My Quiet Book Project Follow-up

Thankfully my on-going quiet book project* is going to be successful if the prototype was any indication.  We gave it to our granddaughter Wren for her first birthday.  Using 9x12 felt squares for the pages made it almost as big as she was, but as you can see that didn't stop her. 

17 month old Wren and her "special book"

Her parents save the book  for special occasions like when it is necessary for her to sit quietly and be occupied for long periods of time.

On Thanksgiving Day we received a call from our grand-daughter and her husband ---- we are going to be great-grandparents!!! Our first!  Three other grandsons are of marriageable age and I, for some reason, am

not getting any younger, so I must get back on the ball and finish up the rest of the quiet books while I am still around and still able.

*all of my quiet book pages, and how to's, are included on this blog site.

This desert snake page is one of the most popular

But . . .

 I have gotten side-tracked.

Background: My sister, from the time they were little, gave each of our children an ornament for Christmas.

With six children that was a lot of ornaments over the years.  And they all loved it and looked forward to putting their own on the tree each year.  As they got married they took their ornaments with them where they appear each year on their trees. 

We have done the same for our grandchildren (usually buying the ornaments when they are on sale after Christmas for the next year.) 

You wouldn't expect anything else from Simply, Gail the cheapskate would you? !!!

For Wren's first two Christmases we gave her cute, but commercial, bird ornaments.

This year I found a true treasure in Susan and her blog  

Downeast Thunder Farm.  

www.downeastthunderfarm.com 

Susan designs and creates life-like (and almost life-size) birds using felt and generously provides the patterns free of charge! You can even request a bird if you want one that is not already in her on-going collection.

Her only stipulation is they can be used to make a profit.  

When I published this post  yesterday the three below photos showed up in separate places where they belonged. When I looked at it today, where these photos had been, were blank spots with tiny jpeg symbols.  How can/did that happen? I've been trying to fix it for over an hour and this is the best I can manage.  The three are now joined as one!  And probably too small to really see.

Once again, sorry. And thanks for bearing with me.

On the right, Wren is 19 months old and sitting in her car seat with the quiet book
when she was in the car for over an hour on a long drive. Her parents sent this
photo saying "she spent one-half hour on just the mitten page."

The photo on the left is the winter wren ornament I made for Wren for this Christmas.

The middle photo is now-27-month-old Wren hanging her wren on the tree. 

I happened on Susan's site the very week our local fabric/craft store had felt squares on sale for 20 cents each!

No more after Christmas ornament sales for Simply, Gail!

Almost daily, I watch one-to-two hour block of  television and weekly, spend one and one-half hours in a support group for the loved-ones of addicts where we learn and teach how we can  live life without us being addicted to our addict.  (that's  another series of my posts)

Now this down time is being put to additional use!!  So far I have "under construction" cardinals, robins and a "fantasy bird" using the wren pattern in three shades of blue and turquoise.  I do the initial handwork during the TV hours and the around-the-edge blanket stitch during the support group.

Still need to add the beaks on two of them.
I am leaving openings at the bottom of each for the stuffing---
I'll add the stuffing to them later and then finish stitching them up.

Life is good!
Have a happy, peaceful, grateful day!

I am, Simply Gail

Noah's Ark Quiet Book Page Redesigned ...

because  I haven't been happy with the original way I tried to keep the animals "penned" in (using felt straps) on the ark's ramp.  


I doubt if it has been a bother for our  little granddaughter Wren but I am sure it has been a bit of a pain for her parents when it's time to close that page.

In the middle of last night, an idea came to me on the way to revamp the ramp!

Velcro and shoestrings!

The entire page is constructed the same way as the original except  I cut  both sections of 3/4" wide  velcro in half length-wise to make the sections narrow. Then I sewed the loop parts along the sides of the ark and the smooth parts along the sides of the ramp. 

I only sewed the velcro pieces down the middle of each, not along the edges.

I used shoelaces to string the animals.

You can go to the original instructions for the Noah's Ark page by copying the below into your search bar.  

Be aware, however, that for some reason the first page to come up will be the counting page. Simply scroll down and the ark appears.

http://thecreativecheapskate.blogspot.com/search?q=quiet+book+noah%27s+ark

Yes, I am Simply, Gail and I am cheap and I can be creative but I am certainly/obviously NOT computer savvy. 

 Have a grateful and peaceful day.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the                          world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,                         neither let it be afraid”            
                                                                                                            John 14:27

Nine Quick, Easy + Budget-Friendly Non-Chocolate Goodies for . . .

Serving, Giving and Eating !!! 

Did you notice my last two posts --- yummy chocolate overkill !!!

Today I am going to share my favorite other-than-chocolate treats ---also yummy + quick and budget friendly !!!  Including a couple that are also mail-friendly!

Mexican Wedding Cakes made from  Bisquick

OOPS, sorry about the formatting. I don't know how I did it and I can't find a way to undo it!

• 1 cup powdered sugar + additional for covering
• 1 cup softened margarine
• 4 cups Bisquick baking mix*
• 1 cup very finely chopped walnuts or other nuts
• 2 teaspoons almond extract (or vanilla)
• 4 Tablespoons water

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar and margarine. Mix in Bisquick. Add nuts, extract and water. (if not moist enough, add a tiny bit more water. ) Shape into balls.  Place on ungreased baking sheet  and bake for 10-12 minutes.
• When slightly cool, roll in confectioners' sugar, then roll again. Makes approximately 6 dozen.

* I often use my home made bisquick-type baking mix---find in my cookbook section along the right side of the blog under Master Mixes. 

Meringue Kisses

These meringue kisses were always in demand. Our children and all of the

many brides who asked for them for their receptions referred to them as

Grandma Jennie's white cookies.

3 egg whites

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup "filling" of your choice -- crushed peppermint sticks, chopped nuts, chips, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover large cookie sheet with foil and set aside. With electric mixer on high spead, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time beating after each addition until sugar dissolves (mixture will feel smooth). Continue beating until high peaks form. Fold in vanilla and chosen ingredients. Drop by teaspoon full onto foil. TURN OFF OVEN. Place cookie sheet in oven and let set until oven is completely cool, about 45 minutes.  They should be dry to the touch. Let cool. Peel off paper.
Food coloring can be added if desired.
Note: They will stay sticky (but still good) if made during times of high humidity.

Dipped Peanut Butter-filled Ritz-type Crackers

Simply  spread peanut butter between two Ritz-type crackers or mini-cracker sandwich style. . Dip each sandwich into melted white almond bark or other candy coating. Place on foil or waxed-paper covered try.
Dip a second time if more coating is desired.

Quick Easy-Peasy Peanut Butter Pinwheels

Combine one stick melted margarine with about 2-3 cups powdered sugar. Place between two squares of waxed-paper. Roll with rolling pin until you have a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Remove top paper and spread surfce with creamy peanut butter. Starting at long side, gently roll up jelly roll fashion, Cut into slices. Chill.

Glasss Candy

Very Pretty and Very Yummy

3-3/4 cups granulated white sugar
1-1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 teaspoon oil flavoring*  (cannot use regular cooking flavors)
food coloring to compliment flavoring
powdered sugar

Cover large cookie sheeet with heavy alumunum foil. Lightly dust with powdered sugar. Set aside.

In  large, heavy saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup and water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Boil, with out stirring until temperature reaches 300 to 310 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in oil and coloring. Pour evenly over prepared foil. Let cool. Break into pieces. Store in airtight container.

Cooking this makes your home smell wonderful!

This makes a great gift which stores and ships well.

*Oil flavorings are available in small bottles (that makes a lot) where craft and cake and candy making/decorating supplies are sold. Lorain is the most common brand.  It comes in zillions of flavors!!

You may also want to check out
Peppermint Bark and More under Candy in my cookbook column on the right. 




Mailing treats didn't use to be a bank-breaking experience. But alas, now it is. If  you have a loved one that is away from home and craving homemade goodies, here are a couple that travel well and relatively cheaply.

Popcorn Cake

One 6-ounce can of  cocktail peanuts

One 12-15 ounce package plain M&M's or other small candy pieces

One 16-ounce package miniature marshmallows 

1 stick margarine

Approximately 1 cup unpopped corn (enough to fill a bundt pan or an angel food-type tube pan when popped)

Melt margarine and marshmallows over low heat. Mix peanuts and M&M's into marshmallow mixture. Pour over popped corn and mix well. Butter hands generously and press mixture into well-buttered pan. Let cool in freezer to make it easier to remove from pan. Wrap tightly in clear plastic wrap. Pack in additional plain popped corn to mail.

• This also makes great popcorn balls!
• You can form the popcorn balls around peppermint candy sticks to make popcorn pops.
• Or, unwrap lollipops or suckers and form small popcorn balls around the lollipop, letting the stick handle protrude.

This recipe, or the forever popular crispy rice cereal with marshmallows treat recipe, can be formed into many shapes to fit special occasions. We've made a "plaster" cast with protruding toes. Years ago, our daughter Heidi made a giant tooth and a surprise visit to the dental college on her husband's birthday. Both the plaster for the cast and the tooth enamel were made with melted white almond bark. We tinted the almond bark pink to cover the toes. 

White Chocolate Popcorn   

The simplest way is to buy a large bag of already buttered popcorn. Melt white almond bark over very low heat or in microwave, stirring until smooth. Pour over popcorn, stirring well as you go. Spread out on waxed paper to dry. Can add peanuts if desired.

Some of our grand kids call this next one "Sugar Shrimp" and others call it "Pirates Booty"  I call it by its description: Sweet & Salty Corn Pop Stuff!

We ALL call it great!                                               

This type of corn pops,
not the cereal type.

1 entire stick  plus 1/3 of a second stick of butter or margarine
2/3 cups white sugar
2 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring 
1 very large package of Barrel O' Fun Corn Pops (about 15 ounces)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Melt butter in large sauce pan. Bring to a fast boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour over corn pops, stirring as you go. Spread on cookie sheets or in a large roaster-type pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and pour onto flat surface to cool. Break up as needed. 

Handy Hint: Cut open the empty Barrel 'O Fun bag and spread it flat on a counter or table. Pour the finished snack onto the bag to cool.  (Our dog loves it when a few overshoot the area and fall on the floor!)

Cheapskate Hint:  Watch the weight of the mailing boxes themselves!!! When mailing unbreakable items, I often mail in large cereal boxes or soda cracker boxes or similar. 

'til we eat again,

I am Simply, Gail

Candy Gifts to Copy Cat for Less - - - - Much Less!

Over the years, I have experimented with copy-catting all kinds    of commercial candies. When you have six kids and a limited budget, that is what you do!!!

It has been challenging and usually,  successful. 

Ju

When we lived in the mid-west in the 80's amd 90's I taught some homemaking classes, was published in some local newspapers and even self-published a 135+ recipe booklet sub-titled "copy-cat candies and other treats for everyday enjoyment and all occasions."

The time seems right to bring them front and center again!

And since there is no sense in "reinventing the wheel" (a saying as old as the old candy prices!) you can find them by . . . 

scrolling down the right side of the blog to find my cookbook section. Scroll down to Candy and you fill find several posts, many with variations!

I really, really like chocolate as you can see. If chocolate is not your favorite morsel I will give you a few without chocolate in my next post.

The first in the candy series covers candy bars: "Almondy Joy" "Coconut Moundling"  and "Krunch" and a sweetened condensed milk recipe  used in making some of them.  It also gives interesting now and then (1990's) prices for comparison.

Next comes  Peanut Clusters, Marshmallow-Peanut Clusters and Marshmallow Cups (one of my favorite candy bars growing up in California was "Cup-O-Gold.")

Then comes fudge---in six varieties

Followed by more posts on Peanut Clusters

Peppermint and other barks

Finally, Rounding out the category with toffee, turtles, and pecan pralines

Most also give the 1990 prices!

Further down the cookbook is simply eggnog pie and flavored popcorns.


This seems like a fitting place for the next item----it's not but it could be me!

I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. The nurse starts with certain basics.

How much do you weigh? she asks. "195," I say.  The nurse puts me on the scale. It turns out my weight is 250.

The nurse asks, "Your height?" "5 foot 11", I say. The nurse checks and sees that I only measure 5 foot 8.

She then takes my blood pressure and tells me it is very high.

"Of course it's high !" I scream. "When I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat !"



'til we eat again,
  I am,  Simply, Gail

"Lettuce" Quickly Prepare Romaine . . .

an entire week's worth at a time !!!

The perfect do-ahead for busy people!

     First, an apology

It's been a few weeks since I have posted and in that time I have forgotten how to transfer the photos Dave takes for me without going through a complicated process (which we also cannot remember!) of getting them from his computer to mine. Until our brain(s) kick into gear I have to make do with google image photos and some explanations.

Background

I recently purchased my third Foodsaver (the first two were garage sale finds) and it came with an accessory attachment I thought sealed canning jars. Online I had found info making a week's worth of salads in a jar using this attachment. I hurried and sent for the special required lids because they had free shipping. I can't make them work with my attachment and  am about to call the company to see what I am doing wrong.. In the mean time, while searching the net for help I ran across articles for making the same salads in canning jars without using the suction attachment. They claimed they also kept salads-in-jars fresh for six days.

Fast Forward

Nine days ago I made my first salads in a jar, using romaine lettuce (which all sites recommend), tomatoes, cucumbers, and sliced green onions.  I even cut the lettuce with a metal knife which I have always thought/been told will turn the lettuce brown---which, with traditional salads, it has!

Today, day ten, I made tostadas. The lettuce is still as crisp and crunchy and without blemish as day one!  The below photo is another google image. My lettuce looks even better.

Now .... How!

The above photo shows cutting the romaine cross-ways. Before you do that slash it from root end to top 4 or 5 times. Then cut it across. I couldn't believe how fast it went and how great the resulting small pieces were. In the past I have always torn it. This way is so much better.

You can use any size jar that fits your needs and has a tight-fitting lid. For us the pint one are idea, especially the ones that have wide mouths. (Simply for ease in packing.)

You begin by putting your chopped "wet items" like the tomatoes, in first. (Some even put the dressing in first.) Continue adding whatever additions you want and then tightly stuff the chopped lettuce or whatever greens you want, filling the jar to the top. 

Cap it with the canning lid and ring or other tight-fitting lid 

and refrigerate.

     

With the holidays approaching, wouldn't this be a fun gift for busy friends! single friends! elderly friends! friends who take their lunch to work!

For more information just type in salads in a jar or simply type the same in google images for oodles of ideas.

    

Until next time,
I am Simply, Gail, and so simple I can't figure out how I messed up the formatting so badly. I am sure it is a simple fix but . . .