A number of years ago, my then 10dd made us all some rice bags. She's 18 now and those bags have lasted this long and seen a lot of use.
Here's what she did:
Cut some cotton or poly/cotton fabric to a 10"x 10" square (or make a 10" x20" rectangle)
She put the wrong sides together and sewed almost all the way around the bag, left an opening to turn the bag and be able to fill it.
She then filled it with about 2 cups of rice. Just regular, long-grain, uncooked rice.
She then sewed over the opening.
Whenever we need some heat - either on an aching body part or to warm a cold bed, we place the bag in the microwave and nuke if for 1-4 minutes. The amount of time depends on the wattage of your microwave and whether or not you're using this for a heating pad or wanting to warm a bed.
BE VERY CAREFUL using this with small children or elderly person! The bags can get very hot - depending on how long you heat it. They can be heated hot enough to cause a serious burn on a child or elderly person.
The crazy world of a former homeschool mama whose babies are young adults. Come learn about baking bread, Once-a-month/bulk cooking, making soap, sewing, self-sufficiency, what food storage is and how to start your own. What a 72 hr kit is and how to create one. I'm not an expert but I have been doing most of these skills for a long time. I like to be as self-sufficient as I can. I love learning new skills or ways of doing things at home instead of having to buy at the store. Come join me.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Fingerless Glove
Cold weather is acomin' and my one had gets really cold. So last winter, I made myself a Fingerless glove for my right hand. It worked out really well. I also made a pair for the kids to give to their dad (my ex.- yeah, I know, but the kids...) He's a carpenter and they were worried about him being cold while working. Anyway, here's the pattern I used with my modifications at the end. I really enjoy having it to wear.
Fingerless Gloves
Materals: approx. 2 oz worsted weight yarn
Size 6 and 8 needles (straights or double points)
Needle for finishing.
Cast on:
Child/Teen/Adults 30/36/38/44
Using size 6 needles, work in K1, P1 for 3" to 5"
Begin glove:
Row 1 ,3, 5,[7]: Knit [if you need to change length to thumb]
Row 2 , 4, 6,[8] : Purl [if you need to change length to thumb]
Row 7[9]: Knit 14/17/18/21 stitches. Place marker, K 2, Place Marker, Knit to end
Row 8[10]: Purl
Row 9[11]: K across to markers slip marker, Increase in each of the two stitches (4 stitches), slip marker, knit across
Row 10 [12], Purl
Row 11 [13]: Knit to marker, slip marker, inc in first stitch, k in following stitches, inc in last stitch (6 stitches), knit across
Row 12 [14]: Purl
Row 13 [15]: Knit to marker, slip marker, inc in first stitch, k in following stitches, inc in last stitch (8 stitches), knit across
Row 14 [16]: Purl to marker slip marker, knit 8, slip marker, Purl to end
Row 15 [17]: Knit to marker, slip marker, Increase in first stitch, knit to last stitch and increase (10 stitches), knit across row
Row 16 [18]: Purl across to marker, slip marker, Knit 10, slip marker, purl across
Row 17 [19]: Knit across to marker, slip marker, increase in first stitch, knit to last stitch and increase (12 stitches), slip marker, knit across
Row 18 [20]: Purl to marker, slip marker, knit 12, slip marker, purl across
Row 19 [21]: Knit to marker, remover marker, bind off 12 (knit first stitch, knit next stitch and then slide the first stitch over the second stitch). Do this to marker, remove marker, then slip that last stitch back on with the rest of the to-be-knit stitches, knit it and all the others to end. (This binding off and reknitting that last slipped stitch keeps a hole from forming in bound-off area.)
Row 20 [22]: Purl across stitches
*Row 21 [23], 23 [25]: Knit
*Rows 22 [24], 24 [26]: Purl
Repeat from* for number of rows you want for palm length(remember to include the 6 rows below in calculating your length), ending with purl row.
If you want a tighter top, do six rows in K1, P1 ribbing and bind off.
Otherwise, knit six rows even and bind off.
Sew up side seam (if using straight needles) and fasten off end.
Mine:
I used Size 2 needles to cast on and do the cuff
Cast on 47 stitches.
K1 P1 for 5” was how tall I made the palm.
Friday, October 12, 2007
What would you like me to blog about next?
I'm feeling like I'm a little short on ideas today. I guess I'm having writer's block.
Do any of you have something you'd like me to address? Any thing you'd like my take on?
I'm sure I can find something to ramble on about, but I was wondering if any of you had something you'd like to see or learn about.
Do any of you have something you'd like me to address? Any thing you'd like my take on?
I'm sure I can find something to ramble on about, but I was wondering if any of you had something you'd like to see or learn about.
Tortillas, chips, bean dip, nachos, taco salad and sopapillas
Ok, I also promised Lib I'd post a recipe for tortillas. I usually make flour tortillas, but I recently bought some Masa Harina to make corn tortillas. I've yet to try it but when I do, I'll let you guys know how it worked out.
Also, please note. I've been cooking alone since I was 9 years old. I'm now 54. I don't do a lot of measuring of spices in my recipes. I just know how much of something we like in our food. I've tried to estimate amounts for those that like to be able to measure. These measurements are a jumping off point. Remember that you can change the seasonings around in any recipe - especially if you know what your family likes. For instance, many people love fresh cilantro in their salsa and dips. I HATE the taste of cilantro, so I don't use it. My family and I don't like black pepper, so I regularly delete it from any recipe I receive. Feel free to add in what your family likes, remove what they don't like. Add more of less of a seasoning until it's got the flavor that makes your family happy. I'm of German descent. We like vinegary things. So if the salsa recipe sounds like it's too much vinegar, use less. Don't want to use olive oil, don't. Like cider vinegar instead of wine, use it instead. It will give the food a different flavor, but if you like it, use it instead. In other words, make these recipes yours.
Flour Tortillas
4 cups flour (I've used both white and whole wheat. Next time I make them with whole wheat, I'm going to add 1 Tbs of vital wheat gluten to make them more pliable.)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup lard (we've been using shortening. But take your pick - transfats or animal fat. I'll bet olive oil will work too, but I haven't tried that yet.)
water
Mix the flour and the salt. Cut in whatever you're using for fat. Mix in enough water to make a pliable dough. Start with 1/4 cup and add more as needed. (I've never measured the amount, I just add water and mix like pie dough until I have a pliable dough.) Knead dough until soft enough to stretch well. I break the dough into about 7-10 balls. (The fewer the balls of dough, the bigger each tortilla will be.) Let stand 30 mins, covered with a damp cloth. Then roll out paper thin or press in a tortilla press (mine was a whopping $5.00 from a friend with family in Mexico)
Cook in a medium hot skillet or griddle until tortillas start to bubble. If they start to stick, wipe the bottom of the pan with oil. I wipe my cast iron skillets with a cloth that I've dabbed oil on before I set them on the stove. (I have more than one skillet going for all things that I'm doing a lot of - pancakes, tortillas, grilling sandwiches, etc...) I preheat the skillets to medium and then bake the tortillas in them. If the tortilla get too big a bubble going, I will prick it with a fork.
These are so good, I have to double the batch! They also freeze well.
To make some really yummy chips out of these:
Brush the top of however many tortillas you want with oil or butter. If you wanted to you can spray them with no-stick spray. You can also sprinkle tops with salt, Parmesan cheese, etc., before you toast them. Cut them into 6th or 8th. Lay pieces in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 8-10 mins. or until toasted.
5 minute beans for fillings or dip
Grind either black beans or pinto beans in a grinder to make a flour.
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups pinto or black bean* flour
1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch of garlic powder
Directions usually tell you to whisk the flour into the boiling water. This tends to result in lumps. What I do is take the flour and put it in a large cup. I then measure out some water and use part of that to stir into the flour. I make first a paste, then a slurry that will pour, into the rest of the water when it's boiled. So for this, I'd measure out 2 cups of water. I'll only use part of the water to make the flour into a slurry - perhaps 1/2 -3/4 cups of the water. When the slurry is made, put the rest of the 2 cups of water that didn't get used into a medium pot, with the remaining 1/2 cup of the 2 1/2 cups water called for and bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the bean slurry to the pot. Pour the slurry slowly into the water, stirring constantly - scrape the cup to get all the goodness out. Then bring the mixture back to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook 4 minutes. You can add some Picante sauce, taco sauce or salsa to this if you'd like. I also like to add some cheese to it - any kind I have on hand - cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.
This will be a little thin, but will thicken on cooling and stay thick even if you re-heat it.
*Note about black bean flour
Black bean flour tends to look rather blue-grey-brown when it only cooks a short time. This is fine if your using it inside of a tortilla or taco shell. Plain, it doesn't look as appetizing. So If you're using this as a dip, nuke in a covered dish for about 5 minutes on high. It will turn a better shade of brown.
Refried bean master mix for fillings or dip
3 cups pinto or black bean* flour
1 tsp cumin
1 tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder (opt)
2 tsp instant minced onions or onion powder (opt)
Mix this together and store in an airtight container. (I freeze all my flours so that they retain the vitamins, which tend to oxidize quickly after grinding. But you may choose to store this on a shelf or in your fridge.)
To prepare
Directions usually tell you to whisk the flour into the boiling water. This tends to result in lumps. What I do is take the flour and put it in a large cup. I then measure out some water and use part of that to stir into the flour. I make first a paste, then a slurry that will pour, into the rest of the water when it's boiled. So for this, I'd measure out 2 cups of water. I'll only use part of the water to make the flour into a slurry - perhaps 1/2 -3/4 cups of the water. When the slurry is made, put the rest of the 2 cups of water that didn't get used into a medium pot, with the remaining 1/2 cup of the 2 1/2 cups water called for and bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the bean slurry to the pot. Pour the slurry slowly into the water, stirring constantly - scrape the cup to get all the goodness out. Then bring the mixture to a boil again over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook 4 minutes. You can add some Picante sauce, taco sauce or salsa to this if you'd like. I also like to add some cheese to it - any kind I have on hand - cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.
This will be a little thin, but will thicken on cooling and stay thick even if you re-heat it.
*Note about black bean flour
Black bean flour tends to look rather blue-grey-brown when it only cooks a short time. This is fine if your using it inside of a tortilla or taco shell. Plain, it doesn't look as appetizing. So If you're using this as a dip, nuke in a covered dish for about 5 minutes on high. It will turn a better shade of brown.
Refried bean soup
You can also use broth instead of water, thin the refried mixture out and use this for a soup. Float pieces of tortillas - either plain or toasted into chips, or Fritos. Add some cheese, tomato pieces, onions, cooked ground beef, etc. You can have dinner in like 10 mins!
Serve with tortillas - flour or corn, some salsa and sour cream.
Guacamole
2 avocado, mashed
juice of 1 lime - about 1-2 tbs
Cumin
onion powder or minced onion
Mix together. I never measure this. Just start with 1 tsp and add to taste. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes, covered, so the flavors can meld . Press the plastic directly on top of the avocado or it will turn brown - still tastes good, just looks yucky.
Salsa Colombian style
6 Roma tomatoes, or 3 regular tomatoes, diced small
1 med onion, diced small
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
red wine vinegar
olive oil
Place in a medium size bowl and mix together tomatoes, onions and peppers. Add vinegar to 1 1/2" to 2" below vegies. Pour a 1/2"-1" layer of oil over all. Add salt and stir well. Use fresh.
Nachos
Either homemade or store-bought:
Tortilla chips
Bean dip
shredded cheese
sliced black olives
Sour cream
Guacamole
diced tomatoes*
Diced onions*
red wine vinegar and oil*
*or salsa instead
Place the chips on a plate. Layer dip and cheese on top. Nuke for about 45 seconds - just enough to melt the cheese. Top with olives, sour cream, guacamole and either salsa or the tomatoes, onion and some vinegar and oil.
Taco Salad
Above ingredients for Nachos, plus ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning and lettuce.
crush chips, place ground beef, dip and cheese on top. Nuke to melt cheese. Then add lettuce and continue layering as for Nachos.
Sopapillas
After rolling out dough, instead of heating it in a dry skillet, drop the dough into a pot of oil and deep fat fry them, turning once. They will puff up. Drain on a couple of towels to absorb extra grease. Sprinkle with sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, honey, nutmeg and/or cinnamon. Eat while still warm.
Hope you enjoy these dishes as much as my kids do.
Also, please note. I've been cooking alone since I was 9 years old. I'm now 54. I don't do a lot of measuring of spices in my recipes. I just know how much of something we like in our food. I've tried to estimate amounts for those that like to be able to measure. These measurements are a jumping off point. Remember that you can change the seasonings around in any recipe - especially if you know what your family likes. For instance, many people love fresh cilantro in their salsa and dips. I HATE the taste of cilantro, so I don't use it. My family and I don't like black pepper, so I regularly delete it from any recipe I receive. Feel free to add in what your family likes, remove what they don't like. Add more of less of a seasoning until it's got the flavor that makes your family happy. I'm of German descent. We like vinegary things. So if the salsa recipe sounds like it's too much vinegar, use less. Don't want to use olive oil, don't. Like cider vinegar instead of wine, use it instead. It will give the food a different flavor, but if you like it, use it instead. In other words, make these recipes yours.
Flour Tortillas
4 cups flour (I've used both white and whole wheat. Next time I make them with whole wheat, I'm going to add 1 Tbs of vital wheat gluten to make them more pliable.)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup lard (we've been using shortening. But take your pick - transfats or animal fat. I'll bet olive oil will work too, but I haven't tried that yet.)
water
Mix the flour and the salt. Cut in whatever you're using for fat. Mix in enough water to make a pliable dough. Start with 1/4 cup and add more as needed. (I've never measured the amount, I just add water and mix like pie dough until I have a pliable dough.) Knead dough until soft enough to stretch well. I break the dough into about 7-10 balls. (The fewer the balls of dough, the bigger each tortilla will be.) Let stand 30 mins, covered with a damp cloth. Then roll out paper thin or press in a tortilla press (mine was a whopping $5.00 from a friend with family in Mexico)
Cook in a medium hot skillet or griddle until tortillas start to bubble. If they start to stick, wipe the bottom of the pan with oil. I wipe my cast iron skillets with a cloth that I've dabbed oil on before I set them on the stove. (I have more than one skillet going for all things that I'm doing a lot of - pancakes, tortillas, grilling sandwiches, etc...) I preheat the skillets to medium and then bake the tortillas in them. If the tortilla get too big a bubble going, I will prick it with a fork.
These are so good, I have to double the batch! They also freeze well.
To make some really yummy chips out of these:
Brush the top of however many tortillas you want with oil or butter. If you wanted to you can spray them with no-stick spray. You can also sprinkle tops with salt, Parmesan cheese, etc., before you toast them. Cut them into 6th or 8th. Lay pieces in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 8-10 mins. or until toasted.
5 minute beans for fillings or dip
Grind either black beans or pinto beans in a grinder to make a flour.
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups pinto or black bean* flour
1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch of garlic powder
Directions usually tell you to whisk the flour into the boiling water. This tends to result in lumps. What I do is take the flour and put it in a large cup. I then measure out some water and use part of that to stir into the flour. I make first a paste, then a slurry that will pour, into the rest of the water when it's boiled. So for this, I'd measure out 2 cups of water. I'll only use part of the water to make the flour into a slurry - perhaps 1/2 -3/4 cups of the water. When the slurry is made, put the rest of the 2 cups of water that didn't get used into a medium pot, with the remaining 1/2 cup of the 2 1/2 cups water called for and bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the bean slurry to the pot. Pour the slurry slowly into the water, stirring constantly - scrape the cup to get all the goodness out. Then bring the mixture back to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook 4 minutes. You can add some Picante sauce, taco sauce or salsa to this if you'd like. I also like to add some cheese to it - any kind I have on hand - cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.
This will be a little thin, but will thicken on cooling and stay thick even if you re-heat it.
*Note about black bean flour
Black bean flour tends to look rather blue-grey-brown when it only cooks a short time. This is fine if your using it inside of a tortilla or taco shell. Plain, it doesn't look as appetizing. So If you're using this as a dip, nuke in a covered dish for about 5 minutes on high. It will turn a better shade of brown.
Refried bean master mix for fillings or dip
3 cups pinto or black bean* flour
1 tsp cumin
1 tbs chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder (opt)
2 tsp instant minced onions or onion powder (opt)
Mix this together and store in an airtight container. (I freeze all my flours so that they retain the vitamins, which tend to oxidize quickly after grinding. But you may choose to store this on a shelf or in your fridge.)
To prepare
Directions usually tell you to whisk the flour into the boiling water. This tends to result in lumps. What I do is take the flour and put it in a large cup. I then measure out some water and use part of that to stir into the flour. I make first a paste, then a slurry that will pour, into the rest of the water when it's boiled. So for this, I'd measure out 2 cups of water. I'll only use part of the water to make the flour into a slurry - perhaps 1/2 -3/4 cups of the water. When the slurry is made, put the rest of the 2 cups of water that didn't get used into a medium pot, with the remaining 1/2 cup of the 2 1/2 cups water called for and bring it to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and add the bean slurry to the pot. Pour the slurry slowly into the water, stirring constantly - scrape the cup to get all the goodness out. Then bring the mixture to a boil again over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook 4 minutes. You can add some Picante sauce, taco sauce or salsa to this if you'd like. I also like to add some cheese to it - any kind I have on hand - cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.
This will be a little thin, but will thicken on cooling and stay thick even if you re-heat it.
*Note about black bean flour
Black bean flour tends to look rather blue-grey-brown when it only cooks a short time. This is fine if your using it inside of a tortilla or taco shell. Plain, it doesn't look as appetizing. So If you're using this as a dip, nuke in a covered dish for about 5 minutes on high. It will turn a better shade of brown.
Refried bean soup
You can also use broth instead of water, thin the refried mixture out and use this for a soup. Float pieces of tortillas - either plain or toasted into chips, or Fritos. Add some cheese, tomato pieces, onions, cooked ground beef, etc. You can have dinner in like 10 mins!
Serve with tortillas - flour or corn, some salsa and sour cream.
Guacamole
2 avocado, mashed
juice of 1 lime - about 1-2 tbs
Cumin
onion powder or minced onion
Mix together. I never measure this. Just start with 1 tsp and add to taste. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes, covered, so the flavors can meld . Press the plastic directly on top of the avocado or it will turn brown - still tastes good, just looks yucky.
Salsa Colombian style
6 Roma tomatoes, or 3 regular tomatoes, diced small
1 med onion, diced small
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 1/2 tsp salt
red wine vinegar
olive oil
Place in a medium size bowl and mix together tomatoes, onions and peppers. Add vinegar to 1 1/2" to 2" below vegies. Pour a 1/2"-1" layer of oil over all. Add salt and stir well. Use fresh.
Nachos
Either homemade or store-bought:
Tortilla chips
Bean dip
shredded cheese
sliced black olives
Sour cream
Guacamole
diced tomatoes*
Diced onions*
red wine vinegar and oil*
*or salsa instead
Place the chips on a plate. Layer dip and cheese on top. Nuke for about 45 seconds - just enough to melt the cheese. Top with olives, sour cream, guacamole and either salsa or the tomatoes, onion and some vinegar and oil.
Taco Salad
Above ingredients for Nachos, plus ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning and lettuce.
crush chips, place ground beef, dip and cheese on top. Nuke to melt cheese. Then add lettuce and continue layering as for Nachos.
Sopapillas
After rolling out dough, instead of heating it in a dry skillet, drop the dough into a pot of oil and deep fat fry them, turning once. They will puff up. Drain on a couple of towels to absorb extra grease. Sprinkle with sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, honey, nutmeg and/or cinnamon. Eat while still warm.
Hope you enjoy these dishes as much as my kids do.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Pita bread recipe for Lib
Sorry Lib to take so long to get this posted. Things have been crazy the last couple of weeks.
Pita Bread/French Bread
1 quart (4 cups) warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
4 pounds of flour (this is usually white flour, but it should work just as well with whole wheat. Throw in 2 Tbs of vital gluten for good measure with the whole wheat and it will be more pliable.)
Place 3 lbs of flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix together. Add warm water. Add the other 1 lb of flour as needed to make a moderately stiff dough. Let rest about 10 mins.
Pita bread:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Pinch off pieces of dough and roll out into a circle. Make SURE you don't compress the edges of the dough - the pita can't rise if you do that.You decide on how big you want your final pita to be by how big a chunk of dough you use. Usually a ball somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball size. Roll or pat dough to about 3/8" thick - use two pencils on either side of the dough and use the rolling pin to roll over the pencils, with the dough between the pencils. When the rolling pen is no longer flattening the dough, it will be 3/8" thick. You want a circle of dough, so you're going to have to move the dough as you roll it out. Also the pencil trick will keep you from rolling over the edges.
Bake on bottom of gas oven - yes, that is the floor of the oven. Or for an electric oven, put a cookie sheet, upside down on the lowest shelf when you preheat the oven - or use a pizza tile on the bottom shelf. It will take a pizza tile about 1 hr to get hot enough. Tastes great, but uses a lot of energy for making one batch of anything.
Bake two or three pita at a time.
Bake for about 2 mins or until golden, then turn and bake on the other side for another minute or two. They should puff up. Use tongs to handle them.
Baguettes or French bread (same thing only one is smaller and thinner than the other)
Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into two cylindrical loaves for Baguettes or one loaf for French. Place on cookie sheet that you have sprinkled a little cornmeal onto, cover and proof 30-60 mins for the baguettes or 1-2 hrs for the French bread - until doubled. When proofed, slash the top(s). You can also dust with flour shaken through a sieve or oatmeal, then floured.
Place pan in oven, drop 1-2 tbs water onto oven floor and immediately close oven door. Bake 30 mins - until inside bread temp is 200-210 degrees.
Do we need a recipe for flour tortillas? I have several if anyone is interested.
Pita Bread/French Bread
1 quart (4 cups) warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
4 pounds of flour (this is usually white flour, but it should work just as well with whole wheat. Throw in 2 Tbs of vital gluten for good measure with the whole wheat and it will be more pliable.)
Place 3 lbs of flour, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix together. Add warm water. Add the other 1 lb of flour as needed to make a moderately stiff dough. Let rest about 10 mins.
Pita bread:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Pinch off pieces of dough and roll out into a circle. Make SURE you don't compress the edges of the dough - the pita can't rise if you do that.You decide on how big you want your final pita to be by how big a chunk of dough you use. Usually a ball somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball size. Roll or pat dough to about 3/8" thick - use two pencils on either side of the dough and use the rolling pin to roll over the pencils, with the dough between the pencils. When the rolling pen is no longer flattening the dough, it will be 3/8" thick. You want a circle of dough, so you're going to have to move the dough as you roll it out. Also the pencil trick will keep you from rolling over the edges.
Bake on bottom of gas oven - yes, that is the floor of the oven. Or for an electric oven, put a cookie sheet, upside down on the lowest shelf when you preheat the oven - or use a pizza tile on the bottom shelf. It will take a pizza tile about 1 hr to get hot enough. Tastes great, but uses a lot of energy for making one batch of anything.
Bake two or three pita at a time.
Bake for about 2 mins or until golden, then turn and bake on the other side for another minute or two. They should puff up. Use tongs to handle them.
Baguettes or French bread (same thing only one is smaller and thinner than the other)
Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into two cylindrical loaves for Baguettes or one loaf for French. Place on cookie sheet that you have sprinkled a little cornmeal onto, cover and proof 30-60 mins for the baguettes or 1-2 hrs for the French bread - until doubled. When proofed, slash the top(s). You can also dust with flour shaken through a sieve or oatmeal, then floured.
Place pan in oven, drop 1-2 tbs water onto oven floor and immediately close oven door. Bake 30 mins - until inside bread temp is 200-210 degrees.
Do we need a recipe for flour tortillas? I have several if anyone is interested.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Hot wings and curly fries
I lived in Tallahassee, FL for many years and one of my favorite places to eat was a place called "Buffalo Wings and Rings". They had the best hot wings, curly fries and a fun atmosphere to eat them in.
I now live in North GA, and even if I lived in FL, I couldn't afford to eat out. But there's a way I can still have the hot wings. Make them myself. What a novel idea. How the heck do they make them anyway?
Well, I don't know how they make them, but here's how I make them.
First, I don't buy just the wings. They went from being about .29 cents a pound to $1.70 a pound. As the craze for hot wings hit, the prices went sky high. Too much to pay for bones and a little meat. Not when a whole chicken is on sale for .79 a pound!
So I do one of two things. I either save up my wings or I use other chicken parts for "wings". It's the heat that's fun. But crispy skin is tasty too. hummmm, nutrition or taste. Your choice.
I've gotten to where when I buy a chicken, I cut it into parts and freeze the parts, not a whole bird. I can make boneless, skinless chicken parts and use the bones and skin for stock. I cut my wing tips and save for the soup pot, to go with backs, skin and bones. You can either cut the wings apart at the joint or leave them whole. I left this last batch whole. Worked just fine. I've also cut breast strips into 1" x how ever long the breast is and used those for "wings". I seal my bags well and then freeze. I thaw before using the meat.
You have two choices for cooking the meat. You can deep fry it or bake it. I bake it. It's less fuss and grease. If you fry them, you would add the sauce after they are fried.
To make chicken wings:
First, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I prepare my baking pan by spraying it with no-stick spray. I also use a stainless steel cooling rack for a rack to bake the meat on. I also spray the rack with no-stick.
While the oven preheats, you prepare the sauce.
The sauce is comprised of two items - hot sauce and butter. The more hot sauce, the hotter the finished product. The more butter, the milder the sauce. I used about 1/2 stick of butter to about 1 1/2 cups sauce. You may want to start out with 1/2 cup hot sauce. Personally, I like "Louisiana Hot Sauce" best. Use whatever brand is available to you. (Anyone have a recipe for making homemade "hot sauce"? It is not the same thing as adding vinegar to hot peppers which is what Southerners use on greens. This hot sauce I use is red, it's not "Tabasco sauce" it has less heat than that and it's not a Tabasco pepper that is used, but is still pretty hot. I also know it's not a Jalapeño - it would be green if it was.)
Melt the butter and a bit of sauce in the microwave or on the stove top. Carefully taste the sauce and see if it's hot enough (spicy vs temperature) for you. If not, add more hot sauce or more butter. (You may need to reheat it if you add much sauce - the butter tends to cool and clump if too much cold sauce is added to it.) When it's hot enough for your taste buds, your ready to put it on the chicken.
Personally, I just dunk the chicken pieces in the sauce, coat them well and then using two fingers, pick them up and plunk them on the rack. Or you can use tongs to maneuver the chicken pieces or put the chicken on the rack, then use a brush and brush the sauce on.
If you use your fingers MAKE SURE YOU DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES until you've washed your hands - WELL!! It will burn your skin if you touch your face or tender skin areas!
Place chicken in oven and let bake for about 20 mins and then check the pieces. You're looking for crispy skin and cooked meat. If you used skinless meat, then just make sure the meat is cooked properly. I had very large wings that I was working with and it took about 35 mins to get them baked. I really should have let them go another 5 or 10 mins to crisp the skin, but I was very hungry and since the meat was done, when ahead and ate them. I just didn't have as crispy skin as I would have had I waited a while longer.
I serve these with celery sticks, carrot sticks, Ranch or Bleu cheese dressing and a bowl of hot sauce. At "Buffalo's" this extra sauce was known as extra hot, extra wet and they poured it directly on the finished wings. Sometimes I find curly fries at the store and will buy those. I'm trying to figure out if I can use my apple peeler/corer to make curly fries. I haven't tried it yet.
Please note, I'm a Southerner. I have an asbestos tongue. The comment on the Louisiana hot sauce bottle is: "Just one drop will do you." NOT! It might do a Yankee, but not me or most of my friends. We eat the stuff straight up. So unless you're a Southerner, Hispanic or other group that eats hot foods, go light with the hot sauce until you've found the heat level that you like. That's why I suggested tasting the sauce before you use it.
I now live in North GA, and even if I lived in FL, I couldn't afford to eat out. But there's a way I can still have the hot wings. Make them myself. What a novel idea. How the heck do they make them anyway?
Well, I don't know how they make them, but here's how I make them.
First, I don't buy just the wings. They went from being about .29 cents a pound to $1.70 a pound. As the craze for hot wings hit, the prices went sky high. Too much to pay for bones and a little meat. Not when a whole chicken is on sale for .79 a pound!
So I do one of two things. I either save up my wings or I use other chicken parts for "wings". It's the heat that's fun. But crispy skin is tasty too. hummmm, nutrition or taste. Your choice.
I've gotten to where when I buy a chicken, I cut it into parts and freeze the parts, not a whole bird. I can make boneless, skinless chicken parts and use the bones and skin for stock. I cut my wing tips and save for the soup pot, to go with backs, skin and bones. You can either cut the wings apart at the joint or leave them whole. I left this last batch whole. Worked just fine. I've also cut breast strips into 1" x how ever long the breast is and used those for "wings". I seal my bags well and then freeze. I thaw before using the meat.
You have two choices for cooking the meat. You can deep fry it or bake it. I bake it. It's less fuss and grease. If you fry them, you would add the sauce after they are fried.
To make chicken wings:
First, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I prepare my baking pan by spraying it with no-stick spray. I also use a stainless steel cooling rack for a rack to bake the meat on. I also spray the rack with no-stick.
While the oven preheats, you prepare the sauce.
The sauce is comprised of two items - hot sauce and butter. The more hot sauce, the hotter the finished product. The more butter, the milder the sauce. I used about 1/2 stick of butter to about 1 1/2 cups sauce. You may want to start out with 1/2 cup hot sauce. Personally, I like "Louisiana Hot Sauce" best. Use whatever brand is available to you. (Anyone have a recipe for making homemade "hot sauce"? It is not the same thing as adding vinegar to hot peppers which is what Southerners use on greens. This hot sauce I use is red, it's not "Tabasco sauce" it has less heat than that and it's not a Tabasco pepper that is used, but is still pretty hot. I also know it's not a Jalapeño - it would be green if it was.)
Melt the butter and a bit of sauce in the microwave or on the stove top. Carefully taste the sauce and see if it's hot enough (spicy vs temperature) for you. If not, add more hot sauce or more butter. (You may need to reheat it if you add much sauce - the butter tends to cool and clump if too much cold sauce is added to it.) When it's hot enough for your taste buds, your ready to put it on the chicken.
Personally, I just dunk the chicken pieces in the sauce, coat them well and then using two fingers, pick them up and plunk them on the rack. Or you can use tongs to maneuver the chicken pieces or put the chicken on the rack, then use a brush and brush the sauce on.
If you use your fingers MAKE SURE YOU DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES until you've washed your hands - WELL!! It will burn your skin if you touch your face or tender skin areas!
Place chicken in oven and let bake for about 20 mins and then check the pieces. You're looking for crispy skin and cooked meat. If you used skinless meat, then just make sure the meat is cooked properly. I had very large wings that I was working with and it took about 35 mins to get them baked. I really should have let them go another 5 or 10 mins to crisp the skin, but I was very hungry and since the meat was done, when ahead and ate them. I just didn't have as crispy skin as I would have had I waited a while longer.
I serve these with celery sticks, carrot sticks, Ranch or Bleu cheese dressing and a bowl of hot sauce. At "Buffalo's" this extra sauce was known as extra hot, extra wet and they poured it directly on the finished wings. Sometimes I find curly fries at the store and will buy those. I'm trying to figure out if I can use my apple peeler/corer to make curly fries. I haven't tried it yet.
Please note, I'm a Southerner. I have an asbestos tongue. The comment on the Louisiana hot sauce bottle is: "Just one drop will do you." NOT! It might do a Yankee, but not me or most of my friends. We eat the stuff straight up. So unless you're a Southerner, Hispanic or other group that eats hot foods, go light with the hot sauce until you've found the heat level that you like. That's why I suggested tasting the sauce before you use it.
Cloth napkins
Ok, I've been doing all kinds of napkins for my family and as part of a swap. And I'm throwing out the last set of instructions. Those instructions are good for the OCD types, but for someone with ADHD, FORGET IT! I got too antsy with all the burning of my fingers and tedious folding and sewing. Then I did some without doing the mitered corner and then some more without ironing. Both faster still.
One, folding down 1/2" hems is fine - if you're doing polyester and have a relatively low heat going. 1/2" on the cotton setting and I was getting scorched fingers. And I'm a VERY experienced ironer. Used to iron my dad's long sleeve white shirts he had to wear for work as well as the family ironing. This was before "wash and wear" and home clothes dryers. And I started at 9 doing that chore. If you want to make a single sided napkin, allow for a 1" hem all around, so cut them 12" x 12" and you'll end up with a 10" x 10" napkin and less burned fingers.
Two, hemming 1/4" hems is tedious at best. In the factories where they make napkins, they have special machines with special feet that make those neat little hems or they serge them.
Three, 10" x 10" napkins are too small for my liking. Yes, it is the finished size of a store-bought paper napkin. But that paper napkin is folded into 4ths and you can open it out bigger if you need to.
Four, templates are a waste of time and effort. I don't like wasting time, effort or material.
Do I really want to cut off and throw away 4" of material from the side of the material I'm cutting. Can't I just make my napkins bigger?
So after about 15 napkins, here's the new procedure.
1. I prefer bigger napkins. So I'm looking at cutting material anywhere from 13" x 13" to 18"x18". I'm not going to be measuring exactly. I will figure out how many napkins of near that size I can get out of my material. But if I have to choose between an exact square of 17", or 15" napkins that are a rectangle, I'm going with the rectangle and not wasting those never ending small pieces that we can't use, but don't want to throw away. So unless you're planning on doing fancy folds with your napkins or you've got Barbie dolls that you are making clothes for or you want the scraps for a quilt, adjust your napkin size to use the entire piece of material.
2. I've learned that the lady at the store probably hasn't cut the material evenly, no matter how hard she tries. (the person before her may not have cut it so well.) So I went through and after washing and drying the material on "hot" so it won't shrink anymore, pressing it so that it was mostly wrinkle free, I then cut a little snip at one selvage edge and tore the material across the top. Sometimes I had to resnip several times to get it to tear all the way across. Usually, after the 2nd time of running out of fabric, but still not having torn it all the way across, I'd switch sides and tear from the other side. Sometimes I'd end up with a tear that was 1" on the one side and as much as 5 inches wide at the end! I'd do this to both ends of the material. Only once did I have a cut edge that was already squared - even though some LOOKED squared. Now I'm left with "squared" material. And I want to waste time doing this why? Because I can then fold the material and know that all sides should be even. As you read on, you'll see why I want mine squared. So after squaring, I then fold the material over, selvage edge to selvage edge, keeping it even all the way down the length of the material.
3. I use a tape measure and measure across my fabric to see how much fabric I have. (Selvage edge to center and multiply by two. Then I divide that number by how big I want my napkins to be, to see how many pieces I can cut from that width. I really don't want my napkins much bigger than 17", nor smaller than about 12".
That means that if I have a piece of material that's 36" across, I can get three 12" wide or 2 that are just over 17" wide. I'm choosing just over 17". So I divide the material in two and know that when I'm ready to cut, I will cut up the middle divide to have two napkins. (The napkins will be smaller, as the hem will use up part of the original measurement.) If my material is 45" wide, I'll fold the material in thirds and have 3 pieces that are about 15" wide.
4. Next I will measure my material length. Lets say it's 2 yards long. That 72 inches. That would give me 4 napkins with a bit left over. So here's what I'm going to do with the length. I'm going to keep the material folded in half or thirds selvage edge to edge, and I'm then going to fold the material into fourths the long way by folding it in half, then in half again. Sort of like folding bed sheets. I'm going to get them as even as I can, then I'm going to place the folded material on a hard surface and start cutting apart the layers. I do this by cutting through the center of the folds. I keep the scissors so that my thumb is facing down and the back of my hand is facing up. To cut, I move the material - either sliding it forward as I cut or turning it so I'm cutting along the edge. I pull the material and scissors so that the material is taunt. I do this as I cut. I press down firmly with my free hand, near to where I'm cutting to keep the material from shifting as I cut.
Sometime, the cut isn't as straight or even as it would be if I measured, pinned and then cut. I don't care about that. We'll fix that in the sewing part.
5. Now that I have the material cut into pieces, I'm ready to sew it up. I got tired of tiny seams, so I started sewing my pieces together, making a front and back. Then I top stitched the material. It was SO much faster and easier. This means that out of the 36" x 2 yards of material, I would end up with 4 napkins, finished size would be 17" x 17". The 45" x 2 yards would give me 6 napkins, finished size would be 14" x 17".
6. Take two pieces of your material and place them with the right sides together. Start in the middle of one side and start to sew there. (There's method to this madness of starting in the middle of the material.) So if I have a piece that 17" wide, I'm going to start sewing at about 8" from the bottom edge of the material. I'm going to make my seams about 1/4" to 1/2" from the edge. I don't bother pinning the material. It stays together pretty well by itself. If the material is a little uneven when you have the right sides together, just make sure you sew far enough from the edge to catch the shorter piece of material. Sew from the middle to about 1/4" to 1/2" from the bottom corner, leaving the needle still in the material, lift the presser foot, spin the material 90 degrees, drop the presser foot and sew the entire length of that side. Do this until you get to about 3" to 4" from where you started. DO NOT sew over where you started - you've got to turn the material before you sew that opening closed.
7. When you've got to the spot you're going to leave open, clip your thread tails, then begin turning the material inside out. Personally, I start at a far corner, stick my thumb into the point and then use my fingers to "gather" the material towards the palm of my hand. Sort of like putting on a pair of socks. Then when I have the material gathered, I turn it right side out. So I have one point sticking through the opening. While I have the corner handy, I stick my trusty scissors into the point to make it "pointier". I don't snip the tip on the wrong side, nor do I get out a pin and pull the point all the way out. That's too OCD for me and napkins. If I was making a dress or wanted to fuss, I would do that. But I keep remembering my kids wiping up spills with them and then not rinsing the napkin out and it being stained. Keeps me in line with the importance of what I'm doing. Which is to say that, in a year, I'm going to be needing more that aren't stained. So don't go overboard, just get 'em made. They will be useful and you'll use them. This is for use, not for sitting and looking pretty. Unless this IS for sitting and looking pretty. Then measure and pick away, so they are perfect. I will comment, that after I'm done, mine DO look pretty. I'm the only one who would actually notice any imperfections. Well, me and anyone who doesn't have a life and wants to find fault. lol
8. So after you've turned all four points, your ready to close that opening. NO you don't have to hand stitch that bad boy closed. We're going to cheat and sew it closed while we top stitch this puppy. Here's what to do. Smooth out the napkin, turning in the edges of the opening. Now we're going to start sewing again. Start ABOVE the opening - an inch or so above it will be fine. You don't need to back sew it to lock the threads, we'll take care of that at the end. Just start sewing, keeping the two edges inside while you are sewing. You will be sewing about 1/8" from the edge. This will catch the open edges and sew them closed. Sew over the opening and continue on down to the corner. Turn it as before and keep on sewing until you get back to where you started. Now sew about an inch over where you first sewed. This will lock both the starting and ending threads, but still look nice. Trim the thread tails and you're done. No pain, no ironing - except when you pressed out most of the wrinkles before you started cutting. You will have a very pretty napkin. It probably isn't a square, it'll be more of a rectangle.
Tip on the top sewing. It bothers me to see edges that are "poofy" from not having the inside seam all the way to the edge. This happens when you top sew without ironing. So while I'm doing the top stitching, I will stop and gently grab the finished seam and work it to the edge, then do the top stitching. I can do this quickly while I'm sewing. If that "poofyness" doesn't bother you, just do the top stitching without worrying about the edge. Or you could iron it before you turn it. That would be a PAIN! (See, I CAN OCD over things! That's why I have to keep reminding myself of what the finished product is used for! I was raised with if you do it, do it "right". I like Flylady's reminder that we don't have to do things perfectly, we only need to get them done "good enough".) Yes, there is a time for perfection. If I were making a gift, I would take more care with what I was making. For myself, I find that when I try to make things that are "perfect", I then either don't finish them or don't want them being used, or I get upset with whomever "spoils" the finished product. We're making something to wipe greasy, tomatoey, sticky fingers and faces on. We want to be able to toss them in the washer and dryer.
There are other options for napkins. You can go buy them already made. You can buy the paper ones or you can buy wash cloths/dish cloths and use those. I made these out of material I already had on hand, either that I had bought for something else and never got around to making it (and have forgotten what it was I was even going to make with it!) or mostly I've been gifted with material from people who no longer sew. I've got enough to last quite a while. But I still found a remnant on sale at Wallyworld and got 10 napkins for 1.50 - that's when I realized that 10 x 10 napkins were rather small.
One, folding down 1/2" hems is fine - if you're doing polyester and have a relatively low heat going. 1/2" on the cotton setting and I was getting scorched fingers. And I'm a VERY experienced ironer. Used to iron my dad's long sleeve white shirts he had to wear for work as well as the family ironing. This was before "wash and wear" and home clothes dryers. And I started at 9 doing that chore. If you want to make a single sided napkin, allow for a 1" hem all around, so cut them 12" x 12" and you'll end up with a 10" x 10" napkin and less burned fingers.
Two, hemming 1/4" hems is tedious at best. In the factories where they make napkins, they have special machines with special feet that make those neat little hems or they serge them.
Three, 10" x 10" napkins are too small for my liking. Yes, it is the finished size of a store-bought paper napkin. But that paper napkin is folded into 4ths and you can open it out bigger if you need to.
Four, templates are a waste of time and effort. I don't like wasting time, effort or material.
Do I really want to cut off and throw away 4" of material from the side of the material I'm cutting. Can't I just make my napkins bigger?
So after about 15 napkins, here's the new procedure.
1. I prefer bigger napkins. So I'm looking at cutting material anywhere from 13" x 13" to 18"x18". I'm not going to be measuring exactly. I will figure out how many napkins of near that size I can get out of my material. But if I have to choose between an exact square of 17", or 15" napkins that are a rectangle, I'm going with the rectangle and not wasting those never ending small pieces that we can't use, but don't want to throw away. So unless you're planning on doing fancy folds with your napkins or you've got Barbie dolls that you are making clothes for or you want the scraps for a quilt, adjust your napkin size to use the entire piece of material.
2. I've learned that the lady at the store probably hasn't cut the material evenly, no matter how hard she tries. (the person before her may not have cut it so well.) So I went through and after washing and drying the material on "hot" so it won't shrink anymore, pressing it so that it was mostly wrinkle free, I then cut a little snip at one selvage edge and tore the material across the top. Sometimes I had to resnip several times to get it to tear all the way across. Usually, after the 2nd time of running out of fabric, but still not having torn it all the way across, I'd switch sides and tear from the other side. Sometimes I'd end up with a tear that was 1" on the one side and as much as 5 inches wide at the end! I'd do this to both ends of the material. Only once did I have a cut edge that was already squared - even though some LOOKED squared. Now I'm left with "squared" material. And I want to waste time doing this why? Because I can then fold the material and know that all sides should be even. As you read on, you'll see why I want mine squared. So after squaring, I then fold the material over, selvage edge to selvage edge, keeping it even all the way down the length of the material.
3. I use a tape measure and measure across my fabric to see how much fabric I have. (Selvage edge to center and multiply by two. Then I divide that number by how big I want my napkins to be, to see how many pieces I can cut from that width. I really don't want my napkins much bigger than 17", nor smaller than about 12".
That means that if I have a piece of material that's 36" across, I can get three 12" wide or 2 that are just over 17" wide. I'm choosing just over 17". So I divide the material in two and know that when I'm ready to cut, I will cut up the middle divide to have two napkins. (The napkins will be smaller, as the hem will use up part of the original measurement.) If my material is 45" wide, I'll fold the material in thirds and have 3 pieces that are about 15" wide.
4. Next I will measure my material length. Lets say it's 2 yards long. That 72 inches. That would give me 4 napkins with a bit left over. So here's what I'm going to do with the length. I'm going to keep the material folded in half or thirds selvage edge to edge, and I'm then going to fold the material into fourths the long way by folding it in half, then in half again. Sort of like folding bed sheets. I'm going to get them as even as I can, then I'm going to place the folded material on a hard surface and start cutting apart the layers. I do this by cutting through the center of the folds. I keep the scissors so that my thumb is facing down and the back of my hand is facing up. To cut, I move the material - either sliding it forward as I cut or turning it so I'm cutting along the edge. I pull the material and scissors so that the material is taunt. I do this as I cut. I press down firmly with my free hand, near to where I'm cutting to keep the material from shifting as I cut.
Sometime, the cut isn't as straight or even as it would be if I measured, pinned and then cut. I don't care about that. We'll fix that in the sewing part.
5. Now that I have the material cut into pieces, I'm ready to sew it up. I got tired of tiny seams, so I started sewing my pieces together, making a front and back. Then I top stitched the material. It was SO much faster and easier. This means that out of the 36" x 2 yards of material, I would end up with 4 napkins, finished size would be 17" x 17". The 45" x 2 yards would give me 6 napkins, finished size would be 14" x 17".
6. Take two pieces of your material and place them with the right sides together. Start in the middle of one side and start to sew there. (There's method to this madness of starting in the middle of the material.) So if I have a piece that 17" wide, I'm going to start sewing at about 8" from the bottom edge of the material. I'm going to make my seams about 1/4" to 1/2" from the edge. I don't bother pinning the material. It stays together pretty well by itself. If the material is a little uneven when you have the right sides together, just make sure you sew far enough from the edge to catch the shorter piece of material. Sew from the middle to about 1/4" to 1/2" from the bottom corner, leaving the needle still in the material, lift the presser foot, spin the material 90 degrees, drop the presser foot and sew the entire length of that side. Do this until you get to about 3" to 4" from where you started. DO NOT sew over where you started - you've got to turn the material before you sew that opening closed.
7. When you've got to the spot you're going to leave open, clip your thread tails, then begin turning the material inside out. Personally, I start at a far corner, stick my thumb into the point and then use my fingers to "gather" the material towards the palm of my hand. Sort of like putting on a pair of socks. Then when I have the material gathered, I turn it right side out. So I have one point sticking through the opening. While I have the corner handy, I stick my trusty scissors into the point to make it "pointier". I don't snip the tip on the wrong side, nor do I get out a pin and pull the point all the way out. That's too OCD for me and napkins. If I was making a dress or wanted to fuss, I would do that. But I keep remembering my kids wiping up spills with them and then not rinsing the napkin out and it being stained. Keeps me in line with the importance of what I'm doing. Which is to say that, in a year, I'm going to be needing more that aren't stained. So don't go overboard, just get 'em made. They will be useful and you'll use them. This is for use, not for sitting and looking pretty. Unless this IS for sitting and looking pretty. Then measure and pick away, so they are perfect. I will comment, that after I'm done, mine DO look pretty. I'm the only one who would actually notice any imperfections. Well, me and anyone who doesn't have a life and wants to find fault. lol
8. So after you've turned all four points, your ready to close that opening. NO you don't have to hand stitch that bad boy closed. We're going to cheat and sew it closed while we top stitch this puppy. Here's what to do. Smooth out the napkin, turning in the edges of the opening. Now we're going to start sewing again. Start ABOVE the opening - an inch or so above it will be fine. You don't need to back sew it to lock the threads, we'll take care of that at the end. Just start sewing, keeping the two edges inside while you are sewing. You will be sewing about 1/8" from the edge. This will catch the open edges and sew them closed. Sew over the opening and continue on down to the corner. Turn it as before and keep on sewing until you get back to where you started. Now sew about an inch over where you first sewed. This will lock both the starting and ending threads, but still look nice. Trim the thread tails and you're done. No pain, no ironing - except when you pressed out most of the wrinkles before you started cutting. You will have a very pretty napkin. It probably isn't a square, it'll be more of a rectangle.
Tip on the top sewing. It bothers me to see edges that are "poofy" from not having the inside seam all the way to the edge. This happens when you top sew without ironing. So while I'm doing the top stitching, I will stop and gently grab the finished seam and work it to the edge, then do the top stitching. I can do this quickly while I'm sewing. If that "poofyness" doesn't bother you, just do the top stitching without worrying about the edge. Or you could iron it before you turn it. That would be a PAIN! (See, I CAN OCD over things! That's why I have to keep reminding myself of what the finished product is used for! I was raised with if you do it, do it "right". I like Flylady's reminder that we don't have to do things perfectly, we only need to get them done "good enough".) Yes, there is a time for perfection. If I were making a gift, I would take more care with what I was making. For myself, I find that when I try to make things that are "perfect", I then either don't finish them or don't want them being used, or I get upset with whomever "spoils" the finished product. We're making something to wipe greasy, tomatoey, sticky fingers and faces on. We want to be able to toss them in the washer and dryer.
There are other options for napkins. You can go buy them already made. You can buy the paper ones or you can buy wash cloths/dish cloths and use those. I made these out of material I already had on hand, either that I had bought for something else and never got around to making it (and have forgotten what it was I was even going to make with it!) or mostly I've been gifted with material from people who no longer sew. I've got enough to last quite a while. But I still found a remnant on sale at Wallyworld and got 10 napkins for 1.50 - that's when I realized that 10 x 10 napkins were rather small.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
My favorite pizza crust recipe
We're experiencing a sharp reduction in our income and so have been living on our food storage - which really, we should have been using all along!
I have a nice electric grinder that will make a very good flour. I've been making flour out of whole wheat and some dried corn. We've been using both flours with our pizza dough. The whole wheat for the crust and the finely ground corn meal in place of greasing the pans. My pan of choice is my cast iron skillet, while my 15 yr old son favors a jelly roll pan. My 18 yr old daughter is an alien from some distant galaxy - swapped with my real child not long after birth. She doesn't much like pizza or whole wheat flour. Only a space alien doesn't like pizza - or whole wheat flour for that matter.
Here's the recipe we've been using in our automatic bread machine (ABM): (or by hand)
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
pinch sugar
3 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour, you will probably need more flour if you use flour from the store. Store-bought flour has the chance to absorb too much humidity.
2 1/2 tsp yeast
corn meal for the bottom of the pan(s)
Add the ingredients in order to your bread pan. Set to "dough" setting. Turn on machine and make sure dough is of the correct consistency. Let it run for a few minutes and then look at the dough. The movement of the dough on the spindle is what kneads the dough. The dough should be moving around a lot on the spindle, not sitting on top of it or like melted wax in the bottom of the pan. If it's sort of just spinning on top, has sharp "peaks" of dough forming while it kneads, or the machine sounds like it's working too hard, you need to add water - 1 Tbs at a time until it is moving around on the spindle well. If it's sitting with a lot of wet looking dough on the bottom of the pan, you need to add more flour, again, 1 Tbs at a time. After doing an addition, let it knead for a minute or two to get mixed well before you add more water/flour.
As soon as the machine stops kneading, you can remove the dough from the pan. You don't necessairly have to let the dough go through the whole dough cycle - which takes about 1 1/2 hrs in either of my machines. If you have the patience/time to wait on it, it does makes a nicer dough. You DO need to let the dough rest for about 10-15 mins, so that the gluten can relax and not shrink back as you try to pat it into whatever shape you like.
A note about crust thickness here in the States. Years ago a pizza chain introduced something they called a "pan" crust. Most pizza here used to have an almost cracker thinness to the crust - about 1/4" thick. Then Pizza Hut introduced "pan" crust, which is a thick crust - about 3/4" - 1" thick. Next someone introduced "hand-tossed". It's about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. So I'm going to use these terms to define how thick a crust we make using this recipe.
We can get three 10" skillet "pan" pizzas, four "hand-tossed" pizzas, one jelly roll "pan" pizza or two jelly roll pans of thin crust from this recipe. Normally we make one 10" skillet pizza and one jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides on it) of pizza. I take about 1/3 of the dough and give my son 2/3 of the dough. When son makes his crust, he doesn't quite pat the dough into the entire area of the jelly roll pan, he likes a bit of a thicker crust. Done this way, I'd say both pizzas are of the "hand-tossed" thickness. We also make another portion of this with white flour for the alien child - if she'll even agree to eat pizza that day. We make a 10" skillet "hand-tossed" pizza for her and with the rest of the dough, we make bread sticks. Yesterday, her brother made garlic butter and put that on the sticks before cooking them. You could also sprinkle them with any type of cheese, salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon and sugar, or whatever else your heart desires and you can do it before or after baking the sticks. I've watched both Domino's and Pizza Hut fix the bread sticks. They usually bake them first and then sprinkle either Parmesan cheese or cinnamon and sugar for the topping. Then they use marinara sauce for dipping sauce and just plain icing (confectioner's sugar, butter, vanilla and water or just the sugar and water). We use pizza sauce for savory sticks, icing for sweet sticks.
Once the dough has rested or finished the "dough" cycle on your machine, divide the dough as you'd like to use it. Sprinkle the bottom of your pan with some corn flour - in lieu of oiling the pan. Pat dough into whatever shape you want. Or if you know how, go have fun tossing it like they do in a real pizzeria.
Top with pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce or whatever sauce rings you chimes (you could even use Alfredo sauce - 2 cups thick white sauce with 1/2 - 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan added to it.)
Top with your choice of meats, vegies and/or cheeses.
Bake at 425 degrees (hot oven) for 10-20 minutes. Thin crusts cook faster than thicker crusts.
I just bought a couple of unglazed terracotta tiles. I used one on the second shelf from the bottom of my oven - just sitting on the rack. It takes about 40 mins to an hour for the tile to preheat vs 15 for the oven to preheat to 425 degrees. I liked the way the pizza crust came out, I just don't use it often because of all the wasted energy to preheat it that long. I'm poor and can't afford to heat the stone just for 10 mins worth of pizza cooking. It's worth it if I'm making breads that day and will be using it for several hours of baking. It's great to make pita bread on, as well as peasant loaves of bread.
If anyone is interested, I can post the pita bread recipe at another time. Just let me know.
I have a nice electric grinder that will make a very good flour. I've been making flour out of whole wheat and some dried corn. We've been using both flours with our pizza dough. The whole wheat for the crust and the finely ground corn meal in place of greasing the pans. My pan of choice is my cast iron skillet, while my 15 yr old son favors a jelly roll pan. My 18 yr old daughter is an alien from some distant galaxy - swapped with my real child not long after birth. She doesn't much like pizza or whole wheat flour. Only a space alien doesn't like pizza - or whole wheat flour for that matter.
Here's the recipe we've been using in our automatic bread machine (ABM): (or by hand)
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
pinch sugar
3 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour, you will probably need more flour if you use flour from the store. Store-bought flour has the chance to absorb too much humidity.
2 1/2 tsp yeast
corn meal for the bottom of the pan(s)
Add the ingredients in order to your bread pan. Set to "dough" setting. Turn on machine and make sure dough is of the correct consistency. Let it run for a few minutes and then look at the dough. The movement of the dough on the spindle is what kneads the dough. The dough should be moving around a lot on the spindle, not sitting on top of it or like melted wax in the bottom of the pan. If it's sort of just spinning on top, has sharp "peaks" of dough forming while it kneads, or the machine sounds like it's working too hard, you need to add water - 1 Tbs at a time until it is moving around on the spindle well. If it's sitting with a lot of wet looking dough on the bottom of the pan, you need to add more flour, again, 1 Tbs at a time. After doing an addition, let it knead for a minute or two to get mixed well before you add more water/flour.
As soon as the machine stops kneading, you can remove the dough from the pan. You don't necessairly have to let the dough go through the whole dough cycle - which takes about 1 1/2 hrs in either of my machines. If you have the patience/time to wait on it, it does makes a nicer dough. You DO need to let the dough rest for about 10-15 mins, so that the gluten can relax and not shrink back as you try to pat it into whatever shape you like.
A note about crust thickness here in the States. Years ago a pizza chain introduced something they called a "pan" crust. Most pizza here used to have an almost cracker thinness to the crust - about 1/4" thick. Then Pizza Hut introduced "pan" crust, which is a thick crust - about 3/4" - 1" thick. Next someone introduced "hand-tossed". It's about 1/2" to 3/4" thick. So I'm going to use these terms to define how thick a crust we make using this recipe.
We can get three 10" skillet "pan" pizzas, four "hand-tossed" pizzas, one jelly roll "pan" pizza or two jelly roll pans of thin crust from this recipe. Normally we make one 10" skillet pizza and one jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides on it) of pizza. I take about 1/3 of the dough and give my son 2/3 of the dough. When son makes his crust, he doesn't quite pat the dough into the entire area of the jelly roll pan, he likes a bit of a thicker crust. Done this way, I'd say both pizzas are of the "hand-tossed" thickness. We also make another portion of this with white flour for the alien child - if she'll even agree to eat pizza that day. We make a 10" skillet "hand-tossed" pizza for her and with the rest of the dough, we make bread sticks. Yesterday, her brother made garlic butter and put that on the sticks before cooking them. You could also sprinkle them with any type of cheese, salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon and sugar, or whatever else your heart desires and you can do it before or after baking the sticks. I've watched both Domino's and Pizza Hut fix the bread sticks. They usually bake them first and then sprinkle either Parmesan cheese or cinnamon and sugar for the topping. Then they use marinara sauce for dipping sauce and just plain icing (confectioner's sugar, butter, vanilla and water or just the sugar and water). We use pizza sauce for savory sticks, icing for sweet sticks.
Once the dough has rested or finished the "dough" cycle on your machine, divide the dough as you'd like to use it. Sprinkle the bottom of your pan with some corn flour - in lieu of oiling the pan. Pat dough into whatever shape you want. Or if you know how, go have fun tossing it like they do in a real pizzeria.
Top with pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce or whatever sauce rings you chimes (you could even use Alfredo sauce - 2 cups thick white sauce with 1/2 - 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan added to it.)
Top with your choice of meats, vegies and/or cheeses.
Bake at 425 degrees (hot oven) for 10-20 minutes. Thin crusts cook faster than thicker crusts.
I just bought a couple of unglazed terracotta tiles. I used one on the second shelf from the bottom of my oven - just sitting on the rack. It takes about 40 mins to an hour for the tile to preheat vs 15 for the oven to preheat to 425 degrees. I liked the way the pizza crust came out, I just don't use it often because of all the wasted energy to preheat it that long. I'm poor and can't afford to heat the stone just for 10 mins worth of pizza cooking. It's worth it if I'm making breads that day and will be using it for several hours of baking. It's great to make pita bread on, as well as peasant loaves of bread.
If anyone is interested, I can post the pita bread recipe at another time. Just let me know.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Update
Well I haven't really dropped off the edge of the world.
We've been really busy. We have 2 inspections of our house in the next two weeks and we have had some deep cleaning to do. Fun stuff like make sure we move the fridge and stove and get the gunk that collects at the base of them washed up. It's a bit of a hassle, but this is the only place I can afford to live right now, so we deal with it.
We had fun at our homeschool field day. I was supposed to get a start of sourdough from my friend Charlene, and she did bring it. We just forgot to exchange it. It'll have to wait until the next event. lol
I've been knitting dish cloths. I just love the way they clean. I didn't think I would like them, but tried one and fell in love with how much easier they are to use. I think they clean better and they don't make my hands ache like the flimsy terrycloth ones I've always used do.
I'm also making napkins, place mats, hankies and dish towels out of some excess cloth. I've got to get my exchange in the mail to Australia by Monday. It will be fun to see what material my partner has picked out for me.
Now if I can just find the digital camera to take pictures for Rhonda Jean, organizer of the swap, so that she can put them on her blog. Actually, I know where the camera is, it's where is the connecting cord for the computer? It WAS on my desktop plugged into the computer - before kids got to it.
Well it's almost 4am and I guess I'd better go to bed. I've got to be back up at 8 to take my daughter to work and go to work myself.
We've been really busy. We have 2 inspections of our house in the next two weeks and we have had some deep cleaning to do. Fun stuff like make sure we move the fridge and stove and get the gunk that collects at the base of them washed up. It's a bit of a hassle, but this is the only place I can afford to live right now, so we deal with it.
We had fun at our homeschool field day. I was supposed to get a start of sourdough from my friend Charlene, and she did bring it. We just forgot to exchange it. It'll have to wait until the next event. lol
I've been knitting dish cloths. I just love the way they clean. I didn't think I would like them, but tried one and fell in love with how much easier they are to use. I think they clean better and they don't make my hands ache like the flimsy terrycloth ones I've always used do.
I'm also making napkins, place mats, hankies and dish towels out of some excess cloth. I've got to get my exchange in the mail to Australia by Monday. It will be fun to see what material my partner has picked out for me.
Now if I can just find the digital camera to take pictures for Rhonda Jean, organizer of the swap, so that she can put them on her blog. Actually, I know where the camera is, it's where is the connecting cord for the computer? It WAS on my desktop plugged into the computer - before kids got to it.
Well it's almost 4am and I guess I'd better go to bed. I've got to be back up at 8 to take my daughter to work and go to work myself.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Home-sewn cloth napkins, dish towels, and handkerchiefs
Making cloth napkins, dish towels, place mats and handkerchiefs and feminine needs are all easy projects.
They can be made from various materials, but the most absorbent ones will be 100% cotton. The higher the polyester content, the less absorbent your final item becomes.
Over the years, I have acquired a bunch of fabric that either I had bought or that had been given to me. I had no idea which were 100% cotton and which were blends. So I went online and found a trick for telling if a material is a natural fiber or a man-made one. That trick I shared with you in a post last week. I have different lengths of fabric, in different patterns. I also have a set of sheets that a friend gave me. They are too big for my bed and she doesn't want them back. They will make a nice kitchen set for this dear friend who has done so much for my family. The computer I'm typing on is her old one. She bought a new one so that I could have this nice one. Without it, you wouldn't be reading this blog! lol
After I picked out my final materials I then sat down and figured out the size I wanted my finished items to be.
I have a napkin swap on another blog and those are to be 10" x 10". That's a nice size. I also have one cloth napkin I got in a tray for Mother's Day. I love it. It's 17" x 17". I want my hankies to be 9" x 9", I want my dish towels to end up being 12" x 18" and my place mats to be 14" x 24". I got these dimensions by measuring existing place mat, napkin, and dish towel. The hankie I was just arbitrary with. I have allergies so I sometimes sneeze a lot and need more to my handkerchiefs that a thin little piece of 6" x 6" cute linen!
The next thing I did was to make myself templates out of old cardboard boxes. I would start in one corner of the box measure over to where I wanted that template to end and make several marks from the edge so I'd get a straight line with my ruler. Then I'd go to the side and measure over several times. This way, I had a square template. They were a pain to cut, but they are sturdy and will last a long time. When I made my templates, I added an inch to one long side and an inch to a short side to allow for a 1/2" seam all around. I then marked on each template what it was for. Don't count on remembering which size was which. I made templates on Fri and by tonight (Mon) I had to look at what was written to know what I wanted that particular template for!
My next step is to iron the materials flat, decide which will be what item, and find my washable fabric marker. I can use chalk or soap if I want to mark the fabric, but a fine-tip, washable marker will make my finished project a little easier to sew up. I'm ironing the fabric so that it will be flat and easier to cut squarely. (I'm a person who loves short-cuts, so if I iron, it REALLY needs to be done - unless you're using a polyester fabric that just plain doesn't wrinkle, so it doesn't need ironing ever.)
Next step will be to place the template over the wrong side of the fabric and draw around the template. If you're fortunate enough to own a rotary cutter and mat, this step will be a breeze. You can stack your material or fold your material and cut several thicknesses at a time. For the rest of us, we have to mark each piece and then individually cut them. Or you can try a steel straight-edge and an Exacto knife (craft razor/knife), but watch your fingers, make sure that you cut on something that can't be damaged and don't make your stack too thick!
Ok, now we have a bunch of squares and/or rectangles cut out.
We will need a couple of items to do make these cloths up:
- An iron and an ironing board or place to iron
- A sewing machine and thread or needle and thread.
- A ruler or a second set of templates 1" shorter on one long side and one short side. (So it's the finished size you want your item to be. Make this template just like you did the first set, only use thinner cardboard - like what comes in a shirt. It should be rather flimsy, so that you can iron over it and make a sharply creased fold. You need to decide if you want squared-off corners or mitered corners. If you want squared off corners, do nothing else to the templates. If you want the finished item to have mitered corners, you will need to cut off 1/2" from each corner of your template. Simple measure down both edges 1/2" from the corner. Then draw a straight line between the two marks. Do this for each corner. Cut off the triangle that is made. Otherwise, you will have to measure the fabric the same way and FOLD the fabric down between the two point and iron it flat.
- Pins (opt) (I told you, I do short-cuts. I've finally lost the "perfection" drive. If you want "perfection" have at it. I'm making these so that people can wipe their faces, blow their noses and dry dishes - and with kids, you know they're going to mop up spills too. So I'm not doing "works of art" for them to ruin them with mustard stains that I won't find until I dig down to the bottom of the laundry bin, where they were hidden, to wash them. kwim?)
Here we go. Set up the ironing board and set the iron to cotton - because we're using cotton right. If not, set it to polyester or linen or whatever temp your fabric needs. While the iron is heating up, get your machine set up and ready to sew. Load the bobbin color you need on your bobbin and thread your machine.
You're going to work at the ironing board first. You will need either the ruler or the template. Your object here is to place the fabric with the wrong side up on the ironing board and then iron a 1/2" fold all around the fabric. Here's where you have to make a choice. Do you want mitered corners? If so, you're going to have to fold the corners down over the cut corners of the template and iron them FIRST. If you want a squared corner, just fold the fabric and iron. After deciding on our corner treatment, we're going to either center the template on the fabric, fold and iron each corner, then go back and fold and iron each length over OR use the ruler and fold down the fabric 1/2" and press. You will then remove the template or set aside the ruler. Then open up the longer folded edges (NOT the mitered corners, if you did those, keep them folded!) and fold the material over until it almost, but not quite touches the folds you just ironed in, and iron a second fold. This fold will be 1/4", but since your almost touching the 1/2" fold, you won't have to measure it. Did I tell you, I use short-cuts? now refold at the first fold you made, trapping that raw edge inside. You will now have a 1/4" finished edge that's ready for sewing.
Second choice. Either pin it or don't. Again, the choice is yours. I pin the corners, especially the miters, so they will stay mitered! I just pin on each side where the fabric meets in the corner. The rest of the edge I can get to pretty much stay put by how I feed it through my hands. I'm a very experienced sewer. If this is your first project, PIN IT. It will save you untold grief until you've learned to manipulate fabric and machine. Always keep the pins at a 90 degree angle (perpendicular) to the fabric, that way the machine will just jump the pins and you don't have to remove them before you've sewn that portion of the seam.
Finally, we're ready to sew! It's really not important where you start to sew on any of these things. I start along one side, in the middle. That way I've got the machine moving before I try to handle the corners. You're going to stitch along near the middle. Don't worry if the stitch "wanders" a little. You will learn to sew it straight line. As you come to the corner, slow down and use the hand wheel to catch the middle of the first side of the corner. You may have to do a couple of stitches by hand this way. Just keep turning the wheel until you get to the corner. When you get there, leave the needle IN the fabric, then lift the presser foot and turn the corner 90 degrees so that you're now going down the opposite side from where you just were. The material will rotate on the needle. Lower the presser foot and start sewing again. Do the same thing for each corner. When you get back to where you started, sew about an inch over the same seam to lock the stitching.
Remove any pins you used. Press it again so it will look nice and your ready to go with the next one.
Personally, I do stuff in batches. I choose which item I want to make first. I mark all my material for that pattern - say napkins. Then I cut out all of the napkins. Then I iron all my pieces around the template and pin the corners. Then I sew all the napkins. Then I press all the finished napkins, checking for loose threads.
You can do this any way you want to do it. Do one napkin at a time, one piece of fabric at a time, do sets at a time (napkins, place mats, dish towels - a table runner would be done the same way!).
If you want a bigger or smaller hem, add more than one inch to the finished size you are wanting to end up with. I wouldn't make the hem any smaller unless you have a serger you want to use.
You can make your items to whatever size you want. You can make your place mats out of a heavier material, line it, use fusible interfacing, etc. This is just the basics of HOW to do these type items. The sizes you want and the hemming you want are up to you.
I picked my favorite size items and that's where I got the measurements from. Pick your favorite items, favorite materials and customize these projects to your own liking. Then just have fun making them.
These will make great Christmas gifts. You can do them up in any holiday (T'day, Christmas, Valentine, etc) colors or fabrics. You can recycle material you already have, either new or gently used material. You can color coordinate it to the recipient's home or mix and match. Do just napkins or whole kitchen sets. If you use sheets, you can cut a top sheet for a table cloth and use a bottom, fitted sheet for the rest of the set. You can mix and match the colors - a top sheet from one set and the bottom sheet from another. Some colored, some white.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Testing fabric for natural or synthetic content
How to test fabric for natural fiber content:
(Mostly I'm looking at testing for cotton in fabric. You would have to look at other things as well as how the fabric burns to tell cotton from linen from wool.)
Note about handling fabric:
All fabric should be prewashed before you use it for anything. It removes sizing, allows the material to do any shrinking (it's nicer to have it shrink BEFORE you spend hours sewing an item rather than afterwards! If it shrinks before it's washed, you will be cutting the pattern to the size you need. If it shrinks afterwards, it may not fit or the fabric may pull or pucker the finished article.) Wash the fabric as you will the item you're making it into. So, if I'm making napkins, I put the fabric into hot water and a hot dryer. If I'm making a dress, the fabric would be cold washed and dried on medium heat.
You will need a couple of things:
a small swatch of the fabric you want to test.
a fire source, a lit candle is great, but matches or a lighter will work too.
tweezers or tongs to hold the swatch (so you don't burn yourself)
Non-flammable surface to work on
Set yourself up in a safe place so that you can burn a small swatch of the material you want to test. By this I mean, we're going to actually burn a small amount of the fabric to see how it burns, so set up where you have water close by in case you can't blow the fire out. Make sure you are standing where you can drop the burning piece without setting anything else on fire!
Standing over your kitchen sink is a really good place to do this kind of testing.
First, I use a candle. I had a bunch of fabric that I wanted to test and the candle is the best option - it leaves both hands free to work and you don't have to worry about burning yourself. Set the candle down into your sink (in a holder, if it needs one) and light it. Next, using tweezers, take the swatch of fabric and slowly start moving it towards the fire, the let it burn for a couple of seconds, then put the fire that's burning on the edge of the swatch out. (Leave your candle lit.)
You're looking for three things.
How did the material react to being burned
How the burnt part smells
How does the burned and cooled fabric react at the burned area.
How the material reacted to being burned?
The reason for slowly moving the fabric towards the fire is so that you can see if the fabric starts to shrink away from the fire, how close to the fire you can get before it catches the swatch on fire and can you just blow it out easily or does it want to keep burning. If the fiber starts to shrink way from the fire before it gets to the flame you have a high synthetic count in the fabric. Cotton/wool/linen have to almost touch the flame before it will ignite. Man-made fibers shrink - melts actually and wants to stay lit, even after you've blown the fire out. More about that in the last section.
How does it smell?
Man-made fibers, of which polyester is one of the most common, are made of chemicals and when any of these fibers burns, they have a chemical smell. Natural fibers have a milder, more natural odor.
How does it look and feel after being burned?
Fabric containing synthetic fibers will have a melted "ball" or "beads" at the ends of the burnt area. Make sure the fabric has cooled down, then if you run your fingers along the burned edge and it feels rough, or the fibers separate in "clumps", you have synthetic fibers in the fabric. Natural fibers will break off in an ash. The ends will feel soft and the fibers will separate individually, instead of looking like they have been glued together in small groups.
I read on one tip site that if the fabric sample being burned was natural, as soon as you blew on it to put out the fire, it would all go out. But that if it "glowed" it was synthetic. Usually, but not always so. If the natural fibers are unevenly woven - as when they ran out of thread and added another piece of thread to continue the weaving - it will cause the fibers to be thicker there than in the surrounding area, and thus not go out evenly. Also, if the fabric has been treated with sizing, it may also not go out as quickly. But the edges will be soft and the smell as it is burning is not "chemical" smell.
So, I took my many fabric samples and held them level with the side of the flame, but about 2-3 inches from it. I slowly moved the fabric closer to the flame. I didn't have any of the fabric swatches recoil from the flame, they had high enough cotton content that it didn't melt away from the heat. I would touch the edge of the flame and the material would ignite. I would blow it out. Some of my fabric, after being blown out, glowed for a few minutes. I knew that that fabric had a good amount of synthetic fibers in it (though it was still mostly cotton). I had a few pieces that glowed, for a moment or two. But then I noticed that the individual fibers were bunched closely together, as it does when I run out of yarn and have to add another piece to continue knitting. The edges were soft, brittle, grey-ashed, and there was no chemical smell. I know these are 100% cotton. (I know don't have any linen or wool fabric, just cotton and cotton/polyester.) Some of my fabric didn't smell, perhaps I just didn't let it burn long enough. But the edges did clump together or bead. I knew those have polyester in them.
Most of the 100% cotton did extinguish as soon as I blew on it. They all had a softer smell to them and the edges were soft with the fibers separating as I ran my finger across the edge. The fibers were also brittle and would discinerate to ash when touched.
I hope this helps someone distinguish between their materials, natural, combination and synthetic.
(Mostly I'm looking at testing for cotton in fabric. You would have to look at other things as well as how the fabric burns to tell cotton from linen from wool.)
Note about handling fabric:
All fabric should be prewashed before you use it for anything. It removes sizing, allows the material to do any shrinking (it's nicer to have it shrink BEFORE you spend hours sewing an item rather than afterwards! If it shrinks before it's washed, you will be cutting the pattern to the size you need. If it shrinks afterwards, it may not fit or the fabric may pull or pucker the finished article.) Wash the fabric as you will the item you're making it into. So, if I'm making napkins, I put the fabric into hot water and a hot dryer. If I'm making a dress, the fabric would be cold washed and dried on medium heat.
You will need a couple of things:
a small swatch of the fabric you want to test.
a fire source, a lit candle is great, but matches or a lighter will work too.
tweezers or tongs to hold the swatch (so you don't burn yourself)
Non-flammable surface to work on
Set yourself up in a safe place so that you can burn a small swatch of the material you want to test. By this I mean, we're going to actually burn a small amount of the fabric to see how it burns, so set up where you have water close by in case you can't blow the fire out. Make sure you are standing where you can drop the burning piece without setting anything else on fire!
Standing over your kitchen sink is a really good place to do this kind of testing.
First, I use a candle. I had a bunch of fabric that I wanted to test and the candle is the best option - it leaves both hands free to work and you don't have to worry about burning yourself. Set the candle down into your sink (in a holder, if it needs one) and light it. Next, using tweezers, take the swatch of fabric and slowly start moving it towards the fire, the let it burn for a couple of seconds, then put the fire that's burning on the edge of the swatch out. (Leave your candle lit.)
You're looking for three things.
How did the material react to being burned
How the burnt part smells
How does the burned and cooled fabric react at the burned area.
How the material reacted to being burned?
The reason for slowly moving the fabric towards the fire is so that you can see if the fabric starts to shrink away from the fire, how close to the fire you can get before it catches the swatch on fire and can you just blow it out easily or does it want to keep burning. If the fiber starts to shrink way from the fire before it gets to the flame you have a high synthetic count in the fabric. Cotton/wool/linen have to almost touch the flame before it will ignite. Man-made fibers shrink - melts actually and wants to stay lit, even after you've blown the fire out. More about that in the last section.
How does it smell?
Man-made fibers, of which polyester is one of the most common, are made of chemicals and when any of these fibers burns, they have a chemical smell. Natural fibers have a milder, more natural odor.
How does it look and feel after being burned?
Fabric containing synthetic fibers will have a melted "ball" or "beads" at the ends of the burnt area. Make sure the fabric has cooled down, then if you run your fingers along the burned edge and it feels rough, or the fibers separate in "clumps", you have synthetic fibers in the fabric. Natural fibers will break off in an ash. The ends will feel soft and the fibers will separate individually, instead of looking like they have been glued together in small groups.
I read on one tip site that if the fabric sample being burned was natural, as soon as you blew on it to put out the fire, it would all go out. But that if it "glowed" it was synthetic. Usually, but not always so. If the natural fibers are unevenly woven - as when they ran out of thread and added another piece of thread to continue the weaving - it will cause the fibers to be thicker there than in the surrounding area, and thus not go out evenly. Also, if the fabric has been treated with sizing, it may also not go out as quickly. But the edges will be soft and the smell as it is burning is not "chemical" smell.
So, I took my many fabric samples and held them level with the side of the flame, but about 2-3 inches from it. I slowly moved the fabric closer to the flame. I didn't have any of the fabric swatches recoil from the flame, they had high enough cotton content that it didn't melt away from the heat. I would touch the edge of the flame and the material would ignite. I would blow it out. Some of my fabric, after being blown out, glowed for a few minutes. I knew that that fabric had a good amount of synthetic fibers in it (though it was still mostly cotton). I had a few pieces that glowed, for a moment or two. But then I noticed that the individual fibers were bunched closely together, as it does when I run out of yarn and have to add another piece to continue knitting. The edges were soft, brittle, grey-ashed, and there was no chemical smell. I know these are 100% cotton. (I know don't have any linen or wool fabric, just cotton and cotton/polyester.) Some of my fabric didn't smell, perhaps I just didn't let it burn long enough. But the edges did clump together or bead. I knew those have polyester in them.
Most of the 100% cotton did extinguish as soon as I blew on it. They all had a softer smell to them and the edges were soft with the fibers separating as I ran my finger across the edge. The fibers were also brittle and would discinerate to ash when touched.
I hope this helps someone distinguish between their materials, natural, combination and synthetic.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Window cleaning made easy
It's that time of year again. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we're getting ready to do the Fall cleaning, while in the Southern Hemisphere it's gearing up for Spring cleaning.
I'm employed part-time as a custodian for my church. Like most churches, we have a lot of glass that needs cleaning. I had to learn to do it quickly and efficiently.
There are a number of ways to clean windows. From getting out buckets of water, lots of rags and/or rolls of paper towels or newspaper, to spray bottles and a squeegee. This is my favorite way, to clean windows. I think it's quick and cleanup is a breeze.
Here's what you'll need:
A cleaning liquid
A spray bottle
A squeegee (I got mine for $1.00 and it works just fine.)
Preferably an old rag, but paper towels work too -they're what I have to use at work.
Here's how:
First mix up your favorite cleaner. Some people swear by vinegar and water, others like ammonia and water, others nothing but 4-6 drops of "Dawn" dishwashing liquid in a quart of water. And some just buy window cleaner. You need a recipe or product that will cut the grease - which is most of what is on dirty windows. At work, I have a commercial cleaner I have to use. It's a product that is water and hydrogen peroxide with a stabilizer in it. I like it so much better than the ammonia-based cleaner we used to have to use. At home, I'm going to more green products. I've found that vinegar and water will clean well. If the window is heavily soiled, a drop or two of liquid soap can help, but don't overdo the soap, you don't want a filmy residue.
Once you have your liquid, we're ready for the next part. Oh, by the way, you don't need tons of the recipe. How many windows you have and whether you're cleaning them inside/outside only or inside and outside and how often you clean windows, will determine how much cleaning fluid you need. At church, a quart will clean all the door glass and entry area glass inside and out. We have 12 doors, plus the floor to door-top glass "picture windows"on both sides of each door. I only refilled the bottle about every two weeks. A little goes a long way.
Next, I put the cleaner in a spray bottle. This is so much easier than using a rag and dripping water everywhere. The spray bottle makes the job quicker, keeps your solution clean and helps the little go a long way. Also, I wear an apron so I can hang the trigger of the bottle on the waistband. This lets the bottle hang while I'm working with the squeegee and rag.
It doesn't matter if you do the insides or outsides first, you just don't want to wash the window with the sun blazing straight through it. The cleaning solution will dry too fast and it streaks badly.
On the outside, you're going to need to remove the screen and wash it. When I was a child, we would need to use a screwdriver to loosen the screws that held the brackets that kept the screens in the window. We'd remove all the screens, fill a bucket with soapy water, lay the screens flat on our lawn and use a scrub brush gently to clean both sides of the screens, then rinse with the spray nozzle on the hose. We'd then stand the screens up along a dry side of the house and let them dry while we washed the windows. That doesn't work in this house. The screens are attached to the top of the window frame. And I only have to pull two L shaped handles to release the bottom of the screen. I can wash the outsides of the screen, rinse it, prop the screen open (window closed ;) ) wash it and then rinse it.
Once you've taken care of your screens, if you're washing them, you're ready for the windows themselves.
I generously spray the window. If there are a lot of smudges or sticky stuff, use a corner of a rag or towel to moosh the cleaner around to break up the gunk. Next, take your squeegee and start at one of the top corners. I usually start at the upper left-hand corner. Draw your squeegee down following the seal of the window, making as straight a line as you can. Next, using your cloth or towel, COMPLETELY DRY off the squeegee. All you have to do is hold the squeegee in one hand and the towel in the other. Place a dry spot of the towel over the wet blade and pull the cloth down the edge of the rubber blade. This is what keeps the squeegee from streaking and keeps it from making a wet spot at the top of the window
.
Next, go to the wet spot, towards the center of where you just squeegeed. Overlap a little - so that you've got about an inch or so of window that you just squeegeed and is now dry, under the blade. Pull as straight down as you can. By overlapping, you won't end up with a wet spot between the first and second strips. People then try using the towel to rub the wet spot = streaks! Dry the blade again and repeat until the window is clean. Remembering to dry off that blade between each pass of the squeegee and to leave a dry margin under the blade so that if you "dog-leg" a bit, you don't have that wet spot to deal with.
Most of the church doors require 3 passes with the squeegee, a couple of them only require two. It's better to make an extra pass than to miss a spot and try to correct it. It WILL take more time to try and correct that streak than to make an extra pass with the blade!
Now you're almost done. The last thing to do is to take a dry section of the rag and carefully wipe the edges of the window - where the seals are. You don't want all that fluid running down the window and puddling on the ledge. I start at the top left and carefully go down the edge to the bottom, then I go to the upper right side and again go straight down. Last thing I do is wipe off the window sill. This may take several rags - you don't want water getting on that clean glass!
I have been known to not do a section of glass until the sun has changed directions later in the day. Too many times I tried cleaning glass with the sun directly hitting it. It's hard to see - the sun is in your eyes, the fluid dries before you can do a complete window, it's terribly hot, and it streaks something fierce. Just wait until later in the day - even if it's sunset - or do that side early in the day.
Reinstall the screens, put your equipment away, toss the rags into the laundry and you're done.
Well at least with the windows. lol I'm not sure if Mom is ever DONE?!!?
I'm employed part-time as a custodian for my church. Like most churches, we have a lot of glass that needs cleaning. I had to learn to do it quickly and efficiently.
There are a number of ways to clean windows. From getting out buckets of water, lots of rags and/or rolls of paper towels or newspaper, to spray bottles and a squeegee. This is my favorite way, to clean windows. I think it's quick and cleanup is a breeze.
Here's what you'll need:
A cleaning liquid
A spray bottle
A squeegee (I got mine for $1.00 and it works just fine.)
Preferably an old rag, but paper towels work too -they're what I have to use at work.
Here's how:
First mix up your favorite cleaner. Some people swear by vinegar and water, others like ammonia and water, others nothing but 4-6 drops of "Dawn" dishwashing liquid in a quart of water. And some just buy window cleaner. You need a recipe or product that will cut the grease - which is most of what is on dirty windows. At work, I have a commercial cleaner I have to use. It's a product that is water and hydrogen peroxide with a stabilizer in it. I like it so much better than the ammonia-based cleaner we used to have to use. At home, I'm going to more green products. I've found that vinegar and water will clean well. If the window is heavily soiled, a drop or two of liquid soap can help, but don't overdo the soap, you don't want a filmy residue.
Once you have your liquid, we're ready for the next part. Oh, by the way, you don't need tons of the recipe. How many windows you have and whether you're cleaning them inside/outside only or inside and outside and how often you clean windows, will determine how much cleaning fluid you need. At church, a quart will clean all the door glass and entry area glass inside and out. We have 12 doors, plus the floor to door-top glass "picture windows"on both sides of each door. I only refilled the bottle about every two weeks. A little goes a long way.
Next, I put the cleaner in a spray bottle. This is so much easier than using a rag and dripping water everywhere. The spray bottle makes the job quicker, keeps your solution clean and helps the little go a long way. Also, I wear an apron so I can hang the trigger of the bottle on the waistband. This lets the bottle hang while I'm working with the squeegee and rag.
It doesn't matter if you do the insides or outsides first, you just don't want to wash the window with the sun blazing straight through it. The cleaning solution will dry too fast and it streaks badly.
On the outside, you're going to need to remove the screen and wash it. When I was a child, we would need to use a screwdriver to loosen the screws that held the brackets that kept the screens in the window. We'd remove all the screens, fill a bucket with soapy water, lay the screens flat on our lawn and use a scrub brush gently to clean both sides of the screens, then rinse with the spray nozzle on the hose. We'd then stand the screens up along a dry side of the house and let them dry while we washed the windows. That doesn't work in this house. The screens are attached to the top of the window frame. And I only have to pull two L shaped handles to release the bottom of the screen. I can wash the outsides of the screen, rinse it, prop the screen open (window closed ;) ) wash it and then rinse it.
Once you've taken care of your screens, if you're washing them, you're ready for the windows themselves.
I generously spray the window. If there are a lot of smudges or sticky stuff, use a corner of a rag or towel to moosh the cleaner around to break up the gunk. Next, take your squeegee and start at one of the top corners. I usually start at the upper left-hand corner. Draw your squeegee down following the seal of the window, making as straight a line as you can. Next, using your cloth or towel, COMPLETELY DRY off the squeegee. All you have to do is hold the squeegee in one hand and the towel in the other. Place a dry spot of the towel over the wet blade and pull the cloth down the edge of the rubber blade. This is what keeps the squeegee from streaking and keeps it from making a wet spot at the top of the window
.
Next, go to the wet spot, towards the center of where you just squeegeed. Overlap a little - so that you've got about an inch or so of window that you just squeegeed and is now dry, under the blade. Pull as straight down as you can. By overlapping, you won't end up with a wet spot between the first and second strips. People then try using the towel to rub the wet spot = streaks! Dry the blade again and repeat until the window is clean. Remembering to dry off that blade between each pass of the squeegee and to leave a dry margin under the blade so that if you "dog-leg" a bit, you don't have that wet spot to deal with.
Most of the church doors require 3 passes with the squeegee, a couple of them only require two. It's better to make an extra pass than to miss a spot and try to correct it. It WILL take more time to try and correct that streak than to make an extra pass with the blade!
Now you're almost done. The last thing to do is to take a dry section of the rag and carefully wipe the edges of the window - where the seals are. You don't want all that fluid running down the window and puddling on the ledge. I start at the top left and carefully go down the edge to the bottom, then I go to the upper right side and again go straight down. Last thing I do is wipe off the window sill. This may take several rags - you don't want water getting on that clean glass!
I have been known to not do a section of glass until the sun has changed directions later in the day. Too many times I tried cleaning glass with the sun directly hitting it. It's hard to see - the sun is in your eyes, the fluid dries before you can do a complete window, it's terribly hot, and it streaks something fierce. Just wait until later in the day - even if it's sunset - or do that side early in the day.
Reinstall the screens, put your equipment away, toss the rags into the laundry and you're done.
Well at least with the windows. lol I'm not sure if Mom is ever DONE?!!?
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