Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

Happy Friday peeps,

Today's recipe is a super simple Thai Lime slaw. This dish is amazing and healthy at the time (so no breaking those resolutions.) Works as great side dish or add a protein to have it as a stand alone meal. I swear it takes 5 minutes to make and will save your life when you're in a pinch.

Now some of you may be wondering "how do you guys come up with these names?"

Interesting story actually.... Megan brought this delicious Thai dish and as she explained how to make it my brain drifted off into the scene from "Meet the Parents" when Ben Stiller tells everyone about Robert De Niro's "secret" CIA life and then Dina says "Jack can't talk Thai" and then Ben Stiller says "0h, no, Dina, Jack can talk Thai. Jack talks Thai very well.." Anyway, I am linking the scene here so you can picture it too.

Either way that was the inspiration behind the Koh Samui name. I know I am a total movie nerd. hahaha. Well, I am done with my ramblings... you can now go onto the recipe :)

Ingredients

1/2 cup light mayo

2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. plum sauce
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. soy or teriyaki sauce

1 Bag of Broccoli slaw (we used Dole)

 

 

 Directions

- In a small bowl whisk mayo, sesame oil, lime juice, plum sauce, and soy sauce.

  

- In a large bowl empty bag of broccoli slaw.

 

- Pour dressing over broccoli slaw and toss salad. 

 

** Sliced chicken can be added to make a main course dish and rice noodles or toasted almonds make a tasty compliment when sprinkled as a topping.

 

Slaw and dressing can be stored separately and mixed for individual servings or in large portions as a side dish. 

 

Bon Appetit!

Hello there friends,

So Christmas is right around the corner and you may be running around like a chicken without a head trying to figure out what to feed your family and friends. Well AGF is here to save the day!

Try out this recipe for a new twist on this holiday classic.

We present to you... "Original Ginger" Monkey Bread.

• 1 Packet of Active Dry Yeast 
• 1 Teaspoon Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Warm Water
• 2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
• 1 Cup Milk (I use Whole)
• 1/4 Cup Molasses
• 3 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 2 Teaspoon Salt
• 2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 Cup Flour for Counter
• 1 Cup of Dark Brown Sugar

Mixing Instructions

When you become a member of the AGF family you must bring to the table  a certain talent. Now, we aren’t a picky bunch so really we accept all sorts of abilities.. from being able to come up with crazy comments on a whim all the way to having a flair for accurately sound-tracking our collections for the better of all mankind. Really, our skills vary.

Our newest member is Megan Francis. Her talent you may be asking? She can bake like no one’s business. So since we really like to exploit encourage our staff to hone their skills with us we have created Sugar and Spice Friday. 

This once a week post will be brought to you by Miss Franciss (well until she makes our baked good eating bums off the chair and contribute with a not-as-delicious-or-pretty concoctions.) and she will also be sharing her recipes with you as well.

Now without further adieu, I present to you...

Jelly Jar Apple Pies

*cue mouth watering pics*

Believe me when I say that these pies are delicious.

Jelly jar apple pies are great for the upcoming holidays as well as a back up for unexpected guests. Just store in the freezer and pop them in the oven when guests arrive and you will all be eating homemade pie in no time. Your friends and family will think you're a regular Betty Crocker.

Note: when going from freezer to oven please place the jars in the oven as you pre-heat. This will help prevent the glass from popping.

Now for the recipe:

Crust:

• 7 1/2 cups of flour
• 3 tsp salt
• 3 tsp sugar
• 6 sticks butter (cold)
• 2 1/2 cups ice water

Directions for crust:

• Wisk dry ingredients together
• Add butter cubes and mix by hand adding water S L O W L Y
• By now crust should be crumbly in texture. Place towel over dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Filling:

• 1 dozen apples cut into 1/2 cubes
• 4 tbsp butter melted
• 2 cups brown suagr
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup apple cider

Directions:

• Place rack on the center of the oven and Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Mix filling ingredients and simmer over medium heat until filling reduces
• Take dough out of fridge flatten out dough.
• Use lid of jar to cut out circles of dough.
• Press dough into jar along the bottom and sides
• Spoon filling into jars
• Use remaining dough to top pies as desired (leave room to close jar with lids if desired)
• Bake on baking sheet at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

ENJOY!

P.S. If you worry about jars popping in heat you may place the jars in a pan with watter but if you are buying jars made for canning purposes you should not have this problem.

So I woke up this morning and poured myself a bowl of lucky charms and pondered what I would do for St. Patrick's day tomorrow. This is Mia’s 1^st real St. Patty’s and I want to make it really fun. As a child growing up I went to catholic school and the nuns would always make a whole event out of St. Patrick’s Day. That morning all the kids would come into the classroom and see it all decorated in green with tiny green foot steps revealing a path of mischief. The fish tank would have green water (I don't remember any fish in it tho, so I think they were safe) and the leprechaun trap would have been set off but with no leprechaun inside. We really wanted that pot of gold!

So with all those fun memories I finished my bowl of Lucky Charms (which I bought in honor of this holiday) I got my little one out of bed and got her dressed for some quality time with grandma. Of course I send her off with her own bowl of cereal and marshmallow goodness.

Now to start the decoration process before it is time for work. I hang up my garland that is St. Patrick's inspired and put up the rest of my small accent pieces that add green to the house (green books, vases, place-mats, towels.)

Slowly the place transforms into an homage to the leprechauns.

Here’s a look at some of the elements I added to my décor. They are easy to make and use basic items found around your house.

The garland adds green to the room and represents the St. Patrick’s day theme without your traditional shamrock.  I also had some books covered in fabric and put those on my coffee table for easy reading.

Adding a green vase and changing all the towels to green are my finishing touches.  Easy peasy!

Oh and last night I made a St. Patrick’s day cake for the girls at work. Mia ate half the icing and stayed up til midnight (wonder why.)

She ended up with a green mouth from all the icing she stole. She had a lot of fun helping me and even had “cake watch” duty. She insisted on watching the cake cook and let me know every 5 minutes that it was done.

After the cake cooled down we stacked the different layers and iced the outside. I topped it off with a nice shamrock (or at least my take on what it looks like, soo not an artist)

I baked the cake in layers and made each one in different shades of green... Can you see it?? (I had seen a really cool one on Pinterest and tried to make one like that but that cake puts this one to shame... oh well tastes just as good on the way down!)

Yum yum! I do have to say it was delish! and we all have green tongues to prove it (no pic needed, trust me..lol)

Well ladies and gents I hope you all have a great St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and most importantly I hope you catch some leprechauns so you can get that "pot of gold" they are rumored to have ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

<3 Anais

As you all well  know, the countdown til Quilt Market has officially started... and yes, that does mean a whole lot of work... I felt like blogging today to share everything with you.

So, what's been going on in the fabric department?

Well,  for starters UPS came to make my day this morning when they brought one of my new fabric collections, PARADISE! I must tell you, I was almost as surprised as I was pleased (was expecting for it to come this weekend); there is no better motivation to start sewing that having those beautiful rolls of fabric standing at my door... Hope you like them as much as I do!

How would I describe it? Vintage sewing and modern quilting! I hope to make a more detailed presentation soon. Delivery will begin on August.

And speaking of sewing motivation, I must introduce you to my latest lovely assistant: my industrial Pfaff machine.

Did you have had a chance to sew with one of them? Even though I own 4 sewing machines, this one is definitely the New Kid on the Block and is already looking at the others like her bigger sister! It's a totally new and different sewing experience... It's smooth, can sew through rocks, and it's FAST, REALLY FAST!!

Guess who else is a fabric lover around here? Daisy, my sweet little daughter... Her sewing style is definitely different than mine. She LOVES to chew fabric!!

On my home front...

Even tough I love to cook -- I took cooking and pastry lessons 4 years, this seems to be a luxury for me now days; I don't have the time to do it anymore. But today I felt a little nostalgic and I was remembering my Spanish grandma. I remembered that when I was at college studying for a final and was very tired, she used to tell me: "There is nothing better than a good homemade meal to make you feel as good as new again". I now associate that thought... it was because I was feeling the same fatigue... I said to myself: stop working and start cooking, you're gonna feel much better! How many of you have tried octopus? In Spain it's one of the most delicious seafood! It was waiting on the freezer for me. There. "Pulpo a la gallega = Galician octopus". So simple, so natural, so good.

Grandma, even you are not with me anymore... I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Pat