My new best friend...

Meet my new friend "Gogo"! Haha, yes I have named my exercise bike... after all we've become very well acquainted. This Fall I am *determined* to get in better shape. Because I go to school and work more than part time, I find it hard to make it into the campus gym for a workout. Add in very cold Montana temperatures and lots of winter snow, and it makes it hard to want to go out either in the morning before class or in the evening after work.

Enter my brilliant plan.

I went searching for a recumbant exercise bike. Recumbant because they are a little easier on the joints and I knew I would be more likely to use it. We still happen to have an old KMart here and just by chance went in to see if they had bikes. Not only did they have this bike... but it was marked down 75% off! A $250 bike for $60 something. Woo!! It was meant to be!!

The seat is the only complaint... it's a little hard on the backside, so I added a nice pink pillow. Haha - does the job! And my pink exercise ball in the background is good for warmup - you just bounce up and down on it for 5 minutes to get the blood pumping.

The results: 3 weeks and 5 lbs lost! Woo Woo!! My total weight loss is tracked at the bottom of this blog. Now that y'all know and I've drawn your attention to it, I have to stick with it! :-)

The Best Ever Banana Blueberry Muffins!

The inspiration for this recipe came from http://simplyrecipes.com/. They have a recipe called banana nut muffins which I used and added to. My husband doesn't like nuts in baked goods, so I knew those were out... and I've always loved blueberry muffins, so inspiration struck. Mix blueberries with the banana bread.... and it was DELICIOUS!! Try it! (I also made another version with chocolate chips added instead of blueberries)

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tps baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

No need for a mixer with this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.

Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and/or blueberries.

Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin . Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin.

Makes 12 muffins.

Peach Topped Shortbread

Following the theme as of late - Peaches - here's another good recipe I found over at Smitten Kitchen. It's not a sweet as regular crips, cobbler, or even cookies, and that's part of what makes it so appealing.

Peach Topped Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg (or powdered in the spice isle)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter or grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices with a whisk. Use a pastry blender (or fork) to blend the butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over the crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches and bake in preheated over for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you see a little color around the edges. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

Before:

After:

Peach Crisp

This lady (aka the Pioneer Woman) has WONDERFUL recipes to share, and they are all photographed step-by-step in beautiful color. The recipe used raspberries, but mentioned that any summer fruit would work. I had peaches that were getting rather soft... so this is the product. YUM!!!

Peach Crisp

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups fresh chopped peaches
1 Tablespoon (heaping) cornstarch
2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
dash of salt
3/4 stick butter, cut into small pieces
whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine peaches, cornstarch, 2/3 cups sugar, and vanilla. Stir and set aside.

In a seperate bowl combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, oats, pecans, salt, and butter pieces. Cut together with fork or pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add peach mixture to a small baking dish or pie pan. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving.

Doesn't this look so peachy, gooey good!?!? (And it was!) *smile*

Potholders for Mom

"From the Fabric Scraps Grow the Roses of Success" (See "Grow the Roses" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) Hee hee. :-)

Aren't they pretty! And just little strips of scraps...

This one is actually two 9 patches from my bigger project...

And this one is a mix from the past two projects. It's so nice to finally have little scraps to do cute things with! These are *almost* too cute to use...

This is my favorite with the straight line quilting...

Three Potholders in a Pod...

My First "Quilt Show"

We went to the Montana State Fair in Great Falls, MT for the day... there was so much to see, including the Quilt competition!

So much for inspiration! And the details... whew!

New Fabric, New Project

Oh the pretty colors! This is more what I had wanted to start learning with (rather than the blue and yellow), but I don't know if I would have had the guts to cut into such pretty fabrics!

Fat Quarters to 2 1/2 inch strips...

To 2 1/2 inch squares...

To 9 patches...

I'm not sure if I'll set them on point or just sash them in the white... the "on point" thing sounds intimidating at this point, but I KNOW it would be oh so beautiful.

We'll see what this quilt makes of itself...

And of course... my ipod and my sewing machine. I listen to quilt podcasts while I sew. It's quite motivating and inspirational to hear what other people are creating!