Well, I haven't been crocheting as much in the last little while because I have been preparing a costume that I will be wearing at the end of the month. That has been taking up most of my crafting-time and it did not help that while I was in the middle of a sewing project and making regular visits to my local fabric shop, the shop had a sale on patterns. Now I have a bunch of potential sewing projects in the wings. When I do get back to my crochet, it is to work on that pretty rainbow blanket which is still coming along, even if it is slowly. All this to say that I don't have any crochet related tips for this week, but I do have a wonderful recipe idea to share! One night this week I was alone to eat supper and although I didn't feel like making a big meal all for myself, I did really want something substantial to eat. I went into the kitchen to see what I could make, and I ended up making myself a chicken pot pie. So here is a loose recipe for the pot pie that I thoroughly enjoyed eating afterwards!

Filling:

Diced potatoes

Canned corn (frozen or fresh would be a great option as well)

Canned peas (dido)

Chicken Breast, cut in cubes

Salt and Pepper

Chicken bouillon (I would have used chicken broth if I had any)

Put all the ingredients in a pot (with water if you are using bouillon) and slowly cook on the stove until all the ingredients are just about cooked (I let the potatoes and chicken cook for a while before putting the corn and peas in, the food will finish cooking in the oven). Once this is cooked, I mixed four and water, as if I was about to make gravy and I gradually added it to the mixture while it was boiling until it had reached the thickness I was happy with.

As for the pie crust, I just used a basic pie pastry recipe, so whichever one you usually use would work. Line a pyrex dish with the dough and pre-bake the crust as the pastry recipe suggests. Add the filling and cover it with pastry dough, making sure to cut holes for the steam to escape. Cook in the oven as the pastry recipe calls for and voila, an easy chicken pot pie. It may not be gourmet food, but it was quick and simple and tasted good. Hope you can use this base and make the recipe even better for your purposes. Let me know!

Better Late Than Never

Well, I was going to blog once a week and then my life went a little crazy on me. But I am back now. Today I will share a quick and easy recipe for a coffee cake that I like to use as a dessert when I have guests for dinner. However, I am posting it because a friend of mine was looking for ideas for snacks to bring to Bible Study and this would be a great recipe for that situation as long as you can pull off having it warm when it is served. Don't get me wrong it's not awful and nasty when it's cold, it's still really tasty, but when it is warm it is just downright mmmmm. As for the crochet tip of the day, it is just that, a tip, maybe I'll have a pattern for you next week, but just a tip for today.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 egss

1 cup sour cream

t tsp vanilla

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs, one at a time. Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/eggs alternately with the sour cream (ie. bit of dry, mix, bit of sour cream, mix). Stir in vanilla. Pour this mixture into a greased 8x12 casserole dish.

Topping:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans (or any nut...my personal favorite for this and most recipes is walnuts)

Just before putting the cake (the batter you just poured in a casserole dish) in the oven, drizzle the melted butter over it. Combine the last three topping ingredients and sprinkle the combination over the melted butter you just put on the cake batter.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Voila, you are done. Like I said, I prefer to serve it warm and I also find that, like the name suggests, it is best when accompanied with a hot beverage. As you can imagine, I drink mine with a good cup of tea, but hey, if you're a coffee drinker, I won't judge (not a lot anyways). Hope it turns out!

Crochet Tip: Always have a small project on the go while you are doing something big like a blanket. Blankets often have a repeated motif or row pattern, sometimes only using one stitch. Depending on how short your attention span is (mine is quite short) set a reasonable goal for how many rows you will do and how often (to keep yourself going at the project). Then every once in a while, around the time you start dreading finishing the goal, lol, put it away and find a quick, fun little project that will only take a couple hours to complete. This way, the goals will make you feel like you're accomplishing something (even though the blanket doesn't look any bigger) and when you take a break from it and complete something you'll have new excitement for the bigger project by the time you get back to it. Here is where the tip is coming from:

Do you see the beautiful multi-coloured ripple blanket? Yea, SUPER tedious SOOOO I decided to make a top (right) for myself, it took a couple hours, I was done, I could wear it. It all worked out and now I am ready to keep going with my beautiful blanket. I'll take a picture of it when it is done.

Ode To My Nan (Grandmother) Fradsham

When I was trying to figure out what ideas to share with you this week, I thought I would start my blogging where I started my love for crochet and baking...my Nan Fradsham. Whenever I went to visit my grandmother in Newfoundland I would learn something new about crafting, baking and cooking and it was always accompanied with a good cup of tea. After years of trying to learn how to crochet with help from many people, the only person who had enough patience and skill to teach this lefty to crochet was my Nan. So this blog includes one of my favorite recipes from my grandmother and the thing that everyone should start with when learning to crochet...the granny square.

Lassie (Molasses) Buns

These buns are sweet like a cookie but are soft and puffy like a bun. My personal favorite way to eat them is with butter, but many people look at me strange when I do. What I can say, without a doubt, is that they are a perfect treat to pair with a cup of Orange Pekoe tea.

1 cup butter or margarine 4 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar 3 tsps baking powder

2 eggs (beaten) 1 tsp all spice

1 cup molasses 2 tsps cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp ginger

-Cream together butter and sugar, add molasses and eggs

-Mix baking soda with the little bit of molasses left in the cup, add enough water to mix the molasses and soda together, add to the wet ingredients

-In a new bowl, mix dry ingredients together

-Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients

-Make balls with the dough and put onto a cookie sheet

-To flatten, spread your hand and press down the dough with flattened fingers

-Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes

Fun With Granny Squares

Granny squares have to be one of the easiest and most versatile patterns for crochet. These fun little squares make blankets, purses, pillows, bags, and I'm sure that with a bit of creativity, much more. There are alot of patterns that use granny squares but they are not often used because the pictures they put with the pattern are often out dated, and I'm not going to lie, they are usually quite ugly. The problem is that most of the patterns are using outdated colours and colour combinations. Here is my challenge for you: make something with granny squares that you would be proud to take a picture of, use colours that are bright and play with stark contrast. I made a purse out of granny squares where I started the square with bright pink, and in the third round switched to black. The good thing about granny squares is that they don't use alot of yarn, so you can use all of those scraps from the projects you've made. I made a blanket using scraps of yarn with pink and white variegated yarn, bright blue, brown and white, it turned out really well. So, whether you are a crochet pro or a beginner, try the granny square. And just in case you are a beginner, a good book that can help you learn is "Stitch and B---: The Happy Hooker." It's not a family friendly book name, but man is it a great way to learn crochet.

-ch (chain) 4 and ss (slip stitch) in the first ch to make a loop

-ch 3, 2 dc (double crochet) in the loop, ch 2, (3 dc, ch 2) 3 times in the loop and ss to third ch of first ch 3

-turn, ch 2, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in ch 2 sp, ch 1, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in each ch 2 space around to make 4 corners, ss to third ch of first ch 3

(for all other rows) turn, ch 3, (2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in ch 2 space, ch 1, *(3 dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 space to corner, (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in ch 2 space* repeat from * to * until last edge, (3dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 space to the end, ss to third ch of first ch 3

Use different size needles, change the colour each row, try something different and let me know how it turns out!

PS: I am a lefty so my patterns may not work out for right handers, if you are having trouble, please let me know.

Getting Started

As a person who is passionate about laid back evenings with a cup of tea, fresh baked treats and my latest crochet project, I decided start sharing my latest ideas on my blog.  I hope you come back often and get inspired to be creative.