Craftiness

Yummy Pakora!

2011-12-31T19:57:00.001-06:00

Although Pakora is an Indian dish, there are variations of this throughout Asia. You can deep fry any vegetable. Here I fried kale and beet greens:)

2 cups of chickpea or besan or gram flour
2 tsp salt
1 T turmeric
1 T ground corriandor
1 T chile powder
1 T garam masala
1 T onion powder

Add 1-2 cups of water to the above ingredients and whisk to a semi-thick batter. Coat veges well and drop into hot oil. Fry each side about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Enjoy!!

Easy Naan Bread

2011-11-22T08:16:00.001-06:00

I have had Naan bread many times and really liked it. It's kind of like a thick, stiff tortilla with tasty seasonings. I came across this Naan bread recipe in Modern Indian Cooking and adapted it to the bread machine. I have had a lot of luck using the bread machine for kneading and rising bread dough. There is a bread dough feature on my machine where all I have to do is add the ingredients, set it, take out the dough in a few hours to put in the oven. If you don't have a bread machine, don't buy a new one. The second-hand stores are full of them. Apparently they make really bad loaves of bread so a lot of machine owners chucked them. I picked up my Oyster for $10 at Goodwill.

1 1/4 Cups Milk

1 egg

3/4 Cups plain yogurt

1/4 Cups of fresh rosemary, chopped. (If you don't have fresh, use 2 T dried)

4 Cups of flour

1 package dry yeast

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Place the ingredients in your bread machine in the order listed and set. When done, knead dough on well floured surface and divide into 10 portions. Roll out dough into 7 inch diameter and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 8 minutes then turn over and cook for 8 minutes more. Easy! I ate this with Keema, an easy but good indian recipe which you can use any ground meat of choice or textured vegetable protein for vegetarians;P Enjoy!

FO's

2011-10-23T19:26:00.002-05:00

FO's are 'Finished objects' in case you aren't up to date with crafting lingo. To differentiate between these and UFO's, FO's happen on purpose, with crafting materials. UFO's happen by accident, when running out of alien space craft fuel over Roswell, New Mexico;P I know, you weren't expecting that, were you?

The first FO is The Hitch Hiker by Martina Behm from Germany. This is a pretty popular pattern on Ravelry and on many Knitting Podcasts. It's as if everybody else is doing it so I have to do it too! Right? Where have I heard THIS before? I guess we really never grow up.

The next project finished actually only took me a few days to knit it. I could actually do it in one day if I had about 6 hours to knit. This was part of Vickie Howell's KAL (Knit A Long) from the previous post. I LOVE this pattern. It's easy but not boring, same as the Hitch Hiker actually, works up fast and is super soft. It's also quite stylish, kind of like making a fashion statement using neck wear. I had 3 silver type buttons from one of my fun button jars but kinda had a plain fourth one so I glued a Wyoming Quarter to it with a cowboy on it. I like improvising. It challenges my imagination....

David finishes things all of the time. He is extremely prolific. Here he has a beautiful Amherst Pheasant Feather Sierra pen made of chrome. I really like the unusual media he uses. The feather pens always turn out amazing! He also has a clock fetish with these little clock faces. This one is made of tulip wood which has a warm, almost coral like color. Each piece of tulip wood is very unique as evidenced by these three pieces of tulip wood he used.

Other than his Etsy Craftiness Store, you can find David's functional art at Austin's Lyric Opera showing of The Magic Flute or at Christmas At The Caswells.

Craft On!

Vickie Howell's Knit-A-Long

2011-10-18T10:21:00.001-05:00

Because I am a clever person, I was able to ~~trick~~, ~~entice~~, encourage a friend to participate in this Knit-A-Long with me. This KAL is Vickie Howell's pattern from her line of yarn at Caron yarns. This is going to be a quick project because it is double stranded on large needles and works up quickly. I like her philosophy of making quick projects so that you can feel like you have accomplished something. Also, for longer projects, make sure you really like your yarn, you will be with it for awhile. You can join in on Facebook for this KAL or Ravelry, although I still can't find the Ravelry KAL for this. If anyone knows, send me a message please:)http://vickiehowell.com/

The Cowl Knit-Along schedule from VH's Facebook page:

‎10/19: I'll post an image of double-stranding, we'll cast-on and begin ribbing.--Remember to reply with where you are, any questions, etc.

10/20- Work on ribbing, share pictures of progress. Yay!
10/21: CABLE DAY! We'll start on the first cable repeat of the cowl. I'll upload a video how-to for the 14-st cables used for this project.
10/22-24: Work the 7 repeats of the cable section of the cowl. I'll be checking in throughout the weekend to answer any questions, if you get stuck. Showing pictures of mistakes is helpful for me, so keep your camera phone handy!
10/25: Move on to 2nd ribbing section and discuss button hole row. If you guys would like, I can post how-to photos for that as well.
10/26-10/27: Weave in ends. Attach buttons & finish! Share photos. I wanna see your FO's! If you want to model them, even better!

Enjoy!

Sierra Club Trip; Ansel Adams Wilderness, Sept 2011

2011-09-23T22:35:00.001-05:00

“JOY OF BEING” SIERRA CLUB BACKPACK, ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS SEPT. 2011

7 Days, 40 Miles, 10,700 feet*

Limerick by our fearless Co-Leader, Christine**

There once was a backpacking group
Thirteen men and women, the troop
Signed up, one and all
Joy of Being, the call
An Ansel Adams Wilderness loop

Clover Meadow is where they did meet
Set up camp, had a meal and a greet
The tarp went up quick
The hail mighty thick
A foreshadowing start to the week

Day two, we drove over rough road
To start Isberg trail with our load
We hiked through some rain
Did I mention, the rain?
Cora Lakes: Destination Wet Mode

That night, Gene and Alex went out
T’was dark, so was quite a long route
And Stan found a view
From a knoll above, true
We could see, for some moments, to tout

Lake Isberg, the journey next day
A stunning display, I must say
My goodness sake
An infinity lake

But windy as hell, and skies gray
A glorious day sure did follow
Two passes, descriptors ring hollow
Spectacular, they
Breaths taken away
Minor troubles seem so very shallow

Pleased we all were to see Packer Chick
Horse and Mule too - it was quite a kick
The bear cans you see
They are right by a tree
“You can’t miss them” was like a bad trick

While the Great Bear Can Hunt seemed to fail
Not the rain, thunder, lightning or hail
Morale remained high
Not a whimper or sigh
No rumblings of those seeking to bail

By now, we were pros on the fly
Give us rain, hail, wind or clear sky
Rain gear went on fast
The tarp tied to last
Say we: Only wimps must stay dry!

The Reedy Lake, t’was nothing there
Of bear cans, it was very bare
Pophry, too
Nary a clue
“It’s a ways down” was Lord knows where
To Ron and to Tina: Thank you
And to Stan and to Tim: What a crew
The cans, they were found
As told, by the ground
Just five lakes down, who could have knew??!!

So, hunger, wasn’t to be our fate
Our lunch on layover day was great
Igor led folks to
A waterfall view
Then once again t’was a hailing tarp date!

With morale amazingly gay
We continued on our merry way
To the Lakes, Flat
And Lady, after that
Enjoying scenery more lovely each stay

One morning we lost Tina briefly
But Tom, true to form, remained Chiefly
In the dark, gone to pee
Her way back, couldn’t see
She did good and made breakfast. Relieved, we!

Thanks to Ann, Mary Ann and to Stephen
You tempers were wonderfully even
And Stephen helped first
When leftovers were worst
That’s less weight, that re-quired heavin’!

Hike and meals have been social and fun
Deb and Stan bestowed gifts to every one
We’re each a new friend
So, Happy Trails without end!
May your future hikes have lots of sun!!!!

Thanks to my new friends! Stan, Deb, Stephen, Mary Ann, Igor, Alex, Gene, Tim, Tom, Christine, Ann, Ron:)

Charity Crafting

2011-09-08T19:31:00.006-05:00

This is from The Stitch Lab:

HOWDY STITCHERS AND STITCHERETTES!!
QUILT DRIVE

The devastation of the Central Texas wildfires has left many area friends, families and their pets homeless. We all want to help those who have lost everything, but how?

Quilter Heather Grant and the Modern Day Quilters snapped right into action with a quilt drive. Their goal is to give a quilt to provide comfort and warmth to every child who has lost their home in the fires. They are encouraging twin bed size quilts, but any quilts 45"X60" and over are being accepted. You can ship quilts to:

Valli & Kim Quilt Shop, Attn: Wildfire Quilts

700 West Highway 290, Dripping Springs, TX 78620

If you live closer in to Austin, you can bring them to us at the Stitch Lab and Heather will happy to pick them up.
Stay tuned for more opportunities to help out.

If you're like me and don't have the immediate time to make a quilt from start to finish alone, consider working on one as a group or donating fabrics from your stash for others to pick up and work with. The Stitch Lab will keep a free fabric bin dedicated to wildfire relief quilts on our front porch. You can donate or pick up fabrics at your convenience.

You can also help in many other ways: Austin Humane Society (currently housing many Bastrop pets), and here is a comprehensive list from the Austin American Statesman

Reusable Lunch Bag

2011-09-08T19:29:00.001-05:00

I recently acquired new craft supplies in the form of yarn and fabric. I found some beautiful fabric, including laminated fabric (similar to oil cloth but thinner), from The Stitch Lab on So. Congress. I made darling daughter a re-usable lunchbag, lined with the laminated fabric and closable with a velcro tab. If you look closely, the fabric got caught in my feed dogs on the lower right. It's a reusable lunchbag, I am not worried enough about it to rip it out and risk tearing this fabric. Apparently there are tricks to sewing with laminated fabric and oil cloth that I am unaware of. There is a book out there that has some reportedly great techniques for sewing with this type of fabric. The author's bio is quite interesting:

Kelly McCants is the go-to girl for working with oilcloth. Known online as both Oilcloth Addict and Modern June, Kelly stays busy running her blogs and operating her online stores where she sells handmade housewares, accessories and oilcloth yardage.
Kelly has been sewing and making patterns since she was a teenager. After a career in costuming for films and theater, Kelly opened up Modern June in 2005. Kelly put her BFA in costuming to work by redesigning her favorite vintage aprons for the modern woman. Kelly quickly discovered oilcloth and created a line of housewares and accessories with the slick stuff. Kelly and her Junies make the handmade housewares for Modern June in Richmond, VA. Kelly McCants, believes that there is still a bit of a 1950's housewife in all of us, even if we have left the days of June Cleaver behind--we all want a comfy place to call home. After all, our homes are where we make our memories, and it's where life's celebrations begin. Her Modern June goodies, Oilcloth Addict tutorials, and her new book "Sewing with Oilcloth," are all meant to help you create a bright and happy home that's easy to care for. Oilcloth, laminated cotton and chalk cloth items are her specialty, but helping you to make special memories is her goal.

If you have experience with this type of sewing, leave a comment. I would love to hear your experience, good and bad. I hope to conquer this fabric as it is beautiful and so practical.

Now, off to my next adventure! Pictures to follow, in about two weeks;P

Craft On!

Congratulations!

2011-08-29T10:30:00.002-05:00

Congratulation BlessedNJoyful on winning the dymondwood Nostepinne!

Carpe Yarnum!!

The Knit Girllls Give-Away!!

2011-08-24T15:12:00.008-05:00

You may earn a chance to win Dave's nosteppine on The Knit Girllls podcast:) Laura and Leslie gave a wonderful shout-out to Dave's Nosteppine and we heart them very much** Just leave a comment on TKG's Ravelry group page for a chance to win!!

If you aren't a member of Ravelry and you knit, crochet or spin, then shame on you! Being on Ravelry is life-transforming experience;P When you are a member, you get a home-page where you may show your works, both finished and in-progress, cross reference the pattern or yarn you are working on with one-click, and see how the pattern is being worked on by other ravelers. You also get some insight into patterns before you ever cast on. You can find free patterns and patterns for purchase, yarn, knitting accessories etc. If you listen to crafting podcasts or love your favorite LYS (Local Yarn Store), you can follow their happenings too. I know Gauge Knits, by my house, announces new shipments of yarn, craft night, sales etc on their page. Ravelry has more features than I use so I am not the best advocate for them, just check it out yourself at Ravelry.com.

Warda's Algerian Soup

2011-08-18T11:43:00.008-05:00

I wanted to share this recipe that I cooked last night, absolutely delicious! I got this recipe from another blogger, Warda of 64 Square Foot Kitchen. She grew up in Algeria and her creations are both traditional and reinventions of that area'a cuisine. Everything that I have made from her blog has been delicious! The recipes are not complicated, the ingredients easy to find and the food full of flavor but not hot. I have picky eaters and her recipes have been very handy:) I used her recipe but exchanged spinach for the peas and asparagus. I would have preferred her version over mine but, picky eaters;P I added the spinach to the onions and cooked them down before adding liquid. I used an emersion blender but if I had more time a food processer would have worked better. We ate this with buttermilk biscuits but any bread would have been just fine. Trying foods from around the world gives a fresh perspective on cuisine, matching new ingredients for a unique dish that you normally wouldn't try. Try this one, you will probably like it! Did I mention, it was really easy?

Craftiness Update**

2011-08-14T18:52:00.030-05:00

I am going to cast on for the shawl 'My Wish' by Laura Linneman:) This will only be my second attempt at a shawl, my first is still a work in progress. The first pic is Lemonhalf's shawl with the cream edging and the second is Laura Linneman's with Tempted's two colorways. This shawl pattern is available for purchase here and is a fundraiser for the Make A Wish foundation. Laura of The Knit Girllls designed the shawl and offers the pattern to support this fabulous foundation and the crafty team, Cupcake Mafia I am going to knit this out of Madeline Tosh fingering weight in the Ruby Slippers and Composition Book colorways. I 'acquired' these pearls from Gauge Knit in Austin, Thanks Karli for your help! I did finish a baby blanket a month ago but forgot to take a picture of it :P It was a basket weave pattern with Lion Brands Vanna Choice. I liked the neutral blue color and the durable acrylic it is made of. It doesn't feel like acrylic when you knit with it.

Dave made me a custom barometer/hydrometer for my birthday:) It is made of Cocobolo and is double sided. The weather in Texas can change in a heartbeat and I thought it would be fun to watch the meters go nuts!

Dave also made me a beautiful bowl which he put little wooden apples in it made by Boyd Wright. Boyd taught Dave how to make kaleidoscopes:) Thanks Boyd! He made these gems out of dymondwood which is an art in itself. The dymondwood blanks are dyed wood, usually Birch, sliced thin, glued together so that woodworkers, especially wood turners, can make beautiful art!

Dave is starting to get interested in Intarsia, which is interesting since this is a knitting consept also. He made this dolphin for darling daughter which she ADORES! She was so motivated by this that she started to learn Intarsia herself using the scroll saw!

Craft on Y'all!

I actually completed some crafts...

2011-07-31T19:21:00.014-05:00

I bought a flour sack from Lehi Roller Mills and framed it using stretcher bars artists use to make their own canvas. I like that it's a historical flour mill from a town that we visit whenever we can. It will remind of us of our Utah adventures past and future. Stretcher bars are useful in crafts because they come in four pieces. You pick the sizes of the pieces that are delineated by the inch and thus can make custom frames for craft projects relatively cheaply compared to trying to find a frame in the size you need which are usually expensive. I buy mine locally at Jerry's Art O Rama. For this project I just stapled the flour sack, uncut onto the back of the frame I made from the stretcher bars. It took 15 minutes from start to finish and a lot of that time was spent finding an industrial stapler and dusting it off:)

The next project I finished was a banner for my kitchen. I hung it over my antique mirrors for a nice, finished touch to a semi-bare wall. The idea came from my sister-in-law who made a similar one for the 4th of July family reunion on the previous post. I really like hers especially since the colors were red/white/blue but not distinctly 4th of July. She can use that banner for birthday parties or any festive occasion. I took that spirit with this banner and made it double sided. The other side has warm, winter colors that suggest christmas. I used bias tape for the string which is easy, peasy to use and I hung it on two nail heads. I hot-glued vintage buttons onto the nail heads for a little detail. I plan to make more of these.... It only took about 1 1/2 hours:)

This dishcloth is apparently a very old, traditional pattern called Grandmother's Dishcloth and is familiar to many. I knitted this up pretty quickly and I find it a great project to knit while watching TV with hubby. The pattern is simple enough to knit while half paying attention to the tube. I knitted this in 100% cotton with aluminum needles. The pattern can be found here. I have knitted 3 already and printed a coupon so that I may buy more cotton yarn at 40% off over founders weekend. If you frequent JoAnns then it may be worth it to sign up for their newsletter. They send electronic coupons you can print out a few times per month. They are usually 40% off.

I have a few (several) more projects in the works. I will share when I have more pictures. Craft on!

UTAH!

2011-07-16T19:40:00.007-05:00

'Nuff Said.....

Garden Update:)

2011-06-17T19:31:00.010-05:00

My 3 Poona Kheera cucumber vines are producing slowly, a result of heavy pill bug damage early on. They survived this long but a little puny. Once the fruit started growing in a distorted shape and the leaves started wilting, I buried part of the vine in soil to grow new roots to make up for the bug damage. I didn't see any signs of Squash Vine Borer moth damage but that could still be the case. The vines perked up but if they have squash vine borer infestestion, it will be a short harvest season for them. The normally start producing in 60 days. Cream/light green fruits; very delicious flesh: crisp, juicy, sweet and mild; Fruit shaped like a potato, with skin turning brown as they ripen. One of our best varieties for disease resistance, and very hardy. Vines produce early and with very heavy yields. A wonderful heirloom from India.

The Purple Poded Pole Bean, try saying that 5 times fast! This delicious heirloom was discovered in the Ozark mountains by Henry Fields in the 1930's and is still requested by many "Old Timers" of this region. The pods are bright-purple, stringless, and tender. Plants grow to 6' and produce heavy yields, well that's what they claim. They don't like their spoiled life style in raised beds with drip irragation and compost side dressing. They are not very prolific as of yet, crossing my fingers.

Jing Okra. NEW! 60 days Lovely pods are a deep reddish orange and are quite colorful. This Asian variety produces lots of flavorful 6” pods early, even in dry conditions. An exciting new variety that is unique and beautiful.
Orange cherry tomatoes are very prolific:) I am very pleased. They are great in salads until the Black Krem and Brandywine come in.
The watermelons are popping up. This is a first for me so I am very excited! I don't know which variety this is though:( I planted a total of three.

I made watermelon pickles! Not from my watermelons. That was fun:) I didn't know the rind was edible but aparently it is. Most of the work was cutting the skin off the rind. The rest was fast and easy. They only require a 10 minute water bath and are brined in vinegar, salt and sugar. Lemon, cloves and cinnamon were added to the syrup for flavor. Very interesting mix of flavors...

Garlic Scapes!

2011-05-30T10:55:00.004-05:00

I noticed last week while doing a walk-thru in the garden these garlic stems with unopened flower heads on them. They formed a U-shape,it could only be one thing, Garlic Scapes! These little flower heads will bloom into a beautiful flower just like onions but then you will get a smaller garlic bulb. The flower will steal all the energy for flower and seed production. If you cut them off then you will get a bigger bulb. DO NOT THROW THESE AWAY! You can use them in cooking such as sauteing them with veges in olive oil, toss with potatoes and bake etc. I am going to try a recipe I learned on one of my favorite podcasts, Earth Eats from Indiana University in Bloomington. Check out these two scape recipes from their website. I am going to make the garlic salt.

Garlic is super easy to grow and doesn't have any pests that I can see. After drying them out for a month they are good for almost a year as long as you store them in a dark place that gets air. I put them in a paper bag left open in the food pantry and they did fine. I think I will punch holes in the bag this time and close the top. The NY Times has an article on heart and anti-cancer benefits of garlic. For the Wiki on Garlic, click here.

Buon Apetit!

No Rapture? I went to Renegade!

2011-05-21T19:50:00.031-05:00

I heard the rapture was coming on May 21st from a good source, I guess. Who was he? Anyways, I was confused. Surely God wouldn't let us schedule THE Renegade Craft Fair during, or worse, AFTER the rapture....that would be silly.....unless indie crafters and fans weren't a part of the initial procession. Hmmm......I might need to look into that possibility. There was a brief moment when I thought the rapture actually happened. A mother was pushing a stroller without a baby. I gasped! 'Does she know her baby has ascended toward the pearly gates without her?' Then I wondered what kind of woman could she be? God chooses her baby but not her. Ohhh, the harlot! Then I realized I was in her same shoes:P I need to re-think that one. Anyways, I eventually came to my senses and proceeded to have a really good time:)

This Apron is from one of my all-time faves! This is from Craft Chi, an indie designer right here in Austin. She designs her own screen prints, print on fabric then hand sews all of her creations. It is one of my lifes goals to collect her wares for my home. all of her fabric is on linen, my favorite fabric. I guess that's another reason why I am smitten with her creations.
One of my friends and I stopped by Katinka Pinka's booth. Ohh, what a Lace-a-palooza it was! She has such a nostalgic, artful eye. Her booth reminds me of Steam Punk meets pink and lace. I couldn't stop oogling her wares, especially her earrings.

Sublime Stitching was there again this year. Yippee!! I was very good though, I promise;) I didn't buy anymore patterns due to the fact that I have about a third of her patterns already. I really needed embroidery media and they had plenty of that. I chose a set of tea towels and a Renegade Owl Tote Bag to stitch up.

Twinkie Chan was a new craftster to me. I have never heard of her yet, I feel like I have met her before. She is a crochet culinary goddess** She sells her crocheted items as well as her book of crochet patterns, that's what I REALLY fell for. I can't wait to start on her creations. I need to wait to finish my top secret knitting gift first though.

I also picked up a beautiful journal from 'Millions of people happy'. She hand sews the covers and binds them by hand. This particular book laid flat due to the time of stiching/binding she did. The details are truly beautiful. I am a big fan of handmade journals. The bindings they choose are usually historical. These artist work hard in preserving the ancient art of book binding.

The last acquisition was from a couple of re-cyclers, 'ReUseFirst'. They make crafts from found items, mostly paper. This book will come in handy for jotting down notes, from work, when I am having a particularly challenging day........

Craft on my friends..........

Renegade Craft Fair 2011:)

2011-05-17T19:31:00.003-05:00

Renegade Craft Fair is THIS weekend at the Palmer Events Center!! Check out last years post when I went with my two besties;P

Golf Club Pen

2011-05-04T14:15:00.002-05:00

Dave comes up with some unusual stuff. This is the unexpected:P

Visiting Marakesh

2011-05-04T09:52:00.007-05:00

I like visiting countries through their cuisine. I don't need a passport and there is no jetlag. Also, I get to skip all that invasive body searching stuff nightmares are made of. I found this recipe in the book World Food Cafe.I checked this book out of the library, the best place to get cookbooks ever! It was free and I was able to try it out before deciding to buy it. I will get this one, it's THAT fabulous.

Off topic, this carton is what my mushrooms came in. It's made of very compostable paper. What a great alternative to styrofoam. If only, we had, more trees...

It is a vegetarian cookbook, very helpful when trying to decide what to do with veges, especially if you get tired of eating roasted veges in olive oil. As good as roasted veges are with olive oil, garlic and herbs, it can get tiresome 7 days a week. I have found vegetarian cookbooks great if you are in a cooking slump. Vegetarians need to use more fresh and inovative ingredients in order to liven up their meatless versions of food that is easily flavored with fat and meat. I turn to these books for recipes and inpiration, then usually, I add meat! It's great:)
I cooked a Tagine from Morocco, which is basically a stew. The ingredients are the same as american cooking, just a different combo than we are used to. I didn't have all the vege ingredients it called for so I substituted for what I had. That is the traditional Italian way and of many countries that do not have super-mega-ridiculous stores. Most people around the world eat locally and in season believe it or not!? Enough endless babble, here's your recipe.

5 T olive oil
2 onions sliced thin
1 lb of cubed beef or pork
1 T black pepper
1 T cumin
1 T turmeric
1 t cinnamon
1 potato
2 sweet potatoes
2 bell peppers
1 C fresh mushrooms, sliced
salt to taste
2 C cooked or canned beans of choice, either shelled or green
32 oz of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
water as needed
handfuls of fresh parsley, cilantro, raisins
1/4 pitted olives
Cooked grains such as rice, Quinoa, tabouleh, couscous or just plain crusty bread.

Harissa for serving, recipe follows.

Heat oil in stock pot, add cubed meat and sear. After meat is almost cooked thru, remove from pot and set aside. Add onions to pot, cook til tender but not brown, add spices, cook one more minute. Add veges, meat, tomato products, beans and water as needed to keep from drying out. It should have a stew consistency when finished. Cook until veges are tender around 30 minutes on low heat with cover on. Add parsley, cilantro, raisins, olives and cook 5 more minutes. Serve over grains or bread and a tablespoon of Harissa on the side.

Harissa is a traditional condiment served on the side in that region of the world. It's like their salsa. Mine did not come out hot but my peppers might have been mellowed. It was absolutely delicious! If you don't want the heat, use less or substitute for a sweeter bepper like bell or banana. I can see using Harissa spread on bread for toasting, toss with veges or pasta. I highly recommend making this for yourself even if you don't cook the above Tagine.

1/2 C diced hot chiles
2 T cumin seeds
3 T coriander seeds
4 garlic cloves diced
1 t salt
Olive oil

The cookbook said to process this in a food proccessor, i didn't think it would work so I used a mortor and pestel. If you have neither, just chop chiles and garlic really fine and stir. I put in enough olive oil for it to be watery but you could make it thicker by using less. Keep in fridge in a glass jar with tight lid. Enjoy!

Vegetable Seconds Soup....

2011-04-29T20:20:00.014-05:00

I have been blessed with a lot of leftover vegetables that either I grow myself or others have no use for. Either they have too many in their gardens, or on their farms, or friends do not know what to do with in their CSA boxes. I am always trying to be creative and learn as much as I can on how to preserve or cook these 'Seconds'. I hate to see food go to waste, more so since I started growing my own. This soup looks similar to the Beet Soup or Borscht I posted about recently but while preparing it, I realized, this method can be used for any surplus of veges.

If you find yourself in such a delightful predicament, simply follow these guidelines and you can turn your 'Seconds' into 'Treasures'.

1) Roast your chopped veges with olive oil and salt
2) Add your veges with stock (preferably fresh or 'put by' stock from freezer) to food processor. Process until smooth.
3) Add contents to stock pot with fresh chopped herbs from garden and seasonings from pantry. I like to use 'seasoning families' so on this one I went to South America for inspiration. I used S&P, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, chile powder. I added nutritional yeast, tumreric and cayenne for health benefits.
4) Adjust liquid and seasonings as needed as soup simmers for 1 hr.
5) Let soup cool
6) Freeze in freezer bags in the portions that are useful to you and your family. My family is shy around foods they are not familiar with so I freeze in servings of two in case i can't get them to partake. If that's the case, I have an indefinite source of healthy, organic, local food to take to work. This really beats the cafeteria I have relied on over the years. The cafe at my work is a bottomless pit of over-processed food that isn't really food when you look closer. Even the 'healthy' alternatives they have added recently are loaded with sugar, HFCS, pesticide-laden ingredients and/or smothered in some sauce such as ranch.

For more delightfull info on healthy eating and living, meander on over to A Little Bit Of Spain in Iowa for some All-Natural goodness.I hope this is helpful to you and as Julia Childs would say, 'Buon Apetit!'

Funky Chicken Coop Tour

2011-04-25T15:52:00.025-05:00

The Girls, the gardens, the coops, the unexpected.........

One of the nice things about living in Austin is the wierdness factor. Even the mascot to this free, annual event is a chicken with an afro. I am so glad I didn't miss it this year, I was sure to ask for it off this time. I met many interesting bird wranglers and learned a lot about how they sustain their flocks. One of them even started raising dairy goats! I didn't know you could have goats in the city limits, nice to know;P

I noticed some common themes. First, all of the coops were made mostly of found or recycled objects including playhouses, bicycle parts, lumber from demolitions, milk crates, gym baskets etc. Second, the birds were soooo quiet. I heard that chickens were really quiet but I didn't expect silence. Third, the chicken wranglers were also vege gardeners.

One coopster made a nursery under a ping pong table to raise baby hens until they were big enough to join the ladies. Another creative wierdo planted a succulent garden on top of their coop which looked more like a fancy planter than a chicken coop. There was even a hollowed out TV attached to the side of a coop used as a nesting box. It's like watching chicken TV. Very inventive. Thanks Austinites for another fabulously wierd day!

Flight

2011-04-16T19:09:00.004-05:00

Flight, the opera is now showing at the Austin Lyric Opera** Why am I telling you this? Because Craftiness's Fine Quality Pens are sold at the gift shop:) Tomorrow is the last day. You will find more of Craftiness's goodness at the next opera, The Majic Flute, in November.

Craft Stylish

2011-04-08T19:38:00.006-05:00

I love Craft Stylish Blog** I am posting about this project so I can find it easier this summer when darling daughter has nothing to do;) Maybe she can make mummy some of these darlings....

Borscht or Beet Soup. Really good, no, really!!

2011-04-05T19:59:00.010-05:00

I absolutely LOVE Working Class Foodies!! This recipe I decided to try because I had just harvested a few beets from my garden and I ended up with a few from somebody who had extra organic beets they didn't know what to do with. David 'tolerated' it, he claims he likes veges but truth be told, only raw veges in a salad that he can cover with ranch dressing. I have a secret mission to sneak veges in his food without him knowing.
The ingredient list for this soup is short so it is easy to try. I really like this recipe because it can be hard to find a beet recipe that doesn't have a super earthy taste to it. This soup has a vert mild earthy taste and really shows the sweetness and flavor of beets without the 'dirt' factor. Beets are a SUPER FOOD, well worth experimenting with. Give it a try, for your health and your palate!

Sewing error, no problem!

2011-04-05T19:34:00.007-05:00

Dave came up with a new item, stitch rippers:) This makes me soooo happy because I get the 'prototype' and I really need a new one since darling daughter ~~lost~~ used my 'old reliable' one. His stitch ripper is double ended for two different size stitch ripping. Both sides come with safety caps. Thanks hubby!!

Making room for Spring veges!

2011-03-27T19:23:00.005-06:00

I harvested the last of the Winter veges to make room for the Spring harvest. The last of the veges were carrots, lettuce, kale, beets, rutabegas and turnips. I put by the carrots today by trimming, peeling, chopping, boiling for two minutes, spreading on a cookie sheet and freezing them. I will bag them or jar them in two days.

Putting By Kale

2011-03-26T19:20:00.019-06:00

Kale is apparently really easy to grow. I was first introduced to Kale when I subscribed to Farmhouse Delivery while my vege garden was still young and I really didn't know anything about gardening. Since then, I have learned a few things, just a few, so much yet to learn! I like growning veges and fruit that do well in our area, I don't like to baby plants. Since my cooking repetoir is limited when it comes to veges and grains, I use AllRecipes.Com to fill the gaps. I figure, if it grows well here, grow it, learn how to cook with it later. If you can't find a recipe that your family likes, either cover it with sausage and cheese or hide it in an omelet that is covered with cheese, they will never know;P Any vege can taste really good with the right recipe. So, what to do with all this Kale? Actually I have been harvesting it a little at a time through the Winter, cutting only what I needed and sharing with others. Now that the weather is warm, I need to harvest en masse and 'Put By'. I use this old, very comprehensive book called Putting Food By . I Cut and cleaned the Kale, blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes, cooled in a bowl of water and drained. I then spread on a baking sheet and froze it for 2 days. After freezing, I crumbled it and placed in freezer bags. If you go to the extra step of freezing your veges on a cookie sheet BEFORE placing in your freezer bags or jars, you can then just "shake out" what you need for recipes instead of freezing several single serving sizes. It saves times and resources to do it this way. For some of the Kale I placed in a dehydrator and crumbled the dried Kale. I placed in a mason jar to use as seasoning for soups and stews. It has a slight brocoli taste but when dehydrated, is pungent like an herb. For fresh Kale, I sautee a little onions in bacon grease, add garlic and Kale, at the end add a splash of balsamic vinegar or toasted sesame oil, YUM!!! Leave a comment please if you have a Kale recipe to share. I really want to expand my cooking repetoir on this easy-to-grow vege! Thanks in advance:)

Homesteading Craftiness

2011-03-06T19:22:00.004-06:00

Want Less made this super helpful video on homemade chicken tractors:)

Knitters Salve

2011-02-23T13:13:00.004-06:00

Knitters Salve now in Craftiness.Etsy shop! Dave has so many yarnies that follow his shop, I thought it best to list Knitters Salve in his shop. This improved formula is less greasy but more emollient than the older formula. The cocoa butter, jojoba and sweet almond oil combination is heavenly on the skin. It is lightly scented with Orange and Patchouli essential oil so along witht the cocoa butter, gives off a nice scent of orange chocolates, so yummy! I loooove butters and salves. My skin suffers a lot of abuse from natural dryness combined with having to wash hands often, gardening, knitting and cleaning. Peace, love, knit. Enjoy!!

Teen Style Urban Homesteading

2011-02-20T19:32:00.025-06:00

Darling Daughter and I went to an amazing Teen Conference organized by the Girl Scouts. The keynote speaker was Olga Campos, a local TV anchor woman. She gave a really good speech about how the world is at their feet and it is up to them to make the most of it. I knew DD was listening when she shot me an "I told you so" glance when Mrs. Campos said, "And your parents can only do so much, it's up to you to do the rest". We were lucky to experience Bollywood Dancing from Bollywood Shake and Capoeira from Capoeira Evolucao.

While she was smoozing with her dear GS friends, mama was at the Book Woman table perusing all the great reads geared toward teens and college bound girls. I came across this FABULOUS cookbook. I had to have it for DD. The recipes were easy and the first part of the book goes over what you should have in your college apartment kitchen. This type of cooking is too sophisticated for on-campus dorms but perfect for those private dorm suites where 6 people share a kitchen. The recipes are easy and DD is motivated to cook some of the recipes for the family. Hmmm..... another chore I can delegate.. I lOVE teen girls:p

Tonight she made a pear and chocolate dessert and chicken and rice. Both so incredibly easy, it's really cheater cooking, perfect for college students and a high school girl practicing before college. She calculated about $2 per serving. Even though she is using processed ingredients, it is more nutritionally dense than fast food. It's also less than half the cost. A winner. So, how does this relate to homesteading? The only link I can make is that 1) She is learning to cook, sort of and 2) She is learning to be independant of cafeterias and fast food.

Knitting Podcast Craftiness

2011-02-08T11:14:00.010-06:00

I found a new podcast I like, It's actually a video podcast. Two knitters shoot the breeze about mostly knitting while introducing you to their FO's, UFO's etc. You can follow them on Ravelry and Facebook too if you are stalker-inclined like me! Oh yeah, the name....The Knit Girllls, with 3 L's. Apparently L's are cheap. Maybe it's because their names start with L, Lara and Leslie, hmmm....If you know, leave a comment. I wonder if they know about Dave's famous Knit N Spins and that he's the Nosteppine King on Etsy. Speaking of Dave's famous Knit N Spins, their was a celebrity sighting recently. On my last blog post, a fan left a comment. Dave's Knit N Spin was seen at a LILY CHIN'S CROCHET CLASS!!! This may be a stretch for non-yarnies but Lily Chin is famous in my world, up there with Vickie Howell Stephanie Pearl McPhee for goodness sakes.

On my needles? This little smart pearl. A triangular shawl whose pattern and yarn I purchased at Hill Country Weaver in South Austin.

The yarn is Brooklyn Tweeds 100% American Wool variety. The name of the yarn is Shelter and it's an artisanal, woolen-spun yarn made from the fiber of Targhee-Columbia sheep grown in the American West. The yarn is spun in the historic mill town of Harrisville, NH. Sounds all American to me!

Leave a comment on what you are working on and link back to a picture of it. You can follow me on Ravelry, my Ravatar is Craftina. Knit on my friends!

What's On The Lathe?

2011-01-13T10:37:00.009-06:00

Dave is currently hollowing out a bowl with a bowl gauge. He has made straight-sided bowls before but now he is expanding into bowls that have a narrower opening than the width of the bowl. I never gave bowls much thought until he started making them. This one will have a beautiful topper for it with ventilation holes so that it can be used as a potpourri bowl. Here is a picture of one he made for me a few years ago. Notice the 'Woodworker At Work' sign above his head. Darling Daughter made that for him for Christmas!

My Latest Crazy Adventure.....

2011-01-01T19:38:00.006-06:00

This week, January 2nd-9th, I will be busy with my latest crazy adventure. For my more conservative friends and family, don't worry about me. It doesn't hurt, that much......

No Impact Yogurt

2010-12-29T19:34:00.004-06:00

Colin Beavin wrote a book and filmed a documentary called No Impact Man. Here is an article from his blog about making your own yogurt, thus eliminating the plastic cups. Sounds easy and interesting...

2010-12-28T18:41:00.006-06:00

Darling Daughter absolutely loved the Rutabega Bake I made for our Christmas dinner. I was very pleased about this since most of the ingredients came from my garden and she's somewhat a picky vegetable eater. I was able to to use the carrots, rutabegas and herbs from my garden. Here is the recipe if you are at a loss for how to cook winter garden vegetables. You can add any vegetable in this, it's a flexible recipe.

Tina's Rutabega Recipe

2 large or 3 medium rutabegas, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
6 large red potatoes, NOT peeled, cut into 2 inch chunks
3 carrots sliced
1 stick of butter plus a little more
1 small tub of sour cream
s & p to taste
1 T of dried or 2 T of fresh herbs of choice

Boil root veges until tender, about 30 minutes, drain. Place in baking dish. Pile on the rest of the ingredients and mash/stir. Slice pats of butter and place on top. Broil in broiler until top is nice and toasty, about 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!!

Rutabegas are a memeber of the turnip family, it has a very mild turnip flavor. It's loaded with nutrients too! It is a good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Calcium (8% RDV), Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Vitamin C (53% of your RDV), Potassium and Manganese.

Potatoes when not fried are very nutritious also. It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese.

Carrots of course, is good for you. It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6 and Manganese.

I like to put this nutritional data out there for your edification and to ameliorate my guilt for adding a 'stick of butter and a cup of cream'!

Secret Elves At Work Along 2222/MoPac

2010-12-23T21:37:00.003-06:00

That's pretty cool Pam....

Blue Earth Guild

2010-12-16T19:49:00.011-06:00

I met up with a bunch of great gals at Sustainable Fibers Yarn Mill in Elgin for some good old-fashioned knitt'n and weav'n. The idea is to bring your unfinished objects and snack to share, talk about anything, ask for help on yarn stuff and have fun. ~~Complaining~~ Observations about all things are welcome:p
Here is my work in progress or WIP.

This is for darling daughter knitted on a pair of interchangeable KA's circular needles size 3 with some sock yarn from Germany. It's Merino and the company is Zitron. I don't know the website but this online store carries the brand.

Next is a beautiful, this pic does not do it justice, blanket that is being sewn together from a bunch of triangles that were woven on a triangle loom.

Finally, Jacqueline shows her skull snowflake hat she is knitting for darling husband;) Here she is using Fair Isle knitting.

Yesterdays Harvest

2010-12-11T20:10:00.004-06:00

I am truly sorry if this bores you but this makes me giddy! Lettuce, Kale, Turnips, Swiss Chard.

Donna's Turkey Salad

2010-12-05T19:19:00.004-06:00

My sister has an amazing repetoir of culinary greatness and her Turkey Salad is truly awesome. It can be hard for our families to get together, especially when I work every Thanksgiving. This salad we usually have with her leftover turkey the day after. I love, love this salad and would like to share it with you, especially since it's sooooo easy. You can easily substitute roasted chicken. Ingredients: 1 C green apple chopped, 3 celery stalks chopped, 3 green onions sliced, 1 C cheddar cheese cubed, 2 T lemon juice, 1/2 C mayo. Toss and eat!
You can have this on a bed of greens, in a pita, on really good bread, in a wrap. Enjoy!

Holiday By The Tracks In Elgin Tomorrow, 12/4

2010-12-03T09:47:00.003-06:00

Mad City Chicks will be at the Holiday By The Tracks celebration in downtown Elgin. We will be at the craft fair by the Library from 10-4. If you are having yarn withdrawals, stop by Sustainable Fibers just past the tracks for some yarn petting. They will be open until 8pm on Saturday as well as 7:30 tonight to help anyone with their knitting/crocheting projects. Conveniently, they are next door to Coffee Catz, serving Elginites hot and cold beverages for 9 months now.

Plant A Row For The Hungry

2010-11-28T19:06:00.012-06:00

Territorial Seed Company was giving away free carrot seeds for gardeners that would plant extra in order to help feed people in need. The instructions were simple, plant these free seeds in extra space in your garden and donate the veges to a food bank, soup kitchen or a neighbor in need. This act is a vintage concept of community that was pervasive in earlier days and was also a key concept in the book Radical Homemaker by Shannon Hayes.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Thanks Julie for recommending this book!!

2010-11-09T09:27:00.011-06:00

I am a bit late on harvesting the carrots. I just didn't make time to harvest them earlier. It's one of the benefits of gardening with root vegetables and many winter veges, you can harvest them when you need them or when it's convenient to you. There are fewer pests in the winter to ruin your veges so I tend to just water them like I do the rest of my 'plants' and 'go to the garden to fetch dinner' as needed.

Carrots are easy to grow, just make sure to dig and turn the soil about 6-8 inches so the roots can grow freely. They are somewhat forgiving if you forget to water them for a while. Carrots are very nutritous and are easy to cook.

This food is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin K and Manganese.

You can 'Put By' carrots by canning, dehydrating or freezing. I don't have a pressure canner so I decided to freeze mine. I washed and sliced the carrots into discs, laid out carrots in a single layer on a cookie sheet, placed in chest freezer. This way each carrot was frozen individually and they won't freeze into one, solid block. I can then store in two freezer jars and 'shake out' what I need for recipes. It's very convenint to do it this way.

In this part of Texas, we can grow carrots year round. In fact, I have some new seeds in the ground now. I hope you decide to grow carrots too!

Why Girl Scouts?

2010-11-05T18:04:00.002-06:00

Smokey Mac & Cheese Casserole

2010-11-05T07:52:00.005-06:00

Here's a twist on an old favorite that I love. Smokey Macaroni and Cheese. It's simple to make and is well received by my picky eaters.

Ingredients

4C large elbow macaroni
3 T flour
3 T oil
1 C smokey or regular cheddar
1 C smoked gouda
1 C half & half
1 C sour cream
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 pepper
1 t salt
7 slices of smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled

Cook macaroni according to directions on package. Make roux with oil and flour, basically heat up oil, stir in flour and adjust flame til mixture boils a little. It is done when roux turns a tan, nutty color. Add the rest of the ingredients starting with half and half. Stir until cheese is melted. Add macaroni. Spoon into baking dish and bake at 350 until toasted on top. For a more moist casserole, cover with foil and bake until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Fast Company!

2010-10-22T12:42:00.010-05:00

Dave hit another magazine article! This time in Fast Company Magazine. Nice to know there are some business print magazines still out there since Fortune Small Business went under:(
You can click on the picture to enlarge. His product is number 3, the pink sable make-up brush in dymondwood.

Way to go Dave! I might have to quit my j-o-b in order to be your full time press agent;)

Locks of Love

2010-10-22T10:42:00.005-05:00

Remember that long, flowing hair? It's gone and sent to Locks of Love. Why? Because her friend did it. This time peer pressure was positive:p

Dave is in a Crochet Today article!

2010-10-18T19:27:00.008-05:00

David was contacted by Crochet Today Magazine and asked him if he would be willing to send in a Knit-N-Spin to feature in their Nov/Dec issue. He asked me if I thought Crochet Today was the real thing, he had no idea, cute! The Magazine issue came out today and his Nosteppines and Knit-N-Spins are flying off the shelf. He was trying to prepare for this article during the summer but every times he lists stuff, his lurkers snatch them up. Oh well.... Congrats my darling Hubby!

Scooby Carnival Benefitting THSD

2010-10-15T20:46:00.011-05:00

Texas Service and Hearing Dogs is an organization our Girl Scout Troop has been working closely with. They are having a Scooby Doo Spectacular fundraiser in Dripping Springs and would like your support. The cost is $5 per ghoul and has many events to entertain the wee ones.

Texas Hearing and Service Dogs trains dogs to assist Texans living with hearing or mobility challenges. We adopt every dog in our program from an animal shelter, rescue group or occasional owner release. We invest $17,500 and one year to train each Hearing or Service Dog team (dog and person). Thanks to your donations, we provide the dogs and training free of charge.

Hearing Dogs alert their deaf partners by touch and lead them to a variety of important everyday sounds, including a knock at the door, a smoke alarm, an alarm clock and a baby's cry. They respond to oral and sign language commands.

Service Dogs assist physically challenged individuals by opening doors and refrigerators, fetching out of reach wheelchairs, retrieving dropped items, turning lights on and off, getting help and moving paralyzed limbs. They also perform customized tasks such as assistance with clothing and specialized equipment.

Hearing and Service Dogs also provide emotional and social benefits through companionship and encouragement of greater interaction from others.
When you see a Hearing or Service Dog in Public
You may see a person using a Hearing or Service Dog, or even a Trainer, in a public place like the shopping mall. Texas and U.S. law allow public access with the dogs. When you see a person with a Hearing or Service Dog, you can ask them, "May I pet your dog?" If they say yes, follow their instructions on how to pet the dog. That way, you show respect for the person and do not interfere with the dog's training.

Texas Hearing and Service Dogs uses positive training methods. We do not use any force, punishment or corrections in our training methods. We use fun, rewards and lots of surprises to keep our dogs motivated and eager to please.

Non-scary Halloween carnival for young children up to age 10. Help Scooby and the Gang search the Haunted Maze for the Mummy, play games to win treats, decorate your own treat bag, try the Mystery Cake Walk. Costume Contest for Most Original, Scariest and People's Choice. $5/person (adults & children). All games included

Scooby's Haunted Carnival
Sat., Oct. 30
1 - 5 PM

4925 Bell Springs Rd
Dripping Springs, TX 78620

Follow them on their blog here.....

Or find out more about this amazing organization here....

A forgotten year in pictures....

2010-10-14T20:04:00.017-05:00

Our Girl Scout Troop earning their Silver Award by organizing and hosting a health fair for 17 Brownies.

DD entering the river for her baptism at church camp.

You know who and his two sisters were ADOPTED!!

The girls volunteering at the Mighty Texas Dog Walk, a fundraiser for service dogs.

Healthy food can be simple too!!

2010-10-13T19:05:00.010-05:00

Darling Daughter, aka DD, made a simple, colorful, nutritous dinner in 6 minutes. Oca + purple potatoes + cheese + real butter = dinner! Just wash and quarter potatoes and oca, microwave 5 minutes, add cheddar, microwave 30 seconds more, add butter and maybe salt/pepper, DONE:) Add a glass of milk and you have a simple, nutritous meal.

This meal is high in protein, both from the dairy and the potato, riboflavin, phosphorous, vitamins B12, B6, C, D, calcium, selenium,Thiamin, Niacin, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, copper, manganese.

The purple potatoes have an additional nutritional value over that of regular potaoes. According to SpecialtyProduce.com:

Nutritional Value
The purple potato's striking pigment is its nutritional life force, thanks to the antioxidant powerhouse anthocyanin, which is responsible for the purple and blue color of fruits and vegetables. This flavonoid has been shown in studies to possess anti-cancer and heart-protective effects, as well as benefits like boosting the immune system and protecting against age-related memory loss. Research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service found that potatoes with the darkest colors have more than four times the antioxidant potential of those with lighter skin and flesh.

I knew potatoes that weren't fried were very healthy but when I looked up the nutritional info for this dish I was still surprised at the nutritional value it contained. It feels like a comfort food dish that most of us like but you can apparently eat guilt free. This meal with the milk is probably along the lines of 500-600 calories so it is indeed a meal and not a snack. The purple potatoes and oca make it a more interesting and colorful twist of an old favorite, the baked potato.

I blogged about Oca in an earlie post here.

Baba Ghanoush

2010-09-16T20:36:00.007-05:00

Today I tried Baba Ghanoush. I haven't tried anything new in awhile and felt like I needed to do something adventurous. It helps break up the monotony of the usual everyday junk.

Baba Ghanoush or Baba Ghannouj, Baba Ghannoug is an Arabic dish of eggplant, seasonings, tahini, olive oil. There are different variations that include adding tomatoes. It is eaten with pita bread or veges.

I first heard about this recipe on a podcast called Geek Farm Life. They are a couple of nerds from Northern California that got jobs in rural Indiana and bought a 10 acre farm and started growing their own food. If you have ever thought about a hobby farm I recommend this podcast, at least to change your mind about raising dairy goats (HUGE commitment). I would recommend their earlier podcast when they were on the farm, they have now sold the farm and moved to Australia so their content has changed to: " Geeks moved to rural Indiana, moved to Australia and now live in an apartment in the city". Anyways, here's the recipe I picked up from AllRecipes.com:

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Tahini
2 T Sesame Seeds
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
S&P to taste
1 1/2 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Bake eggplant on baking sheet for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and place in bowl with cold water. Peel skin.

Place eggplant in bowl with lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeeds and garlic. Blend with electric blender to puree. Season with S&P. Slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate 3 hrs before serving.

I found this pretty good, definitely one of the better ways to use eggplant besides Mousakka. I find it hard to use eggplant in any meaningful way, especially since it essentially has no nutritional value. If you have a favorite recipe for eggplant I would LOVE to hear it!! This is a challenging vege.....

Vickie Howell's CRAFT CORPS

2010-08-25T20:27:00.015-05:00

David was one of the crafters selected for Vickie Howell's newest book, Craft Corps! I was very excited to find out when I received my new copy in the mail:) I love ALL the craftographies and am tickled pink that my favorite turner is in one of my favorite crafters latest book!!!!!

(Click on the picture to read the article)

"Celebrating the creative community one story at a time.." is the basis of this wonderful book. The craftographies, one story at a time, ring true for me and the crafters I have met over the years. We all start in Kindergarten with those beans and paste......

Tomato Rainbow

2010-08-04T08:34:00.004-05:00

I had to take a picture of todays harvest, it was so beautiful:) The German Green Strip Tomato is striking against the other tomatoes. It is an heirloom, I am sure suppose to be bigger but I planted it in ammended clay soil, maybe not ammended enough. The cherry tomatoes are plentiful but I have to be quick and harvest them right after they change colors or the bugs get them. It's a race between them and I. At first the bugs were victorious but then I decided to thin the plants out so they couldn't hide from the birds and it seemed to work. I also picked all damaged fruit in order to decrease their food supply and move on. I think that worked too. Some moved over to the cucumber plant but they were only doing superficial scarring and the plant was almost done anyways. By not using convential pesticides, I can snack straight from the garden.

Good facts from essortment.com:

Starting with the basics, tomatoes contain large amounts of vitamin C, providing 40 percent of the daily value (DV). They also contain 15 percent DV of vitamin A, 8 percent DV of potassium, and 7 percent of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of iron for women and 10 percent RDA for men.

The red pigment contained in tomatoes is called lycopene. This compound appears to act as an antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals
that can damage cells in the body. Only recently, studies have revealed that lycopene may have twice the punch of another well-known antioxidant betacarotene. Studies conducted by Harvard researchers have discovered that men who consumed 10 servings of tomatoes a week, or the equivalent to 10 slices of pizza, can cut the risk of developing prostate cancer by a formidable 45 percent. However, its benefits are not limited to the prostate. Italian researchers have found that those who consume more that 7 servings of raw tomatoes lower the risk of developing rectal colon or stomach cancers by 60 percent. Israeli researchers have found that lycopene is a powerful inhibitor of lung, breast, and endometrial cancer cells. Research has also indicated that the lycopene in tomatoes can help older people stay active longer.

New research is beginning to indicate that tomatoes may be used to help prevent lung cancer. Two powerful compounds found in tomatoes-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid-are thought to block the effects of nitrosamines. These are compounds that not only are formed naturally in the body, but also are the strongest carcinogen in tobacco smoke. By blocking the effects of these nitrosamines, the chances of lung cancer are reduced significantly.

When choosing your tomatoes, be sure to pick those with the most brilliant shades of red. These indicate the highest amounts of betacarotene and lycopene. Though raw tomatoes are great for you, cooking them releases even more of the benefits. Lycopene is located in the cell wall of the tomato, so by cooking in a bit of oil, this healing compound is more fully released. In addition cooking the tomato in olive oil allows your body to absorb the lycopene better.

Hats That Help

2010-08-01T09:24:00.005-05:00

My friend Julie, 1/3 of the Mad City Chicks, decided she didn't have enough to do already. She started crafting for a cause. She is making childrens hats, selling them on Etsy and at the San Marcos Farmers Market, donating money to charities that benefit children suffering from cancer.

You go girl!

Rescuing pictures off my camera's card

2010-07-29T07:25:00.014-05:00

I take a lot of pictures. I think everyone with a disposable camera takes many more pictures than those with a 35mm camera. I guess since you can delete at will and instantly see your pictures, it can get out of hand. Not a nuance of daily living will go unphotographed. Darling daughter had another Bachelorette Night where she cooked Chicken Parmesan Alfredo. It has only a few ingredients and she loves the bland taste of this recipe. There is only chicken, parmesan, half and half, salt and pepper over fettucini. Her apron is from a craft project when she was around 6 years old. Still fits, sort of.

It turned out pretty good and was easy to teach, a winner for sure.
She puts the finishing touches on her recipe box and now has two recipes in it.

Sometime back I harvested the soybeans. I used the same soybeans as last year, Black Jet, to see if it made a difference whether you planted it in the fall or spring. I had a better yield but still dissapointed in the amount of soybeans for the area it took up in my garden. It took up an 8x4 raised bed for a few months and yielded only about 6 servings of soybeans. Not very efficient so I will not be doing this one in the future. I will say though that this is a low maintenance plant so if you have a lot of space, this may well suit your garden.

We also visited the Elisabet Ney museum here in North Austin. She was quite a talented sculptor who lived a very interesting life. They didn't allow us to take pictures inside so these are the only two pictures I have. The building is beautifully preserved and you can learn more about her here.

Asian Secrets and Baby's Back!

2010-07-16T20:36:00.013-05:00

Often when I see South Americans or Asians on TV, I wonder, ~~'Whoa! Look at them sweat!! Sure glad I don't live there!!~~'How do they cope with the heat?'. One way is through food. Cultures that live along the equator use more spices and as one friend from India explained to me, 'It helps you sweat and keep cool'. I never thought of sweating as being a good thing until then. It IS a mechanism for the body to evacuate heat from the body and as the sweat evaporates, cools the surface of the skin. Another way other cultures keep cool is through creative drinks, on ice. One recipe I learned from an interesting Indian woman named Roshan was Watermelon Juice. This was very easy, especially if you have a seedless watermelon. Just blend the watermelon pulp in a food processor and add rose water and sugar to taste. Chill and serve over ice. It's delicious and you can feel your body cool down a few degrees.

One glass for me to take to work and another for everybody else. In Texas, we don't sweat as much as other cultures because we hide in buildings with turbo air conditioning. We admire the sunlight through windows. But don't worry, we surface again in October.

Today I drove 45 miles to pick up a teenager that needed a good home, actually, darling daughter. She went to summer camp with the Girl Scouts. It's her 6th year going to this same camp and she looks foreward to it every year. I like that she earns cookie credits for this camp so when she is selling Girl Scout cookies, she's earning her own way.

When we arrived home, she plopped her stuff just inside the door and went straight to her room to take a nap. Apparently, she stayed up most of the night with her new best friends. After she had risen, she went on to sing ALL the new camp songs she learned. Including one titled, 'I went crazy singing this song'. There's a good reason why it was named that. Then, she described this mysterious incident that happened in the middle of the night where her arm started stinging and swelled up and turned red, waking her up. A trip to the nurse and a dose of benadryl squashed that immune reaction. Hives?

Notice the hollywood sunglasses juxtaposed next to the Converse sneakers. Ahh.... Things are back to chaotic normal:)

DIY Teen Style

2010-07-02T19:33:00.021-05:00

Our darling daughter begs us every year to "re-do" her room. Her room has been 're-done' twice in her long 14 years. 'Re-doing' any room is synonymous with 'spending lots of money we shouldn't'. Since I am a Dave Ramsey convert, and since delayed gratification is EXREMEMLY important to teens/early adults, I challenged her to save up her allowance and 're-do' the princess's chamber. So, 7 months later....

We saved money with sweat equity, the wall unit was a collaboration between teen and both parents. Darling daughter learned some valuable skills along the way such as sanding, using a drill and driving a screw. Daughter and daddy spending quality time, priceless!

She was eager to get this project underway and there was no eye-rolling on this project.

She poured over the IKEA catalogue for MONTHS, dreaming of her finished masterpiece. IKEA, the venerable cheap way to decorate, but with Swedish style, both country and contemporary. The white boxes were cheap at IKEA and a way for her to hide a million doo-dads that have some significant meaning even if they never see the light of day again. The photo frame to the left of her desk on the wall is adorable and she can change out the pics at will. right now she filled them with endangered animal pics she downloaded from the internet.

One of her 3 murals is still a work-in-progress.

We switched the sleigh bed for the captains bed so we can get rid of her dresser. Two of her throw pillows and the blanket are from IKEA.

The top of her bookshelf is home to her make-up and jewelry.

While painting at her desk, she knew I was about to take a picture so she whipped her head around and stuck out her tongue faster than the shutter speed for this remarkable pic. "OUCH!" If I tried that, I would be out of work for a month:p

Bachelorette Night

2010-06-21T21:18:00.009-05:00

Darling daughter has been at the age where she can safely cook. We are starting 'Bachelorette Night' where she cooks a home-cooked meal for under $10 for the family. This life skill is important for developing budgeting and healthy living skills. She will be constrained by her budget and challenged to find recipes that she enjoys that is also healthy. Hopefully when it is time to 'fledge the nest' she will be armed with the knowledge of healthy living on a budget.

She learned to properly chop vegetables that are round and how to hold the knife. She is using one of the surprise onions from my garden and one of my garlic heads.

These were good enough to make the regular round of our personal favorites. Now that we know darling daughter can make this herself, we just have to put it on the chore list:)

The first of many recipe cards to come for her own personal recipe box. Maybe she can make her own recipe box this summer, keep her busy;)

Harvesting Funflowers

2010-06-21T21:07:00.009-05:00

I grew wildflowers this year with sunflowers being in the mix. I never knew where the sunflower seeds were in sunflowers. I have seen sunflowers, I never saw any seeds. They apparently are in the head just past the pollen. You need to scrape off the pollen to see them, a little gardening secret apparently. If I had grown up in an area slightly more rural than Los Angeles perhaps I would have known that.

After scraping off the sunflowers (be sure to have a can ready to deflect the caterpillars you will cross roads with), soak in 1:3 salt/water solution for several hours and bake in oven at 200 for 2 hours or until they are dry. They will crack if you pinch them with your fingers instead of giving in. These flowers can have as many as 2000 seeds in each head. I am DEFINITELY doing this again next year. Darling daughter and I had a lot of fun with this one.

NOTE: The sunflowers are ready to harvest when they bow their heads and the back of the flower head turns yellow:)

36 Garlic heads, and 4 onions apparently

2010-06-21T20:22:00.006-05:00

Last year I planted about 10 onion seeds before I heard about how impossible they are to grow from seed. They sent up spindly shoots then died back. Oh well, lesson learned, I can't grow onions like I was told. Well, lets put garlic in that bed. Garlic grew great! I had a few garlic that seemed to grow above ground.... oh no! That can't be good. Sunlight will ruin garlic after a while. I guess I will have to toss it. I harvested the garlic and set them to dry.

You can see that renegade garlic on the far right. Too bad it grew above ground, look how BIG it is! I snipped off the tops and the roots on the bottom after drying them for four weeks. A little sniff test to see how this bad garlic smelled. REALLY!?? This is an ONION. Now that it's trim, sure it looks like an onion but in with the other garlics, it really looked like a garlic. I was raised in Los Angeles not Kansas.

Secret Project

2010-06-16T11:17:00.008-05:00

I have secretly been working on a project with a couple of friends that has been fun and exciting. One of my partners, Julie blogged about it here.

If you are local, come visit us at the Farmers Market in San Marcos!

RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR:)

2010-06-07T19:37:00.011-05:00

My two friends and I explored the Renegade Craft Fair a few weeks ago and had a great time!! I was very happy to find out they were coming to our neck of the woods and requested that weekend off almost two months earlier. Renegade grew up along with first cousin Etsy and have fed each other since their inception. As excerpted (cut and pasted) from their website:

The Renegade Craft Fair is a large-scale DIY event featuring hundreds of independent artists and their unique handmade items. RCF is held in cities across the US every year - including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Austin. The fair is known for being one of the first events of its kind, and for having the top-notch indie-craft artists and designers who travel from all over the map to participate.
Renegade got its start in Chicago’s Wicker Park in the fall of 2003, and has spread like wildfire ever since. In 2005, the fair traveled out east to Brooklyn, NY where vendors set-up shop in McCarren Park and the infamous McCarren Park Pool. By 2009, the fair had expanded out west to San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA. And to kick-off the 2010 season, Renegade is moseying down south to Austin, TX for its very first event there.
The Renegade Craft Fair is coordinated by Sue Daly & Danny Orendorff. Sue is the co-founder and proprietor of Renegade, and makes jewelry + housewares under the name Timber! Her husband, Mat Daly, designs all of the beautiful silkscreened owl posters for each of the fairs. Madelon Juliano is our administrative assistant and trusty sidekick at the fairs.
The inspiration for RCF came when two friends wanted to take their hobbies to the next level, and start participating in arts + crafts shows. After looking into some local events, it quickly became apparent that there were no shows representing the DIY community, which already had a huge presence online. Everything was either geared towards fine arts + crafts – or country crafts. So, the idea to host an indie craft fair was sparked – and the rest is history!

Darling Daughter agonized over which messenger bag she wanted from Rainbow Swirlz. The norwhal won her heart. She paid for it with birthday money so she had to choose carefully.

The lovely ladies of Austin Craft Mafia were well represented. Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club had a delicious booth of jewelry and and all things sublime. Her book Naughty Secretary Club The Working Girls Guide To Handmade Jewelry has been the mother of a teenager daughter's best friend every summer. Darling Daughter pours over the book and our craft supplies and makes her own jewelry. She spends countless hours creating during long summer months and really enjoys it. When trying to find ways to keep teenagers busy stalls out, plop this book and some new kitschy doo dads in front of her and I might see her a few days later pop her head out of the craft room. I purchased this lovely jar

of kitschy goodness at Jennifer's booth and true to form, it gets poured out and drooled over frequently. She has made a ring so far, I will keep you posted as the summer snails along.

Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching was present as well. I love her unique, modern, easy designs that can get anyone stitching in minutes. I suffer from CADD, Crafting Attention Deficit Disorder. I explore many crafts, am master of none and Jenny feeds my disorder with her truly one-of-a-kind patterns, she's an ENABLER!

My summer months are filled with endless embroidery while waiting for various teen activities to end. Will anybody stop her?! I hope not:)

Here's the latest Sublime pattern I finished. I STILL can't figure out how to turn vertical pics into horizontal pics. Anyone? Don't be shy! I will make a tote bag out of this or small purse. As usual, I already have all the supplies to make that happen. As part of having CADD, I also suffer from CSAD, Crafting Supplies Acquisition Disorder. Pardon the acronyms, I'm ex-military, everything comes with an acronym. "Dash-10", "METL", "DPR" have special meaning to the select few.

And my latest acquistion, Vital Organs! I love it:) I picture tote bags, shirts and aprons. Any ideas?

Craft on my friends, craft on.....

Garden Update

2010-06-06T19:49:00.023-05:00

It's been a while since I updated you all on my gardening misadventures. It's interesting that many of my coworkers and husband think I have this phenomenal green thumb. Either I don't talk about my failures enough or they are just not listening. It could be that human nature causes us to remember the good more than the bad, possibly as a means to survive. Why dwell on the bad when that could depress you and keep you from scavenging food, finding a cave and hiding from dragons.

Here's my ONE pear. I actually consider this a SUCCESS since I just planted this tree and didn't expect any. There were eleven pear-lets that mysteriously disappeared, possibly victims of aforementioned dragon.

This is my first blackberry! I got so excited, I took a picture of it on my Blackberry (cell phone) and am using it as a screen saver. Blackberry on a Blackberry, get it? I'm so funny:) Actually, I picked this too early because I didn't know better and when I handed it over to my husband in a ceremonious "here, I have brought you the first of the season", a strange twisted, contorted facial motion consumed his face. It was bitter. Apparently, water, feed, wait til they turn dull and fall off easy when you touch it method of harvesting is better. Who knew?
A FAILURE.

And my first peas. They are-were delicious, then some mysterious
pest devoured the leaves, made the peas bitter and left me without anymore snacks while gardening. A FAILURE co-workers and hubby.

This beauty is the flower from one of my garlic stalks. I expected garlic scapes and was ready to harvest them when they 'turned around' but this never 'turned around'. It just kept growing up and when it bloomed, well i JUST had to leave it, it was beautiful. None of the other garlic plants produced a flower and continued to develop bulbs. I was about to harvest them when I came across a farmer at the Austin Farmers Market and he said wait until June. I harvest them 3 days before June because they fell over and I was worried. They probably could have gone a few more days but I didn't want to risk it. I had a lot of garlic to lose. This flower is full of bublets but they aren't worth harvesting for me right now since if I started with bublets instead of bulbs, it would take me 2-3 years before I could harvest garlic and I just have a small city plot. It would take up valuable space for too long. But maybe.... when I get a few acres....

And now on to the herb garden. I highly recommend an herb garden for EVERYBODY, especially beginners. They are WEEDS!! You can't mess them up! In Texas, almost all of them come back every year and the ones that don't, let them bolt and save the seed:) See, easy*** A SUCCESS! This is Lemon Balm, I like this. I have been adding this to my green tea that I make by the gallon so that I can kick my diet coke habit. Diet Coke is bad, so is real coke. You get a choice between a toxin (Aspartame), and High Fructose Corn Syrup (A major player in 'Diabesity', 'Syndrome X' or 'Metabolic Syndrome').

This is Red Veined Sorrel. I'm not sure what this is other than a culinary herb but I do have an

herb resource.

Why would I grow an herb I don't know about? Because I came across several at one garden shop that I didn't know about and knowing how hard it is to find herbs other than the big 5, I grabbed all of them. The big five are Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Mint. You can find those easily, even at the local supermarket. Sorrel, Curry, Thai Basil, St. Johns Wort, Lemon Balm, Comfrey? Grab them if you see them. They are harder to find.

This is Curry Herb. It smells just like curry, I believe it repels dragons. You will come across this if you like to cook Thai food. I'm glad I have one now, we cook Thai regularly. For those of you who know Dave, you know why....

One of many sunflowers thanks to the big Burpee bag of wildflower mix. It lured many interesting bees to my yard. Some of which watched me carefully as I worked around them and tried to buzz me back. 'Watch it mister!' I would tell them. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you!" Some of them understood, I swear.

My garlic:) Apparently I need to dry them for four weeks out of direct sunlight before cutting the roots and tops. Then, store in ceramic for 6-8 months. Yea! A SUCCESS!

This is funny. Anyone who sees my 6 rows of tomatoes will think instantly, "SUCCESS". This 'success' started with huge failures, plural. I started the seeds indoors with regular fluorescent light bulbs because I had read that you could. I thought I was going to be a huge success, I had almost 70 tomato starts. I was on to something, then......dampening ended my tomato career....so I thought. It was still early in the season so I purchased 2 growing lights from a local light bulb shop, they are expensive, and started over. At first I was really good at labeling my plants,

but after the first disaster I was in survival mode. I planted as many as I could as fast as I could. What I ended up with were 3 heirloom plants and about 30 cherry tomato plants!! Oh boy, fortunately they are all indeterminant so I won't have to harvest 1000 cherry tomatoes all at once. But, alas, no canning this year:(

A failure or success? The jury is out, canning takes up valuable time.

The Herb Garden.

A chive flower, so pretty.....

I think, a Monarch Caterpillar. I had nine of these chomping on my dill plant. I 'fed' them and let them live. I got an email from The Natural Gardener that the Monarch butterfly suffered devastating losses in Mexico because of the rains and if you see them, spare them, share your crop. So I did. As for the two beetles in the first picture, what are they? If you know let me know. Apparently they were using my Golden Dorsett apple tree as a romantic rendezvous. I spared them too, as most bugs I come across until I can determine if they will be a nuisance. A balance of bugs is ideal for any garden, they keep losses and disease at bay. Big bugs eat small bugs, that's the way it goes. If you kill one segment of this web, it falls apart and you lose everything.

Happy Birthday Darling Daughter!

2010-05-24T12:15:00.005-05:00

She wanted adventure on her birthday. She chose Wimberley Zipline Adventures. What a blast!! Maybe we will go back for my birthday:)

Renegade Craft Fair Happening NOW in Austin!!!

2010-05-14T20:56:00.002-05:00

I will be here on Saturday at the Palmer Event Center. See you there!!!!

Homemade Lip Balm

2010-05-07T12:11:00.010-05:00

Darling Daughter and I decided to make homemade lip balm. I didn't know it was easy until I came across this recipe.
First we grated the beeswax and added the almond oil. We microwaved the mixture until just melted and added honey. When the mixture cooled a little, we added orange essential oil and poured into tins. The mixture cooled pretty fast. I substituted orange essential oil for almond extract.
We used local honey from Round Rock Honey that we just bought at the Austin Farmers Market at the Triangle.

It turned out great and I had enough to share with friends. Bianca took some to school with her too. I bought some of the ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs.
I got the idea on making body products and cleaning products from these books below. Super Natural Home has a useful quiz at the beginning of the book to illustrate how many environmental hazards we are exposed to on a daily basis. This book encompasses not only cleaning products but also bath & beauty as well as our food. Beth Greer touches on the same subjects as was covered in the documentaries Food, Inc. and The Future Of Food. Deirdre Imus also touched on many of the same concerns in her book, The Essential Green You. It can be overwhelming trying to make the change to a healthier environment but both books emphasize it's possible with just a few baby steps at a time. My goal is to reduce toxic exposure by 25-50% per year. Bath products are on the current agenda, next are cleaning products. Good luck to you and let me know what changes you have made.

Got Eggs?

2010-04-28T20:34:00.004-05:00

I came across a great blog named FarmGirlCyn where she had a great recipe from another blogger for homemade mayo and ranch dressing. I have a few friends who raise poultry for eggs and occasionally get overwhelmed with eggs. This is a great use for extra eggs or for anyone who wants less processed food. Enjoy!

Backpacking Pedernales

2010-03-16T17:20:00.032-06:00

I recently became interested in a hobby where you carry everything on your back, walk several miles, sleep on the ground and eat rehydrated dehydrated food. This hobby includes spending 75% of your time trying to get comfortable whether it's trying to stay dry, warm, hydrated, fed, clean or getting adequate sleep on the ground. The other 25% of your time is spent seeing really cool stuff and taking lots of pictures! This hobby has a name, backpacking.
On this adventure I recruited a good friend who had a lot of car camping experience with family and scouts but little backpacking experience. I convinced her that this was her destiny and that she needed to exercise her inner thrill seeking she-woman.
We hiked 2 miles to get to the primitive area at Pedernales State Park on Wolf Mountain. But true to female fashion, walked an extra 1/2 mile evaluating the attributes and deficiencies of each site. It was the backcountry version of "where do we move the couch".
There are several spring-fed creeks that dump into the river. All but one were wet which was great since we were filtering water the whole trip. We didn't have to go far to filter.

We followed Mescal Creek down to the Pedernales River on the first day after we set up camp. I loved this section of the river. The primitive campers were coming down the bluffs but there were few of them and the river front was pretty wild but hikable. Most people that come to this park visit only the falls and the beach. This section was serene and natural.

We stopped to enjoy the view, take some pics and dip our sore feet in the frigid river. Oh man! That felt good.
For dinner that night we had Chicken Pot Pie from the book Lip Smackin Backpackin. This book was very helpful in understanding backcountry cuisine and why it's so important to not only plan carefully but of the importance of having variety. I definitely recommend this book and do read the introduction. It's insightful. The pot pie was easy and declicious, you do need a food dehydrater. Just borrow one like I did.
The next morning we attempted Caramel Pecan Rolls. I knew of the danger of burning sugar so we had a back-up. We needed the backup. We burned the bottom, the sugar part but I could tell it would have been awesome. I am going to try it at home but with a thinner batter and I am going to add 1/4 cup of water after the sugar melts. I think more steam would have cooked the bisquick dough fast and avoiding the burnt sugar with doughy dough still left to cook. I will practice with my backpacking pan to try to re-create and see if it's worth another go.
The falls were beautiful and we took many pics, too many to post here. We hiked a total of 15 miles in 48 hours up and down bluffs. We have sore muscles and are now recuperating. If you are unable to get a hold of either one of us, be patient, eventually we be awake and reachable.
The gear we loved: Osprey Ariel 65 pack, MSR Whisper Lite stove, Esbit pocket stove, army poncho (we strung it up for shade and it provided shelter when it rained), Camelback 3L water bladder, Katydyn Hiker Pro water filter, thermarest and coleman pads, REI down mummy bag, Columbia zip-off pants, all the cool and cheap non-cotton camping clothes from Goodwill. Our not so faves: the too-heavy tent (we knew this going in but ran out of funds for a backpacking tent). Wish we had: an extra bowl each, CHAIRS!, and I wish I had a hard shell.

Crafty Fundraising

2010-03-08T09:09:00.005-06:00

One of our friends daughter-in-law is fighting cancer for the second time. She is unfortunately uninsured and needs a rather large deposit to start chemotherapy. She is a fighter though and her family has started this crafty fundraiser in order to get chemo started ASAP. No donation is too small. If you are able to spread the word via social networking or word of mouth, that would be extremely helpful also. Thanks in advance!

Craftiness Insight

2010-02-26T20:48:00.004-06:00

What I thought was a cute UTUBE video of a backpacking cat turned out to be a small part of a bigger vision by a young couple. The Premise? 1 Euro each, 15,000km, 13 countries, 3 years running.

Check out their journey to self discovery and revelation here.

They are on Facebook too!

Thrill List

2010-02-19T20:05:00.001-06:00

David was featured in an online article!!

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle

2010-02-10T19:51:00.015-06:00

Recycling takes on a new face. Dave made this pen from a recycled circuit board pen blank from a penmaker supply store. It's a geeky-techy kind of pen. I love it and he promised to make me one;) There are many benefits to being married to such a talented guy:)

Crafters are using their creative imaginations to find new uses for everyday items that don't degrade and take up valuable landfill space. Check out these crafty recyclers and maybe you will be inspired too!

Kate E. Austin's tutorial on making 'Plarn' from plastic grocery bags for crocheting!

Craft Gossip has a section for recycled crafts.

If you have old CD's with their cases that you were thinking of throwing in the trash, make a meaninful greeting card out of it, then have that person throw it away;) Adults and children will enjoy this idea.

Recycling plastic bags in Africa

Tzipi, The Travelling Flutterbutt is coming to Austin!

2010-02-06T18:42:00.010-06:00

Sharona from Puppeteer On The Roof has graciously accepted our invitation to host Tzipi, the travelling flutterbutt. You can read about Tzipi here.

Sharona is the puppet maker from Israel whom we commissioned to make a puppet for darling daughter's birthday.

Dave and Sharona also collaborated on a pen project and a kaleidoscope project.

I am soooo excited to host this adventurous flutterbutt and can't wait to show her Austin. I will send her on her way with Texan souvenirs to remember us by.

2010-02-06T18:42:00.001-06:00

How to paint shoes

2010-02-06T11:03:00.005-06:00

This industrious teen knows how to design her own shoes.

You can also find a creative shoe artist at CLPSTUDIO.COM

I'm bored, let's make cookies!

2010-01-28T20:39:00.002-06:00

Bianca's coping mechanism for boredom is baking a lot of yummy goodness. I think she bakes just so she can lick the bowl.

Oh Texas, you look so delicious!

Girl Scout Cookies

2010-01-28T20:38:00.004-06:00

We have 'em if you want'em!

Family Recipe

2010-01-18T10:13:00.007-06:00

Darling Daughter decided to test one of our family recipes that was in our family cookbook. This recipe came from Dave's grandmother and is made by many of the family members. It's absolutely delicious and well worth the effort. I don't have a sweet tooth but even I couldn't keep my hands off. If you are interested in this cookbook, you can find it here:

Grandma Hacking's Caramel Corn

As Dave's younger sister states "I remember having this every time we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Tooele when we lived in Santaquin for several years. We loved it and looked forward to it." Enjoy!

2 Cups brown sugar

½ Cup Karo syrup

1 tsp salt

2 sticks butter

1 t baking soda

6 quarts of popcorn

Mix first four ingredients in heavy sauce pan.

Boil 5 minutes, then add 1 tsp baking soda and stir. Pour over 6 quarts popcorn. Bake 1 hour at 200, stirring every 15 minutes.

Nostepinne Goodness.....

2010-01-04T12:48:00.009-06:00

I haven't talked about Nosteppines for a while. It's actually one of David's best selling items in the winter. A nosteppine is a yarn winding tool that makes a center-pull yarn ball. It's portable, handmade and nostalgic. Noreen Crone-Findlay has an excellent tutorial on how to use one.This yarn is a yummy Malabrigo hand dyed yarn. This yarn is a pleasure to knit with on bamboo knitting needles. They were made for each other. I acquired this yarn while visiting The Knitting Nest last year. That was a very memorable, geeky-knitty thing to do.
I have a chair that seems to be the perfect size for using with a nosteppine. I stretch out the skein and start winding. My yarn cakes aren't as pretty as the one in the video tutorial by Noreen. I work pretty fast so they are kinda rough but work well too.

Dad's Potato Soup Recipe Revamped

2010-01-04T12:45:00.008-06:00

Dad used to make this wonderful potato soup when we were kids. It only had 6 ingredients; potatoes, smokey bacon, water, milk, salt, pepper. Some of the best dishes are so simple. Today I made Dad's potato soup with two more ingredients added. It's just as good as the original recipe, just different.
Peel, roughly chop, boil potatoes until tender.

Chop mushrooms and green onions in uniform size.
Cook and drain your smokey bacon of choice. I like to cook a whole pound and use some for BLT sandwiches to go with the potato soup.
Broil your mushroom and onions until roasted nicely.
Now pour off excess water in the potatoes, mash potatoes in boiling pot, add milk, veges, s & p. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently, serve.
I used 2% milk but for a more creamier soup you may use whole milk or add some half & half. There are no measurements in this recipe because Dad never used any. Add each ingredient to your liking. Make your own variation, it's easy! This soup, like all, freezes well so don't be afraid to make a big batch and 'Put some by'.

David Crafts A Cane For His Dad*

2010-01-04T12:43:00.005-06:00

David crafts an eagle-head cane for his dad.

Crafting Spaces and Organization

2010-01-04T12:32:00.014-06:00

There is darling daughter in her music crafting space. She received a rather uber cool key board for Christmas that she can grow into. It has more bells and whistles that she will be able to use for a while. Fortunately it came with an easy to follow manual that she is willing to read and a CD. This led us to a trip to Alpha Music. Alpha Music is super cool for three reasons. It is a Local Austin business (yea!), it has a ginormous selection of music in the store and even more they can print out for you on demand, and they will help you find anything you are looking for too. They are also only 2 miles from my house, big plusaroo! I overheard the proprietor sadly relate that it's hard to get musicians into his shop because they do so much ordering online, sad for local mom and pops.
I often get asked, how do you get so much done? I actually don't get that much done myself but what I do is DELEGATE. My husband had to teach me to do this so that I could have more time for my crafts, such as blogging. This is my chore list. I print it out every week and leave empty spaces so that I can add during the week. Everybody checks it and stuff gets done. It's magic! I highly recommend it;)
This is my Franklin Covey.It's well worn and loved much. I can plan a giant task down into mini steps, the tao way. 'A journey of a million miles begins with a single step'. It's the strategy I used to get through college as a 'non-traditional' student. It worked for me so I keep buying the refills every year. I tried to use my blackberry for the same tasks and I just couldn't get the hang of it. I think, even tho it weighs two pounds, it's superior to the blackberry for my needs.
This is my largest crafting space, yes there's more than one. We are a crafty family, David is the most prolific. I am taking a picture of this because this is the cleanest it will ever be! Every new year brings on a slurry of organizing on my part. It has to do with buying the refills for my planner. The yearly tasks of tracking down a store that carries refills inspires me to organize my life, it's crazy but so relaxing to have stuff organized.
This is my sewing/metal crafting area. It's actually suppose to be a bureau area between the bathroom and walk-in closet. Notice the lovely 1969 wall paper motif that is a time capsule for our house. It's been up there since the house was built. I have grown quite fond of it actually. That's my lucky Kenmore sewing machine that my parents bought me when I was in the 8th grade for Christmas.
The knitting area is always well loved and a bit messy, never too organized. It doubles as a reading area.
This is a beautifull 'fern-like' blank for a pen David is making. This is his crafting area now, the garage. It's cold outside so the doors are closed. He dreams of a pole barn type studio with fancy filtering and controlled climate, I don't blame him. Lottery dreams.
He has a menagerie of exotic wood blanks and wood working tools. I occasionally use them for house projects like building raised beds.

This is where he is the happiest.
For anyone that knows Dave, that really is a smile;)

My Kohlrabi

2010-01-02T19:47:00.005-06:00

A while back I explored a recipe for Kohlrabi which was very good and blogged about it.
Well, my babies are maturing and I started harvesting them one by one. I have sliced them for salads so far and I plan to make those Kohlrabi Rostis I wrote about earlier. The hole in the side is a part of sharing your organic produce with nature. It's superficial and doesn't effect the plant, so far, but I've got my eye on you mister insect. There's always BT ya'll know.

Kitty Schmidt's Kittyville Hat

2009-12-27T22:07:00.013-06:00

I finally finished the Kittyville Hat from Kitty Schmidt that i knit from Debbie Stoller's SNB book.

I first saw this hat actually on a fellow girl scout in our troop. When I asked mom where she got this hat she said ' I knit it from this book'. I had the same book and started to knit this hat. It's pretty easy, very much an intermediate hat. I want to knit more, especially from Malabrigo Yarn. This color is Ravelry Red
The cold weather has inspired me to start knitting again. It's been a while, a casualty of having so many hobbies. Oh well, what can i do?

Warriors

2009-12-27T08:21:00.002-06:00

If you have teenage girls prepare yourself for an addiction to the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Darling daughter is hooked on this series and we have scavenged every library and book store to find all the books. There's a lot of them and they will want to read them in sequence so plan ahead.

Simply Sublime Bags

2009-12-27T08:05:00.008-06:00

This one somebody made from an Ikea pillow case. I have this exact pillow case...hmmm......

A friend at work loaned me this fabulous craft bookSimply Sublime Bags by Jodi Kahn. Darling daughter immediately took on to this new style of no sew/low sew purse making and made her own no sew purse.

Fine Arts Academy!!

2009-12-20T19:48:00.010-06:00

Darling daughter wrote an essay, filled out an application, submitted grades, auditioned with her cello and waited........

Her 'Congratulations' letter came with foil confetti stars so when she opened her letter, stars flew out! How clever! We are so excited that she got in and she will be able to go to High School with the friends she grew up with.

The Fine Arts Academy (FAA) provides a program for students across the city to pursue an accelerated arts curriculum as fine arts majors. FAA attracts a diverse student body from across the metroplex. The Academy community includes students from all AISD middle schools and many private and parochial schools. The idea for a Fine Arts high school for Austin was inspired by Ruth Denney, who founded Houston's High School for Performing and Visual Arts after retiring as a professor at UT Austin. Partly as a result of Denney's involvement, the Fine Arts Academy was embraced by UT College of Fine Arts (COFA) from its inception and a strong partnership with COFA continues today.

By creating a high school with a fine arts focus for Austin, the Academy has created mutually supportive partnerships with arts organizations and artists across the region.

It was in consultation with UT College of Fine Arts (COFA) that curriculum design of rigorous arts coursework was initially developed, incuding one of the few non drill-team based high school dance programs in the state. Here, advanced dancers study both ballet and modern dance, inviting guest choreographers to set pieces included in productions. As upperclassmen, all music majors study Piano followed by Advanced Placement Music Theory and Art majors enroll in A.P. Studio art classes as well as Advanced Placement Art History. Upper level dance majors are gaining experience choreographing and staging productions. Senior theatre majors often direct and stage productions and at the Academy, may choose to major in technical theatre. The first classical guitar studies program was established at FAA, and has since expanded with significant curriculum and coaching support of Austin Classical Guitar Society. Many other instrumentalists from wind ensemble, orchestra, and piano receive weekly professional coaching provided by the Austin Chamber Music Center. Vocal and instrumental music ensembles have each performed on the Carnegie Hall stage and there is an annual master class for chamber orchestra led by two Italian maestros and sponsored by the local chapter of the Neapolitan Music Society.

The exceptional work of FAA music faculty and students received national recognition: GRAMMY Signature School 2005 for Excellence in Music Education and Recording Arts. National recognition has also come from orchestra, choir, and band performances in Carnegie Hall. In Summer 2007, theatre students performed and participated in educational events at the Fringe Festival at Edinburg, Scotland and a summer collaborative in Costa Rica staffed by UT professors is being created for our high school musical theatre students. Three of 27 Texas Young Masters (two art majors and one classical guitarist) chosen state-wide by Texas Commission on the Arts were from McCallum and received renewable grants for summer art studies in-state, nationally, and abroad. Academy graduates in all strands are attending colleges and universities acrosss the US, and many are receiving significant scholarships.

The success of FAA is now well-known due to work of dedicated faculty and the recognitions earned by Academy students in every strand. MFAA's future is evolving as we expand our faculty, curriculum and fine arts facilities. Most recently, we have added two masters level teachers, one in classical guitar and one in dance. The recent addition of a technical theatre major to train students in "behind the scenes" theatrical world of lighting design, set-design, and robotics has added depth to the theatre arts curriculum, and adding a major in musical theatre is on the horizon.
The future is bright for FAA!

Orchestra Strand
Our Orchestra program was started in 1953 with the opening of the school and has had a history of highly qualified and dynamic orchestra directors. Today the program has grown to close to 100 students participating in three performing orchestras, a double bass ensemble, and, with the support of the Austin Chamber Music Center educational outreach, numerous other quartets and ensembles. Director Ricky Pringle, who previously taught in the Houston suburb of the Woodlands, is in his seventh year with the these orchestras. Under his leadership, his string orchestras have consistently received top scores at UIL concert and sight-reading competitions. String orchestras also add wind players to compete in the UIL Full Orchestra competitions each year, where they have also been very successful over the years. When the orchestra moved into the new orchestra hall in spring of 2007, years of trophies finally had a place to be displayed along with photographs of previous orchestra dating back to the 1950’s.

One of the signature accomplishments in the past six years of Mr. Pringle’s work at the Fine Arts Academy has been wonderful collaborations of our orchestras and string ensembles with other Academy students/directors in other strands, such as dance, theatre, and vocal music. For example, Chamber Orchestra with our combined choirs have performed masterworks including Schubert’s Mass in G, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria.

Over the years, our orchestras have frequently provided live classical music for Academy dance performances, and as an outgrowth of that, some of our orchestra members have studied dance and appeared on stage in both musical theatre and dance productions (as dancers) and others have joined the choir as singers for special performances. In a recent production of the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, a string ensemble performed on stage to provide significant music/dramatic support.

Two of the performance highlights were Carnegia Hall performances. The Chamber Orchestra performed at Carnegie in June, 2007 and the Fine Arts Academy choir and orchestra performed together on the Carnegie stage in June 2009.

After only a week of rehearsal with music that had not been performed for over 200 years, the Chamber Orchestra was the first student organization to perform in the Long Center’s Dell Hall. The performance, A Neapolitan Revival, the Lost Music of Italy, punctuated a weeklong master class studying the Neapolitan Masters of 18th Century Italy.

Maestro Gioacchino Longobardi and Alberto Vitolo arrived at the Fine Arts Academy a week before the concert to introduce the music students to the Sounds of Naples. The master class presented a journey that explored the instrumental repertoire of the 18th century Neapolitan School of music. The selected works represent each of the four conservatories established in Naples, beginning in the 16th century from among the greatest Neapolitan composers, Jommelli, Durante, Scarlatti, Leo, and Pergolesi.

Longobardi and Vitolo are recognized as leaders in their field for transcribing Neapolitan masterpieces for contemporary performance. Together, they transcribed the scores from original manuscripts and instructed the students on the different bow and string skills that were used 500 years ago. The students had only a week to learn the music theory and history and to rehearse the compositions before the concert. “The students were really challenged in a lot of ways because they only seven days to learn the music. It is a huge responsibility on the musicians,” said Lanier Bayliss, director of the Fine Arts Academy. “It was a really professional experience for them.”

Almost 500 people attended the lecture and concert including Dr. David Nuebert, principal bassist for the Austin Symphony, who exclaimed “what an amazing performance, the orchestra really shined tonight.” Former orchestra student Gonzalo Hernando said, “it’s hard to believe they only had a week to work on this program, they sounded really good.”

2009-12-07T20:50:00.004-06:00

I'm not bragging or anything, but these beauties are, well, beautiful!! Napa cabbage and rutabegas at their best. I made stir fry with some of the cabbage, saved some for slaw and 'Put By' the rest in the freezer after blanching them. They will be used later in soups. The rutabegas I will use throughout the winter with carrots and/or potatoes as a 'Rutabega Bake'. The rest I will cube, blanch, freeze. I have made some really delicious 'bakes' by boiling potatoes with rutabegas, drain, mash with butter, herbs,sour cream, sprinkled with fresh parmesan and baked in oven til toasty:)

I'm still crafting

2009-12-02T09:23:00.005-06:00

I realized I haven't posted about crafts in awhile thus doing a disservice to this blogs namesake. This is an embroidery pattern from Sublime Stitching. I love her patterns and used her pattern for last years Christmas gifts.

Capitol Area Food Bank

2009-11-21T22:45:00.005-06:00

Darling Daughter and I had the opportunity to volunteer through Little Helping Hands at the Capitol Area Food Bank. Instilling altruisim in children starts with volunteering. 5 lb of carrots per bag x 5 bags of carrots per box x 6 boxes of carrots per layer on crate x 5 layers of carrots per bundle x 4 bundles equals 3000 lbs of carrots bagged and sorted by 30 'little helping hands' in two hours.

Only Child = Self Entertainment

2009-11-21T20:54:00.005-06:00

Darling Daughter has a talent for entertaining herself. She is very low maintenance. I realize this is probably not a politically correct term for describing a child but it is what it is. I am always in awe of how her 'only-child syndrome' has helped her develop the qualities of imagination and curiosity. Oh yeah, she's a pretty good chess player too! She came very close to winning a chess game against her daddy.

Craftiness Craft Fair Schedule

2009-11-06T09:26:00.003-06:00

David will be at Shorline Christian Church Saturday, November 7th, for their holiday craft fair. Come shop early, avoid the crowds, boycott the mall in exchange for some handmade goodness!

Christmas at the Caswell has also started, now thru November 15th.

PRESTO! I mean, pesto

2009-10-30T18:25:00.005-06:00

I had no idea making pest was so easy. Cuisinart + basil from garden + minced garlic from a jar + parmesan + pine nuts = PRESTO! and pesto**

Fresh the documentary

2009-10-30T10:51:00.007-06:00

A food documentary will be showing at the Paramount Theater called Fresh. It's about the positive aspects of moving our food culture from factory farming to local producers. Joel Salatin will be there of Polyface Farms and was also featured in The Omnivores Dilemma. It will be showing December 5th and I will be going:)

Craftiness Update

2009-10-28T20:04:00.040-06:00

Bianca had the great opportunity to volulnteer with "Little Helping Hands" at the Child Protective Services Office "The Rainbow Room" which is staffed by volunteers from "Partnerships For Children" They sorted baby formula and dated them with expiration stickers. The Rainbow Room is a place where social workers can go and grab emergency items in a pinch. When a child is removed from a home they are usually removed with MAYBE a few items in a bag. If the item is an infant, the need is even greater of basic supplies until the child can be delivered to a foster home, usually just a few hours later. The Rainbow Room is a neccessity in this crazy world and is completely staffed by volunteers and supplied by donations only!! Bianca and I are very interested in volunteering here regularly and is a good charity for Bianca to organize supply drives when she earns Leadership Hours for Girl Scouts.
The radishes are starting to mature. I don't believe I have ever had a radish until I started growing them. They are kind of peppery and crunchy. There are many radish recipes at AllRecipes.com if you need ideas beyond the dinner salad.
Darling Daughter and Moonlite in a tender moment.
Pretty Butter Crunch Lettuce that I spared as an ornamental. Lettuce grows great in pots and this one I really like the looks of but I will definitely harvest a few leaves for a BLT.
"Caitlin's Beet". That is the name of the larges beet I have and it is going to my coworker named Caitlin who is uber excited to try her first beet.
David is getting ready for the Christmas At The Caswell function. The Austin Junior Forum runs a craft fair at the historic Caswell house. All handmade items beautifully displayed among antiques. It feels like you are stepping back in time.
Gardening in pink Crocs. They are comfy, airy and you can hose them down when you are done.
It's garlic planting time. Check out this crafty gardeners post about her love of garlic.The Fortex Green Bean reaches almost 9 inches!!

Craftiness Update

2009-10-11T11:07:00.021-05:00

It was time for us to clean out our closets and regain control of our storage situation. It's amazing how much stuff we accumulate over time and just shove in a closet somewhere when we have no further use for it. It was liberating to free old stuff from it's dark, dusty imprisonment and find a new home for it. It's a practice in recycling locally too. The unsold stuff went to Goodwill who employs the traditionally 'Hard to employ' members of our community. Everybody wins from the little girl who benefitted from Biancas fashionista style, the man who looked like he really needed a free pair of boots, the guy who unloaded our car at Goodwill, my pocketbook. We also had a mystery helper just in case there were any uninvited mice to the yard sale.

There is lettuce upon us! This stuff grows great here in the fall. This is loose leaf lettuce mix from my garden. It grows in beds and in pots. I am going to plant some more in places that didn't germinate. It grows fast, 28 days.

Here are two beautiful earring trees made of Cocobolo and the rash that accompanies it when Dave works with this wood in the summer time. His sweat reacts to the rosin in this sawdust and causes contact dermatitis. I call it Coco-bo-loco dermatitis.

Darling daughter went to a Ukranian Egg Decorating event with the Girl Scouts and came home with these lovelies* The Ukranian way with Pysankais thru wax resist and strong dyes. They layer their resist and dyes until they come up with stunning creations.

My darling nephew and I went to East Austin during Austin Museum Day and came across some stunning art work. The first is a mural across from a local cafe the next set is a mosaic mural at an intersection. I am continuously amazed at the passion and talent in this small, eclectic town. Hard to believe it's the capitol of Texas. I would have imagined the capitol of The Lone Star State to be more like Dallas/Ft. Worth with daily cattle drives downtown.

What Did Kids Do Before Technology?

2009-09-25T21:02:00.004-05:00

Bianca has always been an avid reader which comes in handy when your bored:)

Farm House Delivery

2009-09-19T18:25:00.029-05:00

FarmHouse Deliveryis a local organic farm delivery service here in Austin. I have found it somewhat difficult to go 100% organic in the past due to access and costs but it is getting easier to make the transition in Austin. This company is a great example of the innovative leadership we have in sustainable agricultural practices in this area. Their delivery service make it possible to have locally grown organic produce at our table. The cost is on par with our organic supermarket called Central Market in Austin and it is delivered to our door. We don't have a say in our produce bushel but they do give you ideas and recipes to use. The big advantage of this system is it pushes me out of my comfort zone in regards to veges and allows me to experience vegetables I have never tried before. My parents idea of vegetables growing up was whatever came in a can on sale so my produce experience has been quite limited. The unknown produce bushel invites me instantly into a culinary adventure that is only limited to my imagination.
My bushel includes a package of purple okra which I roasted in an oven at 375 degrees next to my highly processed frozen Chicken Cordon Bleu (remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step:) It was smokey, crunchy and even darling husband really liked it on top of his salad. This is a huge step for him because he will tolerate a salad but other than that he has already decided he doesn't like vegetables. As for my flourishing vege garden he comments, "Let me know when you learn to grow pizza!"
I also received tomatoes, fresh black-eyed peas, corn, pumpkin, sweet peppers, Texas Pears, summer squash, cucumber, eggplant and buttercrunch lettuce. I was able to order duck eggs, goat and bison meat as extras. With the duck eggs so far I sauteed the sweet peppers and onion to make an omelette topped off with mozarella cheese. I ate this with whole wheat toast with homemade blueberry jam. It really was delishes and satiating.
The duck eggs have a really hard shell and you really have to give it a good whack to get to the good stuff. Commercial chicken operations feed lower calcium feed in order to save money so their egg shells are thinner. Also, ducks need harder shells because they are larger birds and if they brood on weak eggs, they would be crushed.
Next up is the squash and pumpkin. I roasted the squash and made curry squash soup. It is delicious, I really like this recipe which you can find here. I stored them in two 32 oz freezer jars to enjoy next month when the weather is cooler. So healthy too. Healthy eating can be much more delicious than highly processed food. It's also nice to know exactly what goes into your dinners. If you are really interested in what goes into your food, the junk you buy in the supermarket or the junk you buy in the drive-thru, may I suggest reading Deconstructing Dinner website or subscribe to their podcasts if you are wired-up. For a great article on "Why Grass Fed" is best, click here!

Last up is Pear Dutch Baby dessert made from the Texas Pears. Texas Pears are more fibrous than the type you buy at the supermarket and eat fresh. They are used in cooking or sliced up to put in salads. It reminds me of bread pudding in texture. It really is as good as it looks in the picture.

Putting Food By- Blue Berry Jam

2009-09-01T08:39:00.007-05:00

Putting Food By is a term used to describe preserving food. It can be canning, freezing, dehydrating, smoking etc. Just in case I am very successful at vege gardening, I thought it would be prudent to learn how to 'Put Food By' before the harvest comes in. I bought 'Putting Food By' by Janet Greene and the Ball Blue Book canning book. Between these two books, you can find all the information you need to preserve food.
Darling daughter and I carefully heated the jars and lids, cooked the recipe to Blueberry Jam, filled the jars, wiped the rim, placed the lids, processed in a water canner, and cooled. The gel did set so I do indeed have blueberry jam and not blueberry syrup:)

Peach Cobbler

2009-08-28T11:15:00.004-05:00

I had another batch of excess fruit. This time just peaches. I had recently baked a peach berry pie so I thought this time I would bake peach cobbler. Again, a first for me. I had no idea cobbler was so easy. The recipe is from Better Homes and Garden.
This came out great! I will definitely do this again, next time I will add a little freshly grated nutmeg.