Comfort Food and Comfy Blanky

Inspired once again by the Pioneer Woman and by my bestie, Jenn's runny nose, I set out yesterday to make a nummy chicken soup. I didn't stick very closely to her recipe, though. I used the bones of the recipe, but it seemed a bit... bland to me. So, I started out with some bacon grease (always a good thing), sauteed the onions and celery, removed the veggies, then browned the outside of the chicken before adding back veggies, stock, and seasonings. I pulled out more than half of the soup for Oscar because he doesn't care for any sort of pasta, but if I'm gonna slurp chicken soup, it better have noodles in it:). So, I added a bag of No Yolks noodles to my half of the soup. Ok, so I like a lot of noodles. I never claimed to be anything other than a complete carb addict :P. Here's a gander at the finished product.

Trust me, it was as good as it looks:). I'll be making this when my family all gets together at my Dad's place for New Year's.

I spent most of the evening working on a crocheted blanket that I've been working on FOREVER. No, really. FOREVER.
 

I started it as a baby gift for my niece, Sara when she was pregant with her son... Who is now almost 3. Baby #2 is on the way now, so I am hoping to finish the blanket before this new little one starts kindergarten!  Kidding... I think. This is what it looked like a few months ago. It's much bigger now, but I've still got a way to go. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Now, if I can just get the last of my Christmas gifts purchased tomorrow and start the wrapping process so that we'll be all ready for the Big Day!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Progress

I've been knitting like a maniac for weeks, but I haven't finished any more than one little owl washcloth!

The other projects I've tackled (a sweater for myself and a scarf for a yet-to-be-determined friend or family member) are moving along, but not as quickly as I'd hoped. The scarf will be finished tonight or tomorrow, but the sweater will be a while! I've finished almost the entire torso, but it got put aside in order to have time to finish the scarf. I'll post pictures of both once I am done.

On the cooking homefront, my friend Karla and I made homemade Caldo de Res (Mexican beef stew) a couple of weeks ago. It was delicious!!! It was fun to cook together. She pretends she doesn't know much about cooking, but she's awesome and we had a ball!  Here is a picture of the finished product! So yummy!

So, that's about it. Nothing terribly earthshattering going on here :-). Knitting away, dreaming of someday starting my own yarn store. A girl can dream, right?

Life Gets in the Way

So, it's been a while... Something like a year! *embarrassed* Life sometimes gets in the way, and I've been in a bit of a cooking/creative rut for a while. But, I picked up my crochet hook recently and have even finished a couple of knitting projects (easy washclothes) over the summer. I am planning out my crocheting/knitting projects for the fall, including my first knitted garment (a sweater for me) and a crocheted amigurumi toy for Malena for Christmas.

Right now, I am plugging away at a baby blanket I started ages ago... It looked like this a few weeks ago.

I've added about 20 more rows since this picture was taken (each row of color represents 2 rows), so I've aproximately doubled the size from what is shown here, but I am still less than halfway done. It's a boring pattern to work, but it will be a beautiful finished project when I am done.

I shall be more diligent about posting here in the future, not that anyone is reading! LOL! It is, however, a nice way to chronicle my daily life and creative achievements;).

Hummus: A New World of Flavor!

So, I've always wondered how people could be vegetarian. A little... Hmmm.... intolerant of me, right? I mean, I can only eat whole beans so often, and refried beans, while a staple in my home, don't really appeal to me. And, tofu? Well, enough said.

Anyway, friends have been telling me about hummus for a couple of years. I've been curious for some time, but wasn't sure if I'd like it. For those of you who don't know, hummus is the middle eastern version of refried beans, without the refried part. Fundamentally, hummus contains chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini (a paste of ground sesame seeds), olive oil, lemon or lime juice, garlic, and salt. You can add other things to add flavor (roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes, etc.). Throw all those things in a food processor and give it a whirl until smooth. It can be used as a dip with veggies or flatbread or as a spread on a sandwich. I am certain there are more uses, but I am relatively new to hummus, so feel free to chime it in the comments section with your favorite way to eat hummus.

So, on Monday, upon strong urging from my friend Alise, I decide to try to make hummus for the first time. Alas, I have no pictures, and I'll admit that it wasn't great. A little too much roasted red peppers, too little olive oil, not the right combo of seasonings... I stuck it in a bowl in the fridge thinking it might get eaten (Oscar will eat almost anything), or it would get tossed at the end of the week. On Tuesday, I pulled it out again, just to see if I had been wrong on Monday. You know, maybe my tastebuds were broken or something. Well, apparently the flavors married overnight and, combined with the crunch of the baby carrot I dipped into it, was DELICIOUS!!! OMG! I sat down with a bag of baby carrots and the bowl of hummus and ate HALF OF IT! Yikes! The rest was gone by Wednesday. Even the dog likes it. I left the bowl sitting on the couch for 10 seconds to answer the phone and the dog jumped up and licked the last few bites from the bowl! Let me just say, I was a bit pissed! LOL!

This morning I decided to make a new batch. The first batch had cilantro in it, but I used the last of my cilantro in the salsa I made last night, so I threw a couple of florets of brocolli into this batch, along with lime juice and roasted red peppers. Yum... OH, YUM!  Then I spied the squash I purchased earlier this week sitting out on the counter and was INSPIRED!  I sliced up the squash and tossed it in the skillet with some olive oil until slightly soft and toasted. I then toasted some multigrain sandwich thins and smeared both of them with hummus and slapped the sliced squash in the middle. Oh. My. Goodness! Heaven. I have a new favorite food, and it is healthy! Here are some pics.

So, with regards to the healthy qualities of hummus.

High in fiber
High in healthy oils
High in protein
Can include veggies (like brocolli) to make it even healthier


FYI: This is not a low fat food. Both tahini and olive oil are both high in fat, but as mentioned before, they are healthy fats.

Here is the nutritional info for "generic" hummus.

The lesson here is try something new and ENJOY!

Some Crunchy Goodness

There is no secret to this crowd pleaser. Just potatoes, oil, a cast iron skillet, a little salt, and a vegetable peeler. But, these are a hit every time I make them. Malena especially, is fond of these, and the sizzle of the potato slices hitting the pan and that yummy smell have been known to elicit shreiks of delight. Obviously, like most of my cooking, these crunchy circles of heaven won't be found in a lowfat/lowcarb/lowanything cookbook. But they are worth it!

Unfortunately, due to my self-imposed lowcarb state, I shouldn't sample these. Well... Maybe I'll have just one... Or two...

A Little Fun!

So, the title of this blog is not just "A Little Food", is it? Nope, a girl's got to have fun sometime! My fun is spending time with family, playing music, and crocheting. I love crocheting. Starting a new project is like picking up a book that a friend has recommended. You know it's gonna be good, but you don't know how it's going to turn out.

This year, I made all five of my nieces scarfs (scarves???) for Christmas. Of course, I waited until the last minute (read: the day after Thanksgiving) to have this brilliant idea. After that, it was a mad rush getting them all finished in time. In fact, as my brother and his family drove into the front yard at my Dad's place on NYE, I was finishing up the last one. Unfortunately, my niece Sara, couldn't make it to the Farm this year, so I had to be happy with sending it back to Arkansas with her mom, Robin. (Thanks, Robin!)

With no further adieu (adue, adew????), here are the finished projects.

You might have notice that one is missing. Alas, I never got to take a picture of the scarf that I was finishing up at the last minute. Maybe she'll send me a picture of her wearing it!

And, just so that you don't think that I've forgone cooking in favor of crocheting, I'll leave you with this shot. Homemade chicken and wild rice soup. YUM!

Homemade Christmas Heaven

So, have you heard about  The Pioneer Woman? Her website keeps popping up from time to time, so I had to take a look. Holy Moly. Well, just check it out for yourself. She cooks, homeschools, takes care of her Marlboro Man, and takes wonderful pictures. She's who I'd love to be, but I'm not. 

I figured, however, that I could at least be a little like her and make her Cinnamon Rolls. Not for myself, of course, since I don't need this kind of help expanding my waistband. But, my neighbors and friends all got a pan of yummy goodness this morning. Yum. Oh, oh, oh! YUM!I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Merry Christmas!!!