Carrie – Page 57 – The Creative Salad

DIY Art Supplies Caddy

This is a post that I have been meaning to write since February, the last time we went to IKEA. I kid you not. This post is eight months late! (I am so behind with, oh, everything.)

Here’s an easy way to make a transportable art caddy. Gather empty and clean tin cans and/or jam jars and place them in a handled wooden cutlery tray.

This particular wooden silverware tray came from IKEA, cost less less than $7, and holds six cans.

In our art caddy we have a spot for markers, colored pencils, writing pencils, erasers, scissors, glitter glue pens and popsicle sticks.

Instead of adhering the cans to the tray, we left them free floating so we can remove individual cans from the caddy to bring just one artistic medium to the table.

I have plans to paint the caddy blue… but considering that I’ve been meaning to paint it since February, it may be a long time coming.

Canning Applesauce

I’ve talked before about my love of making applesauce from scratch, but can you believe I’ve never canned applesauce before?!

In fact, I’ve never canned any food before! Despite our intention to cook most meals from scratch, I make each component from scratch each time we cook. What a waste of time!

This past week, with friends guiding the way, I discovered how easy canning can be!

Here’s how we made our applesauce:

We gathered and washed lots and lots of apples.

(How lucky are we to get free apples from our friends with fruit trees in their backyard?!)

We cut out obvious worm holes, but ignored bruises, and piled whole apples into stock pans filled with some water. We brought the water to a boil, lowered the heat and then simmered the apples until they were mushy.

(We’ve found the applesauce tastes much more flavorful when using whole apples, so resist the urge to peel them!)

We then used a food strainer to process the apples. Alternatively you could use a food mill.

We all took turns turning the handle on the food strainer. This is definitely an instance of the more the merrier. After all, many hands make light work!

We filled sterilized jars with the applesauce, covered the jars with Tattler reusable canning lids (BPA free!), and boiled them in a water bath to seal the jars.

What fun we had working together! It feels so good to use your hands and make something incredibly delicious.

I now am eager to put up more: preserves, condiments, salsas, sauerkraut, and, of course, more applesauce before apple season is over.

Next summer we are going to can jars and jars of blackberry jam. Nom nom nom!

Picking a New Roof Color For the Dollhouse

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

We spent yesterday in negotiations over what color we should paint the dollhouse roof.

To refresh your memory, here is the current state of the roof:

Originally I wanted to go with a sage green (mostly so we could use the leftover paint to repaint our kitchen chairs; you know, have a two-for-one type project). Our daughter wanted purple. We decided to do a quick mock up with Photoshop to see what the roof might look like.

Good thing we did this mock up because neither of us liked the colors we had originally picked!

We ended up agreeing, fittingly enough, on a color that’s a variation on the red roof we already have: the Red Delicious color that’s part of the Land of Nod collection by the non-toxic paint company (and locally available), Mythic Paints, shown above as #6.

What do you think? What would you have picked?
(If it were only up to me, I would have gone with #1. Love that magenta!)

Butternut Squash Recipes

In one fell swoop autumn has descended upon Sonoma County and we’re craving those familiar fall foods: homemade apple sauce, warming veggie curries and soups, and anything and everything involving winter squash. Oh, the diversity of squash that’s available in the grocery store! I can’t help but come home with a squash, gourd or pumpkin each time I shop.

Here are some butternut squash soup recipes I’m excited to try, plus my favorite butternut squash recipe of all time, below.

Recipes to try:

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Source: simplebites.net via Carrie on Pinterest

Butternut Squash Soup with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

Source: sweetpaul.typepad.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Leek, Butternut Squash and Potato Soup

Source: cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Our favorite lasagna recipe, to make again and again:

Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne
from the December 2001 issue of Gourmet

For squash filling
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 cup hazelnuts (4 oz), toasted , loose skins rubbed off with a kitchen towel, and coarsely chopped

For sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups milk
1 bay leaf (not California)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

For assembling lasagne
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, coarsely grated (2 cups)
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 oz)
12 (7- by 3 1/2-inch) sheets no-boil lasagne (1/2 lb)

Preparation

Make filling:
Cook onion in butter in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes. Add squash, garlic, salt, and white pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is just tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley, sage, and nuts. Cool filling.

Make sauce while squash cooks:
Cook garlic in butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, 1 minute. Whisk in flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk in a stream, whisking. Add bay leaf and bring to a boil, whisking constantly, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 10 minutes. Whisk in salt and white pepper and remove from heat. Discard bay leaf. (Cover surface of sauce with wax paper if not using immediately.)

Assemble lasagne:
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Toss cheeses together. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in a buttered 13- by 9- by 2-inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 3-quart baking dish) and cover with 3 pasta sheets, leaving spaces between sheets. Spread with 2/3 cup sauce and one third of filling, then sprinkle with a heaping 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layering 2 more times, beginning with pasta sheets and ending with cheese. Top with remaining 3 pasta sheets, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese.

Tightly cover baking dish with buttered foil and bake lasagne in middle of oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let lasagne stand 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Cooks’ note:
· Filling and sauce can be made 1 day ahead and kept separately, covered and chilled. Bring to room temperature before assembling.

Bon appétit!

Dollhouse Inspiration

David’s father just drove over a thousand miles to bring us the dollhouse David’s maternal great-grandfather made for David’s grandmother when she was a little girl in the 1930s.