Spring Weekend

Finally! Spring!

Even the cats are enjoying the sunshine!

I went crazy with the woodburning tool this weekend. I buy a lot in bulk & then store in jars. I'm loving the lil' tags from Tonya.

More woodburning. Nathan's peppermint.

And still more.We just planted this Rosemary bush. I love Rosemary. I hope it will grow & grow.

My sage is back. I couldn't be more happy! It's very special, you know... I'm afraid it will not come back one year. I'd be devastated. I'm glad this is not the year.

We started some seeds, although - in retrospect - the egg carton thing might not work? Starting off with tomatoes, mostly. (Sausage Tomato. We're not trying to plant sausages.)

I baked this yesterday morning. Nunu was up very early, so I decided to use the early morning time wisely. I'm so totally not a morning person!

Blueberry-Banana Bread

I kept telling the children to let me take a picture so that I can blog about it first. They insisted they only had a nibble. I must say, it was very good banana-blueberry bread. I freeze bananas when they are brown & then bake banana bread when there's enough in the freezer.

1-1/2 c. flour

2 tbsp. sugar (The recipe called for 1/4 c. I wanted to omit it altogether, but I was adding a cup of blueberries, and I don't know my baking chemistry, so I decided to add a little bit.)

1/2 c. pecans

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

***

1-1/3 c. banana mush

2 eggs

1/2 c. maple syrup (It's gotta be the real deal!)

1/3 c. melted butter
1 c. blueberries

***

Mix it all up. Bake at 350 F for 60 minutes. I baked it in a pie dish. It was obviously good.

This Woolrae was a gift from the lovely Rachel. I love the colors! Such a joy to knit. I making Nunu a Gnome Pixie Cape. The pattern is here. Of course, I was being an idiot and totally screwed up the gauge, because I *never* do a gauge swatch. I was at the neck-decrease when I realized it would be way too small in the autumn. So, I'm frogging. I suppose it will just give me more time to enjoy knitting with this awesome yarn. :-)

(I decided to delete yesterday's blog post after receiving a very strange comment. And I haven't forgotten about the "Grains" posts!)

Simply Delicious

A simple somethin' yummy with an afternoon cuppa or as desert.

Cut apples or plums into wedges. Toss in a tablespoon of sugar & flour. For the apples we also add some spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & ginger. Top with crumbles made from 1/2 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of sugar & 1/2 cup flour. Bake til juicy & smellin' good. Serve with fresh whip cream.

So good!

Veggie Soup

The yummy end product.

This has become a favorite recipe in our house as I'm trying to increase my iron consumption. Pairing ingredients that are high in Vitamin C with those high in iron helps increase the absorbency of iron in the body. This is a quick recipe that is healthy, budget-friendly & single-mother friendly, 'cause it's so easy to make that the kids can do the chopping & cooking while the pregnant Mama knits & blogs about soup recipes! This is a chunky soup. As always, it's best to go local and/or organic with ingredients. The best produce comes from your garden!

Veggies chopped. Yay for clean teenager-fingernails!

You'll need:
A bit of olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 stalks of celery, diced
3-4 medium carrots, diced
4 oz. fresh (baby) spinach
2 cups of water
2 - 28oz. can of pureed tomatoes
1 cup of pasta (We like the colorful spirals from the bulk isle.)
A bit of heavy cream
A broth cube (I'm a Rapunzel girl.)
A few sprigs of parsley, chopped
Sea-salt & pepper to taste

Gettin' it goin'.

To make it:
Sautee the veggies in the olive oil until onions are glassy, spinach is soft. Add the pureed tomatoes, water, the garlic & the broth cube. Bring to a boil. Add the pasta & reduce to simmer. Season to taste. Remove from heat when pasta is 'al dente.' Add a bit of heavy cream to increase the yummy factor. (I'm not a low-fat cook. Nourishing Traditions is a good read if you're wondering why.) Garnish with parsley.

Serve with a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds to add even more iron. And maybe have a shot of Floradix with it, too. ;-)

Feeds a pregnant mother & 2 hungry sort-of-teenagers with some leftovers for lunch the next day. (Oh, and it also is enough to feed the friend of one of the boys who shows up unexpectedly & makes the pregnant Mama remember that we did invite him over yesterday.)

Well, the boys are done cooking the soup. I'm done blogging about it. Off I go to eat. I must remember to tell them a good cook cleans the kitchen, too.

Mayday

I've been a-wandering all this night and the best part of the day. And when I come back home again, I will bring you a branch of May...

Maypole.

Toy treasures.

Pretty roses for Mayday Queen crowns.

More pretty blooms.

Mayfaire Menu. Yummy. The spinach pies were so good.
Nate & I helped prepare some yesterday using a recipe from the Moosewood cookbook. (I did a search and was surprised to find a copy here, just click on the recipe tab.)

Noah as one of the Robin Hood's Merry Men in the 6-8th grade play.

... A branch of May I will bring you here and at your door I'll stand. It's nothing but a sprout, but it's well budded out by the works of God's own hand.
~~~
It's a hot 90F/33C day. Nathan and a friend are strumming the guitar. Noah is resting with a headache from the heat. I'm going to fix some iced tea, put my feet up & get some knitting done.
Happy Day!

Nutty Chocolate Cookies

Nathan felt like baking something. We didn't have all the ingredients for his favorite recipe, so he improvised. (He also took the picture.)

~ 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
~ 1/2 teaspoon salt
~ 1 teaspoon baking soda
~ 1/2 cup butter, softened
~ 1/2 cup white sugar
~ 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
~ 1 egg
~ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~ 2 tablespoons milk
~ 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread
~ 3/4 cup sliced almonds, crushed into pieces
~ 3/4 bar of white chocolate, broken into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together flour, salt & baking soda. Add sugars. Mix together butter, vanilla, milk & chocolate-hazelnut spread. Add to the flour mixture. Add nuts & chocolate. Shape into balls and bake on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper for 10 minutes. Remove & cool.

These cookies are so, so good!