Dresses for SJ and Little E

A certain little girl had her first birthday the other week. It was just the excuse to sew another dress. It's a tad tight on Delaney since Miss SJ is just now turning one. Cute nonetheless.

Little E got a new dress, too, but I didn't get a picture of Delaney trying it out first.

Tie Back Pillowcase Dress

I loved this navy and white polka dot fabric as soon as I saw it! I added some preppy kelly green accents for this first dress, but I have enough left over to do another one with red accents for summer.

 

 This was my first experience using bias tape to bind my sleeve openings (and I'm in love!) and also making my own fabric tie.  A lot of dresses call for ribbon ties, but once I used the green on the hem I had to make a matching tie.

Toddlers don't make the most cooperative models.

But at least the dress is cute!

My second version is coming soon, but it will have to wait until a certain little girl opens it on her first birthday before I can post pictures!

New Dress

My first a line jumper!  I still need a lot of practice on button holes, but her cuteness makes up for any imperfections.  Even if she wasn't in the mood for standing still.

General Tso's Chicken

I found a great recipe for this typical take out treat and it was a big hit last night!  Check it out here.

I used a combination of white and dark meat because we had it on hand.  Also, I forgot broccoli at the store so we used red peppers and green beans.  Overall, pan frying the chicken made a huge mess, but it was so delicious I'll risk it again.  Just as good as the real thing minus the MSG!

Cowboy Caviar

We had this at our personal Super Bowl party and it's awesome!

1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can shoepeg corn, drained and rinsed

a handful of cherry tomatoes or 2-3 roma tomatoes, diced

2 diced avocados, ripe but still firm

1/4 to 1/2 cup prepared pico de gallo (you can leave this out and just use some fresh green onions)

handful cilantro, chopped finely

2 limes, juiced

ground pepper and salt to taste

Combine all ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with tortilla chips!

Sewing Projects

I was blessed with my grandmother's sewing machine and little by little I'm learning to do lots of fun things with it.  I originally bought our little girl a pair of denim ruffle pants on Etsy, but she was ready for a bigger size.  I used the old pants as a pattern and turned them inside out to figure out how to assemble them.  I am so happy with the result, but also plan to make the ruffles a bit fuller next time around.  Also, no contrasting thread.  I thought it would be cute, but it was such a pain to keep my "white lines" straight.

My next project today was this simple peasant dress.  I found this tutorial and just scaled down the measurements to what I hoped would be an 18 month size.

I don't plan to have her wear them both at the same time, but it was easier to model both at once.  She wasn't feeling very photogenic tonight!

Granola Bars

I was just about to give up on homemade granola bars after three promising recipes resulted in dry, crumbly bars. Even Alton Brown failed me and I do love his granola recipe, but his granola bars were just so so. There were a few recipes that called for tons of butter and peanut butter and I knew that would make a moist bar, but it would be more like dessert than a good on-the-go snack. I stayed away from those and was about to give in when I came across a no bake recipe. Finally! It called for prepared granola (in my mind defeating the purpose of homemade bars), so I reworked it.

The recipe is very forgiving so I put several substitutions and options in italics.

Chewy Granola Bars
(makes 16 bars)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey (brown rice syrup or agave)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup flax seed (ground flax seeds works too)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut

1/2 cup golden raisins (dried cherries, dried cranberries, dried apricots, or any dried fruit)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup slivered almonds (pecans, cashews, or your favorite nut)

Combine brown sugar, honey, vanilla and butter in a medium-size saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower heat and simmer just a minute or two for the sugar dissolve.  You can let it cool before adding the dry ingredients so the chocolate chips don't melt, but I just dump everything because I'm a tad impatient.  Add oats, flax seed, wheat germ, coconut, raisins, chocolate chips and almonds to the melted butter mixture.

Spread in a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan. Use a silicone spatula because it gets sticky.  Refrigerate for one hour or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.

Feel free to make a half batch if you don't want to over commit.  It fits in an 8 x 8 baking dish.