Planned Purlhood

Before I was a Knitter, Spinner, or Weaver, I did quite a bit of needlework:  cross stitch, embroidery, needlepoint, etc.

Lately, I’ve been getting a bit burned out on the Big String Thing (i.e. knitting) and turned back to my “roots”, so to speak.

This past couple weeks, I’ve been working on embroidering flour sack towels.  My town’s new “fabric & more” shop got in some nice flour sack towels worthy of embroidery.  Here’s a sample of the set I’m working on for my kitchen:

It’s covering a batch of whole wheat “no knead” bread.  Recipe is here.

There’s been more crocheting happening here than knitting, and mostly in the form of potholders.  Nothing fancy, just worsted weight cotton yarn and the “potholder” stitch (single crochet through back loop and previous row’s unworked front loop) with an I hook.

I did start “Traveling Woman” last week, but since that’s still in the plain stocking stitch section, I’ll spare you the photo.

One skein of yarn for Ravelympics.  100% superwash merino from a etsy seller who’s shop closed.  ”Embers”, my bog-standard 2-ply sportweight spun long draw.  Approximately 300 yards per 4 oz.

I leave you with Bunny Buns.

I found this quiz over on Jenny Mac’s Lip Smack, and thought it was better than your run of the mill meme!

Metal or non-stick? Metal. I avoid PTFE as much as possible – my egg pan is about the only non-stick pan that I’ll use.

Cast iron or stainless? Cast iron, Le Creuset if I want to be picky about it. I have only have 3 pieces of L.C., and two of them are hand-me-downs.

Cutting board: silicone or wood? Bamboo.

Knife: carbon steel or stainless? Stainless, it’s hard to find good carbon steel these days.

Kitchenaid or hand mixer? What the heck is wrong with a SPOON? Eh?

Cooktop: gas, electric, induction? I currently use electric, but someday will have gas.

Side-by-side, freezer on top, fridge on top? Idealey, side-by-side or freezer on bottom. I’m bloody sick and tired of bashing my head on the fridge stooping over to find something in there. Plus the whole freezer on top thing was just a Bad Idea gone too far.

Apron or whoops? What’s an apron?

Parchment or Silpat? Parchment.

Mashed potatoes: by hand, ricer, or mixer? Usually by hand, but if I I had a ricer that’s what I’d use.

Sandwich or wrap? Sandwich.

PB & _________ ? Apples.

Pancakes: syrup or applesauce? If there’s applebutter in the house, there’s no contest. Otherwise it’s Maple syrup.

Cake: scratch or mix? Either.

Chili: beans or no? I don’t honestly care one way or the other!

Napkin: cloth or paper? We use what ever is handy. Usually it’s a tea towel.

BBQ: takes the whole weekend to make or take out? Eh. True BBQ is rarer than hen’s teeth here, so this is a n/a.

Chicken: white or dark? Wings. ‘Nuff said.

Ice cream: cone or dish? Straight from the the Haagen Dazs carton. You’re joking about the cone thing, right?

Check out the new food blog, Belly Garnish. My pal Julie started it this week, and we’re off to a great start.

Just assure any remaining readers, that YES this blog has content.  I know I’m a bad blogger, but its mostly because I just don’t have much to say.  No, really.

I blog so infrequently, that most times there is a new WordPress release that needs updating.  Rather annoying, especially this last time.  gFTP kept going poof while doing whatever it wasn’t doing, so I had to find another FTP client.  There doesn’t seem to be that many available for Debian, but the new one seems to work much better.

So, back to the subject at hand.  Blobs.  I has them.

First up, Lily of the Valley Shawl by Nancy Bush from “Lace Style”.  Sister Unit #1 is getting hitched this year, so I figure that’s a good enough reason to knit lace for her.  I just passed the half-way point on the center panel (~46% of entire stole).  Rav link.

Heartland Lace by Evelyn Clark.  I’m doing this in Silky Wool – an awesome yarn for larger gauge lace knitting.  I love it lots.  Good economy, too.  I’m ~38% complete and haven’t yet started the second skein of yarn. Rav Link.

Some gorgeous handspun from Jennifer in VA (swap partner) finally told me what it wanted to be.  It’s knitting up beautifully on size 7′s for a “New New Shale Cowl”.  Rav Link.

Two other projects that I finished this month was the repair/reknit of my first (I’m sure there will be many more) Swallowtaill Shawl.  It broke during blocking.  I had to rip back about 8 rows and pick back up.  That was not as traumatic as I thought it would be, mostly due to the wool not getting all crazy on me and dropping stitches.  The other was a feather & fan shawl done in worsted weight acrylic/wool blend.  That one is for work, where the competing HVAC and wall-mounted air conditioning/heating systems tend to freeze me out all year round.    I’ll post photos once they are blocked.  I can’t stand taking any more Blob Pictures.

In the kitchen, I’ve tried two new recipes this week.  In my seemingly unending quest for decent sandwich bread out of my Cheap Ass Bread Machine, I tried the “Ultimate Sandwich Bread” recipe.  So far, it’s the best looking loaf that my CABM has turned out.  I proofed the yeast in the sugar water before chucking in the rest of the ingredients.  I had a slice of it toasted for breakfast, and the flavor & crumb were excellent.  Tomorrow, we shall see how it stands up to curried chicken salad sandwiches.

Cook’s Illustrated online has been teasing me with a decadent photograph of their Braised Beef Spare Ribs or weeks, it seems.  So, I made them.  OMG are they delicious.  Definetly get a robust red – the Merlot I used was a bit wimpy.  I think the only thing that could improve on the recipe is more carrots (almost better than the beef itself) and a heartier red wine that what I used.  This is NOT a recipe for a light supper; it’s very much stick-to-the-ribs winter fare.

I picked up a slightly used Sanyo Micom Rice cooker (3.5 cup size) off eBay last summer for a little over $60.  It is one of the most used small appliances I own for the kitchen.  The others being the coffee maker, George Foreman Grill, and the hot air popcorn popper.

Mostly, the rice cooker does just that – cooks rice.  I make a lot of bentos for work, and those always include sushi rice in some ilk or another (onigiri is most common, stuffed with wasabi-mayo-tuna or cheese).  However, the cooker has some “other” settings that I’m beginning to explore.

Tonight, I had a hankering for soup.  I don’t keep much pre-prepared food in the house for my own consumption, so most everything is made from scratch.  I pulled out some Bob’s Red Mill Vegetable Soup mix and two cans of chicken broth.  The last time I made soup from this mix, it took a couple hours on the stove top and came out like sludge (what with all the simmering/boiling it took to cook the harder bits in the mix).  The directions say to use a 1:4 ratio of mix to liquid.  Lo and behold, the “Porridge” setting on the rice cooker is exactly that!  Victory!

I think it took less than an hour to cook.  It uses fuzzy logic it just “goes” until the last 15 minutes or so.  It does a count down/timer from there.  The soup came out beautifully.  Everything was cooked just right – the barely hadn’t gone completely splody, the lentils & peas were not bony, and the alphabet pasta was still readable.  I’ll augment it with John’s favorite vegetable next time and he’ll happily devour it, too!

I also cook batches of plain lentils in the rice cooker for mixing in with other dishes.  A favorite here is a mix of lentils and couscous – one or the other cooked in a meat broth for full flavor.

I’m all about one-pot meals, and if it uses my cast iron dutch oven, so much the better.

During the fall & winter when stuffing mix goes on sale ($1/box or less), I make something called “Stuffing Stuff” or just “Stuff”.  It covers three food groups and gets him to eat some vegetables.  Win-win situation.

• 1 lb bulk sausage
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 boxes Stove Top Stuffing mix
• 3 cups water
• 4 tablespoons fat

Brown the meat in the fat, adding the veg in after it’s mostly cooked through.  Saute until veg is starting to soften, add water.  Bring to boil for a couple of minutes, then stir in the stuffing mix.  Cover, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

This usually takes me about 20 minutes start to finish, including chopping the veggies.  It’s good with red bell pepper, too.

I made this last night, and while John was said it was “good”, I thought it was “pretty darned good”.  He probably thought he was getting his favorite curry, instead!

1 lb chicken tenders

2 cups uncooked white rice (I use Basmati)

2 15-oz cans chicken broth (why on EARTH can’t they make them a full pint?)

2 cups salsa (I used the bog standard cooked style like Pace Picante)

Fiesta blend shredded cheese.

Sour cream (optional, but oh-so-good)

In a covered baking dish, mix together rice, stock, and salsa.  Layer in the chicken so that it is nestled in the rice mix but not under it.

Bake, covered, at 375F for an hour or until the rice is done.

Sprinkle cheese over and garnish with sour cream.  Yummeh!

This is the soup I made today.  It came out quite good, so I’d thought I’d share it!

Potato soup with Leeks & Keilbasa

• 3 leeks
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/4 cup butter or olive oil
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 pound keilbasa, 1/4″ slice
• 1 cup instant potato flakes
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• black pepper to taste

1. Trim & discard dark green and root ends of leeks.  Split remainder length-wise, then slice into 1/4″ pieces.  Rinse in water to remove any sand.  Drain.
2. Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat.  When foaming has subsided, add leeks.  Sweat until limp, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add remaining vegetables.
3. Add broth and herbs.  Bring to simmer.
4. Add keilbasa, cook for at least 10 minutes, or until meat is heated through.
5. Add potato flakes, lower heat and stir well.  I let the soup sit on low heat for another 5 minutes to ensure the potatoes had hydrated fully.

Notes:  I used 3 tablespoons of Knorr roasted chicken base dissolved in two quarts of water.  I also used the medium setting on my mandoline to slice the carrots & celery.

While this doesn’t have butter in it, it does have yogurt.  I’ve adapted this recipe from several different sources.  You can use half and half instead for a richer flavor.
Butter Chicken Masala

• 1/2 to 1 lb chicken thigh meat, cut into bite-sized pieces.
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 tsp garam masala

• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4″ slice of ginger
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 serrano chile, seeds removed

• 1 pinch hing
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 T coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 4-5 cashew nuts, ground fine (optional)

• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water

• 2 T chopped cilantro

Saute chicken in heavy skillet with garam masala in vegetable oil until brown and no longer pink (not quite cooked through).  Remove from heat.

In a blender or food processor, puree garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and chile together.

In a large sauce pan (I use a 3 quart saucier) over medium-high heat, heat 1 T oil until shimmering.  Add hing and cumin seeds.  Fry until cumin seeds crack.  Add tomato-mixture puree, coriander powder, turmermic, chile powder, and bay leaves.  Cook over medium heat until tomato starts to separate from the oil and is reduced by half.

Stir in yogurt, cook for another three minutes.

Add chicken, and simmer for about 5-6 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked.

Add remaining garam masala and cashew nuts.  Adjust for salt; add sugar if sauce is too sour.  Thicken with cornstarch slurry and finish with cilantro.

Serve over hot rice.

I could, most likely, and since the only Thai restaurant in the county left recently, I’ve got to make it myself.  Poot.

This isn’t traditional Thai anything, and it’s not exactly a pretty presentation, but it’s very tasty.

Hardware:

• Really big saute pan or decent sized wok.
• Knife

Software:

• 8 oz thin rice noodles, set to soak while other ingredients are being prep’d
• One whole (two halves) boneless, skinless check breasts, sliced
• One onion, halved and sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 can coconut milk
• Thai basil (optional, but it adds some much needed interest and contrasting flavor)

Fry the curry paste in the oil a bit, then add the chicken and onions.  Cook until onions are tender and the chicken is browned.  Drain noodles and add the remaining ingredients.  Keep things moving so as to not to get stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan.

When the noodles have soaked up the coconut milk and are heated through and tender, serve immediately.

It’s rather improvised, but it was a very tasty supper.