Garlic Mashed Potatoes (For Vanessa)

A while ago my little sister asked me to come up with an easy recipe for Garlic mashed potatoes.  So the experimenting began.  I love to cook so it was really fun coming up with this for her.  Sorry it took so long.

 Here is what your going to need.

2 cups milk

butter

seasoning salt (or salt and pepper)

4 garlic cloves

8 med potatoes

 Now cut up the potatoes like this.

 Now take the garlic (that has been peeled) and smash it with a knife.

Place the garlic under the wide part of a knife as shown in pic and smash.

Got it?  Good

 Pour the milk into a small sauce pan and add garlic.  Heat it over med heat until pretty warm.  DO

NOT boil milk.  Trust me on this.  Set this aside. (Right before adding to the potatoes remove the garlic

and toss it)

 Place potatoes in a large sauce pan and cover with water.

Boil for 15-20 min until easily smashed with a fork.

(you can just take one out and place it on the counter to test it.)

 Strain into a collander

 Now back into the sauce pan

 Add butter, seasoning and start mashing.  Slowly add the liquid while mashing. 

Don't add it all at once just a little at a time.  You might not need it all.

Looks good.

I hope you like it Vanessa!  I am so proud of you  making healthy food choices!

Keep up the good work.  Now what else do you want to learn to cook?  :)

Christmas Flowers

I wanted to share a tutorial for some really cute flowers.  I made them into ornaments for my tree. I used felt for one and burlap for the others.  Same flower different fabric.  I think they turned out great.

First cut your fabric out.  (The one top and center is my pattern piece)

 Put a dab of hot glue in the center and fold the sides in.

Like this, push the centers flat.  (To decrease bulk when layering)

 Put a dab of glue on the bottom flower in the center and start layering.

 Next cut out this shape for leaves.

 Fold in half and glue to the back of the flower.

 Add ribbon.

I think I am going to make a bunch of the burlap ones for my tree this year.

Mock Wrap top

I really like the look of a wrap top, such a clever way to hide imperfections in the tummy area.  So when I found a tutorial to make one I jumped on it.  I bought all my supplies and went over the directions.  After reading them I had lots of questions, mostly about the construction of the shirt.  So I made this one and just made it up as I went along.  This top took maybe 2 hours.

Supplies:

About 2 yards of knit fabric

Thread

Ball point needle (for your sewing machine)

Suggested:

A rotary cutter and mat.

First find a shirt in your closet that fits well. the first time I did it I chose a fitted shirt, It probably was not the best choice.  Fold your fabric in half and lay your shirt on the fold as in the picture.  ( make sure the fabric stretches across the bodice, so that it will stretch when on)

Cut around the shape of your shirt, cut about an inch away from your shirt for your seam allowance.

It should look like this.  Now lay this on your fabric and cut two more.  These will be the front of your shirt.

Now you are going to cut the front pieces so that they are layered with a V type neck.  Take 2 of your cut out pattern pieces and lay them on top of each other.  I used a rotary cutter for a straighter cut (I did not hem the edges so a straight edge is crucial)  Cut from one shoulder to about 2 inches below the arm opening.

After I cut the opening, I placed the top piece like this and had what looks like the front of the top.(Ignore the sleeves, but if you want sleeves go here)

Lay these pieces on top of the back so you have all three layers lined up.  

Now cut out your wrap ties.  I made mine 6 inches by 60 inches.(Using your rotary cutter, mat and ruler will save you lots of time)  I wanted a lot of wrap to work with, but you can make them whatever length works for you.  ( you can also alter them later because knit won't fray)

So now this is the part that is hard to explain, how to attach the wrap ties.  Here is a picture of what I did.

 

 I folded up the two top layers of the shirt and placed the straps where I thought I would like them.  Mine are even with each other but if they were uneven that might be cute.  I pinned the straps together just for my convenience.  Next I folded the top layers back down. 

  Now pin your sides together, and the top of the shoulder, and sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Sew up the sides and across the shoulders. Make sure you use a zig-zag stitch when sewing knit.  I used a stitch called a Vari-overlock, and I thought it worked awesome!

 Sewing

 Turn it right side out and tie the straps around your waist.  I tied it in the back, it also looks cute tied on the side.  I really like it with a cardigan.

Sleeve Tutorial

I liked the Mock Wrap top that I made here, so much that I wanted to have another with sleeves.

So here is my tutorial for making sleeves.

First you will take your fabric (I used knit for this top) and fold it.  You will be cutting the sleeve on the fold.

Use a shirt that you like the fit of.  Lie it on the fabric with the top of the sleeve on the fold, cut around the shape of the arm (make sure you leave a seam allowance, mine was about an inch)

I wanted a cuff on my sleeve so I added it now

Pin the cuff to the right side of the sleeve and stitch using a zig-zag stitch (I used a zig-zag because of the knit fabric, otherwise you would use a straight stitch.)

This is how the cuff should look like, this is pinned not sewed yet.

 

With the wrong sides together sew the bottom seam of the sleeve, down to the end of the cuff.

This is what it should look like inside out.

Here it is right side out.

Pin the right side of the sleeve to the right side of the arm hole, matching the bottom seam with the seam on the side of the shirt.

Turn your shirt right side out and try your new masterpiece on!

Enjoy