That's a Wrap!

Welcome 2012!

Bring her on - we are READY!! 

 For some reason here at the Little Red House the even years are just a little better for us. 

Who knows why?

Everything is now unwrapped and put away.  Signs of the holiday are gone.  We are back to clean counters, tables and that uncluttered feeling.  I love January just for this.

Until next year....

My cuties are getting so big.  

I hope that 2012 brings them all the joy they deserve!!  

I only started my little blog 6 months ago and I had no idea I would even be at it still in 2012.  What a great release this has been for me.  Thank you for following along with me!!

Biscuit Doughnuts

Who knew you could take a can of these:

and make these:

Not me until NOW!!

Here are the fly-by instructions:

Bring oil of your preference to 375 degrees with a candy thermometer.

NOTE: having now made these - next time I will use my iron skillet and maybe 1.5 inches of oil.  This was too much.  

 Open your can of biscuits and prepare them by pressing them a little flat.

I only used ONE can - it was plenty for a family of 4

 I chose to doughnut hole mine using a small cookie cutter.  But you could leave them whole and fill them after with a jelly or cream!

All prepped and ready. 

Into the hot oil they go!

 I think the longer you cook them the better they tasted.  A nice deep golden brown makes them crunchy!

A quick sit on a rack with a pan under to catch any drips -

After this we either dredged them through some cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar.  Next time I will have a glaze ready to try on them for sure. 

They went so fast this was the only photo is could get!  

TO think that I used to make dough from scratch to do this.  The hardest part of this was waiting for the oil to heat up then cool off.  Oh, and NOT eating them all!!!

If you need something fun for New Year's weekend - grab some biscuits when you go to the store!!

Do you Zoku?

What is Zoku?

  

It is a quick freeze ice pop maker. I am sure I was the last to hear about this - but we LOVE to Zoku!  

The best part is we get to choose what goes into it.  AND - it really works!!

We decided to make ours like fudge pops. With Lulu being lactose intolerant this was perfect because we could use Lactaid skim milk!  We even added mini chocolate chips.

First - you put the unit into the freezer for 24 hours.  Then we added the chocolate milk.  And sits for 7 mins.

Then you use the removal tool and it POPS out!!

And - they were GOOD!!

We cannot wait to try all kinds of flavors and ingredients.  I hear you can even make an 'over 21' one too ;)

Have a ZOKU recipe to share? Leave it below!!

My Gift

A lot of focus goes to my family, my girls and my friends over the Christmas season.  I have to say it is nice to be given a gift or two along the way!!

Please be the first to view my first piece of artwork.  This is an oil painting of a sailboat but it has much more meaning to me.  I suppose all pieces of art have special meaning - this is why we posses them.  Let me explain.

I have an Aunt, Aunt Sue to be specific.  She is the most artistic person I know.

She painted this picture for my parents back in 1976.  It is a painting of my Dad on our sailboat in the harbor. That was our boat 'Illusion' and she was a 1968 31 foot C&C Corvette.  I actually grew up sailing with my parents over the summers of my youth all along the New England coast.  (It sounds much more romantic than it was!)

This painting has hung in my parents home since I can remember (I was 8 when we received it).  When we posed for photos in my Mom's house we stood in front of this painting.

A while back - I asked for the painting.  My parent's obliged.  I received it for Christmas.  It has been re-framed to match my decor.

I think it looks beautiful in my home.  Almost like it was meant to be here all along.  Maybe this is why I was never able to commit to a painting until now.  It will now hang above my mantel. We will take our family photos in front of it.  (Unless I decide to move it).  Someday I will hang it properly.

I look forward to telling people who visit us in the future how special this painting is and how proud I am to have inherited this work of art!

Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns

We don't have a lot of traditions over Christmas - but the ones we do have - we stick to them.

Years ago we started making Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns.  We make them on Christmas Eve just before we leave for our big family party.  It is one of those recipes that the girls who were very young at the time were able to help with (and still do!).

Lulu  in her 'hot rollers' helping to make the buns.

In the morning, I heat the oven up after I get my cup of coffee before the girls start unwrapping and it is usually out of the oven before they finish.  I always make this in a Bundt pan and dump it over onto our glass cake plate.

They are sticky and sweet and we LOVE them!





Christmas Eve Shortcut Buns
by Leanne Ely

20 unbaked frozen dinner rolls (Rhodes or Bridgeport are brands I have used)
1 cup brown sugar (3/4 cup is not SO sweet)
1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted

Lightly grease a 10-inch bundt cake pan. Place frozen rolls into the pan and sprinkle with brown sugar, the pudding mix and cinnamon. Pour melted butter over the top. If you don't have a bundt pan, you can use a muffin tin, but they turn out better in a bundt pan.

Cover with a clean, damp cloth and leave overnight at room temperature to rise.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn rolls out onto a serving plate and dig in!

If you have not done all your shopping yet -  give these a try!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

Pink Tea Cup Dress

Just in the nick of time - I have finished my LAST sewing project for Christmas.  I may sneak one more thing in - but this was a big one.

I had a computer glitch and I have LOST the website I took this free tutorial from.  My apologies to the author of this wonderful tutorial.  I also at the same time picked up this book:

Which shows the instructions for the same dress.

I found the most adorable tea cup fabric and paired it with a small pink heart and vines fabric.  I used a pale green thread for the top stiching.  It will be perfect for Niece E who all about pink and ruffles.

This took me a morning and some of the afternoon to cut and sew.  It uses button holes for the ties.  I always am afraid to do buttonholes - but my machines always handles them like magic!

I think it will be adorable as the weather turns warmer.  BUT I am hopeful that she can wear it with tights and a turtleneck before Winter is over.  

I cannot WAIT to try some of the other dresses and tops in the Little Girls/Big Style book.  Very cute things!!

Fabulous Friday: Afternoon Delight!

(source: Pinterest)

I have to blame this all on a friend.  It is her fault.  I was quite content with just canned evaporated fat free milk in my coffee as creamer.

Then I bought this:    

after her telling me that she had some of this:

Now I am on the lookout for hers too!

Warm, creamy, wonderfulness!

I just wish it was the real thing!

More Ruffles!

Seeing as I am an expert at ruffles now I had a little more energy to fancy up some my favorite microfiber towels.  

Pressure Cooking: A FROZEN Bird!

A new cook book I pre-ordered just arrived.  It is Bob Warden's Great Food Fast - and it is ALL Pressure Cooking!! I spent the weekend thumbing through trying to decide which recipe to try first.  

One thing that he updated well in this book is frozen cooking times.  There is a chart that tells you how long to add on if you use frozen beef or chicken breasts and even a WHOLE roaster bird.  Guess what I had in the freezer. 

I put a frozen solid whole chicken in the pressure cooker.  I added some spices, chicken broth & 2 tbsp of white wine.  Once it got up to 40 PSI I cooked it for 25 mins + 15.  

Then I checked it - it was up to 160 degrees.  Popped it back in for another 10 mins and it was  D O N E !!  60 mins total.  Did I mention it was frozen solid?  I find that my cooker takes at least 10 mins. to get up to pressure.  

No, it does not look like a 'roasted chicken' but that was not the purpose of cooking it today.  Had it not been frozen I could have taken the time to brown it on the breast a bit.  

I plucked all that soft white cooked chicken off the bone then popped it back IN the pressure cooker with carrots, celery & onion.  Covered it with water - and 15 mins (+10 to heat up) I had Homemade Chicken Stock!! 

Yes, I went from frozen bird in my basement freezer to homemade chicken noodle soup in less than 2.5 hours!!  

Ruffle Twirl Skirts

I am officially 'ruffled' out!

These are Christmas presents for my little nieces.  They are the same as the Christmas Twirl Skirt that I posted about HERE.

One of the skirts is for Niece M, who does NOT wear pink.  So, hers is blue and green.

The set is for Nieces A & G.  They are sisters and they love pink!

I am really struggling with wanting to do applique tshirts to go with the skirts but I fear I am running out of time.  I have other projects I need to finish also.  SO I may do hair accessories with the scrap fabric instead.

One thing I DID do, after I finished the Christmas Twirl Skirt, was purchase a 'gathering foot' for my machine.  It looks like this: 
I am in love!  While it is not perfect (I still had to adjust all those ruffles to length) it really saved me a LOT of time.  I am suppose to be able to sew the ruffle to the flat piece at the same time but I did not trust my fabric lengths enough to go for it.  Someday?!?!

Have you worked with a Gathering Foot and had success??

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