Sewing Kit in a Jar

These basic sewing kits are very handy to keep in your home for quick fixes.  They make great gifts too!

Supplies you will need:

Clean quart-size jar with flat and ring lid
Any fabric
Glue gun
Stuffing
Pencil
Protractor (or something to help you draw a circle)
Scissors
Sewing supplies – needles, pins, thread, small scissors, buttons, needle threaders, thimbles, etc.

Directions:
Take the lid – both parts – off the jar.
Set the protractor to 1 inch wider than the flat jar lid.
Take a piece of fabric and turn it pattern-side down onto a surface.
Trace a circle on the fabric with the protractor.
Cut out the circle.
Lay the fabric pattern-side down onto a surface. Put a bit of stuffing in the middle of the fabric. Then place the flat lid silver-side down onto the stuffing.
Place a line of hot glue along the red outer rim of the jar lid and...

Homemade Pasta

Following is a basic recipe for the dough for whole egg pasta, used for making homemade spaghetti, tagliatelli, papparadelle, and all stuffed pasta shapes.

I have been making this pasta using Einkorn flour for about 6 years. It makes a beautiful dough. If you don't have Einkorn, try to get the “OO” flour. You can usually find it at the grocery store.

FOR EVERY TWO PEOPLE, USE:

2/3 cup of all-purpose flour or 3/4 cup “OO” Italian flour
1 egg

(So, for 6 people, I would use 2 cups of all-purpose flour and 3 eggs.)

Place flour in the bowl of a food processor and add egg. Pulse until the dough comes together and pulls away from the bowl. Flour reacts differently on different days. You may need to add a little more flour or a little water or it might be perfect.

Dump the dough onto a floured work surface and bring it together into a flat round. Cut it into four pieces and wrap all but one in plastic wrap.

Meringue

According to Fine Cooking Magazine, meringue is a whipped mixture of sugar and egg whites,. Meringue is used to lighten soufflés, mousses, and cake mixtures, to make pie toppings, and to make desserts like baked Alaska and crisp baked meringues and pavlovas.

There are three types of meringue; their differences lie in when and how the sugar is added:

French Meringue  - This uncooked meringue is the one most people are familiar with. The sugar is gradually beaten into the egg whites once they have reached soft peaks, and then the mixture is whipped to firm peaks. (It’s best to use superfine or a mixture of superfine and confectioners’ sugar for this, because they dissolve quickly.) This type of meringue is the least stable but also the lightest, which makes it perfect for soufflés.

Italian Meringue - The most stable of all the meringues, this is made with a sugar syrup that has been heated t...

Irish Soda Bread and Scones

In the days before refrigeration, milk would have soured more quickly, so soda breads were a way of making use of it, although now it is more common to use commercially produced buttermilk. Baking soda is the rising agent in soda breads.

Soda bread can be made in minutes! You can also bake this bread as they would have in the old days in a Dutch oven. It can also be cooked on a griddle.

The dough can be made into a loaf or into scones.

Soda breads are best eaten on the day they are made, but are still good for a day or so more. It also makes great toast.

It has a lower glycemic number and is lower in gluten if that is important to you.

We will be using Darina Allen's recipes for today. She is considered to be the Julia Child of Ireland and she owns Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland. I really want to take classes there some day!

DARINA ALLEN'S SODA BREAD
Ballymaloe Cookery School, County Cork, ...