Need to Get Busy on Christmas Gifts and Stew Casserole or Stewcarole Recipe

   I know you all probably think I have lost it but I said last year I would not wait to start crocheting and making Christmas presents till October. This year I am starting in July so that I hope to eliminate those late night hurry to finish projects this year. I am at the planning stage right now but ideas are in short supply. I don't want to do the usual afghans but probably will be doing a couple for my oldest grand kids since they have outgrown theirs. I don't know why they have since I made them when they were in grade school and they are both adults now 18 and 20. It is long overdue and they have been asking so guess that is what I will start on now. I am trying different stitches hoping to come up with a suitable pattern that is unique to each one of them.

  I am also thinking about trying some recipes now to get them just right to have for those get togethers and as gifts from the kitchen. I love gifts in a jar so I think the next couple of weeks will be fun trying to find some and adding my spin on them.

For today though, here is another recipe that was one of those, don't want the same old thing for dinner, recipes but on a limited budget and made with just what I had in the refrigerator and pantry. We call it Stew Casserole or as my Grandson says Stewcarole. There is no picture because the family ate it so fast I didn't have a chance, it was a big hit.


Stew Casserole or Stewcarole

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
3 lg baking potatoes
1/2 pkg frozen mixed vegetables
olive oil
butter
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
1 cup Ketchup
2 Tbl taco seasoning
2 Tbl chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
6-8 slice American cheese or cheese of your choice

Directions:
In skillet drizzle the bottom with olive oil and heat. Add 1/4 of a stick of butter to skillet and melt. When the oil and butter are heated you can add the peeled and thinly sliced potatoes to the skillet. Potatoes should be thin like you would have them for fried potatoes. Heat the potatoes till they just start to heat through and are starting to get tender. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees while you are cooking the potatoes in the skillet. When potatoes are ready put them with the oil and butter from the skillet on to a sheet pan in a single layer. Salt and pepper to taste. Put in oven for 20 minutes or until they start to crisp and brown turning once half way through cooking time. Now while the potatoes are in the oven brown the hamburger. Drain. Also in a pan cook the vegetables like it says on the package. Add chili powder and taco seasoning to the ground beef give it a stir till it is mixed well into the hamburger. Add the BBQ and Ketchup to create the sauce on the meat ( if you need to you can add more BBQ sauce and ketchup) Add the cooked drained vegetables to the hamburger mix well. let simmer till potatoes are ready.
When the potatoes are done remove them from the oven. Pour the hamburger vegetable mixture evenly in a 9X13 pan. Layer the potatoes on top in a single layer covering the hamburger mixture completely. Top with the sliced cheese on top of the potatoes. Put in oven for 5 minutes or till cheese is melted. Serves 4-6 depending on size of serving or how hungry they are. Add a nice side salad and garlic bread and you have a nice dinner in no time at all.

This is a very easy meal to make and at our house it was a big hit. You can make it with gluten free BBQ sauce and Ketchup and spices like I did.  To make your own garlic butter and bread  you can   melt a 1/4 stick of butter. To the butter add gluten free garlic powder and mixed them together. Then I used my gluten free bread for myself and regular bread for the family. I didn't have a baguette so I used sandwich bread. I put on a cookie sheet the bread and  spread it with the garlic butter and placed under the broiler till toasted. It works in a pinch when you don't have French bread or baguettes. Since I made this meal I see that Udi's brand has a gluten free baguette that I will try next time.

Hope you will give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.

2 Crocheted Bookmark Patterns

I collect bookmarks and so I have recently been coming up with crochet patterns for bookmarks. Here are two simple patterns of mine.

Delicate Flower Bookmark

Materials

#10 crochet thread multi color
D hook

Directions

Ch 55 join with slip stitch in 6 ch from hook
Ch 1 turn 
Now do 5 dc in circle, sc in circle 4 times ending with sc slip stitch to beginning dc and fasten off. Weave in ends  and block


Friendship Chain Bookmark

Materials

D hook
Size 10 thread I used multi color
Directions

First circle motif
Ch 20 join to form a circle with sl st in first ch
Ch 3 (1stdc) dc in same st, 2 dc in ea ch around join to top of beg ch 3 fasten off weave in end

Second circle motif
Do same as first but when you join to form circle go through center of first circle then do your dc in ea ch

Third circle motif
Same as second go through center of 2nd circle to join
Fasten off

Fourth circle motif same as 2nd and 3rd

For  band if you want one
Ch.60 dc in 4th ch from hook and ea ch across at end fasten off weave in ends weave through circles tack to first and last circle

Hope you give these patterns a try and as always let me know how you like them and show me pictures of yours if you try them.

Keep Crocheting!

Another Trellis Necklace and Bracelet Crochet Pattern

Spiral Necklace

1 ball ladder or trellis yarn (you can make several from this ball of yarn)
K hook

With yarn do a slip knot about 6 inches up from end. Ch 60 then in first ch and ea ch do 3 sc to end. At end do 3sc and then 3 sc in ea ch on the other side of beginning ch back to beginning and slip st in first sc made. Measure 6 inches from end and cut yarn and pull through to keep from unraveling and finish off by tying a knot on both ends next to the necklace. Then you can either use a jewelry fastener or tie the two ends together in a knot.

 Bracelet

Made like necklace just smaller version

Go 6" and do a slipknot ch 26 then 3 sc in ea ch at other end do 3 sc in other side of ch to end. Measure 6" cut and pull through to finish off. Either tie or use fasteners

Hope the directions will help you to make some wonderful jewelry. This is my own pattern so please if you make this let me know and send pictures. Also please give me credit for the pattern. Have fun and Good Crocheting.

What's For Dinner? Leftovers

   I don't know where you are on the leftover debate but I love leftovers. As a kid growing up I thought everyone ate leftovers. I loved them. My favorite I think was when we had leftover roast beef and if we had enough we would have roast beef hash the next day. Roast beef, onions, and potatoes chopped into bite size pieces and fried in a skillet yum. Mouth watering just thinking about it. If we only had a little roast left my Grandmother would make Roast salad like tuna salad. That is so wonderful on a sandwich or just by itself. You just grind up the roast or like I do chop into small bite size pieces add mayo and pickle relish and mix all together and eat. Those are just some of my favorite ones from my childhood. Of coarse I loved left over  fried chicken, hamburgers and spaghetti too, but those I just ate cold and usually for breakfast.

   When I first got married we had a lot of leftovers because I was use to cooking for 7 not 2. So glad my  husband didn't mind leftovers either or we would have lost a lot of food. The key to leftovers is not just serving the same thing but to figure ways to use them that is different than what you had to begin with.

 This brings us to tonight's dinner and what to do with our leftover white rice and hot dogs. Now to you that might sound like just heat and eat but to me it was a challenge to make something that was different so here is what I came up with and it was a big hit. No leftovers of the leftover meal which is a good thing.

Ingredients:
6 left over grilled hot dogs
2 1/2 cups cooked white rice
1 cup frozen green beans
olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup ketchup
1 cup bbq sauce
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
salt to taste
pepper to taste
6 slice American cheese

Directions:

In large skillet drizzle olive oil to coat bottom when olive oil starts to heat up add the butter and when warm add rice. Make sure you have broken the rice up so that it doesn't have any big clumps. Heat on medium heat stirring to keep from scorching. Cute the hot dogs up into bite size pieces and add to rice. In a separate bowl mix the ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce and brown sugar till sugar is dissolved. To the rice and hot dogs add the green beans, the chili powder and salt and pepper. Then add the sauce you made and stir till all the rice and hot dogs and green beans are coated. Cover and heat on medium heat for 10 minutes stirring once in awhile . When completely heated through and the green beans are done add the 6 slices of cheese around the skillet and put lid back on. When the cheese begins to melt stir it into the mixture and you are ready to eat. Serve with a nice salad and some bread and butter. It make a great meal. Try it you might be surprised just how good it is.

Crocheted Friendship Circle Bookmark Pattern

                                  

  


This is the first of the Bookmark patterns I have made to give to followers on my blog mysteryreadingnook.blogspot.com I will be posting another one next week. This is a great small gift for friends, book clubs, and to give with books you give as gifts. Hope you like it and let me know if there are any mistakes in my pattern.




  Crocheted Friendship Circle Bookmark Pattern

Materials

D hook
Size 10 crochet thread I used multicolor

Directions

First motif

Rnd 1 Ch 4 sl st to first ch to form circle ch 1 10 sc in ring join with sl st to beg sc (10 sc)
Rnd 2 ch 3 (1st dc) dc in same st. 2 dc in ea sc around join with sl in top of beg ch 3 (20 dc)
Rnd 3 ch1 sc in same st, ch 3 *sk.next dc sc in next dc, ch 3 sk nxt dc repeat from * around sl st to beg sc (10 sc, 10 ch 3 spaces)
Rnd 4 sl st to first ch 3 spaces, ch 3(first dc) 5 more dc in sp, * 6 dc in next ch 3 space repeat from * to end sl in top first ch 3
Rnd 5 ch 1 sc in same st ch 5 sk next 5 dc sc in next dc ( this is first dc of next group of 6 dc) * ch 5 sk next 5 dc sc in next dc repeat from * around end with sl st in first sc fasten off

2nd motif

Repeat like first motif to last round
Last round ch 1 sc in same st, *ch 5 going through ch 5 sp on 1st motif then sk next 5 dc on 2nd motif and sc in next dc (1st dc of next 6dc) on 2nd motif *repeat one more time from*-* finish last round like last round of 1 st motif

3 motif repeat same as 2nd motif attaching to 2nd motif like 2nd motif was attached to 1 st motif

Baby Boy Afghan

My daughter needed a baby afghan for a co worker who was having a boy so this is the afghan I came

up with.

 

 

 

Baby Blue Afghan

Materials
1 pound skein blue baby yarn
1 skein white
N hook

Directions
With blue ch 91
Row 1 dc in 4th ch from hook and ea ch across ch3 turn( counts as first dc)
Row 2-4 dc in ea dc across ch 3 turn
Row 5 ch 3 is first dc, skip next dc dc in next dc, dc in skipped dc ( cross dc made), *dc in next dc, cross dc over next two dc, repeat from * to end ending with dc in last dc ch 3 turn
Row 6-8 repeat row 5
Row 9-12 repeat row 2
Row 13-16 repeat row 5
Row 17-20 repeat row 2
Row 21-24 repeat row 5
Continue repeating to desired size 4 rows of row 2 and then 4 rows row 5 ending with 4 rows of row 2 finish off weave in ends
Border
With white attach to last dc of last row ch 1 turn sc in same st,* dc in next st, sc in next st, repeat from * across at corner do three st dc, sc, dc then cont in pattern down side and all the way around. Sl st to beginning sc. Ch 1 this round sc in dc and dc in sc around at corners do 3 st in middle st of corner on rnd below
Sl st to beginning st finish off and weave in ends
My afghan had 44 rows

As I always do I write down the pattern after I do the afghan so hopefully you can understand it and there are no mistakes. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think

Scarf for a Man

I made this scarf for a friend of my Grandsons. It is a simple pattern and one that works up quick

Materials
Black worsted weight yarn
K hook

Ch 20
Row 1 hdc in 2 nd ch from hook and ea ch across. Ch 1 turn
Row 2 hdc in first hdc, *sk next hdc, hdc in next hdc, now hdc in skipped hdc, hdc in nxt hdc rep from * to end ch 1 turn
Repeat row 2 to desired length

See how easy. Hope  you will try it. You can add a border of sc and fringe to change it up if you like.

As always I hope I didn't make any mistakes in writing this down. Try it and let me know what you think.