Pot Roast

The other day, I came across the seasoning isle in the supermarket - did you know they actually have seasonings especially for slow cookers? This got me super excited for another experiment. In went the vegetables: carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions:

Then came the roast and some beer. The seasoning called for a cup of water, but I substituted it with beer, after my last experiment with beer went so well. I do think the Asahi might be the better beer to cook with, though I think I prefer the Sierra Nevada to drink.

For this particular dish, I think red wine may have even worked a bit better, but it was pretty good!

Up next? Possibly a dessert of some kind? Maybe a dip?

Pistachio Icebox Cookies

Continued from yesterday's post, today I sliced up the cookie dough and baked multiple batches of cookies.

So buttery, so sugary, so good.

Thank you, Martha.

Green With Envy

Martha did me good with the chocolate chip cookies, so I'm going for the icebox cookies, with pistachios. I got a fresh batch of pistachios from Sunday's farmer's market, so I was ready to get to it.

After peeling the shells off of the pistachios, I crushed them a bit and added them to my icebox cookie batter. I also added a few drops of green food dye, to give them a nice, fun tint.

Martha suggests putting the parchment covered cookie rolls into cardboard tubes, which I did not have.

So, I'm afraid my cookies will not be perfect circles, but as long as they are tasty, I won't mind. They are in the fridge for now - but results will be posted soon.

Overdue Quilt

I've been working a little too hard on this quilt. Quilting is so addicting, once I start, I can't stop. Not good for my homework. I made my favorite new square today, which is making me rethink the entire quilt.

So far, the quilt is 65" x 51.5" (this will probably shrink a bit, once I sew things together).

I might sew the quilt together, then re-cut it up (which would re-shrink it again). The square above is definitely the most interesting area on the quilt, so I think I need more of that. I can always add it later because I'm definitely going to make the quilt bigger (how much bigger, I don't know.. but bigger than this). I know I eventually want to add the librarian style embroidery I have been working on, but I don't know whether to add it to the front or the back of the quilt. I have no idea. For some reason, this quilt might just consume me, unless I finish it. Unfinished projects make me way too nervous.

Milk And Cookies

Sundays are good. They are the day that I like to get things done and today I did just that. I went to the farmers market, worked on this quilt, made my lunch for the week, had some outstanding leftovers, and made many dozens of cookies for school.

Last time I made cookies, I wasn't completely convinced. They were good, but not repeat recipe good. This time, I went with Martha Stewart's chocolate chip cookie recipe from this book, though I changed the recipe slightly. This is definitely a repeat recipe. I loved this cookie and I hope my schoolmates do too!

Beer Chicken Fajitas

I don't get to play online as much as I used to. School has started and it has been pretty good, so far. I am IN LOVE with my preservation class. My inner science geek comes out and makes my heart pitter patter during each lecture. We actually tested paper samples for their PH and aluminum content the other day. It was absolutely wonderful. My true calling has arrived and soon, I will take on paper conservation internships. I can not wait. I knew I wanted to spent the entire day doing homework, so in preparation of dinner, I work up bright and early and started chopping onions and bell peppers.

Yes. That is a beer too. The beer, along with marinated chicken, the onions, and bell peppers, all went into my little crock pot.

About 8 hours later, I placed the mixture onto a hot tortilla with some sour cream.

This was absolutely the most tender chicken I have ever eaten, ever.

I will be making this recipe again and again.

Scrap Card

While sewing my scrap quilt, I've accumulated a number of fabric scraps. While most of these scraps go back into the quilt, some of them have inspired me to make fabric covered cards.


This one went to my friend, Beth. These cards are a great use of fabric scraps and are super simple to make - arrange scraps and either hand sew or machine sew them onto the card. I machine sewed the one above, and added a little heart on the inside.

Breakfast Of Champions

It's been quite a few weeks. Homework? Not really. Crafting? Yes, but that wasn't it either. I actually got out of my apartment and socialized.. a lot. I'm not a hermit or anything, but I'm not the type to go out all day, all night, everyday. Well, the past few weekends, I have been the type that goes out, a lot. It's been nice. A little crazy, but nice. Waking up has been a bit more difficult. My weekend mornings have been later than usual, but whether it's 7am or 2pm, I still love me some breakfast.

My mom visited me on Saturday afternoon. She brought me Fruit Loops too! She knows my addiction to sugary cereal all too well. It's my weakness.

Though, I'm also a sucker for over-easy eggs and veggie sausage. Breakfast is my favorite.

Real Simple Pasta

During lunch today, my friend Julian mentioned I should try a recipe from the current issue of Real Simple Magazine. I had all the ingredients at home, so I went for it. The recipe is Parmesan pasta with chicken and rosemary.

It was pretty good, only it was very rich. I only managed to eat a few bites before I got full. Making this recipe made me realize that I have way too many magazines at home. I must miss lots of great recipes, because I never get a chance to fully appreciate everything that each magazine has to offer. Some of my magazines have bookmarks (aka bobby-pins) on pages with recipes I'd like to make some day, but I think it's time to go back and do a thorough recipe search.

My New Sewing Kit

My friend Lauren gave me the most wonderful sewing kit!

Not only is it pretty on the outside and goes perfectly with my decor, but the inside was full of surprises!

Vintage sewing notions galore.. thank you, Lauren!