Turkey, E-Reader Stand and a Peek for Ruthie...

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!  Jim was sort of laid out on the sofa trying to recuperate from a nasty bout of sciatica, so I spent most of the day in the kitchen cooking and we watched some shows about Alaska at the same time.  I can see him from the sofa so it's like being together without having him underfoot.  It's OK, though, his dogs more than made up for it, if I said "get out of the kitchen" once, I said it, loudly, a thousand times.  Dogs, argggg!  Anyway, the bird came out nice, didn't it?  I love that rack/pan combo, too, got it several years ago at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a mere $20, and got a rebate which made it end up costing about $7.  Gotta love that and the fact that it's non-stick, clean up was a breeze!

 I got an e-reader a couple of weeks ago since our local library is now loaning e-books which will save me trips to the actual library.  I got a Sony PRS-T1, the new wi-fi version with a touch screen.  I like it a lot, it does a lot of cool things and the librarian was very impressed with it.  She's seen a lot more e-readers than I have and said this one was super user-friendly.  Yay, I need that!    Anyway, this is what I was doing when I was eating lunch, propping it against books and Jim's rubbery glasses case.  Not terribly convenient, ya know?

 I decided it deserved better and since I had made a pouch from some fabric selvages and then decided I didn't like it, I had taken it apart and kept the pieces for something.  THIS project was perfect for those pieces!  I added a little more to the top, adjust the angles on the fabric and sewed up a pyramid shaped base which I then filled with ground-up walnut shells for weight.  I made a little bumper for the bottom to hold the bottom of the reader and voilá!  A perfect little stand!

 I actually had to remake the bumper thing twice to get it to hold the reader at the right angle for me to sit and read, but still, it was a quick and very satisfying project. 

And here's a little sneak peek of the label for Ruthie's mug rug.  I had to photograph it now because it'll be hard to see once it's attached to it. 

 

Can you believe it?  A blog post with no mention of bitt........ well, you know!   Next time, for sure. 

Consider yourselves warned.  :)

Here's a first from me- a cooking success story!

 OK, so don't get too used to this, you won't see too much from me in the cooking or cleaning dept, because I don't really enjoy either one unless I have a real purpose, like company.  But, I got this recipe the other day in the little magazine that our local electric co-op puts out every month and it sounded good and looked OK and I decided we should try it.  (There's no indication of who wrote this recipe, sorry.)

Spinach Artichoke Pizza-theirs looked good, but ours looked better- bigger, thicker, beefier!

Here's their recipe and then I'll tell you what I did differently.

Spinach Artichoke Pizza

3/4 cup spinach artichoke Greek yogurt veggie dip

1 prepared pizza crust or homemade pizza crust, 10-12"

1 cup packed baby spinach leaves

1 cup canned artichoke hearts, slivered

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup pitted and halved Kalamata olives

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400º.  Mist a pizza pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Pre-bake crust for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Baking times vary, for different crusts.  Spread artichoke spinach dip on hot crust.  Cover with spinach, artichokes, tomatoes, olives, feta cheese, and pepper.  Bake again for 5-7 minutes.  Cut and serve, serves 6.

OK, here's what I did differently.  I used pita bread for the crusts- I took three of them, oiled them up with some nice olive oil, sprinkled with oregano and baked them until both sides were brown and crusty.  Then I spread on the only yogurt/spinach dip I could find in our store, it wasn't greek or artichokey, but I made up for that later.  It's really tasty though and has water chestnuts in it which adds a little crunch, fun! Covered that with spinach, added pepperoni slices, piled on diced tomatoes (I'm too cheap to buy cherry ones) and then lots of artichoke slivers and slivered olives and lots of cheese and pepper.  Then baked again.  We quartered them for ease in eating.  

So I didn't do a lot differently and they turned out yummy!  Jim ate 1 3/4  and I ate 3/4 of one and then I zapped the 2 remaining quarters for lunch the next day and it was scrummy, even better than fresh out of the oven.  Served with salad, it's a feast!

Edit- GOAT CHEESE added on top of the spinach dip, but under the spinach, makes an amazing addition to these pizzas!  Also, some slivered red onion.  :)  Our pizzas are now coming out of the oven about 4" thick with goodies!  They're getting better and better, too. Also, if you can find the mini pitas,the pitettes, what great little appetizers these would be!

We'll have these again and they'll be great for summer entertaining, you don't have to have the oven on for very long and a clever person could probably figure out a way to do them on a grill, too. 

So there you have my one and only, probably, bloggy food recommendation.  :)