A great cross-stitch blog: “Pinwheel Ponders

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After more than a decade hiatus from seriously working on counted cross-stitch, a few weeks ago I picked up a small project, a Liberty Bell design. After completing that in a few days, I immediately started a small floral piece (used in the card posted here recently), which led to another small floral piece, and now I’m working on a larger floral piece. I love needlework and it feels wonderful to be happily stitching away.

As mentioned in my previous post on Pinterest, this photo-sharing idea allows for easy searching and sharing of crafting, decorating, cooking and sewing ideas. After decades of reading many books, magazines, leaflets of patterns, etc. on all sorts of needlework, I thought I had learned all there was to know about counted cross-stitch, until I found this wonderful blog on counted cross-stitch, Pinwheel Ponders. The blog offers loads of creative ideas for finishing cross-stitch Christmas ornaments, but many of these ideas can be used for other cross-stitch projects. This blog offers advice on stitching small projects in a small photo mat, by taping the cross-stitch fabric flat, rather than using an embroidery hoop. I’ve stitched three projects using this mat idea, after using many types of hoops, Q-snaps, and wooden frames over they years. This works great!  I’ll be revisiting this blog for inspiration and if you love counted cross-stitch, check out Pinwheel Ponders.

My Pinterest Adventures

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Gone are the days of clipping recipes and craft ideas from magazines, then compiling cumbersome binders with protective sleeves to shove the clippings into or even worse hand-copying a recipe on a piece of paper, which invariably would end up misplaced. Pinterest, a massive photo-sharing site, offers an easy, user-friendly way to eliminate that bit of paper clutter from your life.

Registration is free and within a few minutes of reading the helpful hints, then downloading the handy-dandy Pin-It button, you’re on your way to many happy hours of exploring magazines online, blogs, news sites, etc. from which you can create your own boards (categories to organize your pins), share your pins, follow other users boards or just repin one of their pins.  Pushing close to 3,000 pins (many of those recipes), well, unlike those magazine clippings I could never find, with Pinterest I’ve tried several recipes.  I decided to critique the latest recipe adventure and start a category here, which I’ll call My Pinterest Adventures.

Last week I prepared a Pinterest recipe find called Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Skillet, located on foodie, Mandy Rivers’, blog, Unsouth Your Mouth.  Having prepared cabbage rolls a few times (decades ago) and finding it rather time-consuming, this recipe sounded like a winner. On an A to F rating scale, I’d give it a B+.  The recipe was easy to follow with clear instructions.  It’s a quick and easy meal to prepare.  Now, for the taste part, I liked it, but the sauce didn’t work for me.  The recipe called for condensed tomato soup as the tomato base in the tangy tomato topping, with brown sugar and vinegar added to give it a bit of zip.  Next time I prepare this recipe, I’ll be experimenting with replacing the condensed tomato soup with tomato sauce or possibly diced tomatoes.

Vickey’s Slow Cooker Meatballs

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This is the easiest meatball recipe imaginable. And despite using frozen meatballs, they have a homemade taste.

1 large bag Italian-style frozen meatballs
1 can of pineapple tidbits
1 bottle any brand of honey-flavored BBQ sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar

Pour meatballs into a large slow cooker. Pour pineapple and BBQ sauce over the meatballs. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours. Stir halfway through cooking time.

Shoo Fly Pie

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This is the iconic PA Dutch pie.  Shoo fly pie has the goodness of a molasses crumb cake baked into a pie.  Leave it to the PA Dutch to combine the best of both worlds.

This recipes makes two 9 inch deep dish pies, so prepare two pie plates with a crust.

Crust:
2 cups flour
1 T salt
2/3 cups Butter-flavored Crisco, divided
5-7 T ice water
1 egg

Combine flour and salt. Cut in 1/3 cup of the Crisco with a pastry blended until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Cut in remaining Crisco until coarse crumbs form. Stir in egg. Add 1 T of water at a time and mix lightly until a dough holds together. A light hand at mixing pie dough is better, because it’s those little clumps of shortening that make for a flaky pie crust. Over-mixing will create a tough pie crust. Divide dough into two equal size disks. Flour your rolling surface and place one disk in the center. Lightly sprinkle disk with flour and also flour your rolling pin too. Roll out dough to fit a 9″ deep dish pie plate. Continue with second disk and line a second deep dish pie plate.

Crumbs:
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 T baking soda
1 cup butter or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening

Combine flour, sugar and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blended until coarse crumbs form.

Filling;
2 cups unsulphured molasses ( I use the darkest molasses I can find)
2 cups warm water
1 egg
2 tsp. baking soda

Combine molasses, water, egg and baking soda in large bowl. The molasses and baking soda fizz a bit upon contact – it’s normal. Mix well.

To assemble pies: Add half the crumb mixture to the filling and stir only few times. Pour filling into unbaked pie shells, filling a little over half full. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over both pies to fill pies to the top. (depending on your pie plate size, you may not use all of the filling.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes for 35-40 minutes, until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Helpful hint: Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and place unbaked pies on the cookie sheet to bake, in case pie filling boils over while baking.

Zucchini Cake

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This is a recipe my Mom had in her recipe collection.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar, plus 2 T sugar separate
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon, add 2 tsp. to batter and  1 tsp to sprinkle on top of cake batter
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Mix all ingredients and stir well. Grease and flour a 13 X 9 rectangular baking pan. Pour batter into prepared pan. In a small bowl mix chopped walnuts and 2 T sugar. Sprinkle walnut/sugar mixture over the top of the bake batter and sprinkle with reserved 1 tsp. cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Check with a toothpick, if toothpick comes out clean its done.

Wanpen’s Egg Rolls

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A friend named, Wanpen, from Thailand gave me this recipe over 20 years ago. The amounts of the ingredients are estimates, because I guesstimated while she showed me how to make them in my kitchen one afternoon.

2 packages ground beef (approx. 3 lbs)
2-3 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 large onion
2 packages of bean sprouts (not sure exact size – let’s say approx. 8 oz bags)
1 large head of cabbage, grated (or use 2 large bags of cabbage for coleslaw)
MSG definitely optional, but it really does enhance the flavor
2 T soy sauce
2 T sugar
spring roll wrappers (50)

Thoroughly mix all ingredients, except spring roll wrappers. For instruction on how to roll up egg rolls, here is a link with pictures that clearly show how (here). Use approx 2 tablespoons of mixture per egg roll and line up your wrapped egg rolls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. If you stack more than one layer high, put another piece of parchment paper between the layers. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of vegetable oil or peanut oil in a large deep frying pan and begin frying until golden brown on all sides. Do not overcrowd the frying pan. Drain on lots of paper towels. This recipe makes about 50 egg rolls. Once cool, freeze extras by individually wrapping tightly in aluminum foil. Egg rolls may be taken out of foil and placed on a plate lined paper towels and heated in the microwave. Do not thaw first – just place frozen into the microwave and heat like you would a frozen burrito. High power a minute or two. They can also be reheated on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet in the oven – try 375 degrees like you would for frozen french fries and watch closely so they don’t get too brown. Drizzle on more soy sauce as you eat.

PA Dutch BBQ Pork Sandwiches

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This type of roast pork sandwich often shows up in rural PA at family get-togethers and community gatherings. It’s not really a BBQ at all, as you’ll see by the list of ingredients.

4-5 lb pork roast
2-3 tsp. chicken bouillion
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 medium onions thinly sliced

Place pork roast in a large dutch oven and cover with water. Add the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a few hours. When roast pulls apart easily with a fork, it’s done. Pull apart roast with a fork. Mix a few tablespoons of flour in a 1/2 cup of cold water and stir into liquid with roast. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken broth to a gravy consistency. Serve on hamburger buns and have ketchup and mustard handy.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

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2-3 lb pork tenderloin roast
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can root beer soda
2 medium onions, sliced
1 T minced garlic
1 cup chili sauce

Bottled BBQ sauce (optional)
Coleslaw (optional)
10-12 hamburger buns

Place all ingredients, except chili sauce in a slow cooker. Cook on high heat 1 hour. Reduce to low heat and continue to cook for 7-8 hours. Pull apart pork roast with a fork and add 1 c chili sauce to liquid to make a sauce. Serve on hamburger buns. Have some bottled BBQ sauce handy for those who want more sauce. Some areas of the country like coleslaw served on top of their pulled pork sandwiches.