Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Breakfast Pizza

 

This breakfast pizza is inspired by Casey's (the gas station) breakfast pizza. Their breakfast pizza is so good! I have thought about it a lot and I think what makes their breakfast pizza so good is the cheese sauce.

To make the cheese sauce I cut up about 8oz. of processed cheese (like Velveeta), and add about 1/4 cup of milk or broth, if I'm out of milk.

I stir this over med/low heat until everything is smooth and melted.

I would be willing to try jarred cheese spread like nacho cheese, but I rarely buy those products. I rarely buy processed cheese to begin with so I don't make recipes like this very often.
(Here's an abbreviate recap: 3 cups water, 1 1/2 T. salt, 1 1/2T. yeast,  6 1/2 cups flour. Stir barely, rise 2-5 hours. Refrigerate for upto 2 weeks.)

Spread the cheese sauce on the dough and top with things like; 
•cooked scrambled eggs, 
•breakfast sausage crumbles, 
•bacon pieces, 
•jalapenos, 
•bell peppers 
•and shredded cheese

Bake at 400° F. for 20 minutes.


Saturday, March 29, 2025

Flower Update as of 3/28/25

 

   So many things are happening in nature this time of year. These flowers all popped open over night. I see these flowers on my walk in the morning. I'm not sure what type of shrub this is, but it's flowers sure are pretty. 

  I found my Bleeding Hearts! I was so happy to see them. I have been looking for them for a couple weeks. This morning I was looking again and gave up. I figured they must have been too trampled during the summer and frozen solid in the ice over winter. As I straightened up and turned to leave, my eyes landed right where they are coming up! I had been looking in the wrong place all along.

The Lilac buds are forming. I am looking forward to their sweet, sweet perfume.
The Daffodils are going to town! Pretty blossoms and more infant buds coming up still.

Matthew 5:44-45

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, 

bless them that curse you, 

do good to them that hate you, 

and pray for them which despitefully 

use you, and persecute you; 

That ye may be the children of your Father 

which is in heaven: 

for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil 

and on the good, and sendeth rain 

on the just and on the unjust. 

Thursday, March 27, 2025

March Stitches

 

I finished the dress! This is 100% hand stitched. It is the first time that I have made a dress all by hand. It feels good to see what I can achieve.

This month I stitched the skirt pieces together, gathered and attached the floral contrast bit, hemmed the skirt, finished the seams and put in gathering stitches at the top edge of the skirt. I got to this point by the 18th of March.

Next I attached the bodice to the skirt with a backstitch and a running stitch for reinforcement. Then I finished the seam with a blanket stitch.
I sewed the zipper in the center back. 
I sewed the collar and facing on to the neckline. I understitched the collar to help everything lay smoothly.
  And that is it. The dress is done. All the seams are neatly finished. There is nothing left to do. It turned out great!

I, also, had to make a repair in my compression hose this month. I took a few minutes to stitch this hole closed.


"A stitch in time saves nine."
That's is a good quip. I hope you have had a good March and that your projects keep marching on to the finish line!

Sunday, March 23, 2025

To Everything A Season


 Do you need some sunshine today? We have had a cloudy day in the sky but these little packages of sunshine made up for the lack of real sunshine.

The red tips of the peonies are starting to unfurl! They look so promising. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 To every thing there is a season, 
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; 
a time to plant, 
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; 
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; 
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, 
and a time to gather stones together; 
a time to embrace, 
and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; 
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

 A time to rend, and a time to sew; 
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; 
a time of war, and a time of peace.



Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Chocolate Cookies With Peanut Butter Chips Or Chocolate Chips Recipe

 This recipe came from the back of a Reese's peanut butter chip bag. I added chocolate chips because chocolate. 😋 I have doubled the recipe quantities from the original and used a combination of butter and oil.

1 cup Butter, softened 
1/3 cup Oil
2 cups Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla Flavor 
2 cup Flour 
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder 
1 tsp. Baking Soda 
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 1/3 cup Peanut Butter Chips Or Chocolate Chips Or Combination 

Beat butter, oil, and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. 
Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a heap. Gently blend the heap of dry ingredients with one another (to distribute the baking soda, salt and cocoa amongst the flour) before mixing them into the butter mixture below. Stir until well combined. Stir in peanut butter or chocolate chips. 

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8-9 minutes. Cool slightly; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.
Yeilds about 6 dozen cookies.


Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Meatballs Cooked In Sauce Recipe

Meatball Recipe 

1 lb. Ground Beef

1 lb. Ground Pork (or sausage)

3 TBS. Onion, Chopped

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

1/4 c. Breadcrumbs 

1/4 c. Milk or Cream

1 Egg

Mix all ingredients together until well blended.

Form into balls about the size of a walnut.

Bake at 400°F. for 15 minutes on a sheet pan with shallow sides.

      ---OR---

Cook meatballs in sauce. This will add meat flavor to your sauce and dirty fewer pans.

Pour a layer of prepared spaghetti type sauce on the bottom of a large oven safe casserole dish that has a good lid. 

Place the meat balls in and then pour the rest of the sauce over top.

Cover with lid and bake at 350° for an hour. 

  --OR---

Simmer meatballs and sauce in a large pot with the lid ajar on the stovetop for half an hour or until meatballs are cooked through.





Thursday, March 6, 2025

I Spy With My Little Eye!

 


Poking through the frost

Bringing sunshine in their folds

Springs the equinox


I saw these this morning and they made me so happy! I had to write a haiku to celebrate. 

Here is an old post in which you can read about my excitement over daffodils back in 2015. I haven't changed in that regard.

Friday, February 28, 2025

Sewing Projects In February

I wanted to use this flower print for my daughter's newest dress. I left my fingers in the picture for scale.

I didn't have enough yardage to cut the entire dress. I decided to use this blue material for part of the skirt and make a tiered skirt.
After cutting out the pieces I marked the seam allowance in pencil. Since this is a hand sewing project I need the seam allowances marked.

I stitched most of the seams with a back stitch instead of a running stitch. I learned my lesson on using a running stitch on the pinafore last month. I had stitched all the seams with a running stitch on the pink pinafore. My daughter was wearing the pinafore not more than a couple hours before someone pulled on her skirt and burst the side seam. What a pain! (I fixed it straight away, but come on! Really?)

A running stitch might not be solely to blame. The thread that I used was some old mercerized cotton thread so it is not as strong as modern polyester thread.
Anyway, on this latest dress I used a polyester all purpose thread AND a backstitch. 

I finished most of the seams with a self enclosed seam.

Right about this stage in the dress project my son's coat zipper broke. So, I had to switch gears and replace a coat zipper. Sometimes it would not be worth my time to replace a zipper, but this is a nice coat and I happened to have the right size separating zipper. I also had a black or gray separating zipper that were long enough but I decided to use the red one because I thought neutral colors might be more likely to come in handy later.

First, I had to rip the old zipper out.

I basted and stitched the new zipper in place. This job was not fun and I was really happy when I finally finished. It took me 9 days.


I also took care of this little tear while I was at it 

While I was on the mindset to fix coats I repaired this hole.

My three year old has been begging me to fix this hole in the hood of his coat for a month. 
He had been standing in the vicinity a brush fire when a hot ember must have landed on his hood melting this hole.
Now he his happy!

Back to sewing on the dress.

I have finished the sleeves and the base of the bodice. I am working on the skirt now. Hopefully, in March I can finish the skirt, install the zipper, add the collar, and do the hem. Check back in March to see far I get!