iMagiNe cReAtiVe nAme hERe

an "insta" post...

Some glimpses of my life using the cool instagram app on my iphone...Wegmans' sushi...love!

Made this amazingly delicious popyseed cake!

Can you decode my Lukas' kindergarten writing?!

Sesame noodles...

...it's what's for dinner! 

My variation on this! I added extra raw veggies: carrots, napa cabbage, and baby spinach- yum! Perfect vegetarian dinner for a busy night!

chicken!

I just got finished popping a small chicken into my slow cooker. My "recipe" is simple and based on the "sticky chicken" recipe. I first heard about this recipe from Diane over at Knitting Zeal (waves hi to Diane!) when she started to do her menu planning Mondays. My favorite thing of all about this recipe is that it doesn't heat up the house and since today is supposed to be 84 I am set! I use a small 3-4 pound chicken, rinse and pat dry, stuff it full of half a vidalia onion roughly chopped, slather it with McCormick's Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning, cook on low for 8-10 hours and enjoy! This morning I started a bit late though and have it on high for an hour and then will put it back to low for the rest of the day. The first time I made this I also used the remaining juices and carcass to make broth too. See the sticky chicken link above for how to do that- so easy and so worth the minimal effort. 

And now a totally unrelated photo of my soon to be first grader!

 

hello end of April...

Whoosh!!! We are in the thick (ha-think pollen!) of Spring here and the end of the school year is looming. My calendar is filling up with concerts, special events, and of course parties and that's just the school stuff! So much going on that I treasure the remaining empty calendar days (like today!) and relish the time to sit & knit while waiting for the timer for the day's baking to be done (lemon cranberry muffins today-quadruple batch!).  A couple weeks ago when cleaning out my freezer I found out that I had apparently become a hoarder of cranberries with 6 full bags squirreled away in the deep. So I have been making an effort to use them up. I found the lemon cranberry muffin recipe, and it has been a huge hit with my family (phew!). I've made inroads into the healthier whole grains but haven't given up the white sugar yet. One thing at a time! ;) 

Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (*I use half whole wheat pastry flour.)
• 1 cup sugar (*I reduce it to 3/4 c.)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (*I use kosher.)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (*I use canola.)
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, halved (*I just threw them in the food processor.)
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted (*I like these but one have left them off too.)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk, oil and extract. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in cranberries.
2. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full; sprinkle with almonds. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

 

::every day in February:: day 26: 'soup...'

Oh.my. Yesterday I made the beef mushroom barley with kale soup from the current 3191 Quarterly. So amazing! A new soup on rotation now...num num. 

::every day in February:: day 5: 'bread...'

I have Amanda Soule to thank for my favorite broccoli soup recipe that I have now made way too many times to count. We've tried many other recipes that she has mentioned over the years and some remain staples around here. Now I can sing the praises of her WHO bread which is in heavy rotation in my kitchen. Sadly I had tried to make it a year or so ago in my larger Zojirushi bread machine with not so grand results. My tweaks to make it fit my machine just didn't cut it so I put the recipe aside. Fast forward to me finding a smaller bread machine at our local Habitat for Humanity Resale shop for a song and a gaurantee that if it didn't work I could return it. So I dusted off Amanda's recipe and made another loaf of WHO bread. It was fantastic!!! Relief! My family can polish off this 1.5 lb. loaf for dinner and then the remainder toasted for breakfast the next day. We have found that we prefer it without the cinnamon, but it's really good both ways. Just made a loaf this afternoon...mmm...thx, Amanda!

so much better than squid...

I love Great Harvest bread! Right after my husband and I were married we lived a couple blocks from a GH bakery. I have such fond memories of wheeling a baby stroller down there for a free slice and a chat. So happy to find another one not too far from me that just opened this past summer. The best part? It's right next to a wonderful yarn shop!!! It's the little things in life...

kitchen confessions...

I have come late to the table on two fronts and am a convert: I made popovers and no-knead bread for the first time this past weekend. There. Now the whole world knows. First the popovers...

I was given Good to the Grain for Christmas and have finally made a recipe from it. Now this is a recipe I will make over and over again because not only are popovers fun to watch bake, this multigrain version is delicious! My children found them to be especially delicious slathered with jam. I mixed up a large batch of the multigrain flour mixture from the book so I have it on hand to speed the making of these again and again. I love that you don't even need a special popover pan but can use normal muffin tins. I'm planning to try the chocolate chip cookies next (probably Heidi's version here)!

Next, the no-knead bread...

Oh, people, this is the stuff of heaven. I got Jim Lahey's book a couple months ago and this is the first recipe I tried from it. Just like the popovers above, this will not be the last time I make this. This bread is the basic first recipe that Mark Bittman popularized in 2006 in the  NYTimes. I can't believe it took me this long to make this bread! I made Jim's version to the letter using bread flour, regular table salt, yeast, and water. I mixed it up at 8 PM on Saturday night, started the second rise around 3 PM the next day and baked it 2 hours later in a 4.5 quart Caphalon soup pot with lid. Perfection! The interior of the bread was fluffy and lovely while the crust was crackly and chewy. This bread made the most incredible toast too! I followed up this beauty with the rye version last night which was excellent as well. Next up I'm going to try a version I found online that incorporates steel cut oats.

sharing...

Today I was catching up on blog posts in my faithful google reader and started making a list of things I want to eat/make/do from the blog posts I was reading. I like to "share" things on the right side of my blog, but I know readers don't often click through to the actual blog to see those so ta-da, my little blog post of "shared goodies!"

::To EAT::

::Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad with Spiced Pecans

::beet HUMMUS

::three-flour rustic bread

 ::lentil sprouts

 

::To MAKE::

::Felt Pizza! (I even have a clean pizza box I saved to store this in!)

::Turning a bar of soap into liquid soap

::Rikke hat

::circular needle storage (need to do this pronto!)

::How to dye wool with acorns

::every day in February:: day 28: 'whoops, it's March 1...'

...and thus ends my posting for February-phew! Yes, I know it's March, but hey, it's my blog so whatever.

The teacher in me still has a deep love for chalkboards. I try to record our weeknight menus on this one that is hanging on a kitchen door. I love that the kiddos know where to look to discern exactly what in the world that delicious aroma wafting from the oven is...(more likely what is that goop in the skillet on the stove? Kale, again?) Of course Lukas cannot read but tries to discipher it in his own special way. Those are aprons on the left side of the photo too by the way, and yes I do collect bottle caps.

I do take the liberty of swapping meals around when it suits me or totally scrapping something when I just can't bear to chop eight million vegetables. We usually have homemade pizza every Friday so that makes menu planning that much easier. I like that writing it down frees a bit of space in my brain too.