Sew It Seams …
“My friend writes songs about sewing machines. He’s a Singer songwriter, or sew it seams.” (~Unknown)
I have a penchant for painful puns and purple prose; hence the above. If it makes most folks groan, I will undoubtedly laugh heartily. This week has been all about sewing and, in particular, finishing my sewing “room.” 😊 This room used to be our master bedroom closet but, since we hang all our clothes downstairs in the laundry area and the only items that make it upstairs to be put away are linens and other foldables, we really have no need for a closet in the master bedroom. And, since I had no real desire to steal a guest bedroom that could be used for, oh, I don’t know, guests, the closet was the spot.
It’s a small space; only 6.5 x 12 feet. Even though as a closet it’s a large space, there were no electrical outlets in it. ☹ My sweet hubby offered to put an outlet or two into the closet for me; however, the memory of our former pastor’s comment after helping fix some of his prior electrical handiwork came to mind, “Please, leave electricity to the experts.” 😊 He can do pretty much anything you can imagine … except electrical. Since there will only be two items requiring electricity on a regular basis, a surge protector and a short extension cord running inconspicuously between the closet and an outlet along the same wall just outside the closet door should more than suffice.
I’ve been sewing since I was 8 years old; 10 years old on a sewing machine. I learned how to sew on my grandmother’s Singer Featherweight, and it’s still my preferred machine. After 56 years of sewing, however, there was a great accumulation of sewing (and other crafty) stuff. Apparently somewhere along the line, I took the “She who dies with the most wins” philosophy to heart. Most everything in my sewing room has been gifted to me through inheritance; items that truly represent pieces of my heart. The only things we needed to purchase were an inexpensive set of stackable filing cabinets, a 12-bin storage unit, and some paperboard magazine holders.
Under the heading of “A place for everything, and everything in its place,” I am now ready to sew. You know you’re old[er] when the pattern you choose to work on is dated 1982. I told ya I was a collector of sewing stuff. 😉 Yes, this Folkwear pattern is as old as my son. I have a lovely grey and red plaid flannel, that is buttery soft that, I think anyway, will be perfect.
We decided to forego the red lentil soup this past week. Instead of homemade biscuits, I decided to try out a King Arthur recipe for Portuguese muffins. (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/portuguese-muffins-bolo-levedo-recipe).
Well, you know how it goes, you just HAVE to taste one to make sure you won’t be poisoning anyone, right? So, I split one in half and gave half to hubby, and we took a bite … and we drooled … and we took another bite … and we oohed and ahhed. No soup for us! We sliced an avocado, the hard-cooked eggs, and some luscious Jarlsberg cheese. We had some of those muffins, made into sandwiches, for dinner along with sliced pears.
Since we didn’t have the red lentil soup last week, it became part of this week’s menu plan. 😊 It’s a two-soup week; something that doesn’t happen often since hubby is not the biggest fan of soup unless, of course, it’s a course of its own and there’s lots of other food, especially meat, served with it. 😉
Thus, I give you this week’s menu plan:
SATURDAY
CHICKEN BREASTS IN ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE W/GNOCCHI & SPINACH
SUNDAY
BROILED HALIBUT WITH RICOTTA-PEA PUREE, ROASTED VEGGIES & SPINACH SALAD
MONDAY
RED LENTIL SOUP W/SPINACH & CHOPPED EGG SALAD, & HOMEMADE BISCUITS
TUESDAY
TURKEY FAJITAS W/SHARP CHEDDAR & AVOCADO ON HOMEMADE SOFT WRAPS
WEDNESDAY
SMOKED SALMON & 3-CHEESE QUICHE W/MIXED GREENS & HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING
THURSDAY
GRILLED CHEDDAR-APPLE SANDWICHES ON HOMEMADE BRIOCHE BEAD W/MAPLE CREAM & LIMA BEAN BISQUE
FRIDAY
NO-COOK FRIDAY 😊
Since I needed to use up some spinach from last week, I tossed that in with last night’s chicken breasts in roasted red pepper sauce. Boy is that some delicious sauce. I much prefer it over homemade tomato sauce, and it’s SO easy to make:
2 12-oz. jars of roasted red peppers
¾ cup heavy cream
I empty the roasted peppers into my food processor without draining them, and process until it’s a smooth liquid. I add it directly to whatever I’m cooking in my skillet once the food is close to being done. In this case it was boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I also added the spinach to wilt in the sauce and, once the spinach was wilted, I added the cream, removed the chicken breasts to a large bowl (and covered with foil to keep them warm) and stirred to combine everything. Once the gnocchi were finished cooking, I tossed them into the sauce as well, stirred to coat them, and tossed all into the bowl with the chicken. The other “trick” I used to speed up this chicken dish was a gnocchi kit which you can find here: https://www.delallo.com/shop/delallo-potato-cheese-italian-gnocchi-kit?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo96ml4fY7gIVdOW1Ch3qMAiFEAAYASAAEgJ8D_D_BwE. This is not an affiliate link. They’re really quite tasty and a good substitute when time (or energy) is short. 😉
I’ve made the sauce using home-roasted red peppers, a little veggie broth, and the cream but, for ease and speed when it’s been a long day and you want in and out of the kitchen in a hurry, those jarred roasted red peppers really do the trick! 😊
“Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.” Proverbs 30:8
