Last week, I reviewed The Christmas Table, yet another lovely cookbook from A Gooseberry Patch. Today was kind of a lazy day. We got up this morning and my husband and the kids worked in the yard while I did homework. My husband left this afternoon for an event and I am home with the kids. This is a perfect time to spoil them a little with a special snack!

When I flipped through The Christmas Table, the Cinnamon-Spice Popcorn recipe caught my eye right away. We love different flavored popcorns so I was definitely going to try this. It got mixed reviews in my house. I loved it because it had just enough sweetness from the sugar and spices but was also full of buttery flavor. My son loved it, which surprised me because he very much chooses vanilla type foods! My daughter on the hand, who loves just about any food she tries, was not a big fan but ate some when her plain popcorn ran out.

Cinnamon-Spice Popcorn

Ingredients

3 T butter

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

2 T. sugar

8 cups of popped popcorn.

Pop popcorn first and put it in a heatproof bowl.

Have I mentioned how much I love my popcorn popper? If I could only choose two small appliances to keep, my popcorn popper would have to duke it out with my crockpot for second place. For the record, my food processor would be the first place winner! You can purchase a popcorn popper at the store for less than 20 dollars. Popcorn kernels are only a few dollars and a bag lasts a long time.

Over medium heat, melt butter. Mix in the spices and sugar and stir until dissolved and smooth. Pour over popcorn and mix until pieces are coated evenly.

Gooseberry Patch’s The Christmas Table is a spiral bound cookbook with hundreds of recipes perfect for the holidays. Many of the recipes are great to bring or serve at parties. There are six sections: Cozy Christmas Brunch; Chill-Chasing Soups and Breads; Caroling Party Supper; Classic Christmas Dinner; Festive Holiday Fare; Sweet Treats to Share. Though many of the recipes definitely have a holiday feel, they can be used throughout the year. Many of the recipes have less than twelve ingredients and a lot of the ingredients are things that you likely have in your pantry.

The first recipe I tried was from the Cozy Christmas Brunch section. It was a crab quiche and it caught my eye because it seemed very easy but also kind of a luxurious snack.

Crab Quiche

5 T. all-purpose flour

1/2c mayonnaise

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup green onion, chopped

8 oz. package of shredded Swiss cheese

6 oz can of crabmeat, drained and flaked

9inch pie crust

Combine flour, mayo, eggs and milk in a large bowl and stir. Stir in onions, cheese and crabmeat. I forgot to flake the crab meat and I don’t think it affected the dish. Also, I only used a 5oz package of shredded Swiss cheese. It was on sale and there was no 8oz package to be seen. Pour the mixture into an unbaked pie crust.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

This quiche was delicious! As it baked, the kitchen smelled wonderful. It was beautiful and would have been perfect for a brunch or meal with friends.

I thought it was only fitting that this recipe was on the same page as a lovely story about Christmas Eve pajamas, a tradition that is important to us in the Threaded Together household!

Even though I had my mom stop by and have some for dinner (she loved it too!), I still had a lot of the quiche leftover. I cut it into pie slice pieces and froze it in individual bags. I had a piece for dinner tonight and it still tasted great.

Do you want to win a copy of The Christmas Table?

How to Enter

We will be giving away ONE copy of the cookbook to one lucky winner.  If you would like a chance to win, leave us a comment in this post and tell us what your favorite holiday meal is.  Leave your comment before May 24 at 9:59 CST.

Don’t worry about being creative in your comment, the winner will be chosen by a random number generator.  Please make sure that you fill out the required fields by putting your first name in the name field and your email address in the email address field.  We do not share email addresses and you will not receive emails from Threaded Together unless you win.

Winners

We will choose ONE winner randomly and announce the results here on Threaded Together sometime after May24th.

Rules

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and who are 18 years of age at time of entry. For this giveaway, entrants can enter 1 time. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology and Threaded Together assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological issues or for prizes lost in transit.No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except Threaded Together reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Void where prohibited by law. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state, and local taxes on the value of their prize. Relatives of Threaded Together are no eligible to win.

Because this is a family site and we get a lot of spam comments, all comments on this site are moderated.  If you comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry!

So Thursday night, when I remembered, I put together a quick teacher’s gift for under ten dollars. After ten years of teaching, I can tell you that teachers appreciate the thought. It doesn’t have to be a fancy gift…it truly is the thought that counts. Don’t get me wrong-the gift cards were nice but some of my favorite gifts were the hand-written thank you notes from my students and their parents.

My son and I put together a candy jar full of gold wrapped candies. I used the Cricut to put her initial and a #1 ribbon on the jar. I used grosgrain ribbon to tie a little bow on the jar and I had my son write a note to his teacher thanking her for everything. The jar is a cracker jar from Target and cost $4.95. It is a beautiful glass jar with a lid.

This project took two skeins of yarn, and only a few days for me to complete both the bag and the hat in intermittent knitting sessions.  I still have more than half of the second skein left, so I am planning to knit some matching booties as well.  It is almost impossible to see in my picture (don’t mind the scary looking baby doll model…I’ll try to remember to replace the photo with one of my daughter when she is born in a few months!) but there are adorable little owls knitted into the pattern.  It is much easier to see them on the pictures found with the pattern at ComfortWool.blogspot.com.  This is the pattern for the sleep sack and this is the pattern for the hat.

Aren’t they adorable?!?!  I am just dying to put my baby in them!  Also, this is the first time in my entire history of knitting that I purchased yarn somewhere other than your big corporation craft store.  I made the effort to drive to one of my local yarn shops and bought some “real” yarn.  The pattern recommended Malabrigo worsted, but I used Manos maxima (no website available, but Google it) – any worsted weight yarn will work.  Be sure to check the yardage.  I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to buying yarn from those big wig stores ever again.  This yarn cost 2-3 times as much, but the quality is 100 times better!  Totally worth spending the money, and now I understand why.  Of course, at our house we have been on a buy local kick for quite some time now.  The CSA I just signed up for has a few farms that sell their own yarn.  I may have to try that!

This project is not a beginner level project, but it is not advanced either.  You do need to have cable knitting knowledge and the ability to decrease stitches.

My daughter and I LOVE to go to our local patch.  There are a TON around where we live, so there are plenty to chose from.  It is extremely convenient that we have one less than five minutes from our house.  My daughter tries to see who can find the best, biggest berries, and I have a little helper to squat down and pull them out for me (a wonderful thing at 6.5 months pregnant).

I was very tempted to come home and make strawberry jam.  I have canning equipment that I still haven’t used yet.  Admittedly, I’m a little afraid and think I want to have someone else to try it with.  Also, my husband is right when he accuses me of a serious case of mission creep.  I make plans to go to the berry patch and before you know it there are strawberry pies, jams, soaps, drinks, necklaces…you name it and I can make it happen.  In the mean time, the dishes aren’t done, the laundry is piling up, the dogs still need to be washed…you get the picture.  I thought it best to keep things simple this time around. 

Most of the berries, I froze.  I cut their heads off, laid them out on a couple of racks and stuck them in the freezer, much like my mother recommended in her banana freezing post.  Tomorrow I will bag them up in one cup increments because I, too, am a smoothie-o-holic.  A medium size smoothie is often the main dish of my lunches at work.  What better to put in them then fresh off the vine berries???

I left a few berries out to munch on or turn into chocolate covered strawberries if I get so motivated.  But today’s strawberry dish du jour?  Strawberry shortcake of course!

I use a simple drop biscuit recipe for my strawberry shortcakes.  I CANNOT STAND those orange spongy cakes you buy at the grocery store!  Growing up I despised strawberry shortcake because I thought that was was it was supposed to be made with.  Once I learned biscuits were best, I also learned it’s hard to say no to just one!!!  You can add as much sugar as you desire to make it a sweeter biscuit.  I will leave it out of the recipe, but I often also add vanilla to the biscuits.

To be quite honest, Bisquick has a terrific strawberry shortcake biscuit recipe and if you are tried for time, I that is probably a great option for you.  In our household, however, we are trying more and more to get away from processed foods.  If it didn’t come from the ground or wasn’t created in some other natural way, or if it contains preservatives, I try not to buy it.  That has been difficult this year with my work schedule, but that will soon change when the school year is over and I get to stay home again (YAY!).  As a matter of fact, I also just signed up for my first ever CSA (Community Supported Agriculture Program) and I am THRILLED to place my first order!  I’ll let you know how it goes!  In any case, though Bisquick is not guilty of the typical long line of who knows what kind of ingredients in their products, it also isn’t straight flour and butter.  So I will stick with the homemade and as natural as possible stuff.

Drop Biscuits

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2-3 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup milk

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Make a well in the center of dry mixture and add the milk all at once.  Stir with a fork just until moistened.

Drop dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden on bottom and edges.  Makes 12 biscuits.

Strawberry Filling/Topping

Remove the green tops of 2 – 3 cups of strawberries and cut berries in half.  Crush about 1/2 cup or 1 cup of the sliced berries and mix in to the rest of the halves.  Sprinkle with desired amount of sugar for sweetness.  Use berries to fill biscuits that are cut in half or place on top.  Garnish with cool whip if desired.  Enjoy!

You can only make so many loaves of banana bread!  I’ve even been known to share what I consider to be bananas-ripe-beyond-edibleness with Jen and her family (who live conveniently right down the street) or take them into work.

I bought some bananas yesterday – they had just the right amount of green and I’ve already eaten a couple. By tomorrow they will be “too ripe” on the ripeness scale! The reason I bought new bananas yesterday is because I had bought a large bunch prior to last weekend thinking I would do some baking before a good friend came to visit. Well, I did bake, but made those yummy Butterscotch Brownies again and some Irish Soda Bread muffins for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner … no banana recipes! So, I had six ripe, but not yet mushy, bananas sitting on my counter … Jen and the kids are out of town and the college is closed for spring break – I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away, so what to do?  I’ve frozen over-ripe mushy whole bananas still in the peel before, which is convenient for future banana bread or muffins, but needed another plan.

I follow the Freezing Your Way Fit blog of one of Jen’s friends (the source of that yummy hummus recipe).  Her post on “Unleashing the Power of Your Freezer” under  “Getting Started” helped me change the way I was saving leftovers; previously a large container of frozen leftover soup would eventually be thrown away to make room for something else (and probably was harboring some bacteria since larger portions take longer to freeze), but small individual portions go with me to work for lunch … saving time and money!  This past year I’ve lost over 50 lbs. (and kept it off without denying myself treats) by doing two things – trying to eat healthy and adding some minimal exercising to my daily routine.  Instead of eating half of a pie, my guilty pleasure now is sucking down a frozen fruit/Greek yogurt/honey smoothie!

Back to the bananas … I wondered if they could be frozen in a manner which would be convenient for adding to my smoothies? Yep, it worked!  I knew if I just sliced and threw them into a bag they would probably end up in a sticky lump so I sliced and then froze them individually overnight on a cookie sheet.  They didn’t even turn brown.

This morning I divided the frozen little nuggets into six freezer bags.

And, then put the six small bags into a larger labeled bag (wouldn’t do any good if I just lost them in the freezer!).

Who would’ve thought I could write a whole post just about bananas? :-)  Rain is pounding down outside today, our last day of spring break … I think I saw some split pea soup in the freezer this morning.

Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Gooseberry Patch cookbook giveaway.  It was so fun to read about everyone’s favorite soups, salads, and sandwiches…so many tasty choices!

The winner, selected randomly by a random number generator, was comment #83 Debra V. who said “I love Cream of Potato!!! Homemade of course.”

Congratulations Debra!  Please email me at jennifer at twokidsandamap dot com or use the contact form as soon as possible (within three days) with your contact information to confirm the prize!  I wonder if we could talk you into sharing your curried chicken salad on our site!?!

Stay tuned!  I will be sharing some more recipes from the cookbook and we will have another early review for you soon!

Today was a rainy, nap-taking kind of day here in NW Florida … only I don’t take naps, so I got myself into the kitchen and made recipe #3 from Gooseberry Patch’s new Meals in Minutes – 10^th Anniversary Edition.

If you follow all of us here at Threaded Together then you already know that we are all trying to eat healthier.  Without knowing what I would do with it, I picked up some couscous a few weeks ago when I was on the shopping aisle looking for some alternatives to plain white rice (I LOVE plain white rice, but I’m trying to LOVE brown rice, too!).  So, when I saw this recipe in the new cookbook, I knew I had to try it … I loved it!  I think it is my new favorite salad recipe! Yum!!! The couscous was unbelievably easy to make (bring water to a boil, toss in the couscous, cover and remove from heat…wait 5 minutes and then fluff!).  The dressing is an exotic blend of flavors … sweet, tart, spicy.  This salad was so good that I called Jen and told her I was on my way down to her house to bring her lunch – a small container of this salad!

I did make a couple of minor ingredient substitutions … I did mention that it was rainy, right?  Not only did I not want to spend the money, but I also didn’t want to get wet!

Colorful Couscous Salad

Donna Cash

Dexter, MI

 (Page 41)

Ingredients:

Salad:

10-oz. box couscous

1 green pepper, diced

1 bunch green onions, diced

4 carrots, shredded

15 ¼ oz. can corn, drained

15 ½ oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

Dressing:

¾ cup olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice

1/8 cup white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 T. garlic, minced

3 drops hot pepper sauce

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. lemon pepper

½ tsp. seasoned salt

¼ tsp. turmeric

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

Directions:

Prepare couscous according to package directions; drain and set aside.  In a large serving bowl, whisk olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and seasonings; stir in vegetables and beans.

Add couscous, mixing well.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Things I did a bit different:

*I didn’t have any white wine vinegar so I substituted red wine vinegar.

*I used 2 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced

*I used Tabasco for the hot pepper sauce

*I didn’t have any turmeric.  After doing a bit of online research (Google is my friend!), I decided since it seemed to be mainly for color, to just leave it out.  No harm, no foul!

*Don’t look too hard in the pictures for the diced green pepper … I’m not a huge fan, so left it out. I increased the amount of carrots and green onions to make up for the “bulk”.

*I don’t have a 1/8 tsp. measuring spoon, but I have these to meaure a smidgen, a pinch, and a dash … aren’t they cute??

I think I used a smidgen each of cinnamon and ground ginger.

It is not too late … Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores?  Be sure to enter by clicking here!

I started this quilt for him when he was two or three months old (don’t judge me…I have a problem finishing projects).  A few months ago, I finally decided that I wasn’t going to start another project until this one was DONE.  Maybe it was the realization of him getting so close to his second birthday or maybe I was tired of the guilt trip it caused seeing it incomplete for so long…whatever it was, it motivated me to sit down and get it finished.

The design was fairly simple being that the front of the quilt only had eight sections in total (not including the owl). Normally I put my quilts on my free-arm frame, but I decided to do this one by hand. I quilted each section with a different design; one section had small quilted circles, one section was diagonal lines, and another was quilted to follow the flowers patterned on the fabric. It was ‘a little bit of this, and a little bit of that’.         

I appliqued the owl on the largest section in a color completely different from the others. I’m still not sure what I think about him, but he’s slowly growing on me.  I used the sewing machine to applique him as I know how my son’s fingers can pick apart just about anything.

I also tried a new technique on the binding. Normally, I use four separate pieces of binding and my corners always look sharp and…awkward.  A sweet lady at work had given my son a baby quilt and she had used one long piece of binding. Her corners were slightly curved and tucked in on the back…they looked great!

So…I did what any crafter would do.

I studied it.

And I copied it.

It took some time (I think I picked it out a couple of times before I finally got it down right), but I got it and fell in love with it.  Basically, you sew your binding to the front as usual. Once you reach a corner, you ‘tuck’ in two or three tiny pleats/tucks to make your binding curve around the corner. When you hand sew it down on the back, you’ll tuck under the extra fabric and sew it down flat.

Now that this quilt is FINALLY finished, I have about seven other quilts I want to start making. My only problem? I have about four other quilts that still need finishing.

What motivates you to finish those forgotten projects?

A couple of days ago I shared a yummy dessert recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s new-not-yet-in-stores-near-you cookbook, Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition.  This cookbook is full of yummy, quick and easy recipes — I had a hard time selecting just a couple to make for review purposes!

I love zucchini, year round, and had all of the ingredients necessary for this recipe right on hand.  It was delicious!  Most of the time I am cooking for one (which is not a whole lot of fun).  I try to make at least one dish on the weekend which will make a good Sunday dinner, lunch on Monday, and then provide some leftover which can be frozen for the future (because two days in a row is about all I can take any meal — this way I’m not throwing out food, and I have a variety stocked up in the freezer, especially for the working-through-lunch days, and I’m-tired-of-cold-cereal-after-a-long-day-in-the-office days).

Zucchini Pie

(page 35)

Ginny Paccioretti

Oak Ridge, NJ

Ingredients:

1 cup biscuit baking mix

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 cups zucchini, sliced and quarters

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

 
Directions:

In a bowl, combine baking mix, eggs, oil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; Stir in vegetables.

Spread into a lightly greased 13”x9” baking pan.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes.  Serves 6 to 8.

It is not too late … Do you want a copy of Meals in Minutes — 10th Anniversary Edition before it hits the bookstores?  Be sure to enter by clicking here!