A Couple of Recipes from our Quilt Retreat

I recently returned from a quilt retreat with RaeAnn from Cutie Pinwheel and Nedra from Cactus-Needle and they have asked me to put a couple of my recipes on my blog. I was the cook a couple of days and really enjoyed myself. It was fun to open a refrigerator and figure out what could be made out of what was in there. Sometimes when I quilt all day, cooking is a great way to relax and stretch my back anyway.

I was in charge of all the food on Monday and made a bunch of gluten free recipes because RaeAnn is allergic to gluten. We had a couple of great salads for lunch and I'll put those recipes on later. For dinner, we had marinated Maui Maui, brown rice, salad, steamed broccoli, roasted tomato salad and a fabulous chocolate pudding made without dairy for dessert.

This salad recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics cookbook. I've made it again and again and it's what RaeAnn has asked for instead of birthday cake!!

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

12 plum tomatoes, halved
1/4 c olive oil
1 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 t. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
16 oz. fresh mozzarella
12 large fresh basil leaves, julienned
Preheat oven to 275 (I'm always running behind, so I turn the oven to 300 and cook for a shorter period of time.)
Arrange tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 t. salt, and 1/2 t. pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Cut the mozzarella in 1/2" slices and put between layers of tomatoes on a platter. Scatter the basil on top, drizzle with olive oil. If you put the cheese and tomatoes together right away, the cheese melts slightly and it is delicious!!

Tofu Chocolate Mousse

This recipe comes from a great new cookbook I've been enjoying lately called, The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook. Everything in there is perfect!
3/4 c. dark chocolate, broken into pieces (I used a great candy bar from the health food store that is made with rice milk and NO gluten.)
12 oz. silken tofu at room temperature, drained
1/2 c. warm almond milk
1 t. vanilla
Melt chocolate in microwave. Make sure to let the chocolate melt slowly, stir until chocolate is smooth.
In food processor, combine tofu, melted chocolate, warmed milk and vanilla. Process until smooth. Place tofu mixture into small serving bowls. Chill and Serve. I topped mine with chocolate dipped strawberries.

Ruby's Inn Part 2

Part of one of our meetings is sharing what we started last year at Ruby's. I've included many of the show and tell quilts for this post. I really like how the above quilt is put together. It's often difficult to get random blocks to fit and make it actually look cohesive. I think Krisanne did a really good job of it!

Since many of us are trying to use up scraps this year, I thought the above was a good use of going thru all kinds of scraps.

These landscape quilts are always so beautiful. I've never done one, but I think this gal did a great job.

Paula taught this Book of Mormon quilt last year. I want to make one!
If you've got a scouter, the next 2 quilts are for you. I really like this idea, but I haven't saved all my sons or husbands badges...so I guess this one is out.

This quilt is a treasure made for Bonnie Miles. For many years Bonnie has taken women on quilt retreats and on trips to museums, quilt stores, quilt shows, important quilts in history, etc. A of participant on one of these trips made this quilt as a gift of thanks. It's a memory quilt and is signed by all the attendees. Further, the outside edges are lined with the places they ate, the sites of interest, the waiter that served their food, etc. It was a lovely tribute.

Ruby's Inn Quilt Retreat..Part One

I was privileged this year to attend Bonnie Miles quilt retreat at Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon, Utah this year. Bonnie has been putting this event on for years and it is a race to get in. She really knows how to put together a wonderful retreat! We started out our first get together with a little apron show and tell. You'll see some of the fun examples below...

This apron has a big pocket that buttons up and when you unbutton it, you have the full length apron.

This apron was modeled by one of Bonnie's granddaughters and its so cute on her. You can see that the front is the backside of a pair of jeans.

The next part of our meeting was taught by Flora our fearless leader at Girl Gang and she had some of her friends participate in a panel to teach us to give up our paranoia's about quilting and all our guilty complexes, etc.! It was delightful. Anything Flora does is lots of fun and she had us laughing and smiling about our silly little quilting phobias. Three members of the panel shared one of their favorite quilts with us. Super Duper talented women!

This is Paula's quilt from the panel. I started one of these about 12 years ago and it's still in a million pieces somewhere in my house!

Janice showed her Girl Gang quilt called My Favorite Things and each block represents an important story in her life. Janice is one of my quilting hereos. I want to grow up and be just like her!

This is Norma's quilt and it's a new pattern coming out. It's definately on my 'to do' list. Her color choices always inspire me.

Finally at 2:00 we separated for classes and I took a class taught by Sheri. Sheri is a wonderful appliquier and she taught us a class called Halloween 1902. It's a lovely quilt and was lots of fun to start on.

This is Paula's version of Halloween 1902. Just a little bit different colorway. Paula is also amazing with hand applique, but she decided to applique this one by machine. That gave me permission to do it too.

Sheri showed us a large flimsy of her basket quilt. I can't remember what she said about how many baskets there are in this one, but I'm pretty sure it was in the 200's! It's amazing. I sat next to her last year when she was just beginning this quilt.

Another one of Sheri's beauties.

Paula is teaching a class on this quilt tomorrow. I don't happen to be enrolled in it, but wanted to show you how cute these houses are. When her children get married, she makes one of these for their new home.