Sweet Home Quilt Co.

No, not fruitcake fruitcake, THIS F-R-U-I-T-C-A-K-E!

Fruitcake by Basic Grey for Moda.

If you loved Basic Grey’s Figgy Pudding Christmas line from 2009, you’re going to FLIP over Fruitcake! We have jelly rolls, charms and yardage available now – it isn’t too late to get started on those Christmas presents!

And although I am not a fan of traditional fruitcake, here’s my mama’s recipe that I make every year at Christmas and I can never get enough of it…you don’t have to wait until Christmas, though. I hope you’ll try it, too!

Icebox Fruitcake

1 box vanilla wafers or graham crackers, finely crushed

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

1 box flaked coconut

1 box raisins (I use the golden raisins)

1 qt pecans, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients together by hand until well combined; form into log rolls about the diameter of a silver dollar. Wrap tightly with waxed paper, twist ends of paper to secure. Refrigerate overnight until well set; slice into thin rounds to serve. (Slice off just what you need and wrap the remainder of the log with waxed paper; will keep in refrigerator up to 4 weeks.)

For months and months I’ve been searching for a recipe for Chicken Artichoke Pasta that I had made earlier this year. It is so unlike me to “lose” a recipe, especially if it is a keeper, but I’ve looked high and low and could not find this recipe any where! I have a major cookbook collection, probably close to 200 books, and I am an inveterate recipe clipper so there was plenty of recipe fodder to wade through trying to find this particular recipe. I’ve searched online recipe sites and badgered my friends, thinking that I must have shared it with someone since it was so incredibly good! No luck.

For some reason, the thought that the recipe came from a Thimbleberries book kept nagging at me, but it wasn’t in any Thimbleberres book that I had in my quilt book collection, nor was it in any of the Thimbleberries books I had in stock at the shop. I came really close a couple of times to contacting Lynette Jensen to ask if the recipe was hers, but I just never did it. I was almost giddy with excitement when I read a reference to the recipe on Carrie Nelson’s blog over the weekend. I knew it had to be the same recipe because Carrie acknowledged that it was originally from Lynette Jensen of Thimbleberries – see, my memory isn’t entirely gone!!! But Carrie didn’t repeat the recipe, just made a reference that she had posted it several months back. Thus, began the great dig through Carrie’s blog archives to find that recipe!

The last time I remembered making the recipe was in late February when I took it to Pat and her family after her knee replacement surgery; so at least I had a starting point. I started with December 2008 and worked my way forward, re-reading every post as I went. SUCCESS!  Carrie’s post from January 17, 2009 has THE recipe – oh my, I was doing the slappy, happy dance!  I have all the ingredients on hand, and it’s what’s for dinner tonight! Yummo, I can hardly wait!!!

Here’s the recipe, and I agree with Carrie, substitution of low-fat ingredients is the way to go.

Artichoke Chicken Pasta

3 cups cooked diced chicken or turkey
1 can artichokes in water ~ drained and cut up
1 tsp. minced diced onions
¼ tsp. Tabasco
¼ tsp. marjoram
1 – 10 oz. can cream of chicken soup
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 – 13 oz. can evaporated milk
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 – 12 oz. package bow-tie pasta, prepared according to package directions and rinsed under cold water
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients reserving ½ cup parmesan and 1 cup cheddar cheese.  Place in a greased 9” x 13” baking dish.  Sprinkle parmesan and cheddar cheese over the top.  Bake 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until hot and bubbly.  Garnish with paprika and parsley.  Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Photo shamelessly plucked from Carrie's blog!

I know this seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for a recipe, and I admit I’ve had somewhat of an obsession with finding this exact recipe, but this dish is soooo worth it! You must try it – go now and get all the stuff to make it – I promise you will not be disappointed. And if you do try it, leave me a comment on how you like it, or if you think I’ve finally gone off the deep end!  Oh, and thanks, Carrie, for pointing me in the right direction; I will be forever indebted to you!!!

While searching for snack recipes to serve at our Spooktacular Halloween party at the shop, I ran across this recipe at Tasty Kitchen.  It makes a lot, and I’m regretting now that I sent the leftovers (except for about a cupful) home with my grandson yesterday! This stuff is addictive – salty and sweet, crunchy and chewy!

Halloween Snack Mix

• 16 oz salted cocktail peanuts
• 16 oz candy corn
• 1 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries)
• 12 oz pkg M&Ms (I used the Halloween version)

Mix all together in a bowl until evenly distributed.  Devour at once (at least that’s what happened around here!) I don’t dare make more – I’d eat the whole thing for sure!

I love to cook, but by the time I get home from the shop at 8 or 9 PM, the last thing on my mind is cooking dinner.  Mike “can” cook, but rarely does.  He will feed himself when he gets hungry, though. Usually I settle for a bowl of cereal or popcorn – very nutritious, I know!

This week we’ve managed to do a little better. Mike grilled chicken on his new grill Sunday and I had him do a couple of extra pieces so we’d have leftovers.  Monday’s dinner was Creamy Chicken Fettucine, using the leftover grilled chicken.  Tuesday morning I put a roast into the crockpot and we had Italian Roast Beef Sandwiches for dinner. Tonight, it will be leftovers!  Both meals took less than 30 minutes to get on the table, and while not gourmet, they were very tasty! Better than cereal or popcorn! Anyway, I thought I’d share the recipes in case you’re looking for quick and easy meal ideas, too.

Creamy Chicken Fettucine

• 8 oz. fettucine, uncooked
• 3 cups assorted vegetables, fresh or frozen
(I used the frozen “Summer Blend” with zucchini,
yellow squash, green beans, carrots, onions and
red peppers)
• 1/2 lb. chicken breast, cut into chunks
(I used two leftover grilled chicken breasts)
• 1 cup milk
• 4 oz. cream cheese, cubed (I used Neufchatel)
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Prepare pasta, adding vegetables during last 4 minutes of cooking time; drain well. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in skillet. Add cubed chicken and cook until done. (I skipped this step by using the leftover grilled chicken.) Remove chicken and set aside. Drain excess oil from skillet. Heat milk, cream cheese and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in skillet on low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth (use a wire whisk). Add garlic, cooked chicken and pasta/vegetable mixture; toss well. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Note: Sauce will seem to be thin, but will thicken quickly when added to remaining ingredients.

Italian Roast Beef Sandwiches

3 lb. chuck roast
1 can beef consommé
1 pkg. beef au jus gravy mix
1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix

Place roast in crockpot. Mix all other ingredients and pour over roast. Cook on low for at least 10 hours. Shred roast. Serve over hard rolls or French bread, with gravy and sliced Provolone cheese.  I also sauteed two Vidalia onions, sliced, in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter until carmelized and added to our sandwiches – yummo!

Confession – I snagged these photos from the web – my camera was at the shop!  I hope you’ll try these recipes and let me know how you like them. And if you have any Quick & Easy recipes you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you!

I’m taking a much-needed day off from the shop today. I actually slept nine hours last night! HUH??? I cannot remember the last time that happened. For a chronic insomniac like me, that is almost unheard of – I almost felt as if I’d been drugged this morning! Hmmm…I wonder if Mike slipped me a little something, knowing how much I needed to sleep? Nah, he hates that kind of stuff!

Anyway, so what’s on tap for today? The weather is still rainy and yucky, so I doubt I’ll venture outside any farther than the end of the driveway to get to the newspaper box! I’ll be catching up on emails and blog reading,  and doing a little blogging myself, too. (I’ve been “chastised” by many of you for not keeping up with Sweet Home’s blog and I do apologize…just not enough time lately!) I’m also watching a little daytime TV – The View, anyone?

On the menu for dinner is Pork Chops and Spanish Rice, a recipe posted by Judy a while back that I’d bookmarked. I haven’t cooked in so long it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I’m also thawing a chuck roast that I’ll throw in the crockpot for tomorrow’s dinner. Two home-cooked meals in a row? WOW!

I have about five or six pairs of pants that need to be hemmed. I hate, hate, hate doing that sort of thing, but dang it, I need those pants to wear! So that is also on today’s agenda. I’ve put it off long enough.

A little more computer time will be spent playing around with Photoshop Elements and WordPress so I can tweak the blog a little. I just never seem to find the time to play around with the software so I’ll be doing that a little today, too.

I’ve got a full day planned so I’m going to go get started…right after I have another cup of coffee! I think I could get used to days like this!

Melisa

P.S.  Sorry for the couple of picture-less posts – I’ll do better.