feed sack shenanigans

oh friends. did you know i'm a bit crazy? in the midst of tax season, i have sewed two quilts. both with the same carefully-curated collection of fabric. the first quilt: FEED SACK PINWHEEL was for olivia. olivia is one of the kindest, most tender souls i know. and the best part is she's in my writer's group with me so i get to soak her up once a week. her new baby lincoln is sweetly handsome and i hope he loves his quilt. it was dark and raining the entire week i worked on this, so i never got a great picture of it, or of the back, which is a dark gray minky dot, but here it is.

 

now onto the next quilt: SPECTRUM PICNIC. this was sewn for my sister angela's new baby, who should be arriving ANY MINUTE OR HOUR TODAY (not that i'm excited or anything). angela wanted something a little more organic and less pattern-y. i hope both her and baby girl like it. as usual, i like the back more than the front.

have you ever thought about sewing a quilt but thought it sounded too overwhelming? well, you know i have a bad habit of getting myself into things that spiral out of control, but i love, love LOVE sorting through fabric, cutting into it, deciding what colors and patterns to mix. i do tend to lose steam after that, but so far i've finished every quilt i've started.

everything i learned about quilting, i learned from the internet.

everything! just one more reason i am in love/obsessed with the internet.

the best binding tutorial here.

most everything else about quilting here.

and i sew at my kitchen table on my mother-in-law's old bernina sewing machine. my only tip is: YOU HAVE TO SEW WITH A WALKING FOOT. if you don't know if you have one or not, you probably don't have one. mine cost $180. 

yeah.

but you really can't quilt or sew on a binding without it, and if you plan on doing more than one quilt in your lifetime, it will pay for itself. the price of quilting a crib quilt starts at around $100.

and i now use it for all my other sewing projects as well.

well, i'm off to scrub toilets and mop kitchen floors. hope you're having a wonderful day.

falafel is my favorite

falafel is my favorite meal. after many failed attempts at cooking this at home, i think i've finally perfected a no-fail recipe that i'm so excited to share with you.

just remember, if you skip a step or don't follow directions exactly, you'll end up with a pile of burnt crumbs floating in your cooking oil.

[at least that's what happened to me the first several tries.]

falafel {mediterranean chickpea patties}

1 cup dry chickpeas

1 small onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 teaspoon salt (or more. i like more)

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons flour

Oil for frying

1. soak the chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) in plenty of water overnight.

2. in a large food processor, combine onions, garlic, parsley and cilantro. add the chickpeas and spices and chop until you have a pasty mixture. mix in the flour and baking powder, which will make the mix into more of a dough.

3. cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. after waiting patiently for at least two hours (it's important!), remove the falafel mix from the refrigerator.

4. in a large pot, heat up vegetable oil for frying, careful not to let it smoke too much. to form the falafel balls, I use a medium-sized pampered chef scoop, probably about 2 tablespoons, and form the mixture into a patty shape. it takes just a couple of minutes to deep fry each side. remove onto some paper towels. 

5. i serve with red onion, tomato and a yogurt cucumber sauce. my kids like theirs in pitas, but i like mine without. this recipe serves 4-5 people (about 20 balls) and i always double it and freeze the leftovers.

muhummara is a middle eastern dipping sauce with a roasted red pepper and pomegranate molasses base. i tried it for the first time several weeks ago and it is my new favorite thing. you can order the pomegranate molasses from amazon for a pretty reasonable price. i highly recommend it! [enough to use an exclamation point.] this recipe is so easy, just a matter of tossing in ingredients into a food processor. that's it. you could even use a blender if you don't have a food processor yet.

muhammara

a 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained*

2/3 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup walnuts
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. combine all ingredients except oil in food processor. mix well. [i actually chopped an old dinner roll first to get my 2/3 cups bread crumbs, then added the rest of the ingredients].
2. add oil slowly with mixer going until oil is incorporated.
3. you can serve this dip with pita wedges or like we did, with hearts of romaine.

*to save you some grocery store wandering, you can find these by the jarred olives, peppers and pickles.

fresh courage take

From Brené Brown's TED talk The Power of Vulnerability:

Shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection. "Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won't be worthy of connection?" The things I can tell you about [shame]: it's universal; we all have it. The only people who don't experience shame have no capacity for human empathy or connection.

Courage, the original definition of courage, when it first came into the English language came from the Latin word cor, meaning heart and the original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.

[I've found in my research that people who were resilient to shame] had, very simply, courage. The courage to be imperfect. They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were. They fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable  made them beautiful. They talked about the willingness to say, "I love you" first, the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees. They're willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out.

This is what I have found: to let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen; to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee, to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in [something] this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive."

This has been a week of private sorrows followed by, as it always happens, some heaven-sent help in a desperate and dark hour. This time, in the form of my BYU Alumni magazine that had been sitting on my nightstand for weeks and weeks.

So many tender mercies. So much patience and long-suffering extended on my behalf.

From the article His Grace Is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox:

“Grace shall be as your day”—what an interesting phrase. We have all sung it hundreds of times, but have we stopped to consider what it means? “Grace shall be as your day”: grace shall be like a day. As dark as night may become, we can always count on the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins, and mistakes may appear, we can always have confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ. Do we earn a sunrise? No. Do we have to be worthy of a chance to begin again? No. We just have to accept these blessings and take advantage of them. As sure as each brand-new day, grace—the enabling power of Jesus Christ—is constant. Faithful pioneers knew they were not alone. The task ahead of them was never as great as the power behind them.

From the hymn God Moves in a Mysterious Way by William Cowper:

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.


So, gird up your loins my friends. We can make it together.

winter running playlist

hello friends! this winter's been unseasonably warm here and i've enjoyed more than a few outdoor winter runs.


amazing. i'm feeling like we've cheated mother nature with a beautiful summer, long fall, and now this.

here's my winter playlist. click here for a sample. ;-)


1. Feeling Without Touching - Glass Candy
2. Paradise - Coldplay
3. Do It Again - Holy Ghost!
4. Normandie - Shout Out Louds
5. Verona - Geographer
6. Trojans - Atlas Genius
7. Mixtapes - Plushgun
8. Walk This Way featuring Aerosmith - Run DMC
9. Safer Than Love - Bell X1
10. Called Out In The Dark - Snow Patrol
11. Swing Tree - Discovery
12. Eyes As Candles - Passion Pit
13. All Of This - Naked and Famous
14. Block After Block - Matt & Kim
15. After Midnight - Blink-182
16. Anyway You Choose To Give It - The Black Ghosts
17. Punching In A Dream - Naked and Famous
18. Girl - Beck
19. Beatbox - Sounds
20. Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
21. Night Winds - Geographer
22. Hummingbird - The Weepies
23. Derezzed - Daft Punk

Sharing Recipes

this post is solely for my writing partner Meagan, who is absolutely one of my favorite people in the world. good thing too, because it turns out i meet with her every wednesday to sort out plots, character motivations and life problems.

she asked for these recipes, and never one to miss an opportunity to be (lazy) efficient, i thought i'd blog them too. and my apologies but these photos are not my own.

coconut cupcakes

Cupcakes:

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup of sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup of canned coconut milk
1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of sweetened desiccated coconut

Frosting:
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons coconut flavoring

1 tablespoon coconut milk
1/4 cup of sweetened desiccated coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and cream till light and fluffy again, scraping down the sides halfway through to ensure even mixing.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds each to ensure mixing. Be sure to scrape down the sides after each egg to ensure even mixing. Add the coconut milk and coconut flavoring and mix well.
3. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Mix well then combine with butter mixture. Mix until well-incorporated.
4. Fold in the coconut. Scoop into cupcake papers about one half to three-quarters of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes (or 13-15 minutes for mini cupcakes). Allow the cupcakes to cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting
1. Combine all ingredients and mix with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Spread onto cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle on a bit of extra shredded coconut on top and serve.

Makes about 30 regular-sized (217 calories) or 84 mini-sized (78 calories)

cabbage patch soup (adapted from my mother's recipe)

1 pound sausage (i always use jimmy dean's natural sausage, which you can buy in a 3-pound tube at costco)

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped, with leaves

8 large carrots, chopped*

2 cups cabbage, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 cups water

1 tablespoon beef base

2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 tablespoons ketchup (trust me. it's good)

1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice

2 (15-oz.) cans kidney beans with juice

brown sausage with onion. add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered for 30 minutes OR cook in crockpot on low for 8-10 hours. makes 10 servings. (about 284 calories per 1 1/2 cups)

notes:

i always double this and freeze the other half for an easy freezer meal. it's a simple, one-pot meal. cooking it in the crockpot allows the meat to become more tender and it's my favorite way to prepare it.

*and, don't use those gross, dried-out, bitter-tasting, stubby baby carrots. buy real grownup adult carrots. your future self will thank you, i promise.

fresh start

if i had to describe last year in one word, i think it would be culmination. a lot of things i've given my blood, sweat and tears for came to fruition. it seems every aspect of my life was so richly blessed. it was kind of a breather year, a chance to regroup, to pause, to reflect and enjoy life. it was a year full of tender mercies. i am so grateful and so thankful.

and now it's 2012. i love when things are new and shiny and fresh and clean. i love making resolutions, recommitting myself to values i believe in, dreaming and envisioning exactly what i want my life to look like and finding out ways to make that happen. last year i only made one goal: DO NOT SHOP AT WALMART.

ta duh! i was a success.

this year, i'm feeling like i can handle a little more. it's time to push a little farther out of my comfort zone. i feel the yearning to be better, to be more, to close some of the gaps between the person i am and the person i want to be. and so, i have been making lists, planning, changing, deleting all my game apps off my phone.

i am ready. i am ready to say: thy will be done. the words to this talk by robert d. hales moved me and inspired me to make this shift, this change.

To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.”

It means praying as the Savior did—to God, our Heavenly Father—saying: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” It is a prayer we offer with our whole souls in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Waiting upon the Lord means pondering in our hearts and “receiv[ing] the Holy Ghost” so that we can know “all things what [we] should do.”

As we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we discover that “tribulation worketh patience” and we learn to “continue in patience until [we] are perfected.”

Waiting upon the Lord means to “stand fast” and “press forward” in faith, “having a perfect brightness of hope.”

It means “relying alone upon the merits of Christ” and “with [His] grace assisting [us, saying]: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.”

As we wait upon the Lord, we are “immovable in keeping the commandments,” knowing that we will “one day rest from all [our] afflictions.”

i don't know what this year will look like, but i envision myself more often on my knees, more often with my scriptures open, more often seeking the answers from my heavenly father. i am ready for him to make more out of me than i have been able to myself.

what are your resolutions this year? do you set the bar low or high? do you pick a theme like i do? inspire me!

not magnificent

listening and reading and praying today.

brook, i hope it's okay for me to share some of your words from your blog. they are beautiful and so are you. just what i'd been thinking:

all i can offer

is all i have.



and it may not seem like much.

especially when compared with others.

but it is mine

to give.