Something Warm for your Tummy:Chowder!

Well, here it is the 6th of January and I am posting for the second time this week! It's going to snow here tomorrow and I love a good soup on those blistery days and one of my favorites is my Manhattan Clam Chowder. I make it spicy! There's nothing like a little spice to warm you on a cold day.

Now when I make a soup I like to use my pressure cooker. You can make your soup with or without one. In a tradition pot such as a dutch oven, you will just have to cook it longer until the veges are softened. I just like to do things fast because I'm always running late and I've got to make up the time somewhere!

This is a simple recipe. I use canned clams and bottled clam juice. You can go out and get your fresh seafood and do it the hard way, but I like this simple and quick method. I hope you get a chance to try this recipe. Enjoy and have a great day.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

4 slices bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 large green pepper, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes

1 teaspoon hot sauce- my favorite is a habanero pepper sauce from the Tropical Pepper Co.

28 oz. whole tomatoes, chopped

2 medium potatoes, diced

1/2 to 1 cup red wine

1 8 oz. bottle clam juice

1 cup water

2 6.5 oz cans of minced clams with reserved juice

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper

Saute the bacon in a large soup pot such as a dutch oven or pressure cooker until it has rendered its fat. Add the onion, celery and green pepper and cook until softened. Add garlic and pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in flour, then add potatoes, tomatoes with juice, clam juice (bottled and reserved juice from canned clams), wine, water, hot sauce and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Traditional soup pot: bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Discard bay leaf. Stir in chopped clams and serve.

Pressure Cooker: close lid and bring to pressure. I cook mine for 5 minutes once it gets to pressure in position 2. Check you brand of cooker for average cooking time for soups and settings. Let out pressure and add the chopped clams and serve.

I like a nice crusty bread to serve with the chowder.

New Year's Resolution: Blog!!!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted a blog since late September! Some how the kids, school, the house and everything else seemed to get in the way of me posting. Actually I think it was plain laziness on my part but it makes me feel better to share the blame.

Anyways, what have I been up to you ask? Well, I did so some sewing, some picture taking and tons of cooking. Here are some of the items I sewed and will soon post to Etsy to sell. I have got to pay off all that Christmas shopping!

I purchased some Amy Butler laminates a year ago and I finally got to make some totes. I had made a backpack last spring for someone on Etsy, but I really wanted to make these totes. They're fun and bright.

I did a ton of bodysuits with burp cloths. The fabrics are son cute you can't stop yourself from making things.

I'll be posting more to come, I hope. I can't break my New Year's resolution yet.

Finally Done!!!

These three lovely bags were made for a dear friend of mine. Little did she know that it would take me the entire summer to finish them when she gave me the fabric in May!. The heat, the kids, the camp schedule, the heat again.....need I say more.

Anyways, the bags are based on my "backsack" bag I sell in my Etsy shop. It's a drawstring closure for the most part. I added a button to the third bag because I made it wider and a little shorter in height.

The fabric was provided by my friend and it was pre-quilted with a backing. So I had to figure out how to handle the pockets and unfinished edges. I treated it like a quilt and put a binding on all those edges.

I varied the shape and size of the pockets too. Now to make more for the shop!

My New Model

Here's my new model- Miss Gracie.

I made her a "buttercup" bag and she insisted on modeling it.

Miss Gracie says you will be seeing more of her on this blog since she has an exclusive contract with me, her mom.

By the way, if you like the bag you can get the pattern here. So far I have made two of these. Maybe I'll get to make one for myself one day!

Have a great day!

Healthy Banana Bread/Muffins

I have been baking banana bread since I was around 10 years old. We always had tons of bananas around since my dad drove a delivery truck for a local banana distributor and would always bring home bags of them. It wasn't a very exciting job until he told me stories of how once in a while the bananas came in with tarantulas in the boxes!

My recipe for banana bread has evolved quite a bit since those early days with mom and dad. It seems every time I make it I add something new. Lately I have been sticking to the following recipe where I have tried to make it a little more healthy by adding some whole wheat flour and flax seed. It is one of the few things my son will eat that I bake so I love to pack it with nutritious ingredients. I also use this recipe to make muffins which are great to pack for a snack for work or school.

Healthier Banana Bread/Muffins

makes 2 loaves or 1 loaf and a dozen muffins

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 eggs,beaten

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

3 large mashed bananas

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 TBLS. ground flax seed

1 cup oats (old fashioned or quick)

1 cup shredded coconut, sweetened

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350.

• Combine sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add eggs, vanilla and bananas, stir well.
• Sift together both flours, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Add to banana mixture and stir well.
• Now add flax seed, oats, coconut, raisins, cranberries, nuts & chocolate chips to the mixture
• and stir until combined.
• Spray loaf pans with non- stick spray such as PAM and/or line muffin pan with paper liners.
• Fill baking pans and bake muffins for approximately 20 minutes and loaves for 45 to 55 minutes, until tester (toothpick) comes out clean.
• Cool on rack for 5 mintues and then remove from pans and place on rack to cool completely.

Hope you get a chance to try it. Have a great day!

Bubbles

I don't know about you but I love blowing bubbles and so do my kids. My daughter loves it when I do the bubble blowing and she gets to catch them.
She did become the little actress when we decided to take pictures.

We had lots of hot and humid days on Long Island this summer. Those are the best for bubbles. If it is too dry the bubbles pop quickly.

As the last days of summer vacation go by have some fun doing something fun and free!

A Homemade Birthday Gift

Last month one of my daughter's friends celebrated her 6th birthday. I wanted to give her something special this year as a gift. I know they all love their toys and clothes are not high on the list. But this little friend loves "fashion" so I took the plunge and made this cute dress and handbag outfit.

The handbag pattern was from a fellow blogger madebyrae.blogspot.com. It's called the buttercup bag. Very cute and easy to make. If you like it you can download the pattern here.

The dress is my version of a "pillowcase" dress. Instead of using a pillowcase I used 44/45 width cotton fabric. Took one of my daughters dresses for a length measurement. Cut straight across the fabric (folded selvage to selvage) the length I needed. Then I cut in from selvage up the length of fabric on an angle to give the dress some shape. (I followed the angle of one of her dresses again) And lastly I cut "J" shapes on either side of the top edge for the armholes.
The armholes were fine for size but I was trying to think of an easy way to hem the edges. I decided to just turn the fabric over twice - about "1/4 each time- and stitch it in place. I did clip the curves a bit on the first turn. Then I turn under the top edge (twice- 1/4" then 3/4") for a casing for the drawstring.

I did the side seams as french seams. Meaning I stitched the dress together wrong sides together first, turned and stitched again with right sides together. This leaves no raw edges.

Then I made the drawstring - 1 1/2 strips - 44/45"of a contrasting fabric cut 2" wide, ironed 1/2" edge down into center on both long and short sides, then folded together, ironed and top stitched.

The ruffle length was cut approximately 2 1/2 times the wide of the dress which was 44/45". So that was about 110" and the height of the strip was 4 1/2". I stitched the strips together, then I turned down one long edge 1/4" twice, then top stitched. Now you can "ruffle" the strip by your preferred method - I like to run a long stitch across the edge and pull the threads. Then I attach it to the dress spreading the ruffles evenly. And lastly I overlapped the seam with a zigzag stitch.

Hope this inspires you to create your own homemade gift for someone special!