Better Than Fig Newton Bars

Better Than Fig Newton Bars

Dough:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
 
1 cup mission figs
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp water

1/2  cup chopped walnuts

Cream together sugars and butter. Add eggs and beat well. Add dry ingredients and spread half of dough mixture into lightly greased 9x11 pan.

Place all filling ingredients into food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Spread over bottom layer of dough. Spread remaining dough over fig filling.

Top with chopped walnuts. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

Rolled Paper Beads



I love pretty paper. But I'm not going to actually buy it. People send me it all the time in the form of cards. Seriously, have you ever looked at all four sides (or sometimes more) of a card? Often the inside and backs of cards have the best usable pieces for new things like this project. I also like to make my own repieced cards and tags.

A new way to use paper? I found the idea for rolled beads and thought that would be a great thing to try. Here's how to do it:

Pick paper pieces with desired colors and cut them into triangles that look like this:

The wide side should be the width you want your final beads.

Roll them starting with the wide side (think crescent rolls) over plastic straws. Use a little white glue to hold them in place (don't worry - it dries clear and helps them be a tad waterproof so your bracelet/necklace doesn't fall apart in the rain). Now...this is a little tricky depending on the thickness of the paper you choose (cardstock will crinkle). You might have to repress the pointed ends down to encourage them to stick. If using bendy straws, don't wrap beads over the bendy part. But keep wrapping beads along straws until you have as many as you want/need.   Once dry, I snip the individual beads apart and string them on elastic cordage.

Baked Pork Egg Rolls with a Twist

I love egg rolls.

I hate egg rolls that are mainly cabbage.

So last night I made these Pork Egg Rolls from Martha Stewart, but with a few changes.

These babies are substantial and a meal in themselves.

I followed Martha's recipe but added a couple things.

more ginger & garlic- to bump the flavor

1 T. fish sauce (because I love pork with this stuff)

a big bunch of chopped fresh cilantro

I didn't season with salt and pepper AT ALL!

I also baked the egg rolls, brushed with olive oil, instead of frying!

My husband said they looked like little Chinese burritos. :)

Delicious!

Added bonus of extra to freeze!

Tip of the Day: Shredding Chicken in a Crockpot

After cooking totally frozen chicken breasts in a bit of sauce on low for 8 hours, you now need to shred it.

Stop! Don't go get two forks or try to take the meat out!

Instead, use a potato masher to push down on each cooked breast in the crockpot and wiggle away. The chicken breaks apart and then you add a bit more sauce and voila! Shredded chicken.

Tie-Dye T-Shirts

My husband works at a facility for at-risk kids and every year he helps out with their week-long summer camp. One of the (ahem) delights of this job is wearing one of two tie-dyed t-shirts all week long. This last summer he was assigned the pink team and so I'm sure there is no doubt as to why once the week was up, those shirts ended up on my refashion pile.

My original idea (since tie-dye is usually not my style) was to just fashion them into some sort of sleeping attire. But then I thought perhaps a swimsuit cover-up. I think my final creation is somewhere in between.

 

I used two t-shirts, sewing the hems together (you can see the sewn line), then cutting the bottom one off under the armpits. I cut off the arms and the collar from the top shirt.  The beautiful thing about t-shirts is that a cut edge can be stretched and it will form a clean-looking edge. This is what I did with all my edges: collar, arms and bottom. I then sewed it up to create a bit of ruching and then hand-sewed the bows on ( literally made by cutting rectangles from the unused portion of the t-shirt and tying them in the middle).

Feta, Leek and Cornmeal Pie

I found this recipe thanks to Pinterest and Good Food blog. The original recipe called for a pre-packaged corn muffin mix. I was fresh out of such things so made substitutions for a great result.

Feta, Leek and Cornmeal Pie

2 eggs
1 lb feta, crumbled
2 large blanched leeks

1 1/2 c cornmeal
1 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 c shortening
1 tsp salt

1/4 c water
1/4 c corn oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the cornmeal  flour, baking powder, shortening and salt together until crumbly. Set one cup of this mixture aside. Sprinkle half of the corn oil and water over the remaining corm mixture and mix until it holds together when pinched between your fingers. Press this into the bottom of a greased 9' pie pan.

Trim, wash and cut leeks into small pieces. Blanch for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool.

Mix feta and eggs together until creamy. Stir in leeks. Spread this mixture on crust.

Sprinkle with the cornmeal mixture set aside and drizzle remaining oil and water over the top. 

Bake for 50 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Sugared Peanuts

Warning: Do not make these if you have a propensity to eat things that taste AMAZING. I think I gained 3 pounds after making these because I could NOT stop eating them. You know, a handful here, a handful there until suddenly they're almost gone and there's no one else to blame.

Sugared Peanuts


1 cup white sugar
1/2 c water
16 oz peanuts

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine all three ingredients in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until water is nearly evaporated. Dump peanuts onto foil-lined baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes. Remove from oven and dump onto waxed paper (careful - they are super hot!) Once cool, you can break any chunks apart.

Knotted T-shirt Scarf

T-shirt scarves are all over the place - and they are one of the simplest refashions. No sewing, no rules. 

Laura posted her latest creation here and it is darling! I'm posting two I've made in the past which feature knotted portions as the centerpiece as further inspiration for you to be creative with your old, unworn t-shirts out there!

Here's how I fashioned mine:

The red one I made by weaving strands of the scarf together much the same way you would with those classic potholder looms. 

The blue one has a wrapped flower center. This is simple enough to do:  Just take an extra scrap from the part of the t-shirt you did not use for your scarf and start wrapping and twisting it into a circle, using hot glue every now and again to hold it together. I hot glued it onto one of the ruffled strands and position in the center of my knot when I style it around my neck.

For instructions on how to make a basic necklace scarf, check out ette studios' great tutorial. Then - have fun making them your own!

Skirt to Tunic Top Refashion

 

Yesterday someone said to me, "So you must be good at sewing." Um, not really. But I would like to believe I'm getting better with each refashion I take on. Today's project was inspired by these tunic tops made from skirts.  

I started by putting the skirt on upside down, then trimming the skirt to my desired length. I wanted it to hit just below my hips. 

 

I sewed the wider edge from the seams inward on each side to create a hole for my head. Then I cut the seams on each side for arm hole and hemmed those and the cut edge along the bottom. 

Up-cycle: T-shirt Necklace/Scarf

I have seen so many ideas for upcycling old t-shirts that I want to try! I made my first attempt at a t-shirt scarf today, inspired by one I saw on Etsy. Mine's not as pretty, but I think it's got personality.

so many t-shirts, so many possibilities...