The Erratic Sewer and Crafter

Elderberry Jam

2011-10-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

Elderberries can be found all over. My favorite place to find them is off the main road in the Sierra Foothills on National Forest Service land. Just remember to make sure you are not on private or National Parks land. Only the Forest Service allows you to collect the berries.

You know they are ready when the bunches of berries turn a dark purple. To pick the berries bring along your scissors and cut at least a half a paper grocery bags worth of berry bunches. One of the neat things about the elderberry bush is often it is blooming while there are ripe berries. If you collect the flowers you can also make a nice elderflower syrup that you can add to soda, champagne, or over ice cream.

When you get home you need to de-stem the berries. It is important that you do not have any stems when you start making the jam since the stems and the leaves are bitter and slightly toxic. It is not hard to de-stem the berries it just takes time. You just need to take a portion of the bunch and with light fingers gentry rake your partially open hand over the berries and let them fall into the bowl. So, sit down in front of your favorite show or turn on some nice music and the hour will fly by.

To prepare the berries rinse them off and bring the elderberries to a boil, stirring often. You can put water in but the more water you use the more diluted the flavor will be. I would suggest if you want to use water try ½ a cup and you can always add a bit more if you think it looks too dry.

Once the berries are soft run them through a food mill to get rid of the seeds. If you do not have a food mill you can place a cheese cloth in a strainer and strain out the juice. The cheese cloth method will give you a jelly rather than a jam but both are delicious.

Elderberry Jam

4 cup Elderberry pulp and juice

3 Tbs lemon juice

1.5 packages pectin

7 cups sugar

Place the elderberries and lemon juice in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the pectin and return to a boil. Add the sugar and cook until it sheets off the spoon.

Prepare your jars by sterilizing the jars and lids. Pour your jam into the hot jars, clean off the edges and put on the lids. Turn your jars upside down on a clean cloth for about 10 minutes then return to the upright position. You will hear the lid pop as the jars cool. Once they are cool check to make sure they all sealed. Any that did not seal put in the fridge. The rest will be shelf stable for about a year.

Mini Vegan Limoncello Cheesecake

2011-04-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

These turned out delicious. They are super flavorful.

Mini Vegan Limoncello Cheesecake

Preheat your oven to 350 and lightly grease and flour 24 mini muffin cups.

Crust:

1 Cup ground walnuts
2 Tablespoon Sugar
4 Tablespoons Flour
4 Tablespoons Coconut Oil- Melted ( you can use a vegan margarine)

Grind up walnuts in a food processor or blender. ( if you have almond meal sitting around your house you can use that instead. I did not because my sister is very allergic and my parents would get mad if I killed her). Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until everything is moist and crumbly. Divide up the mixture in your prepped muffin tins and press them into the bottom of each cup. Store in the freezer as you make the filling.

Filling:

16 Ounces (2 Cup or 2 Container) Tofutti “Cream Cheese”
4 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1/2Cup Granulated Sugar
2/3 Cup Limoncello ( Used my homemade limoncello)
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Beat together the “cream cheese,” corn starch, and sugar with your mixer on low speed, or with a wide spatula, until smooth. Pour in the limoncello and vanilla, mixing until thoroughly combined. Distribute the filling between all of your crust-lined cupcakes, and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Like a standard cheesecake, they will seem very loose when fresh out of the oven, but continue to firm up as they cool, so be careful not to over bake them. The cheesecake bites will puff significantly in the oven, but will fall as they cool.

After chilling in the fridge for at least an hour, slip a thin paring knife down the sides of each cheesecake bite and use it as a lever to remove them. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Makes 24

Alternate ideas:

Corn blackberry (cornmeal instead of flour and blackberry cordial instead of limoncello)

Chocolate Kahlua ( add cocoa powder to the crust and kahlua instead of limoncello)

Flower YoYo Headband

2011-04-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Now I have a bunch of flower yoyos sitting around from my yoyo making frenzy.

Take a stiff but flexible item to cut into the shape that will be the base of your fascinator or headband. In this case I used a takeout coffee lid.

Choose you base fabric and cover the base wrapping around and gluing to the back.

Sew (or glue if you are inclined) the flowers to the base in a pleasing pattern.

If you are making a fascinator you can now attach it to a comb or a clip.

I decided to make a head band.

I wrapped a matching torn strip of fabric around a headband gluing down each end.

Finally I hot glued on the flower piece to the head band. Let it set for a few minutes and you are ready for going out to show off your fun new accessory.

Flower Yo Yos

2011-04-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have lots and lots of small pieces of fabric sitting around in my house. I keep telling myself that ones of these days I will make a scrap quilt. Until that happens I have been plying with my yo yo makers to create cute embellishments for sweaters, hair clips, dresses and shoes. Today I made a few adorable gigham flowers to attach to hair pins.

Clover has several yoyo makers out on the market but I most enjoy the circle and the flower shapes. You slide the fabric between the two pieces with the wring side of the fabric touching the piece that looks like the flower ( the left shape in the picture) Click the pieces firmly together.

Follow the instructions to sew the thread in the fabric. Make sure you use a matching thread since it will show a bit and that you get all the folded over cloth caught in the stitches. I like to overlap the first and last sections but make sure you do not sew into the knot of the first section or it will not pull properly. Once you have down the outside edges and the center pull it off the template.

To create the center take a little bit of extra fabric or a bit of batting or cotton ball and from the right side of the fabric poke it in with your finger as you pull the thread tight around the filling. It should look something like this.

Next pull the end of the thread on the outside edge pulling the fabric in to meet the middle. I suggest taking your time so that the edges fold cleaning under and the gathers are mostly even.

Now you are done. You can sew it to anything you want. Since tonight I wanted to look cute going out on the town I glues it to a bobby pin using a small trip of fabric and a hot glue gun.

The Great Cabbage Challenge 3

2011-03-14T22:18:00.000-07:00

Usually my soups are a casual amalgamation of whatever I have sitting around: a broth, a little bit of starch (pasta, grain, or potato), some vegetables and some herbs and spices.

I was digging around in my cupboard and found some dried beans and thought "hmm there is nothing like the excitement of beans and cabbage". So a new soup was born.

Cabbage Bean Soup with Toasted Parmesan Bread

¼ cup onion

Olive oil

Sauté the onion in the oil until soft

Broth

A clove of garlic (or more to taste)

½ cup diced tomato

½ cup whole beans (I used pink for this but any will work)

Generous handful of sliced cabbage

Pinch of sage, thyme, marjoram and pepper ( any mixture of your favorite herbs and spices will do)

Handful of a small pasta (I used spaghettini, you could also use a grain, quinoa or diced potato)

Add to onions and cook until pasta is tender

Slice of bread

Butter

Parmesan cheese

Toast the first side of the bread

Turn bread over and sprinkle with parmesan and cover

When second side is toasted, turn over one more time to toast the cheese.

The Great Cabbage Challenge 2

2011-03-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

One thing I discovered about this cabbage is that it is fairly tasteless. I am thinking the recipes will all need lots of spices added. I started off the experiment with something fried. What I like about fritters is that you can add any spices and grated veggies to the mixture to change up the flavor. This time I did a fairly basic version of a fritter.

Potato cabbage fritters

2 cups grated potato

2 cups thinly sliced cabbage

1 small onion

2 eggs

½ cup flour

½ cup masa flour

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon of pepper

A few teaspoons of your favorite spices ( I did this time a Bavarian spice mix from Penzeys Spices)

Mix all together and fry up

I topped it with a lightly sautéed garlic and beet tops

The Great Cabbage Challenge

2011-02-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you encounter a cabbage the size of a small child for $1 at the farmers market?

Buy it of course. If you are like me when you get home you realize there is no way you can come up with enough recipes to keep cabbage eating interesting enough until you use up this monster vegetable.

Challenge Accepted!

Stalking the Wild Current

2011-01-28T20:26:00.000-08:00

I walk by you every day and dream about your delicious fruit. I am determined that this year I will make more than 2 minuscule jars of jam.

Will the birds get to you first when you just become ripe? They probably will but I have found a couple of your cousins.

Miner's Lettuce - A tasty, bountiful treat.

2011-01-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

One thing I love about January in California is that my world has turned green. The golden hills and the foggy weather of the summer is several months away and now I have sunny days and green hills.

The other thing I like about January is the salad fixings growing wild out my front door. Huzzah to the return of miner’s lettuce. Miner’s lettuce is fairly mild in flavor. I find it similar to spinach. It can be eaten raw or cooked and has loads of vitamin C. I have been known to snack on this delicious plant while I am hiking along with my friends. I often get a strange look but when the brave few try it they agree how delicious it is.

As I was sitting at my desk I thought, tonight, I would treat myself to a miner’s lettuce soup and salad dinner.

My salad was simple. Some miner’s lettuce, cranberry, walnuts, goat cheese and a vinaigrette. (I think anything that adds a bit of acid, a bit of crunch and a bit of tart would be delicious)

The soup was made in my typical pattern. Throw a bunch of stuff in a sauce pan and hope for the best. This was my approximate recipe.

Fry up in olive oil until translucent

- ¼ cup diced onion

Add and cook for a minute or two

- Garlic cloves to taste (for me about 3)

- Couple pinches of thyme

- A fist sized potato – diced

- Handful of sliced cabbage

Add

- Broth

Just before done cooking add

- A couple handfuls of miner’s lettuce

When miner’s lettuce is just wilted blend soup with an immersion blender and serve

( this made one bowl)

Clementine Marmalade

2011-01-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

I look forward every winter to the boxes of clementines showing up in all the stores. This thin skinned super sweet citrus brings sunshine to the dark winter days. This year I was feeling a bit of a desire to add a little bite to my sunshine by making a marmalade.

There are people who may avoid marmalade because of an edge of bitter to the flavor but I found the clementine version to be less bitter because there is very little of the white pith.

The process I like to use takes two days. I like it better because it lessens the cooking time.

Day 1

15 Clementines

Sliced in half
Then sliced matchstick thin

2 small lemons

Sliced in half

Remove seeds

Do not throw out seeds. They have lots of natural pectin that will help gel your marmalade. There are several options for how to use the seeds without them being left in the jam

1. Tie them in a couple layers of cheese cloth

2. Put them in a sturdy tea ball

3. Pull apart a tea bag, remove the tea and tie the end up.

Squeeze juice
Dice skin small

4 cups water

Place all ingredients in a non reactive pot

Bring to a boil
Simmer for 5 minute
Cover and let sit over night or about 15 hours

Day 2

4 ½ cups sugar ( more if you like it sweeter)

Bring to a boil
Set on simmer for 2 - 3 hours
Stir every once and awhile( you can do it at a higher temperature for a quicker cooking time but you will need to watch it closely)
Check for gel with the frozen plate test, I started checking when the mixture started getting thick.

Pour into sterilized jars.

Now you can throw a pretty label on it and find out which of your friends flock to your side.

June 3-4 Journal Project

2010-06-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

I printed 2 images out on a heavy paper. One black and white and one color. I painted over them with a heavy body acrylic. In the color copy more of the image shows though the paint.

June 1-2 Journal Project

2010-06-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

I continue to experiment with using images, color pencil and neocolor. I think next time I will use a brighter ink when using it with magazine images.

Bow Tie Friday

2010-05-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

We are public administration students and we are bringing back the cool.

Oh yes, I am talking about bow ties. No longer is this the realm of stodgy old men and pocket protector nerds. We are taking back this accessory and returning it to the world of the young hip movers and shakers crowd.

The Summer Art Journal Project

2010-05-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

I need to jump start my craft engine after a year of focusing on school. My challenges is to create 1 journal page a day until the journal is full. With 70 pages I should be done on August 7th.

I started yesterday on May 30th so here are my first 2 pages.

Space Cowboy Costume

2009-09-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here in the Bay Area we have a fun group called The Period Events and Entertainments Re-Creation Society (PEERS). They put on a ball each month with a different theme. This month they went with Space Cowboy’s. I am a big fan on Firefly so I could not resist going and seeing all the cool Firefly inspired costumes. Of course I felt it was only right that I also get a cool costume.

As much as I love Thoreau sometime I need to actively ignore him when he says “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.” In my effort to keep my costume carbon footprint low I try to make costumes from repurposed items… or from things already in my stash. (although it is highly debatable if it is in my stash as a so far unused item if that is a way to consider my carbon footprint lowered)

So for my costume I went for a slightly Asian and leather look. I started with a long gown with a bright print. I made a leather underbust corset from a cut down skirt. The belts that cross it are not attached so all items can be transferred to future costumes. The shrug was made from a roll of leather found in someone’s attic. I used an old 60’s Chinese dress pattern and adapted it to get the look I wanted. Mostly I just cut off anything lower than the bust line. I did however change the sleeves. I tend to look horrible in cap sleeves.

Summer Jam

2009-07-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's summer time and the living is jammy. The fruit trees and berry bushes are throwing fruit at me. I have my shipment of pectin and a stack of jars and a box of apricots, olallieberries and strawberries plus a few cherries and plums thrown in.

I am not terribly exact in my recipe but so far it has seemed to work. In general it looks like this:
4-5 cups of fruit
juice of 1 lemon
(optional: any flavorings i.e. candied ginger, cinnamon )
**Cooked down until very soft
add 1 1/2 packages of pectin
**return to boil
7 cups of sugar
**return to boil cook until it sheets off the spoon
( optional add 1/3 cup of alcohol. i.e. brandy, lemoncello, amaretto)
**cook about 1 minute
**ladle into hot jars
**clean rims
**place on hot lids
**set jars upside down for 10 minutes or so
**turn back upright and let them cool

I ended up making 58 jars of jam with 14 different blends.

Apricot Lemon-Verbena Jam

Apricot Ginger Jam

Apricot Brandy Jam

Strawberry Brandy Jam

Strawberry Apricot Plum Jam

Olallieberry Jam

Strawberry Olallieberry Brandy Jam

Apricot Olallieberry Jam

Olallieberry Pomegranate Jam

Strawberry Olallieberry Jam

Strawberry Olallieberry Ameretto Jam

Strawberry Lemoncello Jam

Olallieberry Cherry Strawberry Jam

Apricot Plum Olallieberry Brandy Jam

Aluminum Can Flowers

2009-05-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

This past month I enjoyed looking at all the craft ideas floating about with a reused theme. I was especially fond of what I called the brooch of death. My roommate started drinking soda with really great colors so I thought why not give it a try.

What happens when you cut up a soda can? Well it becomes sharp enough to poke out an eye or slice open your grandma when you hug her. So for all you spies out there here is a great stealth weapon.

1. Find a can. ..soda, beer or any sort of aluminum can.

2. Poke a hole in the can.

3. Cut off the top and bottom of can

4. Don’t slice open your fingers on the sharp edges.

5. Create a template outof recycled magazine inserts or other paper. Run wild with the shapes if you want however I suggest you avoid pointy petals unless you truly are going to poke someone’s eye out with it.

6. Trace your template.

7. Cut out 1, 2 or as many of the petals as you want.

8. Another style of petal can be created from any size circle.

9. Poke holes in the center of the petals with whatever sharp device suits your fancy. Nail, pushpin, ice pick…

10. Connect the petals with wire, adding any beads you might want. You can company multile sizes and shapes.

11. You can curl up the edges if you desire.

12. The sky is the limit

13. At this point you can add a pin to the back to make your brooch of death or you can use the flowers for your other art projects