Today I’m excited to be part of the Moda Designer Blog Hop! If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that I have a fabric collection called Quilt Blocks that will be available in stores in April. If you’ve just found The Long Thread through the Moda blog hop, be sure to check out my book, 1, 2, 3 Sew.
For the blog hop, each participating Moda designer is sharing a quilt block and a recipe on their blog. My contribution is the quilt block above and a recipe for Honey Pound Cake. The 12″ block uses some of the fabrics that will be available in the spring, but I just had strike-offs to work with, so the colors may be slightly different. It’s a straightforward block using three different fabrics, and would work well with solids or any pattern.
As a Southerner, I’ve always been a big fan of pound cake and its versatility. You can serve it with fruit, ice cream, whipped cream, or just on its own with coffee. Pound cake freezes well and makes a nice holiday gift. You could make this drawstring gift bag for a loaf of pound cake to make it extra special.
Just click on the image below to print the .pdf file with the recipe and block instructions. Happy Holidays!
Follow along with the other stops on the Moda Designer Blog Hop. Here’s the full tour schedule:
Monday, December 5th:
Minick & Simpson
Anne Sutton
Me & My Sister
Deb Strain
Tuesday, December 6th:
Kansas Troubles
Fig Tree & Company
Cosmo Cricket
Lucie Summers
Liz Scott
Wednesday, December 7th:
Bonnie Olvason
French General
Liesl Gibson
Sweetwater
The Long Thread
Thursday, December 8th:
Camille Roskelley
Kathy Schmitz
Laundry Basket Quilts
Kate Spain
Primitive Gatherings
Friday, December 9th:
Basic Grey
Jan Patek
American Jane
Pieces from my Heart
We’ve been doing a “staycation” for much of spring break (made-up word alert) after returning from North Carolina where we escaped the pollen and got snow flurries instead. So we’ve been doing some yard work and a bit of cooking. As I mentioned a few months ago, our diet has been somewhat crazy after we discovered my daughter’s food allergies, but we have eased up a bit these days. Still trying to avoid wheat and now milk too. And really, don’t get me started. Food is such a source of frustration, but when I find someone who has all the answers I’ll let you know.
Anyway, as vegetarians we avoid gelatin. Okay, and if you don’t know why gelatin isn’t vegetarian, I won’t tell you about it. But my 8-year-old will be happy to tell you in graphic detail. And I apologize for that. So, we made some vegan marshmallow treats with puffed rice cereal from Whole Foods, Dandies vegan marshmallows and Earth Balance. I know. We managed to turn a 50 cent treat into a four dollar gourmet fancy thing. But they were good! Pretty much the old-fashioned recipe, just substituted with expensive hippie ingredients.
And we ate them with the girls’ new favorite smoothie — coconut and strawberry. I use a can of coconut milk (yes, the canned kind to get some extra fat in my kid’s diet — 72 grams per can!) and blend it with fresh and frozen strawberries and a bit of soy milk. Very tasty.
Again this fall, I find myself looking for ways to use all the squash appearing in our farm share box (or as the kids call it the “surprise vegetables”). While I love butternut squash, one can only eat so much of it with pasta and greens.
So I made these pumpkin muffins, substituting baked and pureed butternut squash for the pumpkin. I added walnuts to the top, but you could add oats for a nut-free treat. Even the kids loved these muffins.
Then I made some fall chili, throwing in all the fall vegetables we had in the fridge — butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potato and zucchini. I roasted the veggies in the oven with garlic and olive oil then added them to the chili (with cannellini beans, black beans, onions, celery, green and yellow peppers, green chilies and fire-roasted tomatoes) . Instead of the usual cilantro, I added a bundle of thyme and sage for more fall flavor, and topped it off with feta cheese.
Autumn is almost here! Welcome the flavors of Fall with these apple muffins from my post over on Alpha Mom. Print out the muffin wrappers to dress them up for a school celebration or brunch.
We’ve had a relaxing rainy weekend at home, so there’s not much to do but eat. With each change of season, my interest in cooking is renewed as new produce becomes available and I crave new flavors. In anticipation of the hot weather, it’s been all about basil for me this month. So we decided to make some lemon basil ice cream with our ice cream machine. About a month ago I had some basil gelato, but I didn’t like the pieces of frozen basil in it, so I made our ice cream with basil flavoring by simmering it in the milk and then straining it, then we added the lemon flavor for balance. My kids liked this ice cream, but I have to say that my children are forced to eat all kinds of unusual things, so I’m guessing many kids might not like this. Here’s how I made it if you want to try it.
Ingredients:
- 2 c. milk
- 1 bunch basil
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 lemons (zest only)
Simmer the milk with the basil over low heat until the basil leaves wilt and turn brown. Remove from heat and strain the milk removing the basil. Mix in the sugar while the milk is still warm and then refrigerate this mixture. Zest the two lemons and set this aside. I always put my milk and cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I make the ice cream so it will be ice cold. Remove from the freezer and mix the basil-infused milk with the cream and lemon zest. Pour the mixture into the bowl of the ice cream maker. Mine usually takes about 30 minutes to turn into ice cream.
Then we made this carrot ginger mixture that I tossed in with our salad, but it would also make a great dip with crostini. My five-year-old helped me with this one. We used the food processor to mix carrots, ginger, garlic, olive oil, rice vinegar and salt. Then we mixed in black sesame seeds and added some green onions for garnish. Both of my children liked this, but they draw the line at onions, so I didn’t mix them in with the carrots. Our salad was simply red leaf lettuce and edamame tossed with this carrot mixture.
My seven-year-old is always an advocate of pretty food, so when I told her that we could carve the watermelon to make a bowl, she jumped at the idea. I cut the bowl and she used the melon baller to scoop up all these watermelon globes while making a sticky mess of the counter and floor. Then she added blueberries. This would be great for the Fourth of July. For more ambitious watermelon carving ideas, check here.
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