Rocking My Inner Betty Crocker

A couple of months back, I decided that I wanted to improve my baking skills and try some new recipes that I had been collecting on Pinterest. I had never been a really good baker and always dreaded when someone asked me to bring dessert to their party when I asked them wha I could make to bring. I decided that it was high time to learn how to bake and set out to try cakes.

I wanted to keep it simple, be able to make delicious cakes that were better than store bought and healthier because I could control the ingredients. I read somewhere that you could still use a boxed cake mix, add certain ingredients and viola! With some time and the proper equipment, you are baking some yummy goodies.

I had an inexpensive stand mixer that I purchased years ago at a discount store, gathering dust on the box in the basement. I brought it out, along with several bundt cake pans that I had managed to accumulate over the years. I started with:
1 boxed lemon cake mix that was on sale
3 eggs
1 and 1/3 cups of cold water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp lemon extract
1 box lemon flavored pudding
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.
Added all of the ingredients except the lemon and coconut and mixed on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down to ensure the batter was well blended and smooth.

I used my lemon zoster tool to remove the lemon zest right into the batter. Then I cut the lemon I half and squeezed all the juice into a cup, catching the seeds so they didn't end up in the cake. My lemon press yielded about 3 TBSP spa of fresh lemon juice. Then I added the juice and coconut right into the batter and let it mix for about 30 seconds more, justo ensure the batter ingredients were folded in nicely.

I sprayed my rose design bundt pan with PAm am for baking. This wonderful spray has the oil and flour mixed in. Then I took a small bristled paint brush and wiped the inside of the pan and the tube in the center to ensure every surface was well coated evenly. This step really helps to ensure the cake comes out evenly and the spray doesn't pool in the petals of this intricate pan.

I poured the batter into the prepared pan, spinning the pan as I did to make the batter distribution balanced. I placed the pan on a folded dis towel and then gently tapped it three times in the counter on top of the towel to release any air pockets before popping the pan into my preheated oven.

I baked the cake at 350 for 50 minutes. While the cake mix said 42 minutes, I found with the extra ingredients such as the pudding and coconut, it needs more time to set up properly. At 50 minutes the toothpick test comes out clean and the cake is ready to be laced in the pan in a rack to be cooled. I left it to cool for 40 minutes before inverting onto a cake platter and dusting with powdered sugar lightly sifted through a small sieve.

I think the cake turned out beautiful and I can't wait to try it for dessert after tonight's dinner.

Michael Miller Fabric Challenge 2014

As a member of the North Jersey Modern Quilt Guild, I had the opportunity to participate in the 2104 Michael Miller Fabric Challenge. We were given several 9" wide pieces of Michael Miller's new fabric line, entitled Petal Pinwheels. We were given fabric in May and the deadline was June 23rd. Life got a little crazy for me in May due to some serious family illness, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to complete the challenge.

However, the deadline was extended until July 25th, so now that my husband is recovered from his open heart surgery and life is back to normal, I knew I needed to make a quilt for the challenge. The inspiration for this quilt, which I call "Arc Reactor", was from a website that I found when I googled "WONKY DRESDEN PLATE". The website is called thegirlthatquilts.com. Another guild member was looking for the pattern and I helped her find it. Little did I know that she was looking for it to use as her challenge quilt. However, I decided that I wanted to make my own version of this wonky, modern dresden design. I purchased additional MM solids at my local quilt shop in purple, green, charcoal and two yellows to use to complete the quilt. I already had a basic white solid for the background. I cut strips of varying widths from all of the fabrics and sewed together 9 strata to be used to cut the wedges out to form the arc of the quilt. I wanted the edges of the arc, both inside and out to be 'wonky' so I added strips of the white to each of the strata on either end. I thought if I carefully varied where the die was used to cut the pinwheel wedges it would give me the look I was after.

I employed my Accuquilt cutter and the Go! 9" wedge die to cut 70+ wedges in less than 30 minutes from the strata. Later than evening, I ended up piecing together 40 of them to create the center of my challenge quilt. At this point I had not yet decided what I was going to do with it. I basically had a big giant donut of MM fabrics. The easiest solution for me was to applique the ring design down to a piece of the solid white fabric. I used invisible thread and my sewing machine to do invisible machine applique on both the inner and outer borders of the circles.

Next I set off to quilt the challenge and decided to utilize my machine quilting skills to enhance it with a wide variety of hand guided stitching patterns. I started in the center of the quilt and used a radiating arc pattern in hopes it would give the quilt some movement. I used rulers to stitch the radiating lines before stitching the arched patterns.



Next I quilted the MM fabric wedges with a myriad of patterns with no marking, just me, my machine and some ruler work. Here is the bottom left side of the quilt. The picture shows one of my favorite sections with a free hand peacock feather in the quilting. I did a bit of research on Pinterest and Google to find some stitching inspiration. Next is the bottom center of the quilt, and yes, those are supposed to be coffee beans in the one wedge. It was 1:45 a.m. when I finished stitching for the night. The next picture is of the bottom right corner of the quilt, where I tried to use a fish scale pattern for the first time. I like it alot and will use it again.

This shows the detail in the top left corner of the quilt and it was the first section of the background fabric that I quilted after finishing the arc sections. I used my rules to extend the arch sections out to the borders and then quilted various patterns in those sections of the background. The next picture shows the top center of the quilt. And here is the top right corner of the quilt. It contains another peacock feature motif and a section of checkerboard quilting also.

As you can see if you look at the quilting, I mixed up modern quilting designs with some more traditional ones.

Here is a photo of the entire finished quilt. I hope you like it as much as I did making it! The finished size of this quilt is 41" x 50" wide. I decided a white binding was the best option so that your eye isn't distracted from the beautiful MM fabrics in the piecing.

And finally, here is a quick partial shot of the back, so you can see, it really is quilted very heavily.

The name of the quilt came from my brother Steve, who said it looked like Iron Man's Arc Reactor that he wears on his chest. Works for me!

#MichaelMillerChallenge #ModernQuilt #ArcReactor

Ravioli Casserole

One of today's adventures was to do my bi-weekly grocery shopping. Before I perform this task, I always try and look through some recipes to figure out what I might need. Sometime. I make a list especially when trying a new recipe, and other times,I go with the store flyer, look at what might be in sale and work from there.

As I was cruising down the dairy aisle, picking up some sliced cheeses for,sandwiches and shredded cheese for recipes, along with our yogurts and other dairy delicacies, I looked up and saw the big bag of round cheese ravioli was on sale. So I grabbed it and figured, well, those are always good to,have on hand.

When. Mike came back from his treatment today, I asked him what he would like for dinner. He picked the ravioli!

Here is what I used to make 6 servings of my Ravioli casserole:

1 jar low salt tomato sauce ( any brand you like will do.)
1 large bag of frozen ravioli (cheese work best)
1 bag of fresh spinach (I had this on hand already)
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Fresh basil (if available). Or 2 tsp dried basil
Onion flakes
Fresh ground pepper
Dried oregano to taste
fresh sliced mushrooms if desired.

Spray a large rectangular baking dish with non-stick spray. Add just enough of the tomato sauce to the bottom of the pan to coat. Add one layer of frozen ravioli. Take freshly washed spinach and chop up over the pasta. I use a clean pair of scissors (not my sewing shears) to shred the spinach. Top with 1/4 cup of cheese, sprinkle 1/3 of the spices over this layer. Drizzle with tomato sauce and repeat until you have 3 layers and have used all the ravioli, sauce, spinach and cheese. add the mushrooms to the two top layers along with fresh basil leaves.



On the top layer, add 3 TBSP of shaved Parmesan cheese and some fresh basil, shredded. Cover with a piece of foil and bake for 60 minutes in a pre heated oven at 350 degrees. The beauty of this recipe is that is basically one dish, easy to make, extra tasty and fabulous leftover. You don't have to defrost the ravioli or boil them. serve with a nice mixed salad and you have a great vegetarian dinner for 6.

Enjoy!

#RavioliCasserole #OneDishDinners #EasytoBakeDinner #SpinachRavioliBake

Happy Customers

There is nothing more satisfying to a small business owner than happy customers. Today was a wonderful day, the weather is nice, my backlog is getting smaller and a new customer came by to pick up her finished quilt.

I had spent a good amount of time, contemplating how best to finish her quilt. We had picked out some patterns that she liked and so I felt I understood her taste in quilting. The quilt was a sampler quilt, something she had created over 12 months, one block at time each class at a local shop. The background fabric of the top was white and the colors in the printed fabrics were purple, pale green and grey. The piecing was impeccable, seams were straight, corners matched, nicely pressed and the quilt top was flat and square.

She had told me she wanted to use modern motifs in the blocks, but to use my judgement and custom quilt it where I saw fit. So....I did. I used the border panto she had selected, an Aztec type continuous stitching pattern that had angles and swirls in it, a great match to the designs in her blocks. The sashing pieces were about 2 inches wide and white, they needed a cool design to set them off. I used a figure 8 which really had a pretty effect in white thread. If you look at the inner border on each block you will see there is a figure eight shape, which was the inspiration for this choice.




Some of the blocks required custom quilting which I love to do. The 8 pointed star block really spoke to me to quilt it with plenty of detail. We had selected a basket weave pattern to be used somewhere on the quilt, and this block was perfect for it in the background area. In addition, the center of the star really need to pop and flow outwards, so I quilted it with an arched pattern in each wedge of the inner star, then a simple pattern in the diamonds of the star itself that mimicked other patterns in the quilt.



I'm pretty sure from Agnes' reaction, this star was her favorite block. The Job's Tears block also employed this same arched pattern in the points of each star and I love the effect of movement it created.


Here are some of the other blocks, which I quilted with custom designed modern patterns.



For the next two blocks, I employed my rulers and some straight line quilting along with some free form fun.


And finally to finish them off, I decided both of these next two blocks needed quilting that would give the illusion of movement.




Here is a shot of the entire quilt just before it went home with the owner, Agnes Dembia of Clifton, NJ. She was thrilled with my work and I have a feeling she will be showing it off to her friends and guild in the near future once its bound. A happy customer is usually a repeat customer and that is the heart of a successful long arm quilting business. I know she will be back with more quilts for me to quilt for her.

Where did The month of May go?

Wow! I cannot believe its June 1st. Where the heck did The month of May go? My normal routine got so off track I didn't know what day it was. Last month was one of the hardest months that I have had in a very long time due to two major problems that cropped up.

1). My Gammill quilting machine went on the fritz and required two separate repairs visits from the Gammill guy. The switches went and everything seemed wonky. It turned out it wasn't the motherboard, which was good, but after 6 hours on the first try we determined it needed to have some major components replaced that had been improperly installed in last fall. The new dealer and repair team were awesome! They realized that the breeze track was bent and damaged and the tracks were crooked and bent. Because these parts were less than a year old, they should have been under warranty. They checked and after some serious backtracking with Gammill, determined that they could offer a complete replacement of the new parts for me. The parts were shipped directly to my house and Jerry the repair guy came within 3 days to reinstall them. We added a few other new parts including a new rotary hook to the mix and 3 hours later I was quilting again on a "cheater cloth" quilt to ensure the stitching was perfect. Jerry mad sure everything was working like new befor he left. I highly recommend Thread Runs Thru It quilt shop owned by Lori and Steve and their Gammill Tech, Jerry.

2). The love of my life, Mike, was diagnosed with chronic heart failure and required open heart surgery. Two lengthy stays in the hospital and a big surgery overtook our lives and we are very fortunate to have a wonderful team of doctors, nurses and medical staff to repair his Aoertic valve. He did very well and came home for the hospital just 6 days after the surgery. He's been home 10 days now and is healing nicely and feeling so much better. He still cannot drive, lift anything heavy, push or pull anything, or walk the dogs, but despite getting tired easily and having undergone a major surgery just over 2 weeks ago, things are looking up and we can soon get on with our lives.

So, most importantly, Mike is on the mend and his heart is working better than ever. His chronic cough and breathing and lung issues have all but disappeared. It is amazing how closely the entire cardio vascular and air supply systems in our bodies are interconnected. I want to thanks all of the staff at Englewood hospital and our friends and neighbors that have helped us while we went through this. I couldn't have dealt with all of this without your support last month.

I also want to thank all my wonderful customers that have been so patient while I wasn't able to work on their quilts. Everyone was really nice when I explained what was going on with the machine and I can't thank you enough for allowing me the pleasure of quilting for you.

I feel very blessed and loved by those that matter to me and I am grateful that Mike is feeling so much better and I can quilt again and work through my backlog of customer quilts and projects. Looking forward to the month of June, things are really looking up these last few days.

Quilting Friends Retreat Invitation

We had so much fun on our spring retreat in March at the Cross Roads Center NJ, I decided to go ahead and book another one closer to the end of 2014. Two nights and three days didn't seem long enough for many of us that attended, so I have booked the retreat for a Wednesday - Sunday, a 5 days/4 night quilting retreat/excursion.

Here are the details:

Dates: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - check in starting at noon through check out by 2 p.m. Sunday, November 16th.

What's included: 13 meals starting with lunch on Wednesday, through lunch on Sunday. The food is served family style in a log cabin dining hall 3 times a day at pre-determined times.

I can attest that the food was very tasty, plentiful, widely varied and the staff is willing to accommodate special dietary needs if notified in advance. Here is a picture of the dining hall.

No stairs and best of all, NO DISHES!

A clean room complete with fresh linens and private baths, each with two twin beds, small table and chairs, dressers and heat/ac temperature controls.

The sink is outside the bath area, which make is convenient for both occupants.
Nice, thick, thirsty towels.


A beautiful, shared workspace with extraordinary lighting.

The tables are large, and there are couches and chairs in addition to the tables and comfortable sewing chairs for all.

There is a gas fireplace and a shared, handicap accessible bath off this room. There is even a beautiful deck off the main center room, perfect for reading and getting fresh air and sunshine.

The main room also boasts a nice, modern kitchen completed with granite counter tops, a big fridge, microwave, sink, dishwasher and coffee pots. Plenty of room for sharing healthy snacks and goodies.

In addition, there are two nice sized rooms that can be set up as cutting and pressing areas, complete with tables and chairs, and large screen TVs if you want to watch some DVDs while you sew. Each of these rooms also have closet space, design wall space and coffee, fridge service. They are located at either end of the same building we will be using. There is also handicap ramps to these rooms if needed.



Okay, so you are probably asking yourself, what's all this fun going to cost?
5 days/4 nights stay (Wed-Sunday) is $323 per person/double occupancy. ($110 deposit due by May 23rd to reserve your spot)
Should you require a private room (based on availability), it will cost you $30 more total, or $353. ($120 deposit due by May 23rd to reserve your spot.)
3 days/2 nights stay (Fri - Sunday) is $185 per person/double occupancy. ($65 deposit due by May 23rd to reserve your spot.)
Private room rate for Fri-Sunday will be $215 (based on availability). ($80 deposit due by May 23rd to reserve your spot.)

Crossroads Christ Center can host up to 30 people. We need to guarantee at least 15 people to get the meal plan. Since there is no stove available, this is what I have booked initially for 20 people. Space is available on a first come, first serve basis.

A deposit is due within 30 days of my signing the contract with Crossroads or May 23rd. The remainder of the retreat payment is due 20 days prior to the start of the retreat, on or before October 27, 2014.

This will allow me to give them the final count two weeks prior to the retreat.

You may make the check payable to CrossRoads Retreat Center and send it to me before May 23rd to reserve your spot. Please specify your preferences and provide me with your contact information (name, email address and phone number) when mailing your check to me at:
Diane Fama
31-12 Rosalie Street
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410

I will do my best to accommodate room-mate requests. I am also happy to answer any questions via email at: njquilter58@gmail.com
The retreat center's website is:
www.crossroadsretreat.com

Spinach Artichoke Dip Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I have always been a big fan of any dish with spinach, including Spinach Artichoke Dip. However, the version you get in the restaurants is jammed packed with fat, calories, carbs and salt. There has to be a way to make this in a healthier version. So I set off to experiment.

You will need:
4 fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup fresh spinach leaves, shredded
1/2 cup drained, rinsed and chopped artichoke hearts. (Rinsing reduces the salt content by 25%)
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 TBSP of shredded low fat Mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 large clove chopped fresh garlic or 1/4 tsp of garlic powder
Non-stick cooking spray or Olive Oil

Trim all visible fat from chicken breasts, wash and pat dry. Set aside.


Mix spinach and artichoke together in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave in high for 90 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir in mayonnaise and the two cheeses. Add onion powder, black ground pepper and garlic and stir until well mixed. Set aside.

Grill chicken breasts in a hot grill pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray or olive oil to prevent sticking. Cooking time will vary depending on on the thickness of the pieces of chicken. Ours were pretty thick, so I grilled them for 7 minutes on each side and then split them down the middle almost all the way to essentially 'butterfly them" and and cooked them further butterfly side down until they were golden brown and done, but still juicy.

Flip breasts over so split side is up and spread 1/4 of the dip mixture across the top. Close each breast so dip becomes stuffing, reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook 2-3 minutes longer, until the filling is warm and the cheese begins to melt.

Serve immediately and sprinkle with additional cheese if desired. Enjoy!