sickness

Very much suffering here this week.  First I came down with what I thought was a bad burger,now I guess I have to double think.  2 out of the 3 kids in my family are not keeping anything down so I guess it means we officially have the stomach flu bug around here. 

The results are IN

AND drum rolling in the background....


I NEED MORE PRACTICE WITH MY DEHYDRATOR, that's for sure.

I started the process 6 pm (I think).  Me and hubby checked the items at about 11:00 pm when I was going to sleep but we both felt that they needed to go longer.  At that point, everything tasted really good but we thought they needed just a tad bit longer to have the dried out effect. 

The strawberries were my favorite at that part.  They popped in my mouth.  I should have just bagged them right then and there and forgot about it. 

Hubby tried one of the serano peppers that I put in there, just cut in half and not seeded. 

Okay my man can handle hotness like no other I've ever met and when I tell him at dinner sometimes that it is too hot for the kids (since all my tastebuds are in tact) he thinks it's not hot at all, that is until me and the kids are yelling for something to drink to drown out the hotness.  Then I say see, I told you so..yadda yada

This time though I had to laugh because he immediately turned red in the face and ran for the fridge to drink something, grabbed the OJ, then yelled out in remorse.  I laughed until I cried.

Our conclusion of that is that with the dehydrator it must keep all the flavor entrapped in everything. It was amazing (and amazingly hot to him. lol)

So at that point, back on the hydrator went.

Then...I got tired and told hubby I was going to bed and also instructed him that when he decided to go to sleep to unplug it. 

Umm what I was thinking?  I know how his brain shuts off, the man can sleep sitting up and probally standing if he tried.  So he of course fell asleep (err) and didn't unplug it until 3:00 am. 

I got up this morning and most had to be thrown out besides the peppers and a few that were okay. (I'll let him eat those, lol)

The dehydrator manual said to always put them into storage as soon they come out of the machine.  I think even at 3:00 they would have been probally okay; they just sat out too long and by this morning was stale and old.

So I think next time I will start this project early in the morning or not at all.  Cutting takes time with the veggies and fruit.  Between cutting fruits, veggies, and typing, I think I've developed carpo tunnel in my wrists.  My hands where on fire last night! Yes I googled what could possibly be wrong and that was all I could come to terms with. 

So I better go so I don't have more issues today since my hands feel better.

Here are some photos from the first attempt.  I know it's a learning process with timing and seeing how I like the fruits and veggies to be as far as keeping them in to my preference.  I'm still excited to try again sometime soon.

The way to dried out strawberries

Those are mangos and some kind of white nectarine  (or used to be)

I kept the tomatoes thinking maybe I could add them to chili or something un-noticable

The peppers I didn't try

The banana's where yucky (pitched)  apples where so so..

And that's all, my adventure coming to an end for today

or until I wash everything

Dehydrator

 Me and my hubby have been contemplating for years on getting a dehydrator.  We go back and forth on thinking what we could do with it and then put it off for a while and forget it. 

Well not this time. 

Here is the reasons I've told myself that I desperately needed to spend $50.00 on a dehydrator.

1.  I've been thinking lately that I wanted to start eating more healthy and feeding my family more fruits and veggies to do so.

2.  My son also has allergies so it's gets pretty limiting at times with his dairy allergy as well so the more snacks he can get the better.

3.  My hubby loves dried mangos as well and as a treat sometimes I buy the dried fruit at the grocery stores but you just don't get very much.


4. Yes I need a new hobby to make cooking more enjoyable.

5.  I want to make a garden this year (second attempt) so my veggies will get more use and not go to waste I will dry some as well.

6.  We have a lovely cherry tree that most have seen by now and I'm thinking I can dry some cherries as well.  Good thinking Mom.  Okay that's a great list!

Yes I am mainly buying this for fruits and veggies but it does much more for me. Did I mention sun dried tomatoes? That did it for me right there.
My own dried herbs and potpourri. Yeah!! Give me some fragrance now!


I seriously think that my mom and sis in law will love it as well.    My inlaws always make fun of me and hubby and how we have so many kitchen accessories. I do tend to go overboard on buying things if I think it will make cooking dinner easy.  I am one of those people that try and get the items in store that were previously as seen on t.v. If they have made it to Walmart or Target, then they must work right?  Some do work! 

I may have talked some people into buying my dehydrator just by reading my post. lol (If they don't already have one already.)

So here is my latest addition in my kitchen, I'm sure this one will get much use throughtout the summer months.  I may even send hubby away to go hunting and get some elk for beek jerky, lol. 
I wish!

The list could go on and on and as it did in my brain I thought, "Well this time, I'm going to order it once and for all. "

Organization: Mission Impossible

 With sewing, I have learned that organization is key.

My stash grows all the time, so therefore so does the space needed to accompy all these crazy things in my life. 

I recently wanted to do something with all the patterns that I have purchased since September along with the ones that I have drafted as well.  I also needed a place I could store all my tutorials (most important, lol), warranities, manuals, notebook and notes.  So I thought about it and came up with the idea of doing the binder folder and using a storage bin for my patterns. I originally bought the storage bin to hold my lovely serger and get that out of eyesight, but now I have to figure out another one for that as well. 

Here is pics of what I did yesterday and how it turned out.  I like it so much and feel like I have my own little pattern store.  The much needed binder organization is loved as well.

Here is the Pattern Bin

I grouped it by family member, and by topic

Next is pictures of the Binder I created

When you first open it up, it holds my notebook for sewing

Then I organized my serger and sewing machine manual

I couldn't decide tutorials or manuals first so I think last minute, I decided after the manuals.

Then warranties

Finally I organized all the notes I have taken

That's it.  In a nutshell as I say.  I do think it made a difference going from just laying around and in ziploc big huge bags to this. 

Organization makes me happy, I've learned.  I think I need to major in it.  Someday.

Apron Made For Mom

Many of you know that the much anticipated event is coming up soon, Mom's Day. 

Every year, it's weird. I get a little excited when I think of how I am a mother of 3.  Then it hits me that I can't call my Mom and say the same things year after year that I yearn to tell her. I love you. 

My mom has been gone since December 16, 2002 but for some reason, it still feels like it's only been a year max.  Probally because she was a great inspiring woman and mother and every day I want to live up to her expectations of a mother that she endured; along with missing her. 

On the other hand, I do still have much to be grateful for on Mother's Day. I have a wonderful mother through my hubby.  Also a great sis-in-law that really does feel like my sister as well. 

I recently wanted to make my mom something to give to her for being always so gracious to my loving family and loving to no end.  So I made her this, but I feel like she still deserves more.  I guess when you love and admire someone so much the gratitude will never end for me.  So..

Here is the apron I finished and sent out a couple of days. 

The cool thing is that the initial's work for both my sis and Mom.

Now I want to make one for me, I'll post it as well soon.

Tempura Chicken Nuggets A Big Hit

  Last week I decided to try and do some chicken along with the tempura that I was making.

First I cooked all my veggies in the tempura batter; then I did the chicken. That was due to the fact that just like using a cutting board; do the veggies first and then do the meat. 

I bought one tempura package and I'm assuming that most of it got used up while I was adding more regular all purpose flour in with the vegetables. (Don't forget to use ice)  For my veggies I always do brocolli first because it cooks in about 30 sec.  Then I do my red peppers and end with the veggies that take longer to cook because as I cook, my oil keeps on getting hotter.  The longer the veggie will take to cook; the more hot your oil needs to be.  I always make alot of tempura and one package of tempura isn't enough so I like to start out with 1 package and then add my own flour. As far as adding water as you go, I like different consistency with all my veggies.  I like a little bit of flour on my carrots so if the water and ice is more runny; then I use those veggies and dip them in.   After that I thicken it back up again by using just about a palm amount of flour at one time until it looks the way I like it.  I just sprinkle it all around then stir with a wooden spoon for about 15 sec.  Half way through cooking tempura, you need to add about 4 more cubes of ice to your flour.  I probally thicken my flour up and add more in an average of about 4 times and end up cooking about 4 pnd of veggies.

After frying all the veggies, I added more oil because it was pretty done by that time and needed more. There was only like 1/4 quarter old oil left by then and I at least like to have 1/3 or almost 1/2 of my wok pan filled up.  I added about 1/2 cup oil to what was already in there and picked out all the old tempura pieces with my slotted spoon.

Then a big key to have great chicken nuggets is your consistency with the flour batter. I like it to look like thick pancake mixture.  That is how you produce the chicken nuggets that have alot of batter on them and it kinda makes it like Chili's chicken nuggets if you have ever had them.

I also added a few spices to my flour mixture like paprika, Emeril seasonings and also a little bit of seasoned salt.  I think that made a difference too.

So I ended up doing 3 batches with having 4 BIG pieces of chicken that was cut up into bite size pieces.  The oil didn't cool off to much since I only added a little bit of oil so it didn't take too long to get back to the hot oil that is required to cook it fast and correctly.  You need to put it on high again for a few minutes then when it looks like it is boiling, reduce it to medium-medium high.  Of course for chicken you need to cook it longer than veggies to ensure safety and doneness throughout.  I take them out once they are browned and a little bit longer than that to be on the safe side.

That's it though; although it can be quite difficult at times.  It is worth it though. 


Tempura is a learned art of cooking.  Each time you get better at it and have less burning.  The chicken turned out really good.  My hubby said so first which means alot from him because I rarely get comments from him on dinner.   The kids said it was the best chicken nuggets they had ever ate.  Of course I couldn't do this meal all the time but it is nice every once in a while when I want to have something fryed of course.


Enjoy

CAR SEAT REMODEL

I'm so amazed at how my life has changed since September 09.

That's the month I decided to take up sewing.  Again.
I didn't do too good when I tried the first time to make something from a pattern I had bought from Simplicity back in 2002.  I guess my brain needed a few more years of babies and diapers to mature enough to be able to pull off making an actual pieced together garment.  Looking back it must have been the sleeves that stopped me, those darn infant arm sleeves are impossible!

Anyways..rambling on...

It's now 7 months later and I don't think I've looked back to much at my sewing purchases with regret. But lately I'm wondering if I'm going a little bit overboard with the projects and blog tutorials I want to do and buy fabric for.

I guess there are good and bad things about having all these sewing and craft blogs out there.  The good things are I'm able to maintain my sanity and create something new.  I love looking at other women's creativity.  I guess it's the reason I try harder to think of new ideas of my own.
The bad things are, "Okay mom when are you going to get off the sewing machine?"

Life changes once you are a sewer.  Life is a little bit more filled with "No limits" and "I could just make that myself and "Even pick my own fabric.".

But there are days when you can't stand the way your frame of mind has changed. Today is a very good example of the guilt that comes along with loving sewing.

I recently got a new-to-me Nissan Quest and I'm so excited to have a reliable car again.  My old car was a 1996 Chrysler Town and Country and it has made the trip across America 3 times.   So it was time to let old Betsy go and bring in a replacement. 

I really like my new car and so I decided to clean all the carseats out and wash the covers etc...
Then...I got the big idea..(feeling really guilty)...that I could recover them.

I have seen all those bloggers that have the covers for sell for the infant ones but my kids are older so I am beyond that phase.  I thought I would recover just the girls to begin with since the ones that are on there to begin with are both gray.  Yes I know, now they make the same company boosters pink for the same price.  But back then, they didn't that I could afford at least.

I didn't do too good on the first one and I thought it would literally tear up my sewing machine and my walking foot.  There were way to many layers and I was just trying to sew on top.  I can see why many people have indust. sewing machines now and the higher shank models.  I had to fight just to get it under my low shank one.  I won't get that bright idea again and will not tempt to do that many layers in the future.  I broke 2 needles and the cover is half sewed on but I am done for now....very done.

Maybe another day if it shows stress in the car I might take it out and hand sew it on more.  I'm not much of a hand sewer though.  That's the reason I sew on my sewing machine for sure.

So here is the after pic of the booster seats.  The girls like them and now they have an additional layer to help their tushes.

About the Shirred dress

So a couple days ago, I made a Shirred Dress.  I had not decided yet whether I wanted to give it away to the big sister of the baby shower I was attending; or give it to one of my girls.  In the end, I gave it away because I felt bad about the big sis being left ouf of the baby shower gifts.

I know it meant alot to me when someone brought the other siblings something too...But secretly..
I really wanted to see my hard work on my own girls.  But for some reason they are near impossible to please when it comes to me sewing. 

Most of the time after I get done sewing something for them, after literally sometimes spending all day on it, they won't even try it on.Then I rent and rave about how I'm never making them anything else.

I think they would be okay with never seeing my sewing machine again if it weren't for the fact that they recently started taking beginner lessons from me.

So my oldest finally gave in to me, since my youngest daughter refused.  It's usually the other way around for sure.

I spent 3 to 4 hours on this dress since I wanted to do a rolled hem and do most of the work with my serger. Then I had to figure out if the shirring would work.  It did and I was very pleased with the outcome.  Not so much on the tie strings but the dress turned out cute.  Next time I will know to use double bias tape instead of single.

Here the best pose I suppose I got that morning.  I think I probally bribed her with something to get it.

Shirred Dress

I sat up very late working on this tonight. I really like it but I guess the true test is if one of the girls will wear it tomorrow or not.  We shall see :)  More later on how it came to be.