More than just Cross Stitchin': Recipes

Recipes

Remember my Uber Confused post when I told the story of how my mother created her family favourite recipe called Butterfly Tarts? Well today Tracey and I made 96 Uber Butterfly Tarts and a few days ago I made 120 Cross Stitch Cookies to take to our Brentwood Cross Stitch Retreat weekend. I took a moment to Uberize ONE tart so I could take a photo to show you exactly what it was my mother used to spend so much time doing. How she found the patience, I don't know ...and I can't even repeat what Tracey said, but it pretty much rhymed with &*$%@$*%%& cookies !!!

Note to Stitching Sisters: The first Stitching Sister who comments on this posting BEFORE they are presented at Retreat - gets a shiny sticker.

Butterfly Tarts
Tart Shells (either home made dough, or store bought)
Add 1 teaspoon raspberry jam to bottom of raw tart shell (for variety, replace jam with canned lemon filling)
Fill with white cake mix
Bake 15-20 min @ 350
Cool - then top with butter icing
To Uberize Tarts
Carefully slice the top off the tart, and set aside
Icing the tart and set the 'wings' of the butterfly in the icing
Sprinkle with powdered sugar
Icing
Cream 1/2 pound butter with one large bag icing sugar, hot water
Start by blending all the butter with a mixer adding approx 1/2 cup powdered icing at a time.
Add 1 tsp of vanilla and sprinkles of hot water until desired consistency
Blend well until fluffy

&*$%@$*%%& cookies !!!
Cream together 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup margarine, 2 cups brown sugar
Mix together 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 teaspoon baking soda, dash of salt
Combine 3-4 cups flour mixed with 1 teaspoon baking powder
Roll out dough on floured surface and cut with desired cookie shape
Bake 6-8 minutes at 350
Cool, Ice, Enjoy
Icing
To make a glazed-self leveling icing mix powdered icing with milk
I generally start with 2 cups powdered icing and approx 2 tbsps milk
You'll have to adjust the powder/milk ratio to get the right consistency: you don't want the icing too runny or it won't hold the shape / and you don't want the icing too thick or it won't self level

******************************************************************************
Friendship Recipe

Fold two hands together
And express a dash of sorrow
Marinate it overnight
And work on it tomorrow
Chop one grudge in tiny pieces
Add several cups of love
Dredge with a large sized smile
Mix with the ingredients above
Dissolve the hate within you
By doing a good deed
Cut in and help your friend
If he should be in need
Stir in laughter, love, and kindness
From the heart it has to come
Toss with genuine forgiveness
And give your neighbor some
The amount of people served
Will depend on you
It can serve the whole wide world
If you really want it to

*******************************************
Dead Bunnies

1 pound left over chocolate Easter Bunny
1 very large bag of peanuts
1 hammer
1 flat-head screwdriver
Line cookie sheet(s) with wax paper

Lay the bunny down flat; lightly pierce it with the screwdriver; pound hard with the hammer.
Melt the small pieces of chocolate in a double boiler.
Add peanuts; stir; drop on wax paper; chill; enjoy.

Years ago when chocolate bunnies were on sale for 10 cents after Easter, I took advantage and picked up about 50 of them and put them in the freezer. One day I decided to make my famous 'peanut clusters' and rather than use the chocolate chips I decided to use my bunnies that were in the freezer.
Because it was a solid frozen chocolate bunny I had to break it up into smaller pieces so I would not burn the chocolate when i was melting it. I was having trouble and I thought... to heck with this, get the hammer and screwdriver. I'm pounding away on this bunny when my girlfriend walks in and says, "Why are you killing the bunny?"

Ever since then: we've called Peanut Clusters Dead Bunnies.
Super easy to make. Super easy to devour. They are much faster to make then it was to write this story.

Bonnie

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Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

It all started with a tea towel...

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.

p.s. I wasn't allowed to Blog today unless I cleaned my house. It's half cleaned; consider this half a blog.
Bonnie

Recipes

Christmas 2016