks for 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork tenderloin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
2 cups burgundy wine
1-2 (.75 ounce) packet(s) dry brown gravy mix, depending on your taste preferences

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place pork in a 9x13 inch baking dish, and sprinkle meat with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pat it into the meat so it is well stuck. That way the wine won't wash it off. Top with onion, and pour wine over all. Bake for 45 minutes.
 
When done baking, remove meat from baking dish, and place on a serving platter (or if you are like me, a plate). Pour gravy mix into baking dish with wine and cooking juices, and stir until thickened. Slice meat, and cover with the gravy and onions.

Coconut Lime Chicken Tacos

I have another easy-to-make, really customizable recipe to share with you. This recipe comes together in under 30 minutes, and faster if you want to try a short-cut. For instance, I poached and shredded a couple of chicken breasts, but you could just as easily pick up a rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store and just pull it apart with your fingers, and that would save you probably 15 minutes.



Shredded chicken with coconut milk.

You start with shredded chicken in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour in a can of coconut milk. I used lite, but you could easily use the full-fat version. It will be thicker, so keep an eye on it while you simmer the chicken.




Add lime zest, lime juice, cumin, and a splash of hot sauce.

 I zested a lime, then added the lime juice, the cumin, and some El Tapatio sauce, mixed it all together, and then left it to simmer while I chopped a red onion, an avocado, and shredded some cheese.

When it was done simmering, I added fresh cilantro and a little salt and pepper.

Then I put my onions and avocados in little bowls. Honestly, that was purely for the sake of this picture, since Mike and I would normally just scoop them right up off the cutting board. Look at how this blog is refining me. My Mom would be so proud.

 I used corn tortillas (slightly warmed) for my tacos, but you could also use standard taco shells, flour tortillas, or like Mike did (see the lovely photo below), you could use a spinach flour tortilla.

Coconut Lime Chicken Tacos

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 lb of shredded chicken

1 can lite coconut milk

1 tsp cumin

Zest and juice of 1 lime

Splash hot sauce

Salt and ground black pepper

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Tortillas (your choice)

1 small red onion, diced

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

 Directions

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the chicken, coconut milk, cumin, lime zest and juice, and hot sauce. Simmer until heated through and thick. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then remove from the heat. Stir in the cilantro, then divide the mixture between the tortillas.

Top each serving with diced onion and avocado. Serve immediately.

 

See? Super-easy, super-fast, and really customizable! I hope you enjoy!

Garlic Chicken and Orzo

This is one of those super-simple, really yummy, really fast, perfect-for-weeknight-dinners meals, and it is also really healthy, and re-heats wonderfully. I realize this sounds as if maybe I am OVER appreciating this meal, but let's face it... It's also egg-free.  So for right now, it makes me happy. And because I am happy, I thought I would share.

You can also customize this in so many ways. I ate mine as pictured (in it's healthiest form). Mike added sour cream and sriracha sauce to his, as well as extra cheese.

I think you could add different vegetables (fresh peas, maybe some fresh tomatoes or asparagus, onions... lots of options) and different cheeses would also be good. You could probably swap out the protein, too. I used chicken, but shrimp could be really good, too. And adding a little lemon juice at the end might just be perfection. But those are all ideas I have not yet put into execution, so if you try any of them, please let me know how it goes!

Sorry I don't have more photos, but this meal cooks fast, so there's not a lot of opportunity to take good pictures, other than of chicken cooking in a skillet (BORING), or me peeling and mincing garlic (also kind of BORING), so you just get these pictures of the yummy end-product.

Garlic Chicken with Orzo

Ingredients:

1 box uncooked orzo pasta (about 16 oz)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions:

Bring a large pot of chicken broth to boil. (You can use water, but it is much tastier if you add some bouillon to that). Add orzo pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the garlic and red pepper 1 minute, until garlic is golden brown. Stir in chicken, season with salt, pepper, and onion powder and cook about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and juices run clear. Reduce heat to medium, and mix in the parsley and cooked orzo. Place spinach in the skillet. Continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

This recipe makes about 8 servings, and you can always add more chicken if you want more. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.