Turkey's Dilemma

Turkey Pot Pie

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 cup sliced carrot

3/4 cup cubed peeled sweet potato

3/4 cup sliced peeled parsnip

1/2 cup chopped red onion

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 cups chopped cooked turkey

1 can refrigerated crescent dough

1 tablespoon butter, melted 

Heat oven to 375F. Grease 2-quart glass baking dish. Heat 1 tablespoon butter and the oil over medium-high heat. Add vegetables; cook 10 minutes, stirring. In large bowl, combine soup, milk, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in turkey and vegetables. Pour into baking dish. Unroll dough on cutting board; cut into strips with pizza cutter. Arrange strips in lattice design over turkey mixture. Brush dough with melted butter. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Emily's Wedding Quilt

Lemon Curd Cake

Cake:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

1 3/4 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Zest, juice of one lemon

3 tablespoons milk

Frosting:

1 1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup lemon curd

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line two 8-9” springform pans. Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Beat in eggs one by one; add vanilla and lemon juice. Fold in flour until well blended. Use a little bit of milk if you need to loosen the mixture. Divide mixture into prepared pans. Bake in oven for 20 minutes until golden. Cool a few minutes before removing from pans; cool completely. Prepare buttercream filling by beating butter and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until it is all incorporated and mixture is smooth. To assemble, spread lemon curd on one of the cakes. Top with frosting; add second cake and sprinkle with more powdered sugar.

Razz-ma-tazz

“Every day, think as you wake up, ‘Today I am fortunate to be alive. I have a precious human life; I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, and to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’” – Dalai Lama XIV

Flying Fish Block

Flying fish don’t really fly – like Buzz Lightyear they’re only falling with style. I’ve seen them a few times, up close and personal, while cruising off Baja California or in the Caribbean. They leap from wave to wave with wing-like fins outstretched, in what looks like a lark. They’re really just trying to stay out of reach of larger, unseen predators beneath the waves: probably mackerel, marlin or tuna. The Flying Fish quilt block has been around for ages. Nancy Cabot (her real name was Loretta Leitner Rising) published a similar block with a slightly different pinwheel center in the Chicago Tribune in the spring of 1937. In her notes she said, “It is the type of pattern which lends itself to a combination of materials, both printed and plain.”

Modified Ohio Star

“May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right. Without such faith, we go nowhere. With it, we can accomplish our goals. Although it is imperative that we choose wisely, there are times when we will make foolish choices. The gift of repentance, provided by our Savior, enables us to correct our course settings, that we might return to the path which will lead us to that celestial glory we seek. May we maintain the courage to defy the consensus. May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.” – President Thomas S. Monson

Awakening Quilt Top

The blocks on my design wall are from a line called Audra’s Iris Garden by Brannock and Pateck for Moda. They’re lovely prints in chocolate, goldenrod, cream, moss, scarlet and violet. I chose this fabric for a quilt for Heather’s bed, because they’re colors she loves and because they were on sale. If only I’d bought fabric for the setting corners, borders, back and binding while it was in the store. Now the whole line is hopelessly out of print. I was thrilled when I found an online store – Charlotte’s Cottage Quilt Shop near Baltimore – with Audra’s Iris Garden on their shelves. I calculated the fabric I need, placed my order and collected an emailed receipt. But that was March 25. Now it’s halfway through April and no fabric. It’s time for desperate measures. I need to place a call to Maryland. Then, when they tell me it’s out of stock, I need to make a plan B.