DAY 102 and BAKED APPLE FRITTERS

My last post was on Day 90 and now it is Day 102.  Not really sure what was going on and why I didn't blog anything new during those 12 days. It is easy for the days to just run together with our continued "stay-at-home". I mean we aren't completely staying at home but since my regular activities haven't restarted, it feels like I am just staying at home. 

My canasta friends met last Friday at a park for a picnic and to visit while social distancing and wearing masks. It rained most of the 2 hours, but the shelter was large so we didn't get wet. Even though we have stayed in touch with group texting it was good to "see" everyone.

I also had my 6-month full-body checkup with my dermatologist. Hard to believe it has been 4 years since my in situ melanoma was discovered and removed on my leg. I had the surgery the first week in July and the silver dollar sized "crater" was finally healed the middle of September. That was an interesting summer. Except for finding a friendly tick (he really didn't want to let go), my report was good.

My six-month dental cleaning had to be rescheduled from May due to Covid-19 and that occurred the same week. I was a little nervous since it was seven-months since my last cleaning, but everything went fine! (They also liked the Baked Cherry Fritters I took the staff. I always take them something so they will be good to me and not hurt me. 😉)

Our other exciting (?) news is Wayne and I rejoined the Y to get more exercise. They are doing an outstanding job trying to keep the 60+ members safe. They close at 8:00 AM for 30 minutes to clean and then reopen at 8:30 til 10:30 for 60+ members. Every other piece of equipment (except for the circuits) is closed so there is social distancing. The also have plenty of cleaning aids so we can clean the equipment before and after we use it. Temperatures are checked when we walk in and a face masks is required except in the actual workout areas. 

I haven't returned to the thrift shop to volunteer yet, because my "job" is working a register. Even though precautions have been made for the volunteers, Wayne and my friends are still concerned because I would be dealing with the public. So I told the staff it would still be awhile before I come back, BUT in the meantime I would continue to bring them treats to eat. That changed their frowns to smiles. (Just kidding.) This recipe is the second one I have taken to them since this all started.

I saw the recipe on Facebook and thought it just looked too good to not try. I have let my imagination run while by considering using (no sugar added) cherry pie filling which I did for us and for my dentist. (I made it in two pie plates instead of a 9 x 13 - inch pan and just separated the pie filling in half after I cut the cherries in half). But I think you could use blueberry pie filling or strawberry pie filling, too. I told Wayne I would try it just adding fresh blueberries instead of the pie fillings. I will let you know how that turns out. 

If you follow me, you know I like to do EASY and this recipe definitely fits the bill. It only takes 3 ingredients and 45 minutes to bake or 30 minutes if you make only half of it.

BAKED APPLE FRITTERS

2       "cans" of refrigerated cinnamon rolls
1       can apple pie filling (or cherry, blueberry, strawberry, etc)
1/2    cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan for whole recipe or an 8 or 9 - inch pie pan for half of the recipe. Set aside.

Chop the pie filling so that the apple slices or in chunks and put in a large mixing bowl.

Add the chopped nuts and

stir to blend with spoon.

Remove the cinnamon rolls and cut each roll into quarters.

Add the quarters to the pie filling mixture. (I separated the pieces of the cinnamon rolls to make sure there were plenty of cinnamon roll pieces spread out through the pan. When I made the half cherry pie one for us, I didn't separate the quarters to see how it was. It was fine, but I think I like separating the quarters better.) 

 

Spread mixture into pan and

bake for 45 minutes (large pan) or 30 minutes (for pie pans).

Drizzle the icing that comes in the can with the cinnamon rolls over the top as soon as you bring it out of the oven.

Cool slightly.

Cut the 9 x 13 - inch pan one in squares.

I scooped out our cherry fritters in the pie pan with a large spoon. 

This is what our Cherry Fritters looked like.




























Day 105 and Mrs. Yoder's Cherry Pudding...



CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC NUMBERS, 6/22/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES   2,356,841
RECOVERED                  980,367
DEATHS                          122,250

GLOBAL

CONFIRMED CASES    9,078,485
RECOVERED                4,861,774  
DEATHS                           471,247

DAY 90 and A BLANKET FOR TYLER

My living room is full of Blankets of Hope I have on display. Madison asked one day recently who they were far and asked me to make her one. Last Thursday when I had them for the day, I took her and Tyler to a fabric store and let them choose some material for a blanket for each of them. 

Saturday I started working on the blocks for Tyler's blanket. He told me he wanted certain colors together so that is what I did. To do that I decided to cut the print into 6-1/2 inch cut squares and then use the solid color as a "sashing" surrounding the print but I didn't want to do cornerstones. As I was making the blocks I thought it might be a good tuturial for those of you who have not done it before. 

The process is actually fairly simple. (You might be saying, "That's easy for you to say".) Well that is the purpose of this tutorial to show you that it is an easy block to make. One thing that is especially nice about the block is when you are sewing the blocks together there are no seams to match/nest together until you have to sew the rows together.

Each block is about 10-1/2 inches square when finished and is made up of one 6-1/2 inch square from your focus print and then four strips cut 2-1/2 inches wide and 8-3/4 inches long.

Tyler's quilt will be 4 blocks x 5 blocks or 20 blocks total. I cut a total of 20 squares 6-1/2 each. Since Tyler chose two different car prints, I cut 10 from each print and 40 strips cut 2-1/2 inches x 8-3/4 inches from each of the two solid colors. 

I had my iron on as I was pressing the seams as I sewed them.

It doesn't make any difference which side you start with, but I chose the right side of the square. I placed one of the strips along the side edge of the square with the excess at the top. I also checked to make sure there was 4 inches of the square showing.

I started sewing the seam a few inches from the bottom

and then pressed the partial seam toward the strip. 

Next I sewed the second strip on by matching it along the edge of the bottom of the square. This time it should measure 3-3/4 inches showing.

This time the entire strip is sewed and pressed toward the strip.

















Now the third strip is placed along the left side and sashing. This time I had to measure two different places...first at the top from the first seam to inside strip edge and then along the open bottom of the square.

It should be 3-3/4 inches at the top and

then 4 inches at the bottom.

I trimmed excess strip as necessary

before ironing the seams toward the strip. I cut the strips a little longer than I needed to account for seams and pressing.

Now I sewed the fourth strip on the top of the square by matching edges but checking to make sure 3-3/4 inches was open.

After I sewed the strip on, I cut off the excess and

then pressed the seam once again toward the strip.

Now I was ready to finish sewing on the first strip (all the way from the top to just past where I had sewed originally).

This should have 3-3/4 inches showing.

After this seam is pressed toward the strip, the block will look like this from the backside

and this from the front.

Here are the twenty blocks ready to sew together to make the top for Tyler's blanket. 

























Can you tell how much Tyler likes to play with cars from the prints he chose?

I will show you the finished blanket in a future post. I still haven't found a fabric for the backing yet so it will probably be next week. Hope you will come back to see the finished blanket.

Day 102 and Baked Apple Fritters...

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC NUMBERS, 5/10/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES   2,046,075
RECOVERED CASES     788,885
DEATHS                           114,167

GLOBAL

CONFIRMED CASES   7,354,209
RECOVERED CASES  3,628,913
DEATHS                           414,376

DAY 88 and BLUEBERRY PANCAKES

A few weeks ago while scrolling through Facebook, I saw a post for some easy blueberry pancakes. They met one of my criteria of being easy so that was a plus for them. Secondly, I just happened to have all three of the ingredients. Now I just needed a time to cook them.

Kansas City is slowly opening back up and we are still being safe but opening up a little ourselves. We found two places to eat that we approved of their efforts to keep themselves and their customers safe - so we have actually eaten out several times in the "dining room" instead of the car. We have also visited with some friends by keeping our social distance and that has been nice. It isn't totally the same but better than not seeing them. Our MO grandkids normally hang out with their grandma while our son Patrick and his wife Lori go to work, but she started feeling bad last week so Madison and Tyler have been hanging out with me on the days Lori works. That has been fantastic.

Our weather continues to be crazy with the last several days being hot in the low 90s. Today is supposed to be that hot again but then tonight there is a front coming through and the temperatures for the rest of the week are supposed to be in the 80s. We ended up having to bring out the portable A/C for the back porch. If the sun is shining, it doesn't take long at all for it to get 90 degrees out there.

Last Thursday when I had the gkids, I took them to a fabric store so they could pick out some material for me to make them blankets. That was interesting. They also had some fun with the water sprinkler in the front yard. Saturday I started making the squares for Tyler's blankets. I'm sure they will like them since they picked out the prints and material. One day Madison wanted to cook so she made sugar cookies. Not sure what we will do today.

So back to the easy recipe. The fantastic thing about this recipe is you can have different flavored pancakes according to the muffin mix you buy. I had the Blueberry Muffin Mix but you could also use the Apple Cinnamin Mix or I think there is a Strawberry Muffin Mix. I think there is also a Banana Nut Muffin Mix, too. AND what about the Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix for the kids.

Bluebberry Pancakes

1      small package (7 oz) flavored muffin mix that you just add milk to
1      egg
2/3   cup milk

Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl with a spoon.

Batter will be thin.

Heat griddle and scoop an amount out onto griddle. (I used a medium size ice cream scoop that measures about 1/4 cup. Just make sure you scoop down to the bottom of the bowl where the goodies will sink.)

Turn when bubbles appear on top and brown on the other side.

Dabble with butter and your favorite syrup. 

Tyler's quilt has two different car prints. I managed to make half of the blocks.

Madison making sugar cookies...

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC NUMBERS, 6/8/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES     2,007,531
RECOVERED CASES       761,720
DEATHS                             112,471

GLOBAL

CONFIRMED CASES     7,114,861
RECOVERED CASES    3,473,819
DEATHS                             406,564

Day 90...

Not in my Wildest Dream...the beginning

DAY 80 and TINY TIMMIES

Over my lifetime, I have made so many cookies! Lately I have tried to make cookies that are nothing like what I have made in the past. AND I have been so lucky finding recipes. I have made Pineapple Cookies that my mailman said were "Great!" and a surprise cookie called Confetti Oatmeal Drops that would keep your family guessing what was in them. 

These Tiny Timmies I found in a children's cookbook (picture below). I recently found the book in my sewing room when I was doing some sorting and reorganizing. I bought it last year to give to one of my granddaughters and never had. It is a fantastic book for young cooks as it goes into details about making the cookies. (I rewrote the directions for the most part.) The book contains a different cookie recipe for each month of the year. The Tiny Timmies was a recipe for June. The Cookie Book by Eva Moore and Illustrated by Talivaldis Stubis was copyrighted 1973.

They are definitely a favorite cookie recipe for us. I would have to omit the nuts if I made them for my MO gkids (family) because Tyler has an allergy to tree nuts and his mother doesn't like nuts "in" things.

Friday Friends Fran and Janice and I decided to social distance on Janice's porch. It was so good to visit. We plan to do it again soon. Saturday Fran and I went to the church and pinned three blankets together for me to machine quilt for Blankets of Hope. With just the two of us in the room, we were able to keep our distance and we both had our face masks on. I am trying to get together with Madison and Tyler. Madison sent me a message on Kid Messenger telling me she missed me. Broke my heart to read it. I had already decided I wanted to get with them...I've been good long enough...I can't stand this social distancing any longer with them. And it's hard to watch tv with nothing in the news but the protests and the riots. My heart breaks for anyone who has to live in fear. When will we be able to live and love our neighbors as ourselves? I am so sad!

TINY TIMMIES

1     small can (8-3/4 or 9 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained (3/4 cup drained pineapple) + 3 tablespoons juice
1/2  cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1     cup light brown sugar, packed
1     egg
2     cups flour
2     teaspoons baking powder
1/2  teaspoon salt
1     6 ounce package (1 cup) butterscotch bits
1/2  cup chopped walnuts
Maraschino cherries cut in half for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. (I did the latter.)

Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl

til smooth.

Add egg and pour the pineapple juice over the egg.

Beat everything together with a mixing spoon until no large lumps are present.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

Add the mixture to the bowl with the wet batter.

Slowly stir in the flour until all mixed into the batter.

Dump in the crushed pineapple, the butterscotch bits, and the walnuts.

Stir into the batter. (Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.)

Using an "eating" teaspoon, measure the batter rounded by rubbing the sides of the spoon against the side of the bowl. With your finger push the batter off onto the cookie sheet. (I can't take a picture and scoot with my finger the batter out of a spoon held by the other hand. 😉) The cookies will spread some as they cook, so make sure they are placed 2 inches apart.

Press half of a cherry in center of cookie.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove cookies from sheet and cool on wire rack. Cookies will be soft. Store in a cookie jar in a single layer with wax paper between layers.

Here is a picture of the book...

CORONVIRUS PANDEMIC NUMBERS, 6/1/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES     1,839,054

RECOVERED CASES       599,875

DEATHS                             106,239

GLOBAL

CONFIRMED CASES     6,295,576

RECOVERED CASES    2,864,687

DEATHS                             374,437

Day 88...