Summer Block of the Week… Flower Penny Garden….and the best double chocolate chip cookie recipe ever…

I have been home a few days now from Salt Lake City…it was fun to hang out in Moda row…all the designers are a great bunch of girls…it was hard learning the ropes and being the “new” kid on the block…but now I know what is expected…Nick and I are packing up the boat to dump it into the lake tomorrow, I am so looking forward to that…but I did not for get about the Summer Block of the Week…Here it is….

I am going to use this red, dark pink and purple theme throughout all of the  13″ applique blocks…along with with the layered wool flowers…I think this is going to be the best summer BOW that I have done so far…I am only going to show this one block of the Summer BOW and I am not going to show you the “freebies” either…I know I am MEAN, but hey…that’s just the way it is!
you just have to trust me that it is going to be great!  The freebies will be all wool that is all I will give as a hint…

The freebies are for any $10 regular priced purchase to anyone  who comes in or purchases online.  The freebies will run for 13 weeks.  The Summer BOW will  run 14 weeks as there will be 2 weeks of optional finishing kits, inner border/cornerstone appliques and then scrappy sashing and border fabrics.   If you sign up for the Summer BOW you are only committing to the 12 blocks.  The first week will be $25 and will include all the background fabric…the rest of the blocks will be $10…  Finishing kits will be optional after you have seen the finished quilt.  Then you decide…Only the Penny Garden BOW and Summer Stars can be shipped together.  Please see our Newsletter on our website for the Summer Stars info….This applies to everyone EXCEPT for our International customers…we can arrange shipping monthly as your shipping charges are a lot more please advise us on if you would like monthly shipping.  SHIPPING BOW’S will be every Wednesday, starting June 1st…so please be patient and do not call just because your friend got hers and you didn’t…I know you are anxious but it will come…

So please feel free to sign up for our BOW’s now that you have seen a block…don’t wait…we only are going to do so many…Here is a easy recipe for Double Chocolate Cookies…I actually made them on Wednesday night…I needed to “nest” a little…here is the recipe:  THE BEST DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES EVER   ENJOY!

It is also the first nice day here actually 70 degrees…I must take the puppies for a walk now…later….LB

Molasses missing in the Ginger cookie recipe…

Ok…now I know i could have done it but I am hoping Stacies girl who did the fancy recipe cards forgot the 1/4 cup of molasses in the recipe when she typed it…

my recipe for the blog hop is missing 1/4 molasses…

sorry…i hope i didn’t do it..it hope not, but it is very likely …LB

I will get ahold of Stace and she will post a new card on her site..

LB

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Our family had it’s get together…the food was again very good…I made my favorite green bean casserole recipe you must make this one…try it,  it is not the one with the nasty Fake tasting onions from the can….It is a knock off of one of the best old time banquet halls here in WI…VanAbel’s of Holland town…now I don’t think this is it’s actual recipe….I am sure it is some family secret that you would have to be an undercover spy on a double top secret mission to snatch from them…but I must say…it is very, very close….I think maybe the difference is when someone else makes it, it alway seems to be better? But anyway it was great!   Here is the recipe…I should have taken a pic, but next time…Van Abel’s Green Beans

Here is the FREE PINCUSHION KIT & PATTERN you will receive when you make a purchase on Saturday November 27. If you would want an extra kit they will be $5 each.  Just a reminder…Primitive Gatherings is closed tomorrow, Friday so our employees can spend all their hard earned $$$ shopping black Friday…We will open at 8am on Saturday!  See you then…

Home for the Holidays-Blog Hop post…

Welcome to our Home for the Holidays Blog Hop!  I am lucky number seven in the hop and I can’t wait to show you what I have come up with for you, the previous girls are a tough act to follow…  Christmas has become my most favorite part of the year.  I think mostly because all of our traveling has come to an end and I can actually take a day here and there for myself and my family and not feel guilty about it…I love to decorate our home for Christmas.  Right after the last person leaves after Thanksgiving dinner, I pull out all the big red/green bins and start transforming the house.  I have already bought the tree for this year…it is standing in the garage just waiting and begging to come in…but Thanksgiving first, please…After the house is decorated, I start making the holiday treats…not right away but a few days later….I always send my favorite peanut clusters to all my friends…peanuts and dark chocolate…a girl can’t go wrong…I also make many batches of Irish Cream Whiskey  to give away…I say many because, they sometimes do not make it and we have to start over…they just vanish….Last year I found some pretty red bottles to put it in…I got most of them back with a note…please refill for next season…remember it is cold here in WI…..I make lots of different cookies for the holidays, but I have grown very fond of my Soft & Chewy Ginger Cookies…here is recipe…also the house smells so good while making these..

Soft & Chewy Ginger Cookies

It was hard to pick a project to share with you but after thinking awhile I came up with a cool cookie jar wrap to show off all these holiday cookies we are making!  It didn’t take long for those cookies to disappear, did it?  This is a simple wool “wrap” for your cookie jar.  The jar can be purchased for $5 at Wal-Mart.  Click the link here for the directions. Cookie Jar Wrap Directions I hope you can use this to proudly show off your wonderful cookies you exchange or make to give-a-way.  All the cookies so far have been wonderful!  I have been printing the recipes and projects and can’t wait to see what is next!  Here is few more holiday photos from the Bongean House….Thanks Stacy!  for putting this all together you have such wonderful ideas everyone is loving it!

We will have wool kits available for this project.  Threads are extra…please call or order online…

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!                                                                              Lisa & Nick Bongean

Tins of chocolate and peanuts...

Irish Cream…mmmm

Every year the shop girls make me a quilt….this is last years… Scrappy & Christmas!

lots of presents under our tree…

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 2009 THE BONGEAN FAMILY....to be continued....

Woopie!

The girls are coming to sew, and show and tell tomorrow… that also means I have to cook..what to make…I spotted this dessert recipe on my desk! Woopie Pies from Red Thread.  Deb gave them out at Quilt Market…decision made…well they are AWESOME! They are moist spongy little chocolate cake/like cookies with this wonderful filling in them.  Kind of like a homemade hostess cupcake, only better.  They are moist but the cookie part is just a little crisp???  I know they are good because I had an orphan so I had to frost it and fold it in half!  The recipe made 13 Woopie Pies.  Thanks Deb for the recipe…I know she won’t mind me sharing with you…Ok…so it is sewing tomorrow back to what I all have to do…I am going to make a new salad which I will make in the morning…then we are going to have little “Sliders” (burgers) on the grill.  Then the woopies after.  My house still had some Christmas decs up so I thought I would make it a little patriotic for my company…so I found a mostly red, white and blue quilt…then I scavenged for more decorations…and it didn’t turn out too bad!…my pic is a little blurry, but that’s what I get for taking it at 11pm…I will post show and tell tomorrow….LB

can’t wait to eat a whole woopie!

Quilt in the Front Entry of my house...

:=”

Busy Week and Weekend…

Happy Mother’s Day Everyone…I hope you all had a good time… It was Nick’s Birthday on Saturday….he’s says he is 24…we all know he is a little dyslexic….I actually made him his favorite cake…carrot cake…I found a recipe in Taste of Home…that has to be good right? Well it sure was….it had peanut butter chips in it???? I think this is the first cake I have made since I made a teenage mutant ninja turtle cake??  Here is the proof…and the recipe  TAKE-ALONG CARROT CAKE click on link to print.  Nick loved it and my Mother even thought it was great!

Dusted off the Kitchen Aid

Even made the frosting!

I didn't even burn it....

Made a Chicken Noodle Salad w/honey poppy seed dressing while cake was baking

Ta da!!!!

Trip to Honeymoon acres....10 hanging baskets!...My helper didn't even complain once...wait till we go back for the bedding plants!

Hanging basket in planters....All covered up for the 3 nights of FROST!!!

Our Neighbors had an opening of the Pabst Patio on Sat. night…that is why I made the salad. That also turned out great too.  I really didn’t follow a recipe for that I just had a rotisery chicken breast, noodles, cuke, grapes, red and green, craisens and walnuts and then made my poppy seed dressing that i put on my layer salad…but i through in some greek yogurt with instead of so much salad dressing…

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TOOL BOX PLANTER

Oh…did a little sewing too…..i know this is not what you expect from me…but I have procrastinated long enough…we came out with these wools over a year ago…It turned out pretty cool though…PS…I think I am good for another year or so….I can use this on our boat that finally got put in the water…the boys are leaving for the lake…I will not drive in the truck with the boat behind it…it is way too scary…and the last time I did…the trailer came unhooked from the truck…i will say no more…LB

Flip Flop Tablemat

Headed for the Lake! Too bad it is in the 40's temperature wise...

20 yards of Mulch, one day---thank God for boys

Canning tomatoes

About every other year  I make my mother come over for a day of canning tomatoes.  I love to be able to make chili, lasagna or almost anything with our canned tomatoes.  I am trying to eat healthier and this will help with fresh tomatoes that we know what all is in the jar!  I do not want to forget how to do this , so I am going to blog how…that way if you don’t have an awesome Mom like mine, you can learn too! So here goes …first you must make sure all of your jars are clean.  I run mine through the dishwasher.  If you are in the market for a new dishwasher, I just love my two drawer one from Fisher & Paykel.  It was a great descision.

Gather up all your necessary equipment as follows: Pressure canner, canning salt, funnel, big ladle, paring knives lids, rims  and jars and jar grabber for taking out hot jars from the canner.  We made two kinds of tomatoes: Stewed ( with green peppers, onions and celery) and then just whole tomatoes alone in the jars.  So if you want to make stewed tomatoes, you will need some green peppers, onions and celery.  

Cut or chop your green peppers, onion and celery  then add a little water and simmer them for a bit to soften them a little .

While that is simmering, dump your tomatoes into the sink and rinse them to get any dirt or bugs or junk off of them.  

Then place them into a roasting pan with boiling water to scald them for a few minutes.  The skins with break.  Do not leave them in too long or they will become too hot and mushy to handle.  

Transfer them into a sink of cold water.  You will then remove the center stem and all of the skins,  Cut then in quarters and place in a bucket. Do this until you have all of your tomatoes cleaned, scalded and peeled and cut.

Add fixings for stewed tomatoes if desired to pot of cut tomatoes, stir…

Looking real good right now!

add about an 1″ or two of water to the canner.

add a teaspoon of salt to each jar

using a large funnel (get it at fleet farm) scoop your tomatoes in the jar- i used small mouth jars for the stewed tomatoes and wide for the whole.  You would use your hands to pack the whole tomatoes.

fill jars almost to the top and leave a half inch of space at the top not counting the lid rim.

 

 

 

 

carefully wipe of the top of each jar- so the lids will seal properly

Place lid and ring on jar

place 7 jars in canner, place cover on  and place the “jimmy” that is what I call the pressure gauge, on 10lbs of pressure

I place the burner on HIGH until the “Jimmy” starts to jiggle.  I then turn it down a little.  The “Jimmy” does not have to jiggle constantly.  Once the canner start to jiggle you need to let it pressurize to 20min.  After 20 min.  turn off heat and let the canner release its pressure.  When it is all out  it will allow you to open it.  I have to admit Mom taught me how to cheat and hold a long meat fork on the pressure gauge until all of the steam is let out.  This helps if you have lots of canning to do and don’t have time to wait, but I am sure this is not recommended anywhere and you cannot hold me accountable if something happens to you when you are doing yours.

When all of the pressure is released from the canner open the lid and lift out your jars with the canning tongs.  

Place hot jars on a protected surface.  I used towel on the kitchen table, double folded.  The jars will ting when the lids seal.  

Here are our 84 jars!  It took us from 10am to 7pm when the last 7 were processed.  We have 31 stewed tomatoes and 53 whole tomatoes.  I think we will be set for awhile.  We did this last Wednesday.  My uncle brought us over 2 bushels and this is how many we ended up with.  Now I will remember how to do this and maybe you will now try it yourself!

Hey…here is a pic of my Mom…on our boat this summer..in her “Jackie O” sunglasses…she wore them long enough that they are back in style now..

Honey Mustard Layer Salad

Here is the recipe as promised.

I found a recipe for a layered salad made in a beautiful glass bowl.  I don’t like ham and salami on my lettuce so I changed a few of the ingredients and made my own dressing for it…so here is my version.  Jeanine liked it so much she packaged up the leftovers and told me she just knows I will forget it in her cooler and she will end up with it.

Honey Mustard Layer Salad

4 cups of shredded greens- i used fresh spinach and green leaf lettuce from the farmer’s market      

1 lb of bacon, cut up in small pieces and fried, place on paper towels to squish off the grease        

4 hard boiled eggs-sliced 

1 to 2 cups uncooked  small pasta shells-cook according to package and drain,rinse with cold water and drizzle with oil  

1 package of frozen peas    

1 cup shredded Colby-Jack cheese    

fresh parsley- I used it from my garden! I knew i grew parsley for a reason

Place the lettuce in a 2-1/2 qt glass bowl; top with pasta shells and eggs.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Top with bacon and then peas.  Make dressing  and spread over top of peas.  Spread cheese over dressing and add parsley.

Dressing:

1 cup miracle whip light     

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

squirt of regular mustard

squirt of horse raddish mustard or Grey Poupon

couple tablespoons of vinegar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 T. poppy seeds

Mix well together with wire wisk.  

Dressing are not as complicated as you think…I just eyeball most of these ingredients and it always turns out fine…less stuff to wash this way…..I also tossed this salad in a bigger bowl just before serving it.  It is not as pretty as leaving it in the bowl, but on the boat it was a lot less mess this way.