From Soup to Socks

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous fall day.  The windows are open and I can hear the neighbors' rooster crowing and I can't stop telling Dan how beautiful it is and how much I love hearing that rooster.  It's a perfect day!

A blogger I have followed for years and years, Judy of Patchwork Times, has shifted her crafting focus from quilting to knitting.  (She's also the one who alerted me to the joys of the InstantPot.)  It's been a while since I picked up my knitting needles for anything other than an occasional kitchen dish cloth, but this week she inspired me with some links to a series of knitting videos.  I finished my last dish cloth and looked at my stash of sock yarn, picked one, and cast on.  

This was an, ahem, expensive yarn I ordered probably five years ago, and it's so soft and beautiful.  On a day like today, I love knitting in the sunshine so I can see all the colors this hand-dyed yarn has in it.  

I've been knitting away all week and have made much progress.  I turned the heel yesterday and am almost done with the gusset.  It's been at least four years since I've done a sock, so I'm sticking close to the pattern, which I see I downloaded in 2010.  Here's where I am today:

While I'm knitting, I can look up to my favorite corner of the living room.  It's decorated for fall, and I just love how it looks.

And here's a bright showing from one of our pots of gerbera daisies out on the deck.  

Wishing you all a beautiful fall!

Back in the Kitchen

I seem to move back and forth from the sewing room to the kitchen.  As you can see, life at the resort is very exciting!!  (Actually, it's just the way I like it.)  And now that fall truly seems to be here, both by weather and calendar, I deemed it pot-of-soup time.  

Monday morning I said as much to Dan and decided the soup of choice would be potato.  He immediately volunteered to be my potato peeler.  I think he was in the mood for soup, too.  Because I knew I was going to use my InstantPot, I told him we had some time so I puttered and he worked on his exercises.  His knee continues to do amazingly well, and I'm sure it's in part because of his dedication to the exercise regime his physical therapist has him on.  

About four-thirty I declared it potato time and hauled out my six-quart pot. Dan got out the potatoes and we went to work.  One of the sites I found when I first got my electric pressure cooker was Pressure Cooking Today (link on sidebar).  I was excited when she announced she'd written a cookbook and I ordered one immediately.  It has not disappointed!  Her recipe for chunky potato cheese soup is sooo good!  

As Dan peeled, I sauteed diced celery (used in place of onion) in the pot, then we both chunked the potatoes and added them and chicken broth to the celery, along with seasonings.  Soon, very soon, all was cooked and cheese, more chicken broth, half and half and bacon were added.  I use reduced sodium broth and fat free half and half. Mmmm...  We ladled it all into our bowls and practically swooned as we ate.  And then scraped every last drop with our spoons.  

It makes a lot and we'll enjoy our third go-round tonight.  As good as it was the first night, it, like soups seem to do, tastes better with each passing day. 

I can't recommend this book enough.  I've made many recipes from it and each one is excellent.  

Meanwhile, Back in My Sewing Room...

Yes, people, things have been happening in my sewing room.  My last post from there was about a baby quilt and while I pondered starting another, I decided upon a different course of action.  About four years ago, I found a project in a Fons and Porter's Quilting Celebrations magazine that I just loved.  It was a banner for Thanksgiving that simply said, "Thanks."   

I made one and gave it to daughter Ann.  She hung it from her mantle and it was perfect in her house.  While it was in place, Ann hosted a baby shower at her home and our pastor's wife saw it and loved it.  She asked if she could pay me to make one for her.  I declined because I hate to sew for pay--I discovered long ago that it takes all the joy and fun out of it.  I also need to say that at the time I made Ann's, my embroidery machine was giving me fits and it didn't know if it was the digitizing of the designs or my machine.  At any rate, I had no desire to make any more!  

Fast forward three years to last year.  I decided I would try again.  Since I had realized I could hang banners under my dining room window (my fireplace has no mantle), I wanted my own "Thanks." I decided I would stitch on my new (more on this in another post) Brother embroidery machine and see how it liked the digitizing.  The answer?  It did! I hung my banner and loved its message. **

So, back to this year!  I decided to make another banner--a gift for our pastor's wife.  I would make one for her because I wanted to and for that reason only.  I happily stitched out a pile of letters.

These need to be trimmed and a ribbon inserted and then they will look like this:

I just realized that there were two projects in that particular issue and that I wrote about the other one here. I really like Patrick Lose's projects and predict other embroidery designs will soon be purchased for my stitching fun!  And in this link-heavy post, here's a last one--to his designs.

**Note:  It was indeed my machine that caused the problems on my first stitching of these designs.  A trip to the spa straightened everything out, but still I was a bit "buffaloed" to try it again using any of these designs. After stitching the banner pieces on my Brother machine, I decided enough dilly dallying and stitched out a sunflower hot pad, which it hadn't liked either and it did just fine. Boom! Buffalo slain!

Brunhilde

A few years ago when I was down at my parents' house my mother happened to overhear the last of a conversation I was having with my dad and my brother.  "...Brunhilde...she's old and ugly, but she works like a champ!"  From the living room came my mom's voice, saying something to the effect of who in the world was I talking about?!?

Well, the answer was my dishwasher, which I had long ago named Brunhilde.  Don't ask me why, but when I just googled that name, found it refers to a Norse female warrior, and I think it truly fits my Brunhilde.  

When we bought this house nineteen years ago, it came with what were maybe the original appliances in the kitchen.  The stove and refrigerator were replaced almost immediately, and I intended to replace the dishwasher, but it did such a good job of washing the dishes that I kept putting it off.  Over the years I have truly come to love and appreciate Brunhilde, though she is indeed old and ugly.  While those descriptors are true, she is also efficient (as in fast).  Her normal cycle takes forty-five minutes, start to finish (no hot air dry), and my dishes are spotless. Every.Single.Time.  And I never rinse our dishes!

Never mind that her front panel is wrinkled (she came to me that way, but how??), a number of the pegs on her racks are broken off, a rubber molding on her front panel is loose on one side and sort of sticks out, and her insides are orange in places thanks to our well water.  Even with these defects, she chugs on; they are superficial and have no effect on her performance.  She is a champ and I will be broken-hearted when the day comes that she has to be replaced.  I do not hear good things about today's dishwashers.  Hour and a half running times, and still the dishes are not clean?  

Brunhilde the faithful!

Hang in there, Brunhilde, hang in there!!  (And here's where I must say that as I was emptying Brunhilde today, I thought again of how thankful I am to have a dishwasher!  I love to make messes in the kitchen and it's truly a blessing to have a machine that takes care of most of the cleanup.)

Short and Sweet

Heh, heh!  I love the title of this one!  Last night Dan attended the monthly men's dinner at church and when he came home, he handed me a small plate.  One of the wives had made their dessert (the men usually do their own cooking), and I said, "Terry made apple pie!" as I took a bite.  So good!

And then Dan said, "No, it's zucchini!"  What?!?  I kept eating and saying that it tasted just like apple pie, and when I was done, I immediately texted Terry and asked for the recipe.  She texted back and told me to google zucchini cobbler and Taste of Home.  And people, to help you out, click here for the link,  You're welcome!  You won't regret it.  

See, short and sweet.  Get it?

Out to Lunch!

Lunch out is always a treat, whether it's as simple as McDonald's or Arby's with a grandson, or something a little more refined with husband or a friend.  At this stage of my life, any meal I don't have to fix is a win!  But a middle of the day sojourn is just fun, no matter where.

My daughter-in-law's mom recently invited me to lunch as a belated birthday celebration and specified a spot about twenty-five or so miles from here. After some consulting and shuffling of schedules, we finally arrived at a date that would work for both of us and last Friday was the day.  She picked me up a little after eleven and we were off!

Off to where?  The tiny little town of Deary, Idaho, home to a very unique bakery/restaurant/cheese factory called the Pie Safe.  An old building (80+ years), it was an automotive dealership before becoming an empty hulk.  But no more!  Huge baskets of flowers hang the outside the door to greet you and the inside has been renovated and sparkles. 

And then there's the food.  It's not called a bakery/cheese factory for nothing.  Paninis on homemade bread with their cheese and other fillings are delicious.  I can only eat half, which is a happy thing because then I get to eat the other half for dinner or lunch the next day.  Makes my tummy smile twice!  And for dessert?  Choice of at least five different kinds of pie, cheesecake, cream puffs, cookies, homemade ice cream, or any number of other baked goods.  Mmmm. Indulge! 

My friend and I had a wonderful time visiting, eating, and wandering around looking at the beautiful handmade things that are on display--and for sale!  This was our second visit and each time we've spent at least two hours there.  

Here's a link to their website so you can see what a delightful destination the Pie Safe is.  (This is not a paid ad!  LOL, just wanted to share a great place to eat.)

Beans for Breakfast? Yup, Beans for Breakfast!

We love beans,  My parents loved beans.  Any kind, any way: bean soup, baked beans, pork and beans, refried beans, and now, breakfast beans.

Somewhere along the way, I discovered Foodie with Family's blog, written by Rebecca Lindamood.  She's quite the cook, a skilled writer, and even better, hilarious.  Oh yes, and the mother of five boys.  So, I peruse her blog from time to time and have followed her on Facebook.  One day on Facebook, she mentioned an older blog post about breakfast beans.  I hopped right on over and after reading, proceeded to print out the recipe.  I had all the ingredients so sometime in the next few days, I stirred up a batch.  They cook in the crockpot for eight hours (smelling amazingly good), so after cooling them down, I refrigerated them until morning.  

The next morning was the moment of truth.  I had a huge pot of beans, so I was hoping they were worth the time and effort.  I heated up a bowl of the beans, and following Rebecca's recommendation, we toasted bread and began to heap on the beans.  We picked up our forks and tasted.  And smiled!  And ate until our plates were empty.  Boy were we glad there was a pile of beans left for more mornings!

I'm not certain how many batches I've made now since discovering the recipe some months ago, but probably at least four.  Each batch is good for about six breakfasts for the two of us, maybe seven.  They freeze beautifully so you don't have to eat beans every day for a week.  The amazing thing is that even if you eat them three days in a row, they still taste wonderful.  We still marvel at how satisfying they are and how they keep us going all morning long.  My only regret is that I didn't discover them while Dad was still alive.  He'd have been all over them.  

You can find the recipe here.  I use the half recipe and cook 2 1/2 cups of dry navy beans, nine cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of oil in my InstantPot for 28 minutes with a natural pressure release before adding. As she says in the recipe, you can also use cans of beans.  Oh, and ham is great instead of Canadian bacon. (I have lots of seal-a-meal bags in the freezer leftover from Easter.  We don't know how to buy a small ham.)

Another Baby Quilt Finish

A year ago in August, while we were visiting Bruder Bear, I made my annual trip to a nearby quilt shop.  It's one I love to browse because they carry many fabrics that are to my liking (I'm a traditional quilter and fabric lover).  They also have a huge wall of marked-down fabrics in their classroom.  Since I make baby quilts to give away at the pregnancy center, I'm always thrilled to find good fabrics for a good price.  And finding boy fabric is an even greater plus!

As I wandered along the wall, a set of fabrics jumped out at me--boy fabrics!  I grabbed a shopping cart, loaded in three bolts and went straight to the checkout counter.  I think I bought the whole bolt of each one, which is quite daring for me. I brought the fabric home, stashed it in my closet and . . . well, nothing.  Until a few weeks ago.

My biggest problem was that one of the fabrics had big motifs on it and if I cut it into small pieces, even medium-sized pieces, the pattern would be lost.  Another fabric was a stripe, which can be tricky in a quilt, especially if one is like me and slightly OCD about straight lines.  I pondered multiple patterns and books and came to no decision.  Then, suddenly I had an idea.  Why not make a large center of the big motif fabric, frame it with the striped fabric, and add a final border.  Wait, did I have a fabric for a final border??  Why yes, I did--found in my closet was a perfect match in solid yellow.  And so I began.  

It turned into one of the cutest quilts I've made!  The stripe is the perfect accent and is repeated in the binding.  The third fabric I purchased has much smaller motifs and is perfect for the backing.  

Such a happy quilt and so much fun!!

Peachy Keen

Last Tuesday I joined two friends and we headed out to pick up some boxes of peaches.  We had the choice of 10-pound flats or thirty-five pound boxes.  I opted for the box. 

Back home, I began to question my choice almost immediately.  Dan had gotten a complete knee replacement for his right knee barely two weeks before and I'd been busy helping him.  His recovery was going amazingly well, but still it was taking a toll on both of us.  And now I'd added those peaches!!

First up, I decided to make a peach pie.  I do believe that peach pie is my absolute favorite pie.  And this one did not disappoint!  Yum!!  Now what to do?  I decided to take the most bruised ones and slice them into a simple syrup and freeze.  I got seven pints.  They will be yummy for breakfast this winter, or perhaps for peach shortcake.  

Next up was another pie, the first was just not enough!!  Then I decided on jam.  This entailed a trip to a store for pectin.  I dropped Dan off for physical therapy and made a last minute decision to stop at Tri-State (known in its ads as "Idaho's Most Interesting Store".  They have a great kitchen department and I knew they stocked many canning items.  As I perused the aisles, I found not the usual MCP pectin in a box, but a jar by Ball.  Intrigued, I checked closely and discovered that it was to be used by the tablespoon and could make as few as two 8-ounce jars or as many as ten in a batch.  And it had recipes for using the usual amount of sugar or a reduced amount.  Sold!!

Back home (after picking up Dan, of course) I began on the jam.  I decided to go full bore and make ten jars and use the less sugar recipe.  The difference was one cup of sugar versus one and two-thirds cups per two-jar recipe (multiplied by five for my ten jars).  Oh, my goodness!! Such wonderful jam!  Stirred into my homemade yogurt, just a teaspoon into half cup of the yogurt, it rivals, no surpasses, any purchased flavored yogurt.  

The yogurt, and pie number two!

The Ball brand pectin and finished product.

The last of the peaches were used to make another peach pie which is safely stowed in the freezer for another day.  

I highly recommend the Ball pectin.  I used less than half the jar, and the ability to make small batches of jam when the mood and fruit strike is a huge plus.