Crocheted Baby Gifts

A couple of ladies at chuch had babies this summer, so I just had to crochet some stuff for them.
One had a little boy so I made a hat and a pair of shoes for him. Sorry, no pattern for the shoes, but here is a link to the hat, the only important changes I made were, adding the puff balls and I did the last row in color 2 and did the ear flaps in color one with an outline in color 2.

One of them had a little girl so I decided to try and make a dress. A little while back a put up a post with a link for a baby dress. I don't have a little girl of my own and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make the dress. I made some changes because I wanted to incorporate 2 colors and although the  bottom of the dress in the original pattern was beautiful, I wasn't getting the hang of Solomon's knot thing and did a kind of shell stitch pattern instead. I also made a matching pair of booties but forgot to take a picture.

Crochet Baby Dress - My variation of this pattern from the Art of Crochet by Teresa

With Color 1 work 40 Chainless HDC or 42 Chains (start row 1 in 3 ch from hook.)

Row 1:   CH 2, *HDC in next ST, 2 HDC in next ST, continue across from *, turn

Row 2: CH 2, HDC in ea ST across, turn

Row 3: CH 2, *Hdc in next ST, 2 HDC in next ST, continue across from *, turn

Row 4-5: CH 2, HDC in ea ST across, turn

Row 6: CH 2, *HDC in next 2 STs, 2 HDC in next st, continue across from *, turn

Row 7:  (I changed this just a little because I was paranoid about the arm holes fitting) Add a marker to the 41st stitch from each edge. CH 1, HDC across next 16 Sts CH 6 ,SK 2 HDC(Arm Hole), HDC Across Front leaving the remaining 41 Sts for the left arm hole and back,CH 6 skip 25 stitches (Left Arm Hole), HDC across 16 Sts(Left Back). Turn

Row 8 : (Here is where I really start to change it)From this point we will be working in rounds.  Join color 2 in first stitch with slip stitch. HDC in first stitch and in each stitch across working 6 hdc in each chain 6 space at the end of row ch 1 and join to first stitch of row. DO NOT TURN.

Row 9: chain 2, 1 HDC in each stitch and in chain 1 space. At end of row join to first stitch with slip stitch. Fasten off.

Row 10: Join color 1 with slip stitch. Chain 3.  2 DC in same stitch. Skip next 2 stitches. *3 dc in stitch.  Skip next 2 stitches. Repeat from * around. Join to 3 ch of beginning chain 3 with slip stitch.

Row 11:  Chain 3. 2 dc in the space between the that first chain3 2dc cluster and the last 3cd cluster of row 10. (The gap just below your chain3). 3 dc in the space between each of the 3dc clusters. Around. Join with 3 chain of beginning chain 3 with slip stitch.

Repeat row 11 until your dress is long enough.

Row 12.  Join color 2 with sc to any stitch. Work one sc in each stitch. Join with slip to first sc.

Row 13. Reverse sc in sc. Join to first reverse sc with slip stitch. Fasten off.

Continue to use the pattern from the Art of Crochet by Teresa to finish your button holes. My only variation in the finishing work is for the collar I used the Reverse sc. For the Flower I used the radiant crochet  pattern (video, text) also from The Art of Crochet by Teresa.

Fajitas

This is the first recipe I ever posted long before I had a single follower. I decided it needed a makeover with some pictures.
So to be honest there is not real a recipe involved, as in there are no specific measurements, but my hubby likes my fajitas a lot better than his so I thought I would share. So what makes mine better than hubby's? My trick is that I don't use a prepared packet of fajita seasoning. I season them myself.

Here are the basic ingredients in my fajitas:

• Chicken or Steak (preferably steak)
• 1 Onion
• 1 Green or Red Bell Pepper
• Garlic (Sometimes I used fresh minced, sometimes I use garlic powder; depends on the day and how lazy I'm feeling, I don't keep minced garlic in the fridge, so I have to chop it myself)
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Seasoning salt
• Chili Powder
• Pico de Gallo seasoning (more optional, it's just something we happen to keep among our spices)
• Cilantro

Start by chopping up the onion and the steak. Saute the onions a in a frying pan until they start to get tender, then add the meat. Add in the garlic and other seasonings. Sorry, I don't measure anything. As a general rule I  use more chili powder and Pico de Gallo than any of the other seasonings. I try to stay light on the salt and the cilantro.  After the meat has browned on the outside, add in the bell pepper and cook until the meat is done. Enjoy wrapped up in a tortilla with some sour cream and your favorite cheese. We usually go for cheddar, mozzarella  or pepper jack.

Brownie Bottom Raspberry Swirled Cheesecake

Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. In honor of the occasion I decided to make a cheesecake. I like brownies and my husband like raspberries. Throw all those elements together and something  fabulous happens.

Brownie Bottom Raspberry Swirled Cheesecake

• Brownie mix for an 8x8 pan
• 6oz raspberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Cheesecake Filling - I used this Cheesecake Supreme recipe

Prepare brownies according to package instructions. Pour brownie batter in bottom of greased 9 inch spring form pan. Bake brownie at 350F for 10 minutes. Brownie should be under cooked. (I cooked it for 15 minutes and that was too long.  The brownie was just a little too overdone after baking with the cheesecake) 

While brownie is cooling prepare cheesecake filling.  Poor filling over brownies. Take raspberries and puree them in a blender then run through a sieve to remove seeds. Add 2 tablespoons sugar to the raspberry puree.  Drop dots of raspberry puree over the top of the cheesecake filling. We are looking for a nice polka dotted top. You probably won't need all of the raspberry puree I only used about half.  Then run a toothpick along the top, through the dots of raspberry puree leaving a swirled pattern.

Bake and cool cheesecake according to cheesecake filling recipe instructions. I baked mine at 375F for about 35 minutes, because that's what the cheesecake supreme recipe called for.

See the layer of brownie on the bottom. Yumm

We topped our cheesecake with whipped cream,
some of the leftover raspberry puree,
and some fresh raspberries too.

Place Mat Recycle - Place Mat Chargers

When me and my hubby were in college and it was just the 2 of us I developed a liking for place mats, and because it was just the two of us I would by the ones on clearance that you could never find four of. I ended up with a few incomplete sets of three. One for me, one for my husband and on for the center of the table.

Now I really love this incomplete set. Such bright and happy colors. 

Unfortunately, it is an incomplete clearance set so I only have 3 place mats. Having only 3 doesn't do me too much good these days, so I decided to take action and give them a nice half size make over to increase their numbers.

Here's my how to. It's rather simple. You need 2 placemats (I leave the 3rd on as is, full sized for center pieces/decorative purpose.) You need some scissors and some matching ribbon

Take a close look at this ribbon. I used a textured non-satin ribbon. I felt it matched the woven look of the placements well.

Take your two place mats and cut them in half,  right down the middle, hamburger style. 2 place mats become 4!

 Now the ribbon is important because that cut edge looks unfinished and is going to fray. So we take ribbon and pin it to the long edges of our mini place mats. Just wrap it around the edge and pin it down.

 Even though only one side is going to fray, we are going to do both edges, so it looks nice.

 Then stitch the ribbon down with a sewing machine! Ta da! All done. That was easy (unless you're me and are having issues figuring out your new sewing machine)

Clearly our new place mats are much smaller than the old ones, so they don't make very good place mats on their own. The just don't fit much on them.

So I use them like a charger and dress up some of my solid color place mats. I think it looks nice and I can still use my incomplete set of place mats. (Well, now I guess it's a complete set of 5, 4 mini mats and a full sized center piece mat)  It also means I can keep shopping for place mats in the clearance isle, because it doesn't matter if I can only find 3.

Cheddar Alfredo Mac'n'Cheese

Confession: I love boxed mac and cheese.  I never really liked my mom's homemade stuff when I was growing up, but I loved the stuff from the box. Unfortunately, I ran out of the boxed stuffed so I decided I could try my hand at some homemade stuff the other day.  Cook some noodles, make a white sauce add in some cheese, not too difficult right? And it wasn't. Unfortunately, all I had in my cupboard was half a bag of rainbow Rotini so my ratio of sauce to noodles was a little off; fortunately, it was in favor of the sauce. I decided to throw in some garlic and some Parmesan which gave it kind of an Alfredo taste and since it seems like you have to have some bread crumbs or something on top I went for more cheese flavor and crushed up some gold fish. It was delicious.

Cheddar Alfredo Mac and Cheese

• 1 12 oz  package rotini or pasta of your preference.
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 shredded Parmesan.
• Salt and Pepper
• Crushed Cheese cracker

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Mix in four to make a paste then add milk and garlic.  Bring to a boil. Lower temperature and add 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Continue cooking sauce until cheese is just melted.  Put prepared pasta in a casserole dish. Pour cheese sauce over  pasta. Top with remaining shredded cheese and crushed crackers. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.