Blackberry Cobbler

Blackberry Cobbler

I went to my local home improvement store a few years ago and they had blackberry plants for 2.00 so I grabbed about 15 of them and planted them in my garden spot. They grew and grew and before I knew it they were making runners all  over the yard. I gave some to my dad and left brain has been running over them with the lawn mower. I want to share a blackberry cobbler recipe I made with them the other day .

 

 

 

 

place 5 cups blackberries in a 9x9x2 inch pan

 some of these  looked like they were in the refrigerator longer than they should have . They were turning reddish.

 

 

 Mix together

2 Tbsp flour

3/4 cup sugar

5 cups blackberries

 

 

 Carefully stir the flour sugar mixture in with the blackberries

 

 Next , make a blackberry topping

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg beaten

1 stick unsalted butter , melted

sprinkle blackberries with flour and sugar mixture. Drizzle butter evenly over crumble topping

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 Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes

Good with vanilla ice cream!

 

This cobbler is Yum but it is sweet. You can cut back on the sugar if it is your desire.

Strawberry Pie

Gotta Love summertime and all the fresh fruit coming out of the garden. My strawberries didn't come out of my garden , unfortunately, because they all died because of the 102 degree summer we had a few summers ago. I watered, I tried , I begged them to stay alive but they didn't listen. Here is a simple strawberry pie recipe I made .

1 9" pie shell, baked and cooled

1 quart strawberries, washed and capped (you can leave them whole or slice them, whatever you prefer)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

3 Tbs. cornstarch

1 (3oz.) box of strawberry gelatin (Jello)

 

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the sugar, water and cornstarch.  Stir until it just boils and turns clear and thickens.   Add the strawberry gelatin to the mixture and cook for about a minute stirring constantly and making sure it's smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

 

Arrange the strawberries in the baked and cooled pie shell. I cut mine in half or you could leave them whole.

 

 Carefully pour the gelatin mixture over the entire pie. .  Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least a few hours. 

Slice and serve with whipped cream or cool whip

You can also cut the sugar back to 1/2 cup and use sugar free Jello to cut back on calories and sugar

Scissors

I spotted these large scissors on an online website and fell in love with their large scale look and color. They now hang in my kitchen/living room .

My Pantry

    

 
I chose to do the pantry in Oak and not Poplar because oak is a harder wood and I was going be putting quite a bit of junk on the shelves.  Poplar will work just fine but I like to push myself a little and I wanted a stained oak pantry. Yes,   Poplar is easier to work with because if you mess up on screwing in the nails you can easily sand,  putty and paint . Oak is  a lot harder to hide the mistakes. You can put wood putty on your mistakes and stain but you can usually see the mistakes after you try and stain. If it doesn't bother you than don't worry about those extra holes.

 We cut the 1x2s and drilled the predrilled and countersunk the holes where the studs were on the wall

I cut some oak baseboards for the closet

 

we marked the studs first and stuck a straight pin in the drywall and nailed to make sure we were going to be hammering into a stud.i used painters tape to keep the boards on the wall. Next we marked the holes in the 1x2s then drilled with a drill press and countersank the holes using a drill press. .we made the holes before we put stained and wipe on poly on because I didn't want the finish scratched and you always have to sand after making holes.you can see the screws in the corners. we had to go in at an angle to get away from screwing in the ends of the oak boards. If you pop a nail with a nailgun or screw at the end of wood it will split.I will not screw or nail any closer than 1 inch from the end of a board. I also glued a piece of trim over the screws and you can see in the picture there are no screw heads. This allows for a more finished look. (I know what you are thinking "You cant even see that with the stuff piled onto the shelves") I just couldn't leave all those screws showing

 we cut the shelves for the pantry out of 3/4 inch plywood and also stained with a dark walnut and wipe on poly finish. do not use anything smaller than 3/4 inch because when you weigh down the shelves they will sag.

      I always use SPAX screws . I love SPAX! I have a house that has some really dried out old boards in the walls and I drilled the 1x2s on the wall and the regular screws broke a few times. and then I discovered SPAX.


 

 

In this photo I glued a piece of decorative shelf front on the front of the 3/4 inch plywood  to cover up the rough end of the shelf. Next, I glued another piece on the top end of the shelf and bucked it to the front piece so it will form a ledge . This ledge will prevent things on the shelf from falling off and damaging anything below and gives it a more trimmed out look.

 

 

 

I applied a natural minwax stain on the drawer and about 7 coats of wipe on poly sanding between each coat . I was trying to make the drawers shiny and smooth like a guitar. I also added some trim on the drawers.

In this photo I had my cabinet maker build me a spice cabinet

 

I put a door on the spice cabinet

I purchased these corbels off ebay for around 18.00 a piece. If you are in need of the corbels check ebay first it will save you a lot of money. I also put up crown molding . This was a closet and I took down the door and trimmed it out on the inside with decorative trim so it stays open. I will probably add a curtain later and swing the curtain to the right so I can easily get things in and out. There is a door on the left that swings in front of this so I could not handle closing one door to open another .

I used Loctite glue to glue the front pieces and top pieces on the shelves to make the ledge. I also used Loctite all purpose glue to glue the corbels on the wall . I always put superglue on anything heavy that I am gluing with Loctite so it will hold the corbels in place until the glue dries. On the 1x2s that hold up the shelves I also went back and glued a piece of decorative trim over all the screws that I countersank to hide everything. Its an extra cost but it makes the look flawless.

I did all the refinishing work myself with Dark Walnut stain and Wipe-On Poly.
When applying the Wipe On Poly use those lens cleaning pads you buy in the package you will have less lint coming off. I usually apply 5 coats . Always run a fine sanding pad down it one or two times between coats. I never run the sanding sponge until after the 3rd coat  because it will take the stain off. Always stay away from nailing or screwing at the end of oak as it will split. I usually never screw or nail from the end any closer than 1 inch. I had the cabinet maker make the spice cabinet and cut out the shelves.

 

A Decor House Tour

 

These are just a few things hanging around my house.

 

 

 

I installed this crown molding and hand built all the blocks .

cartouches in the "Blue Room" I love this Pottery Barn color "Woodlawn Blue" I think I am going to use it in the bathroom whenever I finish tiling in 2014 I hope.

This opens up to store keys and I have never even put a key in it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Colby the Cow. Doesn't he have a sweet face. you can find him on Wayfair in different sizes

 

 I looked everywhere for a pretty sunburst mirror and after 3 years I found it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I found this for 75% off at a local shop . I cant wait to hang it to cover the hole in the ceiling where I swore there was a light fixture previously installed

 

 

 

 

 

I have a cookbook addiction. if you need a recipe just email me. I promise you I have it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and we are still under a remodel that seems like it will never end. Have I told you that if you rip out all of your house yourself except for 1 toilet it will take you forever to put it all back together?

 

Easy Cake

Here is a cake I made that is oh so so easy put makes a pretty presentation.
Its just a yellow Duncan Hines cake made in a bundt pan. I bought canned frosting and just piped it starting at the center and went all around the cake using a Very Large piping tip and piping bag. I believe it took almost 3 cans. I purchased the roses at the discount store and added clear and black sprinkles. easy.

My Trim work

So when I started this adventure I didn't want to do the same thing that I saw in many other houses. I like to just kick it up a notch and be creative I know  it might take a little more time and be more tedious but  I would feel a little more proud about what I just did.
Here is my trimwork I did in what I will call "My Blueroom". I made up a name for the trim its called
"The Shadowbox". I built corner blocks out of crown molding and then took pieces of the left over trim that I hung and built a top piece.

 

I bought a polyurethane block and added some polyurethane molding to the top

I purchased premade corner blocks and added polyurethane molding to the top

I built these little blocks to go in the center of the crown molding. Its my little cheat block I do not have to try to buck the joints and its so much easier.

I built these corner blocks in the corners and cut pieces of crown molding to add to the top of the block. This is why I call this trim work "The Shadowbox" because you can see a little bit of blue from the wall color peeking through. This way you don't have to cut your joints in the corners and this makes putting up trim so much easier. no 45's

These are some pictures I hung .

Here is a mirror on the other wall. I love how the detail matches the crown molding

Do you see the 2 other pieces of trim under the crown molding? I added this to make the crown look wider. This is a simple task and I love the way it makes it look. This is also a trick if you have a wide gap under the crown and because I did it this way I had no cracks so I didn't have to silicone .

This crown molding is polyurethane Crown Molding. You can buy it in a ton of decorative patterns and its hard and very expensive to find these decorative patterns in wood. If you have never worked with this type of molding you would love I! Its light, cuts like a dream and if you cut it too short all you have to do is get out your superglue and glue another piece on and no one will ever know. The other two pieces I added are real wood and as you can see in the photos once sprayed (with all the detail its hard to paint this trim with a brush) you can hardly tell the difference. Its hard to see in the photos but I have NO nail holes and this is the reason. I use Loctite Power Grab All Purpose when putting it up. I put it on it squiggly lines all over the back and push it in place. I always hold it as long as I can or apply painters tape to hold it up there because I don't want it slipping until it sets. I will  usually get left brain(husband) to hold onto it when my arms cant take it anymore. I just refuse to have holes and it gives me a flawless look. There is one thing about this glue to remember It does expand. When you first put the crown up ( you use a lot)  after it dries you  will see a gap that wasn't there before where it expanded and come away from the wall a little but nothing severe. Also, if you are adding decorative pieces to the top of the crown blocks (like I did in the photo) and you cut them on a 45 and glue the joint with loctite after it dries you will see a gap. I always glue on the top piece and put a little super glue on the joint that you cut at a 45 and this will keep the joint from expanding out and leaving a gap. This little super glue trick also works great for gluing crown where you have the wall bowed out and the trim will not lay flat just put on some super glue until the Loctite dries and problem solved. Walls are never perfect.

The Blue Wall  color paint was done in Benjamin Moore :Woodlawn Blue
The trim color that was sprayed on is Sherwin Williams :Alabaster