Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole

I adapted this from Smitten's recipe. I sauteed onion, cooked mixed wild and brown rice in the rice cooker, and boiled the broccoli. I made a basic cheese sauce. It smelled really good but tasted kind of bland - could have used some more spices. I probably went a little overboard on the brocooli, but I had some to use up.

Nut bread that works!

This recipe is from my trusty Good Housekeeping cookbook. I cut out some of the sugar and chop up whatever nuts I have on hand. I also add a ton of dried fruit, which isn't in the recipe at all. It comes out very thick and heavy, but if you want something to slice and toast or heat up with butter, it's yummy. Kind of like a heavy muffin. I actually made this a couple months ago, so it's not really a new recipe, but I threw in sunflower seeds this time, so that counts as new.

Fruit and nut loaf fail

This was supposed to be a fruit and apple loaf, quick bread. Does it look like bread in any way, shape or form? No. I used a recipe from my old Sunset book of breads, which I keep for the cornbread and banana bread recipes, which I grew up eating and have copious notations on how to adapt, mainly by cutting the sugar in half! There simply wasn't enough flour or liquid in this to make any kind of bread. It turned into a kind of greasy cross between an apple crumble and granola. I tried it out on the staff at work and they were like....um...yeah...maybe with yoghurt?

Canoe Crochet?

I don't know what this is. It's about 2 inches long.

Pear Crisp fail

Branching out to cooking. This recipe was from The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. It was supposed to be just one pear, but I used more. It didn't work - I'm not sure if expanding the recipe was the problem or that my pears were too ripe, or I didn't put in enough sugar, but it was very gushy, watery, and tasteless. I've liked all the other recipes from this book, so this was just a fluke.

Fruit punch bag

This is about four inches square

Envelope Bag

This is my new purse, I call it an envelope style. I made the strap really long so I could wear it across. Some people say these are Christmas colors. I do not agree.