Food on Blogs

Within the last few weeks I've tried many recipes around the blogosphere and I must say I've been very pleased!
Since I failed to take any photos of my finished products I will of course link you to the posts that I found the following recipes.
First I tried the creamy chicken & vegetable soup from everybody loves sandwiches. I made it exactly as written and I'd do it again. The soup was even better the next day.
Next I tried the chocolate chip meringue cookies from Smitten Kitchen. Again, I made the cookies exactly as written and my co-workers gobbled them up in an instant. I will make these again, easy and yummy.
Most recently I tried the pioneer woman lasagna at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. If you haven't read this blog, do. Ree is a great writer, an excellent photographer and darn funny too. I made this recipe almost as written, I used stewed tomatoes instead of whole and regular sausage instead of spicy because that's what I had on hand. I also forgot to put one of the mozzarella layers in which we figured didn't make much difference except we eliminated some calories. It is the first lasagna I've ever made, the best lasagna I've ever eaten and after the first bite Kyle said it's a keeper.
I'll continue to try recipes I see in the blogosphere and I'll even try to post some of my own, what a great resource for new ideas!

OK, I'll start with my most favorite spaghetti sauce with meatballs.

Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1 lb Italian sausage
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 egg
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dry minced onion

Mix together by hand and form into desired meatball size, I like to make random sizes. Place in oven for about 25 minutes at 350º.

While meatballs are baking mix sauce together by placing all the following ingredients into a large pot.

Spaghetti Sauce
32 oz tomato juice
1-14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
1-12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp dry marjoram
2 tsp dry basil
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 sticks pepperoni sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
3-4 uncooked chicken breasts, cut into manageable pieces
meatballs, when finished

Simmer, covered for 3 1/2 hours.
I freeze all the leftover sauce for quick weeknight dinners.

Don't forget to let me know if you try this recipe!

Dog KAL Update #8

I'm sad to report there's been no knitting accomplished on Casey's dog sweater. I promise as soon as I'm finished posting this update I'm going to pick it up. He's wishing he was outside in all the new snow in his blue sweater. Soon Casey...

Other knitalong updates:
Siris has a brand new red sweater over at I knit, therefor I am. Great job!!!! Isn't he the sweetest thing ever?
Just one month to go knitters!

Ginormous Knitting

Can you even believe how gigantic the first side of my wobbly tote is? Has anyone else knit this and what did yours look like? I'm knitting at the gauge listed so I assume it's the size it's supposed to be. I'm thinking of mixing up the accent colors for the second side, any suggestions?

Ninety pound dog added for scale. :-)

Snow Day

It's been quite the weekend here weather wise. Casey loves to romp around in the snow so he took the opportunity this morning as we attempted to shovel ourselves out. I'm not sure how much snow we actually received but my mother-in-law measured 14" on her back deck. And it's 14" of heavy wet snow which makes shoveling a huge task.
Because of all the snow here, my parents are stuck in Atlanta until at least tomorrow so we have Rosie for another couple of days. She tends to take the already shoveled routes.

Trinkets

Early this morning (8:00 on a Saturday is early for me) I woke up and headed straight out the door to my city wide garage sale at the community center. I was really hoping for some knitting related items to be waiting for me but nothing, not even one crafty type supply what so ever. Not being able to leave empty handed especially since the money benefits the YMCA, I chose to take home this big candy box full of vintage trinkets. It seems as though most things are old plastic charms since there's little loops on them but there's other things too like dice, a trial size princess phone, a few postage stamps and a single clip on earring. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with all this stuff but I couldn't bear seeing it go in the trash if no one bought it today. If anyone is in need of a trinket let me know, I'm sure I have one!

Dog KAL Update #7

Just 5 1/2 weeks remain in the Knit Your Dog a Sweater knitalong!

Amy got started on the sweater for her dog Teddy and she's using a nice shade of Cascade 220.

I haven't really touched Casey's sweater since last week...I've been too busy with the Wobbly Tote and at the sewing machine. Hopefully I'll get to it sometime this week. We have a little house guest for the week, do you see her furry little paws?

Hot Off the Presses

I was inspired to make this craft bucket from Caro of Splityarn...soon to be a local MN blogger! She was recently featured on Uncommon Threads and made this handy bucket from old jeans and heavy cotton fabric. You may recognize the fabric from a previous project of mine. The project was a little tricky for me since I ended up running across thick areas of denim here and there, I'm not sure any machine really deals well with that (not to mention mine is in need of a maintenance visit). I ended up cutting the inner cardboard circle a tad small but it will work. It also looks obviously taller than the one Caro made but I like it just the same. Go find some old jeans and make yourself a crafty bucket!
Every time Kyle wants to throw out a pair of jeans I hoard them into my craft closet 'just in case' I need denim for something.
Do you see what I have to put up with when I sit down to the sewing machine? Casey is always wanting to cuddle up underneath and there's just not enough room for him under there, not to mention when I see him coming I have to unplug the foot pedal because on more than one occasion he's plopped down right onto it.

Crafty Christmas Gifts

Of course you've already seen the slippers I made for my nieces, socks for my sister-in-law and mittens for my friend.

For the yearly mini ornament of 2006 I made mini meathead hats using the pattern I acquired when knitting the meatheads for Larissa's knitalong.
I bought 4 colors of yarn and mixed them all up for 9 different combonations. They knit up very quickly and they were well received by all the recipients!
Pattern: Meathead hat by Larissa Brown (to be released)
Yarn: Mandarin Petit 100% Egyptian cotton
Colors: Red 4418, Light Blue 6200, White 1001, Brown 2962
Needles: Size 3 dpn birch
Started: ?
Finished: On the plane on the way to Las Vegas Dec 21, 2006
I made small buttons out of polymer clay for the tags.

Now I'm finally caught up on blogging!

Crafty Christmas Goods

Shamefully, I've forgotten to finish blogging about my crafty Christmas gifts. I uploaded photos months ago but never got around to posting. This picture includes all the crafty gifts I received. The super cool quilt was made by my very talented sister-in-law, the 2 alpaca scarves were made by my mom (isnt' it funny that she wrapped them back in the ball bands) and the super useful dpn's, Rudolph tape measure and doggie sweater book were given to me by my guy Kyle. Tomorrow I'll finish up with the crafty gives I gave. Because weren't we taught that it's better to give than to receive? Everyday is a school day people.

Hi Everyone!

We spent our Valentines night at the MN Wild hockey game, I hope your night was as fun as ours! XoXo

Dog KAL Update #6

Lizz is a new knitter who started knitting along with us, she's knitting a sweater for her cute Brittany! Lizz, what's her name?? She's made some progress already as shown here.

Kapten Hanna joined via the Flickr group. She hasn't knit since she was a kid but recently picked it up again. It looks like she has a couple of dogs to knit for.

If you have a Flickr account, don't forget to sign up for the group. It's a great place to share our photos.

And me? I've been knitting miles of stockinette. I've reached some decreases so at least I've had a little variety in the last few rows.

I'm Wobbly

The Wobbly Tote has begun to take shape. I have to admit I'm a bit addicted to knitting this...so much so that I'm hoping my employer calls me to tell me to come in an hour or two late. *fingers crossed* :-)

Street is Neat

We were so thrilled to reach near freezing today, a huge milestone after our crazy cold weather! One stop on our daily outing was the 95th birthday party for my Great Aunt. She's quite the whipper snapper too!
While leaving the party I ran across this neat-o street sign and couldn't pass up the photo op.
Since a few people asked where I got the fabric in the last post I'll let all of you know. All of it came from JoAnn Etc. The fabric in the top picture is a heavier weight home dec fabric.

Warm Corn

Casey would like to thank each and every one of you who sent birthday wishes his way! Thank you!!

This week I've been busy at the sewing machine. First I made this warming pillow which I filled with seed corn, you pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes and it's toasty warm for about a half an hour. I like to tuck it in my blanket over my feet. Perfect for the subzero weather I've been subjected to for the last week.
Then I made a pillowcase for my niece's birthday, I even used French seams so there will be no unraveling of raw edges.
I have a couple of other things in store for the weekend, I'll let you know when they're finished!
Have a good one.

Casey is Nine!

He's still as spunky as ever although the photo shoot this morning was post breakfast. Still. Waking. Up.
And complete with scratches on the door trim from when he was a puppy.

"Ahhhh, maybe mommy will get out of here soon so I can go back to bed."

"I live for breakfast."

Happy Birthday Casey Blue!

Dog KAL Update #5

I've started Casey's sweater but have a lot more to do.

Once again, Splatgirl has been busy at the sewing machine making new dog swag.
And check out how she snazzed up a dog bed for her pupcake.

Full Circle

I hate to bring this up again but remember the slippers I knit for my niece that were too small and I gave them away to a friend's little girl? Well, I returned to work the next day to find an envelope taped to the outside of my locker. Pyper had painted me a butterfly as a thank you for the slippers. She did it all by herself, her mom said she wasn't allowed in Pyper's room while she was painting. How.Cute.
Naturally I owed Jessica a new pair so I've been trying to get them finished since Christmas was well over one month ago. I'm pleased to announce that Jessica will be receiving her new slippers that fit *fingers crossed* sometime this upcoming week.

Before felting

Finished!

Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clog, Women's S
Yarn: Cascade 220 color # 9470 1 skein (dark pink), Cascade Quatro color # 5012 2 skeins (light pink)
Needles: Size 13 16" & 24" bamboo circulars
Started: January 16, 2006
Finished: February 1, 2006
Knit for: Jessica, Christmas 2006
Note: It took FoReVeR for these to felt, I ran them through the hot/cold cycle 4 times.

Would you like to know what the actual temperature in my neighborhood is? -13º