Christmas mtg 2012 (Spinach Salad, Broccoli Slaw,Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars, Toffee)

This year for our Christmas luncheon we met at Lenette's house. Even though it was still November, she had beautiful decorations up and her tree looked gorgeous. Here's our show and tell from the meeting:

Carolanna's tablerunner

 Heather's sock monkey quilt

Susan's wool tablerunner

 Jeanie's quilt-she said she's finally finished it after about five years. It's beautiful.

Carolanna's yoyo flower quilt

 Rachel's chevron quilt

Susan's fall wool wall hangings

Carolanna's vintage-like quilt

Rachel's twister quilt

 Kathi's tree skirt from last year. It was made using a pattern online from a post on Sew We Quilt. 

It went together quickly.

Maurene made 21 of these snap purses for a woman she met in St. George. She's going to teach us how to make these in one of our upcoming meetings.

 All the presents in our fun gift exchange.

Corrie had us play a fun version of Christmas Bingo. She even had prizes for those who won. Thank you Corrie!

Croissant turkey cranberry sandwiches!

Salads to choose from:

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

• 
  
  1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach leaves
• 4 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 4 strips crisply cooked bacon, crumbled
• 10 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 large shallot, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 strips crisply cooked bacon, crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place spinach into a large serving bowl, top with hard-cooked eggs, mushrooms, 4 crumbled strips of bacon, Swiss cheese, and almonds.
2. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots and garlic, and cook until softened and translucent, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, and 2 crumbled strips of bacon; season to taste with salt and pepper, then cook until hot.
3. Pour hot dressing over spinach and toss to coat.

Broccoli Slaw
1 pkg broccoli slaw- (10 oz I think)

1 bunch green onions chopped

1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup cashews

1 pkg chicken ramen noodles, broken up

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

season packet from noodles

Combine dressing ingredients.  About 20 minutes before serving add dressing to salad ingredients.

Lots of fun homemade desserts!

Toffee

1 c. unblanched whole or slivered almonds-spread out on a foil lined cookie sheet

1 c. butter 

1 c. sugar

1/4 teas. salt

1/2 teas. vanilla

Cook over high heat for 5-6 min. stirring like a mad woman with a clean dry wooden spoon. Use a 2 qt. heavy bottom pan.  Toffee will be the color of a brown paper bag.

Pour over almonds.

Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Bars

½ c butter, melted

1 ½ graham crackers crumbs

1 ( 14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 ¼ c shredded coconut

¾ c cinnamon chips

½ c chopped pecans or walnuts

½ c dried cranberries

 Preheat oven to 350

Coat a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.  Pour butter into pan and put graham crackers, mix &r press down gently with fingertips.  Pour sweetened milk evenly over cracker crust.  Sprinkle with coconut and continue layering with remaining ingred:  cinnamon chips, white choc chips, pecans and cranberries.  Press down evenly with fingertips over entire pan.

Bake 25-30 mins, until bubbly and slightly golden on top.  Let completely cool before cutting.  Jeanie        

 

Hot apple cider

Oct 2012-Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup,Apple Pie Bars, Pumpkin Bread

We met at Cindy's this month and we met on Halloween day. Jeri was the only one brave enough to dress up. She was on her way to see her grandchildren. What a fun grandma!

These are Kelley's cute blocks from a project she is currently working on. She said she's having such a good time piecing these that she doesn't want to see it end. She even pulled out her Featherweight in an airport on a layover and proceeded to sew through the night until her flight the next morning. That might be a first!

 Rachel's Halloween penny rug

 Rachel's gift for a friend who owns tractors

 Rachel's block of the month. This took over two years to complete and is gorgeous.

 Sherry brought a completed donation quilt top using our black and white donation squares.

 Jeanie's Navy quilt

 Maurene's restoration of her husband's grandmother's quilt. She replaced the frayed squares with photos of her family. The fabric she added to the borders and backing came from old shirts that she purchased.

 This is the grandmother in the center. She had to have her arm amputated, but that didn't seem to slow her down.

 Maurene's scrappy quilt

Maurene's quilt-Rachel quilted it for her

 Little boy quilt made by Nancy

 Little girl quilt made by Nancy

 Tablerunner made using charm squares by Lenette

 Cindy made this beautiful log cabin for her son on his return from his mission

 Back of the log cabin

 Scrappy star quilt by Cindy

 Lap quilt by Jeri

Kathi's quilt

 We had lunch around a large round table in Cindy's kitchen. It was fun to sit together, eat and chat. Thanks Cindy for all your work.

Mint brownies

Recipes

Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup

In a large pot add:

9 cups water

1 cup chopped onions

2 cups chopped potatoes

2 cups chopped or grated carrots

1 to 2 cups chopped celery

  cook until tender

add 12 chicken bouillon cubes

in a separate bowl 

melt 1 1/2 cubes of butter

whisk in 1 cup of flour

add butter/flour mix to vegetables

add large bottle of cheez whiz or 1/3 of a large brick of velveeta ( I use velveeta)

Add 2 cups of shredded pre-cooked chicken

Heat and Eat

Apple Pie Bars

1 cup softened butter 

1/3 c plus 1/2 c sugar, divided

1 Tbl sour cream

1 egg

2 1/4 c flour

3 Granny Smith apples; cored, peeled, and sliced thin  (I use 4 apples)

1 tsp cinnamon

Topping:  1/2 c ch pecans (optional)

               2 Tbl sugar

               1/2 tsp cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Beat butter and 1/3 c sugar until creamy.  Beat in sour cream and egg.  Stir in flour until a soft dough forms.  Spoon half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared dish and gently press down.

3.  Combine apples, remaining 1/2 c sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon.  Mix until evenly coated.  Place apples evenly on top of dough in dish.  Cover apples with remaining dough.  (It won't completely cover the top of the apples.  Just flatten pieces of the dough in your hands and randomly place on top of apples.

4.  Combine pecans, sugar, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  Sprinkle on top of dough.

5.  Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool completely.  Cut into bars.

Pumpkin Bread

( bread machine recipe 1.5 lb. loaf)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup cooked pumpkin (canned)

2 TBS Vegetable Oil

2 TBS Honey

3 cups Bread flour

1 1/2 TBS Dry Milk

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

1/8 tsp Ground Cloves

1 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

I mix bread in my bread machine on the dough setting and then form it into loaves and let it rise the second time. I bake it in my oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  I usually make two smaller loaves instead of 1 large loaf so it make need to bake a little longer if you use a large pan.

SEE YOU AT OUR NEXT MEETING AT LENETTE'S ON NOV. 28th.