What's on my needles this week?

Susan B. Anderson's Ribbed Socks for Bigger Feet (yarn from Knit Picks)

Affectioknit's Super Simple Cotton Socks

3AM Cable Cap (chemo cap) from Smariek Knits

Wakefield Scarf

I've been knitting a ton lately... just not necessarily finishing a lot.  This is what has been keeping me busy... I've also been cooking and baking up a storm...

A new cooking blog

For awhile now, I've wanted to have a cooking blog. Today, I decided to go for it.  If you'd like to check it out, click here.

I hope to post at least one original recipe each week. I am also exploring more and more vegetarian and vegan dishes, so I hope my recipes will appeal to a wide range of folks.

A day of shopping

I am feeling a bit self-indulgent. Ordinarily I pride myself on not being much of a shopper... I am a bit of a tightwad. Yesterday we went to Colorado Springs for my car to be serviced and it ended up my car was worked on from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. They gave us a loaner car so we had to keep ourselves busy in the area. (Where I get my car serviced is over an hour from our home so going home did not seem like much of an option). We went out to breakfast at Panera, we went for a hike in Red Rock Canyon open space across the highway from Garden of the Gods (wish I would have had my camera to show you this place... cool red rocks jetting out of the earth), we went to Manitou Springs for the old fashioned arcade and window shopping, we went out to lunch, we played mini-golf, we did some sporting goods shopping and I checked out Vitamin Cottage/Natural Grocers, and we went out to dinner. I just have to show you my indulgences... I am rather tickled about them.

There's a new store in town... "The Olive Tap" in Manitou Springs is an olive oil and balsamic vinegar "tasting emporium" and it is just a few doors down from my favorite kitchen gadget store. The Olive Tap is filled with shiny metal kettles filled with olive oils and vinegars and you can sample just about everything. They bottle the goods from the kettles for you if you find something you like. I found I love the Sicilian Lemon Balsamic Vinegar... bright, vibrant, slightly sweet. I couldn't decided between Basil Olive Oil and Garlic Olive Oil so I purchased one bottle half filled with each of the two... smells like pesto.


I've mentioned the Manitou Kitchen Shop before. While my son and husband play at the old fashioned arcade in town, I explore the Manitou Kitchen Shop. I have to limit myself to one item per visit because I tell you... I could do some serious financial damage in this store since I love kitchen stuff so much. I know I said I am a bit of a tightwad but somehow I seem to be able to justify kitchen purchases more so than other purchases because I know kitchen items will get used since I enjoy cooking and baking so much. I have been eyeing this red tea kettle for a long time. See how well my new tea kettle matches the other red things in my kitchen? The salt holder and pepper mill are things I purchased on previous visits to the Manitou Kitchen Shop. Why I think it might be time for a cup of tea!

Pillsbury Bake-Off Time!

Would you be interested to know there are 100 women and men electric with excitement in Orlando, Florida, tonight... each knowing they have a 1 in 100 chance of being awarded a $1 Million dollar prize tomorrow morning!? Chances are, they are also completely exhausted and running totally on adrenaline after competing in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off today! If you are interested in seeing more about the Bake-Off, there's a lot of information, a blog, photos, and the finalist's 100 recipes all online at http://www.pillsbury.com/. I've had a lot of fun looking at this website today.

Chances are, you don't keep track of the Pillsbury Bake-Off, but I've been pretty excited today knowing it's going on! In early 2007, I entered a recipe in the Pillsbury Bake-Off on a whim. What the heck... you can't win if you don't enter, right? When August 2007, rolled around and I was de-cluttering my house a bit, I stumbled across my recipe and threw it in the trash. I figured if they hadn't called me yet, certainly they had not picked my recipe. After all, for every Bake-Off held, they receive "tens of thousands" of recipe submissions. A few weeks later, I just about died when I "got the call" at work, telling me I was a finalist in the Bake-Off in Dallas, Texas, in April 2008. It was a whirlwind... an opportunity of a life time. I enjoyed every moment but it was especially great because my mom accompanied me to Dallas for the Bake-Off and we had a fantastic time. Here are a few snap shots from the Bake-Off two years ago (the photos are in a very random order).


My mom with Keegan Gearhard. He's a celebrity from The Food Network show called "Food Network Challenge"... I guess you would say he's the host or the Emcee of the challenges featured on the Food Network... cake challenges, sugar challenges, etc. He saw my mom and offered to pose with her for a picture; she had no idea who he was but she went along with it!

My completed recipe on the display table. Phew! I was done. You have to make your recipe at least two times; once for the judges and the second time for this display table. You are given ingredients to make your recipe three times in the allotted time period.


All 100 mini-kitchens ready to go on Orientation Day. The folks on the ballroom floor in this photo were all contest people from General Mills/Pillsbury... not finalists. We had Orientation in the ballroom the day before the Bake-Off and the room temperature was super cold! They turned the temperature down low so the next day during the Bake-Off, when 100 people cranked up their ovens, the room would still be a tolerable temperature. Funny, huh?

Me standing in front of the display table. Yipee, I was done! I was exhilarated but pooped!

Look at us all cooking away. While we cooked, we had runners from Pillsbury/General Mills to help us out and escort us to the judges with our prepared dishes. We also had photos taken in a photography booth, posing with our completed recipe.


Me and my mom having lunch right after the Bake-Off. Do I look tired!? I am holding my prized possession... my hot pads from the Bake-Off floor! I still have them in my kitchen!


Last day of the Bake-Off... dressed up for the Awards Ceremony. The hotel had these poster boards with great photos of our completed dishes. I am pointing to my dish... center column, second row down from the top.

Mom and I are all dressed up for the super fancy Welcome Dinner.

My friend, Tracy, took this photo of me... practicing my recipe in my kitchen at home.


A kitchen mock-up in the hotel. Contest winners won GE appliances.

Recognize this lady? It's Sandra Lee from the Food Network. She was the hostess at the Awards Ceremony.

The Pillsbury Doughboy and me!


Late tomorrow morning sometime, the $1 Million prize will be awarded. It should be posted on the Pillsbury site.... I am anxious to see who the big winner is! And if you are wondering... No, I did not win any of the prizes at the Bake-Off when I was there, but just being there was amazing. If you'd like to see my original recipe, here is the link:

http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=44901

Homemade Granola

I am not sure why, but I have not made homemade granola in a long time. Maybe because when I make it, I can't stop myself from eating it. My house smells wonderful! I wish you could smell it.

Cooling off a bit in the oven a bit.

I played with my recipe a bit when I made this batch. If it turns out well, I'll type up the recipe in case you are interested. For now, I'll tempt you with these photos...

Italian Wedding Soup

Can you all stand another cooking post!?

This is my favorite soup recipe; I found it in magazine called "Clean Eating". Once I tried this soup, I went on-line and subscribed to the magazine. The soup is THAT good! You should also know that, although I do receive some magazines as gifts, I rarely subscribe to them myself because (1) I am really frugal and (2) years ago I learned the #1 way to have less clutter in your life is to cancel magazine subscriptions. So there you go... this magazine is so good I made an exception. While I don't totally "eat clean" all the time, I really appreciate the concept... eat several times a day, be label savvy, avoid processed and refined foods, control portions, and so on. On to the soup; I've adapted it just a tad:

Italian Wedding Soup

3 slices whole wheat bread

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 pound ground lean chicken or lean turkey

1 medium carrot (finely grated)

1/2 medium yellow onion (grated)

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

3 eggs, divided

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth or stock (two big cartons)

10 ounces (approximately) fresh spinach (chop it up as best you can)

salt and pepper to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons grated Parmesean cheese (low-fat if available)

1. Toast the bread in toaster; tear each slice into 4 to 6 pieces and place in food processor. Add two cloves of garlic and pulse until garlic and toast form bread crumbs. Measure out 1 cup of bread crumbs and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, onion, carrot, 1 cup bread crumbs, basil, oregano, and one egg white. Stir to combine. Measure out into small meatballs which are about 1/2 tablespoon in size.

3. In a large pot or Dutch Oven, bring the chicken stock to a simmer. Drop the meatballs into the simmering broth. Allow the meatballs to cook for approximately 5 or 6 minutes. While the meatballs simmer, chop the spinach up. It doesn't have to be finely chopped or anything fancy, just needs to be chopped up a bit, even if you are using baby spinach. (Tip: I know you have the food processor out; however, resist the temptation to put the spinach into the food processer to chop it up. Trust me, I tried it... sloppy, gloppy green soup!)

4. Add the spinach to the broth and gently fold in. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

5. In a small bowl, combine 2 eggs and the Parmesean cheese; whisk. Once the spinach has wilted, stir the egg-mixture in the soup. (Adding the egg mixture makes the soup resemble Egg Drop Soup like you find in Chinese Restaurants. The egg part of this recipe is optional. One friend, Monika, made this soup and said she enjoyed the recipe, but next time she prepares it, she'll leave out the egg. I'll leave that up to you).

If you try out this soup, I'd love to know what you think.

Hmmm... dessert!

When I was in junior high or high school (a really long time ago) I wrote a letter and put it in a time capsule. I guess the other members of my family also wrote letters or notes for the time capsule. The time capsule was "sealed" when we put it in the base of a waterbed and then filled the waterbed mattress with gallons and gallons of water. My parents reminded me of the letter a few years back. In my letter I wrote that when I grew up I wanted to go to school to be a chef or be a food photographer for Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. Apparently these urges resurface now and again... I feel compelled to take photos of food! Ahhhh, chocolate dipped strawberries. So pretty and so yummy. I was inspired to make these because at a local cafe they were selling these for Valentine's Day and they were charging a ridiculous price for them. These are plain but sometimes I drizzle them with white chocolate. I also made some chocolate dipped banana slices with chopped toasted almonds. Shhh, don't tell anyone... they are in the freezer for me!

What's keeping me busy

I've been distracted from knitting lately. I am not frustrated by my projects per se... but I am distracted by other things which I need to get done or I want to get done. I had two days where my husband was at training and my son was in school, so I found myself relishing the opportunity to do what ever my little heart desired. The first project I tackled was cleaning and organizing our master bedroom closet. Lately I've found my knitting supplies and yarn stash spilling into other areas of the house. With a little de-cluttering and organizing, I found all things could fit in the master bedroom closet. There were some serious dust bunnies in that closet; it feels to have it done. The second project was really cleaning the laundry room. Nothing very exciting but it feels good to have it spruced up as well. Since I was home all day by myself, I felt the obligation to make great big meals for my family which I wouldn't have time for on a normal week night. Night number 1 was fajitas with all the fixin's and night number 2 was Italian calazones (with homemade crust) for the big people and a Shepherd's Pie for the little person in the house (made with hamburger, corn, and mashed taters... he likes it with lots of cracked black pepper and Ranch salad dressing... go figure!) I've made more lemon poppy seed bread and a pumpkin pie this week. Stocked the fridge with more oven roasted broccoli (with lemon zest and crushed red pepper flakes) and cauliflower ( with lemon zest, cumin and paprika). Since I had to pull out the bread machine for yesterday's pizza crust, today I am inspired to attempt to make whole wheat bread. I added some flax seed meal, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds. I hope it works out. I am working on my second blue and purple stripey sock. I need to finish what I've started instead of starting new things. Maybe after I get done with my pair of socks, then I'll get back to my GAA!

Kitchen gadgets make me happy!

At the base of Pikes Peak in Colorado, lies a smallish down called Manitou Springs. We go there often because of the nice shops (unique clothing boutiques, an old fashioned candy store, artist co-ops and galleries, and an arcade with games I can imagine my dad playing when he was young). My husband and son really enjoy the arcade so we synchronize our watches and agree to meet back up at the candy shop at a predetermined time. I venture out to my favorite few shops and I always end up at the Manitou Kitchen Shop. This is the kind of store where you find something new every time you make a lap around the store and every time you go for a visit because the store is absolutely bursting with anything and everything kitchen related. I have a system... I limit myself to one purchase per visit. After I select my purchase for the day, I scope out what I might like purchase on a future trip. I love all my gadgets from the Manitou Kitchen Shop. A tiny strainer which is the perfect size to drain one can of beans or one pound of hamburger, Microplane graters, silicon spatulas, a cookie cutter shaped like a football. This past Saturday, I splurged and bought four items. Shame on me! But I am excited about my purchases. For the longest time, I have wanted a really high quality peppermill. I've been adding red accents in my kitchen and I think this one fits in well! In the picture above, you can see my new peppermill next to my salt cubby... you'd think I bought them together they match so well (I also got the salt cubby at the Manitou Kitchen Shop on a previous visit... imagine that!) My other purchases included a super fine mesh stainless steel strainer (needed something this fine to rinse quinoa for all the quinoa I've been making lately). I bought a little veggie scrubber which fits on my finger (true story... I no longer have a veggie scrubber because my scrubber brush ended up in the garage a few summers ago when I needed to scrape paint on the outdoor window trim!) Finally, I got this great looking yellow sparkly coarse sugar to decorate cookies, cakes, etc. They also had hot pink sugar but I decided the yellow sugar would look great on some lemon cookies (which I really need to get to before my lemons go bad). Here's another photo. Silly I know, but some folks might be almost excited to see these as I am to have them in my kitchen. Hee, hee!

When life gives you lemons... go on a cooking frenzy!

After making a yummy loaf of lemon bread the other day, I went crazy in the kitchen on a cooking frenzy, utilizing lemons in all ways imaginable!

My lunches for the week: Quinoa cooked in chicken broth and drizzled with fresh lemon juice. Chicken breasts seasoned with rosemary, thyme, and basil... browned in the pan and then roasted in the oven with lemon wedges which made a great sauce when later reduced. Oven roasted broccoli with lemon zest, olive oil, and crushed red pepper flakes.





Also made two loaves of lemon bread... this time with poppy seeds. Which reminds me, I really need to get that bread in the freezer or else I'll start gobbling it up.






I also made some viniagrette with olive oil, dijon mustard, and lemon juice... I am not sure how much I will like it??? Also made some hummus with roasted red peppers, chickpeas, cumin and... of course... lots of fresh lemon juice. I think I put in too much garlic. Very strong raw garlic taste... not good. My husband was a trooper and ate some but he said he thought it tasted gritty. Hmmm. Unfortunately, I think that may go in the trash. More goodies with lemons to come... I'll keep you posted! :)

When life gives you lemons...

When life gives you lemons... make lemon bread... and lemon cookies with lemon icing, lemon marinade with herbs, lemon viniagrette, lemon meringue pie, lemon shortbread cookies... ah, such possibilities!

Some relatives in Arizona have wonderful citrus trees in their yard, including a very prolific lemon tree, and the past few Januaries, they've sent us big boxes of the biggest, freshest lemons I have ever seen! I have them stowed safely in the fridge for now (can't let any go bad or go to waste!) as I dream up recipes for them. So far I've made this moist, sticky, slightly sweet loaf of lemon bread from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The recipe calls for brushing the loaf with a combination of fresh lemon juice and sugar while the loaf is still hot. Yum! Coworkers loved it! Next time, will add poppyseeds for sure!

Block #24 is nearing completion. Will post a photo of that later today. Nine more rows to go and a bind off row and some blocking to stretch it to size, and then I'll be on to the next block! I wonder if the ladies at my Thursday knitting group would like some lemon cookies with icing? I've got just a recipe for that!