Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Flatbread

Overcooked caramelized onions

I'm frequently looking for appetizers I can make to bring places using things I tend to have on hand. I enjoy caramelized onions but standing at the range for 30-45 min is a drag, so I thought I'd try a couple of less attention-intensive methods.

Oven method for caramelized onions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.5 lbs of onions sliced 1/8" thick on a mandolin, half a stick of butter, 1/2 tsp of salt. Melt butter in the Dutch oven, add onions and salt. Toss to thoroughly coat.

Place in oven with a lid and stir every 30 minutes for an hour. After that, remove lid and stir every 15 minutes until their the color you want.

I tried this and after just one hour, the onions were already much darker than I'd want, probably in part because I was doing a smaller batch. I used them on a batch of flatbread anyhow. Sourdough flatbread recipe

Next I decided to try a slow cooker method for caramelized onions.

I sliced 1.5 large onions into a stainless bowl and drizzled with oil. I put the bowl in our crockpot and cooked on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours the onions were quite soft, but pretty wet and not especially browned. I transferred them to a skillet and sauteed them on med-low for a few minutes to evaporate and brown a bit. On tasting, they weren't really as good as ones done on the range, so I don't think this is the winning new method.

I made a batch of my sourdough flatbread and rolled it out, cut it in rounds using a kid-sized plastic cup and put them into a mini muffin pan. I parbaked these for 12-15 min at 350 convection, then put some onions in each and baked again another 5-8 min. I topped with a little crumbled feta. They tasted ok, the crusts had a nice sourdough flavor but got a bit tough. This isn't the winner I was hoping for.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but hope to soon.

Fez’s Famous French Onion Soup

6 large mixed onions

2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups beef broth, or just 4 cups beef

2 cups water

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup dry sherry, not cooking sherry

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 bay leaf

Gruyere and Edam cheese

baguette

Use the oven technique above to caramelize your onions and let it create a deep, brown fond. Deglaze with Worcestershire sauce and sherry, reduce till syrupy. Add stock, water, and herbs, and bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer, covered for about half an hour. Taste and adjust seasoning. You may even want to add a bit more boiling water, you go ahead. Toast to brown and dry your baguette rounds (dry is important so they don’t fall apart in the bowl right away). Usual method: hot soup in French onion soup bowls, good layer of grated mixed cheeses. Into the oven under the broiler till you reach how you like it

Butter Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

The cookies I decorated

We have a neighbor, Ann,  who has a cottage cookie business out of her home. We recently arranged for a group cookie decorating lesson from her and had a lot of fun.

When we'd arrived, the cookies were already made and ready to decorate. She had 5 different colored bags of royal icing she'd made for each of us. 

Of course I had mixer envy. This one means business

Table set for our class

Cookies ready to decorate

We started practicing by piping the icing onto a printed piece of paper, then went to the cookies. This was intricate work and took a fair bit of time for each cookie.

Ann didn't share her cookie recipe, but gave some insight that she modified it from Lolly's Home Kitchen.

Lolly's Sugar Cookies

Mix one cup of salted butter and one cup of regular granulated sugar until it’s fluffy and well-incorporated

Add 1tbsp of pure vanilla extract (Ann recommends half this amt if Mexican vanilla)

 ½ tsp of salt,

½ tbsp of almond flavoring (McCormick’s imitation)

1 egg into the butter-sugar mixture

Gradually add 3-4 cups of flour into the mixture until it cleans up the sides of the mixing bowl

Roll dough to 3/8” thickness using rolling pin with washers in between 2 pieces of parchment or a baking mat. Cut out cookies on the parchment and use the parchment to lift the cookies up to place them on the baking sheet. Chill the cut out cookies in the freezer for 15 - 20 min prior to baking.

Bake 10 to 12 minute at 375 degrees- don't allow them to brown too much.

Makes 3 dozen regular sized cookies

Lolly's Royal Icing

¾ c warm or hot water

1/3 c plus 1 Tbsp Miracle merengue powder

2 Tbsp clear vanilla (Ann uses almond extract instead)

Mix these 3 ingredients

2 lbs of powdered sugar

Start mixing on low, then add 1-2 Tbsp corn syrup

Mix on high 5 min to stiff peaks

Stencil for Wall

Finished

Andy wanted a painted area in the stuga similar to one that was painted by aunt Joann's friend in the old family cabin years ago. Since I can't free-hand paint, I decided to make another stencil, after gaining some experience with the cedar chest and the cardigan. I found a pretty simple design online and cast it to the TV (note- you can't do this with the cast button within Chrome but with the Windows Connect feature  Win+K). I knew I wanted the stencil to be 22" wide, so I adjusted the image to that width on the TV.

I traced half the design with paper, then went over the lines with Sharpie, which was a bit more challenging than you'd think, because the enlarged image was somewhat pixilated. Then folding the paper in half against a bright window I traced the other half so I could ensure the design was symmetrical on each side. I traced the design from paper onto a sheet of mylar then cut the mylar with the heated stencil cutter. I decided what paint colors to use from the same cedar chest project. I don't have a good eye for color design, so I asked ChatGPT to help me arrange the colors. 

I centered the stencil on the wall and stood on a ladder to paint, 2 coats.

Alabama Chanin-Style Reverse Applique Cardigan

I enjoyed reading several of Alabama Chanin's design books from the library and especially admired how a blogger approached the techniques using a cardigan pattern. One of the library books came with a disc with a few PDF stencil patterns on it. I took a practice run by making a scarf. I paid to have a 20"x30" print job done, then traced the shapes onto 6 mil. thick plastic with a sharpie. I then proceeded to carve out each shape with an Exacto knife working on a big piece of cardboard. This took more hours than I can even remember, but I just kept plugging away at it. 

Large print of stencil pattern- Anna's Garden from Alabama Chanin

Pattern traced on plastic- ready to start cutting

I cut out the Helen's Closet Blackwoods Cardigan pattern, size 10 in the shorter view. I almost cut out the bands and cuffs from the darker fabric, which would have been a waste, but I caught myself.

Outer fabric needed to include bands and cuffs

Inner fabric just fronts, back and sleeves

Next, I used my hand-cut stencil to stencil the cut pieces. I experimented with black paint vs navy paint and found the black was too stark so I went with navy.

I used blue tape to secure the stencil over the fabric pieces, and I mixed the acrylic paint (in an old peanut butter jar lid) with about 1:1 water and used a pounce brush. The stenciling took time. I had to wash the stencil in the laundry sink after stenciling each piece, and I discovered that I hadn't done a very good job on one of the fronts and had to go back to darken the paint in a few areas. The back was just a little wider than the stencil, so I filled in the sides with a few additional leaf figures.

Back

Fronts

All pieces completed and touched-up

After the paint was fully dry, I used small scissors to pre-cut small snips in all of the stenciled figures so they would be easier to open later with less risk of cutting through the bottom layer. This was a good tip from the blogger I'd referenced above.

Using a hoop, I stitched running stiches around each of the stenciled shapes, which took months to get through.

Stitching during a car ride

When cutting away the top fabric once stitched, I learned that pointed scissors too easily cut through the bottom fabric and I needed to make a few repairs. Once I started using my small Gingher scissors with the taller blade between the two fabrics and tweezers to hold up the top layer, I was able to do this safely, but it was time-consuming. I also learned my Ginghers are dull, so I had to alternate with another small pair of scissors.

I finished stitching the back on our trip to Glacier and Banff

Once I'd finished hand stitching the back, fronts and sleeves, I proceeded to sew them together and add the finishing bands. I'm pleased with the final fit.

Materials:

• 20" X 30" print job for stencil PDF at Fedex store, $14
• Stencil plastic, 6 mil thickness, $14
• Craft knife, $10
• Blackwoods cardigan digital pattern, $16
• Pattern printing, AO 2 pages plus shipping, $10
• Small bottle Creatix paint, $5
• 2 Wax brushes, $10
• 2 colors of knit jersey from SR Harris, 1.5 yds each, and Coats button & craft thread, $22

This project took a long time. I started cutting the stencil in April 2024. I cut out the pieces and painted them in Jan 2025. I hand-stitched off and on through 2025, and assembled the cardigan in Feb 2026.

Laundry Stripping

I've used powdered Tide detergent forever, and have been happy with how it cleans, but Tide alone hasn't been able to fix built up oils in pillowcases. I learned detailed steps for laundry stripping on Reddit.

The water is supposed to stay hot for hours, and many people strip laundry in a cooler, so I lugged our heavy 15 gallon cooler up the steps and put it into the bathtub so it could be easily filled and drained. Filling turned out to be a problem because the cooler wouldn't fit under the spigot, so I folded a flexible cutting board to shunt the water into the cooler. 

I filled the cooler halfway with hot water (about 7 gallons) and added 1.5 cups of Tide with Bleach (which contains both lipase to cut oils and oxygen for stains and odors). I used a paint stick to stir the solution until the detergent was dissolved, then added two sets of sheets and submerged them. I sealed the cooler and let it soak for 8 hours. The water was quite warm still after 8 hours, so the cooler worked. I drained the cooler into the tub and used a 5 gallon bucket to get the drained sheets to the washing machine. I set the machine to hot water, heavy soil and an extra rinse, and I poured 1 cup of 4% ammonia solution on the sheets and put Tide powder in the dispenser. I cleaned the cooler with vinegar and then Simple Green to limit the scent of the detergent. 

The pillowcases did come out whiter and cleaner. This is a fair bit of effort, so I wouldn't see doing this more than 1-2 times/year based on need.

Ham Buns

These are great for a party.

• 2 lbs ham (I buy whole boneless ham portion from Costco and slice it)
• 1 lb swiss cheese, sliced
• 24 small/Hawaiian buns

Prepare sandwiches and put in two 9x13 pans.

Mix, boil then cool for 10 min:

• 2 sticks butter
• 2 Tbsp yellow mustard
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar (recipe calls for 4, I find that too sweet)
• 2 Tbsp poppyseeds, optional

Baste liquid over sandwiches. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Bake at 325 for 25 min, uncovered 5-10. Serve hot.

Before basting and baking

Grilled Vegetables with Garlic Aioli

Marinated Grilled Vegetables

This can be grilled or oven roasted. For the oven, I found I needed to finish them with a few minutes under the broiler to get them truly browned.

Vegetables

1-2 eggplants

1 lb zucchini

1 lb sweet mini peppers

1 lb asparagus

1 red onion

Instructions: 

Cut eggplants, onions, and zucchini in 1/4-inch thick slices. Salt the eggplant slices, and leave in a colander for 20 minutes so the bitter juices drain out. Rinse and pet dry. Wash the peppers, and leave whole. Wash and trim asparagus. Brush vegetables with marinade and grill or roast.

Vegetable Marinade

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 Tbs dry oregano

salt & black pepper to taste

Whipped Goat Cheese

1/4 cup goat cheese

2 Tbs whipping cream

salt to taste

Aioli

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice fresh

½ teaspoon salt

1 to 2 garlic cloves small, peeled, roughly chopped

1 cup oil, blend of canola and extra virgin olive oil

Place egg, egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a jar that works with your stick or immersion blender (a 1 pint wide mouth worked well).

Pulse the blender to mix the eggs and combine them with mustard and lemon juice and also to start breaking down the garlic.

Slowly add the oil to allow the emulsification process to take place. Occasionally, lift the blender out of the mixture to allow some air to be mixed in. Continue blending. You should notice that the aioli starts to emulsify and thicken.

Continue blending until thick and emulsified.