Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberry Shortcakes

I'm not going to post the recipe this time - I can't find it online and I don't want to copy it from Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics. There should be plenty of shortcake recipes out there - though my whipped cream came from a can.

It's delicious but very sweet. Those strawberries are mixed in with pure sugar. I can't recommend making this too often. But given that I have no other use for shortening, I'll need to make more of these later on. I wonder how they would taste with raspberries or spiced apples?

Decisions, decisions...

Italian Summer Salad

Another school year, another kitchen.

Virginia is hot and muggy in the summer and a hot kitchen is never ideal. Good thing this salad requires no cooking!

Italian Summer Salad
Serves 3-4
Ingredients

• head of romaine lettuce
• 2 tomatoes or handful of cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of red wine vinaigrette or Italian dressing
• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 1 can of sliced water chestnuts (optional)
• 3 oz of pepperoni or other deli meat

1. Chop the romaine into 1/2 inch wide slices along the core and rinse, discarding the root.
2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them into small pieces, if not using cherry tomatoes.
3. Mix the lettuce with the tomatoes in a large bowl.
4. Drain the beans and water chestnuts and add to the bowl.
5. Toss in the pepperoni and mix with the dressing.

I believe this recipe was modified from one in a Betty Crocker book.

I prefer my salads crunchy which is why I included the water chestnuts, but this recipe lends itself well to modification. Cucumbers, squash, onions - whatever you have on hand would probably taste just as good.

The pepperoni can be substituted for any other deli meat or omitted - as I like to eat just this for dinner, it's good to get a little protein in.

Head of Romaine Lettuce: $1.79 at Food Lion

2 Tomatoes: $1.09 at Food Lion

Can of Cannellini Beans: $0.89 at Food Lion

Can of Water Chestnuts: $0.99 at Food Lion

Pepperoni, 1/2 of a bag at $3.49 /bag = $1.75 at Food Lion

Italian Dressing, 1/3 of a bottle at $1.79/bottle = $0.60 at Food Lion

Total Cost: $7.11 for 4 servings or $1.78 per serving

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 5

This one turned out much creepier than the others. I'm not sure why.

I've decided to end my project in felting. Each step feels like more and more of a chore instead of a new hobby. I'm tired of felting whips of wool that won't stay on. I want my projects to be fun, not boring.

I made 3 seal pups, enough that I got what I paid for ($19). The kit was for 3-4 seals, though given the amount of wool I have left over, I'm not sure what the manufacturers were thinking.

I'm a bit miffed about the waste of wool here but I can't keep it.

I can definitely say that I've tried felting and it wasn't for me. At least I got one good animal out of this:

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 4

2 Seal pups down, 2 (?) more to go:

I'm pleased with how this one turned out: the body is shorter and has more structure because the 'chest' is thicker than the rest of the body. The back flippers curve up and the head is better placed. It still doesn't look the picture in my instruction booklet but it's closer than the last one.

I still didn't sew the eyes in; there aren't any instructions on how to do that. I wasn't really happy with the face because it looks like the head of a polar bear. Felting 'wisps' of wool is difficult and it's the most noticeable part. I don't have the patience for this sort of work.

It does make this guy look happy which is a happy trade-off. I can live with that.