Valiant's Fleece is Done!

Phew! One more pinky promise fulfilled! This is Valiant's fleece. I used Simplicity #4324 to make it. I turned out okay, but I'm still only a novice. The installation of the zipper is the best I've done so far, but, overall, Superman's fleece (the second one I completed) is still the best.
I still really stink at zippers...there must be something I'm not understanding about putting them in. Valiant is pleased, however, and it should last him two years...I made it big. Buttercup is next in line for a fleece (she picked coral fleece), but I think I'll do her Valentine's pajama pants first. I need to feel a bit more successful before I tackle another zipper!

Costco...not the problem it used to be...

Over the last year, Superman and I have not only revamped our spending patterns, but also revamped our eating habits. The truth is that we love to go out to eat...fast food, mid-range, it doesn't matter, we love to go out. The other truth is, we can't afford it any more. We spent a small fortune turning our new house into our home as quickly as possible, because we felt under the gun. We moved here in September 2005 and we knew that by September 2008, Charming would be on his own, either in dorms or in an apartment. We wanted Charming to truly feel that this "new" house was his home...and it worked. All of us feel that this is our home. Now, however, it is time to pay for all that accelerated progress and that is what we've been doing.

I've been joking that I'm done with the house, so now I need to learn to cook. Another truth? It wasn't a joke. I've spent the last 2 years learning how to cook things from scratch. I haven't even begun to feel like a "cook", but, wow, have things changed. I cook tons of things from scratch...and the side benefit is that I feel more accomplished, more skilled, and better about what I feed my family. I am a far cry from the girl who was seriously stunned that you didn't need a box of pancake mix to make pancakes. (Yes, I really did express shock at that!)

So, how does that tie in to Costco? Well, this is how: I just spent $180.75 at Costco and the only things I bought that were made for me were vanilla ice cream and Nacho Cheese Doritos. What did I get: 50 lbs of bread flour, 50 lbs of all purpose flour, 25 lbs of sugar, one bunch of bananas, 20 lbs of ground turkey, 11 pork chops, 4 lbs butter, 2 gals milk, a huge block of mozzarella cheese (6 lbs) , a huge corn tortillas, 44 uncooked flour tortillas, 5 lbs of frozen organic corn, 5 lbs frozen organic green beans, 6 cans Comet and a 6 lb box of Bisquick. Do you know how many meals I will be making out of all these staples? A lot! It is so much more satisfying to know what goes in our food and NOT pay someone else to make it for me. The $180 I spent will go so much further than it would have with prepackaged food and it will feed my family so much better. So, that is why Costco is not the problem it used to be. I'm not tempted by the conveniences it offers...I see it as a way to feed my family better for less. It is the ultimate frugal store for me...how awesome is that!

Chores...

At 9 and 12 (soon to be 10 and 13), Buttercup and Valiant are certainly capable of doing basic chores around the house on a regular basis. I am a firm believer that they should take care of their personal spaces, contribute to the care of communal spaces, and help care for the furry, feathered, and scaled animals they so love. For the most part, they do a terrific job, but...I was getting really tired of hearing, "But you didn't tell me I had to do that today!" for chores they darned well knew were daily chores...things like putting their clean clothes away, feeding the animals, etc.

Last summer I came up with our chore lists that had chores they were responsible for on a daily basis and a weekly basis (hamster cage cleaning, lawn mowing, taking the cans out for the trash truck and BRINGING the cans back in). No longer could they say they didn't KNOW they were supposed to do x or y. I made them a bit more fun by adding clip art to the chores. After two weeks I decided they were working, so I printed out fresh copies and had them laminated...my plan was to use dry-erase markers, but they wouldn't erase! We use highlighters or water-based markers instead. The only problem? The kids kept losing their list and then, again, the dreaded, "I didn't know I was supposed to do that TODAY," came back.

My dear friend A has let me borrow her eyelet/rivet thing so I can make LollyChops awesome calendars and I was struck with inspiration. So, I punched holes, set eyelets, tied some ribbon, and now they can be hung in the same place every night...cheerfully ready for the next day! So, the kids might not thank A, but I sure do!

So, I still haven't been sewing...

After having my family room, in which a dedicated corner is my craft room, filled with children in excess of my own for more than three weeks (extended winter break due to snow), I had some OCD tendencies to engage in and tidied and straightened and rearranged and cleaned and am finally ready to sew today. I did do a few little things which I'll show you in another post (I haven't taken pictures yet!) and I, of course, cooked.

Night before last I decided to try this recipe/method from Shawnee at Delishes-Delishes for making home-made Real French Fries. It seemed weird, but it did give us what we wanted...fries that were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The trick has got to be the soaking and the frying twice. The entire family deemed it a keeper, even though I didn't peel the potatoes first. So, here is the recipe I followed:

Homemade French Fries

First peel (or not, depending on your preference) several Russet potatoes...however many you want. Cut them into french fries, and put them in a big bowl of cold water. Let them soak at least an hour. [Mine soaked for 2+ hours and I had no problems.]

After they've soaked, heat your oil to 350. No more, no less. I make mine in an electric skillet, if you have a fryer, that's great. Stovetop frying is touchier and more difficult to keep the oil at the proper temperature. [I used my fryer. I love that messy little baby!]

Dump your potatoes out into a colander while the oil heats and allow them to drain. If they're still pretty wet when the oil is hot, use a towel to dry them a bit more. Again...oil and water don't mix! Set out a cookie sheet covered with a couple layers of newspaper which in turn is covered with paper towels. The newspaper does a good job of soaking up extra grease. [I used a brown paper grocery bag.] Add some of the potatoes to your oil. Again, I can't tell you how many, just don't put too many in or the oil temperature will drop and you'll end up with greasy fries. Swoosh the fries around a couple of times to make sure they're not sticking together. After 3-5 minutes, the fries will look like this:

[This is my picture, not Shawnee's. I thought it only fair to show you what mine looked like!]

Pale, soggy and un-fried looking. That's fine. Just put them on the paper towels and move on to the next batch. Keep going until you've cooked all the potatoes. Now raise the temperature on your oil to 400 or 425. My electric skillet only goes to 400, so that's what I do, but the higher the oil, the browner your fries will end up. [My fryer says 375 is max, so I turned it all the way up!] Dump your french fries into the colander to free up your cookie sheet. Replace the newspaper and paper towels if necessary. Once the oil is at 400 [or at your maximum temperature], put your first batch of fries in the oil. Then start watching. After a bit, they'll start floating. Start watching for them to get nice and golden brown. Scoop them out of the oil, season and eat as soon as they're cool enough to handle.

There you have it, homemade french fries. We served ours a variety of ways...Valiant and Superman are ketchup men, Buttercup is a ranch dressing girl, and I liked mine with garlic and parmesan.

What cats do in winter...

Bring the birdwatching indoors!

French Toast Waffles...

Okay, so the recipe says Waffle Iron French Toast, but I've been saying it backwards since I first found it, so now it sounds better that way to me...so French Toast Waffles they are...

I found this recipe at Five Fork Easy Peasy recipes and it was (easy peasy, that is)! All you do it take sliced bread, dip it in the egg mixture, and put it your waffle iron. It was much easier to clean up than waffles are, too. Confession: I hesitated to try this recipe because I hate cleaning my waffle iron. I don't know why, but I consider it a total pain. It was worth the effort.

French Toast Waffles

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice [I substituted cinnamon here...it was what I had.]
1 teaspoon vanilla extract [Oh, please!...more, more, more!]
2 tablespoon melted butter
10 slices of your favorite bread (bread should be thick slices about 1 1/4 inch)

Directions
1.Preheat a waffle maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Spray the surface with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, using a whisk, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the milk, butter, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and sugar whisk until blended.

3. Dip 1 bread slice into the egg mixture and soak, turning once, 30 seconds per side. Place the bread on the preheated waffle maker, close the lid and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions until golden brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. Keep warm while cooking the remaining bread.

4. Serve the French toast warm with syrup.

Notes: It says 10 slices of bread and we got five out of this recipe. I think I let my bread soak too long in the egg mixture, so each slice had more egg than the recipe intended. This was really fantastic with homemade bread that has gotten a little stale. (Then again, French Toast is always better with stiffer breads.) You might have to trim the egg part off the "waffle" when you serve it to the kids...Buttercup kept saying it seemed to be "missing something" and I realized she was only getting cooked egg mixture in her bites. So, she was missing the whole French Toast Waffle part!

Michelle at Five Forks even has recipes for flavored butter, but that wouldn't fly in this house...

Valentine's Day will arrive before you know it...

Boys don't really care about Valentine's Day, so it has only been since Buttercup has been old enough to voice an opinion (strongly, I might add), that we've really acknowledge Valentine's Day in our family. Oh, I've always gotten the kids a little present to celebrate the day, but we really haven't done much more. Plus, both Charming and Valiant celebrate their birthdays in February, so trust me, they were interested in those days, not some "kissing" holiday!

Well, along came the girl, and that all changed. So, today I'll be whipping up a pair of pajama pants out of this fabric. Pajama pants are easy peasy and she likes to celebrate each season with an appropriate pair.

Then, later this week, we'll be working on this cool Valentine's Wreath from Little Birdie Secret's...I found the wreath form at Jo-Ann's (Michael's didn't carry it)...unfortunately, Jo-Ann's was packed and so we'll head back later in the week to get the fabric.

Also, I was very brave and I've committed to being part of Little Birdie Secret's Valentine's Card swap? What was I thinking?...I've only made a few hand-made cards in my life. I guess this is one way to make sure I try new things.

This is what I'll be doing today...what about you?

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars...

Last night I made these amazing bars...the recipe was actually called Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies, but, honestly, these are more like bars, so I've renamed them in my mind. I found the recipe on Tastespotting and it comes from Bunny's Warm Oven...you can find the original recipe here. They were really easy and would be especially quick if you had the dough already.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 18-oz. tubes chocolate chip cookie dough
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.

Slice cookie dough into ¼-inch thick rounds. Arrange closely on bottom of pan, pressing to fill in the gaps. In a large bowl, cream the sugar with the cream cheese until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well. Pour cream cheese mixture over cookie dough. Slice second roll of cookies and place over top of cream cheese.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until puffed, golden, and center has set. Cool. Cut into 1-inch squares and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

As you can see, the original recipe calls for store bought cookie dough, but I made up a batch of Toll House Cookie dough. I used half on the bottom of the 9 x13...spreading and patting with my hands to create a complete layer at the bottom of the pan yielded the best results...then I used spoons to drop the second half on top of the cream cheese mixture.

While the recipe says "cool", I found these to be amazing if you actually chilled them for a bit in the refrigerator. Also, I think the powdered sugar is for looks, it really didn't seem to add anything, in my opinion.

So, how much more decadent can you get? Its like cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies rolled into one!

Please let me know if you try them, I'd love to hear what you think.