Citronella Candlelit Picnic in the Sticks - A Country Romance

Welcome to the 
Creatin' in the Sticks 
Perfect Picnic .

Made in Kansas Ad Astra Ale and Lost Trail Root Beer.
The quilt was made in Kansas, too.  :)

We loaded up the quilt, food, and portable croquet set in the
 4 wheeler
and  headed over to the creek for a little fun.
 Just hubby and I.
 We even left the dogs behind.

We found our spot by the creek in a large grove of trees.

Let the picnic begin!

3 yards of laminated cotton fabric from Riley Blake designs arrived and I used it for the back of the quilt.
Red with white dots paired with denim.
Now THAT is country Love.

It is sooooo me.
No worries about laying this quilt on wet ground
and
the heavy duty denim can handle any other picnic mishaps...

Our picnic quilt carries everything from plates and napkins to bottle opener and hand wipes and folds up nicely for travel.

This is how the quilt unfolds revealing the plates, napkins, and flatware.

It's perfect for tabletop or remove the gear and lay on the ground.

I made a large square mat to place in the middle for drinks or dips.  The laminate makes it easy to wipe off.

Now, let's eat.

The Menu

Roast Beef Salad on (light) Rye Bread

Cucumber Salsa with chips

Mixed berry pound cake (sugar free)

and

Cold Beverages!

I'm afraid my picnic basket is on an around the world in 30 days tour, so food and beverages arrived in galvanized buckets and hand made bowls.

Cucumber Salsa

(aka 3,2,1)

3 Cucumbers chopped fine

2 10 oz cans of Rotel tomatoes (I use one mild and one regular)

1 pouch dry ranch dressing mix

Mix and chill for a few hours.

Serve with tortilla chips

The bowls were made from fabric strips and clothes line. I viewed the instructions on Quilting Arts TV.   I just lined the big bowl with a clean shower cap and filled it with chips.  The smaller ones were perfect to hold bowls of dip and fruit.

Mixed Berry Pound Cake

This makes 2 loaves

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (I used Pillsbury Sugar Free)

Ingredients to mix the cake (mine called for water, oil, and 3 eggs)

1 small box instant pudding mix(I used sugar free cheesecake flavor) yummy.

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven as directed on cake mix box.  Mix cake mix as directed and add the dry pudding mix.  Fold in the strawberries and blueberries.  Prepare 2 loaf pans by lining the bottom with waxed paper and spraying the pans with cooking spray.  Pour the mixture into the pans.  Bake as directed on the cake mix box.

Cool 10 minutes after baking and take out of pans.  Let cool completely before slicing.
 If you can. (wink)

We ate half of one loaf while we laid around on the blanket just talking and listening to coyotes.
Maybe the coyotes smelled our food.
Soon the turkeys started gobbling and the mosquitoes started eating us alive.
Citronella candles can only do so much.

Here is the quilt with no picnic equipment.  I love that it looks like a patchwork quilt (well it is)  but functions to store all the essentials for a picnic.

This picture shows the quilt with the insert in the middle.  This is the denim side with the laminate side down.

That is the biggest coaster I have ever made.

After laying around for a couple of hours listening to coyotes and turkeys and just catching up with one another, we decided to skip croquet. But hubby went and put our initials on a tree.
Romance is alive and well here in the sticks.

Why haven't we done this before?

Thank you Madame Samm for a wonderful excuse to have a romantic candlelit picnic in the sticks.



Here are the rest of my fellow picnickers of the day:

Wednesday June 4

Quilt Taffy

Pampered Pettit

Creatin' in the Sticks :>) ME

Miss Priss Quilts

Life in the Scrapatch

That's Sew Julie

Thanks to Mary of I Piece 2-Mary our lovely cheerleader

Mary has the full schedule for the hop HERE.

Thank you to our sponsors: 

Sew We Quilt
Riley Blake Designs 
Peterboro Baskets

Bierocks Recipe - a cabbage gardener's friend

Here is the second cabbage recipe in less than a week.  I'm afraid if I don't use it, I'll lose it...

Bierocks

I used to make my own bread dough when I made bierocks until my daughter told me about using Rhodes bread dough.  Now it's a much easier process.  I like to make a lot at once for freezing, so my recipe is large.  It could be cut down if you needed to.

Bierocks the Easy Way

2 pkg Rhodes White Dinner Rolls (3 lb package, 36 rolls)  that's 72 rolls altogether
1 onion
1 head of cabbage (in off season I buy 2 10 oz pkg of angel shredded cabbage)
salt and pepper
olive oil
3 pounds ground beef (I like ground round)

Set the frozen dough out and let it thaw.  The dough should be very cold and almost thawed out when you are ready for it.  Setting out about an hour is about right.

Rolls at the perfect temperature

Shred onion and cabbage.  (I use the food processor).  In a large pan add olive oil, I go twice around the pan with the oil.  (about 2 Tablespoons).  Over medium heat, cook the cabbage and onions until cooked down to about half.  I usually let it cook for 15 to 20 minutes.  Add the ground beef to the cabbage, salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the beef is brown.  Drain if needed.

Cabbage before cooking

Cabbage cooked down

Beef and Cabbage Mixture

You will use two dough balls for each bierock.  Smash the rolls together and roll out on a floured surface.  Roll to about a 5 inch circle.  Put 1/4 cup of ground beef mixture in the middle and pinch the sides up and seal.

Beef on the dough

Edges of dough brought up and pinched

Beef sealed up in dough

Place on greased cookie sheet, seams down.  6 per sheet to allow for rising.  Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray to keep it from sticking to the dough while rising.  Let bierocks rise until doubled in size.  Approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bierocks placed on the pan seams down

Cover with sprayed plastic wrap for rising

Showing the size difference

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 3 dozen bierocks.



I ran out of the hamburger mixture and had enough dough for 2 more, so I made a couple of pepperoni pizza snacks with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.

 

 



 

I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen.  I made a delicious sugar free pound cake from a recipe on Pine Creek Style by Nee Cee.  She has great pictures of the steps and she includes a great idea for cool whip.  It's definitely a keeper for my hubby.

 

Just add lemon pudding and blue berries to sugar free cake mix batter



 

 

You can get the recipe over at Pine Creek Style and she says it works with regular cake mix also.

 

I'm going to have to run tomorrow with all of this goodness in my kitchen,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Cole Slaw Anyone?

The cabbage is finally ready in the garden and I'm busy using it up.  In a search for a good Cole slaw recipe, I ran across Todd Wilbur's recipe to "clone the world's best slaw" (KFC Cole Slaw) at Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes.

Here is my modified version.  I took it to my in law's house last night and it was a huge success. 

Cole Slaw like KFC

Cole Slaw

1/2 cup light Miracle Whip
1/3 cup sugar*
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter milk**
2 1/2 T.  lemon juice
1 1/2 T.  white vinegar
1/2 t.  salt
1/8 t.  pepper
1/2 t.  onion powder
1/2 t.  celery seed
1 head of cabbage (about 8 cups)
2 medium carrots

Shred the cabbage and carrots and place in a large mixing bowl.  (I use my Food Processor to shred.) Set aside. 

In a small bowl mix all other ingredients until smooth.

Poor the mix over the cabbage mixture and mix well. 

Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours till chilled.


* I have made this with Splenda (1/3 cup) and it tastes good.  I like sugar better, but hubby isn't supposed to have sugar.

**A substitute for buttermilk.  1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice.  Let sit 5 minutes, then measure a 1/4 cup.

Cabbage
 

This is the cabbage in my garden today.  I love going out to the garden and cutting a head of cabbage and making a bowl of slaw right away.  Such fresh taste.

This is my gardening buddy, Molly.  She loves to eat what I would normally take to compost.  She is such good company.

Molly eating a squash

Happy Labor Day,

Linking up with:






   
 

Baked Oatmeal

I made this for breakfast this morning.  It's not sugar free, but LESS sugar.  I think you could use any fruit, but I prefer berries.  I didn't have any fresh berries, so I tried frozen. Worked fantastic....

Baked Oatmeal

Cooking Spray
2 Cups frozen fruit (I used Triple Berry Medley- blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.)
1/2 T. honey
1/2 t. cinnamon (divided)
1/2 Cup pecans chopped (divided)
2 Cups quick oats
1 t. baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 Cups milk
1 egg
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray.  Put 1 cup of fruit in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with 1/4 t. cinnamon and honey.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix oats, 1/4 cup pecans, baking powder, Splenda, 1/4 t. cinnamon, and salt.  After fruit has baked, pour oat mixture over it.  Mix milk, egg, and vanilla.  Pour milk mixture over oats.  Top with rest of the fruit and pecans.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Breakfast anyone?

Sugar Free Strawberry Pie

I'm always trying to convert recipes into sugar free versions to give my husband a treat once in awhile.  He is very good at staying away from foods he shouldn't eat, so it's nice to give him a little splurge.  This recipe is one I converted very easily and he LOVES it.  In fact he took this picture and put it on facebook. :^)

Strawberry Pie (sugar free)

Strawberry Pie (sugar free version)

1 small box sugar free cook & serve vanilla pudding
1 small box sugar free strawberry jello
1 1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups strawberries (washed and cut up)
1 baked pie shell

Mix pudding mix, jello mix, and water together in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave pudding mix, jello mix, and water 5-6 minutes or until the mixture is clear, not cloudy.  Put strawberries into the baked pie shell.  Pour cooked mixture over the stawberries in the pie shell.  Chill til set.

Check out Alton Brown's pie crust recipe on the Food Network.  It's my favorite..

I'm hoping to make one of these for the hubby on Valentine's Day. 


Now I really need to go finish a project,