Saturday, December 19, 2009

saturday projects

or: "Why the curtains are still not done after two weeks."

christmas sewing

Finally getting started with sewing for Christmas. Luckily I picked a fairly simple project (I hope) that works for everyone, so I can whip them out assembly-line style. Just because you don't spend weeks on presents doesn't mean they're not thoughtful!

Everything is serged and ready to be pre-washed. The plaid is going to be combined with some white terry to make litter mats for our boys. The gauze and osnaburg are going to be a few little somethings from this wonderful little book:



I will share more when they are finished.

apple empanadas

Second project for today was making these yummy apple "empanadas". I realize I did empanadas wrong, technically. This is a recipe my aunt gave my mom and I when I was quite young. Of course, it's been lost since then. My aunt now lives in California, taking care of my uncle, who has fairly advanced Alzheimer's, so I didn't feel comfortable asking for it again.

Here is what I managed to work out on my own...

Ingredients:
2 tbs water
2 tbs butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp honey
1 can apple pie filling
4 soft-taco sized flour tortillas

In a saucepan on medium-low heat, combine water, butter, sugar, cinnamon and honey. Stir to combine and let simmer, stirring regularly, for a couple minutes. Set burner to lowest setting while working on the next step. Use 1/4 can of apples for each tortilla, rolling them up burrito-style and placing them fold side down in pan (I used a metal baking pan but have decided a small, square glass pan would have been best to keep the sauce from caramelizing and burning). Then take the remainder of the "juice" from the pie filling can and stir it to the sauce you have prepared. Pour sauce evenly over the empanadas and place in 350° oven for apx. 10-15 minutes. Cut in half, top with homemade (just kidding!) vanilla ice cream, and enjoy. Makes 8 servings. Nutritional information: don't know, don't care.

Let me know if you try it, and what sort of changes you make! I'm always interested in improving my creations.

0 comments: