April 2011-Tortellini Salad,French Bread

Another wonderful meeting with great friends. We had a big turn out at Sherry's house yesterday. We exchanged our pizza boxes and showed our new blocks. We now have 12 completed squares in our boxes and we can start to see what our quilts will eventually look like. We also had a great show and tell as you can see below.

Afterwards, Sherry showed us how to make cute pin cushions starting with just 2 circles of fabric.

Then, of course, we had a tasty lunch with a pasta vegetable salad, fresh sliced strawberries, homemade french bread and a fun dessert. The recipes are at the end of the post.

Pin cushion project

Sherry's quilt

Sherry's General Conference pillow(made while watching the LDS General Conference)-she changed some of the words to include personal things for her family

Nancy C.'s sewing table scrap catcher/pin cushion

Mary's disappearing nine-patch

Some of our cancer auction quilt squares started coming in this month. They turned out great!

Carolanna's purse

Carolanna's puppy quilt-wool

Carolanna's quilt

Carolanna's owl quilt

Carolanna's quilt

Close up

Jeanie's "Romantic" quilt

Jeanie's quilt

Maurene's purse

Maurene's click-it clutches made with metal measuring tapes

Maurene's wild side quilt

Rachel's schnibble quilt

Rachel's bunnies

Rachel's quilt

Nancy's little girl's Easter dress, hand smocked

Nancy's selvage blocks-her mom Diane is sending her selvages and Nancy will be making a string quilt out of them

Nancy's cozy

Nancy's tablerunner

Diane's baby quilt

Robyn's apron

Robyn's quilt made for a graduating high school senior

Lori's online swap clutches

Lori's "Living Large" quilt

Lori's diamond quilt-front and back

Tortellini Salad

18 oz. cheese tortellini

1 lb. snap peas

1 lb. grape tomatoes

Small bunch of basil

Cook tortellini in boiling pot of water for 7 minutes. Blanch snap peas and cool in cold water, drain. Halve grape tomatoes. Thinly slice a small bunch of basil leaves. Combine all ingredients.

Dressing:

1 T. mlnced garlic

1/4 c. olive oil

2 T. lemon juice

2 t. dijon mustard

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1 t. soy sauce

1/2 t. dried basil

Combine all ingredients well. Pour over pasta mixture.

Note: You can make this a day ahead if needed. It keeps well and marinates the pasta.

French Bread

2 1/2 c. warm water

2 T. sugar

2 T. dry yeast

1 T. salt

2 T. oil

6 cups flour

1 egg, beaten

Sesame seeds or poppy seeds, if desired

Put all ingredients (except egg and seeds) into bread mixer (I use a Bosch). Mix for 4 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Mix again for 1 minute or so. Repeat this 5 times, which will take an hour. Place dough on floured counter. Divide in half. Roll each into a rectangle about 9 x 12 inches long. Roll up from the long side and pinch to seal. Arrange both loaves lengthwise on a large, well-greased jelly roll pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Glaze with beaten egg and sprinkle with seeds, if desired. Use a sharp knife to gently make 3 diagonal gashes in the top of each loaf.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Remove to cooling racks and cover with a towel. Makes two loaves.

Note: I know this sounds time intensive. I put this in to mix first, while I'm busy in the kitchen doing other things--set my timer every 10 minutes and go with it!

Neiman Marcus Cake

1 chocolate cake mix

1 cube margarine

1 egg.

Blend and place in a well-greased 9 x 13 pan.

Topping:

1-8 oz. cream cheese

2 eggs

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

dash salt

Mix topping and pour over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Note: I didn't have a chocolate cake mix on hand yesterday so I used brownie mix. Cake mix works better!