Black Friday Shopping

Today we went Black Friday shopping even though it was really Saturday. I ended up working over time yesterday again, so was not home until after all the stores were closed.

Today while we were out seeing what was on sale we came across Cuisinart Stand Mixers with 800 W motors and 5.5 qt bowls on a super sale!

Needless to say I bought one and my husband did not look askance at me for doing so, so I think it was a good purchase. 

Took it home and fired it up by making bread, 12+ cups of whole grain flour through this appliance, with NO smoking, ominous noises or cupboard hopping!

Five loaves of bread easily out of this machine:

Yummy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

October Block of the Month Finished!!!

Now that I am caught up on one of my Mystery Quilt projects I decided I better get caught up on some of my other projects.

Today I was able to finish my October blocks for a Block of the Month that I am doing through Woodland Quilting:

Now to start on my November installment...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Crock Pot Turkey

It may not be Thanksgiving Day here, but it is somewhere else, and besides it's still a month til Christmas turkey!

Today, I decided I would pull out my ever favorite dinner tool; my crock pot and make Turkey for dinner in the crock pot.

There are a lot of different ways to do this I have found online, so with the ingredients I had I made:

I used one frozen Turkey breast (I got mine fresh at Costco, then froze it), 1 can of cranberry sauce, 1/2 cup water, and 1 package of onion soup mix.

Place the frozen Turkey breast in the slow cooker, mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over.  Cook on low, mine was probably cooking for close to 11 hours by the time we got home, boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli, made a salad, and gravy from a package.

Delicious.

Turkey sandwiches tomorrow!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Playdate Cookies

My son arranged with one of his class mates to go over to his house for a play date this past weekend.

To be a courteous house guest I baked cookies for my son to take along.

We made Butter Cookies.  I had wanted to try these cookies last year when I ordered the spice blend, however, my saleslady for these products delivered them to me promptly on the 28th of January after I had ordered them early November.  Needless to say, I did not make the cookies for Christmas, and I will not be ordering from her again.

The cookies turned out quite lovely:

The children all thought they were delicious, so that was a bonus! Notice by the picture a cookie monster had come and gone while I was getting the camera!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Dinner?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am what has become referred to as Saskatchewan Ukrainian cheap.

I like to think that means that I am frugal with my resources and make the best use of everything and not outsource if at all possible.

One of things that I work very hard on for my son is that he grow up with the concept that dinner is a hot meal at home at the dinner table, with healthy food, not fast or prepared food.

We have extracurricular activities most week nights as most families do, but rather than line up in the drive thru with other parents I opt to have casseroles prepared or use my slowcooker.

This morning before we left home I put ingredients in the slow cooker and when we got home dinner was ready.  My son set the table, I made a salad, and we ate:

I cut up about 6 large red potatoes, added 4 handfuls of frozen green beans, half a chopped onion, chopped green and red pepper, and a half a turkey sausage.

I was dubious if there would be enough moisture in this preparation, so I stopped by home at lunch time to check on it, and it was fine.  There was very minimal moisture in the crock pot when we got home, but apparently the frozen beans kept the potatoes from sticking.

It was quite good, needed a little salt, but other than that we have a few nights of left overs now!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cranberry Chia Bread

Yesterday while rummaging in the refrigerator I came across a bag of cranberries that I figured I had better use up.

I ended up making Cranberry Bread:

It's delicious!

Cranberry Chia Bread:

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp orange flavoring

2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

2 heaping tbsps chia seed

1 cup fresh cranberries

Beat oil, yogurt, sugar and eggs together, add in orange flavoring.  Add in dry ingredients and mix together.  Fold in cranberries.  Bake in a greased pan at 350F for 45 minutes.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Lunch?

It's Greycup Sunday and after working last night again, I have to get a move on and get prepared for the week ahead and be ready to watch the Greycup game this afternoon.
My beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing in this game at Taylor Field.  I am so homesick right now just thinking about not being able to be there :....), so I decided to make bread, because nothing says Saskatchewan more than wheat and canola, and well, some flax seed too.  Plus we need something for lunches this week and to make sandwiches one requires bread.
So, I  powered up my KitchenAid and turned out another four loaves of bread:

Delicious as usual.

As many of you likely know, I have used this mixer for years to mix whole grain bread, and sometimes in extremely large quantities.  I did burn the motor out trying to run about 14 cups of whole grain flour through it last spring, but a simple replacement of the motor by husband and I am going again.

I recently looked at another brand of mixer that boasts an 800 W motor, not sure what mine is really running now. 

 At first I was excited about the new more powerful machine, but then I realized that the mixing bowl on the 800 W machine is still the same size as the one I have and not likely to handle 14 cups of whole grain flour either!

So, no new mixer in my future I will continue to mix 8 - 10 cups whole grain flour with my 15+ year old, made in the USA, with no plastic parts mixer, and here's hoping I don't blow a motor for another 15 years : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Caught Up!!!

I am so excited!!!

I am finally caught up!!!

I started on the Prairie Quilt Mercantile Cracked Pots Facebook Mystery Quilt two weeks late due to working extra long weeks with overtime, and all of the other things that keep me occupied.

As of today I am caught up with the other quilters in this group!  I can actually take pride in the fact that all in all I was only one week behind, despite the late start!

Here is step 5:

Aren't they cute?  They measure a whopping 2.5" square!!!

Off to finish my socks now.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Friday Feature Card

If any of you pay close attention to my blog you will have noticed that my blog posts are now done at some bizarre early hour of the day.

There is a reason for that.  Usually, I do not go to bed til somewhere after midnight.  Am awake by 0300 because after decades of waking to check my blood sugar at that time, I don't even need to set a clock, and if my husband is home, he wakes at around 0400 to get ready to leave for work at 0500 as he has about a 45 minute commute before work.  I lay in bed and stare at the walls for about 2 hours and then get up.

This week after feeling a little tired, I decided to try something new!  

If I go to bed at 2100 hours (9 p.m.) I can get to sleep until 0300, then doze until 0400, and then get up and be productive til 0600 when I get lunches and school stuff ready for the day.

Here is what I did this morning:

I think this will be another one of the cards that I make with my friends for our annual Christmas Card Making Party!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

More Nine Patch Squares!!!

Welcome to my new blogging friends from yesterday!
 I LOVE participating in the Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada event because it gives me a chance to "meet" other quilters from across Canada and find out what they are up to and what is happening in different parts of this great country.

 Yesterday I mentioned that the Nine Patch blocks for the mystery quilt were getting to be overwhelming.  I made 210 of those little squares.  To reward myself for completing them I decided to get caught up on my block of the month quilt kit offered by one of my favorite stores in the Edmonton area; Woodland Quilts in Spruce Grove.

 I opened my fabric kit and the instructions for the October installment and guess what I got to make 80 of?

More black and white nine patch squares!!!

Okay, I am done with mini nine patch squares for a while, I hope!!!
 Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Welcome!

Today is Alberta's day in the spotlight for the Sew Sister's Blogathon Canada.

Today I am showing you steps 3 and 4 of my Prairie Quilt Mercantile's Facebook Cracked Pots Mystery Quilt.

So, without further hesitation I present you with:

Two Hundred and ten (210) of these little squares!

They are very cute, but as I will show you tomorrow, I am quite DONE with making these sort of little squares ; )

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blog world here at the North Pole (a.k.a. Edmonton in winter)! Now off to finish some more warm wooly socks.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Slow Progress...

For today I decided I would post the project that has consumed most of my crafting time for the past couple of months!

I signed up again to participate in the Prairie Quilt Mercantile Cracked Pots Facebook Mystery Quilt (an Alberta company as well) in September.  After starting almost two weeks late, I have had to continually push myself to keep up, and let me tell you there are no big pieces to piece in this quilt!

So far thanks to a reprieve we were given this week I am almost caught up on step five!

I present you now with steps 1 and 4, and yes there is a reason I have this block in that number order, it is actually two steps combined:

Tomorrow I will post steps 2 and 3: )

I am also giving you a picture of the parking lot (yes a destination location) at the St. Albert library from last night.  The snow coming down was SOOOOOO pretty:

The tree was twinkling even without Christmas lights!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

October Sock of the Month

Last month I decided to participate in Sweetgeorgia Yarns Sock Club.

My October yarn arrived and so far this is what I have managed to accomplish:

The yarn is a beautiful texture and I love the rich fall like colors, unfortunately there is a foot of snow in my front yard (I'm not really exaggerating).  

I think my November yarn is on the way so I better get the other sock done quickly!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Chocolate Chip Pancake Sunday

They (whomever that is) says breakfast is the most important meal of the day!  Well, I tend to agree, and today is going to be super busy around our household.

I have a weeks worth of laundry to do, lunch and snack items to prepare for the week which includes baking bread as the freezer is out of that, dinner in the crock pot for tonight and left overs for a few days, 42 itty bitty 2.5" blocks to make for my mystery quilt to get caught up, and of course a Riders game to watch today.  GO RIDERS GO!!!

So, for breakfast this morning I made:

Chocolate Chip Pancakes!

These were super easy to make, the taste was okay:

2 eggs beaten

1 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups biscuit mix

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Served alongside a bowl of canned raspberries and a glass of milk they were a good way to start the day!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

p.s.  Just so you can have this stuck in your head for the rest of the day, here is the link for the song playing at my house today:  Rider Pride Song!

What's For Dinner???

Alright, so we've made it to the middle of the week.  We get home late almost every evening from piano, violin, skiing, swimming and horseback riding.  I need a nutritious dinner nightly that is ready to go when we get home.  Hence, the reason why I am known as the Queen of Casseroles!

After my son had gone to bed last night, I went rummaging in the freezer for dinner tonight.

I came up with this for an idea:

I used my wonderful Paderno 3 L Casserole dish.  This casserole dish can be used on the stove top so I was able to fry:

1 pkg lean ground turkey

1 chopped onion

red pepper flakes, chili powder, ground pepper, garlic powder

- once the meat was browned I added:

670 mls pasta sauce

1 cup shredded cheese

5 cups cooked pasta shells

- mixed it all together and covered with grated mozzarella  cheese.

Into the oven at 350F for 30 minutes.

Once the casserole cooled, I put it into the refrigerator and along with a green salad tonight, dinner is served!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Pair of Socks DONE!!!

I finally finished late last night my Snapdragon socks.  This ball of yarn was purchased at The Loop in my second favorite city; Calgary (first of course is and always will be Saskatoon).

The yarn is from SweetGeorgia Yarns and Snapdragon is the colorway.

Anyways, here they are completed:

I wore them to work today, and they were just super cozy.  LOVE it!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Poppy Seed Buns

Today my son and I made Poppy Seed Buns for recess snacks this week (I think adults call recess coffee break).

They turned out fantastic!  Again, I used my fantastic Kitchen-Aid mixer to make the dough.  Just remember if you continue to mix dough in the quantities I do you will likely burn out the motor on it.  The motor in mine has been replaced with one that has more watts to it after I burned it out this spring : (

DELICIOUS!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Saturday's Friday Feature!

Yes, you read that right.  I fully intended to post my Friday Feature Card on Friday, but, by the time I got home from work last night (went in to cover a sick call), I really did not feel like posting.  I knitted for a bit and then went to bed.

So, without further delay, here is my Friday Feature Card on Saturday:

I think it's PRETTY!  Look at all the Glitter!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ginger Cookies

I just realized right now that my blog posting is seriously behind!  What happened?

Well, for starters I have been super busy with my son this week, and then everyone seems to be getting sick so my favorite word has been used a lot this week: Over Time.

We did make Ginger Cookies the other evening though:

I do make these a dozen at a time, honest, but my son tried one, so then I had too, and so on!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Welcome Snow!

You are probably pondering what could possibly be wrong with me to be welcoming the snow.  Well, it was actually about time to get it, being as it did not actually snow here until the evening of November 02, 2013, and that December 21 is not that far away.  As far as I am concerned, that is the official start of spring, because the days start to get longer!  YAY!!

A few weeks ago my son and I went to Crock a Doodle in Spruce Grove.

While we were there I painted:

It turned out pretty neat I think, especially the scarf!

I will show you tomorrow what my son and I put on him because it seemed the kind of thing to do on a cold winter day.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sock 2!

It has been a super busy week around our house this week!  I am back to basically single parenting again for the next few months while my husband is extra busy with work!

My sock progress as a result has not got very far this week.

Here is what I have of Sock Number 2:

The majority of this was completed while I waited for my son to finish art class yesterday morning.

Now off to play in the snow before working ER this evening.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy