Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Soup du Jour

recipes are crafts, right?  Here's one I want to try ... Little America has the BEST chicken noodle soup.  Finally found the recipe!  (now, to find someone to make it for me and I'll be all set!)



CREAM OF CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Roux
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
8 ounces all-purpose flour

Soup
3 quarts homemade chicken stock (see accompanying recipe)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce or Tabasco
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 whole bay leaves
2 tablespoons marinade for chicken sauce (such as Lea & Perrins brand)
Diced carrots, celery, leeks and onion (see stock recipe)
Meat from 1 whole chicken (see stock recipe)
1 pound cooked flat noodles, such as kluski
Chicken bouillon with no MSG
Salt
Sliced green onions, for garnish, optional

 In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Let cool and set aside. In a stockpot over medium heat, warm the chicken stock, cream and milk, about 15 minutes. Add the cold roux slowly and stir so that no lumps form. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let cook, 15-20 minutes. Add the nutmeg, hot sauce, pepper, garlic powder, bay leaves and marinade for chicken sauce. Add the carrots, leeks, celery, onions and chicken and noodles. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning with chicken bouillon and salt. Serve with green onions, if using.

Makes • 1 gallon
Source: Little America Hotel

Chicken stock
 1 whole fryer chicken
About 6 celery ribs (1 pound total weight)
About 6 carrots (1 pound total weight)
About 3 leeks (1 pound total weight)
6 fresh thyme sprigs
8 fresh parsley sprigs
4 whole bay leaves
2 large whole onions, peeled
8 whole cloves
1 1/2 gallons water
1 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
Special equipment
Cheesecloth

Rinse the chicken and place in a large stock pot. Wrap the celery, carrots, leeks, thyme and parsley in a cheesecloth and tie together with a string. Place a bay leaf on either side of an onion. Fasten each bay leaf with two cloves. Repeat with second onion. Place the vegetables and onion in with the chicken and pour in the water. Add the crushed peppercorns. Bring stock to a boil over high heat and then turn down to simmer. Let cook, covered, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the pot and transfer to a cutting board to cool. Let the vegetables drain a bit then transfer to a cutting board to cool. Remove and discard cheesecloth. When cool, cut the vegetables into small pieces. Remove the skin from the chicken, remove the meat from the bones and cut the meat into small pieces.

Makes • 6 1/2 quarts
Source: Little America Hotel

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

heart of the matter

for my craft goal i decided to make a valentine's heart wreath. I found the idea and bought the stuff right away. the best part about the wreath is how easy it is ... second best is how cheap it was. i found the idea and instructions here.


{starting to put the fabric in the styrofoam}


{the finished product!}


{a close up of the fabric on the heart}

Let's Get Purse-onal

a new ward ... a new calling ... and an old task. Now I'm making enrichment posters for my own calling. In February we're having an enrichment titled "Let's Get Purse-onal" ... i'm excited for the idea. here's the poster:



So the plan is:

Welcome & Spiritual Thought/Lesson on becoming closer acquainted with your Savior.

Play the Purse Game (sisters bring their purses, leader calls out random items that might be found in a purse - and the first sister to show the item out of their purse gets a point. At the end the person with the highest amount of points will win the big prize!)

We asked each sister to bring a baby picture in advance - then we'll guess who the sister is at the enrichment.

Play the candy bar "get to know you" game - Everyone chooses one of 4 candy bars (Snickers, kitkat, almond joy, or milky way). Depending on which candy bar is chosen, each sister shares:
Snickers - share an embarassing moment or funny story about yourself
KitKat - "gimme a break" - share something they like to do in their spare time
Almond Joy - share something that makes them happy
MilkyWay - share a dream or goal they have

I'm actually a little sorry that i'll be missing this one ... though i bet i won't be sorry when i'm sitting on the cruise ship enjoying a cold drink and the hot sun!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

hairbows ... take 3?

i can't remember how many posts i've done with hairbows. but, here's another one. so i had a business trip to oklahoma a few weeks ago and i knew i'd have a little extra time for some bow-making. plus, i actually had someone interested in making them with me! thanks kim (how are those bows working out for you, anyway?) we had a good time ... even when the bows didn't turn out exactly how we hoped!

{kim wouldn't even keep this bow ... but i kind of like it. it'd be better if it were smaller}

{ugliest bow of the night ... but the girls loved it. i like to tell myself that it's just because i made it}

{a korker bow in brown/turquoise, plus a mini bow made out of the scraps. we don't waste.}

{another korker bow ... red, white, and blue}

{this is the korker ribbon before it's cut up. i think we should all sport this look from now on}

{and then we cut up the ribbon and put it all together: turquoise/white polka dots, white, and pink}

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

the unbirthday invite

ok, so it's not really an invite, but it's close. mia's enrichment this month is "a very merry un-birthday" so we made fliers and posters for the church foyer. they're supposed to be tacky, but my brain does not think that way ... so this was as close as it gets. i do kind of like the way they turned out though.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

toilet paper florals

when i first heard "looks like wrought iron but it's made out of toilet paper rolls", i was intrigued, but i kind of doubted it was really true. but, the truth is, whether it looks like wrought iron or not, i like it. what do you think? misse originally told me about it, after one of her friends saw it at someone's house. so i started collecting tp rolls, paper towel rolls, wrapping paper rolls ... and once i had enough, i googled the idea and found the design-sponge blog. i started putting it together and quickly realized that if i made it twice as long as the one i saw online, i could hang it above my bed. so that's what i did.


here's a close up of one section of it, so you can see how to do it. the short and simple instructions are fold the rolls in half (hot dog length), cut one inch sections, then use hot glue to stick them all together in whatever design you want. after that was complete, i used black spray paint to finish it, and now it's hanging on my wall. la-love it. and if, in 2 weeks, i decide i don't love it, i can throw it away, because it is only toilet paper rolls, after all.





spiral bows


another addition to the "hairbow" collection. spiral bows. and they were easier to make than i thought they'd be. just imagine how many color combinations we could make! any takers? i need to find out if they actually will hold in anyone's hair ... because i already know that they'll hold on the ribbon holder in my closet. pretty cute, i think.