Tales of a Crafty Mommy

I get all giddy thinking about kitchen linen! I can easily spend a lot of time looking at coasters, placemats, napkins, towels...ahhh! the possibilities in colors and design are endless and can add such a unique tone to your home. I just love it!  So I have started working on some projects to give my kitchen / dining room a little makeover. It's all spring themed, {which gives me even more reasons to have to make this project again in the future but with different colors for the winter}. I took several pictures to make a little tutorial for this. It can make such a sweet mother's day gift, teacher gifts (to go along with all those mugs!), or Christmas... Materials:  1 Fat Quarter (it will make 8 coasters in total) Cotton Batting   Coordinating Threads   Steps:  Cut 4 (or 8)  4 1/2 x 10in pieces of fabric. Cut 4 (or 8) 4 in square of cotton batting.   2. PRESS all your fabrics in half. Right sides to...

You know how sometimes certain things take you right back to your childhood? To me, seeing and hearing the pressure cooker doing its magic reminds me so much of those early years. My Grandma ( Mami Jana - like I used to call her ) used it to make lentils and beans as it cooks quickly in the pressure cooker. My Hubby has now learned to use it to make this delicious pulled BBQ Beef (or pork). Thanks to the pressure cooker, the meat was so tender that it fell apart while covered with a generous amount of BBQ . It was so juicy, perfect for any BBQ lover. The best part is that it took a little less than an hour to have it ready. (Between you and I - I really do think this dish turned out much better than Smokey Bone's pulled BBQ Pork that they make!) shhhh! ;-) Ah...and I can assure you, my kitchen smelled so good that we were just staring at the clock counting the minutes until the food was ready! Happy BBQ-ing!

This has got to be the BEST dish I have had in the ENTIRE month of November! I love French Fries, especially homemade, (reminds me of my Grandma who made them for me when I was a child), I love meat, and I love BBQ sauce. What else could be better on a quiet Saturday evening? Thanks to my Hubby for cooking for me :-) Ingredients: 6 Potatoes 1 onion 1 garlic parsley Salt Pepper BBQ Sauce Rice Sour Cream (optional) Steps: 1. Cut up all your potatoes, onions, garlic, and parsley. 2. Heat up the oil, if you are anything like my Hubby, use a thermometer to check if it's at the right temperature. (bring oil to 350 degrees) 3. Make some rice on the side, if desired. We eat rice with pretty much everything in our home! 4. Season the meat with the parsley, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and cook until desired. 5. Get ready to eat, get messy, and have a fantastic time!

Red Velvet Cake Balls covered in Dark Chocolate  Lately, I have become a huge fan of Bakerella and the book Cake Pops. Cake Pops and Cake Balls are very similar. Really, the only difference is that the first one goes on a stick while the second remains as a ball. Pretty simple, huh? The design and flavor possibilities are countless! I already have a couple * on my to-bake list * for Christmas and my Daughter's Birthday.  In my opinion, Cake Balls / Cake Pops are really fun to make. Here is why:  Your children or friends could make them with you You could design your own shape of cake ball / cake pop You can mix any flavors you'd like  ---talk about doing things non-traditionally! This would be why I am so excited about making more Cake Balls / Cake Pops for Christmas and Birthday Parties. (My Daughter loves Mickey Mouse, so I will be trying my hands at cutting little Mickey and Minnie faces!)  Ingredients: Boxed Red Velve...

My Hubby's favorite dessert is Cheesecake. I never thought it would be possible to make it at home, but when I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake....it seemed like the dish was calling his name!  I had been wanting to make something special for him (since he is the one who bakes for me quite often!) and knew this would be the right dessert! In my Hubby's words: "The cheesecake was similar to pumpkin pie, slightly richer. It was the perfect blend between the traditional pumpkin pie and cheesecake . "  I ended up making two pies from the ingredients listed below. One pie was made in a store-bought crust and the other one was a homemade crust. I strongly recommend making your own crust because the cinnamon flavor from the Graham Crackers and brown sugar will add an additional pumpkini, fall-ish flavor to the cheesecake. This recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen found at the Food Network.  Ingredients:   cream che...

Ingredients: 1 1/4 cup of puree pumpkin 2 tbsp Bread Crumbs 30 Wonton wrappers 1/2 tsp minced Sage 1/8 Nutmeg 2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese 1 jar Alfredo Sauce Water { This recipe has been adapted from MyRecipes .com } Steps 1. Have a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil and spread the pumpkin. 2. Cover it with another sheet of aluminum foil and let it stand for 5 minutes. 3. Use a plastic spatula to scrape the pumpkin into a bowl. 4. Once the pumpkin is in the bowl, stir in the sage. Then the breadcrumbs, Then the nutmeg,, The Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. 5. Mix well. This will be the pumpkin mixture to go in the wonton wrappers to make the raviolis. 6. Stuff the wonton wrappers, seal them with water, fold all the edges. Spoon 1 tsp of the pumpkin mixture into the center of the wrapper. Have a brush and a bowl with cold water by you. Brush the edges... Fold the wrapper. This is the method that worked for us. We ...