Oh man. So much rain.

It’s been raining again. This is fantastic for the Sierra snowpack (and, by extension, California’s water supply). This is fantastic for our yard, too; we planted some lavender, artemesia, and bush sage today, and we can be pretty sure we won’t have to worry about them going into shock with as wet as it is out there. It’s fantastic for our camellias, too – they’re blooming like crazy!

The other thing that weather like this is good for is setting the right mood for comfort foods like chicken and dumplings. I’ve been craving it for weeks now, and finally got around to making it tonight. I really didn’t want to have a big mess to clean up, though, and wasn’t feeling up to a big to-do, so I made the abbreviated version. I made enough for the two of us to have a pretty hefty portion each (for a total of 12 weight watchers points each, or a reasonable person who wasn’t desperately craving dumplings could probably have split it up three ways for 8 points each). I got two dishes dirty in the process. I thought you might like to have the recipe.

Btw, this recipe makes big, fluffy, biscuity dumplings. If you want to make those noodle-like dumplings, I suggest you check yourself in for help at the nearest sanitarium. And yes, there are other ways to make this that will make it even more delicious, but not with less effort. This is the minimum required for tasty goodness. If you are a vegetarian, you can still enjoy this. Just sub veg stock for the chicken stock, and mushrooms for the chicken. It will still be delicious, I promise!

First, cut up an onion, some carrots, and some celery. Yes, those are baby carrots. I didn’t feel like a trip to the store for non-diminutives. This is the LAZY recipe.

Then, melt some butter in a dutch oven.

Cook the mirepoix (fancy term for those veggies you cut up) in the butter on medium heat. Just sweat the veggies; don’t put any color on them.

Add some chicken stock. I use the stuff in a box. I added one box.

Get some seasonings together. I used a bay leaf, some thyme, and a couple of slices of lemon this time. It’s just as good (though different) without the lemon and thyme, but I had it on hand, so there you go.

Tie those seasonings up in a piece of cheesecloth and throw it in the soup.

This recipe is a great way to use leftover cooked chicken. If you have leftover roast chicken or something like that, shred it up, throw it in the pot, and skip to the Bisquick step. If not, do like I did and just toss some raw stuff in. I used a chicken breast because I had one in the fridge. This is great made in a big pot and using a whole chicken (cut into parts, of course), but it would take us a week to eat that much. Or it would take me one really, really points-heavy day.

Turn the heat up to medium and simmer the whole mess until the chicken is cooked through. If you have some other veggies you’d like to add, you can add them at some point during this process. I threw in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas. When the chicken is cooked through (like in this picture), stick a couple of forks in there and shred it up.

Put some Bisquick in a bowl. I keep it around specifically for making this dish. Unfortunately, I discovered I was out of it, and had to make a run to the store, making this recipe much less lazy than I would have preferred. Anyway, put some in a bowl. How much depends on how much you like dumplings. I put a lot in (probably about a cup, which I think is just about right for two people).

Add enough milk to make a dough that’s a little wetter than biscuit dough. If you’re making the recipe with lemon, I’d really recommend adding a little extra salt to the dough, as well as some parsley and chives, if you have them. I was too lazy this time, but trust me – it’s really good.

Drop little spoonfuls of the dough into the simmering soup. Cook for about ten minutes with the lid off.

Then, cook for about ten minutes with the lid on.

When you pull that lid back off, you’ll have a creamy stew chock-full of tasty, fluffy dumplings.

Throw a handful of chopped parsley in (use the flat-leaf, for heaven’s sake; there’s just no good reason to buy that other stuff).

Eat the dumplings out of the pot with a spoon. Quickly, before your husband catches you!

If you get caught, pretend you were just tasting to make sure the salt is right. Then put some in a bowl and take a picture so you can keep up the ruse. Enjoy!

How lazy was that? So lazy I didn’t even bother with good lighting, which, btw, did not in any way affect the deliciousness.

Well, that was a nice long break, wasn’t it?

I’ve not mentioned it before, but in November, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. We caught it because I thought I had some variation of post-partum depression. I basically felt like I wanted to take a nap all the time. Thank goodness for my awesome doctor (who, I think, wanted to high-five me when she figured out what it was), but we’re still working on my treatment, so I have a few days here and there where all I want to do is sleep, so I spend pretty much all of my energy on the Bee and have none left for blogging. Hopefully everything is straightened out and that is all behind me, but do bear with me if I’m occasionally absent.

I’ve not had a wholly unproductive hiatus, though.

The weather cleared up, so we got to go outside! Hooray! It was awfully bright out, but Ada was so happy not to be housebound that she didn’t care one bit. She let me get some pretty gorgeous pictures of her, too!
(click for biggerer)

Yes, I know. She’s gorgeous. I’m still not entirely convinced she’s my child, though occasionally, her facial expressions make me think she might have a couple of my genes:

We also tried some new things. Ada had her first taste of blackberries (a big hit).

I made a dress (for myself – what?!):

I used Butterick 5243 (which is currently on clearance, if you like it), and the fabric was a $2 buy at a thrift store. I love this pattern! It’s got tons of sweet little gather details like this:

AND it was a perfect fit with only a single alteration at the shoulders near the neck (had to take about two and a half inches out of the yoke to get rid of a sort of weird gap). I’ll definitely be making it again!

Aside from that, I’ve just been working on my supersecret valentine for the First Milk Valentine Swap, but I can’t show you what I made until the recipient gets it. I’ll be mailing it out tomorrow or Saturday, so stay tuned to see what I sent (and what I got! Exciting!).

That’s all for now. I think this post has been long enough, don’t you?

Love,
C

It’s Daring Bakers Challenge time!

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. She chose gluten-free (or not) graham crackers and Nanaimo bars.

This sounded like the perfect challenge for me, as the graham cracker recipe was from 101 Cookbooks, which I believe I’ve mentioned before as one of my favorite food blogs. I’ve been meaning to make it, and here was the perfect excuse. The Nanaimo bars sounded intriguing, and when someone posted a Weight Watchers recipe for them, I was over the moon.

So, here’s where I went wrong. Instead of doing the work well ahead of time, I procrastinated, working on slippers, the afghan, a dress, some nightstands, and all sorts of things that did not involve baking graham crackers. Time came and went, and before I knew it, it was today. I got up from watching the State of the Union address, started to make dinner, and suddenly realized that today is the day I’m supposed to post the outcome of my DB challenge. It’s 8:30 p.m. by this point, and I’m short a couple of ingredients. What do I do? I fudge it, get in a hurry, and forget a vital step.

Here’s the Weight Watchers recipe:

Nanaimo Bars

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 16
Preparation Time: 18 min
Cooking Time: 60 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate*

Sweet, crunchy and delicious, this treasured Canadian dessert keeps well in your fridge for when chocolate cravings soar!

Ingredients
1 cup(s) graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
2 oz milk chocolate chips
1/8 cup(s) packaged shredded coconut
3 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine, melted
1 oz fat-free sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
5 oz lite whipped topping
4 oz semisweet baking chocolate
1 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine
Instructions
Line bottom of an 8 X 8-inch baking pan with parchment or waxed paper.

Place graham cracker crumbs, nuts, chocolate chips and coconut in a food processor; pulse until combined and then add melted margarine. Stir together and pour into prepared baking pan, patting down crust evenly on the bottom; place into freezer for 10 minutes. (Note: If you cannot find graham cracker crumbs, crush 6 whole graham cracker sheets into crumbs in a food processor.)

In a bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk until firm; add in whipped topping. Spread evenly on top of chilled crust and place back into freezer for 45 minutes, or until firm.

Melt baking chocolate and 1 tablespoon of margarine in a small saucepan over low heat; stir and set aside until luke warm. Pour and spread over pudding layer and place into refrigerator until set, about 5 minutes. Cut into 16 bars and serve.

*I’d go so far as to say this is a very easy recipe, which is what makes the following just that much more embarrassing.

I didn’t have graham cracker crumbs. I didn’t make the graham cracker recipe. What to do?

Oh, yes. Raid the kid’s snack shelf.

Thanks, Elmo!

Pretty tasty little things, I might add.

So, I pretty much followed the recipe, but substituted pecans for the walnuts (because I had pecans, not walnuts), used unsweetened dried coconut (don’t have the sugary stuff), and used only dark chocolate (because I hate milk chocolate).

The crust is perfect, and actually so good that I plan to use it in a future cheesecake recipe. The pudding filling? Lovely. The topping?

This is where it gets dumb. I sort of got in a hurry, as I was making this at the same time as dinner. I melted the chocolate in the microwave (don’t remember where I learned that trick, but I love it), and as I was pouring it over the frozen filling, I thought to myself: “wait a minute; how am I going to cut this?”

Duh. Sort of skimmed over that whole “add some butter to the chocolate” thing, and had my common sense shut off.

The result?

Please ignore the chocolate on my fingernails. There was barely time to lick it all off.

Well, let’s just say it was sort of a mess.

A delicious mess, though! It sort of tastes like a big frozen s’more. In the best possible way.

I wanted to get picture of D cutting through the chocolate armor when he went for seconds:

Me: “Babe, let me get a picture of you cutting the chocolate.”

D: “Okay, but don’t show my face.”

Me: “I won’t! I’m just getting a picture of the trouble with the topping.”

D: “Well, hurry it up! I want to eat it! …uh, before it melts.”

We ate enough of it that I’m relatively sure I completely blew my points for the day.

The aftermath

I’ll be making it again, though. Next time, I’ll make the graham crackers. And more importantly, next time, I’ll remember the butter in the topping so I can try it as a bar instead of eating it with a spoon!

It’s raining in San Diego. It’s been raining all week, and we’ve had hail several times. This means that Ada and I have been trapped in the house for days now, and we’re running low on new things to do that don’t involve making a huge mess. This probably means that tomorrow, we’ll be making  a huge mess. Here’s hoping the skies clear up soon!

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to stay warm, cozy, and dry. Work is progressing nicely on the afghan (Ravelry), and I’ve been spending many of my evenings hunkered under it and a finished blanket. I’ve also been wearing the soles out of my favorite house slippers:

They’re not heavy on the padding, and they attract cat hair like crazy (which may be a bonus, depending on how lazy you are about your cleaning), but they’re pretty cute, just warm enough for the weather, and give me a nice dose of color on a grey day.

Here’s how to make a pair of your own!

These slippers are a modified version of the Branch Slippers on MarthaStewart.com. I thought her version was a cool idea, but the execution was a little matronly for me, so I changed it up a little bit for mine. Go check out her version, then follow the sizing chart to figure out what size to print the pattern.

For this tutorial, I’ll be using red felt for the outside of the slippers, blue felt for the inside, and I’ll add another layer of fabric to the inside soles to fancy things up a bit (and increase their durability a bit).

I traced mine onto pattern vellum; not a necessary step, but it may come in handy later if you want to fancy up your slippers

On the upper pattern piece, measure 1 1/4 inches from the inner edge at the toe, and make a mark.

Then, fold that piece in half like so:

Draw a line from that dot to the side, marking the new shape of the pattern.

Cut along the line you drew, then unfold your pattern piece.

Prep your felt. I used HeatnBond to stick my pieces together. This stuff is great, cheap, and available at Joann Fabrics.

Adhere it to the felt you plan to use for the outer layer of the slippers. Leave the paper backing on the adhesive for now.

If you’re going to add fabric to the inside soles of your slippers, then you’ll need to stick some HeatnBond to the felt you’ll be using as your slipper sole inner layer.  Let it cool, then peel the backing off.

Adhere your fabric to that felt, then cut out the following pattern pieces:

2 uppers of the outer felt (with adhesive)

2 uppers of the inner felt

2 soles of the outer felt (with adhesive)

2 soles of the inner felt (with or without decorative fabric bonded to it)

Get out the sharpest, tiniest scissors you’ve got.

Use them to cut out a silhouette in the top of each slipper.

Adhere the outer felt uppers to the inner felt uppers.

Get your sewing machine ready:

You’ll want to use a heavy-duty needle for this, as you’ll be sewing through several layers of felt at once. I used a 110/18, which is probably a little stronger than necessary, but I really, really hate broken needles. Wind a bobbin with the color of the inner felt, and thread the machine with the color of the outer felt. Set your stitch to zigzag, your tension low, and your stitch length to zero to start the heel with a bar tack:

Position the heel of your upper as shown in the photo below.

Start the heel with a bar tack, then adjust your stitch length to 2, zigzag back and forth across the heel, pressing the pieces together as you go, and finish with another bar tack.

it ain't perfect, but it'll do.

When you’re done, the heel should have a nice curve to it:

Stitch up both heels.

Now we attach the uppers to the soles. This part can get a bit fiddly, but I’ve found that if you tack the center of the heel in place, then the center of the toe and work your way back along either side, you end up with a pretty good result.

Doesn’t look like much yet, I know. Stitch the upper to the sole, with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

You see that gizmo there? I can't stitch a straight line to save my life. That's a little magnet that sticks on your machine to keep your seams from going all wonky. Best. Gizmo. Ever.

And voila! You have some cute little slippers!

At this point, you could add a non-slip texture to the bottoms of them with some puff paint (though that means no sliding through the house Risky Business style), or you can just put ‘em on and go show off your crafty skills!

I think I’m going to play around some with the idea of adding more padding to the soles on these with the next version (I’ve got a lot of polar fleece scraps to use up), but for now, I’m loving these just the way they are!

Oh, thank goodness for long weekends! D got today off, and the Bee and I couldn’t have been happier about it!

We got a fair amount accomplished this weekend, including:

Some work on an afghan

A LOT of work on an afghan

Some exercise

Some relaxing

Baked cinnamon rolls from scratch (the recipe will be in an upcoming post)

And a bunch of other stuff. Set a date for a friend’s baby shower, got some plans made for our trip to Germany in May, I finally finished those nightstands (but you’ll have to wait to see them), cleaned the craft room. Please note the colorful addition to our living room, btw – that foam alphabet mat has saved Littlebee from many a concussion, and us from many a worry. I would really like to find someone that manufactures those things to talk to them about a line in designer colors, though (much as I love the odd mix of primaries and pastels in our otherwise mostly-mid-century living room…::shudder::). It’d be nice to have them in a houndstooth check or even a taupe.

But I digress.  What I really want to tell you about is this tasty thing:

Inspired by Heidi Swanson’s okonomi recipe (we make her version pretty regularly), this was meant to be a convenient way to use up a bunch of leftovers, and turned out to be pretty mind-blowing.

Here’s what you need:

2/3 c. whole wheat flour

a pinch of salt and pepper

2 eggs, beaten

two leaves of chard

one small head of cabbage (or half a large head)

a couple of green onions

four slices prosciutto (optional – leave this out for a still-tasty vegetarian entree)

a hunk of parmesan reggiano (stravecchio, if you can find it – the crunchy quality of it is really stupendous)

cooking spray (or olive oil, if you’re not doing weight watchers – I prefer the olive oil)

Get all your ingredients together:

Wait a second. There’s something missing.

That’s better!

Okay. Get ready to cook.

Shred up your veggies (I used a food processor, and didn’t take pictures of that step, because it’s really self-explanatory and not all that attractive). Put your flour, salt and pepper in a big mixing bowl.

Stir the eggs into the veggies until everything is coated evenly.

Heat a frying pan on medium heat, then spray or coat with oil. Press the veggie mixture down evenly across the pan.

Cook until fragrant and the pancake slides easily in the pan.

Slide the pancake off onto a plate.

Invert the pan over the plate, then flip the whole thing.

Now your great big pancake has flipped in one piece, and people who see the finished product will think you are some sort of pancake wizard.

cook until done, then slide off onto a plate and garnish with tasty cheese and/or meats.

I was starving and ate half of the pizza for 7.5 weight watchers points. A reasonable person would have been full and happy with one quarter of a pizza, for 3.5-4 points.

The Bee took a cruise down the sofa the other day where she didn’t use her hands. Technically, I think that’s what we call “walking.” She was leaning up against the sofa a lot, though, so I’m not ready to start using the “w-word” yet.

She’s also discovered the joys of hugging. I’ll have to see if we can get video footage of this, but for now, I’m absolutely beside myself every time she crawls up to me, pulls herself up by my shirt, then wraps her little arms around my neck. She’s going through a bit of a clingy phase, so she does this every three to five minutes, but it doesn’t get any less cute.

Hi all!

Well, I completed my first Daring Cooks’ challenge, and while I actually made the recipe last month, I’m a day late posting the results. There’s a cold going around our house again that makes me feel like a bomb went off in my forehead. I can’t promise anything too witty, but I can promise you an honest review of the recipe, and there’s a Daring Bakers’ challenge on the way later this month, so fret not!

The January Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious. You can get the recipe HERE.

So, my thoughts? I’ll admit I was immediately suspicious when I noticed that the recipe included cumin. I’ve made satay in the past, and the marinade has always been made of soy sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, coriander, and sometimes lime juice and green onions. NEVER cumin. Cumin is for Indian, Mexican, and chili. Not Thai.

So, was my suspicion well-founded?

(please excuse the crappy lighting)

Well, yes and no. Yes, in that this recipe didn’t in any way resemble any Thai food I’ve ever had, and no, in that it was still pretty tasty, once I got the word “Thai” out of my head. Cuppy mentioned that she’d designed this recipe for people who were unfamiliar with Thai, or who got turned off by fish sauce (btw, if you don’t know how fish sauce is made, I’d like to suggest you not look it up. I came *this close* to avoiding it altogether when I first found out!), and I think she succeeded in putting together a good dish. If this were your first encounter with “Thai,” though, you should expect to be very surprised when you go to a Thai restaurant.

The other upside? I used the Weight Watchers recipe builder to figure out the points on these, and they worked out to 2.5 points per skewer (including peanut sauce)! I might have to do some satay again soon!

For a recipe more to my tastes, I’d like to suggest something along these lines (CLICK HERE). Not sure if I’m breaking a rule by posting it, but there you go.

I’m looking forward to the next Daring Cooks’ challenge, and hoping that these challenges will prompt me to delve further into some cooking techniques I haven’t fully explored, taste some new flavors, and help me to think creatively about our family’s menu.

Hi all,

Nothing too exciting to report, but our day-to-day makes me pretty happy, so no complaints, either.

Today, Ada helped me with the mail:

It’s amazing how big she’s getting and how well she stands up; it won’t be long before she’s running all over the house!

Please note the amazing foam flooring – a gift from my mom on her New Year’s visit. Ada couldn’t be happier about the extra padding all around her favorite places to play, and we couldn’t be happier about being able to give her some space, now that she’s got a little padding to fall on.

I made one of my favorite dishes of all time for dinner:

The secret to this one is to use the juice of a whole lemon, and to use these olives:

Yum!

The best part? I’m on Weight Watchers now, and the giant bowl of chicken-potato-olive-artichoke deliciousness was only eight points!!

Today’s resolution moves?

For D: I got up and did all of the baby nighttime teething maintenance so that he could get a full night of sleep for once (how amazing is my husband that more than half of the time, he beats me out of bed to check on the Bee at night?)

For the house: eh, I didn’t get those nightstands done yet. I did some laundry. I did the dishes. I made the bed. I’m calling it a win.

For me: Nearly finished with a bunch of baby-proof jewelry. Since I’ve lost a few necklaces to Grabbypants McGee (read: Ada Bee), I’ve been brainstorming on what I can make that’s still modern and stylish, but strong enough to handle the abuse our 22-pound (!!!) eight-month-old throws at everything I wear.

I started making a necklace for my nephew’s girlfriend for Christmas, and viola! It hit me! I could make this same thing for myself, fasten it with ribbon, and not worry about it when Ada wants to use me like a human jungle gym.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

necklace

pretty slick, eh?

bracelet . there's a necklace to match, too!

bracelet

I’m not usually one for large chains, but I think the crochet really makes it something special, don’t you agree?

That’s enough for now. Goodnight!

Okay, I know everyone thinks their kid is the next Albert Einstein, but really, I’m pretty sure ours is.

On Monday, I sneezed and she copied it. I said “oh, you’re so silly! I love you!”

…to which she said “I love you!” (well, really, she said “luhyoo,” but I’m satisfied)

Tuesday and Wednesday were just generally awesome, and the Monday story doesn’t really have anything to do with anything other than to brag that our eight-month-old tells us she loves us.

Today, though! Oh, today! Today she started playing peek-a-boo on her own!! Seriously! I wish I had footage – I’ll get some next time. She holds a towel up in front of her face until you ask “Wheeeeeeeeere’s Ada?” at which point she throws the towel down and giggles! Oh, baby genius, I love you like mad.

Today’s actions:

For the house: I washed quilts. They needed it. I’m getting a head-start on spring cleaning. Oh, and D’s work gave us a belated baby-warming gift of a free housecleaning. This means I’m giving up dusting in expectation of becoming a lady of luxury. At least for a day.

For D: I baked bread and made butter (in a jar! how very elementary school!). Helperbee and I took it up to him at work as a surprise, and it sounds like it was promptly devoured by his coworkers.

Such a tasty spread!

We’ve been baking bread a whole lot around here, especially because our fabulous family got me a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and a bread cloche. This is a heady combination, folks. I’d like to attest that not only does it really take LESS than five minutes of actual work to make tasty, tasty bread, but you get crusts like this:

homina, homina

And for me? I got some work done on a little piece of jewelry. I so rarely make things for myself, and I’m excited to give myself a little present. Oh, and strawberries are in season again (how I love living in Southern California), so I pigged out on cornbread with strawberries and whipped cream. Sooooooo not Weight Watchers-friendly, but I’ll hit the gym tomorrow to make up for it.

So that’s it for the day! Oh man, and me with a whole hour to go before bedtime? Maybe I’ll head out and finish those nightstands I’ve been putting off for a month. Is that another “me” thing? I am on a roll!!

Hi all!

We had a nice long Christmas vacation, and while I’m sorry to have left you for as long as I did, I’m glad to have had the time to focus on family and trying to get the house back in order after the handmade holiday shenanigans that went on all through December.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only place in my house that was not an absolute mess on December 26th:

Additionally, you may see less of me on here for a while because we’re down to one computer in the house at present, and that somewhat limits my blogging time. Pray for our sanity, people.

Here’s a rundown of our Christmas, in pictures:

I know I promised tutorials and pictures of all of the wonderful handmade gifts, but in the excitement of finishing them, I forgot to take pictures, and the lighting was bad on Christmas day. You’ll have to live without them for now (though there are a couple of things I’ll make more of, so you can look for tutorials on them in days to come). My New Year’s resolution is to let myself get away with things once in a while, so I’m letting myself off the hook for this.

My other resolution: each day, in addition to everything we do for Ada, I’m going to do one thing for D, one thing for the house, and one thing for me.

Today’s gift to myself was a trip to the pool with Swimmerbee in her new swimsuit. How was that a gift for me?

Look what I got to look at the whole time!

Happy New Year, all!