The Farm Chicks

Chris (Part 2)

First of all, I have to say that Chris is one of my favorite artists of all time.  Her paintings are just beautiful and oftentimes depict our local Spokane area.  I just about died when I saw a piece she did on downtown Spokane from quite a few years ago - complete with lots of great cars in the parking lot.  It's my favorite so far.  But she is truly amazing at everything she does.  And as you'll see, she loves quilting.  Here are some shots from my visit yesterday.  (And you can see one of her paintings in the background in the photo below).

A Collection of rescued quilts in an old crib and a stack of doll quilts in a doll crib on the right.

She's even used the doll quilts as placemats from time to time.

Oh my gosh - I love this.....It's hard to read, but what she does with the unfinished quilts she rescues and completes is that she signs each one (in stitch) as follows:
Ann Onymous - Pieced  (get it?)
C.E. Druffel-Lynch - quilted  (her name)
2008 (year of completion)

And as I've mentioned before, Chris and her sisters hold a couple of sales each year in Spokane.  Tons of vintage, antique and homemade items.  We'll be sure to let you know when the next one is and will share pictures of Carrie's house and the last sale we went to.  Can you even stand it?!

Sister Sister

It's been an overload of sisterly love for me lately.  First, getting to spend a great weekend with my sister and then today, getting to spend the day with my friends, the sisters (I've mentioned before) and some other friends too.  Today started out as so busy - zipping here and there and a business meeting too.  It was so nice to head to Chris's house for an amazing lunch and good conversation.  I'll post more about my visit tomorrow, but I wanted to show you what we were treated to for lunch:

Fresh Fruit:

Southwestern Chicken and Avocado Soup, Creamed Asparagus Soup and Bread:

Fresh Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad:

Ginger Cake with Lemon Sauce:

Oh, and here's our hostess, Chris:

I can't even tell you how delicious everything was.  And all homemade.  Just like sisters do.

Make Do

We've been working on some new projects for Country Living.  A new section they're doing each month is Make Dos.  Lots of little recycling, earth-friendly projects.  Our first project is in the December issue:

Mini Apple Pies

I love baking pies and especially enjoy making these darling mini apple pies, a tiny version of our Farmhouse Apple Pie.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2lb mixed apples (peeled, cored, and chopped into 3/4-inch pieces. I prefer the Jonagold and Golden Delicious varieties.)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar, plus 1 Tablespoon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 discs Pie Dough (Find the link to my pie dough recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Roll out pie dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Lay mini pie pan on dough, top-side down. Trace around mini pie pans (about 1-2" inches wider than pans) with a knife and cut out. Drape mini pans with dough. Set aside and keep chilled. Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Set aside on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and keep chilled. Toss the chopped apples, flour, 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together and mix until combined. Pour apple mixture into the prepared mini pie pans and top with the remaining dough. Trim, leaving 1/2-inch overhang, fold under, crimp edges and poke holes in top with a fork. Sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon of sugar; chill for 10 minutes. Bake until fruit is bubbling and crust is golden brown — 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Yield: 3 mini pies

Click here for my pie dough recipe.

Photos by Thayer Allyson Gowdy.

Magnetic Knife Rack

Finding a cute way to store your knives can be tricky.  This is the perfect
solution.  I started out with a magnetic knife rack from Ikea and covered
it in a cute calico fabric.  Now, the rack is just as darling as the knives!

1.) Iron fabric, and lay out wrong side up. 

2.) Place knife rack face down on fabric.

3.) Cut fabric all around rack, about 3/4 of an inch larger than
rack, or wide enough to be able to pull fabric over the inside lip of the rack.

4.) Pull fabric over the inside lip of the rack, glueing into place
as you go.

5.) Mount according to package instructions.

Materials needed:

Ikea
(Asker) magnetic knife rack

Material of your choice

Hot glue gun

Sources:

The knives were purchased at William Sonoma and TJ Maxx

Lemon Curd

 

This deliciously tart, thick cream is traditionally used as a spread for scones, but is just as tasty in a tart or topped with fresh berries.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 6 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces)

Directions

Whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar in a small saucepan until smooth. Add lemon juice, zest and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, continue cooking and stirring until curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Curd should be thick. Pour through a strainer into a chilled bowl. Keeps up to a week in the refrigerator.

Peach Pie

A classic and delicious pie.

Ingredients

• 5 cups fresh peaches (peeled and sliced)*
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch ground nutmeg
• pinch salt
• 2 discs Pie Dough (You can find my pie dough recipe here).

* If peaches are tree-ripened, they will be juicier. In this case, increase flour to 4 tablespoons.

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out one pie dough disc on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Drape pie pan with dough. Set aside and keep chilled. Peel and slice peaches and place in mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and gently toss until all ingredients have been mixed in with the peaches. Pour filling into pie shell. Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Drape over peach filling. Trim, leaving 1/2-inch overhang, fold under, crimp edges and poke holes in top with a fork. Bake until filling is bubbling in the center and crust is golden brown - 45 - 50 minutes. (If the peaches used are tree-ripened, the pie may take longer to bake because the peaches will be much juicier. If this is the case, cover the crust with foil once it's golden brown and continue to bake until the center filling is bubbling). Cool on wire rack.

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Between posts on my website, I document my life on Instagram. You can follow along with me there.

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Sweet Potato Bake

This little dish is incredibly delicious.  Packed with sweet potatoes and seasoned with nutmeg and cinnamon, it's almost like having pie with your Thanksgiving dinner!

• 1 29 ounce can sweet potatoes (drained and coarsely mashed)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• PECAN TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup pecans (coarsely chopped)
• 3/4 cups light brown sugar (packed)

Directions

	Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine topping ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until mixture is combined and crumbly. Set aside. In another bowl, combine filling ingredients and stir until well combined. Scoop into a small casserole pan and top with pecan topping. Bake for 30 minutes or until topping is browned and bubbly. Makes 12 servings.

Note

You can always substitute fresh-cooked sweet potatoes for the canned.  4-5 sweet potatoes should be used.

Jam Pots

I want to re-package everything I buy. (Unless it's cutely packaged, of course!)  And I do, which drives my family a little crazy. But I really love moving pasta from the bag to a jar. And rice.  And nuts.  And chocolate chips ... and ... and ... and...  I enjoy opening up the pantry and seeing pretty things - not packages. So imagine my excitement when I found these darling little jam pots at the Sister's Sale. (I'll have more on them and their fun sale sometime in the future). Now, when I open the fridge, I'll see pretty things there too.

Book Love

Today's a busy busy day, but I wanted to share the book love I'm having for my latest little find. Don't you just love it?  I can't wait to get a minute and look through all of the fun contents!

Twix = Twouble

About 150 miles into our 280 mile trip to Seattle, we realized that trick-or-treating right before a roadtrip is a really bad idea. Especially if too many Twix are consumed.  And I do have to admit that for a split second, I did cry just a little on the inside when I had to sacrifice a Cath Kidston pillow to catch the vomit produced by the Twix overload. And then a second Cath Kidston pillow. And then a Farm Chicks tote. Poor Micah. Poor us. Poor car.

After a good night's sleep and recovery from the vomit incident, we headed out for a family baseball game at Green Lake, visits to Pike Place, the baseball card shop (where the boys have purchased so much that we're on a first-name basis), the comic book shop, and lunch at our favorite bagel shop.

The main event for our little roadtrip was a skateboarding extravaganza at Key Arena.  Boy stuff. Their little eyes are still as big as raccoons after meeting these guys.

Back home, I'm happy to report that the pillows and bag have been thoroughly soaked and have made a full recovery as well. And Micah?  He's Twix free and has vowed to never eat another as long as he lives. We all like that plan very much.