And the winner is.....

Belinda!!

Congrats, I will get the kit out to you this week.

Blog Giveaway Reminder!!

Today is the last day if you want to enter.

Just leave a comment on the orginal post.

Blog Giveaway

I will pick the winner tonight at 9pm EST.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Baby Suprise Jacket.

I love the idea of this cute jacket that is knit in one piece. As you follow the pattern along it's a bit strange, but in the end it really does work out well. I can't believe how easy it actually was. All in all I think it was a grand total of about 2 or 3 hours a day for a week, so it went pretty quick.

The hardest thing about it was all the counting. The increase rows just didn't work well with the place markers.

I will make this again and next time I will try to use a self striping yarn for a little more color.

Blog Giveaway!!

This is my first blog giveaway, and if it goes well I may have more in the future.

Sunday was our annual Stitch N' Pitch event. We had so much fun and got a bunch of fun giveaways. But this year I got a duplicate grab bag prize.

So I figured what's the best thing to do with it...

BLOG GIVEAWAY!!

Custom House of Needle Arts Crewel Embroidery Design Kit.

Gourds.


Perfect for fall season.

So if you're intersted in starting embroidery or a long time crafter feel free to enter. Just follow the blog and leave a comment.

**BONUS ENTRY** For an extra entry, post on your blog that I’m having this giveaway. With a link back to my page.

I will choose a winner on Tuesday September 21, 2010

Good Luck!!

Banana Cranberry Muffins

I had a few bananas going south again and I didn't want to toss them out so I wanted to make muffins with them.

I found a great recipe for Banana Bread. The only thing I did different was added dried cranberries and baked them for 25 minutes at 350 and they're perfect.

Mix



Add to paper cups



Bake



Enjoy!!

New knitting project.

I finally finished the sweater that I've been working on for the last month. It came out great I love it.  It's going to be a perfect day to wear it tomorrow, about 70 degrees and overcast.  WOOHOO!!

Need to stop watching Food Network

I was watching Sunny Anderson on Food Network and saw her show Cooking for Real and she was making Mussels with Chorizo,and talking about her mussel cravings which of course got me craving mussels, we usually have them every couple of months.

I love to cook them, but she gave me a great idea to make them taste a little bit better. Add the Chorizo to give it a little extra flavor. But since one of my favorite things to eat with chorizo is a great dish I make with rosted artichokes, so I think I need the artichokes for this recipe for a little added yumminess.

She also made a little garlic bread to go with the mussels to sop up the broth. This really is a great comfort food dish.

I'll let you know how it turns on when I make it one day this week (I need to go find all the ingredients)


Ingredients
2 (5-pound) bags mussels
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound spicy Mexican chorizo, casing removed
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, slivered
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle dry white wine
Parsley, chopped, for garnish
Directions
Working, 1 at a time, scrub any grit from shells under running water. Discard open mussels that do not close with a few taps of the finger and any with cracked shells. Put the mussels in a bowl of cold water.

Heat the oil in a large wide pot over medium-high heat and add the chorizo. Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the chorizo into chunks, so it resembles ground beef. Saute until brown, about 8 minutes. Remove chorizo to a bowl. In the same pot, add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute 3 minutes to sweat. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Pull the mussels from bowl and transfer them and the water to the pot, do not strain, leaving behind any sand and grit that has sunk to the bottom. Stir to coat. Add the chorizo back into the pot and cover. Cook over medium heat until the mussels open, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a large serving bowl, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately

Great Giveaway

I found a great giveaway today on The Nest of course. One of my fellow nesties has an awesome giveaway if anyone is interested in canning.

It's for a Ball Canning Discovery Kit.



Personally it's something that I always wanted to do and never really did, I put it off said I didn't have the time, it was to hard, and so-on and so-on. Nothing would make my husband happier if I did.

So maybe this is the push in the right direction for me.

She's famous!!!

This is what happens when I'm left alone with my thoughts.

Who would ever think that a cat wearing a pair of leg warmers would send my mind a flutter. So this is what I worked up.

Kitty Leg Warmers.

Let's try something a little easier.

Since my Beet Ravoli was an epic fail, I'm trying something else. Something I know I can't screw up.

I found this recipe and I love it.


Spiced Chicken with Tabouli, Yoghurt and Lemon

By Jill Dupleix
From HealthSmart Magazine

Serves 4

Masses of parsley and mint make this Lebanese tabouli a brilliantly healthy salad. Look for fine-grained, lightcoloured burghul in health-food stores, Turkish, Greek and Lebanese food stores, and larger supermarkets. 100g fine white burghul (bulgur wheat)



Spiced chicken with tabouli ingredients

4 chicken breasts, skin on
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
Good bunch of parsley (about 75g)
Washed handful of mint leaves
4 spring (green) onions, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, finely diced
100ml natural low-fat yoghurt
1 lemon, quartered
Paprika, to serve
For the dressing:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp sea salt


Spiced chicken with tabouli preparation methods

Rinse the burghul, cover with 250ml boiling water, stirring, and leave for 30 minutes to soften.

Heat the grill.

Mix the paprika, sea salt, pepper and olive oil and use to brush the chicken.

Grill gently until cooked through, about 15 minutes, turning once.

Whisk the dressing ingredients in a large bowl.

Drain the bulgur, squeeze out excess water and toss in the dressing.

Cut off any heavy stalks from the parsley and mint, then chop.

Add the parsley, mint, spring onions and tomato to the burghul and toss well.

Slice the chicken and serve with the tabouli and lemon.

Add a spoonful of yoghurt and scatter with paprika

Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp

The Shelton Farmers Market strikes again. This time it was some beautiful fresh rhubarb and blueberries. Both wonderful things, so I figured why couldn't they be wonderful together.

So with my BFF google by my side I started to dig. And came across this recipe.

I can't tell you how wonderful it was. With the tang from the blueberries and the tangy rhubarb with the sweetness of the sugar it was fabulous.

I just wish I took some good pictures of it. But here's what it should of looked like.

Beet Ravoli.

I bought some beautiful fresh beets on Saturday at the Shelton Farmers Market so now I've been trying to figure out what to do with them.

I found the perfect recipe, beet ravoli. I can't wait to try it out. The only thing I'm going to do a little different is after the ravoli are cooked I'm going to sautee them with the beet greens.



I'll let you know how it turns out.

Save the Dolphins....

And Pelicans, and other birds and sea creatures.

I found this project to help with the clean up of some of the oil spill in the Gulf Coast.

I've never been a tree-hugging hippy, never even claimed to be, but this to me really hits home. So much has been done in the last couple of years to help out other countries and so far very little has been done to help out in our own back yard.

I started knitting wash cloths and towels for donation. So if you're interested in helping out please check out the Craft Hope website or their Facebook Page.

So we're not candidates for the next episode of hoarders.

HaHa only kidding, but someitmes housework gets a little out of control. As usual this was something that came up because I was reading The Nest and thinking I need to come up with a chore schedule. It gets crazy doing an hour or two on the weekend, but if I did 15/20 minutes of cleaning every day it really wouldn't be so bad. So here's my list.

Daily:
-Wash all Dishes
-Wipe down Counters
-Clean Top of Stove
-Go through mail/throw out extra junk.

Weekly:
Monday
-Vacuum Bedroom and Office
-Dust furniture

Tuesday
-Mop Bathroom
-Clean Sink, Tub, Toilet
-Windex Mirrors
-Empty Cat Box
-Take out all garbage and cans to curb

Wednesday
-Vacuum Spare room
-Windex Mirrors
-Dust furniture

Thursday
-Vacuum Living Room
-Vacuum Sofas
-Dust Furniture
-Windex Windows

Friday
-Clean out & wipe down Fridge & Freezer to prepare for groceries
-Mop Kitchen
-Dust Cabinets
-Wipe down Appliances
-Shake & Vacuum Rugs

Saturday
-Gather/Separate & Finish Laundry
-Change out Sheets
-Change out Towels
-Sweep Laundry Room

Sunday

-Make Weekly Grocery List
-Grocery Shopping

Monthly:
-Vacuum Baseboards & Ceilings
-Vacuum/Wash Window Treatments
-Scrub Inside of Oven
-Wipe Down Outlets/Light Switches & Door Knobs
-Wash Couch Blankets
-Wash Comforters

Bi-Yearly:
-Wash Windows
-Wash Light Fixtures
-Vacuum all Vents
-Pull out & Clean behind ALL appliances
-Shampoo Carpets
-Shampoo Couches
-Shampoo Mattresses
-Purge Clothing