Easy Pumpkin Bar Recipe

Here's an easy recipe if you have an extra can of pumpkin sitting around. I posted recipes last Thanksgiving, so maybe this will become an annual tradition. This recipe actually came in a flyer from a local bank, so not all junk mail is bad!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar (I used slightly less, I admit)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple juice (I didn't have any, so I substituted apricot nectar - hey, it was in my pantry!)
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (not the pre-seasoned pumpkin pie mix)
2 eggs

*NOTE: If you don't have 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, you can substitute 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. cloves.

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease & flour a 15x10x1-inch pan. (As you can see from the photo below, I didn't have that size pan, so I improvised.)

In a large bowl, beat all the ingredients together with an electric mixer until combined. (The original recipe said "on low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed," but who has the patience for that?) Spread batter in pan.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely (about 1 hour). I admit that I didn't wait that long before tasting.

Finishing touches - The original recipe suggested using a 16-oz. container of ready-made cream cheese frosting to be applied after the pumpkin bar has cooled for an hour. Then it said you should refrigerate the whole thing for another 30 minutes "until set." Honestly, who can wait for that!? Assuming you have leftovers, you should store them in the fridge.

I'm not a big frosting fan, and I found it fine without topping. I did briefly consider spreading pecan pumpkin butter on it, but decided that was overkill! Happy Thanksgiving!

Help support arts education in Fond du Lac

Even if you don't live in Fond du Lac or even Wisconsin, please take a moment to vote for the proposal my friend Mel's group Fond du Lac Visual Arts has submitted to the Pepsi Refresh contest. They are in the running for $25,000 but they need to get into the top 10 entries to win. You can vote every day through November 30, 2010. When you click on the "vote" button, you will be asked to register with your e-mail address and create a password.

You can read Mel's blog post about it here.
Please vote daily!

Books Unbound - Milwaukee book arts show opens Halloween

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Binders Guild is having its first show, "Books Unbound." The opening reception is this Sunday, October 31, 2010, from 2-4 p.m. at the Marian Gallery, Caroline Hall, Mount Mary College. The show is up through November 27, 2010 and gallery hours are Monday -Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and weekends 1-4 p.m.

The best thing about a book arts show? You're allowed to handle some of the books! Given the opening date, there are a few Halloween-themed pieces, of course, but we have a wide range of book art from ten artists. You can see the Flickr set of my submissions here. (I don't know that they will all make it in to the show because of space limitations.)

Two Book Arts Exhibits in Milwaukee!

The Binders Guild, of which I am a member, is presenting its first show "Books Unbound" from October 31-November 27, 2010 at the Marian Gallery, Caroline Hall, Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The opening reception is on Sunday, October 31, 2010 from 1-4 p.m. and the gallery's regular hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 1-4 p.m. There will be an interesting mix of book arts and more from 10 artists. Please stop by and check it out if you're in the area.


And up now through December 17, 2010 in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery of the UW-Milwaukee Library is 2x2: Small Book Works, featuring 2-inch square books by members of the Milwaukee Book Arts Salon and the Bone Folders Guild of Madison (some of whom are also members of the Binders Guild or friends of mine through other local art groups).

Photowalking with Cream City Flickrites

Yesterday I went on a photowalk with the Cream City::Milwaukee Flickr group, my first one since March 2009. They meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month, which is often the same day as the Milwaukee ATC group's monthly meeting, so schedule conflicts and inclement weather usually keep me from attending. I usually feel self-conscious walking around taking photos of things, but on a photowalk is I'm part of a big group of people all taking photos of everything. Safety in numbers!

Photowalks also force me to take a closer look at my environment and notice details. The fun part is seeing what everyone else took photos of, and I find that drives me to become a better photographer as well, even with my rinky dink digital camera. Plus, I see parts of Milwaukee I usually only drive past. This walk started at the Milwaukee Ale House and ended at the Wicked Hop, so my husband was happy to come along, too! He asked me to take photos of textures he could use in computer graphics, and I also took reference photos for my own art.

We came across the sculpture Stratiformis by Jin Soo Kim, which I had read about but never seen. She incorporated 19th century knitting machines once used in a factory in the neighborhood.

At one point, we walked past an alley and saw a pack of photographers clustered at one end, cameras all pointed at something behind the building. My husband said, jokingly, "They must have found a dead body." Well, dead auto bodies!

So if you have the opportunity to do a group photowalk, I highly recommend it! You can see my photowalk set here along with photos from previous walks.

Fabric Paper Collage ATCs

Yes, I gave into the craze for making fabric paper! I first read about it back in 2004 in Beryl Taylor's article "Making Fabric from Paper" in the premiere issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and in her luscious book Mixed Media Explorations. There's a basic how-to on the Quilting Arts website. You start with a layer of muslin fabric and glue paper to that base and then paint, stencil, spritz & stamp layers of color on top of that, and then cut it up to use in collage that can be stitched! (The photos above right top to bottom show some of my layers of paper & color being added.)

I had experimented with the technique a little, making this mini art quilt in 2007, but never really embraced it. Then my friend Darlene did a demo for our local ATC group this past April and encouraged everyone else to try it. And my friend Sue gave me a copy of Kelli Perkins' book Stitch Alchemy, which featured colorful Day of the Dead fabric paper greeting cards.

So I decided to try the technique for my ATCs for the Day of the Dead swap at Illustrated ATCs. I made two pieces of fabric cloth about 11x18" each (or half a fat quarter) - one in red/pink/orange shades (see above) and one blue/green/yellow.

Then I cut out my shapes and tacked them down with a bit of glue to hold everything in place until I could stitch it.

For the borders, I used some colorful fibers handspun by my friend Kathi. Here are the four that I'm sending in for the swap:


Now I have to finish some fruit ATCs for the Milwaukee ATC group's September theme "Eat, Drink & Make Art." (You can see some of them under construction in the first photo above.)

Got Tomatoes? - A Summer Recipe

This summer I actually have ripe tomatoes! In the past (when I've bothered to plant anything), I tend to start too late in the growing season, which in Wisconsin is pretty short anyway, and I end up salvaging green tomatoes off the vine when the first freeze comes. This year I actually had to worry about using up my tomatoes before they got TOO ripe!

So I tried the recipe for Bread and Tomato Salad from the Sundays At Moosewood cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups dried bread cubes (about 1/2" cubes)
2 garlic cloves minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, saute bread cubes and garlic in olive oil until garlic starts to color and bread has absorbed most of the olive oil. Put the bread in a large dish and add remaining ingredients and mix. The bread does get pretty soggy, and toasting helped somewhat before sauteing. (I admit to eating this with my fingers ;o)

Be sure to check the comments on this post for more tomato recipes! :D