tip # 14 turkey salad

Our favorite recipe from my mother-in-law Lu is Turkey Salad.
Great on a pretzel roll a couple of days after the feast.

To make, cut up some onions into wedges, have some dried parsley leaves, and lots of leftover turkey. You will need to use a hand grinder like this one I have of my Grandma Dykstra (Seth has asked my mother, his Grandma Dykstra for hers as she is taking apart her kitchen.)
You can use a food processor but while it will taste the same, it will not be the same consistency.

Grind the turkey, adding to the grinder parsley and onion as you go.

Take this ground mixture and add lots of fresh ground pepper and some mayonnaise. How much? Each member of this family likes a bit different proportions, so whoever helps me grind gets to choose the amount for this batch. I enjoy the conversations while we do this together.

Tip: After a feast it is easiest to debone the turkey while it is still warm--you will have the meat ready for the salad or other leftovers, the bones on the boil for stock, and room in the fridge for everything else.

Thanksgiving 2011

tip # 13 triangle labels sewn into the binding

I used to make labels like in the second picture--and often did not make them as I would have to applique them and it would be put off until later--so much later that I would forget when I made the quilt.
I learned to include the one side and bottom seam in with the binding, saving two edges of applique. I use square or rectangles at times, but, by making it a triangle, there is a straight line to applique the top edge--no corner to sew. I put labels on when I put on the binding--can write on it after it is on the quilt. That pesky step seems to be neglected at times...

from my Grandma Dykstra (and I think from my Great-Grandma Meerdink)

My mother is sorting through her things and offered this pin cushion to me.
It was my Grandma Dykstra's and from what I remember, she said it was her mother's.
It has a tag on it with my grandma's name on it in my handwriting--I remember putting that on and taking it to the nursing home so she would have something from her work at home close by. That was 30 years ago.
Mom also gave me a darning egg that is similar to one I already have. It is not the one we grew up with so I asked her to please keep a look out for that one for me.
I keep a pair of knee highs from my high school years in my sock drawer because they were darned by my grandma.

tip #12 macaroni and cheese, making the crumbs in bulk

I hesitate to mess with Cook's Illustrated recipes out of respect for their rather obsessive attention to getting it just right, but I have adapted their Macaroni and Cheese recipe to our family's taste.
It is a change of the proportions of seasonings and the sauce to macaroni ratio.

My biggest innovation comes from my dislike of getting out the food processor to make the bread crumbs. I now make a triple batch and put the extra in a zip lock freezer bag so it is ready to go the next two times I make it.

Macaroni and Cheese (with 4 guys in the house, I usually double this recipe as seen in the photograph)
crumbs:
3-6 slices of white bread (I sometimes use Pita) and 3-4 Tablespoons cold butter, shredded in food processor
macaroni: 1 pound shells or elbows, cook until just past al dente stage
sauce: 3 1/2 T butter, melted, stir in 2 heaping teaspoons of dry mustard and 1/4 heaping teaspoon of cayenne pepper. stir in 1/4 cup flour and cook for a couple of minutes. gradually stir in 3 1/2 cups milk. cook until medium white sauce. stir in 2 1/2 cups of shredded cheese mixture of cheddar, jack, and colby. stir in some black pepper.
assembly: mix sauce and macaroni. put into broiler safe pan that has been sprayed with Pam. top with crumbs. put under broiler until toasted.

tulips

Here is how to make the tulip block that I made for my parents' quilt.
Block finishes 5 1/2 inches

Cutting for one block
background: one 1 1/2 inch square, one 1 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch rectangle, two half square triangles cut from 2 1/2 inch strip with EZ angle, two 2 inch square backgrounds to stitch and flip on the leaves.

tulip: one 1 1/2 inch square, one 2 1/2 inch square; two half square triangles cut from 2 1/2 inch strip with EZ angle of flower color.

leaves: two 2 inch by 4 1/2 inch rectangles of green.

bulb: one 2 inch square of brown.

fall blogger quilt festival: sixty tulips

Amy's Creative Side is hosting her blogger fall quilt festival and I encourage you to visit others in her post.

Sixty Tulips was made for my parents' sixtieth wedding anniversary this summer. The quilt was made from batik scraps for the tulips and a few longer lengths for the background, sashing, and setting pieces. Beautifully quilted by Sue DiVarco.

Our gathering and celebration memories of this summer are especially precious as my father died in a farming accident six weeks later.