Pie so cool, you don't even know how cool it is

Thanksgiving is nigh.  In fact, I told my kids what we were going to be doing on Thanksgiving Eve, and they informed me that there's no such thing as Thanksgiving Eve.  I guess they know better than I do.  FYI, on the eve before we give thanks, my young and I will be making pecan pie, and so should you.

This is my slice of pie du jour.  The gourd pie may get all the glory, but this is the unsung hero, if you ask me.  Made correctly, pecan pie is a pleasantly sweet, caramelized fusion of velvety custard and lightly toasted pecans.  Made incorrectly, pecan pie can be a gelatinous, overly sweet mess.  Let's do it right, shall we?

There are a couple things you need to know before you make pecan pie.

-Watch for over-browning.   If you are moving past golden brown and delicious, but your pie is still too jiggly in the center, throw on a piece of foil to keep it from browning further. Once the pie filling is no longer liquid, and the crust is nicely brown, throw on the foil.  I usually do this with about 25 to 30 minutes left of cooking time.

-Take the pie out of the oven before it is completely firm.  You want the tiniest bit of give in the middle, but no wiggle on the sides.  Got it.  Because it's all about the bass, 'bout the bass no treble...Darn, catchy song.

-Do not pre-toast your pecans.  I have made many pecan pies in my time and have tried a lot of different methods.  If you toast them and then bake them in the pie, in my opinion, you end up with dry nuts.  Ew.

Pecan Pie
1- 9" pie crust, unbaked (I use store bought.  Shhhhh don't tell)
6 Tbl. Butter
1 Cup corn syrup (I use light because it's what I have on hand and it tastes great, so why mess with anything else?)
3/4 C. Sugar
3 eggs, whisked
2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 Cups, chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 F. Place a cookie sheet in to get hot.  You are going to put the pie on the cookie sheet as it cooks just in case any filling bubbles over.  You don't want that in the bottom of your oven.

Put your pecans in the uncooked pie crust.

In saucepan heat butter, corn syrup and sugar over medium-low until the butter is melted

In another bowl, combine your whisked eggs, vanilla and Kosher Salt.  Here's the slightly tricky part.  You are going to add your melted butter mixture to your egg mixture, but you do not want to cook your eggs, so make sure the melted butter isn't at all hot when you're pouring it into the eggs, whisk constantly.

Pour your filling over the pecans in the pie crust.

Bake for between 60 to 80 minutes (I know that's a big time difference, you just have to watch your pie carefully.  I cooked mine for about 67 and it was pretty perfect), in the center of the oven until (like I said above), the pie is nicely golden and just a bit soft in the middle.  Let it cool completely (I am cooking it the night before which is perfect if you don't have a lot of time on the day of the feast).  Probably better would be to cook it same day, just make sure you give yourself plenty of time to bake it and let it cool for at least 2 hours before eating.

Serve with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream and you will be the hero of the day.  The pie is quite sweet, so take it easy when you're adding the sugar to your homemade whipped cream. 

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

Heather

Make your own cloth napkins....for the feast, of course!

Something I love about holidays, is the chance to class things up a bit, just for one day.  Fresh flowers decorating the front room, new soap in the bathrooms, specifically made for whatever holiday you're celebrating (pumpkin spice latte or cranberry pine) and your finest silver and china on display.  

If you've got all of the above, what else do you need for a really classy affair?  Cloth napkins.

 

It is so not me to just buy cloth napkins, so of course I am going to make them myself.  I wanted them to be fun and have a splash of color to add some festiveness.  It came to me that it would be so convenient if there were a silverware pocket in the napkin itself.  That way Uncle Boris doesn't take my fork when the pickle and cheese dish passes by and I'm distracted by the selections.

I did a bit of research on how big a formal cloth napkin should be.  They are approximately 20" x 20".  That is too huge.  So, I battled.  There was my need to be classy with my need to not use a hundred yards of fabric.  I met somewhere in the middle.

Supplies needed for Feast Napkins...

1. Enough white cotton and enough patterned cotton for as many napkins as you want to make.  I can get 9 napkins, measured 13 x 13 in a yard of white fabric.  So if you only need to make 9 napkins, you would need 1 yard of white and 1 yard of patterned.  White fabric on the front, a pretty pattern on the back.

2.  A selection of jewel-toned fabric cut in 1/4" lengths.  Whatever colors you like.  I have magenta, plum, turquoise, pumpkin and lime green.

Measure out your cutlery.  As you can see, mine came to 3 inches wide.  So, I cut my jewel-toned fabric 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches.

Fold each side over approximately 1/4".  This is something I just eye-balled, but you can be more accurate.  Iron it down so that the seem holds the crease.

 Do a scant stitch across the top of the pocket.   This is so there are no raw edges at the top.  Straggly, stringy raw edges= not classy.

Now, to get your pocket to line up evenly, I drew a line 2" from the bottom of the 13 x 13 inch square of white fabric with an erasable pen.  Then I drew a line straight down in the middle of the white fabric.

Draw a line straight down your pocket, directly in the middle.  Now line things up.  Put the bottom of the pocket on the line that goes across.  Make sure the line down the middle of the pocket lines up at the top and the bottom.  Pin it down.   This will ensure that all your napkins are exactly the same.

Starting at the top of one side, stitch a scant seam around the remaining 3 un-sewn sides of the pocket.  Make sure you've got your seam allowance tucked behind the pocket before you sew it down.  Backstitch at the beginning and the end.  Do not sew across the top!  First of all, you've already sewn it and second....you are making a pocket, after all.  You need someplace for the silver to go.  So don't sew it shut.

Take your back piece of fabric, and lay it on the white fabric.  Front sides together.  Pin securely all the way around.

You are going to leave an unsewn space of about 3".  The reason for this is because you need to flip your napkin right side out.  So, to mark where I am going to leave the gap, I just do an X with pins.  I start at one X and sew all the way around and stop at the second X.  Make sure to backspace at the beginning and end so you don't rip out stitches.

Sew around the edges using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Flip it inside out.  Make sure to poke out your corners with the blunt tip of scissors or something.  Press the seams, making sure to press the un-sewn space matching what has already been sewn.  You don't want this part to stick out funny so match it up with the sewn bits.   Do a scant stitch around the entire edge of the napkin.  This does two things, it gives you a decorative edge of stitching, but it also closes up the space that's left where you flipped the napkins right-side out.

Done.  If you think this looks like too much work, don't worry, it's actually a very snappy project.  Once you get going, you'll be surprised how quickly you get these completed.

See how nicely they fit.  See how straight the lines are on your pocket!!

Get creative.  I tied my napkins with a gold ribbon, placed them on top of the plates and called them gorgeous.

Try cloth napkins this year...classy!  Even if your cheese and pickle plate includes sliced Velveeta. 

Thanks for reading!

Heather
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Homemade Christmas Ornament...Thanksgiving Fun

What kid (cough, cough, Mom) doesn't love fluffy stuff and crafting with feathers?  I am telling you, Ornament 2013 is going to be a hit Thanksgiving afternoon.

Oh, I just want to squish them and squeal at their cuteness...don't you?  And of course I had to go with a chicken design this year.  2013 is the year of the chicken for my family.

Here's how to make them, easy and quick...a bit feather-y...but so much fun!  This post is a bit picture heavy, but trust me, this project is so easy to make and the kids love em!

Supplies needed:

Craft Glue. Styrofoam balls, mine are 3" or 76 mm, white feather boa and red feather boa to be cut up and any add'l feathers if you so choose.

Scissors, tiny craft pins, small black buttons, ribbon for beak and feet, embroidery floss to make a loop to hang on the tree and a curved needle, often used for tying quilts and/or suturing festering wounds....

Thread curved needle with floss, insert into what will now be the top of the chicken, curve it around and back out...so easy, and no styrofoam balls were broken during this procedure...which is what I thought a straight needle might do.

Pull thread through, remove needle and proceed to tie in double knot.

1.  Cut cute chicken cheeks out of fabric.  Be creative.  Have fun.  My cheek circles are just a touch bigger than a quarter.

2.  Thanksgiving day, you could have several cheeks pre-cut and let the kidlettes choose their favorites.  I am also going to have all my balls pre-strung with the floss.

3. Cut a length of ribbon for the beak, approximately 3 to 4 inches.  Be generous because you can trim it later if too long.  In the middle of the ribbon, you are going to bend it like in the picture.  This is so you can pin the beak on.  I can't describe this move in words....Just look at picture. 

4.  Pin beak on.  One pin in the top loop, and one in the bottom loop.  Arrange beak so it is open wide.

5.  Position cheeks in a way that is pleasing to you.  for me, this is slightly below the top of the beak.  Glue in place.

6.  Glue on eye buttons.  Position them so they are in the top corner of the cheek, with the edge of the button slightly hanging over the cheek.  This is for optimal cuteness.

7.  Take another 3 inch length of ribbon, fold it in half in the shape of a V.

8.  Pin feet ribbon on in 3 spots.  One at the top and one on each foot.   This is so your feet stick out at the appropriate angle.

9.  Cut off a bit of red boa...glue to top of head, be careful of thread.  The reason I have you glue on the comb before the white feathers is so you know where the top is.  Be careful and hold the comb up when you're putting the white feathers around it, or you will glue the comb down.   Enjoy the adorableness you have made thus far.  Ohhhhh I just want to squish you! 

10.  Time to start on the feathers.  If you choose to use some colored feathers, put them on first so you can overlap them with the white ones.

11.  Cut a bit of the white boa off...separate into feather and fluff...chunks.  The face needs smaller bits of feather and fluff, but you can cover wide swaths of backside with larger pieces.

12.  Start gluing.  I just glue a small section and stick on feathers.  I start around the face first.  After the entire ball is covered in feathers and fluff, I trim around the eyes if they are being obscured like in this picture.

13.  Be prepared for feather fluff to go....everywhere.  Up the nose, in your hair...use this extra fluff to cover any glue-y spots that aren't covered in feathers.

Using a small piece of muslin, put the year and name of whoever made the chicken.  Glue it on.  I just wrote in pencil.  I find markers bleed, and it's not going to be washed, so I figured pencil is just fine.

While feasting, let these little fluff-balls dry.

 Who's pretty?

 Yes you are!

 Gotta love the green cheeks.  Not my kids, of course, but some child who likes green.

This chicken, was sprayed with glitter spray paint.  Hard to see, I know.  This is a fun idea to add a little shimmer but I found that it matted down the feathers a bit...which I didn't like the most.  So I decided against spraying them all with it.

Thanks for reading!!

Heather

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Pre-Feast Activities for kids part deux...Thanksgiving fun

This project is for when dinner is almost ready.  You've rounded up the kids so they are close at hand, but you want to keep them occupied just a bit longer.  Daddy's carving the turkey, Auntie is tossing the salad and Grandma is piling warm, buttery rolls into a basket.

Pretend this is your table setting, notice the canning jar in the corner.  You are going to make one of these for each of the kids in your family.  Here's the supplies you'll need:

You will need a pint size canning jar for each child.  You will need 16 crayons per each jar, and you will need an assortment of construction paper.

Cut several pieces of construction paper in half length-wise.  Whatever colors you like.  I put in 4 pieces of paper per jar.

Write a note for each of your children, letting them know all the reasons you are thankful for them.  This is a nice thing to read during your Thanksgiving meal. I always like to emphasize being thankful on Thanksgiving.

Put 16 crayons on the perimeter of each jar.  Roll up the 4 pieces of construction paper and put them inside the crayons.  Take your list and roll it up even tinier than the construction paper, and place it in the middle of the construction paper.

Decorate it!  Tie a piece of burlap and a bit of gold ribbon around each jar...you know...to make it festive.  You can't have ugly crafts at the table.  It is a feast, after all.

While you're waiting for the feast to being, have the kids draw pictures of what they are thankful for.  If they are old enough, they can write what they are thankful for as well.  But nothing keeps my kids occupied like drawing pictures.

My Oldest...

...is thankful for the turkey. 

My Youngest said she is thankful for me.  Aaawww

...so she drew a sunflower.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

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Pre-Feast activity for kids...what to do on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is approaching, quicker than we realize.  I can't believe we're almost two weeks into November.  I know I was just stressing about making two batches of taco soup: one for my family to eat on Halloween and one for the church's trunk or treat/chili-off the next day.  This post originally showed up over at The Inspiration Cafe last year, and I thought I'd bring it around over here.

I love the idea of the kids making Christmas ornaments for their mama, so by the time they abandon me for college, I'll have all these adorable, hand-made keepsakes to warm my heart.

I like having an activity for them on Thanksgiving, because the wait for the feast can be so long and boring for kids.  They are starving because you only gave them a tiny lunch in preparation for the feast to come.  They're antsy because so much is going on...Grandma is running around making sure the gravy doesn't burn and that her rolls are rising like they should...and the kids don't have anything to do...except for watch the parade on TV...and if there isn't candy being thrown, and they aren't running into oncoming floats, then my kids are not interested in a parade.

The children in my family are young, so there is nothing too advanced here, but they're sparkly and kids love sparkly.  This activity is for when things are still cooking and dinner is a ways away.

Buy some felt.  Whatever color you like.  Fold a piece in half and double cut the initial of each of the children who will be making an ornament.  You want to make the lines of the letters fairly thick so you can get a nice layer of sequins on.  I just free-hand cut my letters, but you could draw them on the felt first to make sure you like what you've got.  This is something you will probably want to do in advance unless your kids are capable of cutting these out on their own.  It only takes a minute.

You want to have two pieces exactly the same because you are going to glue the two pieces together to give your ornament some stability.

I used craft glue.

Have them put a dab of glue on the back of a sequin and put it on the felt letter and continue on until it is completely covered.

Using some glittery thread and large needle, make a loop so they can be hung from the tree.  Put somewhere they can dry.  Feast.  Take home special Christmas ornaments.

I'll show you what we're making this year in a bit.

Thanks for reading!

Heather

 

Quick and Easy: Truly Thankful pillow

I am one of those people who doesn't really have a favorite holiday.  Lame, I know.  I have some I like more than others, and Thanksgiving is one of them.  What is it about Thanksgiving?  The family, the feast, the tradition, having a day devoted to talking about what you're grateful for.  It's all part of it.  So I made a little pillow that expresses how I feel.  I am, truly thankful.

I've been on, what could be called a Dresden Plate mini quilt kick this year.  I would go so far as to say this is the year of the Dresden.  So, the only thing to be done, was make a nifty Thanksgiving pillow using my Dresden Plate tutorial, and I think it's pretty sweet.

Threw on a little embroidery to express my feelings and add a little Thanksgiving flavor.  No, not pumpkin pie or mashed potatoes and gravy.

I really like the goldenrod fabric on the back and all the....what I would call, Fall colors for each of the spindles.

The back, using my pocket pillow tutorial, using a pillow case that I decided we don't use anymore, so the only thing to do with it....is make something else.  Think it matches the front pretty well, don't you?  Don't tell The Mister, it was actually his pillow case.  But to be fair, I made it for him, so I'm pretty sure that gives me dibs.

Thanks for stopping by!

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CSI Project

Heather

See ya All Hallow's Eve...onto turkey time.

How fast can I get the turkey stuff up once I take the spooky stuff down?  Because these pillows have to make their appearance.  I must say these are one of my favorite items I've ever sewn. I really enjoy the play on texture, the burlap, buttons, embroidery as well as the quilting.

Here's how it came together:  I made a quick sketch...and thought....yeah, that's about right.  From my initial sketch, I broke it up into pieces for iron on transfer, because it's quick and painless.  So, I had my buttons and pleather and burlap....let's figure out how to put them all together into a cohesive piece.

1. Cut burlap into rough shape of hay bale.  Stitch on roughly.

2.  Cut all your shapes using fusible web.  With the pleather, I found that I could use the iron on transfer at the beginning, so on the back of the fabric.  But, hear me now.  Do not try and iron the pleather onto your fabric...you risk messing the heck out of your iron.  And it won't stick.  I may have tried.  But, the reason I tell you to do it on the back of your pleather, is so you can cut out the shape perfect!  But, you can really just wing it if you want to.

3.  See, just pin it down in the proper place, and then you can remove a pin if needed to iron the feathers in place as they're tucked behind the body.

4.  Arrange your tail feathers as you like.  Do this on your ironing board so you don't have to juggle this from your work table, as I did, and then have to rearrange them because they slipped and moved.

5.  Iron everything down...making sure to be cautious of the pleather then stitch around everything with your sewing machine.  Add in a beak and gobbler thingy.

6.  Aaaaahhhh!!!  Stitch on button eyes.  If you're like me, you will stab them with pins to know approximately where you would like them placed.  Disturbing, I know.

7.  Sew on a 1.25" teal border.  Around that stitch a large white border...to fit the size of your pillow of course.  I have 20 x 20 inch pillows...so my finished front was 22 x 22 inches.  I like my pillow cases to be a touch loose, not sausage casing tight.  Personal preference.

8.  I gave mine some wheat stalks on either side to balance out the button heavy top.  And did little cross stitch embroidered stalks.  Back stitched the turkey legs on with orange.

9.  Sew on buttons til your heart's content.  Here's the back, I wanted to show you that I individually sewed on each button.  I did this for a reason...I find that sometimes when you stretch thread from one spot to another, it tugs and pulls the fabric and then you have a crease or a divot...or other unpleasantries.  So, stitch on a button, tie it off and snip your thread.  Begin again.  It takes longer, but especially where pillows get squished regularly, you'll be happy you did when you don't pop a button off.

10.  The back.  I used my Pocket Pillow tutorial and it worked very well thank you very much.  Cute backside fabric, huh?

Make two.  Or as many as you want.  So cute.  I have to say that I am extremely pleased with how this turned out.  Sometimes you create a vision in your brain...and you work on it...and what was in your mind definitely is not what turns out in real life.  This case though...it worked.  I am in love. 

 It's because of this pillow that I love decorating for Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading!! 

Heather

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