The Fickle Hobbyist

Archive for the ‘Tuesdays with Tami’ Category

I am a bath person.  Few things are more enjoyable to me than a nice hot, aromatic bath.  Sometimes I like a candlelight bath, but most times I just like to grab a good book, and sit in there until the water gets cool.  It’s always been a great way to end the day, and head off to bed all nice and relaxed.  I know that most people prefer showers, they jump into the shower first thing in the morning, then busily head off to start their day.  I think with today’s busy lifestyles, sometimes we just need to slow down and have some quality “me” time.  My bath is just that!!

For years, I’ve made these fizzy bath bombs.  They are full of skin and water softening agents, coupled with aromatic oils, then to top it off with an ingredient that actually makes them fizz in the bathwater, makes for a very relaxing spa like experience.  I make these, but rarely get a chance to use them myself.  I like to give them as gifts, as accents in my gift baskets, or just to give to someone for no reason as all.  Today, I gave one to my massage therapist, and she was beside herself.  She said it made her day!!  One of these days I am going to make a batch strictly for myself.

Most of the ingredients you can purchase in your local grocery store, except maybe for the citric acid crystals.  I have always worked in a pharmacy, and had access to ordering it.  If your store doesn’t carry it (it’s also used in fruit preserving, so maybe you can find it), just ask your local pharmacy if they can order it for you.  Most can.  It would usually be there the next day.  This is the ingredient that makes the fizz.

The coconut oil is usually found in the nutritional area of the grocery store.  I don’t buy the most expensive, virgin kind, etc (I save that for actually consuming) but they have several different grades, so go with the cheaper one.  It’s solid at room temperature.

This particular recipe is very hard to form into a ball, but works very well put into a tiny soap mold.  While mixing this up, I even think this would do well just put into a decorative jar with a seal tight lid, and a scoop.   I will add another recipe with the same ingredients, but with different amounts below, which is very easy to shape into the shape of a ball.

Ingredients:

1 cup citric acid crystals
1 cup baking soda
½ cup corn starch
½ cup coconut oil (or you can use any light oil)
Scented oil and coloring

Mix dry ingredients.  Melt coconut oil until liquid.  Add to dry ingredients
along with scented oil and coloring.  Mix well to incorporate.  If mixture
is too crumbly, add a light oil (sesame, etc) a TBSP at a time to the right
consistency to press compactly into a mold.  Press tight.  Put onto a sheet of foil, and dry overnight.  Wrap individually.

I use different oils for fragrance.  At our local arts and crafts store, I had previously bought soap fragrance and coloring.  It won’t stain your skin like food coloring.  Sometimes I use the ocean scented oil, other times I use eucalyptus and lavender oil.  You can add any aroma you find relaxing.  I’ve even added some of my favorite perfume.

Here is the recipe for the ones easily shaped into balls
(plus it makes a much smaller batch, using less ingredients)

2 TBSP citric acid crystals
2 TBSP cornstarch
¼ cup baking soda
3 TBSP coconut oil
¼  tsp essential oil (fragrant, sesame, etc)
Coloring

Mix dry ingredients.  Mix oils.  Slowly mix together.
Shape into balls.  Dry overnight.

Tami’s Tip of the Week

Take one of your fizzy bath bombs, and place it in a drawer or linen closet (wrapped loosely, as to not get oil on anything, but enough to let the aroma free).  Your area will smell like a spa.

Homemade Summer Sausage

I have been pretty busy this summer, I’ve just learned how to can (thanks to Autumn’s Ball Canning House Party in June), and I am taking full advantage of all the fruits that are plentiful up here in Washington this time of year.  I have made all kinds of jams (Spicy Peach, Kiwi), jellies (pepper jelly, jalepeno jelly), and apple butter.  I’ve also put up several pints of peaches and pears.  Not to mention all the berries that I’ve put up in the freezer.  My goal this year is to have Christmas baskets full of homemade goodies.  (I went to the Goodwill yesterday and bought about 15 really cute baskets for just that reason).  That being said, my mother says to me the other day, “You should make that summer sausage that I used to make, and put some of that in your baskets”.  Now, I am wondering why in the world I had never heard of this.   She makes summer sausage!!?  She said that it tastes just like the stuff you buy from Hickory Farms.  “But does it LOOK like it?” I asked.  Ok, so I had to get right on this one!

Recipe

5 lbs hamburger (fattest cut)
5 rounded tsps Tender Quick Salt (curing salt)
2 ½ tsps mustard seed (I like more, but that’s me)
1 tsp hickory smoke season salt ~ or~ 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp liquid smoke (not both)
3 ½ tsp garlic salt
2 tsp ground pepper

Optional:
Red or jalepeno pepper flakes
Smoked paprika
A dash more liquid smoke

Day 1:  mix all ingredients, knead 5 minutes, cover and put in refrigerator
Day 2:  Knead 5 minutes, cover and return to refrigerator
Day 3:  Knead 5 minutes, cover and return to refrigerator
Day 4:  Knead, form into 5 rolls, place on broiler pan, bake in 170 degree oven for 8 hours.  Freeze or refrigerate wrapped in foil.

When I went to the store, I asked the gal there if they had Tender Quick Curing Salt.  She had no idea.  She brought a guy over, who came back with Kosher Salt.  He said the lady in the deli said it was the same thing.  WRONG!  Not the same thing.  I called my mom, and asked her where I’d find this, since I had never heard of it.  She told me that it was right on the same row as all the salts.  So I looked, and low and behold, there it was!!

I bought the big 5 lb roll of hamburger.  Make sure you don’t use the super lean, just the regular kind.  My mom said the more the fat content, the better.  Toss in the ingredients.

You have to be patient on this one.  It takes 4-5 days to finish this, depending on what time you actually put it in the oven.  I had to work on the 4th day, so I opted to put it in at 10 pm, so that it would come out of the oven at 6am just before I left for work.

Anyway, after you knead it several days, it turns sort of a brownish color (the curing is doing it’s job)

Next, I wanted to make my rolls as uniform as I could.  The only thing I had in my house that would serve such a purpose is this Pampered Chef measuring cup.

I began packing the meat mixture into it, but I found that I couldn’t get the air pockets out, and I didn’t want there to be any holes in the meat.

It came out in a really nice uniform roll, but like I said, there were spaces in the roll, and I didn’t like that

So, in the end, I just formed the rolls freehand, and hoped for the best.  If you are serving the sausage yourself, and it’s going to be sliced, it really doesn’t matter.

Into the oven these things went, and off to bed I went.  The next morning, I awoke (anxiously, I might add) to these wonder logs.  I was surprised that the outside even looked like it had a skin on it.

I wrapped them individually in foil, and put them into the fridge.  You’ll want to wait until they are cold to start slicing, because they will be nicely set up.

Seriously, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy and delicious this is!!

Whether you make this little wallet to help you create some order in your life, or to give as a gift, it is a hip and simple solution for anyone.  Use for everyday, or for when you travel – for quick access to your ID, business cards, and a little cash.   So cute and so functional…….imagine giving a gift card as a gift, in it’s own little wallet.

Last week I was in a craft store getting a picture framed.  While I was waiting, I was just slowly strolling through the aisles to see what they had.  I came across this table, and they had these cute little wallets on it.  They had several already made, and a pattern.

I looked the wallets over, looked the pattern over, and decided that I could make these!!   Usually, I’m not at all very good at reading patterns.  They confuse me.   But this one seemed simple enough, so I decided to buy the pattern.  I rummaged through some scrap material that I had from when I made the girls some outfits last summer.

This is the first one I whipped up.

Next stop, the fabric store.   In the quilting area, I found that they had squares of material in every imaginable print.   They were large enough for me to make 2 wallets, with a coordinating piece.

The part that always takes the longest is the cutting out of the pattern.  For this, you have to cut 2 pieces of each pattern (folding the material in half and cutting 2 pieces at the same time is the easiest).

You also have to cut a piece of interfacing (I used Décor Bond, it fuses to fabric with a quick brush of the iron, and adds body and strength to fabrics.   It stays put!!)

Next, you put the right sides of each pocket together and sew a ¼ inch seam. Press with the iron.

You then turn right side out, and press.

You then lay your main body fabric down, arrange the pockets,

then place the interfaced piece on top of that, right side in, and pin in place.

Using a ¼ inch seam, backtacking where you start and where you end, sew around the entire piece, leaving about a 1 ½ inch space open.  Trim and clip corners, and turn right side out.   At first I thought this was an impossibility.  How was I suppose to get 3 pockets and a stiff piece thru a tiny opening?  I thought I had done something wrong.  But finally, I figured out that if you brought the far corner toward the opening, you could work it inside out.  Just takes patience.  (This is why backtacking is very important).  Then you must whip stitch the opening closed.

By cutting out the pattern on two different materials, this gives you 2 wallets in contrasting patterns.

Next, you have to sew on a snap.  From here on, I am going to use a much larger snap.  I think these are too small, but they will work all right.   I just think a larger snap would work a little better.

All that’s left is to embellish with whatever you want.  You could use iron on decals, buttons, ribbons, use your imagination!!

I have a gift card I am planning on giving someone soon, and I will be giving it in one of these cute wallets.

Tami’s Tip of the Week

Keep an inexpensive magnet close to your sewing machine or sewing area.  When you drop pins, or they roll around the area, just run the magnet over the carpet or floor for a quick pick up of loose pins, especially for those hard to see pins.