Half-Square Stars, and a Snowed-in Weekend (with recipes!!), and BS Report

What a great quilt. Totally made from half-square units.

The maker did a really good job of sorting the colours to get the star blocks to show up.

This weekend was a total trash-up. 

Saturday was supposed to be a dinner party here, with a wee side trip to take Kawartha Margaret to the John C. Munro Airport (which is pretty much around the corner from here).  Margaret planned to make the three hour trek to arrive here Saturday, early afternoon.  Then... dah dah dah duhhh.... Mother Nature decided to drop a foot of snow on us.  On SATURDAY. 

Four-wheel-drive notwithstanding, Margaret did not want to face a white-knuckle drive.  So she packed up her 2-weeks-in-Florida duds, and her dog (with all that relevant baggage), and she drove in Friday night before the storm hit.  On Saturday, after lunch she helped me make the Bella Casara Ricotta Cake with Lemon.   My tip for this is to cut the lemon slices REALLY, REALLY THIN.  And be gentle when cooking them, otherwise you end up with nothing but peel. At this point I had not yet cancelled the dinner party. 

While I was making the cake (and forgetting to add the flour to the cheese mixture, which necessitated me first using a very bad word, then removing the cake batter from the hot oven, and remixing WITH the flour.), Margaret was frequently checking the flight information to make sure she wasn't cancelled.  By mid afternoon I realized this was not the day to have people driving around for the sake of my questionable cooking, so I pulled the plug on dinner.  But I had cake!!  And I had two lovely pork tenderloins, with a delicious recipe!!  And I had all these potatoes out, ready to try a new recipe!!  Sigh...

DH arrived home just in time to put on his White Knight outfit and drive we three girls over to the dog-sitter, slogging us bravely through the snow in his huge 4wd truck. 

As we dropped off the dog, Margaret realized she had left Jilly's dog food in her car.  At my house.  Only a ten minute drive away, but it was a BLIZZARD.  (OK, slight exaggeration there.  but the roads WERE awful.)  Anyhow - we got her over to the airport, to her 'on time' flight then came back home, got the dog food, delivered it, and came home for supper.

You've already got the cake recipe above. 

The pork recipe is on the December 2013 page of the Milk Calendar.  Pork Tenderloin with Red Onion Compote.   
OMG.  GOOD!!! Link here.

The potatoes I made from a recipe that has been floating around on Facebook. 

Ranch Potatoes

•    8 -10 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
•    1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
•    1 1/4 cups milk
•    1 envelope ranch dressing mix
•    1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
•    salt and pepper
•    6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

•    Add the potatoes to a saucepan. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil; cook about 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender; drain.
•    Place drained potatoes into a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
•    In a bowl, mix together the soup, milk, salad dressing mix, 1 cup cheese, salt and pepper to taste; pour over potatoes.
•    Sprinkle crumbled bacon and the remaining cheese over the top.
•    Bake, uncovered, at 350̊ for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender

On Sunday, since I was snowed in and the wind was still howling for all it was worth, I thought I should make a pot of chicken/vegetable soup.  I went down to the fruit cellar for onions and discovered, to my horror, that my Butternut Squashes were starting to get soft.  So... not only did I make a huge pot of chicken soup, I also cooked,  mashed and froze five BS's.  Another one was diced and roasted for tonight's supper.  I still have two left but they won't last long.  They will need to be dealt with soon.  Since I was already elbow deep in food prep I decided to make a Blueberry Walkaway.  See HERE.  Today's version used Raspberry/Peach jam that I made this summer, along with Brandy Peaches that I canned.  Mmm, mmm, good.  Take THAT Mother Nature.  I will stay inside and get roly-poly while you bring your worst outside.  (actually, I shoveled for an hour today, just to make a path from the front door to the driveway.  Probably burned off one spoon of potatoes.  :-) )

B.S. REPORT
Cooked this week 6
Used YTD 34
BS Tidbit:  I'm an early riser.  Ha ha ha... DH likes to say that I get up at the crack of noon.