Cooking with Squirt

Squirt and I made homemade pasta Thursday night for supper.  It's almost the end of the month, so I'm cleaning out the pantry which means mish-mash for supper or leftovers. 

Homemade pasta sounds awfully intimidating but is incredibly easy.  Here's the recipe:

1 egg
1c flour + more for rolling
1t table salt
1T olive oil
2-3T water

Mix the flour and salt in large bowl or on countertop.  Make a well.  Add egg and wet ingredients, beginning with only 1T of water and adding more as necessary to make the dough come together.  Combine until smooth. 

Cover with damp cloth and let rise for at least 20 minutes but up to 2 hours.  This  is an important step so the gluten can relax and you will be able to roll it out without it springing back on you.

Divide dough into 3 equal portions.  Roll out on lightly floured surface as thin/thick as you like.  It's pretty much up to you from here on out.  I roll it out as thin as I can get it with my rolling pin, roll it up like a cigar, and slice into fettuccine with a serrated knife. 

Drop into boiling water for 3-5 minutes or until al dente.

See...incredibly easy.  Squirt loves making pasta with me.  She helps roll it out and then when it's cut, she unfurls all the little pieces, as seen here.  She is super proud of her work...especially the really long ones.


Instead of some complicated sauce or something like that, we just put some garlic and Italian herbs into some olive oil and let it simmer for a while so the flavors could meld together, sauteed up some chicken and basil and had a great supper.  One of my favorite meals. 

Next time we make pasta though, I'm making ravioli.  I've been craving some fried ravioli lately and we may just have to make some.

The Kid's Christmas and Baby gifts

Here are a few pictures of my recent creations. 

The first is the beginning of a Christmas present for the Kid:  wooden alphabet blocks.  I bought the blocks at Hobby Lobby, cut some scrapbook paper down to 1" squares, glued them down, stuck on an alphabet sticker, then mod podged over the top.  That's as far as I've gotten so far. 

Next step will be to slather on another layer of mod podge. Then, sand the edges and corners and spray on a sealant so they will last and the paper won't start curling up.

I also have been scrounging my brain for baby gifts the last few weeks.  A friend from high school had her baby girl the same night the Kid was born, a family friend had her little boy prematurely a couple of weeks before the Kid was born, and a friend of the Man had a little girl just last week.  We're swimming in new babies around here.  So, I made changing pad sets for all of them.  I've seen some in different places but most had a pocket to store the diapers and wipes case.  I'm not a fan of that because it just means one more place to reach in while you're frantically trying to change a screaming child's diaper.  :)  By just sticking them inside the folded changing pad, they are there, ready and waiting.  Here are a couple of pictures of the recent ones. 

This last picture is of a onesie I made for some friends of ours here in town.  The craft blog, Crap I've Made, has a tutorial on these and I thought they were just too cute.  Hope Ava likes it!

The Kid's Baby quilt and bedding

My mother bought all of the bedding for Squirt when she was born.  And, up until this last week, the Kid was using her hand-me-downs....except for the sheets.  You just can't let a little boy sleep on pink sheets. 

Right after he was born, I put the finishing touches on this quilt for him.  It's really heavy, so he probably won't ever be able to use it down here in the humidity.  I love it.  Granted, I messed up the pattern because I wasn't paying attention and doing it in stops and starts, but I love the colors, the different textures of the fabrics, everything.  The brown is a heavy corduroy, the green is a textured home deco weight, and the ivory backing is a heavy home decor fabric with a swirl-type texture. 

Then, there are the dark sheets and the navy bedskirt I made Thursday from a twin sheet.  Seriously...why have I never used sheets for big projects like that before?!  It was so easy and there were no funky seams from mixing/matching small pieces. 

I'll have to do that more often.  Like maybe for a duvet cover and bedskirt for our bed.  I've been wanting actual bedding for our room.  Sure would be an inexpensive solution...a $5 sheet from Walmart. 

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Grosgrain: SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

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