Becka's blog

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about a new book I had received for Christmas. Last night I finished up the first of several aprons I hope to make from the book, A is for Apron. During Christmas vacation my daughters and I went out to Hobby Lobby (where the book was purchased) and while we were there Megan chose some fabric for an apron. Since then Nora has purchased some fabric and chosen a pattern that she would like and I plan to make one for myself as well. So, I should be in the apron business for a while yet.

The first step in making the apron was to get the pattern from the book enlarged 400%. The friendly woman at Kinko's figured it all out and printed my pattern for me on a large sheet of paper.

I thought the apron turned out pretty well and hope Megan agrees. This apron is cut on the bias and I did have a slight bit of trouble stitching the waistline seam without puckers. I think if I make this one again I will add a little bit of gathering on either side near the ties. I did find the general directions in the front of the book for working with the bias tape to be excellent. I had fun making this and am looking forward to trying some of the other designs.

Becka

Have you ever rushed out of the house on a Sunday morning without putting your casserole in the oven or turning on your crockpot? Or, have you sat there during the church service wondering if you had turned the oven or crockpot on? Unfortunately, I have done both.

I am going to show you my foolproof method for reminding yourself to turn on the oven or crockpot before you leave the house. My family teases me for doing this, but it really does work. Are you ready for this foolproof tip? Here it is:

Just put a chair in front of the door that you normally walk out of when you leave the house. When you have to move the chair it will remind you to check the oven or crockpot. It works for me!

Check out other kitchen tips at Tammy's Recipes each Tuesday.

Becka

Believe it or not, this is what we saw outside our window early Sunday morning. It was pretty well gone by the time church was over and then this afternoon turned out to be beautiful and sunny. It was quite a day of contrasting weather.

You probably do not know that every Sunday morning my DH, IV man, bakes something for our breakfast. Rob was a baker all four years while he was in college, so he has plenty of baking experience.

One of my favorite things that he bakes are these apricot muffins. I found the recipe at a site for recipes from Bed and Breakfasts several years ago. You can find the recipe here

Don't leave the orange rind out - it really adds great flavor to the muffins. We like to grate the rind off of each orange we eat and keep it in the freezer for the next batch of muffins.

Rob does not generally soak the apricots in the boiling water if they are soft to begin with. If the apricots you are using are sort of dried out, you might want to soak them, but otherwise it's not really necessary. He just snips them into pieces with scissors.

He also usually makes 18 muffins from this amount of batter rather than just twelve like the recipe states. Here he is using Pan spread to grease the muffin tin.

I hope that you will give them a try when you want something really good for breakfast. Here's a picture of the finished muffins.

How about you - do any of the men in your family do any cooking or baking?
Becka

Sometimes you just need a little something to round out a meal. This salad is one of my favorites for fall and winter when there aren't a lot of good fruits available for a pretty fruit salad.

Winter Fruit Salad
2 medium red apples (my favorite is Gala)
1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
small can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup vanilla yogurt

Core and chop apples into bite-size pieces. Combine with the grapes, mandarin oranges, and yogurt. Stir gently. Makes 5-6 servings.

All the amounts are approximate. Just use what you have. If I'm serving this on Sunday I often prepare the grapes and oranges ahead of time and then add the apple and yogurt just before the meal. Leftovers do hold up pretty well for a day or two - just stir to recombine the yogurt.

Enjoy!

Becka

I'm not asking if you are spry.

Spry was a brand of shortening that is no longer sold, but I do remember my mom using it when I was a child. I'm pretty sure that one of these little booklets was hers and I purchased the other one at an estate sale. I love to find these old recipe booklets.

I got an idea from one of these booklets to make this pan spread years and years ago. It is something that I keep on hand and that we use all the time. Pan spread is the fore-runner of pan spray that most of us use in some form or another today. Pan spread is used to grease and flour baking pans all in one step.

To make pan spread all you have to do is mix together equal amounts of vegetable oil, solid shortening (such as Crisco), and flour. I generally use 1/2 cup of each. I mix it up in my mixer to get it nice and smooth, but you could use a wire whisk if you desire. I usually mix up a batch right before I bake a cake or something and then just scrape out the bowl and reuse it to mix the cake. I store the pan spread in this little Tupperware container in the refrigerator where it waits all ready for the next time I need it. It works great for any baked product that you would normally grease and flour the pan before adding the batter. I use the commercial sprays for other things when the pan just needs greasing.

Don't you just love the little label that DH made me with his label maker?

By the way, did you know that shortening got its name because it "shortens" gluten strands in baking and helps tenderize cakes and quick breads?

This is one of my favorite kitchen tips. You can find more tips like this on Tuesdays over at Tammy's Recipes.

Becka