Distilling the Chaos

After much thought, I've decided to limit Sew Chaos to sewing and cooking.  All of my "writing" will be moved and posted to the sister site, Distilled Chaos.

More than a few people have commented (in person) that they enjoyed reading it, and also more than a few commented that the "sew" part of the title no longer described the content of the blog.

So, if you like the writing, click the link, that's where it will be from now on.  If you prefer the crafty stuff, it will still get posted here, on the rare opportunities I have to sew and craft.

In the next few weeks I'll be moving the relevant posts from the old blog to the new one.

See you there!

Blankets, Fries and a Rainbow

***Post Moved To Distilled Chaos***

Getting Lost

***Post Moved To Distilled Chaos***

Christmas

***Post Moved To Distilled Chaos***

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Pudding (Gluten Free and Low Fructose)

It's been f.o.r.e.v.e.r since I posted a recipe.

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  My favorite part of going?  The apples.

I know, apples?  at a pumpkin patch?

Yup.  We went to Detering's Orchard.  It is becoming my favorite place to get pumpkins.  Josh and I took the kids out.  They have hayrides and an apple toss, but those cost money, so we didn't partake.

We did pet cows, wander around, search for the perfect pumpkins, play in a hay maze and a corn maze.

We also got a box of apples.  Yum.

I wanted baked apples, which means I needed to make something for Tessa.  It needed to fit two needs:

1. Easy to make (didn't want to have to figure out a bunch of substitutions)
2. "Healthy" enough to eat for breakfast.

What did I make?  Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Pudding.  I found the recipe online, but didn't write down where.

Tessa approved - she devoured a bowl this morning for breakfast.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Pudding

Ingredients:
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/4 cup powdered dextrose
1/2 cup Tess-Quik (GF baking mix)
2 eggs
2 TBSP butter, melted
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch cloves
pinch ground ginger
2 tsp vanilla extract (make sure it's GF and has NO corn syrup)

Coat the inside the slow-cooker with GF cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Whisk until fully blended.

Pour batter into the prepared slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6 hours.  Check the pudding after 2 hours (high) or 3 hours (low), then check every 30 minutes.

The pudding is done when it looks like a pumpkin pie - pulling away from the edges and set in the center.  It may crack, that's perfectly fine.

Remove the slow-cooker from the base and let it sit until cooled to room temperature.  Serve with sweetened whipped cream. (I sweeten the whipped cream with equal parts powdered sugar and powdered dextrose)

She loved it.
and oh so super easy.

One bowl, no mixer.  perfect.  If you don't need it to be low-fructose, simply eliminate the powdered dextrose, and replace the evaporated cane juice with white sugar.

Age

***Post Moved To Distilled Chaos***

Titles, Family and... Guitars?

***Post Moved to DISTILLED CHAOS***

A Little Bird

***POST MOVED TO DISTILLED CHAOS***

Forgive Me

***Post Moved to Distilled Chaos***

Changes. and Gratitude.

I haven’t blogged in ages.  Mostly because I haven’t done any real sewing or quilting in ages.  And if I did, I didn't have the time or energy to take pictures and write about it.

So the focus and format of my blog is changing.  

Change is good, right?

I’d still like to share my creative-ness when I have time, but I will be writing more and show-and-telling less. 

The past 12 months have turned my world upside-down,  inside-out and sideways.  I got thrown one curve after another.  Barely recovering before the next one flew at me. All life altering events. every. single. one.   

And I got them all in 12 months.  Lucky me.

But you know what?  I survived.

I don’t want to write a big long post about all the crap that’s happened in the last year.  Pieces will come up when I’m thinking about them, but I'm not up for a long story of my woes.

As I work through the different changes, struggles and successes I will write about them.

I have half a dozen blog topics pop into my head throughout the course of a day.  The usual conversation in my head goes something like this: 

“wow, that's a great topic, I have an opinion on that I should write it.” or "Huh. I figured that out.  Someone else may benefit from my experience"   

then

“who’d read it?”

Today there was a third response

“does it matter if anyone reads it?”

That one kinda stopped me in my tracks.

No, it really doesn't matter if anyone reads it. Not if I want to write it.

So, welcome to the new Sew Chaos, Sew Crazy, Sew Wonderful.  

Less crafty-crap and more thinking and words.  I’m not saying there won’t be crafty, cooking, baking stuff – I still do that, but it’s certainly not my focus right now.

Without further adieu,  I present

***Post Moved to Distilled Chaos***