Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Shirt FUBAR

Ah.  A few days ago, I decided I wanted to try and sew a shirt for myself.  Something elegant, and just a little dressy to wear to my nephew's baptism on Saturday.  I found this tutorial for drafting a pattern and constructing a shirt.  Nice, right?  I even had some pretty dark red fabric to use, perfect for Christmas.  So, how's it going?  HOW'S IT GOING?!?

This sums it up pretty well.



At least in my case, I'm the only one who ends up disappointed!

And really, it's okay.  The fabric was free, and I am learning from the adventure, if nothing else.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Meximac

Oh look!  It's another post about food.  I like to post about gardening and sewing/knitting projects, too, but the truth is that my garden is asleep for the season, and my other projects take several days to several weeks (most of the time) to complete.  Meanwhile, I have to eat every day, which means I cook most days.  On Saturday I made what I will call Meximac:  macaroni and cheese with a Tex-Mex twist.  It's not good for you, but it is tasty.  It is a cold and gloomy time of year; 'tis the season for comfort food (and extra trips to the gym)!

What you need:

  • 1 pound elbow noodles
  • 1 pound chorizo
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups milk
  • 12 ounces (~3 cups) shredded cheese
  • 2 cans rotel
  • 1 canned chipotle, minced
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt to taste
  • 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

A note on chorizo:  I really do like traditional chorizo, but then I read the ingredients list.  Now I buy this brand, which contains muscle meat instead of lymph nodes, salivary glands, and cheek fat.  Purchase whatever type makes you happy.



Put a large pot of water on to boil, and make your sauce while you wait.  Start by browning your chorizo.  Toss a tablespoon of butter in to melt.  When the chorizo is cooked and the butter has melted, stir in your flour to make a roux.



When the roux has cooked for a minute or two, stir in the milk.  I did not use enough flour and I have some fat floating on top of my sauce.  It didn't matter in the end, but looked a little gross while I was cooking.



This is my favorite variety of Rotel.  Drain your cans of Rotel and add them to the sauce along with the chipotle and other seasonings.



Keep stirring the sauce and bring it to a bubble.  Reduce the heat to low.



When your water is boiling, add the noodles and cook per package instructions, less one minute. 



Drain and rinse with cold water.



Turn off the heat on the sauce and stir in the shredded cheese.  I used sharp cheddar, but pepper jack or a smoked cheddar would be good, too.



Stir the pasta and sauce together and put it in a 9 by 13 dish.  Top it with a little more cheese and the panko bread crumbs.  Bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese on top has started to brown.



Allow the finished casserole to sit for several minutes before serving.  I had meant to steam some broccoli to serve with this, but I got so excited about the mac and cheese that I forgot.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Pot Roast Stew

I love using up leftovers, especially when I can turn them into an entirely different meal.  Bonus points if I can do so without leaving for groceries.  These sorts of accomplishments make me feel clever and industrious.

On Sunday, it looked like this outside:



It was so pretty!  It was also cold, slippery, and wet.  Once we got home from church, I wasn't too keen on leaving again for any reason.  Luckily, I didn't have to!  The last time we were visiting my in-law's, my mother in law make French onion soup.  From scratch.  It was oh so good, and she sent a gallon freezer bag of the stuff home with us.  French onion soup is one of those things I don't generally make, mostly because cutting up that many onions makes me leak from all my face holes.

I had thawed out the bag of soup sometime mid-week, and still had quite a lot left.  It was still tasty, but I was growing a little weary of having onion soup, and the snow made me want a really hearty meal.  I landed on potroast.  I pulled a beef roast out of the freezer, and a bunch of carrots out of the crisper.  I don't think I've ever made potroast before, so I went on an internet quest to make sure I had a good method.  When it comes to hearty beef-centric dinners, I think of the Pioneer Woman.  She did not disappoint.  I found this recipe on her blog.



First I cut my carrots into chunks, and tossed them in a cast iron pot with a little olive oil.  I cooked them over high heat until they started to take on some color.  Like the Pioneer Woman, I did no peel my carrots.  These carrots are from my CSA subscription, and I know they were organically grown.  I also think that leaving carrots unpeeled when cooking them helps them to stay a little firmer.  I hate mushy carrots, so this is a goo thing.



After I was done with the carrots, I pulled them out and put my roast in.  I seared it on each side for about a minute or so.



Does anything smell better than searing beef?  Maybe garlic cooking in butter...



When the roast was nicely seared, I pulled it out of the pot and deglazed my pan with a half cup of red wine.



Everyone in!  It was at this point that I started to wonder if I shouldn't have found a larger pot.



Then I thought, "meh," and poured as much of the onion soup over the roast as would fit.  In retrospect, I really should have either put less soup in, or found a larger cooking vessel.

I put a lid on the pot, and popped it in the oven at 275 degrees for three hours or so.



After three hours were up, I took my pot out of the oven and pulled all the solids out of the broth.  I shredded the roast with forks and set it aside.



I put all the liquid in my gravy seperator to get rid of as much of the fat as I could.  There wasn't as much grease as I had expected, because most of it had boiled out and was all over the floor of my oven.  Mmm.  Lesson learned.



Everything went back in the pot.  I could have eaten it at this point, but I decided to put it back in the oven to warm back up first.  I served my pot roast stew over baked potatoes, and it was good.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Baby Legwarmers

Carpe nap time!

All of my sewing gets done while Julian sleeps, and most projects take multiple days' worth of naps to complete.  Every now and again, however, I have a project that I can both start and finish during a single nap.  The viking hat I made for Julian was one of those projects.

Today I decided to make legwarmers for Julian.


Damian gave me these socks a few years ago.  I love them.  They are cozy, and cushy, and I wore them so much that I wore holes in the heels and toes.  I didn't want to toss them, though, partly because I am a sentimental fool, and partly because the leg parts of the socks are still in good shape.  These seem to be good candidates for legwarmers.



I cut off the holey feet.



Then I got to work.  My mother in law just gave me a new (to me) sewing machine.  It's super nice, and I am just learning how to work it.  I don't know what this foot is called, but it has a groovy adjustable guide.  I set it up so that my double interlock stitch would line up perfectly along the edge.




A close up of the edge when I finished.




Then I folded the edge under, pinned it, and stitched it in place with a zigzag stitch on its longest setting.  Were the double interlock and zigzag stitch the right choices?  I don't know; I was making this up as I went.



They look okay, though.  Next I had to wait for Julian to wake up so he could model them for me.



He was thrilled.  Or he's teething and wants lunch.



On the move!  I think the flames on his diaper make him go faster. 



This is the best shot I managed to get, and he's backlit.  Oh well.  He stood still for a second.



Anyway, I'm pretty happy with these.  Not a bad use of an hour and a pair of socks that needed to be tossed out.