Pinterest-Inspired Fabric Basket

Pin It I am in a sewing frenzy! And it's good...

Having scraps of canvass from the doggie hammock seat cover that I'm making (also Pinterest-inspired) and fabric from my damask window panels, I thought these would be perfect for a fabric basket.  This would be a cute storage for our doggie poop bags that we buy by the case.  And it would be coordinated with my window panels! We got them months ago and were still sitting in the original box they came in.  Not very attractive.  For the body, I mostly followed the instructions from Pink Penguin, with a few modifications.  I wanted the damask to also accent the top of the basket but didn't have enough fabric to actually make a lining out of it.  So I basically made a bias out of the damask fabric to close the top of the basket and used an old men's shirt as lining.  And because I wanted it to be a hanging basket, I changed the handle as shown below.  

I didn't have batting, so I used Pellon woven fusible interfacing, which was all I had.  But because the canvass I used was thick, the basket is able to hold its shape pretty well as you can see in the photo below.  As a value-added to the Pink Penguin tutorial, you know how Land's End canvass bags can stand sturdily on their own? I believe the trick is not to cut the corners of the box ends.  What I did was I folded them up and sewed the corners to the side seams. I did this both for the lining and the main basket.  As you can see, my basket stands up without a problem! So with a few changes, you can definitely use these techniques to make your own sturdy tote!  If I had a serger, I wouldn't even need the interfacing and the lining to make a tote.

Now once I hung the basket on the wall and actually put stuff in it, it was drooping.  But that was easily resolved with a cardboard at the bottom of the basket.

It feels awesome to actually create something from all these scrap materials! Why don't you try it?

Pinterest Refashion From Trash To Couture: Men's XL T-Shirt to Women's Dolman Shirt

Pin It Needless to say, I am in a refashion frenzy.  I am determined to do most of the 68 pins on my Sewing Projects board on Pinterest.  Anyway, this is a great tutorial from Trash to Couture that gave me an idea what to do with all those free t-shirts we get from events.  They are usually in men's XL, which is too large for either me or my husband.  So here's the before and after of a shirt I got from a NY Ranger game:

Before

After

I wish I didn't cut the neckline so large because this will only work with either a sports bra or a bathing suit.  At least I'll have something kind of dressy to walk the pup in or a nice cover up for the beach.  For my value-added in this post, a little about making gathers.  My source, again, is the Singer Complete Photo Guide to Sewing.

To make the gathers at the bottom of the shirt, adjust the tension on your machine to zero and the stitch length to the largest.  The book suggests using contrasting thread colors for the bobbin and for the top thread to make it easier to identify the bobbin thread.  The bobbin thread is what you're going to pull to make the gathers.  Sew two parallel lines of 5-6 inches each from the bottom of the shirt.  Lock only where you end sewing.  Don't lock the stitches closest to the bottom of the shirt.  This gives you a side to pull the gathers from, while keeping the other end locked which prevents your gathers from coming undone.  Pull the bobbin thread of both lines you sewed at the same time to make the gathers. Once you've done your gathers, adjust your machine tension and stitch length back to normal.  Sew a line along the gathers you made.  It helps if you have your hands holding the gathers on either side of the presser foot when you sew the lines.  This time, lock the stitches to make sure the gathers are held in place.  This is pretty much the same technique you can use with making ruffles.

Enjoy your shirt!

Light and Easy Weeknight: Pan Seared Tilapia with Parmesan Broccoli Pasta

Pin It This dish literally took 30 minutes to make, partial clean up included.  After feasting on real Southern fried chicken yesterday, this was a good dish to recover from the weekend.  It was light, yet flavorful.  The nuttiness of the parmesan perfectly complements that similar note on the broccoli.  And tilapia is just so good even with a simple preparation.  It also doesn't cost much.  The splurge in this dish would be good parmesan cheese because it makes the dish. Although more expensive, with good, flavorful parmesan you actually won't need as much.  I'm not saying that you should use the $25 per pound Parmigiano Reggiano, but grating a slice from a less expensive wheel should be better than the ones that come from a green can!  These are the times when I miss living by Arthur Avenue where I can get good olive oil and cheese from Teitel Bros. Italian grocery for a very reasonable price.

Pasta

1/2 pound of pasta (I used rotelle.)
1/4 c olive oil
about 5 cloves of garlic  peeled and slightly pounded
1 lb broccoli florets, chopped
2 tsp unsalted butter
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
red pepper flakes (optional)

Drop the pasta in the water before making the sauce.  You will be done making the sauce before pasta is even al dente.

In a sautee pan, heat olive oil over medium fire.  Add garlic and pepper flakes and let the flavor infuse the oil.  Watch as you do not want this to burn.  Turn the garlic cloves over to let the other side brown.  Fish out the garlic as soon as the other side starts to brown.  Add the broccoli.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Cook until slightly tender but with a bit of crunch left.  Add the butter.  When pasta is done cooking, use a strainer to take the pasta out of the water and put directly into the sauce.  Use some of the pasta water to add more liquid into your sauce.  Re-season with pepper (I suggest to taste after you've added the cheese if you need more salt).  Add grated parmigiano reggiano and toss.  When serving, you can drizzle a little bit more olive oil and grate some more cheese onto the pasta.

Tilapia

2 T olive oil
2 tilapia fillets
salt and pepper

I was making the tilapia while making the pasta so that they all finish cooking at the same time.

Heat the oil over medium fire.  Season both sides of the tilapia with salt and pepper.  Sear the tilapia about 4 minutes each side. 

Frankenstein Enchiladas

Pin It

So it's turning out to be Mexican week.  Mostly because the ingredients were on sale at my grocery store.  And having made tacos last Sunday and chili burritos last week, I had some leftovers.  So to change it up a bit, I decided to put leftovers and extra ingredients from different dishes together in one dish--hence, the post title.  In my last post, I said the pulled chicken tacos were my new favorite Mexican dish to make. I change my mind.  THIS is my new favorite.  Best of all, it was made solely from ingredients that I already had.  One of the things I've learned from watching all these Chopped episodes is even if we're having leftovers, they can be transformed into a whole new dish.

Oh, and just a note, I am completely aware that what I call Mexican is far from authentic. So the recipes I have here are my take on easy homemade Mexican.

They don't look too pretty with my tortillas breaking, but they were GOOD!

leftover pulled chicken from the taco recipe
leftover turkey chili (will include the recipe below)
leftover corn tortillas
leftover sour cream (I use fat free)
leftover shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend, cheddar, and mozzarella)
fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 375-degrees.  Spread some sour cream over the each tortilla.  Add the pulled chicken and top with cheese.  Put just enough to still be able to roll the tortilla.  Place rolled tortilla flaps side down on a greased tray.  Use the turkey chili to top as the enchilada sauce.  Top with cheese.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.  Serve with chopped fresh cilantro.

Turkey chili:

1 lb. ground turkey (I use lean--93/7)
about 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large can of tomato sauce (Depends on how thick or soupy you want this, actually)
1 medium onion, diced
chili powder
ground cumin
ground cayenne
ground paprika
1 tsp cocoa powder (I use dark cocoa powder)
salt
pepper

Sautee garlic and onion in a just enough oil to brown the meat (You really don't need a lot).  Add turkey and brown.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Add tomato sauce, liberal amounts of spices and blackpepper, moderate amount of salt and cocoa powder.  Cook on low for at least three hours to develop the flavors.  Serve as a soup, over rice, in a burrito, or as an enchilada sauce substitute!

Making Travel and Shopping Pay

Pin It Anybody that really knows me knows that I am a miles and points redemption fiend.  Of course, travel and the goods themselves are the obvious benefits from spending money for it, but getting something back in return is sweet consolation. I'm not very athletic, but I've pretty much made a sport out of earning and redeeming points and miles. 

Getting the Mileage Out of Travel

Never, ever get on a plane without signing up for a mileage program.  My program of choice is Asia Miles.  The major appeal of this program is the number of partners they have.  While it is mainly Cathay Pacific's, they have so many partners--like AA, JAL, British Airways, Qantas, etc.--that you have so many options to earn and redeem miles. As long as you quote your Asia Miles membership number when you reserve, you will earn the miles no matter what partner airline you use.  So choosing an airline alliance mileage program such as Asia Miles or oneworld, rather than a single airline's program, does not limit your travel options to that one airline. 

Because I've flown mostly long haul flights (NY to Manila), one round trip flight earns me over 17,000 miles. In the 8 years that I've been a member, I've gotten two round trip tickets within the U.S., five business class upgrades, access to the business lounge (even when I was flying economy), and several gift cards.

Getting a free upgrade.  Business class flights are definitely more than double the price of economy... so let's not begrudge these people when the flight attendants don't let us use the lavatory in their section, they paid for it.  Best chances for getting a free upgrade: sign up for the mileage program! Apart from other conditions that make it more likely that these upgrades are available, being a member of the program puts your name on the list.  So if you're on a full flight and traveling alone, you're already shortlisted as an upgrade candidate.  Majority of the times that I've been upgraded didn't even require me asking for availability.  It's a good thing that I kept my mouth shut the first time it happened because I saw the ground attendant printing a ticket with a different seat number than I had reserved online.  And an additional tip for the ladies, it pays to put a little lip gloss and mascara on if you have a male ground attendant.  This is one situation where it definitely pays to be cute.  Flying for 16 hours makes the extra leg room, food (and alcohol!) on demand and non-drug store brand free toiletries very, very much appreciated. That's service where you're not expected to tip!

Shopping with miles.  While you can shop with miles from the program sites themselves, points.com makes it even easier to manage all your mileage programs. What I really like about this is the fact that I can redeem the miles for gift cards to my favorite stores like Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Marshall's, instead of actually choosing goods from the program websites.  As newly weds, we had to start our home from scratch.  And a lot of the stuff that we needed for this have been funded by these gift cards. If you don't have enough miles to get a flight, this is a great option to still make your travel pay.

Shopping to Shop More

If you are pretty much disciplined with using credit cards AND pay the full balance of your credit card monthly, there are many ways that you can make shopping pay.  First, choose a rewards credit card with no annual fee.  Paying the full balance on the card means that the interest rate on balances need not be considered in your credit card choice. You do have to spend to earn the points in the card, but this is how I earned that many points.

First, I almost never carry cash or use my debit card (mine also earns points, but only about 20% of the points I earn from the credit card).  Any establishment that allows it, I use my credit card.  When my brother was in NY from Manila, for instance, he was shopping for a computer and electronics.  I saw this as an opportunity to pay with my credit card, while immediately taking his cash and paying the balance on the card.  This is where you need to be very, very disciplined.  If you have issues with not accounting for your swipes, forget about it.

Personally, I love my Chase Freedom card. In the past year alone, I probably redeemed close to $1000 in rewards. Mostly, I redeemed my points for gift cards because they frequently put these up at a discount.  They take 10 or 20% off the points deducted from the redemption.  The advantage of this over a cash reward is that you actually use fewer points for every dollar you redeem.  So if I had redeemed a cash reward, I would use 100 points for each dollar that I get.  But with a discounted gift card, they only deduct 90 or 80 points for every dollar.  And again, I choose gift cards to stores that I frequent.

While there is some effort involved in this venture, I've found the additional benefits are worth it.  Especially since I do have some time to spare! Oh, and I mentioned certain programs here to illustrate how I've taken advantage of their benefits, not to promote any particular program.  God knows, I didn't get paid for it!