It's a Mystery

I have not been remiss in my promise to create, but it has coincidentally been the case that a lot of my crafting has been as gifts for friends or test knitting that hasn't been approved for posting yet. So, in a show of good faith, here are two of the projects that I am working on.  They used some crewel embroidery wool, a canvas bag and about a skein and a half of LB Collection Merino Wool yarn.

As you can see by the mist covering the red wool, this project is d-o-n-e done and is pinned to the blocking mat. More to come on this one later in the month!

Also, my Downton Abbey Mystery KAL shawl is cruising along. It's going to end up being a crescent based on the increases and is a really basic pattern that isn't all that impressive. However, worked in Pepperberry Knits cashmere (handspun by a Boise artist) in a really pretty mix of purples called Mixed Berries that I've had in my stash for almost four years, it is going to be so soft and luxurious. Somebody's gonna love it! There are only a few weeks of this season left, so when it's complete and blocked, I'll post about it again.

What's for Dinner?

One of the things that makes a day that feels too long feel even longer is staring down the witching hour without a plan for dinner. What kids, you don't want fish sticks or spaghetti and meatballs three nights in a row? Weird.

Over the last few years I've relied heavily on meal planning to make my weeks run smoothly, and the menu chalkboard in my dining room is honestly just an ornamental extension of that plan, because I sometimes, okay frequently, go a couple of weeks without changing it. I'll try to share my weekly plan on Mondays from here on out so that might encourage me to stay on top of changing the board. However, my actual plan is written on a magnetic notepad on my fridge that has a column for groceries needed to complete that list, which I also use to write down the meat I need to pull from the freezer one to two nights before, and I try to incorporate a night of leftovers so that we don't have a build-up of mystery containers in the fridge the next time I do the pre-grocery shopping sniff and toss.

When I feel like I'm in a rut, I look through my pinterest boards to get inspiration. I know, I know, those boards are actually meant to be used for something other than time suckage and wishful thinking. I have boards for the crock-pot, for freezer meals, for the battle of the bulge and for nights of comfort. I have found that my kids will eat almost anything if I put it in a taco, so we have Taco Tuesdays which have spanned the range from fish tacos to this week's Pot Roast tacos with horseradish sauce (which I won't put on theirs because it's a) white b) 'Hot like Wasabi!' (in Charlie's words) and c) a condiment other than ketchup). Mondays I try for a meatless meal and Wednesdays are sometimes wheatless, although those nights are for putting variety in our menu more than anything because I heart gluten.

The chalkboard may not be updated, but we do sit down to the same meal as a family every single night, with the exception of nights that J and I have a date night. J's schedule means that I do the dinner, bath, bedtime gig alone a lot, but I've long since left behind my days as a short-order cook with chicken nuggets and pb&j for the kids while I eat a crappy dinner over the sink by myself later. There has been a lot of research on the importance of eating dinner as a family, and I love the books The Family Dinner and Dinner: A Love Story as a starting point for establishing this as a routine in your house.

Without further ado, here's my menu for this week:

Monday: Breakfast Burritos (egg and cheese for the kids, egg, cheese and roasted veggie for me).
Tuesday: Pot Roast Tacos with Horseradish Sauce *
Wednesday: Thai Peanut Noodles with tofu and roasted vegetables. I use brown rice noodles instead of udon or linguine.
Thursday: Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Friday: Family Movie Night (every Friday) Leftovers followed by Stove-top Popcorn (I have seriously perfected this-no old maids!) and treats.
Saturday: Date Night for Us, but Turkey Chili and Cornbread for the kids.
Sunday: Superbowl Pot Luck (Likely will be gluttonous. Not to be confused with, though may also include, glutenous)

*denotes recipes I'm trying for the first time.

Apples to Apples

What's more fun that a sink-full of apples that need peeling? Answer: Pretty much everything

This year, part of J's gift basket from work was a bushel of apples. Fuj's and Galas and Granny Smith, oh my! I had been buying my weight in 'squeezy applesauce' from costco, and had seen that you could buy diy squeeze bags, so off to amazon my fingers flew. After researching, I realized that most of them were intended to be reusable, but let me tell you what I don't want to spend time rinsing out and sanitizing; yup, plastic bags with a teeny, tiny hole. I found this 50 pack of bags (single use) by Infantino and read the reviews, which mentioned you should spring for the 'squeeze station'-although you could probably fill the bags with a baster, but that would be ridiculously tedious. Spend the twenty bucks on the filling station. Between the bags and the filling station, it works out to slightly less than a dollar a bag (the squeeze station comes with ten bags), and the produce was a gift. It's still a bit more expensive than the GoGo Applesauce I was buying before but you'll only buy the station once, and you have greater control of your ingredients.

But first, before we get ahead of ourselves, you must make the apples into sauce. I've had a simple apple peeler, corer, slicer that you suction to the counter and operate with a hand crank for years, but for whatever reason it's not been working very well, so I got to move between peeling with a vegetable peeler and paring knife until I wanted to stab my eyes out. What started as a fun little Saturday morning project quickly morphed into what amounted to a pile of apples that reminded me of a giant plate of spaghetti; no matter how many I peeled and sliced; turn around and they're still there! 

Pretty much the only apple that worked correctly.

I cooked a batch of applesauce on the stovetop by filling up my beloved Soleil with mixed apples, one-half cup of water and some cinnamon, I let it bubble away on medium heat for twenty minutes (I only know that because I set a timer lest I forget about it while trying to organize my vortex of a closet) gave a stir then let it go for twenty minutes more and removed from the heat. After mashing and picking out the peel that I could-and burning my fingers-I read the directions for the handy squeeze station and went to fill my first three bags. Turns out, the applesauce needs to be really smooth, or you just get super hot apple sauce gushing back up from the plunger onto your hand and arms. Which feels awesome, thanks for asking. 

After the first round, I used the immersion blender to get it super smooth and all was well. My only other tip is to unscrew the 'filler' from the bag before pulling up on the plunger, or you'll suck some of the food back up into the cylinder, which is not where you want it. Even if you push down and pull up several times. Or slowly. Or quickly. Vacuums are sneaky little bitches. 

The second batch was all granny smith. I filled the crock of my 6 quart slow cooker to the brim and topped it with a glug of 100% pure maple syrup, then cooked it for about four hours on low. The two batches made about twenty-five bags of applesauce. Jack-attack was my taste tester and he proclaimed it delicious. 

(Because the bags are not insulated or airtight, it's important to remember that you're not preserving your food, but rather storing it. According to the packaging, you can store them in the fridge for about 48 hours and in the freezer for a few months. I plan to thaw them overnight in the fridge for lunches the next day. Or in a bowl of warm water the morning of when I've forgotten to pull them out the night before.)

Since I was already in stab-your-eyes-out-if-you-see-another-apple mode, (seriously, I would never make it in factory work) I decided to make three apple pies as well. My mom's (technically my mom's bestie's) recipe is still my favorite, mostly because imperfections only lend to its 'rustic' nature. Perfect for half-assers like me. 

Don't get too excited, this is for three pies. Only one stick of butter for each.

a little on the crispy side, but who has time to babysit the oven?

Heritage Apple Pie

Filling:

6 c. sliced apples (granny smith work great!)

1/2 c. sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1 9 inch pie crust (unbaked- I like Marc Bittman's pie crust recipe the best)

Topping:

1c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 softened butter (I used salted, if you don't, add about 1/2 t of kosher salt)

Line a pie pan with the crust and flute the edges. Mix together the apples, cinnamon and sugar and fill up the pie crust. It will be heaping. This is good. For the topping, mix the flour and sugar and then cut in the softened butter with forks, a pastry cutter, or by massaging the flour into the butter with your hands; pick your poison. Top the pie with the topping (duh) and then bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes. I used my convection function so I do it at about 380 for about 40 minutes. Cover crust edge with a pie ring or tin foil to prevent it from burning. Enjoy a la mode or all on its own.

Baby On Board

(redacted for privacy, created by Announcing You)

My Sister-in-law is due with her first baby this spring, so my other sister-in-law and I had a ton of fun putting together a surf themed baby shower for her. With a simple menu of cauliflower hazelnut and chicken bacon kale handpies (made by Heidi in advance and frozen to be baked off that day), salads and, of course, cake we were all well-fed and enjoyed visiting with family and friends while we celebrated Laura and the impending birth of baby D. The chicken-bacon handpies were made with Heidi's bacon bourbon jam, which is ahhhhhmazing, and will be added to my 'to can' queue as it added so much flavor and dimension to a dish that's so simple.

Heidi used fabric to create a rustic bunting and paired with some paper lanterns and a fun tablecloth that she made for another occasion, the decor was simple. A metal surf board-laden VW bus played up the theme, in addition to a pier piling ocean cake and sharky cupcakes. The cake was chocolate with salted caramel cream cheese buttercream, while the cupcakes were a simple vanilla with vanilla buttercream. I used the 'Best. White cake. Ever.' recipe, and it really is amazing. With 5 eggs, 2 sticks of butter, buttermilk and my own vanilla it was rich, dense and delicious. The frosting ended up being pretty sweet and I think I'd do a cream cheese buttercream next time, but I didn't get any complaints!

Washi tape graced the sides of the cupcake tower, and I found a printable on etsy that I used to create the shark fin cupcake toppers. Buttercream dyed to have an ombre effect, topped with a single sandy, surfboard cupcake created a display of caloric decadence. A big green salad and some ginger-limeade rounded out the food. 

No games, but we did have two crafts ;) Message to the parents on midnight diapers, and an ABC book with a letter page decorated by each guest with stickers, drawings or a message.

1:1 Gingerale and Simply Lime, my favorite party punch!

The next morning, I had breakfast with my girls at Tasty n Alder, then stopped in at Blue Star for treats to bring back to the boys. After the drive home from Portland, they made for the perfect Breakfast for Dinner.

Cointreau Creme Brulee for Mama, though I snuck a bite of J's Blueberry Bourbon Basil, it was amazing. I would get it next time; clean, not too sweet and the basil flavor was the prominent note: delicious!

Fit to Be Tied

My sister-in-law and I hosted our other sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend. We put together a basket of essentials for the first few months, including some fun touches like these applique onesies. You can transform any shirt with whatever shape or print your desire. All you need are a pair of scissors, fabric, a shirt or onesie and fusible interfacing makes the job easier. Next time, I would use a backing fabric for the inside of the shirt so that I don't have skipped stitches like I did with the bow tie. If you're planning to use a straight stitch, you don't need to worry about it!

I wanted to do ties, so I just folded the material in half (so that my free-hand would at least be symmetrical) and then cut out an approximate neck tie and bow tie shape from two different fabrics. Iron on the material, stitch around the edge of the design to affix it to the shirt, et voila! 

I love this flannel bug print. I've had it in my stash since H was a babe!

Since I had my sewing machine out, I decided to bust out another project I've had in my queue for a few months. I have enough of each fabric to make two maxi skirts (I didn't realize this when I ordered) so I'll get creative. However, It should be noted that I did not use a tape measure or any other official tools (not even my rotary cutter) I just eyeballed it, which caused me to do the side seam twice after I realized it was several inches too large. The waistband is a foldover yoga waistband, which I did by folding a piece in half so that the folded dimension was about 6-7 inches in tall, then put all the raw edges together with right sides facing and sewed around. Because it's a knit fabric, I made it a little snug in the waist, so there are slight puckers where it attaches to the skirt body. Had I done an official measure, I'd have been able to do the side seam once, and angled it from a wider bottom to the smaller top. Since I didn't it's a little restrictive at the bottom, so I'll be making this first one a knee length skirt and then taking what I learned to make the new one the correct width. This knit fabric is from a really fun website Girl Charlee Fabrics, which has a ton of really cute knit fabrics to choose from at really reasonable prices. I have four different prints, including the bold neon stripe I used to make the shirt I wore in our family photos (below). The one tip I have for working with knits is to use a light hand in moving the fabric through the machine so that you're not stretching it as you go.