For Laurie's Sprout

Sun shirt done with felt and thread.

Locks of Love

A few months ago Solstice mentioned that she'd like to donate her hair to Locks of Love. I had done it almost 2 years ago and was growing mine back to donate again, so I thought that was a beautiful idea. Yesterday my girl and I went to get our 12 inches cut off. I was so proud of her! Her hair is so think they were able to get 4 ponytails from her head!

I'm not a fan of short hair really, but I do love being able to donate my hair. It is one thing I can feely and cheerfully give.
"So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7)

secret crafts and not-secret ice cream

I have a few very cute projects going on right now; but I cannot show any of them online because they are all baby gifts.
So- in the meantime, I thought I'd share Banana Chocolate Ice Cream!
In my food processor, I put 4 or 5 frozen bananas (broken into pieces), 2-3 TBSP of Cocoa mix and 2-3 cups of skim milk. First I pulse the food processor and then start to run it, Once it is mixed nice and creamy, put into bowls and enjoy right away! It is creamy like soft serve!
Once I put in chocolate chips at the end. Most of the family loved the texture and taste but Isaiah thought there was dirt in it, so I haven't made it that way again.

Mrs. Bug's Raisin Pie

okay... it's not really Mrs. Bug's recipe... but it might be!

I didn't have a lot in the cupboard today but wanted dessert for the kids so I came up with this pie and it turned out quite good! I joke that I'm a great Scottish cook, maybe not following traditional recipes all the time, but understanding how to make cheap food that fills everyone up!
The crust:
1 1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
mix right in the pie plate and spread out flat.
The filling:
2 cups raisins
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup dandelion syrup (or 1 cup brown sugar and another cup of water)
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP cornstarch mixed into 1 cup water
In a sauce pan, simmer the raisins in the water for a few minutes until they plump up. Then add the sugars. Simmer and few minutes more and then add the lemon juice. Slowly stir in a little of the cornstarch mixture- a little bit at a time- and stir non stop. Keep doing this until it gets thick like pudding.
Then pour that in the unbaked pie crust and put in a 350 oven for 30 minutes.

Diaper Cover Give-a-way!

I made these while I was pregnant with Isaiah. But I waited too long to use them and now they are too small! Ohh no!

My mistake can be your fortune:) Become a follower and leave me a comment if you want to win these!

more skirt pictures!

~close up~

~front~

~back~

~just being silly~

Freedom Skirt~ done!!

Yesterday I had one last row to knit and then the BO to finish my skirt and still it took me all day to finish. While I was doing the binding off, I ran out of yarn and had to run to the yarn shop about 10 minutes before closing to get another skein. I was such a nervous wreck. I hadn't been able to really try it on as I was making it so I had fingers crossed that it would fit right.
So at about 10 o'clock last night I finally finished the freedom skirt!

I used the new yarn by the folks from Stitch-n-bitch. The color is called Lipstick. I love it.

Little bit of the ruffle detail

That lace pattern had me puzzled for awhile but once I got it, it was so much fun to do. Now I don't know what I was even doing wrong!
I think I need to start another skirt soon- maybe orange for my school reunion this summer.

Sprite Cake

I was visiting my mom last week and she mentioned she had a recipe for Red Pop cake. I was thinking that would be a great idea for Aiden's birthday. But when I mentioned it to him, he asked if there was such thing as Sprite Cake. So I went to the internet and there sure is. There were many recipes, but many were just adding Sprite to a cake mix. That just isn't baking as far as I'm concerned. I'm not a fan of assembly cooking.
I went with this recipe from Cooks.com. It was basically a pound cake but with Sprite and lemon extract and cooked in a bundt cake pan.

That got me thinking about what a funny word Bundt is. So I looked it up. No surprise that it is a German word. "The German word bund in bundkuchen originated either from bundling or wrapping the cake's dough around the pan's center hole or because a bund is a gathering of people". Interesting.

I love bundt cakes anyway and I often cake cakes in a bundt pan. The only issue is that they often take longer to bake. This cake took two hours to bake! I was starting to stress if it was ever going to be done.

Everyone at Aiden's birthday party today agreed that Sprite Cake is tasty! xoxo

trail mix cookies

Megan and I were talking about oatmeal cookies tuesday night. And I'd been dreaming of them ever since. With the ten millionth rainy day in a row bringing us all down, I decided today we needed cookies.
I had to break with convention though, and try to make the recipe my own and so I came up with Trail Mix Cookies.

I used a very basic oatmeal cookie recipe and tweaked it a bit.
Trail Mix Cookies
1 and 1/2 sticks butter
1 3/4 cup flour (mix white and wheat)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar (Or you could switch the sugar amounts if you like brown more)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg plus 1 egg white
2 cups quick oats
1 1/2 cups trail mix
Cream the butter and sugars. Add half the flour, the baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Then add the eggs and the rest of the flour. Mix by hand to add the oats and the trail mix.
Drop on ungreased cookie sheets- bake 12-14 minutes at 375

The trail mix I used had raisins, dried cherries, almonds, walnuts and yogurt covered raisins.

~2 skeins knitted~

I finally got the YO K2TOG!! One skein to go!

chili and garlic crackers

I wanted something warm today, it's so unseasonally cold. But I didn't want cookies (well, I did, but I knew if I made them I'd eat them all!) so I made some crackers. They were just perfect as an addition to mac and cheese for lunch.

Chili and Garlic Crackers
1/2 cup white flour
1 cup whole what flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic salt (or 1/2 garlic powder and 1/2 salt)
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (this makes them taste kind of cheesey)
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup water (I needed maybe a TBSP more water to make the dough right)

Mix well. Kneed on an oiled cookie sheet. Roll out thin and cut into shapes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 10 minutes.

biscuits and gravy

I've had a whole chicken in my freezer for a few months but have been afraid to cook it. I didn't know exactly what to do with it. I put it in the slow cooker this morning with onion, sage and thyme and let it cook all day. By 4 o'clock it was cooked- moist and falling off the bones. I made my usual gravy base (a rue with soy sauce and nutritional yeast) and added some of the chicken stock from the cooker. I pulled the chicken into little pieces and put that all into the gravy. Then I made a double batch of biscuits and we all ate until we were stuffed! Then we went for a long walk because we were just that full!

I'm hoping later I'll be ready for a leftover biscuit with dandelion jelly with my tea. xoxo

Anniversary gift

I consulted every hallmark site I could find, but there are just no listings on the traditional gift to give your husband on your 2nd 1st/ 1st 12th wedding anniversary. So, I made him a red and white hat to match the scarf I made him to wear when cheering for Arsenal. Gotta support the team!

mistake purl vest

I have to take a little break from my Freedom skirt. I cannot figure out the YO K2TOG lace pattern. Does anyone out there know if it matters whether there are an even or odd number stitches on each row? Maybe that is the trick.
Until then, I am working on a pattern I found in this cute little book One Skein Wonders. I found the book at the library but I may need to buy a copy someday if I can find one cheap. I am working on the Simple Mistake Purl Vest. So far it is very stress free and easy, just what I needed right now!
I haven't given up on the skirt. I have great plans to wear it when it finally warms up around here. But sometimes walking away for a week or so is the best plan.

Pickled Carrots

Made just like pickled onions; I put the carrots in a salt water brine for a few days then in vinegar with dill.
Isaiah seems to like everything and anything pickled, so I thought I'd try carrots!

Molasses Cake

Some days just need cake! I haven't been baking as much since it got warm out. But today had a nice cool breeze so I went for it. I also make enchaladas from scratch. It was a nice afternoon in my kitchen.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com .
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup molasses
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup hot, brewed coffee
In the kitchenaid, I mixed the shortening and brown sugar. Once creamed, add the molasses and eggs. Then the spices, flour and soda. Last add the hot coffee (slowly!)
It will be kinda wet. Pour it in a oiled cake pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
I needed a frosting but didn't have any classic frosting ingredients so I mixed brown sugar, a few tablespoons of sour cream and cream cheese. Then I added a tablespoon of milk and whipped it up. It was the perfect frosting for this cake.

I love the colors of molasses cakes and cookies; so beauitufl and rich. Enjoy! xoxo

pickled onions ~ part two

I finished the pickled onions today. A few days ago I peeled the pearl onions and put them in the brine water. Today I strained them out of the brine and gave them a good rinse. I washed out the jar too with very hot water. Then back in the jar I put the rinsed onions, vinegar and some well washed dill. Now it goes in the fridge to pickle. They can be eaten in as little as a week but they are much better if you give them a month.

Dandelion Jelly

continued from my other blog . I used the recipe from cdk recipes.


The kids and I spent the morning picking dandelions from the yard.

It took a long time to gather enough but the kids were good workers. You need 4 cups of just the yellow parts of the flowers. But as worked, we talked about why people would have wanted to eat the first flowers of the season. It was a good lesson on history and nutrition for them.

4 cups yellow parts of dandelion blossoms
3 cups boiling water
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons Freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 package powdered pectin

Seperate the yellow parts of the flower from the green. The green parts will make your jelly bitter. I didn't get it perfect, but tried to be very careful. This took a long, long time so be prepared. And it takes more flowers than you would even think. But the more blossoms, the more flavor for the jelly.

Bring the water to a boil and fill the water with dandelion blossom shreds. Simmer over very gentle heat about 10 minutes. Pour the water and blossoms through a strainer. Press the blossoms as dry as possible to extract the maximum amount of water. Add more blossoms to the strained water and simmer for about 10 minutes. Continue simmering and straining until all the blossoms are used up. Add water as necessary to keep the level at 3 cups. For the final strain use a tea or coffee strainer to make sure you have all the flower bits out.

Combine water with lemon juice, sugar and pectin. Bring to roiling boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil hard for one minute. Skim. Pour into hot jars and seal.

This batch didn't set very well so it's more like syrup- but we had it on pancakes this morning so it turned out accidently perfect! It has an apple, pear, honey flavor.

~1 skein knitted~

So far, so good!

spring in my yard