I love recycling things when I can and I love sewing. So, when my son said he needed some more summer pajamas..I had an idea. We had just gone through all his old tshirts and made a huge pile of shirts that didn’t fit him any longer. He is always sad when he has to part with some of his favorite shirts. So, I found a pattern for shorts and made him a whole bunch of summer pajama shorts using his old shirts. It took two shirts to make one pair of shorts, so he had a fun time matching up the shirts and he loved seeing his old shirts recycled into something new! And he said they were the most comfortable shorts he had ever worn!
The best cake ever…so moist!
The other day I made my favorite cake…it is incredibly rich and moist. I actually got the recipe from the Hershey website..which has sooooo many delicious recipes! The recipe calls for a chocolate frosting, which I think is (believe it or not!) too much chocolate, so for the frosting, I don’t add the cocoa.
And of course, the best part of making a cake….
Hershey’s “Especially Dark” Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- “ESPECIALLY DARK” CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with “ESPECIALLY DARK” CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
“ESPECIALLY DARK” CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter, Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
My new best friend…..
Okay…it has been awhile since I have posted anything new. But this is my new best friend. I have wanted a bobbin winder for a long time now. This is the SideWinder. It needs a little tweaking..but it is working out so well. I would like to mount it to a board because right now it is very tipsy. But I like to be able to wind about 6 bobbins at a time so that I don’t have to do it every time my machine runs out of thread.
How Many Bibs Does it Take….
So I needed a baby gift and I decided to make some bibs. Then I thought, “how many bibs does it take make a gift?” One, certainly not. Two, maybe if they were fancy. But then I decided on three. So, three it is…
One year and counting…..
Well, a year ago today, I started this blog. Originally, I started the blog to only talk about my little business…selling woolies to go with cloth diapers. But it didn’t end up exactly that way. I guess, like anything else, it evolved into something else….a little bit of everything. I’m not sure what my blog is about…a little bit of everything…sort of like my life, my talents and my goals.
A lot has happened in a year…I just turned 42…wow, 42…that seems old. But I guess it also seems young.
Anyway..the painting of the Starry Night Walls continues…as does life….
Starry Night Continues….
I’ve been working on a large mural in the stairway. It is going to be a twist on Van Gogh’s Starry Night. I fear it may take me a very long time to finish..but I am progressing slowly. The tricky part is the very large wall going upstairs….it is very hard to reach and will be quite a challenge. I will have to get creative with different ways of painting it. I’m hoping a paintbrush taped to a long stick may do the trick, though I don’t think that will be the best option. I don’t want to have to mess with scaffolding or anything like that….we will see….
Monkeys….
Somehow I always seem to end up sewing monkeys. When it comes to my woolies, monkeys definitely seem to be the most popular design. And I do like them. And they are fun to make. And they are cute. So, monkeys it is…
Snow….
We have finally had a snowstorm worth writing about! This is probably the biggest storm we have had since we have lived in our new house! No school today! And no time to sew or do any laundry! Oh well…we played outside for about two hours and then Christopher took the kids sledding!
PenPals…
Well, we sent off our first package to our new penpals in Uganda. We are so excited to have this incredible opportunity. My niece’s boyfriend went to Uganda for an MIT class and one of the families there wanted to have a penpal in the United States. It sounded like an incredible opportunity. Tuesday and Quinn were more than excited to write letters to the two children. The girl’s name is Chloe and the boy’s name is Collin. I believe they are 6 and 3, but I am not sure about that. I’m sure we will get more information with each letter. We sent them off some stuffed animals, crayons, pencils, pens, glue and photos. I can’t wait until they get the package!
This is a photo of Chloe and her little brother in front of their house.
This is a photo of their school!
Winter Deliciousness….
It was so nice to have time yesterday to make a wonderful home cooked meal. Something is just so warm and fuzzy about home made soup in the winter. I had been dying to make my Aunt’s Tortellini soup. It is delicious. One day when we were over her house….she asked us to stay for dinner. Well, within about 30 minutes she had whipped up one of the most delicious soups I had ever had. I told her I had to have the recipe. She said there was no recipe…she had literally just invented it using the ingredients in her refrigerator. Well, I made her sit down and write down what was in it. And here it is…it is yummy and wonderful and filling…..
The recipe is:
Rose’s Tortellini and Spinach Soup
6-8 cups Water
1 Large onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
Bag Carrots, chopped
3 stalks Celery, chopped
2 cups Vegetable broth
Bag Fresh spinach
2 Bags Frozen tortellini
4 eggs scrambled
Begin to boil water. Turn water down to medium. Add onion and garlic. Cook 10 minutes. Add carrots, celery, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Let cook 10 minutes.
Add spinach and tortellini…put lid on, bring water to a boil. Make sure it doesn’t boil over. Add scrambled egg. Put lid back on. Cook on low for approximately 5 more minutes.
Yum!
Of course, you can’t have a delicious meal without a delicious dessert. One of the blogs I read, and I can’t remember which one, had this cake featured and it just sounded so good, I had to make it. It is incredibly delicious.
Lazy Daisy Cake
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour (we used whole wheat flour here as it was what I had on hand)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tsp butter
*Preheat the oven to 350 F. degrees. Put the milk and butter in a small saucer pan on the stove to warm. Beat eggs. Stir in sugar and vanilla to the beaten eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the warmed milk and butter from the stove. Pour into a greased 9×11 cake pan and bake for 30 minutes.
While the cake is baking, make the topping…
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (very packed)
- 1 cup coconut
Put ingredients into the small saucepan and warm until the butter is melted and mixed with the coconut and brown sugar. When the cake is done, pat the topping on and put the cake back in the oven for a few minutes to brown the coconut yumminess.