Tortilla Corn Pudding

Gotta Love a One Dish Wonder

I have to apologize; I know I've been a little remiss about postings lately. June is just an awful month for me. I tend to work fourteen hour days and weekends. That being said, I plan to make up for my absence with a recipe post. When I started this blog I promised there would be some cooking sprinkled in.

I first got the idea for this recipe from Rachel Ray. I know some people find her to be incredibly irritating, but I like her. I do wish her recipes were a little healthier though. Here's the original recipe from Rachel Ray:

Tortilla Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
* 2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups whole milk
* 4 large flour tortillas (about 9 inches), ground into coarse crumbs
* Salt and pepper
* 2 scallions, thinly sliced
* 6 oz chorizo

Frozen Assets
Wrap the baked pudding in foil and freeze for up to 1 week. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bake at 350° for 15 minutes.
Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish. Using a food processor, puree 1 cup corn.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup corn and cook until the corn begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chorizo.
3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, pureed corn and tortilla crumbs. Add the onion-chorizo mixture and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes; let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the scallions.

I was intrigued by this recipe, but it seemed to need a little more pizazz. Plus, I'm not really a sausage person. What follows is my lower fat, jazzed up version.

Tortilla Corn Pudding

Ingredients:

* 2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
* 3 eggs or 3/4 cup Egg Beaters
* 1 1/2 cups fat free half & half
* 3 large flour tortillas, ground into coarse crumbs
* 2 small corn tortillas, ground into coarse crumbs
* Salt and pepper
* 2 scallions, whites and greens thinly sliced
* 6 oz center cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (approx. ten slices)
* 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
* 1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
* 1 tsp dried sage
* approx. 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish or 2 quart casserole dish.
2. Using a food processor, grind tortillas into course crumbs.
3. Using a food processor, puree 1 cup corn.
4. In a large nonstick skillet, begin to cook bacon over medium-high heat.
5. Add the peppers, remaining corn and scallion whites and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is crisp.
6. In a large bowl, beat the eggs or add Egg Beaters.
7. Stir in the half & half, pureed corn and tortilla crumbs.
8. Add the bacon mixture and season with sage, salt and pepper.
9. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and sprinkle with shredded cheddar.
10. Bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes; let sit for 10 minutes.
11. Sprinkle with scallion greens and serve.

I know it doesn't photograph well, but trust me, this is yummy. You could probably make this lower fat by using turkey bacon, but I'm not really a fan. The difference in fat content between center cut and turkey bacon is minimal, while center cut has the advantage of tasting like real bacon. I guess you could also cut out the cheese, but cheese is one of life's great joys. In addition, you could also bring the heat up a little by the addition of another jalapeno, but one is about all my husband can handle. Really, this recipe could be modified a million different ways, with different flavor combinations. Let me know what you tried out.

"It Is Not Only Fine Feathers That Make Fine Birds."

Fine Paper Works Too

As I mentioned before, we had some birds at our wedding. It all started with a cake topper. My inner Disney freak would have liked to have had Ariel and Eric on top of our cake, but reason and a skeptical Groom won out. I am however the proud owner of a pair of Fischer's love birds. They look a lot like these guys:



My husband is more of a barely tolerating cohabitant of the love birds, but he was a good sport and agreed to let me deck out our nuptials with birds. It all started when my mom suggested this cake topper, which I can only imagine that my husband thought was a marked improvement over Ariel and Eric.



While we're at it, check out the Cupcake Tower on Etsy. It was totally perfect for our cupcake cake. Most of the commercially available stands have something sticking out of the top that would prevent having a cake to cut. What would we have cut if there was no cake on top? Utter nonsense!

So back to the topic at hand. This has just been a roundabout way of getting to our love bird table numbers. I wanted an elegant silhouette that would give our tables some pizzazz. Now, I believe in giving credit where credit is due, so I must admit that I took the idea and part of my template from a seller on Etsy. My version is not die cut however, so I needed to simplify the design. I cut about forty of these guys (for twenty table numbers total) out by hand in order to prepare for the unlikely event that every single guest would RSVP in the affirmative. We didn't need nearly that many, but always be prepared! I made these by cutting two frames and then gluing a piece of white card stock in between. I then enlarged numbers in Garamond font in Microsoft Word and cut the numbers out individually. The numbers were then glued to the back and front of the white card stock. Here's a close up of the end result:



Here's what our tables looked like:



All in all, this was a little time consuming, but I liked the touch it added to our tables.

The Wrap Skirt

Why Darts Can Be A Girl's Best Friend

Right after I received my new sewing machine, we trekked off to Ohio to visit my husband's family. It just so happens that my grandmother-in-law lives in Hudson, OH, home of Joann Fabrics headquarters.



Naturally, I had to make a pilgrimage to pick up lots of fabric for all of the new projects that were dancing in my head.

One of the fabrics that I picked up was a green and brown (I love green) shirting material. I bought 2 yards, not quite knowing what I wanted to do with it. I decided that I wanted to make a wrap skirt. After reviewing the instructions here and here, I foolishly disregarded their careful measurements. I had dreams of a skirt that would be the sleek love child of a wrap and a pencil skirt. The skirts in the instructions were too much of an A-line. I decided to lessen the difference in width between the bottom and the top of my skirt. This might have worked if the human body were shaped like a pencil. As this is not the case, this did not work. What I had was a skirt that fit fine through the hips, but was huge through the waist.

It took me a few days to figure out that this project could be salvaged with darts. Darts are the easiest thing in the world. You basically draw a triangle flush with the edge of your garment and then sew the remaining edges together. You just press the excess fabric to the side. Darts saved my skirt.



Ultimately the skirt turned out to be a pretty decent fit. I used a brown poplin bottom weight to back my shirting material. I also created a waist band by turning the top of the skirt down.



I love how the skirt goes perfectly with the green and brown pearls that my in-laws got me for Christmas. Check out Dresie Designs on Etsy, although the store appears empty at present.

To finish off the dress I used buttons to fasten it in the back. Buttons are really handy when you haven't yet mastered a zipper. Expect fewer button closures in the future.

Personalized Banners

Because Everyone Needs Something With Their Name On It

Remember when you were a little kid and you would patiently wait for the end of Romper Room? You may not have really liked the show, but you always hoped they would say your name at the end . . . and then they never did. I had the 20th most popular girls' name for the year I was born, and yet, no love. This is why it's important for every child to have something with their name on it. It makes you feel special; like that something was made just for you. Of course customizing is a lot easier these days thanks to websites like Zazzle. You can even get a t-shirt with your name and favorite Disney character. The days of hopelessly searching for a personalized bike license plate for little Lucretia are over.

Still, I like that handmade touch. After all, then it really is specially made. As I mentioned in a previous post, friends of ours just had a baby. Along with Floppy the Turtle, I decided to make little Christopher his very own name banner. This turned out to be infinitely easier than piecing together Floppy.

There are plenty of books out there that can tell you how to put this project together. Both Stitched In Time and Handmade Home have versions of this project. I should point out that Stitched In Time calls for you to paint the letters on the fabric. Paint = Messy.

For this project I used the instructions in One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!. Of course, I never really follow the instructions verbatim. Sometimes this works out better, sometimes less so. The book instructed me to use felt for the letters. I didn't really care for my color options in felt so I opted for a soft flannel for both the pennants and the letters. The flannel worked just fine for the pennants, but was probably not a great choice for the letters. Flannel tends to fray at the edges. To combat this problem, I used fusible web to adhere the letters to the pennants. Fusible web is very similar to the Stitch Witchery I mentioned in an earlier post, and can be found with the stabilizers and interfacing at your local fabric store. As a general rule, fusible web should be used when appliquéing. The instructions had called for fabric glue, but I'm not really a fan. It doesn't seem to hold up over time. I also hand stitched along the border of the letters in the hopes that this would help stabilize the letters, while also giving them better definition.



This time, following the instructions, I sewed the pennants between the layers of double fold bias tape and created loops at the end. Now Christopher won't have to wait for the lady on Romper Room to call his name, he'll already know he's special.

The Stewardess Dress

Sewing with Vintage Patterns

I call this dress the stewardess dress because it reminds me of the dresses worn by stewardesses in the 1960's (or at least what they wear in movies set during that period.) This was back when being a stewardess was still considered a glamorous job. Of course, back then the girls were made to fit the uniforms, not vice versa. Not that I'm advocating the return of enforced sizes and girdles, but it would be nice if airlines retired the ill fitting polyester of today. Really that goes for all uniforms though.

I'm probably reminded of a 1960's stewardess dress because I used a vintage pattern from the 1960s. I ordered this pattern from Wearing History on Etsy.com.



Vintage patterns can be a little tricky. Usually when you pick up a pattern at your local Jo-Ann Fabrics, you're getting a pattern that can be cut within a whole range of sizes. Not so with this pattern. As you can see, this pattern is a Juniors’ size 11. My bust might be a 31 ½, but my hips are not the proportionate Juniors’ size (we're not even going to discuss that number). After consulting my mother and my sewing bible , I learned that you choose your patterns based on bust size, as this is the hardest part to alter. In order to ensure that the dress fit me through the waist and hips, I reduced the seam allowance. As you can see from the pictures below, this wasn't really necessary. I'm guessing that garments in the 60s were cut a little more generously than they are today.

This dress didn't really ask too much of me skill wise. As you can see, this dress closes in the back using buttons (I haven’t learned how to do a zipper yet). My machine has a buttonholer that is absolutely idiot proof. Only two of the buttons are true buttons. The other two are dummies over snap closures. The princess seams on the front introduced me to the concept of clipping seam allowances so that the dress would lie flat on the curves. It's worth noting that you do not usually have to cut notches in the seam allowance. You only need to slice through the seam allowance. Just make sure you don't cut through the actual seam. This dress also has a hidden dart, but it turns out that darts really aren't too hard (they are also your best friend if a waistline on a skirt is not sized correctly.)


The dress from the front


The dress from the back


The dress with a cute jacket from the sale rack.

Floppy the Turtle

Overly Ambitious Baby Gifts

Some friends of ours recently had a beautiful bouncing baby boy. We couldn't have been more excited for them and I really wanted to make them some special baby gifts. Our friends had decided not to find out the sex on their little bundle of joy before his big arrival so they did the nursery in sea turtles. Fortuitously, I had just picked up One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! from the library (I love this book, I love this book so much I bought it). Lucky me, there was an adorable stuffed turtle project. Of course the theme of this book is to make projects with just one yard of fabric. I wanted to make something with lots of patterns and soft textures so I did deviate from the pattern . . . which is where I got a little overly ambitious.



This it the turtle's top shell, cute right?



Less cute is how time consuming it was to put together. Now if I had just followed the pattern and appliquéd the shell, this probably would have been soooo much easier. I opted for four different flannel patterns instead. I used corduroy for the head, tail and flippers. The bottom shell is a wonderfully soft plush fleece type fabric that I'm sure has a real name, but we're going to go with "mmmmm soft" for right now. I also opted to just use my eyelet stitch (sewn over three times) for the eyes. I know safety eyes are supposed to be nothing if not safe, but I didn't want to have anything that could conceivably end up in a little mouth.

So meet Floppy the turtle.



He's not perfect, but I'm pretty proud of myself!

Wedding Love Birds

How I Got Started Sewing

As I said in my last post, I got started by sewing love birds for my wedding. A pair of these little guys sat in front of each bridesmaid at the head table.



I apologize for the poor picture. I wish there were good pictures from the reception, but the photographer was more focused on the flowers. These little guys always ended up out of focus in the foreground. I got the wonderful pattern for these guys from Spool Sewing. They seem like a totally fabulous sewing and fabric shop in Philadelphia. I'll have to check them out some day. I highly recommend you take a look at the bird mobile that they provided the pattern for. You can see the love birds from different angles. I just love the flat tales. It makes them so much more realistic and streamlined than most of the plush birds out there.

I also have to thank Spool Sewing. When I originally found this pattern, they were having some server issues and the pattern suddenly disappeared. The people at Spool Sewing were so good about my frantic email asking if the pattern would be back up :-).

These little guys were pretty easy to put together. I cheated a little by finishing the tails using Stitch Witchery. This seemed to work pretty well, but I wouldn't use this technique if you plan on washing the birds, it never seems to hold up well in the wash. You should also be careful not to over-stuff the bird. I noticed that some other people that attempted the project reported that any stuffing in the tail made them look more like turkeys.

You may have guessed, but we did a love bird theme for our wedding. There will be more bird wedding crafts scattered through the posts.