Tabbouleh & Chicken

Lots of my readers may have a garden overflowing with parsley. Or maybe you have a friend with abundant parsley. That's how I acquired a large bunch of parsley. What do you do with it all? Make tabbouleh. While it is something I never thought I'd like, it is very healthy and a great way to get some veggies into your diet! The hardest part is chopping everything up to add to the salad.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 1 cooked chicken breast, shredded or cubed
  
• 3/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped
  
• 1/2 of an English cucumber, diced
  
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Combine bulgur and 1/2 cup boiling water in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 15 minutes or until the bulgur is tender. Drain well; return bulgur to bowl. Cool.

2. Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to make the dressing.

3. Throw all the other ingredients into the bowl and then toss with the dressing.

Yum!

Make a Baby Blanket

This is a really cute gift to give when a friend has a new baby. It is a finished-edge baby blanket (as opposed to the ragged-edge tutorial I posted awhile ago).

1. Start by cutting two 1-yard pieces of flannel fabric. I like to use one pattern and one solid piece.
2. Sew them wrong sides together, leaving a hole for turning. Clip your corners so they'll be nice and sharp. (See?)3. Turn right sides out. Press the whole thing so your edges are crisp.

4. Then topstitch the whole thing. Make sure to stitch the hole you left for turning!

All I need is a friend to have a little baby boy golfer!

Growing Tomatoes

We've got some tomatoes out in our garden! A hot, dry summer made them grow well.

But they crack and split open sometimes. That's weird.

I found a source in Better Homes and Gardens (August 2010) which says that, "A prolonged dry spell followed by rain can cause ripening tomatoes to grow so rapidly that the skin splits. To prevent this malady, maintain constant soil moisture. Water deeply and mulch around plants to reduce evaporation."

Interesting! Guess I should have been watering more regularly all summer! We'll eat them anyway.

Sewing Books I'd Like to Peruse...

Weekend Sewing
Crafting a Meaningful Home
The Homemade Home
One-Yard Wonders
Sew and Stow
Handmade Home
Sew What! Skirts

Mason Jar Pincushion

This was easy. It makes a great gift for a friend who sews yet requires no sewing on your part!

Materials you will need:
Mason Jar (any size) and two part lid
Circle about 6-8" diameter
Polyester stuffing
Stiff cardboard circle, same size as lid
Paper cut from decorative paper, same size as lid
Hot glue gunPlace the stuffing inside the fabric circle. Shove it through the rim.

Now push the flat part of the lid under the stuffing as shown.

Pull the fabric as tight as possible around the flat part of the lid. Fold the extra fabric into the middle and glue it down. (Post-production note: it might have been best to have cut the fabric off. The lid doesn't actually screw down onto the jar if you don't.)

Next, glue down the cardboard and then the decorative paper to cover the fabric.

Replace the lid on the jar!