Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Blizzard Juno came a callin'

Hello!  well, we got hit with the Blizzard Juno late Monday into Tuesday.

Here are some images taken on Tuesday morning:

There was some drifting around the window feeder.  There is a bird there, lol.
 The birds are feeding at about knee level.
 coco took one look at the drift at the front door and turned right around.
All that fluffy white snow reminded me of vanilla frosting.  So I whipped this up. A lot of people worry about having bread and milk when a storm is coming, not me.
After some snow shoveling, we shoveled this into our mouths.
 I also made my absolutely favorite soup: African Chicken Peanut Soup.  I'll put the recipe at the bottom of the post.  Thanks to Pauline for the recipe!
 The only sewing I've done is make a little mug rug from a reject block.

Thank you Doreen for making me a Album Quilt Diagram box for my sidebar of the Alice Payne blocks!   I'm working on.  Check out Aunt Reen's Place blog for her ongoing and finished projects.

Thanks to everyone who ordered stencils.  I quickly sold out of the Large Fans, but have them on reorder.
So I get now why they call it a "kitchen table" company.
Thank you for playing my guess the pattern of my Asian Challenge quilt. The key with this one is that I pulled the solid colors from the Asian print, then I used the color once on the inner border and once on the outer border.  There is one red herring in that I didn't reuse the orange.   It was a simple one, but sometimes antique quilts have really complicated patterns.  Next time you see a scrap quilt you really like, try and figure out why.

Congrats to CecileD - the potholder is going off to France!!  Maybe it will get invited to fondu.

I hope you are all safe and warm and enjoying the quiet gifts of winter (or a warm summer in Australia).


African Chicken Peanut Soup

1 1/2 cups cubed peeled sweet potato
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup salsa
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 16 oz cans chicken broth
2 15 oz healthy choice chicken with rice soup (undiluted)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I use about 1/2 cup, cause I like it)

sauté sweet potato, onion, garlic and jalapeño for 5 mins in a dutch oven in a little olive oil over med/high heat.

Stir in chicken and rest of ingredients except peanut butter.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

Put the peanut butter in a bowl, then add a few ladles of hot soup and mix well.  This will temper it, then add it back to the pot, stir and heat another 2 mins and serve.

recipe from my friend Pauline (who was born, raised and lived in Africa for most of her life).

24 comments:

Jan said...

That soup sounds delicious!
I'm happy we missed the storm this time, though I heard that something substantial will be sweeping across the area this weekend.
Your templates look great ~ I'll watch for your restock!

Sherrill said...

OH UGH!! That looks HORRIFIC! (I HATE cold weather). It's been in 70's and today was 80 but it'll get cold again. Been out tanning in prep for a cruise coming up! YAY! That cook looks YUMMY!! And I'm making mashed potato soup as we 'speak'! LOL

Pinkadot Quilts said...

That snow looks pretty deep. Is it any better today?
Congratulations on your stencils, it looks like you have a winner! The soup sounds good about now, it is so cold here today.

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

Juno packed a wallup for sure! I'm glad you are re-ordering the large fan stencil because I think I'd like to order one. Recipe looks delish!

Outback Crafter - Debra said...

Those snow photos are amazing.
I can't imaging snow, let alone knee depth or deeper.

Glad to see you had power and all the important things to survive the blizzard.

Janet O. said...

Love the snow photos! I'm glad you weathered the storm, and had cake to eat after shoveling! : )

Karen said...

Glad you survived. The soup looks yummy, I copied the recipe.

Kyle said...

Looks like you've survived the worst of the storm. I'm sorry for all those folk along the coast in MA. What a disaster. Your kitchen table business sounds like it's off to a great start. You've come up with a product that many us have wanted. It must have been a soup kind of day, I made chicken torilla.

Pat said...

Your snow looks like our last winter - this current one is not as bad. Made soup here too - we all must have been thinking alike - mine was an Italian white bean.
Stay warm and cozy.

Janet said...

That's a lot of snow! Having a cake ready to eat when you come in from shovelling sounds like a great idea - I will have to try that for motivation :0) it looks Delish! Glad the stencil selling is going so well

Beth said...

That is a lot of snow. Hope you don't have to be out and about much. I like the way you think, storm coming, make cake. ;)
Glad the stencil is selling so fast.

CecileD said...

Thank you so much Barb for the potholder...it's the first time I win something and I'm so proud that it's with you....I have to write to you my address..
Thank you too for the yummy recipe ! With the winter, I guess it's a good meal !
Lot of snow in your country, but here violent Wind and rain....beurk !! :(
Have a good white day ! ^^

baukje said...

Wow the snow looks great but i am like Coco, i prefer to stay inside. That cke looks so yummie.....

Maureen said...

I need a good snow storm for some stitching time! That soup look yummy. Enjoy!

Barbara said...

Wow, you got all the snow I was hoping for! Looks like a winter wonderland. The Alice Payne grid in your sidebar is very clever. A great incentive to fill in the blocks :)

Thimbleanna said...

Awww, poor Coco -- I've always been glad we have indoor plumbing in the winter LOL. And just to counteract Sherrill's comment -- I think that snow looks FANTASTIC!!!! I SO wish I were there -- there's are few things more beautiful to me than the aftermath of a big snowfall.

Now to business -- you like stamps.com? I've been thinking about trying it -- I've always just used the USPS website, but for some reason I can't do first class for smaller than flat rate packages. Does stamps.com take a cut -- making the price of postage go up? (I guess, even if it does, it would be worth it to save a trip to the PO!)

I can't wait to get my stencils -- should be any day now!!!

Diane said...

I agree with Coco about the cold weather! I hope she got a piece of that yummy looking cake! At least I can rest assured that your survival skills are intact! LOL

Taryn said...

I love a good snow that forces one to stay inside and do something productive. Or nap. Mother Nature is just a big tease to us in Maryland. It warms up to rain and finishes with a dusting of snow and then we plunge into the deep freeze so that dusting stays around for way too long. The weather folks will predict a snow and then it warms back up again and we just get wet. Can you tell I want a snow day?

Rachaeldaisy said...

It's good to hear you wont starve whilst being snowed in. That cake looks delicious and I've never ever heard of peanut butter chicken soup, people think of the cleverest dishes. It's fun to hear the secret of your Asian Challenge quilt, the red herring helped make it unpredictable. Congratulations on having a sell out on your big fans. I'm sure once the recipients start quilting using them they'll be big fans of your templates.

Linda O said...

Great pictures of the snow! And I love Coco looking out! :) Soup sounds perfect and warming.

Kevin the Quilter said...

I am relatively new to your blog and have enjoyed browsing.....especially the 9 patch tutorial! I also just made the African Chicken Peanut Soup......DELICIOUS! Thanks for the great info!

Teresa Duryea Wong said...

Holy cow - that's a lot of snow. Looks like you survived with all the right stuff, milk flour and eggs!

christine said...

I'm jealous of your snow! soup sounds great. Congrats on selling out your stencil!

Sujata Shah said...

That's a lot of snow! I heard there was going to be a blizzard, My family flew out of here just before it hit. Congratulations on the kitchen table company up and running so well! I can't wait to try my hand at your stencils when I return.
I hope it warms up soon :-)