Knitting Zeal

Food, glorious baby food

So since I am an official SAHM now, I've been trying to take advantage of the time to do things for Andrew that I wouldn't necessarily have done if I worked full time outside of our home.  The biggest thing being making his baby food.  At this point, I am making approximately 70% of his food.  I use some jarred foods, such as organic green beans, carrots and peaches, but only because I haven't gotten around to making those foods.  I also use jarred bananas when the fresh ones I have are too green to mash.  I have been having fun making some very basic veggies and fruit purees for the babe, included baked sweet potatoes, green peas, gingered pears, applesauce, and avocado.  The avocado did not go over well, so it is on hold for a month or so until I re-introduce it.  Andrew prefers the jarred peas and brown rice over my organic puree, which I find amusing, since my puree is actually bright green, not gray-green.  Today I steamed and pureed a mango and he seemed to enjoy a bit after his breakfast.  I have been using two books for my "recipes" both which offer great advice.  Super Baby Foods is so into making baby food, it even gives recipes for making cereal blends (I find the store bought oatmeal and rices just fine.  No need to grind rice here!) The Petite Appetite is the first book I started using and it is my favorite.  It is simply to follow and to read quickly in rare spare moments.  I am only using the basic recipes at this point, but as Andrew's palate expands, I am looking forward to the more involved recipes.  I don't know if there really is a nutritional advantage to making my own food for him, but my hope is that he won't be a real picky eater as he grows up and enjoys a wide variety of foods.  When I was a nanny eons ago, the kids ate an extremely diverse menu of foods, including many ethnic things.  I hope Andrew follows that path too. 

Also on my reading list of late, related to food, is Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell.  I just started the first chapter of this book and am already hooked.  I also am perusing Rocco's Real Life Recipes, which I borrowed from the library.  I haven't used any of his recipes yet, but I did find one for a gnocchi pie that looks interesting.

Chris is off to New Orleans this weekend for a five day business trip.  He has been talking about the jambalaya he had the last time he was there.  I'm sure he will be experiencing some different recipes, especially since one of the planned dinners is at one of Emeril's restaurants.  Jealous, am I???  :-)  He doesn't necessarily have as gourmet of a palate as I do and he doesn't always seem to enjoy the "fancy" business dinners he gets to experience, but I try to live vicariously through his stories! 

Happy Weekend!

Mother's Day

For Andrew's first Mother's Day he celebrated by taking me to brunch at Justin's in Skippack Village with our in-laws.  Andrew was not overly fond of the high chair there, so he spent most of the time being passed around and amusing his grandma and aunt Donna, while also making silly faces at uncle Lou.  He flirted with the waitress as well. 

Andrew, with the help of his daddy, got me a new Vera bag to hold all of our stuff on outings.  It is very roomy and will hold diapers, toys, and my crap as well! I also got a book about motherhood and a sweet DVD of Andrew and me since he was tiny to now.  He has grown so much! 

In knitting, I had a coupon for my favorite yarn shop for mother's day, so Andrew and I went shopping there.  I bought some yarn to knit him some new hats (a bigger pumpkin hat for this fall and an apple hat) and some cascade fixation to knit him some socks.  I wanted just plain blue, but they did not have any solid colors.  Andrew enjoyed chewing/teething on the ball of fixation, since it was wrapped in plastic.  The child has many toys but prefers plastic or paper to chew on instead.

I did knit a small chewing toy for Andrew the other night.  I used some leftover Colinette chenille yarn and basically knit three i-cords and connected them.  I was smart enough to soak it in some wool wash and discovered that the color bled.  I used a bit of vinegar in the final rinse to fix the color.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Bunny went thata way...

The baby has begun to eat solids...the adventure is just beginning.  After he was practically drooling watching us eat I could take it no longer.  He seems to like his rice cereal well enough and even more so when I added pears.  I planned/plan to make some of  his food, but that hasn't happened yet!  He makes quite a mess, but it is cute. He prefers to hold the spoon himself, but that doesn't tend to work out so well.

Easter brought lots of goodies, a few stuffies, clothes, books and eggs.  Andrew wore his bunny pjs the night before. With his bunny tail butt and his hat, the look was complete.  The photo of him in his exersaucer makes me think he looks like a DJ spinning tunes.  (DJ MC Bunny.)  {Maybe he is copying off of his favorite DJ--DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba, the only kids show he watches on occasion when mommy needs a break and a laugh.  DJ Lance makes Andrew smile.  It is an oddly enjoyable show and provides many laughs for the adults due to Andrew's daddy making crude jokes the entire time it is on.}

Andrew got many new books from the Easter bunny.  He just loves his Oh David book and my new favorite Woolbur. Woolbur is about a sheep who doesn't want to be like the rest of the flock.  He prefers to card his own wool and dye himself.  It is a sweet story about being an individual, with a fiber theme!  We are also reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABCs--a board book version of the original.

For Easter I made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and lemon yogurt cupcakes.  Both turned out great and looked festive. I forgot to take a photo of them before dessert, so here is what was left. 

I felt like a zombie on Easter day because of very little sleep the night before.  Andrew was having a hard time sleeping too.  I ended up staying up most of the night cleaning, making iced tea, and baking, as well as blog surfing, to pass the time.  I am still not feeling energized yet this week.  I even felt hung over Monday without the benefit of getting drunk.  No wonder sleep deprivation is a torture device!  Andrew has been better lately, though, at night.  During the day he refuses to sleep in his crib for naps, so I now go to great lengths to get him to nap.  He really needs three naps, but just hates to miss out on the fun.  I actually put him in the car this morning and drove around the neighborhood trying to get him to sleep.  It worked for about 20 minutes.  Then we went out to lunch with my mom--during which he slept the entire time and is still sleeping.  We have a playgroup date in an hour, so I'll have to wake him before then for a feeding, since it has been a long time since his  9 am one.  He slept right through his own lunch, poor thing.  If only he would appreciate the benefits of a nap. 

Tomorrow Andrew is turning 6 months old.  To celebrate, we are visiting the doctor and I suppose another round of vaccines will be waiting.  I can't believe how fast the past 6 months has flown by.  It is amazing how different my tiny baby is now!    

Friday, finally

TGIF?  Since leaving work, every day is the same since I don't have a weekend off anymore.  However, I still do love Fridays, there is just something different about them.  When I worked, I almost always only had to work half a day on Fridays, so it gave me a jump on the weekend. Now I don't get off early ever.  Hmmm, what is wrong with this picture??  LOL

Some favorites for today:

Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips:  they are becoming a favorite and more loved than Baked Lays.  I love the multi-grain texture!

Green Works cleaners:  bought some today and will have to see if they work well.  A tiny step to becoming more "green."

Sleep smiles and laughs:  Andrew still smiles while he sleeps and even has a hearty belly laugh at times.  It is so cute.  Last night he woke up at midnight and talked to his room for about 15 minutes before falling back to sleep.  I watched him on the monitor and let him go.  Thankfully he did fall back asleep!

Sitting up: Andrew is getting much better at this each day and only topples over sometimes.  He is enjoying sitting and playing with toys much more now!

The Jumperpoo--that's right, JumperPOO: because guess what he does when he is in it?  Fisher Price ought to market it as a homeopathic constipation remedy.  It works as well as the Exerpooper toy.

Spring Flowers:  we went to Produce Junction yesteday to buy some hyacinths and some baby dafodills.  I love spring bulbs!  We have tulips poking up all over the gardens and I am just hoping some of them make it and survive the squirrels and bunnies.

LOST:  it's getting weirder and much more interesting.  I'm disappointed that I have to wait over a month for new episodes, though!

It's egg dying time again.  I don't have any natural colored/undyed yarn in my stash, so I won't be dying any yarn this year, just eggs.  I did pick up an extra box of PAAS dye, though to maybe do some dyeing over the summer.  Easter egg dye is much brighter than kool aid dye, in my experience.  If you want to try it, wait until Monday morning and hit the half price sales.

Happy Spring!!

New Years Breakfast

Happy 2008!

While the baby is sleeping I can sneak in a post quickly.  Here is the recipe for the breakfast that is baking right now.  A friend at work gave it to me.  I'll post the original, then add the modifications I make to the end.

Cape May French Toast

1. loaf of sliced bread, such as an Italian loaf
2. 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
3. 1 cup of brown sugar
4. 5 eggs
5. 12 oz. half and half
6. 1 tsp vanilla

Melt the butter, add the sugar to dissolve. Pour into a 13 x 9 inch glass dish to coat the bottom.  Add the sliced bread.  Mix the eggs with the half and half and vanilla.  Pour over the bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Bake the next day at 350 degrees F for one hour.

Modifications I make:

I add a tsp of cinnamon to the sugar mixture.  I use one cup of egg beaters and two or three eggs, as I don't feel this recipe makes enough custard for the quantity of bread.  I use whatever milk I have on hand, often skim!  I have made it the original way, but feel better trying to make it slightly healthier.  I have used a variety of breads too, from challa to english muffin bread.  I cut the bread into chunks, so that it absorbs the custard better--almost like a bread pudding.  Yum!

let them eat cake!

My mom mentioned that she saw a cool cake at a local grocery store bakery that looked like a burger.  For her birthday, I managed to find some simple ideas online (love google image search!) and built her a cheese burger cake.  Using a basic buttercream icing tinted with dutch process cocoa to coat the vanilla cake for the bun with pine nuts for sesame seeds, various gel dyes to tint icing into ketchup and lettuce colors, rolled out fruit jellies for tomatoes, and dyed marzipan rolled out and cut into "cheese slices," and a brownie "burger,"  the cake turned out great.  It was huge and barely fit in my cake carrier, but it was enjoyed by all.

I finally finished Harry Potter #6 and started #7.  I need to finish 7 before the baby arrives!

knitting and baking

I completed my red scarf last night for the red scarf project.  It just needs some blocking.  I used a garter rib pattern I found in a book of pattern stitches for afghan squares.  Using chunky thick and quick Lions Brand wool ease made it nice and squishy.  It is about 65" long.  The vote at SnB was to leave it fringe/tassle-less. 

For our office halloween party I made cupcakes. I got to use my newly acquired cup cake stand to display them and the leaves candy sprinkles I bought in Lancaster on a recent visit.     I also made some peanut butter cup filled brownies for Chris.  These were a bit of an experiment, which he did not mind being the taste-tester.  I had bought a Reese's cup shaped muffin pan a while back. I tried sinking a regular sized peanut butter cup, a mini sized one, and just a spoonful of peanut butter--to see which resulted in the best taste.  Chris voted for the regular sized cup--which I later thought the mini sized was enough, but it all turned out good. 

Strawberry Shortcakes

Tonight we had some dear friends over for dinner.  It was an indoor bar-b-q, since it poured off and on all afternoon.  I did get to grill the chicken kabobs, but part of that was done with Chris holding an umbrella over the grill for me.  For dessert I made strawberry shortcakes.  I don't recall ever making them before--they turned out great.  I used the recipe here.  The trick to getting really good biscuits is to not over work the dough.  The biscuits did not rise as much as I expected, but the consistency was perfect.  Homemade whipped cream is always delicious! 

I have been in a knitting slump lately.  Part of the reason is that I have been working extra long days with not much down time.  I come home at night a bit drained.  I also have been reading a book for an online discussion group at BN University on Anthony Bourdain.  I am reading Kitchen Confidential and loving it.  I know I could not work in the food industry, but it fascinates me to read about it.  As soon as I'm finished with KC, I have to read Nasty Bits for the course.  His travel channel show, No Reservations, is great.  He has an edge to him, that I'm sure some people do not like, but he combines travel with cooking--I love it!  Although, the last show I saw he made a major craft error--He was in Sweden interviewing two skiers, male, who crochet skull caps.  He kept referring to it as knitting, when they were clearly using one crochet hook to make his cap.  I am such a geek to notice that! 

My Project Spectrum postcard pal this month was Valerie.  She sent me a lovely purple postcard with a photo of lupines on it.  I sent her a hand felted purple flower pin, which thankfully survived the mail system. 

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

Bastille Day, make that basil day here

Today was actually Pesto Day in my kitchen.  I have been growing basil in my garden specifically for harvesting and turning into pesto.  However, my basil has not survived the combination weather we've had lately--too much rain mixed with too much heat.  It was looking pretty sad, so I bought two huge bunches of basil at the produce stand for a buck each.  The result was two containers of pesto that will last throughout the summer (stored in the freezer.) 

I also made some fresh salsa with the cilantro I bought, because my yard rabbit ate all of mine out of the herb garden!  Unfortunately I completely forgot about buying a pepper, so the salsa has no heat.  I'll have to run out tomorrow to pick up a jalapeno pepper. 

I also bought two bunches of sunflowers today.  Sunflowers are the epitome of summer for me--bright and bold colors that just scream out happy. 

This week's knotty knitters group was a blast.  Dina just returned from a vacation in Japan and brought us goodies.  Everyone got to pick out their own bamboo needles.  They are beautiful and feel great.  She also brought me a pink chibi, which I had requested.  I love it!  She found some unusal yarn there in a shop--hello kitty brand yarn and James Dean brand yarn, complete with a photo of each on the labels.  I am still working on a cardigan for my nephew.  I completed the back and am now on one of the front panels.  I love the colors and the softness of the yarn.  When I am more near completion, I'll post a photo.  The only person missing at group was my favorite Canadian, who may still be waiting for her passport.  Hurry back, Denise!

This month Project Spectrum color is purple.  I have been neglecting my PS themed items lately. I guess with Nick's sweater I am a month or two behind since it is green and blue, but I need to find a purple project for this month.  I am almost finished my card for this months swap.  Last month my swap partner was Deborah of KnitStory. She made me the most incredible fabric postcard.  I never would have thought to sew a postcard--Thanks again Deborah! My card to her was nowhere as complicated.  I went with my favorite card making tools: rubber stamps.  I used a favorite stamp with some embossing powder to create a blue butterfly themed card.  This month I got pretty creative, but I won't post a photo until after my swap partner receives it.

Have a great weekend and stay cool!  (The weather people are anticipating a heat wave here--ugh!)

Baking and cooking

Not much in the knitting area lately.  I am continuing to plug along on my second Jaywalker sock, but it is slow going.  I am hoping to start the Noni bag kit I bought at MSWF soon--as soon as I figure out what needles to use. 

Yesterday and today I spent trying out some new recipes for today's cook-out.  We had my family over for a father's day celebration.  I made a lemon tart and cream puffs for dessert--yum!  I found the recipes at a newly discovered baking website:  The Joy of Baking.  The Lemon Tart was incredibly good--very tart lemony taste mixed with a mildly sweet shortbread crust and topped with vanilla whipped cream.  I used low-fat cream cheese in the recipe and I think it came out just fine.  I topped it with some fresh strawberries and blackberries I bought Friday afternoon at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.  I had been at a work meeting in town and took advantage of buying some locally grown produce. 

I had always wanted to make cream puffs before and took advantage of the weekend and my family to try out this recipe.  I think they were a hit.  I used plain vanilla whipped cream for the filling, but I think next time I might experiment with chocolate cream.

I also made a cucumber salad for dinner that had a bit of a kick to it. Chris and I had a similar salad at a local restaurant, but they refused to share the recipe with me.  So, I attempted to re-create the recipe myself.  Chris approved. I used two large cucumbers, peeled and sliced, two medium sized sugar onions, sliced in rings then cut in half, and three large tomatoes, sliced and seeded.  Add your favorite vinaigrette to the veggies--I used white wine vinegar with olive oil, a teaspoon of splenda, fresh ground pepper, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes.  The pepper flakes give the dish it's kick--I went mild with it this time, but would probably add more next time. 

Dinner tonight was chicken and veggie kabobs, a family favorite.  The weather was hot, but not horrible, so we were able to eat outside.  The kids had fun playing with a water table that grandmom brought over.  They ended up drenched by the end of the night.  Nick decided that it was his own personal pool.

The anemone I planted this year have begun to flower.  The rabbit that lives in the neighborhood hasn't eaten this plant yet, thankfully!  (He did eat half of my clematis!!)