merry bobbins

What a weekend! I've been working for some time now to sew enough purses and fabric flowers to be ready to sell at Lexington's community festival, which was yesterday. Friday after work I worked non-stop crafting and making tags, etc. for the festival. I'm super happy (now) with the work I put in. We worked for a few days on coming up with a name for my stuff, but eventually landed on the one Matt came up with- merry bobbins. It's cute and clever. The festival was from 9am till 3pm- and things actually sold! My friend Nicole Olsen and I shared a booth. It was a delight to set my stuff up next to her adorable handiwork! I really admire her taste and her mad sewing skills. Here are a few pictures of the setup and products:

My purses on a coatrack for display (I had 8 purses total)

a teal/denim 10 pleat purse

a basket of fabric flower hair accessories

closeup of the tags I made

my table display- a mannequin was later added but I didn't get a picture :(

Nicole's table display- adorable!

View of the booth. Notice my fabric banner up top :)

And last but not least- my 19 week picture! That belly is a growin'!

Maple Mustard Pork with Creamy Polenta

This is one of our favorite meals in the Coats household. I made it again this week and forgot how much I love it. The polenta takes a little time but takes almost no effort. If you have never had polenta, do yourself a favor and try it. It’s basically like yellow cream of wheat. I hope to post more polenta recipes in the near future. I like to put the polenta on the bottom and the pork on top of that, then drizzle it with sauce. That way the polenta soaks up the sauce. For as good as this recipe is, it really isn’t that hard to make! Also, whatever you do, don’t use pancake syrup buy legit maple! On a final note I like to make a little more sauce then it calls for, I just can’t get enough of it.

Maple-Mustard Pork Chops

4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Sprinkle both sides of pork with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through, but with a slight blush in the center. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Return pan to medium-high heat. Add butter to pan, swirling pan to coat. Add shallots; sauté 3 minutes or until tender and translucent. Add broth; bring to a boil, and cook 1 minute. Stir in mustard, syrup, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick. Return pork to pan. Cook pork 1 minute on each side or until thoroughly heated (be careful not to overcook pork). Serve pork with sauce. Garnish each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley.

Creamy Polenta Recipe

INGREDIENTS

4 cups water

Salt to taste

1 cup medium-grain yellow polenta

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup cream cheese

METHOD

1 Heat water lightly seasoned with salt to a boil over high heat, about 5 minutes. Quickly whisk in the polenta until fully incorporated.

2 Lower the heat to a low simmer, add the butter and allow the polenta to cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

3 Finish by stirring in the cream cheese and salt to taste.

If preparing in advance, cool, cover and refrigerate. Reheat in the microwave, about 5 minutes on high, just before serving. Stir vigorously after reheating to fluff.

Serves 8.

movin' and shakin'

ok, ok. so i'm not the best baby blogger. the fact is, this pregnancy has been pretty hum-drum- and i mean that in the best way possible. i keep waiting for something big to post about, but the fact is this has been (so far) a piece of cake. seriously. early on some nausea, decreased appetite and energy levels, but no puke, no massive weight gain (yet), no crazy anything. i feel bad saying that because i know so many people who are having or have had rough pregnancies. sorry folks. luck of the draw i guess?

anyhow, i figured it was time for some updates! matt and i have both felt the baby move now! i thought i felt something about a week ago, but its hard to know when you have never felt something kick you from your insides before. safe to say now that i am 100% sure i have felt this baby movin and shakin! the kicks always seem to be on my lower left side, so one particularly energetic night for my wee one i had matt rest his hand there for a little while, and lo-and behold he/she gave him a good kick! so cool to feel this little one moving around now.

our next appointment is on August 31st, but we won't do our ultrasound until September 15th when we go to UVA hospital for our echo/ultrasound. that raises the all-important question- what do you guys think- boy or girl? cast your vote on the handy poll to the right:) (ok, so matt reminded me that i already did one of these polls. welp, its getting closer, and ima do it again:)

and now, for your viewing pleasure... my latest belly pic! 17 1/2 weeks.

Bacon, egg, and Toast Cups

Saw this in Martha Stewart Everyday Food (Don’t judge me). It was super easy to make and had normal breakfast ingredients that we already had. It made for a nice Sunday breakfast! It was a fancy spin on a normal everyday breakfast or brunch. I may try to make a hollandaise sauce to drizzle over next time and Holli wants to try it with sausage. You can even do different variations in the same muffin tin. There are so many things you can do with this! Try getting this at a Waffle House!

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups

Total Cook Time: about 35 minutes

3 Tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

8 Slices of White or Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

6 Slices of Bacon

6 Large Eggs

Corse salt and Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly butter six standard muffin cups. With a rolling pin, flatten bread slightly and, with a 4 ¼ - inch cookie cutter, cut into 8 rounds. Cut each round in half, then press 2 halves into each muffin cup, overlapping slightly making sure that bread comes up to the edge of the cup. Use extra bread to patch any gaps. Brush bread with remaining butter.

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium, until almost crisp, 4 min, flipping once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) Lay 1 slice of bacon in each bread cup and crack an egg over each. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until egg whites are just set, 20-25 minutes. Run a small knife around cups to loosen toast. Serve immediately.

Try cook crumbled sausage in place of bacon or make a vegetarian dish with sautéed spinach.

Peach Cobbler

Dear faithful blog followers:

I'm sorry I have not posted enough sweet recipes. I love to eat sweet things...a lot, but do not enjoy cooking them as much as savory things. Along with my apologies I will share a recipe that is a Barneck family secret. It is the best cobbler recipe in the world. I will try to balance out the sweet and the savory a little better.

Most Affectionately,

Matt

Ok now that’s out of the way let’s get right to the peaches. A few weeks ago we went with the sibs to an orchard called Dicky Brother's Orchard. It is a Coats family favorite after we went apple picking last fall. There is just something fun about picking your own fruit. Every time we go we get a little out of control and pick way too much fruit. Holli gets especially over excited as seen below.

So after filling two boxes of peaches and two cartons of blackberries we decided to stop there. The peaches were like candy. So we made cobbler, peaches and cream, put peaches in our cereal, made peach chutney, and gave a lot away. I think we did a good job at using the peaches seeing as we only threw four away out of two boxes.

This cobbler is one of my favorite deserts. I like to double the batter because it's my favorite part. If you want extra batter I wouldn't recommend doubling the peaches or butter. Also putting the peaches on top of the batter in not a typo, that is just how it works. You can also substitute other fruit or add different fruit to the peaches. We added the blackberries we picked to one batch and it gave it some nice tart. Ice Cream is another must. Enjoy!

Peach Cobbler

1 qt (5-6 fresh peaches) peaches

½ cup sugar for fresh peaches

1 stick butter

¾ cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ cup sugar

¾ cup milk

Mix dry ingredients and add milk. Melt butter in 9x13 pan while preheating the oven. Pour batter in pan and pour peaches over the top. Bake at 350 for 60 min.

Oh the Controversy

This title might decieve you- I'm taking a detour from my usual 'life updates' type of post to get your (whoever you are) input on a matter. I have heard from several clients about the Eminem and Rihanna song "Love the Way You Lie". Its a hit. Seriously, top 100 I think. Anyhow, it clearly addresses domestic violence- and Rihanna, who now (since the publicity last year about Chris Brown abusing her) speaks out against domestic violence, is a big part of the music video as well. I hadn't heard the song myself until today-I'm not really a rap kind of gal usually, but I read an article from the Washington Post about the song, and after watching it, I'm wondering; what message do you think the lyrics/video send?



*warning: this is a rap song, therefore, you can safely assume there are expletives.

Tuscan Yellow Pepper Soup

Holli and I babysat the Olsen’s daughter Eliza this last week. Holli is taking a class as training for work and had to do her homework after we put Eliza to bed. While she was reading I got bored and started looking at cookbooks. Luckily the Olsen’s have great taste in food and I really enjoyed looking at their cookbooks. I found this one in Gourmet Today pg. 122. I really wanted to make it so I took a picture with Holli’s phone. In turn I will give the Olsens some soup. Also for the record, the pictures on this blog aren’t mine. I normally post recipes from different blogs that I have tried and most pictures are from those blogs. Also on a final note…this soup was awesome!

Tuscan Yellow Pepper Soup

¼ cup Olive Oil; 1 ½ tesp. Olive Oil for the end

1 Medium Carrot peeled and finely chopped

1 Medium Onion (about ½ Cup) finely chopped

1 Celery Rib finely chopped

4 Yellow Peppers deseeded and cut into 1” strips

1 lb Boiling Potatoes peeled and cut into ¼” pieces

1 Cup Beef stock or Low Sodium broth

4 Cups Water

1 ½ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

Heat ¼ Cup Olive Oil in a large pot until hot but not smoking. Add Onion, Celery and Carrots and cook about 10 min on Med High heat. Add Peppers, Potatoes, Water and Stock. Bring to a boil then lower temp to low and simmer for 40 min. Add soup to a blender in stages. Be careful blending hot liquids. You can also use an immersion blender. Pour blended mixture through a sieve. Add remaining Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper. Serve soup hot or cold. Top with fresh chives or a dollop of sour cream.