You Can Sew Do This: Soft and Feathery

Brandon is officially a quarter of a century old! -- as of about two months ago, that is-- Brandon had received this really large feather pillow as a Christmas present a year ago and it was great! But we noticed that it had no problem poking the feathers through the pillow itself and pillow cases (even if we put 2 or 3 pillow cases on!!) so we knew something had to be done. I did some research on how to make a good feather pillow. Fortunately, my mama taught me (and my brother ;) how to make pillows when we were younger -- all hand stitching mind you. So I knew the basics of making a pillow and I set to work! I made sure to get the recommended material, 100% cotton ticking, and my mama had given me her old sewing machine so I thankfully didn't have to do it by hand! I made the pillow with relatively few problems-- let's just say it was a good learning experience. Brandon helped me stuff it with the feathers from the old pillow and I closed it all up! I laid on it to test it, it was super thick and fluffy, but it didn't take long before the feathers began poking through. Goodnight, I was so annoyed! All that I tried to do to prevent feathers from coming through was futile. But I didn't give up! I let Brandon think that, of course, because his birthday was coming up....in a month. (and I'm a huge fan of surprises!) I set out to do more research and I inspected my own feather pillow that had been bought at Belk. I've had it for years and its been plenty fluffy and rarely ever pokes me. I noticed that the outside layers looked as if it was a quilt for a pillow. Here is what I came up with and applied to my second attempt!

First, I got some more the the blue and white striped cotton ticking. But I also got some quilting batting, I just went for the cheap stuff.  Lastly, I purchased a curtain that had the black out material in it. There's probably a place to buy that type of material without getting a whole curtain, but my options were limited, AND the curtain is still useable (just don't look at the bottom-half of the black out curtain behind the regular curtain)! With all my materials purchased, I cut out the material. Most average/standard size pillows are 20 in x 26 inches, keep in mind that you want to make each side about 1- 1.5 inches longer just to give you leeway for any mistakes and for hemming. After the cotton ticking is cut out, you want to do a zig-zag type of pattern on all the edges to prevent any unraveling of the material. After sewing up the edges, go ahead and wash, dry, and iron the material. The washing will take out any stiffness in the material and take care of any shrinkage that may happen. Ironing will make it flat of course, and therefore making it easier to sew. Sewing with crumpled edges is impossible! Next, you want to cut out the quilting batting and black out material layers.

 

    

Once they are all cut out, stack them on top of each other, the batting obviously going in the middle. You want to sew all the layers together, I had a little issue keeping all the layers aligned properly. But then I'm also no pro at sewing, I've only done a couple of sewing projects on my own.

After the layers are all aligned and sewn together, fold it over so that the inside is on the outside and you want to sew all the sides, except for keep at least half of one of the shorter sides open because you gotta stick the feathers in somehow! Or the polyester filling or whatever you're wanting to use on the inside.

 

Almost done! Turn it inside-out and its feather stuffing time! Word of advice, do this outside!!! It will get messy, I promise you. The ground, the air, and your clothes will all be covered in feathers. So keep your mouth closed! Also, try to make sure it's not very windy outside for obvious reasons. Once all the filling is in the pillow you can finally sew up the last opening edge.

This last time I just hand-stitched it because I was tired of the sewing machine (we have a love-annoyed relationship). However, I would advise you stitch it by machine. I will probably go back over mine in the near future. The machines can do a lot tighter stitches than you can and so the feathers have a harder time coming out. And viola! You're done! The pillow has turned out pretty great really! The feathers have to work really hard to get through. I will say the pillow material was kind of stiff because of the black out material. I'm sure there is a way to take away the stiffness, I just don't know about it. Good job! Enjoy that pillow you just made, I know Brandon has been ever since his birthday. :)

Simply Southern

So the other week, like a month ago, I was in a crunch for groceries and I didn't want to spend anymore money on my groceries. I decided to see what I had in my pantry and freezer. You see, I'm the type of wife and cook that makes weekly (usually) groceries lists and they're based off of what menu I have planned for the following week! This way I don't go out and buy a lot of random junk that I don't need to be eating or that I don't need for what I'm cooking. Fortunately, yet sometimes unfortunately, when we're at the end of a week's menu and I haven't gone grocery shopping our pantry and fridge start looking pretty bare. But I like it that way! Keeps me from overspending and buying food that may spoil before we eat it.

Brandon and I are very much of "clean eating", if you want to call it that. I don't buy boxed suppers or frozen dinners. I just don't want all that processed junk going in our systems. It's just straight up not good for you! Plus, I love cooking :). I pretty much have to go grocery shopping weekly otherwise the veggies and fresh food I end up buying a week and a half ago are spoiled or spoiling by the time I plan on cooking/eating them! (I learned that one the hard way. For a little while I tried planning a menu for two weeks at a time. Well, I got pretty frustrated when I got to week two and my asparagus and other things were no good.)

Sorry, I got a little side tracked there. Anyways! I am going to share a SUPER DUPER easy and quick supper idea with y'all! Brandon and I love love love cornbread. However, Brandon is quite picky when it comes to cornbread (and I thought I  was picky about it!), but I finally found this recipe on allrecipes.com (I think). I had this memory the other day of when I was younger and we'd have pinto beans and cornbread for supper and I loved it! Truthfully, pinto beans by themselves don't have a lot of flavor by themselves. I was inspired by this memory to make pinto beans, cornbread, and roasted broccoli (gotta have that veggie!). I was shocked when Brandon told me he had never heard of pinto beans and cornbread. I guess that's what I get for marrying a yankee ;).

Here's my yummylishous Cornbread recipe:
 Prep: 10 min. Cook: 20 min.
8 servings.

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
2/3 c. white sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/3 c canola oil

Preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Mix the dry ingredients first and then the wet. Lightly grease your 9 in. round pan (I don't recommend using a 8x8 or 9x9 glass with this time and heat). Once all the ingredients are well combined pour the batter into your greased pan and slide it in your preheated oven! Cook for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, mine usually just needs 20 min. And enjoy this sweet, moist cornbread!

Nutrition (1 slice):  275.1 calories, 10.7 g fat, 41.8 g carbohydrates, 4.7 g protein

Roasted Broccoli:
Prep:~3 min. Cook: 10 min.

Broccoli
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic powder (optional)

I don't give you exact amounts because it really depends on how much broccoli you feel like eating. So first, preheat the oven to 450-- mine seems to take forever to preheat! Then spread out your broccoli on a cookie sheet, its okay if it's frozen. Then you want to spritz or pour olive oil on your broccoli. I got an oil mister at TJ Maxx for like $7 and it is awesome! (I have a tendency to put too much oil on things and then the food doesn't turn out right). You don't want the broccoli sitting in oil, just enough to lightly cover. Then do the seasonings to taste and pop those suckers in the oven!

Nutrition (1/2 cup): 27.4  calories, 0.3 g fat, 5.6 g carbohydrates, 1.9 g protein

Pinto Beans:

This one is super easy! Like I said earlier, I don't buy canned beans. If you do, then just heat them up and add salt and pepper as you wish. But if you cooked up your beans like I did here, then just take a baggie out of the freezer earlier in the day and let it thaw. Once thawed, throw in the pot and warm it up. Easy peasy! Oh and you'll want to add some salt and pepper to that also. Hint: the pinto beans taste pretty good on top of the cornbread.

Nutrition (1/2 cup): 120 calories, 0.5 g fat, 22 g carbohydrates, 8 g protein
 

So depending on what you're trying to get out of your diet, if you're doing high carb/low fat or high fat/low carb, will decide as to whether this is right for your lifestyle choices!

Yummy Yummy in My Tummy

I don't know about y'all but I have been sooooo busy lately! But I'm not really complaining, this really is an awesome time of year! I love the holidays for so many reasons: extra excuses to see family, and perhaps some that you don't see very often, you get to eat so much incredible food, and you get time off work or school, and we get brought back to the reason of who we live this crazy life for: Jesus!! We went up to see my family in Tennessee for Thanksgiving and then we'll be going back up this weekend for my sweet friend Emily's wedding and  Jeff and Leslie (I told y'all about them a few weeks ago) will be flying in!!! The following weekend, so the one before Christmas, we'll be driving the 10 hours to Brandon's family up in Missouri. The day after Christmas, we'll drive back home and get to have Christmas with my side of the family! Whew. And then a week later we leave for a cruise ;)

I have a recipe for you that is so incredibly yummy, it's like eating dessert for a side dish! This is your true southern Sweet Potato Casserole recipe. It's family fav, and when I took it to a gathering with a bunch of friends I didn't get to take any home! (So sad.) Now even though there are sweet potatoes in this thing, that does not mean it is healthy! But it is oh so good. And that's what matters, right? ;)

Here's the list of ingredients for sweet potato mixture:
3 cups sweet potatoes
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk 1 stick of butter
2 tsp. vanilla

 (Yes, feel free to admire our lovely wallpaper).

My family usually gets the can of yams, so the sweet potatoes are sitting in a sweet syrup. But for next time I'm considering using fresh sweet potatoes and cooking them up (to soften). When I do that I'll have to play around with how much more sugar I need to add to the overall recipe.

So first! You put all the (above) ingredients in your mixer and mix it up good! While it's mixing, using a stick of butter to butter up your 9 x 13 in pan. Also, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

 

Once your mixture is thoroughly mixed, don't worry if you see small chunks of butter- that's normal, put it in your pan and stick that sucker in the oven! For only 10 minutes.

Next! While it's baking, it's time to make the topping.

Topping ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 stick soften butter
1 cup of chopped nuts (we choose pecans)

Mix all of the ingredients except the nuts. Once all the ingredients are mixed, I suggest acting like its a pastry and using two knives to cut everything up, then you can put the nuts in.

As soon as your initial 10 minutes of baking are up, bring out the sweet potato mixture and crumble the topping on it. Then stick the pan back into the oven for an addition 20-25 minutes. You want to see that everything had pretty much solidified and the topping wont look as crumbly anymore. More like a dessert type of crust. Yum, yum.

(And as you can see, I kinda forgot to take a picture before we started digging in. Whoops!)

Now let your taste buds feast!