Super yummy sweet potatoes

Thanksgiving is just a couple days away so I thought I would share a little something with you all. If you don’t know already you should know that I make some of the most awesome sweet potatoes ever. If you usually are opposed to sweet potatoes I can almost guarantee that you will love mine. So I decided I would share my “recipe” with you so you can spread the goodness around. Now I am going to warn you here I put recipe in quotations back there because I have never worked from a written recipe I usually just throw everything together and then keep adding more till it tastes right. So with this it is best not to be a rigid recipe follower. Ok, now that the warning is out of the way lets get started.

Ingredients:
3-4 sweet potatoes (I prefer white sweet potatoes but it doesn’t really matter which you get
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup(1 stick) sliced butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla (I love vanilla so I always twice as much as I should)
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans or cashews
About ½ a bag of marshmallows (These are optional but super awesome)


And here we go…
- Cut off the end bits and discard. Chop up sweet potatoes (don’t peel) so they fit in a large pot.
-Cover potatoes with water and boil until they are soft. You should be able to easily slide a fork in the middle if they are done.
- Drain water and set potatoes aside to cool
-Once the sweet potatoes are cool enough to touch you can go ahead and pull the skin off. It should easily pull off.
- In a large mixing bowl mash the sweet potatoes adding the eggs milk and butter.
- Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until potatoes are smooth.
At this point you should take a little taste and see what you think. I usually add a little more sugar, cinnamon and vanilla I like my sweet potatoes to taste like candy.
- Once you are good with the flavor transfer your sweet potatoes into a 13 x 9 buttered baking dish. Smooth them out and sprinkle top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts.
- Cover pan with foil and bake for about 35 minutes at 350 (I usually just throw them in with the turkey so the temp doesn’t need to be exact)
- After about 35 minutes remove foil and bake another 15 minutes

At this point you could be done it you want or you could go super crazy and the marshmallows. If you are super crazy like me cover the top of the potatoes with marshmallows and put them back in the oven until they are lightly browned (about 5 minutes).

Now you are done and it is time to enjoy your super yummy sweet potatoes.
My brother in-law describes these as a delicious, cinnamony, vanillay sweet potato pudding

Enjoy!

MmmmMMMmm Cinnamon Rolls

A couple months ago found this recipe online for Cinnamon Rolls . I saved the link to my favorites and every so often I go back and drool over the oh so delicious looking pictures. I decided I should make them this weekend and make half for us here at the house and take the other half south with me to share with the family for Thanksgiving.

So, I woke up this morning prepared for some intense baking of cinnamon rolls and boy was it intense. I think I got started before 8 am and they were not ready to serve until after noon. But we all agreed it was worth the wait.

There were just a couple changes that I made
- I added delicious pecans
- I backed them at 375 for 20 minutes
- I was fresh out of maple extract for the frosting so I just used maple syrup

Also, next time I think I will only use 1 cup of butter instead of 1 1/2 cups. It just made a buttery sugary mess all over my counter. While some may not me opposed to such messes it was no fun to clean up.

Unloved vintage place mats finally find a new life

Months and months ago while out thrift shopping I came across a set of beautiful doily place mats. I didn’t really have a purpose for them. I am not really the type to use place mats I don’t even think I had an actual dinning room table but I bought them. Needless to say the darn things sat a around for quite a while. They hid from view tucked under piles of other goodies I was attempting to hide. I think at one point I even tried to pawn off on my sister who refused them due to her already too large collection of vintage linens.

Finally after months of not knowing what to do with these stinking place mats and coming too close to the point of disliking them I was hit with inspiration. I knew someday they would make themselves useful. Here is what those silly place mats finally decided to be.

Super Duper Man Wallets

Since I am married to a man I like to think that I know a little something about what a man looks for in a wallet. First of all men aren't interested in frilly things like appliqued flowers on their wallets. Some of us might think the lack of floral applique a little boring but men simply don't need it. They prefer manly things like race cars, trains and trucks.

Second velcro change pockets are not necessary. Men like to dump all their change into their pant pocket. I think the sound of it jingling around in there makes them feel super manly.

Last of all most men look for something that is stream line. Things like buttons get in the way while they are forcing their wallets in and out of their back pocket.

With all of these things in mind I am please to introduce to you Petals' Metro Male Wallet!

So Many Things To Do

I have found myself unable to sew since Wednesday. So what does a girl do when she can't bear to sequester herself in her sewing room without human contact (aside from Harry Potter of course)? She lugs her many piles of fabric into the living room and cuts out wallets and makes and enormous mess while enjoying brain rotting cable television with her husband.

That right there is 2 bags, 6 pouches, 40 wallets (oh my!), and some pins waiting to be made

Owls

Back in May when I did Bazaar Bizarre several people asked me if my stuffed owls were pouches.

I decided to take the inquiry as a suggestion and made a little owl pouch prototype and I love him!



He turned out so good I decided to make more. So, I spent some time yesterday making an actual pattern and cutting out six more owl pouches to sew.