kaleidoscope

Russell and I were in a quilt shop and saw a kaleidoscope quilt.  He really liked it so I checked One Block Wonders out from the library.  It tells you how to put kaleidoscope quilts together.  I had extra fabric from one of the shirts I made him so I thought I would give it a try.

 

So I am really not sure about this.  Part of me not being sure of this is that there is a lot of wasted fabric and to me, a quilt is a way to use all the scraps.  But I have to admit that the hexagons are pretty.

 

 

 

I will have enough to make the center of a quilt and it should look really cool.  But I have to admit that I will probably never make another because of the waste.  It is why I like nine squares.

the cauldron was brought out for more experimentations in chocolate and peanut butter

We were having dinner with friends yesterday and they had already mentioned that they would gladly put down their taste buds to be testers in my experimentations of chocolate and peanut butter.  Though Russell felt there was no improvement needed in the first recipe.  That made me smile.

This is not perfect yet.  I am still playing with the amount of oil and peanut butter, and the bake times.  But it is darn good.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Brownies

1/3 cup olive oil 

3 ounces semisweet chocolate

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup original hempmilk

1 tablespoon tapicoa

t teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (14 tablespoons) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare an 8 by 8 inch pan with parchment paper.  

Weigh out three ounces of chocolate.  Put the chocolate and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Keep over the heat until the chocolate is melted.  Turn off the heat and stir in the sugar and then the peanut butter.  Mix in the hempmilk, vanilla and tapioca starch.

 

Mix in the flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and cocoa.  Mix well but it can have  a few lumps.

Bake for 24 minutes.  A knife inserted in the center should come out fairly clean. A few crumblies are okay.

Let cool at least 30 minutes before trying to take it out of the pan.  It has the tendency to be crumbly.  

Anybody who tries this let me know if you think anything needs improving.  The verdict is still out about how much peanut butter!

I do believe this is going to become a throw down recipe. 

what is in my pocketess?

Russell finished knives this weekend.

I get involved in the process by telling Russell how the handle feels.  What is interesting about these two knives is that the larger one felt the best in my hand early in the process but at the end, the smaller one felt the best.  Which means that I get a new utility knife.

And this utility knife sits in my apron pockets.  With my tendency to wear aprons every where but work, this is a good thing.  

 

I can do all the things in the kitchen that need a knife but using one of my working kitchen knives on does not make since.  Also, it means I have a knife when needed in other places.  It is a lovely thing.  It makes me smile.

on a rainy july day

It has been a bit frustrating.  It is rained all day.  Hard rain where Houston floods.  Which also means that businesses close down early and so do government offices, including the library. Due to budget cuts, the library will not be open tomorrow.  Sigh, a long weekend without more books to read and movies to watch!  It is really not a hardship but there was a cookbook I really wanted to try in my pile of holds.  Sigh.

I did make myself some handkerchiefs though.

 

I like handkerchiefs.  I look for them at thrift stores and gift shops.  It is hard to find truly nice ones though.  I have been making my own.  When I make something and have a square of fabric twelve to fourteen inches square leftover, it usually becomes handkerchiefs.  I just hem the edges.  Russell really likes that the handkerchiefs match my dresses or aprons.

 

So I have new pretties for my nose.  

Experimentations in chocolate and peanut butter

Russell and I tried a new cafe called Pie in the Sky Pie Company.  It was pretty fabulous.  Think healthy grill food.  We both decided to try pie.  Russell tried the sour cream raison pie.  It was an "Oh my God" delicious.  I will have to experiment for my Dad.  It is his favorite pie from his Mom and has not been replicated yet by anyone in the family.  I had the chocolate peanut butter pie.  It came to the table hot and was out of this world yummy.  Since the combination of flavors is one our households favorites, I have starting experimenting with it.

I took the Espresso Fudge Brownie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero and changed it up a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farhenheit

3 ounces Enjoy Life chocolate chips

5 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup original hempmilk

1 tablespoon tapioca startch

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder

a two finger pinch of salt

In a large saucepan over medium low heat, put the chocolate chips and oil.  Heat until melted.  Turn off the heat and mix in everything else, following the list.  That is right, one pan:

This mixture gets spread into a 8 inch by 8 inch pan that has been lined with parchment paper.

 

In another bowl, I mixed up the peanut butter topping:

3/4 cup natural peanut butter

2/3 cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoons original hempmilk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

I dump this all in a bowl and mix it together.  Spread it on top of the fudge brownie mixture.  Bake it for about 24 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out all but clean.

Cool and slice.

Now, this was yummy right out of the oven.  It was much better the next day.  But honestly, it does not meet the same level of uberness as the Pie in the Sky Pie Company.  More experimentations are called for this weekend!

And I have a line of testers who are waiting with anticipation.  None of the not perfect samples were willing to be shared by any of the testers.  That is still praise, just can be better.  I am not a perfectionist!  I am not!  Bring out the cauldron!!!  More experimentations!!!!