Fun Easy and Delicious!

HI! I have a GREAT recipe for you guys for the weekend! You all know my favorite quilt blog/ blogger Lori of Humble Quilts? Lori also has another blog, a healthy living blog, called Get to Goal.   Now and then she posts recipes or healthy food suggestions and last week her post was all about making Egg Rolls with her organic cabbage she gets in her farm produce box.

You can read her post and direction here:Get to Goal Cabbage Rolls

Never in a million years would I have tried to make egg rolls. Or in this case, since the rolls are very veggie and so light and crisp, I am calling them spring rolls, like at my fave Thai restaurant. Yes, these roll ups are that good. And soooo easy.

Mostly I followed Lori's instructions so please read her post, because her directions are very good and simple.
I found the egg roll sheets at the fancy market here.

Preheat oven to 425*.
I used ground pork, because this store had it and I never used ground pork before. I added one minced stick of bacon for a bit of smokiness.

Brown 1 pound of ground beef/ pork/ chicken with a minced onion and minced garlic.

I don't have a food processor so I bought a bag of ''old fashioned slaw" which is finely shredded cabbage and carrots. Rinse and drain well, maybe pat dry with paper towels. I used 2/3s of the bag. [2 or 3 cups?].

Add this to the browned meat mixture and stir. Add soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper. I also added cumin and a mild chili powder to add to the exotic taste.

Cook uncovered for a few minutes until the cabbage begins to soften. This filling should not be wet so don't add water or too much soy sauce.

Fill and roll up the spring rolls according to the directions on the package.

Brush lightly with a bit of olive oil. Bake 425* for 15 minutes, check them after 10 minutes. The rolls should be brown and crispy. [the wrap package says 400* for 10 minutes but I followed Lori's instructions and was pleased with the result, crispy and golden brown]

I bought Chinese hot mustard to go with, and made homemade duck sauce/ dipping sauce with sugar free orange marmalade mixed with balsamic vinegar and a bit of soy sauce, squeeze of lemon.

The egg roll package has 20 sheets of very thin dough. I used 15 of them. We all loved these easy fast spring rolls! We could have gobbled up the entire pan, but they are quite filling. 3 or 4 per person?

Note: do not microwave any leftovers to reheat, it makes the spring rolls soggy. Reheat in the same 425* oven for 5-7 minutes.

Try them! So yummy and the rolling up is so easy and goes really fast. I served the cabbage rolls with an avocado salad; white or brown rice might also be good with them.

Thanks, Lori! [and you neighbor who gave you the recipe.] A++++

PS I'm pretty sure any egg roll wraps will work. I was surprised my store carried the brand Lori, waay off in OR, used.These were were about 5" square, very thin, but strong and easy to fold and roll. Whatever you find in your market.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Lori's link again, HERE

All Is Not Perfect at The Beach (but not all bad either...]

Hi everyone! Remember I told you the weatherman says we'll have 70* temps this week? Beach days? Ha! Not sure what the weather guys are smoking but  43 with a 25 mph wind is not my idea of a balmy spring day. More March, business as usual. Cold and icky.

And then my kitchen flooded. Maybe not exactly a flood, I guess---but water water everywhere, under the sink and cupboard floors, invisible to the naked eye but detected  by the evidence of wet socks. The floor tiles are dry but the grout is soaked. Missed the Flower Show waiting for the emergency plumber, but at least he came on a Sunday afternoon. The dad of a friend of a friend.

The good news is : Look what I found when I emptied out the sink cabinet! I don't look under there often because I am terrified of bugs. So I found a few cute crocks and these cool pitchers. All are chipped from living under the sink, poor things. I think except for the white ironstone, English, c. 1900?, they are TJ Maxx finds.

The white giant pitcher/ ewer has pretty wheat sheaves motifs.

The flag pitcher will be so cute for flags on the 4th of July.

And this is wonderful, it actually may be vintage, I have no idea. It will go great with my blue and orange Wild Geese quilt, for Fall, in a few years.

Then when I was rearranging my jelly cupboard to store the pitchers more carefully, I found this [in my humble opinion] beautiful table runner, never used. Made back when I used my own imagination and love of antique fabrics in my quilt designs, instead of relying on patterns for inspiration.

It had some shell and turquoise bead work which I removed so it can be washed and so Mo won't eat the beads. It is a seashell toile with antique Japanese indigo fabrics.

This past weekend I made my March block for Barbara Brackman's Westering Women. It's called Indian, in a shrug to political correctness. I used fabrics inspired by my small collection of Native American / Indian silver pawn jewelry. Turquoise and coral red.

The bad news is despite every effort the block is not exactly 12 1/2 " square. This is a problem I encountered years ago with a pieced sampler BOM. I can have good points or exact measurements but not both. You can see the 1/2" of the February block showing behind Indian. I suppose I will have to add frames to make the blocks fit or if I feel really patient this week I will try again, and make a new block.

Pokeberry is together except for the stripey borders.

I had allocated January and February to finishing this project, then March and April for finishing Summertime [Spring Break]. Obviously I missed my self imposed deadline and I'm annoyed about that.

Mo has spring fever! But he hasn't run away recently. If the wind is less tomorrow, I plan to take him to the park.

Thanks for listening! I do know--things could be much worse! Every cloud has a silver lining. And so on.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

PS oh yeah, and my Kindle needs an update or it will no longer function. I'm not terrible with computer-y stuff but this has me stumped! Anyone else? None of the prompts in the fix's directions show up on my Kindle's menu. Son or daughter to the rescue, I hope. [I suppose Amazon wants me to buy a new Kindle, is that what the real story is?]

Here's some ''sunshine'' to brighten our day:

Thrift Shops and Snow Days

Hello! It's March! March blew in the other day with a strange wind squall, blew open all my doors! And scared me and Mo in the late evening quiet. Today we woke up to snow,

a Hokusai / Japanese print kind of morning. [Google images]

the frozen koi pond

I always think of march as our snowiest month. The ocean is finally cold and the soft wet snow sticks to the beach and the bare branches.

My friend and I went thrifting. I'm still penny pinching, but I had a small list and actually found what I needed.
Some men's shirts for my Wild Geese quilt project. I'm using my friend's shirts but he tends to be very conservative in his choices, so I added a few plaids. XXXL. On sale for a whopping $5.67, which I suppose is a bargain now that cotton is 14.oo a yard.

Beautiful soft fluffy flannel for my quilt backings stash. 4 yards, 1.99. Much nicer once washed. I wish I bought the other two pieces.

An expensive but pretty white on white quilted pillow sham. 10.99. Machine quilted, probably would cost the same at Home Goods.

A candlestick for a velvet fruit pin keep. I'm thinking a big fat classic tomato, maybe.

Awesome / amazing Alpine hiking boots. I just love the Tyrolean accents, speaks to my Swiss roots, I guess. I 've wanted these classic boots for years as I pore over the ski clothes  or Sundance catalogs.

Oiled leather and look at these great grip-y soles, for me, the one who is so clumsy on ice and snow. A good buy but no bargain, 39.99. [But my size! never worn!]

And I could not pass up this small Blue Birds china platter. I love the crazed, crackled glaze and old funny 20's cottage effect.

I knew I had a similar platter from the Fall flea, though, so one or both may go onto my etsy page, to share.

I think the little birds and roses are so sweet. Like Disney's Snow White birds.

I was surprised to see the new platter is by a different maker, not Homer Laughlin, of Fiestaware fame. I thought Blue Bird china was always Laughlin, so that was an interesting note.

We then tried to find a supposedly new local quilt store, but only found an empty building with For Rent signs. Too bad. And a quick stop at Joann's, my sole live fabric resource. Ugh! What a chaotic place that is. Took me an hour to find spray baste...and they stock only a few types of basic ''sharps'' needles, what's with that? Hello, I sew, I need needles. Hard to order needles online, I need to see them, being partial to very thin long milliners or straw needles. Hard to find.

Back home I have my 1.49 thrifty daffodils. [Trader Joe's] They do brighten a grey snowy day, don't they?

And a new candle, exceptional fragrance, called Bergamot Water [from B&BW]. Bergamot  is the scent of Earl Grey tea, so the candle's perfume fills the house with a cozy smell.

I also ordered two Georgia Peach candles, my all time fave, and another with bergamot scent, called London---tea and lemon ''flavor". Bath and Body Works Candles, free shipping HERE

Have a great weekend! I hope to finish the borders of Pokeberry! And prep some thing for hand sewing, because believe it or not next week is supposed to be 70*! Beach days! Yay!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

no shops or items mentioned were sponsors, just sharing my resources w/ friends. Japanese print images form Google.