Grandma's Kuchen

Rhubarb can be a scary fruit for new bakers to use, it's very tart and not usually thought of as savory, however my mother has passed on to me this great recipe which I've passed on to my daughter. Although not everyone likes rhubarb, almost everyone likes this Rhubarb Kuchen. (In this instance we will define Kuchen as pie-like pastry, though it can have many meanings.)

Rhubarb Kuchen from the kitchen of 
Grandma Ma'am 

Crust
1 cup flour
1 cup gram cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter

I omitted 1 tablespoon of milk and 1 egg (being lactose intolerant and allergic to eggs, yay for me). This does not really affect the crust but next time I would use rhubarb from the freezer to add some moisture to the filling.

Mix together crust ingredients and press into baking pan (I used a pie pan and made a half of a batch)

Mix filling ingredients mush over crust 

Rhubarb filling
4 cups of 1/2 pices cut rhubarb
1 pkg 3oz strawberry jello
1/4 cup sugar

Topping 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 Tbs cinnamon 

Mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle over filling

Bake 375 for 45 min

That's it! Be sure to let me know how this recipe turned out for you! May you find comfort in your life (and find someone to do the dishes!)

Re-stuffing Howard (How to Re-stuff a Stuffed Animal)

Welcome to my blog!! I thought I would start off with something simple, something useful. I'm all about comfort and all about craftiness. Hope you can enjoy my projects, I know I always do!

My daughter has a stuffed animal, although she is no longer my little girl, given to her by her big sister at her sorority. Howard the hippo is nearing 10 years old and has been looking rather deflated lately. She's asked me to re-stuff him, so away we go!

Step 1: Buy stuffing. We went to Joann's, most stuffing is probably the same, but she chose Pellon Perfect Loft Cluster Fiber Fill, 16 oz. She thought it might be softer. With the 60% off coupon offered on the website (redeemed via my smart phone), this project is pretty cheap!

Step 2: Make a hole. Howard already had a hole, unfortunately, but fortunately that meant we didn't have to tear into him too much. I made the hole a bit bigger, to make it easier.

Step 3: Pull out old stuffing. We put the old stuff into a plastic bag to keep from getting too messy, there is no particular reason to pull out the old stuffing, it's just what we decided to do.

Step 4: Restuff. Once Howard was sufficiently deflated we packed him back up! This is me laughing at how awkward this process is; think of stuffing a turkey at Thanksgiving. Luckily it is less slippery, less messy and less smelly but just as weird!

Step 5: Finally resew the hole you made. I used an invisible stitch (Check out Fern and Freckle's Tutorial). And just like that Howard is happy again! Questions or Comments? We'd love to hear!

As always may you find comfort in your life!