Food Friday: Quick and Easy Cherry Turnovers

National Cherry Turnover Day was the same day as the Departing Dinner this Transfers...so what could I do?!! I had to make them as my part of the dessert for the dinner at the mission home.  Sister J made some fabulous poppy seed cake and some chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  They were so tempting...but I held strong.

The night before I had asked Heavenly Father to wake me up early so I could make the turnovers the same day as the dinner.  I awoke at 4:24 and leaped out of bed, well, rather slowly, but still, I did get out of bed and started on the cherry turnovers.

There are only two ingredients in the cherry turnovers, unless you count the egg wash...Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Sheets and Cherry Pie Filling.

The process:
Pull the Puff Pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw for 30-40 minutes.

Turn on the oven to preheat at 400 degrees F.

Put a Silpat or parchment sheet on a half sheet pan.

After the pastry has thawed AT LEAST 30 minutes (otherwise it will tear) but no more than 40 minutes, unfold it onto a lightly (VERY lightly) floured surface.  Roll it ever so slightly thinner.

Cut each pastry sheet into 4 squares which are about 4 inches or a little more square.

Place 1 Tablespoon of cherry "goo" onto the center of each square. I made sure to have 3 cherries in each gooey pile.  Don't be tempted to put more cherry onto the squares or you will have blow out the edges when it cooks, and that is not pretty.

With a pastry brush and egg wash (beat up one egg very well in a small bowl), brush two consecutive sides of the squares then fold over into a triangle.  Press the two edges together with a fork.

Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle on a little granulated sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes until lovely and golden brown.

Each package of Puff Pastry Sheets will make 8 turnovers.

If you really want to, after the turnovers are cooled very well, you can drizzle on confectioner's sugar glaze. I did not do that. I thought there was enough sugar already.

Somehow I managed not to eat one of the turnovers until two days later.  Sad.  They are really only good the same day.  In my view.  And I am going to keep telling myself that!!!  Eat fresh food or not at all.

Now...the rest of the story on Heavenly Father waking me up...I was well into the cherry turnover process when I happened to look at the clock on the microwave.  It turns out that when I looked across the form of my sleeping husband at the clock on his side of the bed,  the 4:24 AM I was actually 1:24 AM!  Rats!  I got back to bed around 4 with the turnovers cooling...and did NOT get back to sleep.  I had no problem sleeping the night following.  Sadly, I was so tired by the end of the dinner that I did not stay to help clean up.  Dear One and I left to go fill the car with the bedding for the arriving missionaries for the next night.  I managed to stay up until after 8 PM, but then was out like a light!

Mission Knitting: Test Knit

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to be a test knitter for a woman who designs nice knitted items.  The pattern is a shawl with some lace work and the rest garter stitch.  Seemed like a great idea.  After all, I only have two other major-ish projects already started.  What is one more?!

This shawl calls for fingering weight yarn, which I had to purchase.  It also requires a long tail picot cast with MANY MANY stitches...over 400.  Yikes!

The designer is a very nice lady, but she has a very quick deadline. I told her I would love to knit her shawl but I was certain I could not get it done by the deadline.  She said works-in-progress photos would still be useful to her.

So I started in.  Turns out I did not know how to do a long tail picot cast on.  YouTube did not know how, either.  I racked my brain and came up with what might work, but it looked NOTHING like the picot edge the designer pictured in her sample shawl.  So, head in hand I went to Ravelry and found a group for the test knitters where I placed the question.  Turns out, my crackpot idea for how to do it was correct.  Can you believe it?!!

Well, fourth try is a charm, right?!  So, now to cast on all those stitches.  The long tail was truly long, but when I had cast on 300 stitches, I realized I did NOT have enough long tail to work with.  At just about that time, the designer sent out a new email saying that we needed an 8-yard long tail, not the 5-yard tail previously mentioned. Ugh!

This is all the stitches on a too-short cable needle. I will most likely buy a longer one at some point down the road on this project.  After I decide if I really need it.  It looks like a clump of yarn, but there really is a pattern there.

It turns out I only got in 340 stitches with the length of long tail I had.  Because I was sure to pull out my hair if I had to start again, I decided, since it was not going to be done by the deadline anyway, that I would just use the stitches I had and make the pattern work somehow.

This picture shows the first three rows (of eight) of the first pattern repeat.  A better picture than above.

Well, actually, only a marginally better picture.  Can you see a couple little picots there about where the stitching is on the back of the chair?

You will notice the colorful yarn markers.  Whenever I have scraps of yarn leftover, instead of throwing them away, I turn them into yarn markers. (Another thing I do is graft scraps together and build a VERY variegated ball of yarn.)  These markers stay on the needles better than the cool commercial ones, and if they get lost or unravel, well, they were just yarn scraps and there will always be more so I do not mind disposing of them.

So...the shawl is started.  Because it is a lace pattern at the beginning, I won't be able to take it with me for "keep-my-hands-busy-and-out-of-the-food" trips and events.  Those trips I have to stick with something very simple and easy and repetitive where I have memorized the pattern.

Now it is nine days until the shawl is supposed to be done.  I will post my work-in-progress (WIP) when the nine days is up.  If the old gray matter upstairs is functioning at any kind of reasonable level.  Otherwise, well, I will just post when I think of it!

Munchie Monday: Easy Roasted Vegetables

Recently I have been trying to use less added fat.  Mainly because I have been listening to Chef AJ.  I like her thinking.

This morning I used a wonderful summer squash and some other vegetables to make a big tray of roasted vegetables.  They were absolutely fabulous.  The crowning glory was the cherry tomatoes cut in half the way Sarah C. taught me a couple of summers ago.  Mister, they are some good!!!

This is what I did:

Preheated the oven to 400 degrees F.

Half sheet pan covered with a Silpat mat.

Sliced crookneck summer squash in 1/4" slices and filled the whole bottom of the pan.

Cored one large red bell pepper and cut into about 1-inch pieces and sprinkled on top.

Sliced, then chopped, one large red onion and placed on top of the red peppers.

Cut 10 ounces of grape tomatoes in half and sprinkle on top.

The final step was to briefly spray with non-stick spray then sprinkle on Greek Seasoning.

Put in the oven and roasted for 30 minutes.  Removed from oven and stirred.  Returned to oven for 30 more minutes.  Removed from oven.  Thought they were not quite done so put them back for 15 more minutes.

When they came out they were so good I had to ration them to keep from eating the whole pan.  After all, I want some for lunch tomorrow!

 I will make these again.  There is NOTHING to beat a roasted cherry tomato.  Thank you, Sarah! Truly.

Food Friday: Steel Cut Oats in Mason Jars in Instant Pot

Yesterday morning I wanted some steel cut oats for breakfast.  I wondered if I could cook them in individual servings in the Instant Pot.  Someone on the net must have had the same idea.  I did find the idea had already been done.  Sorry to say, even though it was only yesterday, I have lost the site. I will try to find it before pressing "Publish" on this post. Probably this one.

What I did:

Went to our storage closet on the balcony...yes, that is where it is...and got out the box of one-cup mason wide mouth mason jars.  One-cup because I don't want more than that much food at a time.

Added:
2 Tablespoons steel cut oats
1 Tablespoon raisins, Craisins, and sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Tiny pinch coarse Kosher salt

Put on the lid and shook well.

Filled the jar with water up to the threads on the jar top.

Put on the lid and shook very well.

Loosened the lids to just barely closed.

Set jars on the trivet in the Instant Pot stainless steel insert.  Added 3 cups of water.  Set on HIGH pressure for 20 minutes.

The timer dinged just before we had to leave for the office so I left it to cool down naturally. (Right, no breakfast for me, thought Dear One found his Cheerios!)  When we got home I put the jars in the refrigerator.  This morning we had steel cut oats for breakfast right out of the refrigerator.


 Well, Dear One had his. I was eating my broccoli first and did not have room nor time for the oats. I have them in the office and will eat them for a snack at 10:00 or 11:00.  Never mind that last!

 I just opened the jar, stirred it, and had a couple bites.  It is pretty good!  And it was sealed!!!

Changes for next time:

Use pint jar instead of half pint jar. 

As you can see, there is no water left in the jar, though the oats are perfectly cooked and not dry.

Add more water.  Maybe add more raisins.  Since I don't like sweet cereals, in fact, I think they are an abomination created by food companies to get our little children addicted to sugar which wrecks their health forever (small rant there...),  so I might not add any more dried fruit.  These are perfectly sweet enough.  The person whose website I saw added lots of maple syrup.  Not necessary

Traveling with the Seniors!

Last weekend several of us senior missionary couples took a road trip.  Our first stop, an hour plus out of Portland, was a stop at Camp 18 for breakfast.

We ate a very nice breakfast then went outside for photos.

This is us...

If you think we look happy, well, we are!  And we had a great time that day, though it was a VERY long day.

After Camp 18 we went to Seaside, a nice resort town with a fabulous wide white sand beach.  After a little shopping (I bought some vegan jerky.  No.  Don't bother.) we went on to Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent their winter on the coast.  After Fort Clatsop we went to Fort Stevens where the US mainland was fired on by a Japanese submarine in 1942, the only time since the War of 1812 that the US mainland was fired upon.

It is tempting to make comments about the people in the picture, but I will refrain.

Mission: One Year Served!

It is hard to believe but we have completed one full year of missionary service!  We have eleven months to go.  Which is also unbelievable!

It has been a great year, with ups and downs like any other year.

Being about to serve the young missionaries and to work with the senior missionaries has been such a joy.  There have been so many different ways to serve, from answering the phone, greeting people in the office, transporting missionaries and others places, finding supplies, knitting hats, sending letters, making pretty colorful envelopes to send humdrum communications in, listening to concerns.  Just so much to do every day.  Just like everyone else where ever you are.

Some of the best times have been when we have gone to Zone Conferences and been spiritually lifted up high.  This last Zone Conference we were  instructed and edified by Elder Kevin Pearson, a member of the Seventy.  He is an amazing holy man.  He spent hours uplifting us and teaching us better ways to act and work.  We had the blessing to meet with him privately at the end of the day.  So sweet.

If anyone wants to get an idea of him, go to YouTube and put in Elder Pearson or Elder Kevin Pearson and you will be able to be instructed by him, too.  Some things might be new but many will just be purely uplifting.

One of the downs of the time passing is that when we left Vermont last July, I had some plans of what I wanted to accomplish while here.  Well, NOT EVEN ONE has been accomplished.  I have actually done other things, but writing The Country Wife Cookbook,  painting Christmas cards, and completing the adding of sources to each member of our family tree on FamilySearch for our direct line ancestors:  well, those are in the pig pile, I am sorry to say, of things that are still just good intentions.

Well, ten months to go.  Maybe....

On the other hand,  one good thing I have been doing is EVERY SINGLE DAY I am reading in the scriptures and listening for personal revelation, which occurs nearly every day on things both small and not so small but which blesses my life.  How I love our Heavenly Father and His kind blessings to me and all those around me.

May everyone who reads this find time to look to the Lord for His listening ear and personal revelation.

Today's Walk--Vegetation Near Us

It was a lovely noonish for a walk.  I took lots of pictures.  These are the better ones. I just love the bottoms-up ducks!

Sun Up, Background Smoke

There are wild fires north of us in British Columbia and south of us in California.  Here in Oregon we are getting smoke, though I certainly do not understand the physics of the weather pattern.  Local lore in Vermont is that the weather comes from west to east.  Of course, now that I think of it, occasionally there is a storm that comes off the southern waters off Florida that causes real devastation.

Anyway, this was the sun this morning out our balcony window.

The phone camera did an okay job, but the light part in the middle was totally red-orange.

Sewing this Morning...

Dear One got some "travel pillows" when he bought new pillows for us online not so long ago.  Well, a couple of months ago.  Recently he has been agitating for pillow cases.  We went to Joann on Saturday where he found some nice "hunting pants plaid" fleece that he liked. I had previously brought home some nice bright yellow fleece but that was a non-starter. At least for him. I like yellow.  It is sunny and friendly.  I use it to make the occasional comfort blanket when someone is in the hospital.

Last night I went to purchase some needles for the sewing machine and this morning I used a newspaper to cut out a "pattern" then whacked two pillow cases together.  When Dear One arises/goes into the living room, I hope he will enjoy his new red and black fleece pillowcase.  I am happy with the yellow one.

The pillowcase is the envelope style...one full length/width piece, then two pieces that are the same width but different lengths.  You pin the longer one at one end and the shorter one at the other end of the full length piece making a three layer sandwich for part of the distance, then stitch all around the outside and you are done.  At least I am if I am using fleece and feel no need at all to do seam finishes.  Which I don't.  It if was calico it would be a totally different story about the finishing.

Munchie Monday: Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Don't you just love a bowl of French Onion Soup?!  I do.  Without the bread and cheese is the way I like it best.

The other day I got a bag of Walla Walla Sweets onions at Costco because I needed an onion.  Of course there were seven onions in the bag.  Each onion was at least one pound in size.  After slicing one to sauté with two small zucchinis, slicing another to sauté with garlic and spinach, I still had five onions.  What to do, what to do....French onion soup. 

Caramelizing the onions is the job to do with French Onion Soup...so I looked for easy caramelizing recipes online. Most of them suggested quickly sautéing them with sugar. What!!!  Then there was one that suggested using a crockpot.  That was my guy.

After slicing three onions (64 ounces worth!) I put them put them in the crockpot which was then about three-quarters full.  I put them cooking on Low at 10:24 AM. 

Three or four times during the day I gave them a stir.  At about 7 o'clock I took a big spoonful of them and put them over mashed potatoes in a bowl. 

Boy, were they great tasting!

Because they were not quite ready for the soup, I put the crockpot on warm all night with the lid slightly ajar. 

This morning they looked great.

I added two quarts of vegetable stock I had made yesterday in the Instant Pot (all the saved vegetable peelings, scraps,  etc, stored in the freezer until I had a gallon of them, then put in the Instant Pot at high pressure for 45 minutes after covering the scraps with water, then strained and bottled...) poured over the onions.  To the onions and broth I added 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of thyme,  2 Tablespoons of vegetable base (Better Than Bouillon), plus a scant half teaspoon of black pepper. I turned the crockpot back to Low and will let it bubble all day while we are gone.  When we get home I am sure it will be delicious. 

Dear One may like it with toast and cheese on top but I will love it just as it stands.  I can hardly wait.  AND one of the best things about this is that supper will be READY when we get to the apartment!

Food Friday: Instant Pot Pickles

An new rub for the Instant Pot: pickles!  I found a recipe called Sweet Heat and saved the recipe but for some reason I cannot find it now.  It was made in the Instant Pot. OH!! I just found it on Mealthy.

These are the ingredients:
1 pound small cucumbers, sliced into ¼- inch rounds  (this was four pickling cucumbers for me)
 2 cups white vinegar 
1 cup water
 ½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped  (I used jarred chopped garlic, about 2 Tablespoons, which is probably a little much...)
 2 tablespoons pickling spice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin


Put the cucumber slices in the stainless steel inner pot.  Pour the water and vinegar over the top of the cucumbers.  Add the brown sugar, the white sugar, pickling spice, salt, paprika, and cumin into the pot and gently stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Put on the lid in Sealing mode.  Cook on HIGH pressure for 4 minutes.  Mealthy says to do a quick-release venting.  Using tongs or a slotted spoon, place the pickle slices in a hot quart jar.  Pour as much of the pickling liquid over the slices as possible then put on the lid and give the jar a little shake to be sure the pickles are all surrounded by juice.  Cool to room temperature then store in the refrigerator.

Mealthy says these get better the longer you let them sit.  Ours have been sitting for three days. I am going to try to let them sit until the weekend, then give them a try.  I will report on the taste test after that. 

While looking for this recipe I saw a recipe for watermelon rind pickle.  I must say that watermelon rind pickle is the only good use for watermelons!  These fruits are on sale for $2.99 for a whole watermelon this week. Dear One wants me to get on.  Maybe I will shake him up and get two, cut out all the red flesh then make the pickles.

Newsy bit about the Instant Pot.  I gave away the first one and immediately ordered a different one.  It came on Monday, which is when I made the sweet heat pickles. After they were done, I washed the inner liner then put in the steamer basket I purchased and filled it with broccoli. I remembered I had not put on the condensation collector before making the pickles so I turned the pot around to install the condensation gadget.  To my horror, the back of the pot was all dented it. I am shocked that I did not see it before using it.  Well, I contacted Amazon and they will replace it.  Hopefully this week because I NEED THAT POT!!!

This is what it looks like. And no, I did not do it.  It was like that.

Supposedly the replacement will be here tomorrow. 

Vegetation Near Us

The other day I went for a walk before it became too hot to enjoy. I walked in the park but not around the ponds.  Instead of seeing ducks and geese and heron, I saw a variety of plants I had not seen before.  Here are two that I found interesting.

I really like these.  They remind me a tiny bit of frozen grapes defrosting.

These grasses really caught my fancy.  They were swaying in the little breeze that made the walk so pleasant.  I have no idea what either of these photos portrays but I enjoyed walking beside them.  Summer is a lovely time of year.

Mission Knitting: The Afghan is Progressing

The afghan has been sitting in the knitting bag for ages.  It has been above 90 degrees F. so many days lately.  Over the weekend there was a bit of a cooling breeze blowing through so I finished another row.  Only 8 more mitered blocks to go.  Then the ends using up the left over colored yarn, and finally the outer borders.  It should be long enough to be a large lap robe/couch blanket.  At least that is what Dear One is hoping to see.  He does not mind the heat.  He does mind the cold so a cozy afghan will make him happy.

I can't wait to see what it looks like!

Tuesday Tips and Tricks: Bath Mitt

Have you ever taken a shower and while soaping up you dropped the bar of soap in the bottom of the tub?  You picked up the soap and soaped up again and this time dropped the brand new bar of soap on your little toe.  Ouch!  OUCH!  So very annoying.  I got sick of that happening on a regular basis.  Since I could not figure out how to keep that from happening, I decided to make a bath mitt.  Of sorts.

This is what I did:  Took a nice large thick washcloth.  Folded it in half horizontally then in half again so that there is a fold along one edge and along the bottom.  Along the other side are four edges.  Took it to the sewing machine and stitched up the side with all the edges then stitched up the side with the folds, making sure both folds were stitched.

This is what is looks like:

You can see that there is a fold at the bottom and not fold at the top.  You can slip your hand inside entirely, OR you can slip your hand inside one of the closed sides of the mitt and put the soap in the other side of the mitt.

Either way, it works great and the soap does not slide out of your grasp.

You can see where the soap is!  Both these pictures make this nice white bath mitt look disgusting, but it is just the poor photography.  I am so pleased with this mitt.  I have not dropped the soap since I made it!

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Instant Pot Corn and Bean Quinoa Burrito Bowl

It is so interesting to learn something new every day.  This time I learned that a burrito bowl has absolutely nothing to do with burritos.  Or, at least, no tortillas are involved at all.  It turns out to be very good anyway.

Scant tablespoon olive oil

1 large bell pepper, finely diced--can use red, orange, or yellow bell pepper instead

1 sweet onion, diced

2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 can black beans (15 ounce), drained and rinsed if you want

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 cup salsa (I used red salsa)

1 can whole kernel corn-I did not drain, just dumped the whole thing into the pot when the time came

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

Turn the Instant Pot to saute.  Put the oil in the bottom of the stainless steel insert.  Add the diced pepper and onion and stir occasionally until the the vegetables are beginning to be cooked...onions are sort of translucent.  Add the cumin and salt and stir well.  Dump in the beans, corn, quinoa, salsa, and vegetable broth.  Stir well then cancel the saute function.  Select high pressure and set to cook for 8 minutes.

When the timer runs down, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes  then finish releasing quickly.

Fluff the quinoa then serve in a bowl.  Feel totally free to top with chopped cilantro, chopped avocado, diced tomatoes, and any other things that suit you.  We just ate it plain.  And really liked it.

Food Friday: Almost Vegan Gluten Free Brownies That Taste Good

Always trying new things that might possibly, potentially, maybe, by a very large stretch of the imagination, be healthier.  Well, really, brownies are not healthy, but they certainly are enjoyable every so once in a while...

This batch of brownies is a far cry from some vegan brownies I tried once.  Way better.

Almost Vegan Gluten Free Brownies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix all together in a nice big bowl:

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 eggs (remember:  ALMOST vegan)--you can use flax eggs if you want to make them vegan.  They (flax eggs) do work.  I used some mixed flax meal, chia seeds, and coconut flakes that I got at Costco to make the flax eggs the first time.  Yes, they worked, too. The texture was okay but the coconut (I think it was the coconut) left some flakes on the tongue in the aftermath of eating.  Not so pleasant.  I mean if you are going to eat an unhealthy fun food, it really ought to be just about perfect, in my view.
1/2 cup mixed nut flour  (no, I am not affiliated so I do not get a kickback, but there was only about enough of this flour for the brownies and I wanted to use it up instead of opening some almond flour.  Almond flour might be better, but this mixed flour worked.)
2 caps-full of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Put into an 8 x 8 inch pan. Smooth with a spatula so the top is sort of flat.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  As I am writing this several days later, I think I checked the oven at 25 minutes.  Was not done.  The center still looked wet. Checked again at 30 minutes.  Still not quite done.  Pulled them out at 35 minutes.  They were done.

Because this was a total experiment I cut them into 16 2-inch by 2-inch brownies then immediately ate one to test it, even though the idea was to give the whole pan to a sweet friend at Church.  Dear One had one, too.  They were good.

This was one of the better experiments I have tried.  The recipe I started with, and more or less (mostly less) followed the first time was on the Beaming Baker blog.  For me, I found those brownies had way too much cocoa in them and I couldn't be bothered to pull everything out of the bottom shelf  to get to the back of the refrigerator to get the maple syrup out so I only used the brown sugar she called for.  Plus I NEVER use almond flavoring. Ever. I have had such bad luck with it....I have purchased almond extract at King Arthur Flour but have obviously gotten the wrong stuff because putting the amount called for in the recipe renders the food inedible.  Very annoying.  Especially when  you have high expectations for the food...

Anyway, these brownies went to our friend at Church.  When I saw her at the end of church after Sunday School class, she said she had already eaten two of them and they were very good.  Makes me happy!

Thursday Travels

Today Thursday Travels takes on a different aspect.  We were driving to the office and there in front of us on Walker Road was something neither of us had ever seen before flying by at speed.

It is a smeary picture but...can you tell what it is?  He was going up hill at the time!  See the four little red lights on the back?  When we pulled across the road into the beginning of the parking lots in the office complex I asked Dear One if he knew what it was.  He said it was maybe a motorized skateboard.  Well, he was spot on!!!

Up close and personal, this is what it looks like, but you cannot see the lights on the back so it is probably not this brand.  Very surprising.  To me, at least.

Wednesday Wonders: Finally--The Heron!

There is a wonderful park across the road from our office complex.  Early on we would catch a view of a giant blue heron.  I have taken many pictures of this guy but they were always far away and just not good.  Sister J taught me about enlarging photos BEFORE you take them.  The other morning I was out walking before coming into the office. It was too hot later in the day.  I melt down into a puddle of grease most days lately so the thought of making it worse by walking has been out of the question.  For me.  Everyone else in the office goes for walks.  I just keep my chair company.

Anyway, the morning in question I went out and walked around the third pond, and there he was! 

Well, maybe it is a she, but either way, there was a beautiful giant blue heron.  I got as close as I could without scaring him off and got this picture. I am so happy with it.

Don't you just love that he is out there with a friend?!

Then I took one more step to get a better shot.

 Gone in a second.

Can you even see him?  Just his left wing behind the branch and the water disturbed beneath him.

It was a great walk.