Meatballs

Barbequed meatballs are my go-to carry-in food (that is a lot of hyphens).  These are based on a recipe I got from a fundraiser cookbook when I was a kid.  They are awesome.  They are easy (maybe that's why I think they're awesome).  My daughter loves loves loves them.  All the ingredients are adjustable so feel free to use more of one or less of another.  Have fun!

Barbecued Meatballs

Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. grape jelly
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion powder
1-2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
3-14 oz. bags frozen meatballs

Directions:
Add all ingredients except meatballs to large crock pot.
Stir well.  The jelly will still be clumpy, but will melt down into the sauce as it cooks.
Add in the meatballs and stir to coat.
 I have a programmable crock pot so I set mine to cook on low for 3 hours and then it switches to warm.  These are great as appetizers but my kids LOVE them shoved in hot dog buns...  yum.



Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies

This is one of the cookie requests from my husbands co-workers.  I made them for a carry-in he had at work a few years ago and apparently they were memorable. 

Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. peanut butter
1 c. packed light brown sugar
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 egg
1-1/2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1-8 oz. pkg. Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

Directions

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, milk and vanilla.  Add egg and beat until just blended.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Stir in 1 cup toffee bits (reserve the rest for topping).  Drop by heaping teaspoons onto parchment lined cookie sheet, top each with reserved bits.  Bake at 375 degrees 7-8 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through cooking time.  Cool 2 minutes on sheet before removing to rack to cool completely.

Quilted Granny Square Baby Blanket

I am going to ease off the food (for today) and show you how I made this sweet baby blanket.  I decided to quilt this granny square blanket because the back side looked... well, awful.  I used fleece instead of batting because I didn't want fluff to ooze out the holes in the squares.  It turns out, it didn't even need the fleece.  When I do this again (and I will), I will omit the fleece.  It made it a little too thick for my liking (not so thick I felt the need to take it apart though).  I will con my mom in to showing me how to crochet a granny square so I will give you the know-how on that soon!

Quilted Granny Square Baby Blanket

This is not an exact tutorial.  Sorry.  The quantity of materials will vary greatly, depending on the size of your blanket.

You will need

completed afghan

enough baking fabric to cover the size afghan you have

trim fabric, I used about 1/4 yd

enough fleece to cover your afghan (as I said, I would not use this next time)

thread

What you do



Lay out your blanket with the backing on the bottom, then the fleece (if using), and the afghan on top.  Pin layers together LIBERALLY.

Since my afghan is a granny square, I chose to machine quilt along the edges of the squares.  Base your quilting on the design of your afghan.

Trim the excess fabric from around the edges of your quilted blanket.

Now it is time to make your binding.  Choose the width you want your finished binding to be and multiply it by 4.  I wanted mine to be 1/2" so I cut my binding 2" wide.  Fold each piece in half and press, then open up and fold each raw edge in to the pressed line and press again.

It will look like this.

Pinning as you go, sandwich binding onto blanket and hand stitch (sorry) onto blanket, overlapping edges of binding as necessary.  This is a labor of love and I promise, promise, promise, it is worth it!

My friend teared up a little when I gave this to her.  I am twisted enough to find that very satisfying.

 

***Like this project?  Check out my Crochet Backed Quilt or my Crochet Granny Quilt.***