Hot-pads & Recipes

I've been making quite a few hot-pads lately, and they are quite fun!

Two of my friends, both named Sue, aparently have similar kitchens also.  One Sue had asked for one awhile back when I had a give-away, and the other had a birthday last Friday.  Since I know the birthday Sue's kitchen is the same color as what the other Sue had asked for, I did coordinating ones.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I hadn't taken photos, till I was on the way to the one Sue's birthday lunch, and afterwards headed to the post office to mail the one to the other Sue.  Is anyone confused yet?  Luckily I had the camera in the diaper bag, so I snapped a quick photo in my lap.  Definately won't win any photo awards, but you get the idea.

And the backs.

Speaking of Sue (the birthday one), she is a very sweet friend that lives not too far away, and gave me this delicious recipe.  Actually I'm not too into following recipes exactly, but this is the idea.  It is absolutely FABULOUS!  I normally don't like sausage, but this is incredible.  And so easy.... hard to believe it's so simple when you taste it!  Seriously, definately a crowd-pleaser.  It's called Kiebalsa Stew.

1. In large roasting pan, place peeled pototatoes (or I use halved reds, unpeeled, if I have them), and carrotts; just like you would a normal roast.  Don't know the exact amount, maybe 5 large potatoes & 4 large carrotts cut into shorter pieces.  Cover with about 10-12, cut-in-half kiebalsa sausages (or any flavor, the apple-chicken ones from Costco are even better- but expensive).

2. Slice an onion and two green bell-peppers into "strings" and cover sausages.

3. Cover with lid, and bake at 365 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

4. Once time is up, melt about 4 TB. butter in a saucepan & add about 1/4 cup flour; stir till blended.  Add about 3-4 cups milk, and some salt- I prefer Johnny's Seasoning Salt.  When near-boiling, pour over meat & veggie mixture, stir gently, and bake (uncovered) for another 20mins.

Enjoy!

(I did learn something on this batch pictured: I used only one green bell pepper & 1/2 onion..... NOT a good idea.  The mixture of onion, pepper, & sausage is what makes the delicious gravy.  It was fine, just kindof bland).

A new type of pot-holder I tried, they are so you don't burn your fingers accidentally.  They fold in 1/2 at the middle; one thumb goes in one end, the fingers in the other.  There were a couple more, but they already got nabbed.  I'm going to add these to Etsy when I finally get that done.

Another recipe that is frequent here, is what we call Angie's chicken.  My friend Angie in Alaska made it one time, and we've been hooked ever since.  I kindof throw it together instead of following the recipe, here is what I do:

1. Place boneless/skinless chicken (any type; breast, thighs, whatever) in glass baking dish.  This time I used 4 large chicken breasts.  I've used it when fresh, or frozen & baked it first to thaw.  You can use whole pieces, or cut it into chunks.

2. In a small bowl; place about 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup mustard, 1 TB dried onion flakes, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 4-5 large mushrooms sliced & cut in half, and 5-6 pieces cooked bacon cut-up.  Spread sauce over chicken.

Bake at 375, maybe 30-45 mins, check meat temperature for doneness.

Enjoy served over rice.

This is a real treat, even the kids love it.  I tried it once with the crock-pot, and that worked great too.  All depends how far in advance you plan.

And Shay, is this red enough for you?  I figured the black & white would go with your dining room too, it is bright and fun!  I went through my scraps to find 36 different prints, then made half-square-triangles by adding white.  It was harder to be very accurate with such tiny piecing, but I love the results!  I quilted it with just straight lines on my normal machine this time.

The back.

Outside.

I really want to try a quilt with this pattern, using much bigger triangles.

I really to plan to mail it to you soon, but am trying to figure out shipping.  Will an international package arrive safely in one piece if it's not in a big tough box? 

Breanna was sure she needed to pose with it also.  She really liked how this one turned out.

Kindof a crazy conglomeration of stuff, but I actually remembered to use my camera while food was fresh this time, so decided the two went together.  Let me know what you make and enjoy!