CSA Week 17

This week in the CSA world we got...

... a half dozen brown eggs, a bunch of turnips, a bunch of braising greens (4 different kinds of greens), several cups of salad mix, several small sweet peppers, a pint of cherry tomatoes, and a lb of wax beans.

Anyone know about wax beans? Are they the same as green beans? I'm excited to find out and try these!

And, a few recipes as promised.

Fresh Salsa (small batch)

1/2 small white onion
1 garlic clove
1 small jalapeno pepper
1-1/2 lb plum/grape/cherry tomatoes
1-2 T lime juice
2 T cilantro
3/4 t salt

Pulse together in a food processor just until combined.



Applesauce Spice Cake (8" or 9" square cake)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

(frosting)

• 5 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
  
  Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using). Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

So yummy! A dense, moist cake.


Apple Butter (from Valerie, but adapted crock pot version)

5-6 lbs apples reduced to applesauce

1-1/2 c sugar (more or less depending on sweetness of apples)
3 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg

Combine ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours removing lid for last 1-2 hours until desired spreading consistency is achieved.

I froze mine in bags because I don't have canning supplies. :-( Hopefully it'll be just fine. We'll see how that works out!

sheews

Ladybug LOVES shoes. She went through a phase of insisting she help me into my shoes. Over and over. And again.
Then she wanted to put on her own shoes. She knows when I say go, she says "sheews"!

A few times she's tried on our shoes instead of her own. Here's she's getting ready to go on a bike ride (thus the helmet) and decided to try on Daddy's new tennis shoes.

They almost fit, don't they? :-)

We're off to see our new little nephew/cousin, Asa, this weekend so we'll bid you "Ciao" and "until next time"!

CSA Week 16

This week brought us... (sorry sorry sorry! these pictures are so yellow awful!)

... 4 crisp apples, a bunch of radishes, a lb of grape tomatoes, 1-2 lbs sunchokes  (Jerusalem artichokes), a bunch of arugula, 4 sweet peppers, and a huge bunch of basil!

The pick for this week is the Jerusalem artichokes because I haven't had these or seen these before. I actually thought it was ginger before she said something because of the knobbiness, but these are a veggie that tastes like a cross between potato and artichoke. You can eat them raw but cooked they taste a lot like potato - starchy etc. I'll let you know how they roast up!

Also, I inquired about my bad pears and she said she'd replace them next week. Gotta be assertive!

Finally, I didn't snap a pic because it looked strange and slightly disgusting, but after peeling almost an entire laundry basket full of organic apples (thanks to Val and her parents!) and making loads of applesauce -- frozen not canned -- I ventured into the apple butter realm and oh did my kitchen smell amazing yesterday!

I used Valerie's recipe but let it simmer in the crockpot for 8 hours instead of on the stove. Yum, yum yum. Applesauce, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves ... oh so delicious. Could that combination be anything but pleasure!?

My apples are finally gone, but not in the way of enjoying them!  I'll be baking with the applesauce for quite some time. (I did save out a few apples for Ladybug to eat. She gets a little cup and I slice the apples in it - sans skin because she'll only chew it up and throw it on the carpet - and she goes to town giggling when Jackson gets a bite.) Apple  Butter and Applesauce Spice Cake recipes coming next week!

I love fall!! Are you ready for fall?

Wood Staining: What Not to Do...

So, I have these CUUUTE 60s botanical prints that I want to mat and frame for the market. And... if they don't sell, I'll probably keep them. Forever.

Anyway, so I was trying to think of the cheapest way to get quality frames in a nice dark wood (read: modern) to compliment the "natural" look of the botanicals in an updated way.

So I'm perusing H-to-the-L one day and come across 50% off open back frames. Nothing really appeals to me until I find some blond, unfinished wood.

"Oooo!" I think, "how great is that? I have stain and I can just stain these babies up to show off the wood grain, poly them and voila (!) - cheap frames using what I have.

Or not.

Last week, I get them home, excited for my first stain project (well, I've watch my Dad do it plenty of times) and go to town. The instructions say to leave it on for 5-15 min depending on how dark you want your color. "Well, the darker the better," I think and leave it on for probably 10 minutes. I go to wipe it off and...

IT LOOKS AWFUL.

Completely awful. Horrible. Splotchy - some light some dark and some almost black. No good.

So what do I do? I hop online and search. Sure enough, lots of people have this problem. There are some complicated and pricey(!) solutions to this. I decide to go with the easiest solution (sand down and start over) and if all else fails, I'm going to paint these buggers. Don't want to, but I will.

Here's what I've learned about staining wood:

- "Unfinished" wood is not necessarily synonymous with "stain ready" - especially cheap frames from the hobby store. Sand it down with 100 then 120 then 220 sandpaper until you run your fingers over it and it's baby butt smooth.

- Endgrain will suck up the stain no matter what, but sanding definitely helps. A fine sanding will repel some of the stain, but you get a much more even coat.

- 24 hour old stain really is a pain to get off.

- Leave the stain on just long enough to get that thing covered and then wipe off! If you need to work in sections, please do. (I'm also going to redo the top of a table and already have these things in mind...)


Here is the progression (excuse my sanding/staining mess in the bkg.)

Frame 1: stained mess
Frame 2: almost re-sanded down
Frame 3: sanded and restained beauty

** Thankfully, I don't think I'll have to paint these. Sanding was a pain but, in the end, worth it.

Here's the final product:

Not perfect, but a heckava lot better than before! The woodgrain actually looks appealing and they all have their variations, but they are mostly the same color.

Can't wait to show you the prints matted and finished! Now I just need to find a mat cutter ...

More Christmas Market Upcycles

A few random home decor pieces that will go in my market booth...

Loved this 70s print found at a garage sale for $1. Hated the frame.

My original idea was to disassemble the frame and just reframe the butterflies in a modern oval shaped frame. (Still looking for that frame! Any ideas?)

Then I got to thinking that I should try painting the frame and using it too! (Duh!) So I painted it with black acrylic and used the heavy cardboard backing to decoupage some old sheet music to. Here's a peek:

A couple of grapevine wreathes I thrifted are going to be a sweet and simple little decor piece with white flowers and burlap "ribbon" strings.

Then I've upcycled some coffee bags into coasters. Definitely for the pretty factor, not for waterproof coaster protection. :-) I weaved in some vintage sewing notions for some fun, color and personality.

Finally, I'm using some vintage fabric (from my Grandma's stash) to make table runners. I love ruffles!

And I spent a couple hours (mostly in front of Project Runway) in several different stages, cutting and punching out these recycled cardboard tags. Lemme tell ya, my hands HURT after I was done!

But I love 'em. And I got 110 for only about $6! (Plus the stamps are reusable.)

Tell me what you think! Any other ideas just popping out that you have to share?! I'm open!

CSA Week 15

This week's CSA...

... included a bag of salad greens, several good sized Roma tomatoes, a bunch of radishes, more okra!, 4 pears, a small watermelon and 3-1/2 sweet peppers.


 My pick is pears this week. We haven't had their pears yet (last week it was a choice between microgreens and pears) and I am excited! Unfortunately, when I got them home and took them out of the bag, two were very bruised - and the rest of the pear is still unripe. I'm not sure they will be salvageable.

I'm more hesitant to say something with the CSA but figure there is no reason to be. I am paying more than normal grocery prices for this produce and I wouldn't hesitate to take a bad piece back to the grocery store for a refund, so why hesitate with the CSA? (I also heard someone talk about their slicer tomatoes molding after a day and she said she'd make up for it the next week so that boosted my confidence a little more.) :-) I'll update you next week on what they say.


*Sorry about the yellow pictures. It's getting darker earlier and by the time we get back the kitchen is too dark to get any good shots. Heaven forbid I use the flash(!)...

a rainbow of accessories

So, I'm random. I know. Forgive me.

I take pictures of my accessories. (Roll your eyes. Go ahead...)

I have been on the look-out for yellow accessories (necklace, belt and/or shoes to be exact) to go with a navy and white polka dot vintage dress I found at the thrift store a few weeks ago. I LOVE it, but the style is pretty conservative so I want to jazz it up with a few modern and bright accessories.

Insert chunky yellow necklace (E - I found one!).

After I hung it up with my other necklaces I realized that all of a sudden it really popped - I've completed my rainbow (minus purple because I don't really wear much of it...)!

From left:
- red large bead and silver chain (modern/antique store in IA - it was new)
- vintage red and brass bead necklace (from my MIL)
- dark orange wooden bead (hand-me-down)
- orange pendant necklace (Korean hand-me-down)
- yellow chunky bead (thrift store)
- green glass bead (another hand-me-down)
- vintage aquamarine beaded necklace (from my MIL)
- teal beaded necklace (handmade gift)
- smaller teal beaded (gift from South Africa)
- multicolored green/blue beads on a ribbon (one I fell in love with from Target!)

Aren't these fun!? I'm a nerd but I love them! Can you tell I'm excited about my rainbow?

Now off to see if I can find a yellow belt so I can show off my newest vintage dress! 

our Labor Day

Last weekend we had a full holiday. The Shunks came to visit and to bring me lots and lots and lots of stuff - everything we couldn't fit into the back of our car when we left a few weeks ago! Most of it was from thrifting and then lots from their basement. An old barn door, chunky wooden spindles, old piano keys and more corn crib wood (to be specific).

Grandma came to help around the house and to enjoy the girl.

Pretty sure she did.

"Pap" came to help with some muscle work and enjoy her.

Pretty sure he did.

Ladybug couldn't get enough of Grandpa last weekend! It was hilarious. Every minute she couldn't see him she was calling his name or finding his belly. She was so excited with extra energy. Loved it.

We celebrated Grandpa's upcoming birthday with another apple pie. And lemme tell you folks, it was beautiful! (And yummy, a la mode.) Thanks to my best friend's suggestion to freeze and grate the butter into the flour for the crust, I'm pretty sure my pie crust has never been better. (Thanks, E!) I won't be looking back from my crisco days, it's 2 sticks of real butter crust all the way.

 ********

Okay, okay, besides food, this birthday man gave me so much of his time to help with my upcoming Christmas market - I'm so grateful. He had much patience with my only-in-my-head ideas and spent a couple of hours on his knees hammering frames together for my corn crib slat signs. He cut the barn door, piano pieces, and nine 8-feet long boards into 8", 10", 12", etc pieces and helped drive alotta nails. We (well, he with my "support") washed and put hinges on their (turned MY!) antique house shutters to make a decorative screen. Can't wait to set it up!

Here is a sample of the corn crib slat signs (still to be painted). Some will be red and some will be aged plain wood.

front:

back:

Most of the muscle work is over ... now I need to get painting, distressing, staining, waxing, shellacking, gluing, sewing ... so much to do! But I never would've been in this spot without them.

Happy!

Thanks Janet for spending so much quality time with the girl - having her occupied and happy was as important as the muscle work! And thanks George for all your hard work helping me put together my frames, shutters and other little things!! I am really, really happy and really, really grateful.

And some other random crafts (while I've been in the mood!)

When going through my new vintage patterns the other day, I came across one with a sturdy piece of 70s graphic material in it. Awesome! It was a small rectangle and I thought about making it into some kind of stretch belt with elastic, but then I decided to try out a headband.

I kept all of the fabric if I want to change it up later, but for now, here she is! I cut an old elastic headband to connect the ends and it's perfect! I've always had a slight problem with headbands - every since I was a little girl, wearing then gave me headaches. So, I haven't worn them!

This time I made it very, very loose - but snug enough to stay on my head and it worked! Hooray!

And I've also been waiting and waiting and waiting for my oatmeal container to run out - Ladybug used to eat oatmeal every day but we've changed things up a bit for breakfasts (which I'm sure she's happy about!) and our oatmeal supplies no longer deplete like they used to.

Anyway, Valerie had a great idea for a plastic bag holder and I wanted to try my hand at it for her diaper trash.

I took a piece of striped wrapping paper, cut it to size and glued it on.

Then I took a star stencil and traced a pattern in the top and cut it out with scissors. Easy peasy!

What crafty things have you been up to lately?

CSA Weeks 13 & 14

Last week's CSA pick-up included...

... a huge bunch of fresh basil, a pound of okra, 2-1/2 cups mixed salad greens, a pound of red cherry tomatoes, 10 hot peppers, a watermelon and ...

Wheat flour!! I ran out a few weeks ago and have been needing some flour. Well, here we are. "Heirloom Turkey Red Wheat Flour" -- our CSA newsletter gave some details. 

"German Mennonites from Russia brought this wheat to Kansas in the 1870’s. Standing at almost 5 feet tall, it was the variety of wheat that gave Kansas the nick name of the “Wheat State," and it's the basis for the song line, “amber waves of grain."  It is now on Slow Food America’s list of foods that are in danger of going extinct. It has been replaced with more modern high yielding varieties.

One unique characteristic about this flour is that it has about 1/5 the amount of gluten stands found in modern conventional wheat. We have had several gluten-intolerant people tell us that they can actually eat our flour. This flour is good for bread making (both in a machine or by hand), cakes, pancakes, muffins, cookies, waffles, and even pasta."

Can't wait to show off my wheat flour!

*******************

 Yesterday's pick-up was sorely needed after a couple weeks of no meal-planning. I promised Jeremy there would be supper on the table and I'd get meal planning going.

We received two glove eggplants, a half dozen brown eggs, 1 large and 4 tiny sweet peppers, 4 small cucumbers, a lb of okra, several cups of salad greens, and microgreens.

Have you heard of microgreens?! I hadn't but I guess they were introduced in the spring before we signed on and they brought them back for the fall. I'm excited to try them! They are at the stage between sprouts and salad greens ... and great on burgers, tacos, sandwiches, etc.

Oh what to make! 

some antique finds ... and a fun announcement!

So when we were in Ohio, we went thrifting. And along the way stopped at an antique store. I found four blue glass Ball jars with zinc lids for $4 a piece! The only booth in the place that had good prices and I wanted to support it.

Here they are featured in my newly shabby-chic-ed wooden wine rack.

And speaking of vintage, antique, rustic, shabby chic, distressed, handmade ... I not only opened up a new shop this month, next month I'm going to be a vendor at a two day Christmas market!! I'm super excited, working really hard and scared no one will buy a thing, but I'm going to go for it anyway!

So up until the last weekend of October, I'm going to find myself up to my ears in old wood and paint, but I'm so happy I get this chance.

Jeremy suggested that I go "thrifting" in his parents' basement and whaddayaknow? I found some amazing stuff.  I'll feature some of it individually when it's fixed up (before and afters) but look at this amazing pile of antique goodness! Some would call it junk, but it's treasure to me.

Can't wait to show you my creations!

Oh, and I found this clutch for $1.

It even had matching gloves inside!! They are way too small for my big hands, but I love it. Muah!

More on the Christmas market soon!

Hey- upcycle your shirts!

Happy Labor Day! Hope you have the day off. We're spending time with my husband's parents, so it's been fun!

**********

Off that subject: I've been in an upcycling mood lately ... it's just really fun to turn things made one way and use them for something else!

(Most of them have turned into pillows ... starting here, but pillows are fun! Right? I can't resist!)

A couple of shirts didn't sell on Etsy before I phased out my women's clothing. They are funky but they don't exactly scream classy vintage.

So how about a floral pillow?!

(paired with my Grandma's plum polyester remnant.)

And then another shirt ... sorry! I deleted all the pictures before I decided to keep it and cut it up. I paired this one with a golden yellow broadcloth leftover from my sister's nursery linens.This one is long, 12x22 compared to my previous square (16x16) pillows.

And finally, a shirt that was given to Jeremy but didn't fit him in the shoulders. I loved it so much I couldn't bear to give it away! So, why not cut it up?! My BIL Shawn has the same shirt so I decided to make his new little guy a matching bowtie. Shorts are still in the works if I can find a casual pair to pattern them after!

Here is the final product!

Now I just need a picture of it on the little guy... :-)

Announcement! (The shop kind.)

So I've made the decision and the ball is rolling!

I've sectioned off my children's shop as my main dig. At schätzli, you will be able to find baby and children's vintage clothing, patterns as well as games, books, toys and decor.

And, as of today, I've opened a second shop! This shop, called schätzli vintage, will be my "play" shop ~ slightly less serious, more random and just the place for all the fun things I can't pass up or others give me. And I'm super excited about this fun shop ... it won't be my main focus, but I'm happy with this decision nonetheless! I'll be adding some handmade stuff closer to Christmas (more on that later - and I'm excited to have a place for it.)

C'mon over and see the changes I've made!! Let me know what you think.

toddler discovers shredder

... this is what happens when a certain toddler goes to work with Mama only to discover change in the drawer and a shredder in the corner.

At least the reverse still works! (Oops.)

CSA Week 12

I'm a week behind, but the computer is gone again all week, so forgive me. I'll play catch up next week.

Last week's pick up included...

... 1/2 dozen brown eggs, 1 lb okra, 1 lb potatoes, several sweet peppers, one fat cucumber, 2 white globe eggplant (baba ganosh?), four slicing tomatoes and a head of garlic. 

My pick of the week is garlic. Ever since we lived in Haiti, we got so spoiled using fresh garlic - among other things! A garlic press was a must on my wedding registry and we go through quite a bit in a year.

Growing it yourself is so easy! Split a head apart and stick the cloves (each one will be one head in the spring) in the ground in October (in Kansas at least) and let it sprout. It'll winter over, start growing again the next spring and by July you can pick it, dry it and it will last until it's gone.

Yum.