Little House in the Prairie

Thankful on Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T10:46:00.002-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful this day, first and foremost, for our Savior Jesus, who gave His life so that we might have new life in Him. We are also thankful for our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. We are thankful for the men and women who have served and are serving in the defense of our country. We are thankful for our ancestors, who bravely came to what was then a new country...

Time doesn't permit me to list every reason I have to be thankful today. But most of all, I am thankful to the Giver of all Good Gifts. Our Fighter Verse for Scripture memory for next week is James 1:17: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Thank you, Lord, for Thanksgiving!

Sacrifice in marriage? Absolutely!

2009-11-26T10:40:00.004-06:00

Even if you could have it all, you couldn’t have it all at the same time.

A blogger I read off and on asked recently if she should “compromise” and “sacrifice” her personal goals in life in order to have the long-lasting relationship that she also desires. That left me thinking about my own life and the choices I have made.

Have I “sacrificed” or “compromised” as a married woman? Absolutely! Do I have any regrets about this? None whatsoever! There would be no joy in our life together if we weren’t both willing to sacrifice and compromise at times. If you are truly one flesh in marriage, you must be willing to submit to each other as the Bible teaches in Ephesians 5:21. This means you both make choices based on the good of the marriage.

But just because you say goodbye to some personal dreams and goals doesn’t mean you must live without dreams or goals altogether. Instead, you find that by being willing to say goodbye to a personal dream, you are now free to embrace another dream together, especially if that dream glorifies and honors your Creator.

And personal sacrifice is not only good for our marriage; it’s also good for our relationship with Jesus. He set the ultimate example of personal sacrifice for us, and He teaches us to be willing to die to ourselves daily.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Ephesians 12:1-2)

Beer Bread with Cheese

2009-11-16T18:43:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted a new recipe. So today seems like a good day to do that. I've made this beer bread before, but this is the first time I've made it with cheese. We're going to have it tonight for dinner with broiled salmon, steamed corn, and a mixed green salad...It feels really good to be well enough to enjoy cooking again. And since my husband has had chicken pox (he had it when he was a kid), I don't have to worry about exposing him to my germs as I prepare our meal. This recipe came from a blog I've enjoyed reading over the past several weeks, but the addition of the shredded cheese is my experiment tonight. It looks really good!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
12 oz. beer
3 Tbsp. melted butter

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add shredded cheese, mixing by hand to make sure that the cheese is well distributed and not clumped together. Add beer and mix well. Pour dough into greased and floured 9x5 loaf pan. Pour melted butter over top, taking care to make sure the butter doesn't all flow down the sides of the pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until top is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean from the center.

Chicken pox!

2009-11-16T18:06:00.003-06:00

Well, this has been an odd fall season already for my husband and me.

First, we've both had a persistent cold that has held on for several weeks. It's no longer debilitating, but it is annoying to have to cough so much during the day, and it also makes it challenging to fall asleep at night.

Then, my husband was bit by a spider (probably a common sac spider), most likely when he was putting the cover on the air conditioner for the winter. He didn't even know it had happened until the area around the five bite marks started becoming red and inflamed. So he went to see the doctor, who immediately prescribed a heavy duty antibiotic, which not only knocked out the infection but also upset my husband's stomach. Thankfully, that was over before the next wave of illness came along...

On my birthday, my 41st birthday, November 4, I came down with chicken pox! Can you believe it? I had asked about the vaccine for chicken pox a few years ago, but I tested positive for antibodies, which was supposed to mean that I had already had a case of chicken pox, even though neither my mother nor I ever knew that I had it.

Well, that test must have been wrong, because I started getting a few red bumps on my face, and I had a terrible headache that wouldn't go away, even with massive amounts of ibuprofen. When I went to the doctor about it on November 5 he found that I also had a fever. But because I supposedly already had chicken pox, he thought that the bumps must be related to the fever, so he told me to go home and rest because I might be getting the flu.

By the morning of November 6, my husband was ready to call the doctor again, because the bumps had spread. They were all over my face, on my chest and stomach, and also on my scalp. In fact, before I saw the doctor that afternoon, I had chicken pox all over my body. They were the worst on my head, neck, and torso. They didn't itch at first, but they did hurt, especially the ones on my scalp. So the doctor prescribed an anti-viral drug and took a culture from one of the bumps, and by Monday his nurse called me to confirm that it is chicken pox. She told me to stay home until every one of those bumps either disappears or crusts over.

So that's where I've been ever since...home with various degrees of miserable-ness. The fever lasted six days. The headache lasted a week and a half, and I'm still dealing with some itching and pain. But thankfully, it's much better than it was all last week. I was able to work from home today, and that really did feel good. But I can't go back to the office until all of those bumps are either gone or crusted over. And there are still a lot of bumps that aren't at that stage yet.

On the bright side, I have many reasons to be thankful. God has provided so well for me during this trial. First of all, my family and my husband's family have all been so good to me, as have my friends at the ministry. I've had phone calls, cards, flowers, and wonderful meals, and there have been countless prayers prayed for me. Also, in the midst of all this, I've changed to a new doctor, and that's a reason to be thankful, too.

I had a great doctor before, a Christian physician, but it was really hard to get appointments with her, and I was tired of being assigned to a nurse practioner whenever I needed to see a doctor between annual exams. My new doctor is also my husband's doctor and an old classmate of his from college days. He's also a committed Christian, and he also cares for one of my best friends at the ministry. So I know that I will be in very good hands.

Nesting again...

2009-11-01T13:54:00.003-06:00

It seems to happen every autumn. As soon as we move our lawn furniture in for the winter and dump all of our outdoor pots and planters, I start to feel the nesting urge again---the desire for a more comfortable and orderly home.

Over the last two weeks, despite having a bad cold, I've been clearing out space in my cupboards so that the glassware I love and use the most has more "breathing" room. I gave away our everyday stoneware to make room for a new set. And I gave away several older dishes and pieces of glassware that were mismatched and I've never really used.

I even gave away our entire Christmas set. That wasn't an easy decision for me, since it had all been given to me as gifts from friends and family over a number of years. But we live in a 1,200-square foot house, and it became hard for me to justify having a set that I only use one time a year at the most. I decided that my nice white wedding china would be just as nice as Christmas as it is at every other special meal during the year, and my table will still look festive if I use pretty holiday linens and other decorations.

As a result, I've been finding that I have been using more of my nicer dishes more often recently, just because it's easier to get them out and put them back. No longer do I need to take things out to get what I need, or carefully reach around tall stacks of my nice china, praying as I do that I won't break anything in the process.

I guess it all boils down to coming to the conclusion that we don't need more room for stuff around here. We just need less stuff. And I also believe that God is working on my heart through all of this to help me learn to let go of material things.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

I'm still here...sorry for the silence.

2009-10-22T16:24:00.003-05:00

It's been a very busy past few months. I kept thinking of what to post, but then finding other things that needed to be done instead. Hence, the three-month gap since my post in late July. I am sorry about that. But real life does keep moving, even when virtual life seems to stand still. And I've been learning more and more these days that real life is often more important than the virtual.

As a brief summary of what we've done, the highlights, but by no means an exhaustive list...

We enjoyed our new deck after finishing it sometime in July. While the weather and the sunlight lasted for me, I was blessed to be able to spend many morning devotion times on the deck swing that my Sweetheart bought for us to use. We also enjoyed a movie night outside one night on that swing, as incredible as that sounded when we told some of our friends about it. We moved our small screen and DVD player outdoors one lovely evening in July and watched an animated version of the biblical story of Joseph--just me, my husband, and our little dog.

We put in a paving block border around all of our backyard garden beds, except the one along the back fence, which really needs the higher fence that it has as a support for my flowers and for the bird netting that shields our raspberry bushes. We also put in paving blocks to form a path through the yard to the garden gate, which will eventually connect our backyard space to what we hope (Lord willing) will become someday our Asian-inspired garden space...I'll have to post photos of this sometime next spring or summer since there are leaves now covering that new garden path.

And I baked a lot, and cooked a lot, and we showed hospitality to family and friends and enjoyed the Jewish holidays with people from my husband's Messianic (Jews for Jesus-type) church. We really enjoyed having meals outside on the new deck with family and friends. It was so pretty back there. Lord willing, we hope to do much more of this next year.

But now the winter is returning again, and I've been home these past three days with a rotten head cold. I'm feeling better again this afternoon, but I felt better yesterday afternoon, too. I was planning on being at work today--had my lunch packed and my clothes laid out to wear this morning--but I was up for a while last night with a hacking cough again. I finally took some generic Nyquil at around 4, and then slept again until 11 this morning. I think I probably got 12 hours of sleep in total, though now in one shot. But I'm still feeling groggy today, and my head is really stuffed up. I'm just thankful that this isn't turning into a flu.

That said, I'll try to post again soon, with a photo or two hopefully. If you're still visiting here occasionally, I want to thank you for remembering my blog. I hope that you and your loved ones are staying well.

One of my little onsies on the baby!

2009-07-28T16:20:00.004-05:00

My coworker and friend, who had a baby boy last month, just sent me this sweet photo of the little guy wearing one of the onsies that I appliqued for him. Most of the time, when I make baby things, I never have the chance to see the baby wearing what I made. So this is a real treat for me! Isn't he sweet?...May the Lord bless this one with a deep and abiding love for our Savior Jesus Christ!

He Gives to His Beloved...Sleep

2009-07-22T22:08:00.003-05:00

I love the Fighter Verse for this week. It's such a good reminder that without God, everything we do is truly in vain. Unless the Lord is at the center of my life, and I am willing to submit all that I do and all that I am to Him, my very life is, in fact, lived in vain.

And yet, I think right now, at this juncture in my life, I appreciate the second verse of Psalm 127 just as much as verse 1. The second verse is, as follows:

²It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.

This has been a VERY busy summer so far. We nearly forgot, until this morning, that we had purchased concert tickets to hear the Minnesota Orchestra for Friday night. We don't go out very much, and we only see a live concert a handful of times a year, and yet because of the packed schedule we've been following recently, we nearly forgot about this concert on Friday.

The main piece, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is one of our shared favorites. and yet we didn't remember it until I (thankfully) opened my day planner this morning before leaving for work and saw that the date was nearly here. I commented to my sweet husband that I don't especially like the speed of our lives right now. He readily agreed, and suggested that we try to slow things down a bit...And that made me think again of Psalm 127:2.

I need that gift of sleep that our Lord promises to His beloved. We might not be able to rest as much as we'd like right now, but we are going to slow down on Friday night and just breathe deeply and enjoy the concert. God is so good to provide rest for his beloved...Lord, whatever the world is like around me, help me to always remember to find my rest in YOU.

Progress on our new back deck

2009-07-19T16:44:00.004-05:00

My husband is working hard again this afternoon on our new backyard deck. A few weekends ago, he tore up everything but the joists in the old deck. This first photo shows the pile of old boards in our backyard, which our neighbor is slowly cutting up and using for fires in his backyard firepit.

We were so thankful that despite the wear and tear on the deck boards, railings, and a few of the joist boards, we were able to keep most of the joist boards and build up from there.

Then, another weekend he dug three 42-inch, 12-inch diameter holes for footings. My job, at that time, was to haul away the wheelbarrows full of dirt so that we could use it to build up an area in another part of our yard.

Yet another weekend (when you're doing everything yourself and also work full time, you become a weekend "warrior" for everything related to home improvement), he mixed 23, 60-pound bags of concrete to fill those holes with concrete to support the new deck posts...My job then was to fill in around the big cardboard tubes he used as concrete molds with dirt and then tamp it down to make sure that the concrete posts are really firm and secure.

And now, this weekend, he is finally able to start screwing new deck boards onto the joists. Oh, and I also helped with cleaning and repainting the siding that was behind the original deck (probably built when the house was new more than 30 years ago)...I'll have to post a photo on this project again when enough deck boards are in place to make it look like something again. I'm so thankful for a husband who is such a helpful and handy man!

No, these are the good guys!

2009-07-19T16:05:00.003-05:00

My husband and I took a little mini vacation up north recently to enjoy the Duluth and Lake Superior. We were disappointed to see that the shipping traffic there is dramatically down from year's past because of the poor economy...When car companies aren't manufacturing as many new cars, they don't need as much steel, and they don't need as many ships to transport steel on the Great Lakes.

But we were blessed to see a U.S. Coast Guard cutter come into port. We watched it when it was far out on the lake, and were so happy to be able to see it up close. As always, along the port in Duluth, a crowd gathered along the dock to watch it come in. A little boy and his mother were close to us, and the little boy kept saying "Mom, look it's a pirate ship!" The third time he said this, his mother told him that it wasn't a pirate ship, but he insisted that it was, and that he could see pirates along the deck. Both my husband and I come from families with war veterans from the various branches of service, including the U.S. Coast Guard. So I finally interjected, saying "No, that's not a pirate ship. It's the good guys. They're ours, and we should all be proud of them!"

Thank you to all of you who have family members serving in our U.S. military. We are forever indebted for your sacrifice.

My first shirring project

2009-07-19T15:45:00.002-05:00

I really enjoy sewing, as you might have gathered if you've been looking at this blog for any length of time, but I had never tried the technique of shirring to create gathers in fabric with elastic thread. I had been wanting a new pink tank top for summer to wear with my embroidered denim floral shirt, so instead of buying something from the thrift store (we rarely buy "new" clothes from regular stores), I decided to make a shirred top using some cute summery fabric that my mother-in-law gave to me earlier this year.

This was actually a remnant from a lampshade cover that she made some time ago, and she suggested that there might be enough for a summer top if I made up my own pattern. I just shirred the top several rows to bring it in close around my top and bust area, then shirred the straps to help them to stay up, and sewed it all together (just a seam up the side and then to attach the straps at the front and back).

It fits really well, and it actually quite flattering, but since I didn't have a helper to take my photo today, i just snapped a picture of it sitting on my little portable ironing board in the sewing room. I'm thinking of making two more little summer tops from small remnants soon. It's so fun to have new clothes!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2009-07-19T15:38:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, I made strawberry freezer jam, something I've thought of and have been missing since my mother died in 2003. She used to make wonderful freezer jam every summer, and I know that we're going to enjoy having this on toast, muffins, and pancakes in the months to come.

It was a very easy recipe using 1 packet of Certo liquid pectin, 4 cups sugar, and 2 cups crushed strawberries. Just follow the package instructions and enjoy!

A New Wrap Dress for Me

2009-07-19T15:28:00.003-05:00

This isn't a great photo, but it does show a bit of my latest sewing project, a new wrap dress made from some vintage brown floral fabric from what my sister and I divided from my mother's stash.

Thanks to my sweet husband, who graciously agrees to help with marking my hemline, I was able to finish it just in time for a wedding a couple of weekends ago. It was really fun to wear, especially when a couple of my friends there gave me compliments on it.

It was Butterick pattern 5030, and the only changes I made to it were to add more closures (for modesty's sake). It only called for hooks and eyes in two places at the waist line, but I added three snaps to the bodice area to pull it closer at the top and avoid gaps when I bend over, and two to the skirt to keep it wrapped when I climb in and out of the car.

Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

2009-07-19T15:09:00.002-05:00

I've done quite a bit of baking in recent weeks, but haven't had (or taken) the time to post about it. Lately, we've really been enjoying my homemade honey whole wheat bread dough made into rolls instead of loaves.

Since there are generally just two of us for meals here, except on weekends when we often have dinner guests, I've been finding that making individual serving sizes for bread instead of large loaves work better for us. These rolls freeze well, and we can just pull a few out of the freezer when we need want them with a meal...whereas the large sandwich-sized loaves tend to get dry after they've been sliced.

I posted the recipe for this dough here, and just adjusted the baking time to about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Quick Update

2009-07-12T18:05:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry that it's been so long again since my last post. It's been a busy summer so far, and I'm not sure when it's going to slow down.

In short, we've torn off our old back deck, which was rotting in places due to poor initial construction (long before our time). So, since our house is nearly 30 years old now (I've been here for about 9 of those years), it was well past time to replace the back deck. My husband has done all of the really hard physical labor, but I've helped out as much as I can. So that's part of our busy schedule these days, whenever we're not working our regular jobs.

I've also had free-lance editing work to do in addition to my full-time job at the ministry. I'm editing a doctoral dissertation for a worship pastor who is going for his doctoral degree in musicology. And I just started working with a retired dentist who wants help with his personal testimony in written form so that he can share it with his children and grandchildren, and give the Lord all the glory for how He has worked in this man's life...Both are really fun projects, and the extra income is a huge blessing to us, but they're very time consuming, as expected.

Also, we've had company and time up north at my father's house, and then with the warmer months around here, there are always garden and yard-related tasks. Because we only have a few short months here when it's not cold, we really take advantage of the time we do have to plant and get all we can out of our gardens.

And finally, I've been desperately trying to make time for my sewing projects. I finished a dress, which I hope to blog about soon, and I've started a sleeveless summer top...which I'd better finish quick or it will need to wait in my closet for next year's warm summer weather.

Thanks for visiting, despite my tardiness in posting an update again. I hope that you're all having a lovely summer season, with many opportunities to enjoy God's creation outdoors.

A new, tiny purse for me!

2009-06-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

I keep forgetting to post about my new affection with little purses. Traditionally, I have been drawn to large purses and tote bags, roomy enough for not just the necessities, but also a knitting, crochet, or other craft project. But in April, our ministry had a big national conference, and I knew that I would want a tiny purse to carry so that I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a safe place to store a big purse.

So I dug through my patterns and found a nice little purse, one that I probably wouldn’t have ever made if it hadn’t been for the upcoming conference. Then, I immediately thought of an old black canvas bag that I had been saving, thinking that the fabric might be useful for something. The bag used to have vinyl handles, but they didn’t last long at all. So I cut off the handles and cut up the bag, and it made a very sweet, practical, tiny purse, and two tiny little accessory pouches (to replace the larger ones that I use in almost every other purse that I own currently).

The project was quick and fun, and I’ve been enjoying my little purse ever since then. So now I’m contemplating other tiny purses. It’s so nice to have something light and small when I’m shopping and when I head out the door to the office…I still bring my crafts along with me to work on over lunch hours, but my sock projects, at least, are small enough to fit into the bag with my laptop.

Turning old jeans into fun sewing projects

2009-06-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

I found a great bag sale at a local church the first weekend of May—everything I could fit into a grocery bag for only $3. I came away with some lovely tablecloths and fabric, some pretty glassware, seashells, a basket, and a big pile of old jeans....just what I needed for my next sewing project.

My clever sister has been making cute tote bags and pillows for graduation gifts using denim from old jeans for a few years now. Since her kids are 18 and 22, she’s had quite a few graduation parties to attend. I haven’t had that many, but I did need a good idea for a graduation gift this year for the son of my supervisor at the ministry. So my sister thoughtfully took time to email me the dimensions and instructions for her patchwork denim pillows. I made a slight adjustment by adding a pocket to one side of the pillow, using a saved pocket from the back of one of the pairs of jeans.

It went together quickly, and I think it will be a useful and fun present. But then I had a bunch of jean scraps left over, because I had purchased several pairs at the church sale. So I’ve been cutting more squares with the thought that I would like to make them into a queen-sized quilt for our bedroom. It will take a while to cut and assemble enough of these two blocks to cover a queen-sized bed, but I know that it will be fun to make and use, and it will probably be the most durable quilt in our home. I plan to back it with a light-blue 100-percent cotton flannel sheet, and I’ll probably tie it to finish it.

A Spring Hike

2009-05-27T21:06:00.002-05:00

My Sweetie and I took a hike through a local park reserve recently. I love days like this. We walked and talked, and we even sang a little bit...

This is my Father's world

And to my listening ears

All nature sings, and around me rings

The music of the spheres

This is my Father's world

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas

His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world

the birds their carols raise

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their Maker's praise

This is my Father's world

he shines in all that's fair

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass

He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world

O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems off so strong

God is the Ruler yet

This is my Father's world

the battle is not done

Jesus who died shall be satisfied

and earth and heaven be one.

Forced Bulbs Blooming

2009-05-27T20:58:00.002-05:00

I'm a little slow in posting this picture, but it's still worth putting up on this site, I think. These bloomed over the week coming up to Mother's Day weekend, and I was thrilled to see them because I've never tried forcing bulbs before.

Late last fall, when bulbs were on deep discount at Wal-Mart, I bought three packages of bulbs for this little experiment. Two were daffodils, and one was a large variety of hyacinth. The daffodils didn't bloom, but every one of the hyacinth did.

I planted them in shallow pots with soil, covering them only as much as they would be covered if planted in the soil outside. Then I watered them and enclosed the entire pot in a zippered plastic bag and put them in the bag of the refrigerator for several months. When the shoots are 1-2 inches in height, take the pot out of the fridge and put them in a sunny place. They'll continue to grow and eventually bloom.

What a treat to my winter-starved eyes earlier this month! And I still enjoy this photo, even though my spring tulips have come and gone. Now I wait for the irises and lilies to bloom...Thank you, Lord, for the spring!

Appliqued One-sies

2009-05-27T20:55:00.001-05:00

Another baby gift I made recently was a set of five appliqued One-sies. They were so fun to make and to give!

I found all of the applique patterns free on various sites on the web. If you just google "free applique patterns," you'll find a treasure trove of ideas.

I used Heat and Bond to create each applique, and zigzag stitches on my sewing machine to secure them.

More Socks!

2009-05-27T20:40:00.007-05:00

I’ve definitely been bitten by the sock making bug. I’m on my third pair of adult-sized socks, and I’m just about ready to start another pair of baby socks.

The blue baby socks, shown here with a matching hat (something that I actually made without a pattern), are for another baby shower coming up. They were really fun to make, so quick and so cute! I’m going to use the same pattern to make baby socks and a hat using the leftover yarn from my new pair of adult-sized socks...provided there's enough yarn leftover as there was with the blue sock yarn.

After the next baby socks and hat set, I’m thinking of another pair of adult socks, this time using some wonderful silk yarn that I found earlier this month at a yard sale. My dear friend at the office had suggested that morning at work that we head out over lunch to check out the neighborhood yard sales. We had such a fun time together and found some really great things and amazing prices. I’m already hoping that we’ll be able to do that again another year! The silk yarn is on a big spindle because it was originally purchased for a weaving class. The woman selling the yarn had a big box with several large spindles of yarn and interesting fibers. She was selling the whole box for $3, but I knew that I wouldn’t need everything there. So she suggested $0.75 per spindle for each of the three spindles that I found and wanted to buy--one silk, one wool, and one cotton.

They’re all shades of peach-y type colors, tending quite a bit toward what I would call “neutrals.” I haven’t decided yet how to use the wool, but I’m thinking of washcloths perhaps for the cotton, and I knew right away that the silk would be fun to try for socks...Can you imagine wearing silk socks? I wonder how it will work for knitting?

Banana Poppyseed Muffins

2009-04-28T21:40:00.005-05:00

One more post tonight...it's nice to have a chance to catch up finally. I made these muffins last night, and they will definitely be worth making again!

I love poppyseed bread and muffins, so when I saw this recipe in my Just Like Grandma's muffin recipe book (Just Like Grandma's is a bed and breakast/tearoom/lots of other little shops business in Osakis, Minnesota), I just knew that they would be worth a try.

As a bonus, they're fairly low in fat for muffins, with only 1/4 cup vegetable oil for a generous dozen muffins. I added walnuts to the recipe, simply because nearly every muffin tastes better with walnuts.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2-1/2 tsp. poppy seed
2 ripe bananas
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Mix together egg, oil, and sugar. Add in milk, poppy seeds, and mashed bananas. Sift together dry ingredients and then add to the wet mixture all at once and mix until just moistened. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes about 12 muffins.

Bonus! As I was typing out this recipe, I just realized that I know the lady who submitted this recipe for the book! How fun! Now I'll need to call her to tell her how much I enjoyed them! :-)

A Baby Quilt for Church

2009-04-28T20:59:00.003-05:00

I made this Irish chain baby quilt top for a lady's group at my church that ties and finishes baby quilts to give to each church family on the arrival of their first and their fifth babies...A number of families have several children, so they decided to give a fifth baby quilt as well as a first.

Earlier this year, there was a notice in our church newsletter asking for quilters to make quilt tops for the lady's group to finish. So I decided to make one in honor and memory of my mother, who taught me to quilt...I've been finding at least one "memorial" project in honor of her since she passed away in 2003.

This was a very satisfying project for me, probably because of its nature. It's going to be finished by women I don't know (yet anyway) to be a gift for a family I may or may not know, and they will never know that I made it. So, even though everything we do should be done for the glory of God, this somehow feels even more like a labor of love for my Savior Jesus Christ, done for one of the "least of these"...Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to do this.

More 5-Minute Artisan Bread

2009-04-28T20:51:00.002-05:00

I'm back into bread baking again, with another recipe from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book.

This one is the Rustic Peasant Loaf, a combination of rye, wheat, and white flour. It was, as the other recipes I've tried from that book, easy and fast to make, and very good. What a treat to have fresh-baked bread without much effort, and to enjoy that crisp crunchy crust and chewy crumb!

A birthday bunny!

2009-04-28T20:44:00.003-05:00

Another gift I made and gave away recently is this sweet crochet amigarumi bunny made from another free Lion Brand pattern and two different colors of Wool-Ease yarn.

It was really fun to make, and it was equally fun to give it to one of my dear friends with an April birthday. I was also really happy to find a gift bag at Wal-Mart that nearly matches the gift, and a birthday napkin that I could make into a card.

I was so glad to see that it brought a smile to my friend's face when I gave it to her. I had hoped that it would. It still makes me smile to see the photo here.

My husband has been busy with projects, too!

2009-04-28T20:37:00.002-05:00

While I've been busy with crafts and cooking (as well as my full-time job at the ministry), my husband has been busy at home, too.

Work has been slow for him since the economy started to weaken last fall, so he has had more time than usual to work around the house. By the Lord's mercy and grace, all of our bills are getting paid, and by an equal amount of mercy and grace, my sweetheart has made our home a little nicer.

Earlier this month, he put up shelving around part of the perimeter of our kitchen and, as you can see in this photo, I've fully made use of it for storage of dried goods in my antique canning jars, and for storage of a few appliances to clear off my counter tops. I love the clear counters for working, and I'm really enjoying seeing my dried goods in their antique jars. I've found that I'm more likely to use things now that I can see what I have.

I'm so thankful for a sweet and thoughtful husband who always seems to be looking for ways to make our home a little nicer and my life a little easier.

An Afghan for a Special Young Man

2009-04-28T20:28:00.004-05:00

My sister's oldest is graduating from college this spring, and his school colors are blue and white. So, I started work last winter on an afghan for him. I finished it at the start of this month.

I used a free pattern on the Lion Brand website, to crochet the afghan using two different colors of Wool-Ease yarn. It was really easy and fun, and I know that our nephew will enjoy this gift.

His maternal grandmother, my mother, would have made him an afghan or quilt, if she could have lived to see him graduate. So I guess this gift not only honors our graduate, but also memorializes my Mom.

I still remember Mom telling me one time how her grandson (this nephew) told her when he was 10 years old that he always slept better under one of his Nana's quilts (he and his sister always called her Nana), because it was like sleeping in her hug.

A Tea-Time Table Runner

2009-04-28T20:23:00.002-05:00

Another project I finished late in March was this scrap-quilt table runner. My sweet sister got me this pattern, which is super easy to make, and I used all spring-type fabrics from my scrap basket to make it.

All the while I was working on this project, I kept thinking that it looked like it belonged on a table set for a lady's tea. I'd love to do something like that sometime in my home, and invite family and friends to join me for a tea-time lunch.

But I might not keep this particular table runner. It depends on whether or not I get around to making another table runner before a wedding we're invited to attend in July. If I don't make another one, I'll give this one away and then vow to make another for myself.

New socks for me!

2009-04-28T20:14:00.002-05:00

I'm a few weeks behind in blogging on my craft and cooking projects, so I actually finished these socks at the end of March.

I used the basic sock pattern offered free on the Lion Brand yarn site, and I found that it was easy and fun to use. My only problem was that they turned out a little big for my feet, but not so big that they won't work inside shoes. And I love the self-striping of the Lion Brand Sock-Ease yarn.

Next time, though, I'm going to use Sock-Ease with a different pattern, perhaps one that is meant for smaller feet so that they'll come out my size (and my feet are NOT small), since I'm guessing that I must tend to knit a little loose.

Mom's Hot Cross Buns

2009-04-22T19:00:00.001-05:00

Last year, I made my mother's Hot Cross Bun recipe for the first time, and I'm ashamed to say that they came out hard, almost like hockey pucks.

So this year I resolved that I would follow the recipe more closely, even taking time to sift the flour, and then use the scoop-and-level method of measuring it...Well, lo and behold it really worked well! These were light and fluffy, just like I'd remembered when my mother made them. As one who has been cooking now for more than 30 years (I started when I was very young), I should know by now that sifting flour can really make a difference.

Another comment I could make about this recipe, which I made for our dinner on the day we celebrated our Lord's Resurrection, is that I think this recipe originally came from my maternal grandmother, who immigrated from Denmark with her family when she was seven years old. So she was old enough in the "old country" to remember Danish traditions, at least one of which involved these Hot Cross Buns.

As I remember Grandma telling us one year, the children in her village would take willow branches and wrap them with colored crepe paper, shaping them like a shepherd's crook. Then, they would knock on the doors of friends and neighbors and shout something like "Fah-stah-lahton rays" (written phonetically as well as I can remember it). Basically, it was like our modern-day traditional of trick-or-treating, but Grandma told us that they never did any tricks to anyone. They probably knew which houses would have hot cross buns to share with them, and wouldn't go there unless they knew they would be welcome.

I still miss my maternal grandmother. Actually, I miss all of my grandparents, but I'm so thankful that there are recipes and stories to help me to remember.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk, scalded
2 Tbsp. shortening
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 pkg. rapid-rise yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 egg, well-beaten
3-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2/3 cup currants

Combine scalded milk, shortening, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cool to lukewarm. Soften yeast in lukewarm water and add to lukewarm milk mixture. Add egg. Then gradually stir in flour to make a soft dough. Add currants and mix to distribute evenly. Place dough in large greased bowl; cover; put in warm place to rise until double in size.

Form dough into small buns, flatten slightly and place about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until double in size. Just before baking, cut a cross into the top of each bun with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors. Bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

A minute before the buns are done baking, brush top of buns with milk, sprinkle a little sugar and return to oven to glaze. After cooling, fill cross on top of each bun with confectioner's icing.

Really Crunchy Oatmeal Cookies

2009-04-22T18:43:00.002-05:00

One of my husband's aunts recently shared a wonderful new cookie recipe with us. It came from the side of a box of Grape-Nuts cereal, and the original version of it had dried cranberries as well as the ingredients I've listed below. But my husband isn't fond of dried fruit in baked goods, and I didn't think the cranberries added much to the cookies, which were wonderful on their own.

I've made them twice now, and though they make a big batch they don't last long. They're the thinnest, crunchiest oatmeal cookies we've ever had...really good!

Grape-Nuts Oatmeal Cookies
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups Grape-Nuts cereal
2 cups quick-cooking oats

Mix flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat butter in a mixing bowl to soften. Gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in cereal and oats. Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 minutes at 375 degrees, or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute on pan and then remove to cookie sheets. Cool completely on wire racks. Makes 5 dozen.

Other Creative Blogs I Enjoy

2009-03-31T09:44:00.003-05:00

As part of this award, I've been asked to nominate seven other creative bloggers. The following is a list that I come back to time and time again. I really enjoy seeing what they've made and reading about their lives. They've inspired and encouraged me, and I am so thankful for them.

Dr. Julie-Ann McFann of Grandma's Sewing Cabinet and Modern Retro Woman has already won this award, but if she hadn't, I would most certainly nominate her. Here are the others that I enjoy regularly.

Joanne of The Simple Wife.

Lori of Girls in the Garden and Sew Forth Now.

Tracy of Unless the Lord and Mama's Fixins.

Linda of lindamade.

Beki of Artsy-Crafty Babe.

Sigrid of Sigrid-Sewing Projects.

Julia of Julia's Sewing Blog.

These 7 bloggers will be notified of their nominations and if accepted these are the Rules and Responsibilities of the award–

1. Copy the award to your site.

2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.

3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.

4. Link to those on your blog.

5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

Thank you again, Julie-Ann! I hope that you're having a great week, and that you're finding time to enjoy the "feminine arts"! :-)

2009-03-31T09:25:00.003-05:00

My first award! Thanks to a very thoughtful and creative blogger, Dr. Julie-Ann McFann, who publishes several blogs that I enjoy, including Grandma's Sewing Cabinet and the Modern Retro Woman, I've been given the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you, Julie-Ann! What a lovely surprise to come home to on Sunday night!

We spent the weekend with my father, and it was a very productive weekend in terms of work. I cleared off all of his kitchen counters and washed all of the jars and containers that were just sitting there collecting cooking grease and splatters and dust. I put them into a box and then arranged only what we actually use to line the backs of the countertops, things like the blender, the food processor, the mixer, etc. But before I put anything back on the counters, I scrubbed them with Ajax and water. I had been trying in past visits to clean them with dishsoap and water, but that just seamed to push the grease around...My father uses a George Foreman grill to cook most of his meals, and the grease that drips from his hamburgers and sausages seems to get everywhere.

Then I tackled some of the shelves in the cupboards, sorting and tossing food that was more than 10 years old. And I finally took up the job of cleaning up a dried-up mess that must have happened when an old can of something exploded on one of the bottom shelves. I don't know what it was, but it really required some elbow grease to clean that mess and get that shelf as clean as the rest. Then I organized his canned and dried goods by category so that he could see at a glance what he has on hand. He was surprised when I showed him how many cans of green beans he had. He hadn't been able to see them before because they had been pushed to the back.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, my sweet husband helped me to shake down the apples left hanging on Dad's apple tree so that we could rake them up and get rid of them in the yard waste container that will be hauled away this week. My mother and I planted two apple trees in the backyard several years ago, and I'm trying my best now to reclaim the fruit of those trees, which in recent years have been ruined by apple maggots. I read that if you can get rid of the old apples before the ground thaws, that helps to decrease the population for the next season. So I did my best to get what I could last fall, and now we've shaken down and removed the rest.

So that was our weekend, in addition to visiting with my Dad. It was good to see him, as it always is. And I enjoyed cooking him nice meals while I was there, and hearing some of his stories from the past. What a gift to have him still. I miss my mother so much. She's been gone now for 5-1/2 years.

Again, thank you, Julie-Ann, for this sweet award for creativity, and thank you for your wonderful blogs and podcasts. You celebrate the feminine arts in a way that would have made my mother very glad.

Soup and bread to share

2009-03-25T20:34:00.003-05:00

I signed up last fall for my church's meal providers list. This means that I'm kind of on-call to prepare and deliver a meal to families in need in my area. I didn't have any meal requests at all until last month. But since then, I've been busy preparing meals.

The latest request was for a family with a newborn, and I tried out a couple of new recipes. That might sound a little risky since I was preparing food for people that I just met for the first time when I delivered the meal on Saturday evening. But I guess I could be considered adventurous in the kitchen, and I'm thankful to the Lord that the recipes turned out well.

I made Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley and Oatmeal Carrot Cake Bread. Both are low in fat and high in fiber, and really tasty, if I do say so myself. The soup was adapted from a recipe on the side of a box of Quaker Barley, and the bread was adapted from the Quaker Oats Favorite Recipe Collection book.

Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 cups chopped onion
8 tsp. minced garlic
14 cups water
28 oz. diced tomatoes
1 cup medium barley, uncooked
2 cups sliced celery
2 cups sliced carrots
2 Tbsp. dried beef base
2 tsp. dried basil
3 bay leaves
16-oz. frozen green beans

In a large stock pot, brown ground beef; add and saute onions, and then garlic. Add remaining ingredients except frozen green beans. Cover; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add frozen vegetables and cook about 10 minutes until tender. Add more water if the soup is too thick at this point. (Makes 6 quarts.)

Oatmeal Carrot Cake Bread
2 cups oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup skim milk
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups shredded carrots
1 cup shredded coconut
20-oz. can crushed pineapple (minus 1/2 cup of the juice)
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla

In a medium bowl, combine the oats and milk; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine other dry ingredients; mix well. Stir in carrots and coconut.

Add pineapple and juice (minus the 1/2 cup), eggs, oil, and vanilla to oat mixture; mix well. Add to dry ingredients all at once and stir just until moistened.

Pour into two greased 9x5-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, and then remove to cool on wire rack.

Appropriate Scripture for Today's Post

2009-03-17T09:48:00.002-05:00

I just updated the Fighter Verse (Scripture memory) portion of my site with the current memory portion that I'm doing with my church, and I just realized how appropriate it is to what I just wrote today about my fears and my shame, and the Lord's deliverance and promise to make our faces radiant when we look to Him.

Psalm 34:4-5
I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

Thank you, Lord!

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-17T09:19:00.004-05:00

I think I've had a case of spring fever over the past couple of weeks. Thankfully, the weather last weekend and this week has made it possible (finally) to enjoy walking outside again with our dog. It feels so good to breathe the fresh air and be able to enjoy each other's companionship during exercise again, after months and months of working out on the treadmill and in front of the TV screen with exercise videos.

I've also been reaping the benefits of spring fever's close cousin, the cleaning bug. I don't really like to clean. I know some who actually do like to clean, but not me. For me, it's a necessity, rather than a source of enjoyment, but the effects of it are satisfying, especially when they can be combined with the joy of giving to those with less than we have.

The pile of clothes in the photo with this post is one of the piles of clothing that we've given away in recent weeks. I thank the Lord that I finally had the emotional stamina to give away some of my old clothes that had been crowding my closet and the craft closet for years. I told my husband that they represent both dreams and nightmare--dreams of being small enough to wear the smaller clothes, and nightmares that I would ever be large enough to wear the bigger ones.

You see, I used to be morbidly obese. I was never bed-ridden, thank the Lord, and I was always able to be mobile, though anything more than a quarter mile would, back then, give me pains in my legs (shin splints). But back in 1997, something clicked in my mind (the work of the Lord), and I cried out to Him for help. He responded by giving me the drive to both start a regular walking program, and to also dramatically change my diet.

Almost overnight, I went from hiding food from my family (I was living with my parents back then) to sneaking food back to the kitchen that I didn't want to eat. I remember that first Christmas so well. My mother would generously give me a plate of her wonderful cookies and candies and a glass of eggnog to drink, and as soon as I was sure that she wouldn't see what I was doing, I would sneak back to the kitchen to carefully pour my eggnog back into the pitcher (it was homemade eggnog) and put my cookies back into the containers in which they had been stored...I didn't want to hurt her feelings, and I also didn't want to admit to anyone at that time that I was intent on losing weight. To let others know that I had been trying, but had failed, would have been too embarrassing to me at that time.

Anyway, that's part of my story. And that explains why I had been holding on to all of those clothes that don't fit. These days, I'm neither the heaviest nor the lightest I've been, but I am continuing to fight this battle against my flesh. And I would love to fit into those small clothes again, but my sweet husband (who has always told me that I'm beautiful as I am) has encouraged me to let go of clothes that don't fit right now. We can go to the thrift stores to buy "new" things when I need them. In the meantime, I pray that they will be a blessing to someone who wears that size right now.

Another Tennesee Orange Cake!

2009-03-04T22:11:00.002-06:00

Well, the Tennessee Orange Cake has definitely become a popular recipe for me. My husband had to bring treats to a leaders meeting for his church, and when I asked what I should make for him to bring, this recipe came up again.

I do like trying new recipes, but it's hard to say no when someone wants something you've made in the past. Needless to say, he didn't come home with any leftovers, so I'm thankful that I didn't send the whole pan, but instead chose to set aside four pieces for us to enjoy afterward. (I cut the cake and sent a generous, large plateful to the meeting.) We're going to have the last two pieces tonight...Mmmmm. :-)

I have time to sew today!

2009-02-28T09:52:00.003-06:00

Because we're a two-church family (we attend both together, and we each belong and serve in one of the two churches), it's a rare weekend when I have a Saturday morning to enjoy being home. But this is such a weekend, and I'm going to head up the sewing room soon.

Actually, it's not just a sewing room. It's also our guest room, my exercise room, and the home of my husband's closet (he graciously agreed to let me have the big double closet in our bedroom). But it's my sewing room this morning, and I'm anxious to get back there again.

First, I need to do some mending. There are pants to shorten, a pajama top to mend, a sweater hole to take care of, and then I think I'm free to do something creative again. I'll probably cut a backing for a tablerunner that I started just after New Year's this year. My sweet and thoughtful sister shared a pattern for what is called a "Scrappy Do Tablerunner." It's basically just squares of fabric scraps, but it was a really simple pattern to follow. I used pretty spring-like colors, primarily shades of pinks and roses, blues and greens, with the thought that this could either be a wedding gift or a decoration for a tea party table...I've always wanted to host a lady's tea at our house.

In any case, that's my plan this morning, but I thought I'd also use this post to share a sewing project that I made for a Christmas gift last year. It's a pieced and quilted lingerie bag, not the kind that you wash your delicates in, but the kind that you could use in a suitcase or a dresser drawer to keep silky or lacy things from becoming snagged. I made two of them, as I often do, thinking that I might need the other for another gift sometime, or I might just keep it for myself. If I do give it away, I think I'll need to make a couple more, so that I can keep one in the end.

Whatever you're doing today, I hope that you have a chance to do something that feels like play to you. For me, crafts and sewing feel like play...Thank you, Lord, for a quiet home Saturday morning!

Homemade Applesauce...the Easy Way

2009-02-24T12:00:00.004-06:00

Another project this winter has been using apples from my father's apple tree. They were very small, so I didn't really want to take the time to peel and core each apple to make anything from them. But then I read that you could just wash and quarter them, and then use a food mill to separate out the peels and seed and stems, etc.

It worked really well! And I loved the way that the pretty red peels colored my applesauce. Now, when I look at the pale applesauce in the grocery store, it doesn't look nearly as appetizing to me as my homemade applesauce. does. I froze most if it in pint-sized freezer containers so that I can pull out a small container whenever I want some applesauce for baking or just to flavor nonfat plain yogurt for a treat at lunch. (Hint: This really tastes great with a sprinkle of granola on top!)

More from the Artisan bread book

2009-02-24T12:00:00.000-06:00

I'm still having a lot of fun baking bread from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I made challah again earlier this month when we had friends join us after church on Saturday. I know that the bread was a success, because it disappeared really fast! I also made chicken soup, and one of our guests brought apple crisp for dessert. It was a really fun day, and one that we definitely want to do again soon!

Back again!...Sorry for the long silence.

2009-02-19T20:00:00.004-06:00

Well, I can't believe that it's been so long since my last post on this blog. I'm almost tempted to start a different one, but I guess this is what I started, so I'm going to keep going here.

Long story short, I was busy with Christmas (lots of homemade gifts and extra cooking and baking), and I also have been busy off and on with a little extra work beyond my day job.

My husband's work has been slow since the economy has slowed down, and though he has more piano students now than ever before, the handyman work he's doing this week is the first he's had since last October. So when I was offered a free-lance editing job helping with a pastor's doctoral dissertation, I jumped at the opportunity to help a bit more with our family's income.

Originally, I had turned it down, in favor of suggesting another person we know who had been laid off and whose wife was expecting another baby. But that other person turned it down, for some reason, and the offer came back to me. And I've really been enjoying the project, especially since it can be confined to weekends, when I don't have such long days working and commuting to the city.

We ended up being paid most of what I'll earn for this free-lance job as a lump sum just before the end of the year, and since we've been managing on my ministry income and my husband's income from teaching piano, we set aside the lump sum in a new savings account just to use for auto repair and eventual replacement...God is so faithful to provide for all of our needs. We've been wanting to start an emergency auto account for quite some time now, but we didn't enough the money to do it until now. So, while we're both praying and asking the Lord to help our cars keep running as long as possible, we're thankful that He has given us some money now to cover some of the expense of repair or buying a new vehicle when that need is here.

In the meantime, I made many of our Christmas gifts, and I made more than a dozen Valentine cards recently to share with family and friends. And then, just this weekend I made some things for a friend who has a birthday this month. I need to put some of my photos on here, but right now I thought that I should just get off the block and write a new post for this poor little neglected blog before another day passes.

I'm sorry to my friends who checked here over the past few months and wondered what had happened to me. I'm especially sorry for my blogging friend Leslie who posted a comment on this blog back in November giving me the URL of her new blog. I really feel bad about not looking here and seeing that comment. But I'm so thankful that she's blogging again, and that I can read and catch up on her life again. I had missed reading your posts, Shorty. Thanks for sending me your URL.

Until next time...Lord willing, within the next week when I hope to write again.

Back from Vacation!

2008-09-25T12:10:00.001-05:00

We've been on vacation! We went up north for a holiday, and I'm just now catching up on my blogging. Before I did that, though, I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

Pictured here is a batch of my favorite Chocolate Zucchini Bread. I froze one loaf, gave away another, and we've been enjoying the third loaf this week.

How Many Cans Can a Canner Can?

2008-09-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

The last few days of our vacation, we played catch-up on work around the home, and I had fun getting back into canning.

First, I started a big pot of water bowling with apples that I picked from the trees in my father's backyard--dwarf apple trees my mother and I bought and planted together several years ago.

I didn't have to peel and core them. I just followed my sister's advice and the instructions inside a package of Sure-Jell, and only washed the apples, quatered them, and cut off the blossom end and the stem. Then I bowled them until they were soft enough to mash with an antique potato masher that I inherited from one of my two grandmothers.

After boiling the mashed apples, I put them through a sieve lined with a jelly bag my mother had made from cheesecloth. That netted enough apple juice to make two batches of apple jelly, and then I went to work with the sieve again to make apple butter.

The first photo with this post shows my sieve with its wooden tool for pressing the fruit against the sides. I had to do a lot of pressing for the juice for the jelly, but I got even more of an upper-body workout pressing without the jelly bag to make the apple butter. But after enjoying a baking powder biscuit last night with a generous smear of homemade apple butter, I would gladly do it all again.

After pressing the apple mush through the sieve, leaving just the hard cores and seeds in the sieve, plus the remaining mush that I decided to compost, I sweetened it using a formula I found in 1950s-era cookbook--measure the apple mush to find the volume and add 1/3 of that volume of sugar to the apple mush. Then, heat in a big pot on the stove until its bubbly.

While the sweetened apple mush was cooking, I added a couple of teaspoons of almond extract (just until it tasted right to me). And then I canned the apple butter.

My last canning effort of the day was another batch of those luscious Italian-Style Banana Peppers I made before our vacation. One taste of what I had made then, and I knew that I had to buy more banana peppers from the farmers market. I canned two jars and put the rest into the refrigerator to use right away...What a treat it will be this winter to enjoy home-canned produce from the summer and fall! And I'm thinking that I might use a few of the jars of apple jelly for gifts this Christmas.

He's a Happy Boy!

2008-09-25T11:34:00.000-05:00

While I was in our yard taking photos of our fall flowers, Charlie was following me around, as usual. I stooped to shoot the black-eyed susans that you see in this picture, and guess who sat right next to them to be part of the photo?

Doesn't he look like he's having a good time? This is why we call little Charlie our Happy Boy! :-)

Easter Lilies in September

2008-09-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

What a thrill to see Easter lilies blooming in my garden in the fall!

My dear mother-in-law has been giving me the Easter lily she buys in honor of her husband every year for the past two or three years. Each year I've enjoyed them while the blossoms lasted after Easter and then planted them into my garden, but I've never had them blossom again...until this summer and fall!

These are the second set of liles to blossom this year. The first came in August, and the second came right before we left from our vacation up north (a couple of weeks ago), and I was thrilled to return home and find that they were still blooming.

Another thing that was thrilling and amazing to me was that I didn't expect more than one lily plant to sprout from the ground where I planted just one plant. I knew that I might have more than one blossom per plant, but I didn't know that after planting the lily from the pot and watching it shrivel back a bit and look like it would be focusing on putting down roots this year, when the plants came up again (either the next year or, this year, it happened later the same season), I would have multiple plants from that one planting. What you see in this photo here is what I planted this year from one plant, and you might be able to pick out in this photo that there are three distinct plants coming up in this area.

I'm no botanist, so I don't know why this happened, or whether this means that these particular plants that bloomed this month will die over the winter since they didn't spend the summer this year just putting down roots. But I'm just going to enjoy what came up when it's here. It reminds of that verse in the Bible...

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

Fast and Easy Huevos Rancheros

2008-09-06T13:23:00.003-05:00

I found this recipe on another cooking blog called Smitten Kitchen. It was more of a tutorial there than it was a recipe, but it really made a great dinner for us this past week. I'll try to add a photo of it here as soon as we make it again.

The only change that I made from the original is that I couldn't find Goya Black Bean Soup in our local grocery, so I improvised with a can of black beans, chopped onion, minced garlic, and seasonings. I liked that combination so well that I probably won't worry about continuing to look for the commercial soup.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Garlic salt, ground black pepper, cumin, and cayenne pepper to taste

4 small flour tortillas
Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 large eggs
Salsa
Light sour cream

Saute onions in a small amount of olive oil or another cooking oil until translucent. Add minced garlic, black beans (undrained), and seasonings to taste. Simmer until well combined.

In a frying pan, lightly brown one side of a tortilla, then flip to the other side and sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top. Crack and egg over it, season, and flip the whole thing when egg is halfway set. When egg is cooked to your taste, slide it onto a plate and serve with black beans, salsa, and sour cream. Repeat with three other tortillas, eggs, etc.

Chocolate Loaf Cake (made with yogurt)

2008-09-06T13:08:00.004-05:00

I can't take any credit for this recipe. It came from bakingbites.com a great blog I only recent discovered. This was super easy to make, and really good...but only after it sits for a few hours on the counter in a plastic bag...I know that sounds strange, but it's true.

I tried a sliced of this loaf cake when it was still warm, and I wasn't terribly impressed. But I cut a few more slices anyway for my husband to try when he got home from work. I put a plastic zipper bag over the whole thing to keep it moist and, low and behold, it tasted really great after that! It seemed more moist, and the flavors seemed to have blended better by then. It also seemed more chocolate-y and rich, even though the only change was a little time on the counter and the bag. My only guess about this is that, since this is a lower-fat recipe than many chocolate recipes, and since the yogurt has such a distinctive flavor, it just needed the time to blend and soften a bit. I'm definitely going to make this recipe again, but next time, despite how good it smells while it's baking, I'm going to resist the temptation to try a piece until it's had a little time to rest.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup plain, low-fat yogurt

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

Whisk first four ingredients together. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and egg white. Mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk remaining ingredients until smooth. Add half to the sugar mixture, followed by another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Stir in the remaining yogurt and remaining flour, stirring only until no streaks of flour remain. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Then carefully loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a knife and turn it out into a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Note: Did you notice that the instructions call for letting it sit until cool? I should not have ignored these instructions the first time. :-)

Sewing Fall Clothes Again

2008-09-04T01:13:00.004-05:00

It's been feeling like fall already. We had a really warm and humid Labor Day, but overnight everything changed. So it seemed like a really good week to work on new fall clothes.

Also, I've been keeping odd hours this week, due to a temporary job that my husband took during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's working 12- to 14-hour days from mid-afternoons through after midnight every night until the convention is over on Friday.

Thankfully, I work with really gracious people, and I was able to shift my hours this week to match my husband's hours. So I'm working midday through late evening, which still leaves me with about four hours after I finish work before my husband is home for the night. And, for the most part, I'm using the time in the sewing room.

The two blouses are both sleeveless, so they'll be mostly worn under a cardigan, and I know that I'm going to get a lot of use out of this long, khaki-colored skirt. I've been wanting a skirt like this for at least a couple of years, and I finally gave up scouring the thrift and consignment stores to find them...I almost never buy new clothes, unless you count clothes that just new to me. I try to buy everything except for lingerie and swimsuits second-hand, other than what I take time to sew.

Though you can't tell this in the photo of the skirt, I still need to hem it before I can really wear it. But that will have to wait until my husband is done with this temp job and our life is back to normal hours again. Hopefully this weekend, he'll have the time and energy to indulge me again as my "hemming assistant"...I really do have a wonderful guy in my husband.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

2008-09-04T00:56:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to use what we have on hand lately, just to keep our food bills lower than usual, but we sure didn't feel like we were living on a budget when we enjoyed this Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole for dinner today.

I've always enjoyed wild rice, but I had never tried cooking it at home. Since I had some in the pantry, and we had bone-in chicken breasts in the freezer, this seemed like a good recipe to try...and it was.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth (I actually made my own broth from the bones after broiling the chicken breasts)
1 cup half and half cream
4 cups cubed cooked chicken (I brined the chicken first just to make sure that it would be nice and juicy)
4 cups cooked wild rice
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
4 oz. diced pimientos, drained
1 Tbsp. fresh minced parsley
1/3 cup slivered almonds, roasted

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until translucent, then add garlic and saute for a couple more minutes. Stir in flour, garlic salt, and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in broth, bring to a boil. Boil and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the cream, chicken, rice, mushrooms, pimientos, and parsley, and heat through. Transfer to a greased 2-1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until bubbly. (Serves 6-8.)

Note: In case you're new to wild rice, like I was...First wash 1 cup of wild rice thoroughly in hot tap water, then heat it in a pan with three cups of water and 1 tsp. salt. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer until rice is tender, about 30 to 45 minutes, draining any extra water when the rice is tender but not mushy.

Another Note: If you'd like to try brining the chicken before cooking it, like I did, for 4 lbs. of bone-in chicken breasts, mix 2 quarts water, 1/4 cup salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a large container. I used a clean, empty, 5-quart ice cream bucket. Add the chicken breasts to the brining solution and refrigerate for an hour. Then rinse and cook as intended.

My Mother-in-Law's Wonderful Goulash

2008-08-31T18:30:00.001-05:00

Among our friends and family in Minnesota and Iowa, it seems like everyone has a memory of goulash from childhood.

My mother has a great goulash recipe, but my husband loves his mother's best. And since he is working very long hours this week, I thought that it might help to have some comfort food at home. This recipe was the first that came to mind.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1-1/2 cups diced celery, precooked
1 can chicken noodle soup
1 can mushrooms, drained
14.5-oz. stewed tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
4 oz. spaghetti, broken in half and cooked
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Brown ground beef, drain excess fat. Add onion and green pepper and saute. Add remaining ingredients and cook until thoroughly hot and well-blended.

Pick a Peck of Pickled (Banana) Peppers

2008-08-31T17:58:00.005-05:00

Last summer, I made beet pickles, sweet pickles, and hot and spicy pickles. Well, this year I didn't have anything to pickle until now. But this afternoon I made a single jar of Pickled Banana Peppers. Now I wish that I had more peppers to make another jar! Maybe there will be more banana peppers next weekend when I have a chance to visit our local farmers market again.

I found this recipe on Cooks.com. It's called Canned Italian Peppers. I made 1/6 of this recipe and probably could have made just an 1/8 and had plenty of liquid for the five peppers that I had in our refrigerator.

I originally bought those peppers thinking that I would eat them raw, but even though banana peppers are considered mild, they were a bit too hot for me to eat raw. Pickling mellows them, without taking away their nice little kick.

Anyway, this is a great recipe. I made this one jar of peppers earlier today, and I've already enjoyed eating a few of them. I didn't can them. I just put them into a jar in the refrigerator, with plans to use them over the next couple of weeks.

Ingredients:

Sliced banana peppers (five peppers filled my little pint-sized jar)
Italian seasoning (I used dried basil and oregano leaves)
Garlic cloves (I didn't have fresh garlic on hand, so I used garlic powder)
White vinegar
Water
Fresh basil leaves
Canning salt (I used table salt)
Olive oil
Sugar

Fill pint jars with sliced peppers. In each jar put: 3-4 basil leaves, pinch of Italian seasoning, 1 tsp. salt, 2 cloves garlic (I used a pinch of garlic powder), and 1 tsp. olive oil.

Bring to a boil in a saucepan: 2 quarts vinegar, 1 quart water, and a pinch of sugar. Pour over peppers and seal jars. (I just used a clean commercial pickle jar and closed the lid after it had cooled a bit.)

Happy Birthday, Dear Charlie!

2008-08-21T17:25:00.001-05:00

Our favorite four-legged friend turned 8 years old this past week. Officially, it was August 19, but we ended up celebrating for two days, kind of...

On Monday, my mother-in-law invited us to join her for dinner, so she took time to spoil her "granddog" by giving him extra treats during our visit. And on Tuesday, we grilled pork chops (so that Charlie could have little tastes of meat), and then the three of us did one of Charlie's favorite activities; despite the hot, sticky weather, we all took a walk.

This photo is one that I took after our walk. Charlie had just finished drinking some water, but he was still panting from the heat. He looks like he has a big grin on his face. He's always our happy little guy.

We give thanks to the Lord for the blessing of a good dog. My friends and I prayed before I got Charlie nearly eight years ago. We asked the Lord to give me the right dog and that he would be a blessing to my life. I was single back then, and it meant so much to come home to a happy little dog after work. It still means just as much to me now, even though I have the blessing of marriage now. My husband and I will celebrate our fifth anniversary this year, so including our courtship time, he's known Charlie for nearly six years.

Fresh Tomato Soup

2008-08-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

Alongside homemade bread, I love a hot, steamy bowl of homemade soup. And this time of the year, with lovely tomatoes from the farmers market to use, I've made this recipe twice. It's a great way to use tomatoes that are still good, but need to be used in short order. And it's really fun for me to be able to use the fresh basil from the planter on my front deck.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 medium, very ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 handful fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp. sugar
1 small can tomato paste
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 can chicken broth
1 small pinch baking soda
1 cup whole milk

Saute onions in olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. When they are translucent, add tomatoes, garlic, basil, and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. Stir in tomato paste, garlic salt, and pepper. Add chicken broth and simmer for a few minutes. Add pinch of baking soda (this neutralizes some of the acid from the tomatoes). Add milk and simmer to heat for serving.

A new bread cookbook!

2008-08-21T17:15:00.000-05:00

I have a new cookbook, and I've been having fun working through the recipes!

Several weeks ago, maybe even months, I used my library's reserve system request a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzber and Zoe Francios. It took a long time to wait for my turn to have that book for two weeks, but it was well worth the wait. So as soon as I had to take it back to the library, I splurged and got it from the bookstore for my own cookbook collection here...It wasn't that I needed a new cookbook, but I'm really enjoying this book!

First, I made a batch of Oatmeal Bread. It was hearty and somewhat sweet, very much a treat, and so easy to make!

Next, I made a batch of Challah, and it was wonderful, too! And the best thing about that recipe is that you can freeze the dough if you want to save it for another time. I love flexibility of these recipes.

Basically, they have you make a large batch of very wet dough. You mix it up in a five-quart container (I use a five-quart plastic ice cream container and lid), and then you chill it until you're ready to bake.

The Oatmeal Bread was baked in a 9x13 bread pan, but the Challah was done free-form on a baking sheet. And just this week, I baked the basic Boule recipe. It's a round-ish sourdough-type loaf, and you bake it on a heated pizza stone. It comes out of the oven deep golden brown and really crusty on the outside.

I thought about including a recipe here, but it's really more the technique than most recipes. If you're interested in bread that really does take five minutes or less to handle (though it does require some rising and baking time), I'd highly recommend getting this book.

Rhubarb Cherry Jam

2008-08-12T10:50:00.002-05:00

One more rhubarb post today, and then I'll be caught up with my kitchen adventures for a while...And I should also give credit to the source of these rhubarb recipes. I got them from the "Ritzy Rhubarb Secrets Cookbook: Rhubarb Recipes by the Good Cooks of Litchville, North Dakota and the Surrounding Area."

I bought a copy of this cookbook when the ladies from a Litchville Lutheran church came to speak for my church's women's group. They didn't talk about rhubarb, but the cookbook sale was their way of raising funds for their church when they spoke at other churches. I don't know if this cookbook is even available anymore, but I'm so glad that I bought it years ago.

Anyway, this is a great recipe for freezer jam, sure to please even the most skeptical about eating something made with rhubarb. And it's another great way to use rhubarb without having to bake tons of quick bread, muffins, and pies. We like the baked goods made from rhubarb, too, but it's really nice to have recipes like this that can go into the freezer for future use.

Ingredients:
6 cups rhubarb, chopped finely
4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
21-oz. can cherry pie filling
3-oz. pkg. cherry gelatin

Mix rhubarb and sugar, and let stand overnight.

The next day, boil rhubarb mixture for 10 minutes. Put pie filling in blender and puree. Add pie filling to rhubarb and bring to boil again. Remove from heat, add gelatin, and stir until dissolved. Add almond flavoring and prepare for freezer storage.

Rhubarb Slush

2008-08-12T10:42:00.003-05:00

I don't have a photo of this recipe, but we've made it twice already this summer because it is so refreshing and such a good way to use a lot of rhubarb...Those of us who grow rhubarb know that it is a really good producer. And for us, we just don't need a lot of baked goods all of the time. So a recipe like this, which can wait in the freezer until needed, is perfect. We also served it recently for guests and shared the recipe with them.

Ingredients:
8 cups rhubarb, cut up
3 cups sugar
1 (3-oz.) box strawberry gelatin
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 small envelope unsweetened drink mix (like Kool-Aid)
2 quarts 7-up (actually, we buy cans and use only what we need each time we enjoy this slush)

Cook rhubarb in 2 quarts water until tender. Strain and discard the pulp that's left of the rhubarb, but keep the juice from the pot. To the juice, add sugar, gelatin, and lemon juice. Bring mixture to a boil to dissolve crystals. Add strawberry drink mix and water to make 1 gallon of liquid. Freeze until ready to use.

When you're ready to use the slush, take it from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Then, using a stiff metal spoon, scrape enough slush to fill your glasses three-quarter full. Fill the glasses with slush with 7-Up, and enjoy!

(Note: Next time I make this, I'm going to try another flavor, like orange or grape, or lemon or lime.)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2008-08-12T10:41:00.001-05:00

I tried a new rhubarb pie recipe this year, and I think we've found our family favorite now. Normally, my husband isn't as much of a rhubarb eater as I am, but he really enjoyed this pie.

Ingredients:
Pastry for 2-crust, 9-inch pie
3 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. corn starch
1 cup strawberries, sliced

Mix rhubarb, sugar, and corn starch until rhubarb is well coated. Stir in strawberries. Place in unbaked pie shell; cover with top crust. Sprinkle a little sugar over top.

Bake in 400-degree oven for 1 hour or until crust is brown and rhubarb is tender.

Blueberry Banana Muffins

2008-08-12T10:34:00.002-05:00

We had guests stay over recently, and I was really thankful to find a muffin recipe that wouldn't require a trip to the grocery store.

As usual, I made a few changes. I cut the amount of sour cream in half and used "light" instead of regular sour cream. But you'd never know it by the result. They were really good!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 cups mashed bananas
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 tsp. soda
4 cups flour
2 cups blueberries
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, sour cream, and bananas alternately with the dry ingredients. Fold in blueberries and nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. (Makes 2 dozen muffins.)

Almost No-Knead Bread

2008-08-09T20:03:00.006-05:00

I've been baking quite of bit of bread lately, and this is one of the loaves we've really enjoyed.

It's so easy, it really does deserve the name "Almost No-Knead Bread" and, as usual, I've altered the recipe just a bit for our personal family taste, and I simplified the method just a bit, too.

The original came from Cooks Illustrated, and I think that recipe was a take-off on another that I read online on the New York Times website some time ago.

While the original recipe calls for just all-purpose white flour, I've been using 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups of bread flour, for a more whole-grainy taste and a chewier crumb. And then I've found that with the time that I allow for raising the bread, I don't need to use the rapid-rise yeast that the original recipe requires. I use ordinary regular-rise yeast with great results. (Note: You don't have to use nearly as much yeast as most bread recipes require because of the long time that you give for the initial rise.)

Ingredients:

2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. yeast
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. water (room temperature)
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. mild-flavored lager
1 Tbsp. white vinegar

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir until a shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for around 18 hours. (Note: I don't worry about being specific with this time. I just mix it up after work one night and bake it sometime the next day.)

Spray a sheet of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and lay it into a covered 2-quart Pyrex casserole dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let sit for another 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, and then turn it down to 425 when you open the oven door to put your Pyrex dish inside. Be sure to remove the plastic wrap and then place the casserole dish cover on top of the dish, forming a little steam oven for your bread as it bakes. After 30 minutes, remove the Pyrex lid and let the bread back for another 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 210 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the finished loaf from the dish by carefully picking up the parchment paper under it, and let the loaf cool on a wire rack. Cool a bit before you cut into it for the nicest looking slices. Your bread should be deep golden brown with a really nice crusty crust and a chewy interior.

Raspberries from our garden

2008-08-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the time to grow vegetables in a garden for at least the last four years. I picked that number because that's how long it's been since I took a job with a long commute...But that job is with a ministry, and I really love the work. So, the lack of fresh veggies from my own garden is a sacrifice for a very worthwhile cause.

So, this summer, instead of tending my own garden, I've taken to making regular trips to our local farmers market. But one thing that my farmers market hasn't had is, thankfully, the one edible (beyond herbs) that we can eat from our garden. We didn't have many, but we did have raspberries this year.

This photo shows about one half of our 2008 raspberry "harvest". The plants are only two years old, so hopefully we'll have more in years to come. The plants were a gift from my husband's cousin, who is married to a botanist, so everything she gives me from her garden grows really well in this area. We enjoyed raspberries on ice cream one time, and then one time we added them to a fruit salad. They were wonderful! I hope there will be more in 2009! :-)

The gate to our future Asian-stye garden

2008-08-07T12:52:00.001-05:00

My husband has been working a lot in our backyard, as of late. Most impressively, he built this beautiful Asian-style garden gate. It serves as the opening in a new fence that he installed between the part of our backyard that our schnauzer, Charlie, considers his domain, and the part that, Lord willing, we will start to develop into a Japanese-style garden next year.

At this point, I'm just starting the research stage of trying to determine what to plant. We're looking at mainly perennials in this garden, so they have to be hardy to Zone 3. And because of all of the lovely tall trees in our yard and in the neighboring yards, they must also be shade tolerant.

On the sunnier side of this fence, we planted eight Miss Kim lilacs, which should only grow to between 4 and 6 feet. That will be enough to eventually cover the fence, and we probably plant lilacs or other bushes on the Asian side of the fence as well...Again, that's a project for another year.

We're doing this on our own time with our own labor, and we're working hard to keep it all within our limited budget. The wood chips that you see in the background of this photo were all free for the hauling during our city's annual clean-up day in June. We hauled seven trailer loads of wood chips to our yard and spent all morning and most of an afternoon one Saturday spreading them around. We'll move them around a bit more when we get ready to start planting in 2009.

The little lantern and dry pond that you see in this other photo was my husband's first effort toward our Asian-style backyard getaway. We live in a low-lying area and had to install a waterproofing system in our basement, which includes a pump that drains into the south side of our backyard. So, rather than have a swampy place to deal with, my Sweetie dug a little bone-shaped "pond" and lined it with river rock. Then he added the little stone lantern and the ferns that you see here. We named this little "pond" in honor of our dog, calling it "Little Bone Lake."

Pinwheel Coasters and a New "Garden" Blouse

2008-08-07T12:31:00.002-05:00

While we're on the theme of gardening, I've been doing some garden-inspired sewing as well.

I saw a post on another blog with a tutorial on making pinwheel coasters, but I knew that I could make them much faster and easier using a strip-piecing method. I cut a few 3-inch wide strips of two different colors of calico and then cut 3-inch squares from the strips. Then I paired together one square of each color and sewed them together on the diagonal. I trimmed at a diagonal leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance, and then ironed them flat. Then, taking four of these bi-color squares, I sewed them into pinwheel shapes. With a solid square for backing and a square of low-loft poly batting, I had a set of six pinwheel coasters in just a couple of hours. I think they turned out really sweet, and it was fun to tie them together for a gift for my husband's aunt.

Then, I made myself a new blouse with a garden theme. I had purchased this calico quilting fabric several years ago, but I had never figured out what I would be doing with it...I used to buy fabric all the time without a real plan for how to use it. These days I don't do that. Instead, I'm trying to use what I have on hand, only buying new fabric when there is a specific need that my fabric stash can't fulfill. I consider my stash to be a blessing, but it would be better to only buy when there's an actual need.

Anyway, this was an easy pattern, and it's been a fun blouse to wear with shorts and capri pants. Now, I'm working on another blouse, one that is sleeveless that I hope will work in the fall as well as the summer time. It's another calico from my stash, but the pattern is paisley in beige, brown, and off-white. I'm think that it should work well in the fall with my beige cardigan for warmth.

Planter hangers for our front deck

2008-08-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

My husband is always doing thoughtful things to make our home even more home-y. This summer, he added shepherd's crooks to our front deck so that I can hang hanging plants.

Even though life has been pretty stressful now for the past four months because of a project at work, every time I see the front of our house, it makes me smile. I am so grateful to the Lord for His gift of a thoughtful, creative, and talented spouse. I really don't know what I would do without him.

Salty the Sea Dog

2008-08-06T12:11:00.001-05:00

We finally made time last night after work to take our canoe out to the lake across the road from our house. It took less than five minutes to drive the trailer with the canoe to the boat launch, and less then 10 minutes to unload the boat, drive the car and trailer back to the parking area, and then walk back down to the boat. So we were in the lake in less than 15 minutes...Why haven't we done this before? Probably because we had to make time in our busy schedules to do it.

Anyway, it was so worth the time. We canoed for about an hour and a half. We probably paddled two or three miles round trip around "our" little lake. We didn't see all of it, but we did see enough to know that we want to go back.

I didn't bring the digital camera because I was nervous about it ending up in the lake. But my husband made a good suggestion for bringing it more safely next time. I'm going to pack it up in two layers of ziplock bags and keep it in a tummy pack when I'm not using it.

So, instead of posting photos of the beautiful blue herons that we saw, or any of the lovely patched of water lilies in various stages of bloom, I have a photo that I took before we left the house. This is Charlie, our schnauzer, also known as "Salty the Sea Dog" when we take him out in a boat. And he has his own little life preserver to wear now, thanks to a sale at Drs. Fosters and Smith. Sure, most dogs can swim, but this makes my husband and I feel better about taking Charlie with us in the canoe. He isn't thrilled to be wearing it, but he does look really cute. And after he's had it on for a few minutes, he seems to forget about it and just enjoy being able to come along with us.

Late-summer flowers in our garden

2008-08-04T14:12:00.009-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long again since I last posted on this blog site. Where is the summer going? And why is it going so quickly?

Actually, I know the reason it's going so quickly. It's become I've been so consumed with my work for the past four months. But I was finally able to upload our latest publishing project to the printer last Friday night, and today I'm really thankful to have a comp day to use for rest.

I slept late this morning, baked oatmeal bread and made fresh tomato soup for a simple lunch for the two of us, and I've been uploading digital photos and managing files on our home computer for the last couple of hours. I'm also doing laundry, and I plan to reconcile our checking account (which hasn't been done in ages), and back up all of our computer files on the external hard drive before leaving this desk in our kitchen.

Later today, we're planning to take our canoe out to the lake across the road from our house, and I also promised my husband that I would help him with some yardwork before the day's end...I love my work for the ministry, but it is so nice to have a little time off. So I'm not going to write much today, but I thought it would be good to add a few new photos since I have all these lovely images of our late-summer flowers to share with you. Despite my lack of time to give them much attention this summer, this has been the most colorful year I can remember in terms of flowers in our backyard garden.

My Uncle's Chicken Enchilada Recipe

2008-07-01T12:25:00.003-05:00

This recipe always makes me think of my dear Uncle Bruce, who passed away last year. He was such a blessing to our family. He was a true warrior and example of a life lived for Christ.

This recipe was one that he made for us at least a couple of times when we were in South Dakota and stopped by his house in Brookings to visit him and my Aunt Marian. It's definitely comfort food.

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup skim milk
1 cup light sour cream
1 small can chopped green chilis
4 chicken breasts, cooked and finely chopped
4 green onions
2 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz. shredded pepper jack cheese
10-20 medium flour tortillas

Heat soup, milk, sour cream, and chili peppers in a small saucepan. Mix chicken, green onions, and one-half of each cheese in a large bowl, and then distribute this mixture among the tortillas, rolling each tortilla and placing it into a prepared 9x13 baking pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and pour heated sauce mixture over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with chopped lettuce and salsa.

Another New Dress

2008-07-01T12:05:00.002-05:00

This photo is another one that has been waiting in line for posting. I finished this dress in time for our niece's high school graduation over Memorial Day weekend, and I've been enjoying wearing it since then to church.

It was a pattern I made years ago in a solid blue linen-type fabric. The fabric I used this time was a calico print. It was so much fun to make, and I'm anxious to have more time in the sewing room again soon.

I cut out two new summer blouses over Father's Day weekend during an hour or two while my husband was helping my father put his dock into the lake. I had hoped to have them sewn and ready to wear by now, but work at the ministry and outdoor projects at home have cut into my sewing room time for the last few weeks. Maybe over Independence Day weekend I can steal away for an hour or two in the sewing room...

My childhood home

2008-06-27T12:28:00.003-05:00

Another wonderful experience we've had this year and I haven't blogged about yet was a visit back to Ames, Iowa, where I lived from age 2-1/2 up to 24. Though I was born in another part of Iowa, this was my hometown. And other than a couple of short visits years ago, I hadn't been there in a long time.

We were coming home from our niece's graduation, and we ended up close enough to Ames to justify a short trip through town to see our old house. All I had hoped to be able to do was to stop long enough to see the outside from the street, and then maybe take a photo of the front of the house. But the Lord had a treat in store for me that day when the current lady of the house stepped out the front door.

We talked for a while, and I explained who I was, and then she graciously invited me in to look around. Even though she had family visiting for the holiday (Memorial Day), she patiently showed me every room, and I was so delighted to see the cherry tree we planted still doing well in the back yard and the basement bedroom still being used for a sewing room...just like my mother had done with it years ago.

Mom would have been so happy if she had been alive to tour our old house with me. My Dad was in the car that day, along with my husband, but neither of them wanted to go in the house with me. I just about cried when the lady of the house told me that she cans cherries from that tree every summer. Mom didn't have enough cherries back when we were there to can them, but she did have enough to make a few cherry pies every year.

I know that my true home isn't in Iowa, any more than it is in Minnesota. My true home is in Heaven with the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, but I'm so thankful that He gave me a little glimpse back into my childhood this year. I sent the family there a thank you note afterward telling them how much it meant to me. But I also thank God for this unexpected gift.

Last, but not least...the robins

2008-06-24T17:50:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had the great blessing of seeing a lot of wildlife this month, including this adult robin feeding a nest of baby robins. My husband found the nest on a ledge under my father's back deck, and the robins obviously knew somehow that we weren't a great threat to them. They continued to feed their babies as we watched and took photographs. I just wish my camera battery hadn't died when it did, or I could have gotten a video of the feeding process.

Continuing with my animal theme...

2008-06-24T17:46:00.003-05:00

One of our nieces has a growing colony of dwarf hamsters as pets, and our dog Charlie found them particularly fascinating to watch when we were visiting recently. The little hamster in the front was jumping up and down against the glass for a while. And when I put the rnning wheel back into their cage, he ran on it for several hours, pretty much nonstop.

When I asked my niece why she didn't leave the wheel in the cage all the time for them, she told me that they would be running on it all night if they could. And the sound of the wheel would keep her awake...Oh, to have such energy!

Not so wild animals...

2008-06-24T17:36:00.003-05:00

Another thing that has kept me busy this month is knitting. I've been working on my first lace knitting project, a large mohair shawl for myself, and I made three sweet little hedgehogs to give away for gifts. I gave one as a baby gift to my old college friends' new little baby girl, and I've promised the other two to my sister and her family. They were really fun to make, using three kinds of yarn, some embroidery floss for the face, and leather for the feet. If you'd like to make your own hedgehodge, it's a pattern call William the Hedgehog offered free on the Lion Brand website. It was very easy and very fun, and it sort of fits into the amigarumi knitting trend, though this pattern makes a hedgehog that is up to 10 inches long.

What we've been doing all month...

2008-06-24T17:15:00.003-05:00

Working...a lot. Hiking, gardening, home improvement, baking, sewing, and visiting family and friends.

And we've had the great blessing of seeing and even being able to photograph some Minnesota wildlife, like this loon family we spotted when we were up north over Father's Day weekend visiting my father. We've since learned that it's very rare to see two baby loons in one family. Thanks to my zoom lens, you can actually see the baby loons in this photo.

And, closer to home, we often see wildlife, too, like this deer we spotted on the trail near our home. one the walks near where were live. It stayed so still, almost like it wanted to photographed. But I know that's not true. It probably thought we wouldn't see it if it didn't move.

We often see deer near our home, as well as song and waterbirds, muskrats, and even an occasional opossum...I have a long commute to the ministry where I work because of where we live, but I wouldn't trade it for a shorter commute any day. I love to be close to wildlife like this. We thank the Lord for these blessings!

Spring is finally here!

2008-06-01T13:26:00.004-05:00

I took this photo two weeks ago, and I haven't had time since then to post it to the web. My tulips are now past, but my irises are starting to develop blossoms, and I've been thrilled to see that spring is finally here. In fact, we had the whole month of May to enjoy spring-like weather. We just turned the air conditioning on today for the first time since 2007, because the temps are in the 80s today.

Making our own pizza

2008-05-19T16:28:00.002-05:00

We love thin-crust pizza. There's a great little place down the road from our house that makes the best (in our opinion) thin-crust pizza. Because of that, I've steered clear of trying to compete at home. But recently, I found a recipe for thin-crust pizza dough that I really wanted to try. It wasn't as thin as the great pizza crust they make down the road, but it was really good just the same.

I also did a search online for homemade pizza sauce and found a really good sauce recipe as well.

As usual, I made a few adjustments from the original recipes. Here is what I did in the kitchen for both the pizza crust and the sauce.

Pizza Crust Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3-1/2 cups bread flour (divided)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg yolk

Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil and set aside. Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a measuring cup and set aside. Combine 3-1/4 cups of the flour with salt in a large bowl, stir in the yeast mixture, olive oil, and egg yolk, and mix until a soft dough forms. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead in the remaining 1/4 cup flour.Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to the prepared bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough doubles in volume (about 90 minutes). Punch the dough down and remove from the bowl. Use dough immediately or wrap in plastic and store refrigerated for up to 24 hours. To use immediately, divide the dough into desired number of pieces and roll out to desired shape. Pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes. Then top, and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 small bay leaf

In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and sauté until soft and transparent. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer for 30-60 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and spread the sauce on your prepared pizza dough.

Homemade Granola

2008-05-19T16:16:00.003-05:00

I recently made a big batch of granola with walnuts, coconut, wheat germ, and dried cranberries. This is one of my favorite things to have on a weekday for breakfast, with soy milk and sometimes fresh strawberries or bananas sliced on top...Yum!

Ingredients:

8 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2-3 cups seeds, nuts, or other add-ins (coconut, flax seeds, wheat germ, oat bran, walnuts, almonds, pecans, sunflower and sesame seeds, etc.)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, mix the oats with your other add-ins. In a small saucepan, heat oil and honey until blended and then add vanilla and salt. (Note: You could add a big spoonful of peanut butter, too, at this point, if you like.) Stir honey mixture into oats until everything is well coated. Spread into shallow roasting pan with sides. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes (until nicely browned), stirring every 5-10 minutes to ensure even cooking. After it's all baked and sitting on the counter to cool, you can mix in dried fruit.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

2008-05-08T11:54:00.002-05:00

Spring is here! And we enjoyed having dinner guests on Tuesday night this week!

We have two nieces and two nephews, but only one nephew lives in the area. So we had him and his wife over for steaks on the grill, corn on the cob, fresh green beans, and homemade whole wheat rolls. And I made our favorite fresh strawberry pie for dessert.

There's really nothing like the taste of strawberries this time of the year. They're not local yet, but the ones from California are really sweet right now. And this pie is the best way that I know how to enjoy them, other than just eating them straight from the carton.

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
2 cups hot water
2 (3-oz.) pkgs. strawberry gelatin
1 9-inch baked pie crust
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, sliced

Combine sugar and corn starch in a medium-sized saucepan so that no lumps of corn starch remain. Add hot water and stir to combine. Then cook over medium heat until thickened. Turn off the heat and add the two packages of gelatin, stirring to combine until smooth. Set aside to cool to lukewarm temperature.

Meanwhile, arrange the sliced berries in the pie crust. Then, when the gelatin mixture is lukewarm, pour it evenly over the berries, making sure that each has a nice covering of filling and that you can start to see the filling on the sides of the pie crust. Refrigerate for a few hours to set. Serve chilled with whipped cream.

(Note: This recipe for the filling makes enough for 1-1/2 pies, I've found. Put the remainder into a covered container in the refrigerator. It keeps well for a quite some time, and when you're ready to have this pie again, make just half the filling recipe to fill another pie crust with berries. When that new recipe of filling is done but still hot, add the reserved leftover filling from the first batch to the new filling and stir over low heat to combine.)

(Note: If you'd rather use the leftover filling right away, I've also found that it's good just poured over fresh fruit, like strawberries, blueberries, and bananas and served in pretty dessert cups. It's kind of a jello dessert, but more rich tasting than ordinary gelatin.)

My first hand-knit sweater

2008-04-30T11:20:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday, as my husband took his turn reading a book by one of our new favorite authors (Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness), I finished my first hand-knit sweater.

Even though I was listening and enjoying the chapter that he was reading, I had to try it on immediately and stand in front of our bedroom mirror to enjoy this new accomplishment.

Then the next day, being a workday, was a good opportunity to enjoy wearing it again. And for that reason, I didn't even mind that the high temperature that afternoon was only 45 degrees. I am looking forward to spring-like weather, but I really didn't mind the cold on Monday. It was so fun to enjoy wearing something I made that can keep me warm.

And now I'm back to knitting for others. I'm working on another little project for a future gift for my sister. Since she sometimes reads this blog, I won't give her any hints at this point about what it is. But it's quite a bit smaller than a sweater, which makes it perfect for a warmer weather project. I do want to make another sweater again someday. Maybe next fall I'll find another pattern and make one with this same pattern. It was easy for a beginner like me, and it only cost a dollar to download from Lion Brand. If anyone is interested in making this same sweater, it's posted here on the Lion Brand site.

How about Pasta e Fagioli for dinner tonight?

2008-04-30T11:17:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago, I went to Olive Garden with some friends from the ministry where I work, and I remember enjoying a soup called Pasta e Fagioli. We don't eat out very much, so I haven't been back to Olive Garden, and when I saw a recipe for this soup in my copy of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, I knew that I'd have to make a point of trying it.

I wasn't at all disappointed. It had more vegetables than the Olive Garden version, and this Pasta e Fagioli recipe is one we'll definitely make again. It's hearty and satisfying, with a great tasting base, starting with chicken broth, but then flavored with bacon, red pepper flakes, oregano, and lots of tomato, onion, and garlic. You top it all off with some grated fresh Parmesan.

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon, chopped medium
1 large onion, chopped finely
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
28 oz. diced tomatoes
2 (15.5-oz.) cans cannellini beans, rinsed
3-1/2 cups chicken broth
2-1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt (I used garlic salt)
8 oz. pasta (traditionally something like orzo, but I used small penne)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I used a tablespoon or so of dried)
1 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the bacon in a large heavy pot over medium heat until crisp. Stir in the onion, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook until the onion is softened. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, beans, broth, water, and garlic salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Stir in the pasta and cook until just slightly underdone. (Note: You want to be sure not to overcook the pasta, especially if you're using orzo or another really small kind of pasta, because you don't want the pasta to become mushy in your soup.) Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle individual bowls with Parmesan.

Note: Traditionally, you also drizzle a little olive oil on each serving of soup as a finishing step, but I always try to cut calories where I can (especially when the extra oil doesn't seem necessary). So I just topped each bowl with the Parmesan.

Karen has a brand-new bag!

2008-04-23T19:15:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, I was back to making something for myself again in the sewing room...I made this new bag for myself using, of all things, an old rag rug that I used to use in our kitchen.

My husband didn't like the rag rugs on the floor. He complained that they were too slippery. So they were relegated to the linen closet until...I found a pattern in a book from the library that showed how to transform ordinary household items into purses and tote bags. So I put one of those abandoned rag rugs to use, and I'm thrilled with the result.

The original pattern came from a book called Low-Tech Boutique: 25+ Quick & Clever Projects Using Ready-Mades by Cheryl Weiderspahn. There were several fun ideas in the book, but I settled on the one that wouldn't require a trip to the store. Actually, this pattern called for placemats for the part that you see on the front and in the interior of the bag that forms the exterior and interior pockets. But, not having coordinating placemats that I wanted to sacrifice for this project, I opted to use calico from my stash instead.

Though it's probably hard to see from this photos, I made generous use of pockets in this bag. The interior has pockets lining both sides in a variety of sizes--for my cell phone, glasses case, checkbook, keys, etc., as well as knitting needles, crochet hooks, embroidery scissors, depending on what I'm currently making...I rarely go anywhere without at least a small project in my bag to work on if I have to do any waiting.

Hand-Made Gifts

2008-04-23T19:11:00.002-05:00

In addition to clothing, I've been having fun making gifts again. Last Saturday was the birthday of a dear friend of mine from the office. So I surprised her last week at work with this sweet little flower pincushion and card.

I made the card using the same pattern that I used with the buttons on this version, but I made fabric yo-yos this time to use instead of the buttons. You can see that I used the same fabrics for the card that I used for the pincushion.

She was thrilled with the gift and said that she'd actually use this pincushion, whereas the hen pincushion that I made her last year is more of a decorative item for her sewing room. (I'll have to post a photo of that pincushion some time. I thought that I had done that already, but that must have been pre-digital camera.)

This friend loves to do crafts, too, and has recently been busy making simple baby quilts for future babies...We have a number of young women in our ministry who are newlyweds, and we're expecting to eventually receive a few birth announcements.

It's a really joy to work at a place where we can really participate in the major life events of our colleagues. In the past five years, my husband and I have had the pleasure of attending weddings and showers (both bridal and baby showers), and we've share in the sorrow of the grief of funerals as well...That makes me think of my Fighter Verse this week, about rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. God is so good to give us such fellowship in the workplace.

Sewing for Me

2008-04-23T19:02:00.004-05:00

Last fall I started to get an itch to sew clothes again. I hadn't done much fashion sewing at all in many years. Actually, I hadn't done that at all since moving to the Twin Cities, and it was especially painful to consider for a while because it reminded me so much of my mother, who passed away in October of 2003.

But now that time has smoothed a bit of the edge off the pain of losing one so dear, I'm finding it very sweet to honor her memory by sewing clothes for myself again.

Last fall, I sewed two peasant-style blouses and a simple six-gored skirt with an elastic waist. I also started the purple dress that you see here, but I didn't finish it until Easter this year. I was going to wear it to a wedding last fall, but I ended up wearing it to a wedding this spring. And now I'm thinking of more clothes for spring and summer.

The pink blouse on this post is what I finished two weekends ago. It's similar to the peasant blouses that I made last fall, except for the ruffle on the sleeves. It looks rather sloppy on the hanger, but I received three compliments the first day I wore it to the office. I plan to make another blouse like this soon, perhaps with flutter-style sleeves. I'll use this pattern for the body of the blouse and another for the sleeve variation.

I'm also considering another dress. The purple one above looks really nice on me, but the princess lines were challenging. Without my mother's help to handle the fine details of fitting princess lines, I'm finding that I really should make myself a dress form. My husband's willing to help me, and I know that it would be handy to have. I just need to find a good weekend to do it. In the meantime, I'm dreaming of making a dress with a sweetheart-style neckline in a lighter fabric to wear for the summer.

Sewing for myself is really satisfying. Not only can I make clothes to fit my unique preferences, but it's also creative and practical. And so much of what I see in the stores these days is far from what I'd consider modest. A plunging neckline only seems appropriate in the privacy of our home.

Two more reasons to enjoy this weather

2008-04-12T10:33:00.005-05:00

We didn't get a foot of snow, as some of the earliest forecasts predicted this time, but it does still look like winter out there, so I thought of two more reasons to enjoy this weather until spring is here...

11) I love to bake, and it warmed the house yesterday when I baked up another batch of my raisin bran muffins. And today, I started a batch of whole wheat bread using my Herman sourdough starter.

12) We can enjoy our fireplace. My husband built a fire for us last night to enjoy while we listened to the last CD in the set for Dorothy Sayer's mystery titled "Gaudy Night." If you've never tried any of Dorothy Sayer's mystery books (there are 14 in this series), we'd highly recommend them. They're extremely well written. Sayers was one of the first female Oxford graduates, and at some point in her life she became a Christian and spent her last years writing theological books. But before then, she wrote really clever mysteries that have kept us guessing until the end every time. And, though they are fictional, her books are said to give an accurate picture of life in England during the period between the two World Wars as seen through the eyes of a British nobleman.

So that's probably three reasons to enjoy this weather as we wait for spring here in "frozen North". But actually, my husband and I enjoy books together year-round. We're always reading a book together at night before going to sleep, or listening to one on CD or on e-download from the library. We don't watch television, except for the major sporting events (e.g., the Super Bowl), and we don't know when we'd have time for TV anyway, if there was ever anything worthwhile to watch. I'm so glad that my husband loves books as much as I do, and that we can share the joy of reading together.

Top Ten Reasons to Be Happy Despite the Weather

2008-04-09T18:24:00.003-05:00

For those of us who live in the "frozen North" (aka Minnesota and all parts northward), this is the time of the year when we tend to become a bit grumpy about winter weather. We have our first snowfall sometime around the end of October usually, and we really don't officially start spring here most years until sometime in May.

Before then, we're liable to have little glimpses of spring, but we must not get too attached to the idea yet. We must just accept the fact that until mid- to late-May, snow is still possible. In fact, if you live north of the Twin Cities, you might even have snow longer. I heard earlier this week that Virginia, Minnesota had about 20 inches of snow recently.

So last night as I was driving home from work listening to the radio and hearing reports of more snow coming, the thought occurred to me that I should come up with at least 10 good (in my opinion) reasons to be happy despite the weather.

So here are my top 10 reasons:

Jesus is Lord! That's always my top reason for being happy. Our happiness (or joy) must not be based on circumstances. Only Jesus can fulfill the deep needs of my heart, and everything else (and everyone else) will eventually fail to meet my expectations.
As a believer, God commands my joy. The Bible tells me to delight myself in the Lord. That's not a suggestion. It's a command, and yet it's a command that will be to my own personal advantage to follow.
Conversely, God is not happy with those who complain. In fact, it's a sin, because when we grumble about this world or this life or our circumstances, etc., we're really grumbling against God. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they grumbled, and as a result, God had them wandering around for 40 years before He brought them to the Promised Land. I've heard it said that it should have only taken 11 days to get there.
God gives us the snow for our own good. It's a great source of water for the soil, which is good news for our local farmers, as well as those of us who garden. It goes into the earth much more evenly than rain in most places, and this has not been a snowy winter for those of us in central Minnesota. We need the snow, or a really wet, rainy spring, or we'll be facing possible drought conditions in the summer. Last summer, as I recall, some of parts of the metro had watering bans because of drought conditions.
Cold snowy weather makes it really nice to snuggle with my Sweetheart and our dog. When it's cold, we love to snuggle. And when it's not cold, I'm convinced my husband likes to artificially make it colder in our house so that snuggling will still be enjoyable...I'm so thankful for a husband who loves being affectionate.
Continued cold, snowy weather means that I can continue to enjoy my vast sweater collection. That's not a very lofty reason for happiness, but it is sincere. And that's probably why I got into knitting recently and got back into doing crochet. I love sweaters, and I'm nearly done with knitting my first personally-knit sweater.
Cold, snowy weather means that I can also focus on sewing and other indoor activities, instead of feeling guilty that I'm not out pulling weeds in the garden. Though I love our garden and our plant boxes, and I look forward every year to enjoying the flowers and other greenery, it does mean that I have less opportunity to "play" in my sewing room. In fact, after I post this, I'm heading upstairs to work on a new spring blouse. I know I"ll be able to wear it soon, and until then, I enjoy the spring colors in the fabric as I work with it.
Those of us who live in climates where we experience a long winter REALLY appreciate the spring and summer. I'm convinced that this is the reason gardening is so very popular in this part of the country. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder when it comes to gardening. We have a really condensed growing season here, and we really make the most of it.
We enjoy four true seasons here. For me, Christmas is all the more lovely because we usually have a blanket of snow on the ground. And then spring is so amazing with its first flowers especially. I eagerly look forward to seeing my hyacinths pop up and blossom, and then the tulips, followed by the irises. And fall is gorgeous with all of its warm browns and reds and golds. We have so many trees that display fall colors.
Because of our long, cold winters, insects and rodents don't have much time to grow large or to procreate. I know that spiders and beetles and cockroaches are God's creatures just as much as the rest, but I wouldn't want to live in a place where bugs have the whole year to grow and get larger. Oh, and snakes, too...

It really is good to live in the northern climates. I know that it's not for everyone, but I'm really happy here. And I imagine that we'll have four climates in heaven, too, probably. But if we do, we'll have them with all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages.

Cloche Hat and Scarf

2008-04-01T10:23:00.002-05:00

My sister just sent me this photo to post on the blog. It's the cloche hat and scarf that I made for her birthday this year. It's not actually for the teddy bear. He's just serving as a very cooperative model for her photo.

I made the hat using a free online pattern from Lion Brand the scarf pattern came from a book by Debbie Stoller that I borrowed from the library...You know, it's been more than two year since I started crocheting again and nearly a year since I re-taught myself how to knit, and I've only needed to buy one pattern for crochet or knitting during that time. Most of my yarn has been from my mother's stash, though I did buy a few skeins this winter for various projects. But God has provided for all of this, and I am truly grateful. I love to be able to share gifts I make myself with family and friends.

Right now, I'm working on a project for myself. Some of that newly purchased yarn was a gift from a friend who gave me a JoAnn Fabrics gift card for Christmas last year. I used that gift to buy enough skeins of Wool-Ease in the Denim Twist color to make myself a sweater. It will be my first knit sweater, and I'm a little more than halfway done with it now. I work on it during lunch hours at the office, on long car rides, and sometimes during family gatherings when everyone is just sitting around watching a sporting event on TV. That sweater is the first and only pattern that I've chosen to buy. And it was only $1 to download from Lion Brand.

I have no business interests in Lion Brand personally, nor do I know anyone who works there, but I'd highly recommend their patterns and yarn, especially for beginners. I've had a few questions about things I hadn't done before as I've been working on this pattern, and each time it's only taken a matter of hours for someone at that company to write back in response to my emailed question with an answer that has made it possible for me to continue with my pattern. They really seem to care about making their customers successful in doing their projects. That's good business for them, of course, but good customer service is rare in this day and age. It's such a blessing when you find a company that really stands behind its products.

Sorry for the long absence

2008-03-23T19:12:00.006-05:00

I can't believe that it's been more than a month since my last blog post. Somehow, nearly the entire month of March has passed me by. I guess the combination of deadlines at the office along with extra work to meet them, plus company every weekend has made it difficult to find spare moments to keep up with everything.

But I have found time for cooking, and I've even managed to finish up a few knitting and sewing projects. Unlike our dog Charlie, pictured above resting his head on my husband's foot, I haven't been laying around and sleeping, though there have been times of rest as well...thanks be to the Lord for that.

We've had a great time with all of our various friends and relatives who have visited us this month, and we're looking forward to another little dinner party this coming Friday after work. We're having two couples join us for dinner, both of whom are active in ministry in the Philippines. One of the couples plans to move there permanently after retirement, and we're looking forward to hearing more about their potential plans for that time. The other couple is funding a number of missionaries in the Philippines, and both couples regularly return to the country for ministry.

At this point, my husband and I haven't felt a call to do overseas mission work, even on a short-term basis. We've actively helped others who do this, seeing ourselves as "senders" rather than "goers." But we always want to be open to what God might have for us. And we're very grateful to have opportunities to help others who are "goers", sometimes financially and always with prayer. We're not at all financially wealthy, except by the standards of the developing world, but God always provides enough to share.

I hope that you're all doing well this month, and that you've taken time to really meditate on the gift of Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection. We're blessed to be able to celebrate this month with the mainline part of the Church on Resurrection Sunday, and then again next month with the Messianic part of the Church on Passover...As you probably know, Jesus celebrated Passover during the week before His crucifixion, and that Last Supper Passover Seder was the model for what we now know as Communion. What a rich and blessed heritage we have, and what an overwhelmingly precious gift we have received in Jesus!

Hot Cross Buns

2008-03-23T19:00:00.005-05:00

As my husband and I work together to establish our own family traditions, we've been trying to focus on those that have real meaning to our faith and values.

For example, we've eliminated just about everything at Christmas related to Santa Claus, so that we can focus on the real meaning of the holiday, which is Jesus' birth.

And for the time of the year when we celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection, we've been eliminating the Easter Bunny from our home. It's not that Santa or the Bunny are bad; they just seem to distract from what is real and important in our lives.

So for Resurrection Sunday, I thought a lot this year about what to bake and how to decorate, and I decided that our family's Hot Cross Bun recipe is meaningful to me. Not only does it remind me of my maternal grandmother and her Danish heritage, but it also makes me think of Jesus' death on the cross because of the cross cut into the dough before it's baked and then embellished with frosting afterward.

I experimented with my mother's recipe this year, because I wanted to use some of my Herman sourdough starter as a base. So I combined two recipes, one from my mom's collection and one from one of sourdough cookbook to come up with what I think turned out to be the best Hot Cross Buns I've ever made. They are moist and sweet and have just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg in the dough, along with a nice distribution of currants. I served them as part of our dinner on Sunday when we had family and friends joining us.

Ingredients:
1 tsp. dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water (115-120 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 Tbsp. sugar
1-1/2 cups sourdough starter
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2/3 cup currants
2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
(Note: You will also need additional butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract for finishing.)

Add yeast and sugar to warm water to activate the yeast. Measure sourdough starter into mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients except for the flour, and mix to combine. Add the flour a small portion at a time until you have a stiff dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary. Dough will be soft.

Place dough into greased bowl and cover with a warm, moist cotton (not terrycloth) towel. Set in a warm place and let rise for two hours until doubled in size. (Note: Because we keep our thermostat low, I had to let it rise for more than two hours so that it would be doubled in size.)

Punch down the dough and shape it into 1-1/2-inch balls. Dip top of dough balls into more melted butter and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Cut deep cross in each bun with scissors. Bake at 400 degree Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly. Then pour glaze (made with powdered sugar and a little milk and vanilla extract) into crosses and serve.

A Tote Bag for Spring

2008-03-23T18:53:00.007-05:00

Here is one of the projects I made during my absence from this blog. A dear friend of mine, who has been there for me during both good times and bad over the past 9 years, had a birthday, and I made her this tote bag for a gift. I was thrilled by her response to it.

This project started with the little pieced basket square that I ended up using to embellish the front of the bag. I had a couple of little quilt block "kits" in my stash that I decided that I should put together and use finally. (They've probably been in my possession since the early '90s.)

So I made this little basket square and then searched in my stash for coordinating fabrics. I was thrilled to find this gorgeous green floral, and then equally pleased with the match it made with both the basket square and the pink floral that I used for the lining. As my dear friend said when she saw it, "Oh, it's so girly! I love it!"

I love this bag, too, but I love even more that I could share it with my dear friend. It has two interior pockets, each divided into little sections. One section is sized just right for a cell phone, another for her glasses case, and the others in miscellaneous sizes to accommodate other necessities. And the bag is roomy enough to hold her yarn for crochet projects, too...She's a really clever lady, who loves to design her own crocheted hats. Maybe someday she'll even make one for me? :-)

Blueberry Scones

2008-03-23T18:50:00.004-05:00

One of my friends loves to watch America’s Test Kitchens on public television. My husband and I rarely turn on the TV, unless it’s a special sporting event, like the World Series or the Super Bowl. So I would never know about programs like this or their websites, if it weren’t for her enthusiasm in sharing these recipes.

So to that friend I am very grateful for sharing with me recently the recipe from America’s Test Kitchens for Blueberry Scones. Hands down, these are the best scones my husband and I have ever tasted!

Unlike many scone recipes, which are dry and crumbly, these scones are moist without being cake-like. And they’re sweet and buttery, too…definitely richer than other recipes I’ve tried. But if you don’t make them often, I think they’re worth the few extra calories.

Ingredients:
1 stick + 2 Tbsp. frozen unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
½ cup whole milk
½ cup sour cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Grate the stick of butter into a bowl and then freeze again until needed. Keep blueberries in freezer until needed, too.

Whisk together milk and sour cream in a medium-sized bowl and then refrigerate until needed.

Whisk together flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add frozen grated butter to the flour mixture and toss until thoroughly coated.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture and fold with spatula until just combined. Transfer dough to a liberally floured work surface, dust dough with more flour, and flour your hands as well before kneading the dough six to eight times, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. At this point, it should just hold together in a ragged ball.

Roll dough into a 12-inch square. Fold it into thirds like a business letter (bringing part of it up half way and then bringing the other part down over the folded part). Then lift the short ends of the dough and fold into thirds again to form a 4-inch square. Transfer dough to a plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer for five minutes.

Transfer chilled dough to floured work surface and roll into a 12-inch square again. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over the surface of the dough, pressing them down to slightly embed into the dough.

Roll the dough into a tight log. Lay seam-side down and press log into a 12-x4-inch rectangle. Using a sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle into 4 equal rectangles, and then each rectangle into two triangles. Transfer the eight triangles onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter and brush it over the tops of the scones. Then sprinkle them with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake at 425 degrees in a pre-heated oven until tops and bottoms are golden brown, about 18-25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

To Make Ahead:
Refrigerate unbaked scones overnight or freeze until needed. When ready to bake refrigerated scones, heat oven to 425 degrees and bake as directed above. For frozen scones, heat oven to 375 degrees and extend the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.

Important Tips:

It’s important to work the dough as little as possible—knead and fold the dough only the number of times specified.
The butter should be frozen solid before grating, and if it your climate is warm or humid, you’ll also want to chill the flour mixture and the work bowls. If using frozen berries, do not defrost them.
An equal amount of raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries can be used instead, as long as larger berries are cut into ¼- to ½-inch pieces first.
Refrigerate or freeze leftover scones in an airtight container. To serve, place scones on baking sheet again and heat in a 375-degree oven until warmed and re-crisped.

The Valentine I made for my Sweetheart

2008-02-24T13:27:00.004-06:00

It's well past Valentine's Day now, but I did want to post this Valentine that I made and gave to my husband this year. I made it with fabric from my stash ironed on with double-sided fusible web. I want to make more of these soon, maybe with different variations on this theme...like maybe the little boy holding a fishing rod and maybe the little girl holding a bouquet of flowers. I love the Sunbonnet Sue quilt patterns, and I need to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt someday. But until then, it's fun to play with the design with smaller-scale projects like this.

Handmade greeting cards

2008-02-24T12:43:00.004-06:00

I love to make my own greeting cards. I don't do it all the time. We have a long list of people we try to remember for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, Christmas, and sometimes also Easter, Passover, and Hanukkah. But when I can find time to make my own cards, it's very satisfying.

Last week, I had an unexpected request for handmade cards, so I was really thankful to find a downloadable PDF online at this website for these cards with buttons from my stash at home. All I had to do was print the PDF onto a sheet of cardstock and use my hot glue gun to attach the buttons. Super easy, and super cute, I think.

I made them for a young woman from the Ukraine who has been interning for our ministry for the past six months. She's been a huge blessing to all of us, and I had the privilege of spending more time with her than many in the office because she was staying for much of her time here with a family in our part of the Twin Cities. So we commuted together to and from the office, and I had the joy of learning more about her life in that country, her family, her faith story, and even learned a few Russian words.

I'll miss Olya now that her time with us has ended, but I'm hoping that we can stay in touch via email, at least, and I find it so encouraging to remember that she's not only our friend, but also our sister in Christ. If we never see her again in this world, we'll see her someday in heaven...What a gift God has given us to have family in Christ all over the world, from every tribe, and tongue, and nation. Praise the Lord!

Mittens for my Sweetheart

2008-02-18T19:00:00.006-06:00

I finished a pair of mittens for my Sweetheart, just in time for another way of bone-chilling temperatures here in the Twin Cities.

As one of my coworkers reminded me this morning, winter is only half over in this part of the country. We can have snow as late as April, which could be depressing if you don't just fix your heart on being thankful for each day, regardless of the forecast.

Here's one thing to be thankful for today. I had a sunrise to enjoy on my drive to work this morning, and it was still light outside for an hour after I got home again this evening. That's almost 11 hours of daylight, after several weeks of driving to and from work in the dark.

Also, I'm thankful that my favorite AM radio stations will have a signal during some of my off-work hours. I don't understand why, in this day and age, only a few select radio stations are allowed to broadcast at full power during the hours before sunrise and after sunset. But whatever the reason, I'm thankful to have more choice in terms of stations on the radio.

Those are just a few reasons specifically that I'm thankful today. I could also talk about my sweet husband, who obligingly allows me to take his photo wearing his new mittens, just as long as I don't include his face in the photo.

Oh, and he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt this time of the year. He wears them all year round. He does have a warm coat to wear outdoors, but he's happy to wear a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt indoors any time. When I remark about how I can't believe that he can be warm when I'm shivering beside him in church--me wearing wool from head to foot--he just tells me that it's the "curse of testerone".

And I really can't end this post with my partial list of reasons to be thankful without being thankful to the Lord, who created my Sweetheart and gave him a heart to love me. God is so good to us. Happy Belated Valentine's Day, Honey!

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

2008-02-07T14:55:00.001-06:00

I love slow cooker recipes. It’s so satisfying to mix a few things together and set it to cook for several hours.

I often do this the night before and make room for the slow cooker in the refrigerator so that I can just take it out and plug it in before I leave for the day. When I come home from work, the house smells wonderful, and my main dish for dinner is nearly done. When I do a roast, I usually just serve it as is, carved and served with baked potatoes (made in the microwave), a microwaved vegetable, and a quick tossed salad. Oh, and I also make a quick gravy with the juice from the roast.

But recently, I decided that I wanted to try another way of cooking a roast. I’ve been tempted at the grocery store by the pre-made shredded beef and pork products, but as usual, I wanted to make it myself at home. So when I found this recipe through the Reiman Publications Taste of Home Menu Newsletter, I thought it would be worth a try.

As usual, I made a few changes for our own kitchen. I increased the garlic and onion, and the amount of cayenne pepper to give it more kick. Also, I didn’t have regular cola on hand, so I used some of my husband’s favorite cherry-flavored cola instead (Cherry Coke or Cherry Pepsi).

It turned out wonderful! And it was so easy to make! I served it on hamburger buns with roasted asparagus, and homemade spicy garlic pickles on the side…Yum!

Ingredients:
¾ cup cola
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. vinegar (I used red wine vinegar, because that’s what I had on hand)
¾ tsp. chili powder
¾ tsp. ground mustard
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 boneless rump roast (2 pounds)
3 medium onions, chopped
1 cup ketchup

Combine everything but the roast, onions, and ketchup in a 4-cup measuring cup. Set aside.

Cut the roast in half crosswise, and brown meat on all sides in a nonstick skillet.

Place onions in a 3-quart slow cooker. Top with meat, and pour half the cola mixture over the meat (saving the other half and refrigerating it until later). Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat is tender. Remove meat from cooking liquid to cool a bit. Strain the onions from the liquid and put them back into the slow cooker, saving the liquid. Shred the beef with two forks and add it back to the slow cooker with the onions.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cola mixture that you saved in the refrigerator and about half the leftover liquid from the meat with the ketchup to make a barbecue sauce to add back to the meat and onions. Mix together and heat again to serve.

A new bag...keeping my resolution for January

2008-02-03T17:17:00.000-06:00

Well, one month into the year, and I've managed to keep most of my resolutions...by the grace and mercy of God.

One of them was to make one small sewing project each month, or make progress on one larger project each month. And for the month of January, I combined that resolution with my plan to make a birthday gift for one of my dear friends from northern Minnesota...Since she doesn't have email access, I can post this photo and write about her gift even though she won't be receiving it until next weekend.

I made her a bag using a free online pattern that I found on a website I frequently visit for inspiration when it comes to sewing and crafts, called Artsy Crafty Babe. The blogger is an amazing woman who combines a full-time job outside the home with a full-time job at home caring for a husband and children, and she somehow also manages to make really creative things with fabric, especially cute totes and purses.

This is the fourth bag I've made from this pattern. The first two bags were done exactly as the pattern specified, and the last two have been a slight variation using two different fabric prints and creating contrasted pleated panels, as you see in my photo above. The two prints, though you can't tell from this photo, both have a little teddy bear near a window. Since my friend who will receive this bag adores teddy bears (she even had a teddy bear on a banner for wedding reception), I know that she'll like these two prints.

The lining of the bag has the lighter colored print, and the two straps each have one print or the other, for additional contrast. Oh, and I also added a second pocket to the interior of the bag since I made my first one, based on a suggestion from a friend who received my second of these bags for a gift this Christmas. She had pointed out that having a pocket on each side of the interior would give it more balance, and it did. But even more importantly, I think, it added more pockets for small things...I never seem to have a purse with enough pockets.

The size of this bag is also a nice feature. It's not so huge that it can't be a purse, but it is large enough to carry my smaller knitting projects, which I bring to the office to work on over the lunch hour most days.

Finally, I love the width of the straps of this bag. They stay on my shoulders better than most of my purse straps do. I'll probably try other bag patterns someday, but now I'm really sold on this one.

My birthday present...10 months early

2008-02-03T17:03:00.000-06:00

In addition to my husband's job as a piano teacher, he also does handyman projects. And even though he does have that type of work to keep him busy this month, he still found time to make me another present. By our count, he's now up to my birthday for 2008, and my birthday is in November.

Let's see...Since last fall, he's painted the spare bedroom (which is also my sewing room and our exercise room), installed two ceiling fans, built me a wonderful new wall-mounted bookshelf, and made me a beautiful new oak quilt rack. And most recently, he made me a spice rack for the kitchen.

I ordered 32 four-ounce glass jars with lids (and some with sifters) from a online business called the Spice Barn (which provided great service and value), and he used leftover wood from another building project to make two rows of shelving for my spices. I made labels on our computer, and he helped with the labeling and transferring of all of my most-used seasonings.
The result is a beautiful, well-organized storage system that makes cooking even easier and more fun in my kitchen. And it also cleared out quite a bit of space in the nearby cupboards.

I had been over to a coworker's house for lunch before Christmas, and I had seen her impressive display of Penzey's spices on a lovely wooden rack...I can't really justify that amount of cost on our budget, but I did love the look of those well-organized spices, all in neat uniform jars. I think our overall cost for this project was under $50, including wood, fasteners, finish, and the spice jars...I feel very blessed.

I'm done with my first pair of socks!!!

2008-02-03T16:49:00.000-06:00

Another project I did while I was sick was finish my first pair of hand-knit socks. I used the pattern and method described on Knitting Step by Step, a knitting podcast. The instructions were a little tricky to follow when I got to the part where I was knitting the gusset, but another site I found proved to be a good supplement to the podcast's instructions.

Oh, and I should probably explain that I enlisted my husband's help to take this photo of me and new socks. I was sitting on our living room couch in my pajamas at the time (convalescing from my head cold). The little gray guy in the background of the photo is our dog Charlie, who is also lounging. He's wearing a little doggie sweater, which I didn't knit, but it's still cute.

Now I'm on to another knitting project. I'm making a pair of mittens for my husband to use as liners under his big leather chopper mittens. The choppers have linings already, but with sub-zero temperatures like we've been having here in Minnesota this winter, wearing a second pair of mittens underneath the choppers will be helpful, especially when he's clearing our long driveway.

I'm so grateful to have his help with that. When I was living here as a single woman more than four years ago, I hired a snowplow to do my driveway, but I still had to keep up with the front walk and the porch and deck. Now my Sweetie does it all...Thank the Lord!

Easy and Delicious Roast Chicken

2008-02-03T16:29:00.000-06:00

First of all, I apologize for the long lapse in posting on this site. My husband and I are just getting over our third severe sinus/head cold this winter. He teaches piano, and he has double the students this year, and all we can think is that we're being exposed to double the germs than we are usually are...In any case, every time I've found myself feeling really tired as well as congested. Thankfully, I was spared the high fever that my husband had several days ago.

In any case, I haven't quick cooking or doing crafts during this time. I've just slowed down a bit. But one recipe I found was easy enough to make even when you're sick with a bad cold.

I found a recipe for roast chicken is even easier than my favorite recipe for roast turkey. All you do is season the bird well with garlic salt and pepper and then roast in a 450-degree oven for about an hour for 2-1/2-pound bird (my two chickens, pictured above, took an extra hour because they were both larger birds and had a combined weight of about 7 pounds).

When the meat registers 165 degrees at the thicken part, take it out of the oven and sprinkle it generous with leaf thyme and rubbed sage. Then baste it a few times with the rendered fat in the pan (you could add a little melted butter, too, but I had enough pan juices to baste it well). And that's it. Serve your chicken and enjoy! And be sure to save the bones and leftover meat for homemade chicken soup, chicken and biscuits, etc.

Don’t throw away that ham bone until you’ve made some soup!

2008-01-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

Here in Minnesota, it’s not just cold in the winter—it’s BITTERLY COLD! That’s what one of my co-workers said last month as he was experiencing his first exposure to Minnesota winter. In response, I gently reminded him that it was only December. Historically, January is even colder.

All that to say, it’s a great time of the year to think about making soup, especially a crockpot recipe that not only warms you as you eat it, but also warms your kitchen a bit while it’s cooking all day long.

That’s what I did yesterday while I was working from home. I put together a big crockpot of Lentil-Ham Soup in the morning. When my husband came home last night, we both enjoyed this hot, hearty meal. And because it makes a big batch, we’ll enjoy it again as planned-overs in the days ahead.

I choose to title this post “Don’t throw away the ham bone…” because I used a ham bone that my mother-in-law saved for me after baking a ham for Christmas Eve this year. She wrapped it in foil and packed it in a zippered freezer bag along with some of the leftover meat from the meal. She gave it to me because she knows that I’m probably the only woman in our family who regularly makes soup…I’m very thankful to have such a thoughtful and generous mother-in-law.

So that’s one good way to get a hold of a ham bone so that you can make this wonderful recipe. Or, you can do like we also do and watch for sales on bone-in ham before holidays. Our local grocery chain often has a buy-one-get-one-free sale before Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. So we always try to have a ham or two in our chest freezer. Then, because it’s usually just two of us for dinner, I slice each ham into dinner-sized portions, saving the bone for a future soup meal. You can also make this soup without the bone if you just have the meat to use. But I have found that the bone imparts a much richer flavor to the recipe.

Lentil –Ham Soup

1 lb. (2-1/3 cups) dry lentils
1-1/2 cups chopped carrot
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
¼ cup snipped parsley
1 tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp. dried marjoram, crushed
½-tsp. ground black pepper
2 large bay leaves
1 meaty ham bone (about 1-1/2 lbs.)

Add all ingredients to your crockpot, ending with the ham bone on the top. Add 7 cups water. Cover and cook on medium setting for 9-11 hours. Lift ham bone from soup. Remove meat from bone, and chop and return meat to soup. Serves 10.

More photos of Laura's Quilt

2008-01-10T14:05:00.001-06:00

A new quilt rack for a newly finished quilt!

2008-01-10T13:50:00.000-06:00

My sweet, generous, and thoughtful husband has just finished making a quilt rack for me. He built it out of oak, stained it, and added a large doll rod to hand the quilt. It also has a 5-1/2-wide shelf on top so that I can also use it to display other things, like tea cups, glass figurines, etc...stuff that is now crowding other shelves or is taking up storage room in our closets...What a gift my husband is to me!

The first quilt to hang on this lovely new rack in our spare bedroom is one that I finished binding between Christmas and New Year's. It's called a "Laura's Quilt," and it features redwork embroidery that I finished back in 2002. I finished the quilting last summer, made the bias binding in early November, and finally found time the last weekend of December to bind it.

This quilt has so many precious memories for me. For one, it features embroidery with a Laura Ingall's Wilder theme, including Pa's fiddle, a water bucket, a jar of plum preserves, a bonnet, a butter churn, and even a little girl dressed like Laura and her sisters would have dressed in their time.

My mother each made a quilt like this, though Mom's was finished and hung in my parent's great room years ago. We started them together and worked on them when I went up north to visit her and Dad. It was hard to work on projects like this during the first couple of years after she died, but two years ago I started again, and it's been a blessing to see projects like this finally done...I couldn't help but think how happy Mom would be now if she could see this pretty quilt displayed on my lovely new quilt rack...I am very thankful.

Pork (or Chicken) Fried Rice

2008-01-10T12:30:00.000-06:00

We grilled pork steaks recently and ended up grilling more than we needed that night. So I immediately thought of this fried rice recipe that my husband and I both really enjoy.

It originated with a recipe that came from the Splendid Table program on Public Radio, but I've adapted it quite a bit from the original. I always add more types of vegetables, and I also add oyster sauce just before serving for additional flavor. This makes a big batch, so we generally enjoy it three times before it's all gone.

Oh, and I should mention that the sesame oil, if you haven't tried it before, is a key ingredient in this recipe. You don't use much, but it has a big and important impact on the dish. It adds a lovely warm, nutty flavor that can't be beat! (Store the bottle of oil in the refrigerator after opening.)

Ingredients:
4 eggs, beaten
salt and black pepper, to taste
vegetable oil for frying
1 lb. thin-sliced meat (pork or chicken)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 (generous) cup diced carrots (cooked to tender)
other vegetables as available (I sliced up leftover green and yellow zucchini squash)
6 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 cups cooked white rice
2 Tbsp. (or more) oyster sauce

In a wok or large non-stick fry pan or pot with a small amount of oil, cook the eggs as if making an omelet without any filling. Season with salt and pepper, and flip once to cook both sides. Then remove to a plate and slice in thin strips to add to the fried rice before serving.

In the same pot, stir fry the meat, using more oil if necessary. (I skipped this step since my meat was already grilled, and then added it after stir frying to reheat it.) Then add the onions and garlic and stir-fry until the onions start to become translucent. Add the mushrooms, carrots, and any other vegetables that you want to use. As I mentioned earlier, I also sliced up some leftover green and yellow zucchini squash.

When the meat and vegetables done, add the cooked rice and stir to mix. Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce, then the green onions and eggs. Serve hot, and enjoy!