PEANUT BUTTER PIE

One of our two desserts at one of our Dinner Club gathering was this peanut butter pie made by Friend Linda.  (She actually made two of them, but since we also had Friend Jane's Lemon Cake to enjoy, only one of them got eaten.)  I am sure Linda and Bob enjoyed having a whole pie to take home.

Linda used regular cream cheese but said she thought the reduced fat cream cheese would work also.

PEANUT BUTTER PIE

1       cup powdered sugar
1       pkg (8 - oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2    cup peanut butter
1       carton (8 - oz) whipped topping, thawed
1       graham cracker crumb crust

Cream together the powdered sugar and cream cheese.

Beat in peanut butter.

Fold in whipped topping.

Pour into crust.

Decorate with chocolate syrup.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER

I love to make jams and preserves, but I had never made apple butter...until now.  (I almost forgot I made some natural pear butter last year with some of the pears from our pear tree.)

Anyway, Friend Sue has a Wealthy apple tree.  I had never heard of this variety. She told me it was an old variety, and they had a bumper crop this year.  When we all left her house after an afternoon of canasta, she had two bushel baskets of apples at the door for us to "take what we wanted".  Earlier when she was telling our table about them, she said they were a cooking apple not an eating apple.  So I asked her what did they make good and both Sue and Carol said, "Apple Butter".  That's how I ended up with the recipe.

When I left that afternoon, I had them make sure I had enough to make the recipe.  Turns out it didn't take as many of the apples to make the recipe as they thought (the apples were huge...easily 3 inches in diameter) so I had enough to make two "batches" and still a few left to make something else.

The recipe was Carol's but I don't know where she got it.

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER 

(using a 3 - quart Crock Pot)

3       quarts chopped sliced apples 
3       cups sugar (I used 1-1/2 cups truvia sugar-stevia blend)
1/4    teaspoon salt
1/4    teaspoon cloves
1/4    teaspoon nutmeg
3       teaspoons cinnamon

Here is my quick and easy way to prepare the apples.

Peel the apples, then core them using an apple corer.  Take each wedge and cut it in half for chunks or twice for diced. Then keeping the pieces together, lay the wedge down and cut into thirds for chunks or close for diced.

Fill a crock pot with apples.

Cook on low over night til done. (5 hrs on high during the day will cook the apples)

Mash the apples in the blender or use a potato masher. (I did the latter.)

Combine the sugar and the seasonings and add to the mashed apples.







Cook on low all day or until thick.  (I actually cooked mine all night and all day - 27 hours. I started the process mid-morning of cooking the apples and then added the sugar and spices in the evening and cooked them until the next night.)

TEST FOR THICKNESS:

Chill a small plate in the freezer.  Place 1 tablespoon of mixture on the plate. 

If no rim of liquid forms around the edge of the butter, it is ready.

Not ready.....

Ready....









Using hot sterile jars...(I wash my jars in the dishwasher and "time it" so that the cycle finishes when I am ready to use the jars.  The apple butter is actually very easy because you can leave it in the crock pot if the cycle isn't finished when the butter is ready. Cooking it for a few extra minutes isn't going to make a difference.)

Heat the jar lids in hot water.

Fill the jars to the bottom of the rim. I added a little bit more of the butter after I removed the funnel to bring the butter to to bottom of the rim.





Make sure the top of the jar is clean.  Place hot lid on top and screw on ring.

Turn the jar upside down for 5 minutes.

Turn jar right side (end) up and wait to hear the pop to indicate the jar lid has sealed. (Sometimes I don't hear the pop. Press on the lid and it if it stays stay down it is sealed. It doesn't always happen immediately but will within an hour or two.)


It is important that the jar is full.  My experience is that it probably won't seal, if it isn't. When I don't have enough to make a full jar, I just place the leftover in a jar and store in the refrigerator to eat first.

The recipe made 3 half pints. 

QUICK BUTTERSCOTCH CAKE

Hardware Cafe Cookbook is one of my latest finds at an estate sale. The Hardware Cafe is located on the town square in Liberty, MO. I wasn't familiar with it before buying the cookbook, but friends tell me it is still there. The next time I find myself in Liberty, I will have to try it out. I have found several recipes that I really like in it. UPDATE: I was going to call the cafe and discovered that it has closed.  So sorry to hear this.  I was anxious to go there and eat. Must have happened recently, because when I mentioned it to Friend Pat, she was familiar with it.

If you follow My Patchwork Quilt, you know I volunteer at Hillcrest Thrift Shop and have spoiled the volunteers downstairs with my "goodies" whenever I go in to volunteer.  I'm not sure what would happen if I showed up one day without something for them to eat.  Their greetings to me is, "What did you bring today to eat?" This week I showed up with this Quick Butterscotch Cake to find the room full and a birthday cake on the table for Josh, the floor manager.  They still greeted me with "What did you bring?"  I told Josh I was sorry and they should have called and told me not to bring anything.  He laughed and said, "Can you imagine if we called Patricia and told her not to bring anything?"  How sweet is that?!

This cake is appropriately named as it is quick to prepare and only cooks 30 to 35 minutes.  The recipe says to serve warm and most of us got a piece while it was still warm, but when a lady came by the register later to tell me how good the cake was, I mentioned that fact and she said it was good cooled too.

I had planned to make the cake mostly sugar free, but my butterscotch pudding mix wasn't sugar free so I decided to save my sugar free cake mix for next time. Trust me there will be a next time and I will use both sugar free items to help out on the calories.

QUICK BUTTERSCOTCH CAKE

1       box instant butterscotch pudding (4 - serving size) + milk to prepare 
1       yellow cake mix
2       eggs
6 oz  butterscotch chips (1 cup)
1/3   cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.

Mix the pudding mix according to directions on the box.

Add the dry cake mix and eggs.  Blend to moisten and then increase speed to beat for 2 minutes.

Pour cake batter into pan.

Sprinkle the chips over the top.

Press down lightly with spatula.

Sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve warm

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

Friend Sue treated us to Blackberry Cobbler at our last gathering to play Mexican Train. (She used fresh blackberries, too.  How good is that?!) 

I absolutely love blackberry gobbler. One time my husband and I went to Cracker Barrel just so I could get some blackberry cobbler with ice cream.

Sue used Baron's recipe on Allrecipes.com. but she increased the amount of blackberries.  I am sharing Sue's recipe.

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

1/2       cup sugar
2          tablespoons cornstarch
8          cups fresh blackberries
1/4       cup melted butter
2-1/2   cup all - purpose flour
1-1/2    cup sugar
1           tablespoon baking powder
1           teaspoon salt
2          cups milk
1           tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4       cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with cooking spray.

Whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Place the blackberries in a mixing bowl and drizzle with 1/4 cup melted butter.

Sprinkle berries with the cornstarch mixture and toss to evenly coat.

Spread the berries in the prepared baking pan.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, 1-1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt until evenly blended.

Stir in the milk, vanilla, and 1/4 cup melted butter until combined but still slightly lumpy.  

Pour the batter over the berries.

Bake until berries are tender and the crust is golden brown, about 55 minutes to an hour.

 Can serve with ice cream

or alone.

ECLAIR CAKE

It was another hot day (mid 90s) for us in KCMO yesterday. With the end of August on the horizon, we are finally having summer here. It may have been hot outside, but not inside as I hosted our Northland New Neighbors' Farkle group. There were 10 of us. That was large enough for us to have two tables. We help mix things up by having the winner and loser at each table trade places at the end of each game. I got to play with everyone but Carol because she never left the living room and I never left the kitchen. It was a fun afternoon.  

I have several recipes that I tried and will be sharing here, but right now I am only sharing the Eclair Cake.  Several wanted the recipe and I told them I would write it up and share it today.  It was really, really good.  I almost forgot to tell them it was sugar-free.  I did forget to tell them I had used 1/3 less fat cream cheese.  They were surprised it was sugar-free. And of course, you don't have to make it with less calories if you don't want to.

This is another recipe from the Gooseberry Patch  cookbook, 101 Homestyle Favorites that I got at a recent estate sale. This recipe was contributed by Cheryl Frost of Woodstock, OH. She says, "Luscious cream filling and chocolatey topping...best with a cold glass of milk!"  I am sure it is, but I didn't serve it with milk.

ECLAIR CAKE

1        cup water
1/2     cup margarine
1        cup all - purpose flour
4        eggs, beaten
1        8 - oz pkg cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
3        cups milk
2        3 - oz pkgs, instant vanilla pudding mix (I used sugar free mixes)
1        8 - oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed (I used a sugar free one)
Garnish: chocolate syrup (I used a sugar free syrup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan.

Combine the water and margarine in a medium size saucepan; heat until boiling.

Whisk in the flour until smooth; remove from heat.
Pour mixture into a medium bowl; 

gradually blend in eggs. (This took a little bit of time because I only added a little at a time and made sure they were completely blended in before adding any more. 

I started with the whisk, but about half way through changed to my wooden spoon.)

Spread in prepared pan. The best way to do this is to drop spoonfuls around in the pan and then carefully spread the "globs" together.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and using a wooden spoon press the baked crust down lightly

creating a "side" all the way around.

Set aside.

With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese, milk, and pudding mixes for 2 minutes. It took me longer than 2 minutes to have a smooth consistency. I think my cream cheese wasn't as soft as I thought it was, also.  Ended up changing to the whisk on my mixer because you do want a smooth consistency.

Spread the cream cheese mixture in the pressed down crust. I spread it to the top of the "sides" but didn't go over.





Cover and refrigerate until firm. I did this much the night before.

The next day spread the whipped topping over the cream cheese mixture. Cover and return to refrigerator. 

Just before serving, 

drizzle with the chocolate syrup. (I let Janice do this for me. I don't "drizzle" well. Gotta learn.)

Cut into squares and serve.

SUCCESSES AND NOT

This post is a good example of why I chose the name My Patchwork Quilt for this blog.  If you are familiar with a patchwork quilt, no two squares are the same.  In other words, the quilt consists of many different design patterns.  When I was thinking about what I would be sharing here, I kept thinking of many different things, recipes, tips, sewing projects, quilting projects home decor, etc that I would want to share. I wanted the title My Patchwork Life, but it was already taken.  My Patchwork Quilt is just fine though.

For a while, I have been trying things that I thought I would share. While I don't share things that aren't successful, I have been known to show some of my attempts that lacked perfection. (A terrible fault I have...feeling I have to be perfect, that is.) 

Then one day, I decided I should share my experience and express my opinion as to whether they were successful or not and let you be the judge. So here goes....

THE BEST CORN - ON - THE - COB EVER

My friend Janice posted a video on Facebook showing how to best cook corn - on - the - cob.  I watched it and sorta forgot about it. I didn't have any corn at the time.  A couple of weeks later, our son, Patrick, asked me if I wanted some corn.  The rest is history.  

I couldn't get in touch with Janice and so did a search for the video. I actually watched several different ones and tried it several times before I decided the final instructions to share. (What was successful for me.) I don't have a video to share with you so read as well as look at my pictures.

Place the ears of corn in the microwave with the shucks still on. (I did two ears at a time...there are just the two of us.) Cook on HIGH for 8 minutes (4 minutes per each ear)

Remove and cut the end off the stalk end of the cob cutting a little bit of the cob also.

Let it cool about a minute. Grab the other end of the ear

and start shaking the ear back and forth so the ear will start coming out the end. (These pictures were taken from the couple of times I did this.)

Continue shaking to remove the ear

 until the ear is removed.  There will be no silks

Rub with margarine and sprinkle on some pepper for the best ever corn.










What I learned with this experience.  The second ear of corn came out so easy..the first one didn't.  SO I decided you should wait a "second" before starting on the first ear.  The corn is absolutely the "bestest". Only way to cook it as far as I am concerned.


MAKING YOUR OWN HAND SOAP

This idea came from a pin I saw on Pinterest and I thought I would give it a try. (It would save money if it worked. Right?) The instructions said to use shampoo, cream rinse, and water.  That was simple enough.

 First, I had to clean my purchased hand soap container so it would look nice in my bathroom.

 

This is really easy to do.  Years ago I discovered that baby oil will remove that sticky residue left when you remove a label. Just put some on a cotton ball and rub. Then wash off oil with soap and water.

The instructions said to use 1 tablespoon shampoo +1 tablespoon of cream rinse + water to nearly fill the container. You have to be able to put the "pump" back in. Shake it up and use.  The "problem" was it was too watery and not enough soap.  I know I am used to the purchased hand soap but it was just too watery.






Not to be outdone though, when I finished it all up (which didn't take too long, because I squirted a lot in my hands to get enough "soap"), I decided I just needed more shampoo and cream rinse and less water.

My husband and I had recently gone out of town and stayed in hotels.  We always bring home the complementary lotions, soaps, etc from the room.  I had a shampoo and cream rinse and decided to use them. (The cream rinse is fun getting out...not)

Then I added the water shook it up to mix.

This worked much better. The bottles were 1 oz size....that was about 2-1/2 tablespoons each of shampoo and cream rinse. 









What I learned with this experience.  More shampoo and cream rinse works much better but it works best if you shake the container before each use.  This might be difficult to communicate to guests, though.


Fewer wrinkles in clothes (jeans/pants and t-shirts)

This is another tip I saw either on Facebook or Pinterest and decided to try.

The only clothes I completely dry in the dryers are towels and linens.  After washing my clothes, I place them in the dryer for a few minutes to dry.  I shake each piece and place individually in the dryer on a warm setting only. The tip I saw said to hang the pants by the leg hem and not the waist to have fewer wrinkles.  I can understand logically why this should work....the weight of the jeans/pants would be pulling the pants down and pulling the wrinkles out. So it should work.  













What I learned with this experience. It does seem to work.  I also have found that if you rub your hand down the legs of pants or down the front and back of shirts when you hang them on hangers to dry, there will be less wrinkles.


Easy way to cover wire shelf racks

I saw this tip a couple of years ago but finally just got around to doing it.  I found some stick - on floor "tiles" at Hillcrest Thrift Shop where I volunteer that only cost me a dollar.  I put them away in the garage.  We recently had our house resided with James Hardie panels.  Everything against the sides of the house (on the inside) had to be taken down. That meant all the stuff on the wire shelf racks in the laundry room.  

Putting the wire racks back up, I decided I would finally make use of those stick - on - floor tiles I had gotten.  I didn't pull the paper off to actually "stick" the tiles down.  It sounds like a good plan, but all I could think about was the space between the wires and the cobwebs, dust, and other stuff that would probably get stuck to the tile.

What I learned from the experience.  It works perfectly especially when you have items with "legs" that will fall between the wires. (I know I don't show any in this picture, but they are on the other two shelves.

Ladies, run out of shaving cream????

When this happened to me recently I decided to use some of my cream rinse...I always buy it but then end up not using it when I buy shampoo. I have used soap but it never works well. So I thought, why not try cream rinse.







What I learned from this experience.  IT WORKS GREAT!  And I love the way my legs feel afterwards.  Don't forget to rinse out the tub though. The first time I tried it, I was in a hurry and didn't rinse out the tub.  The next morning when I got in to take a shower, I had to catch myself when my foot slipped.  The cream rinse leaves that nice creamy feel in your tub also.  

Gosh, this post has gotten long.  Sorry. Hope you are still with me.  I have one more experience to share with you.  It is another idea I saw on Pinterest and thought it was really cute and I would try it.

Fun Personal Flip flops

As I said I saw these flip flops on Pinterest and thought they were so cute.  I wanted to make some for the fourth of July but couldn't find the red, white, and blue colors. So I just chose three colors I liked.


It took me forever to decide the order to arrange them. I wanted to have the yellow on top and the purple on the bottom, but I knew the yellow would show dirt from my feet after wearing them and the purple not as bad. So this is the order I came up with.

Using my hedge clippers, I clipped off the strips from the yellow and pink "shoes".

I used gorilla glue to glue the shoes together.

Placed the pink one on top, making sure the edges matched up.

This step was probably the hardest one...weighting them down until the glue stuck.


I did have to use a knife to get off the excess that squeezed out the edges.

Repeat with this process to attach the top shoe.  (It became a feat trying to find "'weighty"things to place on top. ha)










What I learned from the experience.  I was okay with the resulting flip flops, I just forgot how uncomfortable the rubber strip is between the toes. My husband saw me wearing them and asked me if I had gotten some new shoes.  I couldn't help but laugh a little.  He thought they were cute.

I know this has been a long post, but hopefully you found something you can use from it.  Would love your comments. Remember to be kind. : }