Quince? I Think Not!

Last week, my Bountiful Basket contained about a half-dozen of these small yellow fruits. Someone there at the pick up location said they were quinces; but "they looked kinda funny." Armed with that information, I went home and did a search on google (what else?) Images of quinces showed a somewhat pear-shaped yellow fruit and recipes for jams and jellies. This left me in a bit of a quandry. Did I actually have quinces or did I have something else?

The only thing to do was to give jam-making a try, so try I did. What I got was a lovely syrup, but no way this stuff would stand up to the label of Jelly. Ah, well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Imagine my chagrin at discovering yet more yellow mystery fruit in my Bountiful Basket this week! Only this time I think the person with the fruit identification skills was more accurate: Guava! So home I went, once more to google for a more positive ID; and there, before my eyes, a photo of fruit that looks just like my photo above (only not as pretty :-)

Yes, they are guavas. Mexican guavas to be precise. I'll be cooking with them tonight having already found a recipe I want to try. Will report results. 

Beautiful Books to Hold Your Beautiful Thoughts

I've been making lots of these beautiful journals and sketchbooks. They make wonderful gifts (or a wonderful gift to yourself!) One of the best things about them is that the covers are removable and can be used over and over. When you fill the pages in your first journal, just slide it off and put it on your new one. Here are a couple of photos of my most recent creation. Did I mention they also have cool pockets on the inner covers to hold photos, ticket stubs, or momentos and a ribbon bookmark?

The background fabrics are some of my hand dyes.

The beautiful books are $30 each + shipping. I've got lots of colors and styles or can customize. Think of all the possibilities for holiday giving....

When the world hands you black bananas, make banana bread...

Did you know you can freeze those black bananas that sometimes happen when you just can't eat the whole bunch in time? Well, you can, and it's a good thing, too; because once you get 6 or 7 of them stored up, you have enough to make banana bread. I don't mean just any banana bread, I mean the ultimate luau queen of banana bread: Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread. (oh, the Tiki gods tremble in anticipation!)

• But first I've got to tell you about defrosting the black bananas and what to do with them once you do.
• For starters all you need to do to defrost them is to lay them on a towel on your kitchen counter.
• When it is time to peel the bananas, don't even think about it.
• Instead, lay a piece of waxed paper on your kitchen counter to catch the extruded fruit.
• Snip the stem off one end and squeeze out the pudding-like banana filling as if it were toothpaste.
• It requires very little additional mashing.

Ooh and it's kinda fun and soooo un-messy.

Here's the recipe:
6-7 black bananas, mashed
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. chopped nuts (I like pecans)
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 C. mashed bananas
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple (drained)
2 tsp. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients by sifting onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Combine beaten eggs and oil and vanilla. Stir in pineapple, Add dry mixture and banana mixture in two alternating amounts, stir to blend. Fold in nuts.
Turn batter out into greased and floured baking pans. This recipe makes either 2 large size loaf pans or 3 small loaf pans. Bake at 350' for 1 hour and 5 minutes for the 2 large loaves and 1 hour for 3 small loaves.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Wonderful served with cream cheese and sliced strawberries.....or just wonderful plain if you're sharing with a friend or a smiling husband!

I wish I'd taken a picture...

It's a shame I didn't get a photo of the Mexican grey squash that came in this week's Bountiful Basket. I'd never had them before and they're quite lovely. Striped in shades of grey-green, shaped like a short,stocky zucchini. I looked for a recipe on the internet; but didn't find anything that really caught my eye. Last night on the phone with my sister, Annie; (who, by the way, is a fabulous cook,) I mentioned the squash. She suggested an old zucchini and crookneck squash recipe from my mom. So that's how I cooked them, (with my own slight adaptations of course.) They were amazing.


Baked Mexican Grey Squash

Prehead oven to 500'. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" metal baking pan. (500' is too hot for glass)
Wash and cut the stems off 4 or 5 Mexican squash and cut into roughly 1" cubes. (no need to peel them and no particular points for neatness)
Microwave the squash in a covered microwave safe bowl with 1 cup of water and a little salt for 12-14 minutes until tender. Drain.
Break the squash pieces into smaller pieces with a fork or spatula.
While the squash is cooking, crush 36-40 Ritz-type buttery crackers. I stick them in an unsealed ziplock bag and scrunch them with a rolling pin, but you can use whatever stress relief method you wish.) Set about a third of the crumbs aside for topping.

Stir in 6 T. butter
          4 t. sugar
          1/4 c grated cheddar cheese
          1/4 c sliced almonds
          crushed Ritz-type buttery crackers (don't forget to reserve 1/3 of these for topping)
           2 eggs, beaten
          salt and pepper to taste  

Turn into baking pan, top with crackers crumbs set aside earlier, and bake at 500' for 10 minutes. It comes out of the oven a light golden brown.

Soooooo yummy!   
From my kitchen to yours.  Linda    

Now what?

The title of the quilt is Free Floating Anxieties so I guess it's appropriate to post today.I lost my job yesterday and am suffering a crisis of confidence. Why is it that, whenever I'm faced with the challenge of finding a new job I forget how many great skills I have? Truth be told, even in this economy I should have plenty of marketable qualities to find a new job and a good one at that. I am a virtual wizard at MS Office, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, all that stuff. I can build a website, design a logo, create web content, take a good photo, write anything that needs writing, you name it, I can do it. Still, I remain in this state of anxiety, quaking in my boots.

My prayer is that I can cobble together some gainful projects while I search for a full time job. I have the following opportunities on deck:

• I signed up to participate in the Prescott Fine Arts Holiday Gift Show. (Last year I got a check from them and I don't even remember what I gave them to sell! That's a sorry admission, isn't it?)
• I received an inquiry from a designer who would like some samples made and patterns created. I'm waiting to see her sketches.
• I've got this idea for a business and I'm going to start researching it immediately. (No, I'm not telling you yet, silly! No jinxing it!)

God is good and HE WILL PROVIDE. 'nuf said.

Bountiful Baskets

Do you have Bountiful Baskets in your town? We're lucky here in the Phoenix area because we can participate in this wonderful co-op. If you sign on and place your order by Wednesday, for $15 you can pick up the most amazing load of fruits and vegetables imaginable. And every week is different. Note: take large bags or, even better, a laundry basket. This has been a very positive experience for my husband and me. The variety of foods get us out of our culinary rut. Last week our basket contained persimmons for Pete's sake! Where would you even go to buy those? The other best thing is that it gives me an opportunity to share. There's always plenty to give to friends or the kids.
Last week I also opted for the Chinese vegetable add-on. What wonderful stir-fry we made! Doesn't it make a pretty picture?

Hot chiles make for hot photos

Visiting a friend yesterday, someone who is a lover of all things hot, I spotted the most beautiful bag of dried habanero chiles on the kitchen counter. For those of you who aren't familiar, these small round peppers are among the hottest on the planet. Even a small amount added to a recipe can create something so potent very few people can get beyond the heat to experience - let alone enjoy - their flavor. (Which is unique and wonderfully rich and complex when added to a recipe in minute amounts.) That being said, they were beautiful to look at. I tossed a few out on the black ceramic stove top and used ambient light from the kitchen window. The stove top did surprising things in the light. Here's my favorite photo.

Printing - constructed / deconstructed

Over the past few weekends I've been working with silk screening on fabric using thickened dyes. The luxury of a few uninterrupted hours to pursue this delightful activity has resulted in a few prints that please me to no end.
I'll put my favorite one here.

Breeze in the Forest (c) 2009

This print was made using two different deconstructed screens printed one over the other. I moved one of the screens slightly after each image was printed. It created rhythmic flow of bubble-like images across the print. I think this print will make a nice whole cloth art quilt, perhaps mounted on stretcher bars. I think some hand-quilting with copper metallic thread will be nice.