Legwarmers - baby-style

When my sister’s lifelong best friend had a baby recently, I wanted to knit something for her other than the expected hat or blankie. Baby legwarmers seemed like the obvious choice, as they are practical and oh-so-cute. Sara is really into the pink and black rocker baby scheme, so I picked up Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in those colors. Baby Cashmerino is a baby-soft blend of merino wool and cashmere and it’s available in a wide array of fun colors. I settled on a stripe pattern, originally with a turquoise blue stripe between the pink and black stripes, but I soon realized how much more time I would have to spend at the end weaving in loose ends, and I went with straight black and pink.

I improvised on the pattern after looking at a few other patterns to determine the optimal circumference and length. I wanted them to be full leg length, so they could be worn with a onesie in place of pants and keep baby warm. I started by casting on 46 stitches on number 2 needles and knit the bottom cuff in 1x1 rib stitch for 13 or so rounds. Then I changed colors and started in stockinette stitch, which increased the circumference to about 6 inches. I alternated colors every 10 rounds for even stripes of pink and black for about 10 inches. For the upper leg cuff, I increased every two stitches to make the cuff large enough to fit over the upper thigh.

As many of my projects, this one took way longer to complete than it should have. Why? Who knows. I have a bit of a tendency to abandon projects prior to completion more often than I care to admit. School gets in the way too, but I often pull out my knitting when my mind starts to wander away from Human Physiology in an effort to get back on track. But, one or the other gets put on the back burner, and against my urges, it's usually the knitting. Oh, how I miss the days when I could knit without my studies lurking in the background!

I have just started a new set of leggings (this time on number 3 needles), hopefully for a friend who just found out that she's expecting. I say hopefully because they are turquoise blue and brown. And while I think they are totally appropriate for a girl, some folks may not, so they're probably more suited for a boy. While my friend won't find out for a while the sex of the baby, I have a gut feeling that it's a boy. My cousin (whose first baby was the recipient of the pink and brown striped blankie) is pregnant as well, but I think she's having another girl. If they both have girls, well, I guess these leggies will wind up on Etsy!

It's time to get creative...in the kitchen

I've been motivated recently to cut my expenses (well, more lately than usual). The motivation is a new car, and paying off my credit cards (about one year to go!). I have already canceled cable, a tough decision, but for the best, especially taking physiology this semester. Besides, between Netflix and the internet, my entertainment needs are more than met. I don't spend a lot of money on clothes and eating out and the like, but I know I spend too much on groceries. I don't know what the monthly figure is, but I know I spend way too much for a single gal living on her own. There are certain things I pick up at Trader Joe's every time I go: cannellini beans, artichoke hearts, string cheese, ak-mak crackers just to name a few. Well, things pile up. The cabinets, the fridge, the freezer. Full. My fridge was stinky earlier this week, and I was dismayed to be forced to throw out probably $20 worth of food that had gone off. Sure, it's nice to be stocked up and not have to visit the market every other day. But when the fridge is full, you can't see what all is lurking in the back. When it's a bit emptier, you can see exactly what is in there and not forget about the grapes at the bottom of the drawer, or the tub of sour cream way in the back.
Here is where I got inspired. I thought to myself, "Hey. What if I ate all this food I have before I buy more?" So that's what I'm doing. I bought a few perishables (milk, salad greens, fruit), but other than that, I'm limiting myself to what I have on hand until I can't possibly eke out another meal. I've gotten pretty creative, and you know what? It's FUN!

Night One:
I had just about one bowl of Trader Joe's sweet potato bisque in the fridge and it needed to be consumed in short order. I like to add a bit of sour cream to it (also good in the butternut squash soup) to give it a little richness. I had some bacon in the fridge, and some of the teeny tiny potatoes from Trader Joe's. I cooked two slices of bacon in the oven, and halved about a handful of the little taters and steamed them. When the bacon was done (I like to almost overcook it, but I was hungry, so I didn't let it cook as long), I crumbled it up. I put it all together in a big bowl, and had that with a simple green salad with goat cheese crumbles (my favorite alternative to salad dressing). I'm glad I have another carton of soup in the cupboard, because I'm eating this again soon!

Night Two:
One of my favorite basic and easy meals at the moment is whole wheat penne pasta and sauteed peas, cannellini beans, prosciutto or chicken Iltalian sausage, garlic and olive oil. The sweet chicken Italian sausage from Trader Joe's is delicious, and I use it often. Sometimes I add halved cherry tomatoes and/or quartered artichoke hearts to the mix. Top it with Parmesan, and voila! An entire meal in one bowl.
I was flipping through a magazine - Real Simple, I believe - and came across a similar recipe with yams. I love yams, and I usually just bake them and eat with butter and brown sugar. I never thought to include them in my pasta mix. So here's what I did. I cut up a smallish yam into bite-sized pieces, and steamed until soft, but not mushy. Then I halved about six brussels sprouts and steamed those. Meanwhile, the whole wheat penne is cooking. I put the sprouts and yams into a stir-fry pan, and sauteed with two cloves of minced garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. When all that was done, I combined it all and added a sprinkling of Parmesan. Wow, was this ever good. Again, something I'm glad I have more of because I can't wait to have it again!


Night Three:
I had a spaghetti squash that I was waiting to cook until I had the time to do so. I like to eat it with marinara sauce and Parmesan, just like spaghetti. But I wanted to make it a bit more substantial. So I cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti. In a skillet, I cooked up a chicken Italian sausage with the casing removed, then added marinara sauce. Usually I'd add a minced clove or two of garlic, but I was feeling lazy. Meanwhile, I had halved the squash lengthwise, picked out the seeds (I'll roast those tomorrow for a snack), and placed them cut side down in a 9x13 glass baking dish with just under 1/2" of water. I added some garlic powder to the water to infuse a little bit of flavor into the squash. I baked it at 350 for an hour or so. When it was cool enough to handle, but still warm, I scooped out about 3/4 of one half into the sauce/sausage mixture. After heating that all together, I combined it with the pasta and sprinkled on some Parmesan. It was delish, but a whole lot of food. I always weigh out pasta before I cook it so I don't eat too much, but all this together was too much. Now I have leftovers for dinner this week, and half of a squash to figure out what do to with!

Everyone loves a handmade gift, right?

There is nothing better than a handmade gift. And I'm not talking hokey stuff. My sister has been talking about a Snuggie for months. I couldn't bring myself to buy one of those awful, smelly Snuggies from the store; they're just so tacky. So I set out to make a not-so-tacky Snuggie myself, totally custom for Kimberly. I picked out a pretty fleece fabric in blue with brown frilly print, and found a very generic "Snuglet" pattern online. Well, this thing turned out huge. I made adjustments to the length of the sleeves and the overall length of the garment (if it can be called a garment). I added some snaps to the back, so it would stay on if the wearer desired to walk around without the thing falling off. My masterpiece was complete after adding some brown satin ribbon trim to the hems of the sleeves. And voila! A homemade Snuggie! The best part was that my sister just loved it.

My mom had been talking about knitting herself some fingerless gloves, however, it's been years since she's picked up the needles and I didn't think that this idea of hers would come to fruition (no offense, Mom). Besides, she's busy making beautiful beaded jewelry. I had come across a pattern for cabled fingerless gloves - actually, more like wrist warmers - that I thought I could pull off. The author of the pattern used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, and I was fortunate to find a color that I knew my mom would love (we are a bit obsessed with purpleright now). I say fortunate because I hate substituting yarn for patterns like this one - I don't like having to ad

just for gauge and all that stuff. Anyway, this was my first attempt at knitting cables, and I am proud to say that it was successful. Cables are actually pretty fun and easy. The humdinger of this pattern was the thumb. Oh, that thumb. How I swore over that thumb. Luckily, some kind soul published online a guide to knitting the thumb in a manner that will not make you want to pull out your hair. It still came out a bit goofy, but I was able to fudge it so no one could tell. Other than the dastardly thumb, the gloves knit up quickly. The pattern said to knit tightly so as to create a tight fabric, but I think I knit tighter than the average bear, because these came out a little small. Luckily, my mom has tiny little hands, and they fit her quite nicely.

Here's the link to the pattern on knitty.com
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html

Martha Stewart, you rock my world...kinda

Note: This looks like a long post. It's really more like two posts in one. And the recipes make it look long. Skip over that part if you want.

I am not a fan of Martha Stewart the person. I cannot stand the sound of her voice, she makes too much money and she just plan works my nerves. However, I do subscribe to and thoroughly enjoy her magazine Martha Stewart Living and I frequent her website for recipes. I feel the same way about Rachael Ray; she's a bit too peppy for me and I hate how she calls extra virgin olive oil "EVOO". Just call it olive oil - we know what you mean. I also subscribe to Everyday with Rachael Ray and I think it's a great magazine, but you won't catch me watching her TV show.

Martha's elves send me a cookie-of-the-day email and I save them all in a folder for when I need a cookie that's a bit more special than the regular chocolate chip (which is still fabulous - see previous post). First I tried the Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries and brought them to work for a co-workers last day celebration. The cookie part was divine, but the cherries were a little weird. I've made a batch or two since then without the cherries, and I think they are my new favorite cookie. I've been dying to make them with peanut butter chips and I finally tried it yesterday, but something went awry and they came out flat and crispy. But they still taste darn good. I'm trying to figure out if it was the cocoa I used (Nestle as opposed to the usual Hershey's) or if I overbeated (is that a word?) the dough. Nevertheless, the flavor is still fantastic!

























Dark Chocolate Cookies with Sour Cherries
yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) dried sour cherries, firmly packed (I used an 8 ounce bag of dried Bing cherries from Trader Joe's)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets (or one if you only own one like I do) with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (Martha thinks we all own big expensive mixers. I use a 3-speed hand mixer and it works just fine, thank you very much!), cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat (I repeat, do not overbeat. I think this is what caused my most recent batch to come out flat). With a wooden spoon, fold in chocolate and cherries. (Dough can be frozen at this point, wrapped well in plastic, up to one month; thaw completely before baking).
3. Form balls of dough, each about 1/4 cup (note: if you make them this big, you will not end up with three dozen cookies); place balls on baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake until puffed and cracked, 9 to 11 minutes (they will seem slightly undercooked at this point, but that's okay). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, up to 3 days.

Recipe can also be found at
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/dark-chocolate-cookies-with-sour-cherries?xsc=eml_cod_2009_07_10


The most recent recipe of Martha's I've discovered was for banana bread. I searched her website using the advanced recipe search and entered keywords banana bread and sour cream (because I wanted a recipe using sour cream, obviously). I chose the first recipe that came up and was stoked when I realized that there weren't any exotic ingredients included and that I wouldn't have to go to the store first. Oooh, this bread was so moist and tasty. The only thing I didn't like was the entire stick of butter in it. I'm going to try substituting all or part of the butter with applesauce next time I have some ripe bananas.
























Banana Bread
yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or spray with cooking spray) a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (again, it's okay to use your inferior hand mixer), cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester (in my kitchen, this is a butter knife) inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Recipe can also be found at
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/banana-bread?autonomy_kw=banana%20bread,%20sour%20cream1

Cantaloupe, basil and mozzarella, oh my!

I love cantaloupe. I eat it like candy. It is easily my favorite melon. Last summer, somehow I concocted this wonderful salad of cantaloupe, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Trader Joe's sells those wonderful large-leaf basil plants, and I have one right outside by back door for easy harvest and use. Last summer they also had these cute little fresh mozzarella balls in water called perlini, but they haven't had those for a while so now I use the slightly larger ciliegine.

So what I do is cube a small to medium cantaloupe. Rough chop about 10 large leaves of fresh basil, but this is definitely to taste. You can leave the ciliegine whole, but I prefer to quarter or halve them. (I really liked the perlini - maybe I'll see if Trader Joe's can get them again. ) Mix it all up and enjoy!

These cookies are the bomb

I am quite content to declare that I have found the chocolate chip cookie recipe that I will use for the rest of my life. I came across this recipe in the May/June 2009 issue of Cook's Illustrated. If you've ever perused this wonderful magazine, you already know the high level of effort they put into perfecting each and every recipe they publish in their test kitchens. This recipe was no exception. The author tried 43 batches of cookies before coming up with this one. And for his efforts, I am forever indebted.

To start, they have a pretty shininess when they're cooled and they are the perfect size. Then, the edges are just crispy enough, while the inside is perfectly chewy. And they have a rich, toffee-like flavor that is just to die for. Even when slightly overcooked, they are delicious. Recently I was craving one (or ten) of these cookies, but I didn't want the whole batch calling to me from the kitchen every night at 3:00am (my midnight snack time). So jokingly (I think), my sister said I should send some her way (about 150 miles away, mind you). And I thought, "Hey, I could do that". So I vacuum sealed them in Ziploc bags (that is, I sucked the air out of the bags with a straw) and packed them in disposable food containers with paper towels to cushion. She received them the very next day and sent me a text message saying "The cookies tasted like heaven in my mouth! SOOOOO good!". Well, there you go. All I could say back was, "I know, right!?"From Cook's Illustrated May/Jun 2009

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1-3/4 cups (8-3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1-3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (5-1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1-1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Heat 10 tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling the pan constantly until the butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer to a large heatproof bowl. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter until melted.
4. Add white and brown sugars, salt and vanilla to the butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat resting and whisking process 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Then stir in the flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Divide the dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons. Arrange 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
6. Bake (one sheet at a time) until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes (check at 10 minutes). Transfer to wire rack to cool.

My first Sheldon

I finally finished Sheldon this week! After getting the hang of it, the dreaded attached i-cord turned out to be fun to knit, and I really like the way it looks. I ended up attaching the legs with the shell attached instead of putting on the shell after attaching the legs as the pattern instructed. I was afraid of not placing them correctly and having the shell not fit properly. His bum turned out a bit wonky because I think I overstuffed the shell. I'm considering improvising a little tail to disguise the wonkiness. Anyway, here he is!