New Food Processor

I really like watching the Food Channel and all the cooking competitions. Finally the other day I broke down and bought myself a food processor. I went on the internet first and read the review and comparisons and decided on a Kitchenaid which was rated just a little higher than Cuisinart only because it came with a small bowl as well as the large one. OK, I thought, small bowl would be handy since there's only one of me eating here most of the time. Also the Kitchenaid had a thingy to hold the blades. So I got it home and son of a gun, it only had 1 speed. On and Off...that's it! Well, it did have a pulse. I went back on the internet and looked at the Cuisinart again and it has an automatic adjustable speed with the dough blade so took the Kitchenaid back and got an 11 cup Cuisinart. No little bowl but oh well....also no holder for the blades. Well--I bought a plastic bowl with lid to hold the blades. That works.

So I hooked the thing up, took out a couple boneless chicken breasts and proceeded to chop for Biscuit's dinner. SON OF A GUN... that sucker had the meat chopped faster than I could blink. YEOW, watch out for the fingers! I then decided to try to make some Cottage Fried oven baked potatoes. Got the recipe off the internet. It called for grated parmesan cheese so off I went to the store for that (yes I had some in a can but wanted to try grating cheese after all :-). Got some garlic and some butter also called for in the recipe and went home. Whoops, forgot the brush to brush the potatoes with the butter sauce. Oh well...proceeded to clean the potatoes and chop. I couldn't get it to chop the whole potato. Well...it did come with the DVD but who had time to watch a DVD, I wanted to CHOP! Ended up cutting the potatoes into 4ths and then chopping into very skinny little pieces. NO GOOD but cooked them anyway. Unfortunately I didn't believe the person who wrote the recipe who said it took 1/4 TBS butter and I plopped some butter into the pan, added the garlic and salt/pepper and melted the stuff. Poured it over the potatoes. YIKES they came out so greasy I had to throw them away. Got out some more potatoes and proceeded to make them again. These came out ok (yes I used 1/4 TBS butter this time) but they weren't all that good. I had shredded a lot of Parmesan (more than called for, of course) and didn't bother to use it because I already knew the potatoes were too skinny and didn't taste all that good. Oh well.........

Next day I watched the video. There just had to be a way to chop a whole potato. Sure enough, there was. I chopped up a potato and took it over to show my neighbor who also has a food processor and didn't know she could chop a whole potato.

Now I've ordered a book from Amazon, The Food Processor Bible. Can't have this expensive thing sitting on the counter every day doing nothing.

Oh, tonight's menu? Grilled Tilapia with Latkes (require food processor for best results according to the recipe) They also say: "The best latkes are golden and crunchy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside, and perfectly seasoned". Think I'll follow the recipe to a "T" on this........

Will post the results (if they turn out decent).

The Very Best Barbecue I've Ever Made

OK, maybe you won't think its the best, maybe yours is but yesterday I fixed a meal that would rival any restaurant I've been to.
Menu:
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Coleslaw
Green Beans with crispy bacon
Leftover Beef Roast and 1 lb beef stew meat
Dessert: Fresh Fruit mixed with Dole Tropical Fruit

I had 2 leftover bits of roast beef in the freezer. Both were a bit tough.
I decided to buy some stew meat that was on sale and since the last 2 meats I had bought at this local store were tough I decided to get some Meat Tenderizer as well.
I bought "Spice Supreme" brand Seasoned Meat Tenderizer and sprinkled it over both sides of the stew meat. I put the meat in the fridge and left it overnight. The next morning I put the stew meat in the crock pot and set it to cook for 3 hours on low.
I poured some KC Masterpiece original Barbecue sauce over the top of the meat and added some water to the bottom of the pot. I left the house and when I got home the crock pot had switched to "warm". I checked the meat, it was pretty tender but I wasn't quite satisfied with how done it was so turned it back on low for 2 hours. I figured what the heck, I'd go ahead and throw those 2 pieces of roast beef in with it while I was at it. I added a bit more barbecue sauce and left it. When I came back to the crock pot later in the afternoon I couldn't believe it. The roast beef was as tender as the stew meat and yum...it was all delicious. I put the whole thing in a storage container and put in the fridge for later. Later I ate some of the meat but not a lot, I decided to save it for the next day and make the rest of a super meal when I had time. Later I froze it.
Two days later I got out the meat and let it thaw. I put it in a 8X2 pan and poured a bit more barbecue sauce over it and put it in the oven at 300 degrees until hot and then turned down to 200 degrees to stay warm until everything else was finished.
I had bought some Angel Hair Coleslaw veggies (you know the packaged prepared stuff?)
I wanted a certain kind of coleslaw sauce but couldn't find the brand I used in South Carolina (my favorite) so grabbed one and hoped it was good. WOW...Litehouse brand Coleslaw Dressing & Dip. Super stuff. It comes from Sandpoint, Idaho...where my dad grew up. (not why I bought it but....) That stuff is delicious. I mixed it up with the cabbage and put it aside in the fridge to blend the flavor of the mix with the cabbage. Soooooo good!

Green beans were canned but I like to buy that already cooked bacon, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and you have a couple very crispy thin slices of bacon. Crumble it over the canned green beans, add some salt and pepper and bring to boil, then simmer until the rest of the meal is finished. (My version of Southern Green Beans that hopefully are a little more healthy than the original version that I dearly love but shouldn't eat.

Then I cooked the potatoes and using the juice from the roast beef (saved in the freezer days earlier) and a package of Brown Gravy Mix as well as some corn starch, I made a delicious gravy for those potatoes. Turned out sooooo good.

Dessert was 1/2 cantelope that wasn't all that ripe (that had me worried so I cut it into small chunks and hoped the rest of the fruit would sweeten it some). 1 small watermelon that WAS ripe. 1 can Dole Pineapple in its own juice and a jar of Dole Tropical Mixed Fruit (I highly recommend this fruit). I mixed all the fruit in a bowl with a little of the tropical fruit juice (not a lot) added some green and red seedless grapes and sprinkled some chopped date pieces over the top. Then I sprinkled 4 packages of Splenda over the whole thing, tossed it all together and put it in a plastic container that seals tight. When I was ready to serve that fruit, I turned it upside down so the juice would moisten the whole bowl full of fruit. Delicious!

What a great meal. I'm writing this, not because I think everyone should try my meal (but feel free)....but because I wanted to remember how I made the whole thing because I'm definitely going to be making this combination again and I don't want to forget how I made it.

If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hat finished

Yesterday I put my helmet hat in the washer with very hot water and felted it slightly to make it fit a little more snug. I knew it wasn't going to felt evenly because I had used 3 different types of wool and I was right. The top (cream color) didn't felt as fast as the other 2 wools, the red felted the most unfortunately because its very lightly spun wool. The green did as predicted, its Brown Sheep wool and a great felter. So---in the end, I didn't make it through even 1 wash cycle before I had to get it out and stretch the red to fit my head. What to do....the cream was still too loose and big. Suddenly I had a brainstorm. I got out my Clover needle felting tool, put the hat on the hat dryer I have (which is a styrofoam ball) and felted it with the tool. Then I put the hat on my head and stretched the still-damp red wool. Now the hat fits like a dream. Its great. If you look at the first pictures (previous post) and these pictures, I hope you can see how smooth the top now is. Yaaaay for the Clover tool, it didn't take long at all to felt that cream down with it.

I also did a crab stitch crochet all the way around the outer edge of the hat with the green yarn and that helped shape the back edge where I actually stretched it some wearing it wet--and wanted it to fit a bit snugger there. And of course I braided 2 ties on the front. I really love this hat, too bad its going up to the 30's today and won't be cold enough to test the hat in windy 20 degree weather (and I'm complaining?)

Next? I'm going to go back and tackle the lined slippers on the LK 150.

Yes, I'm knitting

I have had a horrible case of bronchitis since Christmas and can't machine knit or do much else because the idea is to rest, drink water........etc...... So I decided to HK. My daughter in law made a cute helmet hat a couple weeks ago and I liked it so much I wanted one. I dug into my stash and found some green Brown Sheep wool, some red wool spun in a Third World Country and some cream colored hand spun yarn my daughter sent me from Tacoma. Perfect! The pattern is a freebie from Knitting On The Net, Ear Flap Hat by Leef Bloomensteil. I don't have ties on it yet and I think the ear flaps are a bit too long so will put it in the washer tomorrow to felt it just a little. Here's pictures of the hat so far......

Multi-Directional Scarf

So I took this class at the local LYS and when I got home I realized I had made a mistake the second multi direction so I took it all out and studied the pattern. Figured it all out and made some notes on the pattern and went to bed. The next morning I did something with the pattern--I have no idea where I put it but its gone!
At least I had studied it and remembered how to do it--as far as the basic scarf but there was an additional part of the pattern I didn't look at (yet)...that was...how to finish the thing. I need to know how to finish the last section so it looks like the first. I found the pattern on jimmybean.com. First I thought good grief, don't order the pattern again, you'll find it eventually but jimmybean also had some Lorna/s Laces Swirl on sale, The more I knitted on this scarf, the more I loved how it was turning out and the Swirl that was on sale was multi-colored just like the Plymouth Kudo that I was using. Couldn't resist, I ordered the pattern and yarn. So now here I am, almost finished with the scarf and awaiting the pattern and yarn. The pattern is Ann Norling's, Short Row Multi-directional scarf.

This scarf is so great because you can use any yarn, it probably looks best with a variegated yarn with medium to long sections of colors, any weight, any size needle that matches your yarn weight and knit till its as long as you want it to be. I like longer, thinner scarfs that I can fold in half and draw the end through. Love wearing them that way and this one is going to be exactly what I love. Kudo is 55% cotton, 40% rayon and 5% silk. Beautiful stuff and nice to knit with.

Oh, did I mention I also bought the Addi Turbo Click set at the LYS the day I took the class? I have always liked Addi Turbo needles, they have a smooth transition from cable to needle. That is one thing I don't like about some sets I've owned. These also don't screw onto the cable, they click and lock. No coming undone while you're knitting. I do believe I've found 2 of the best needle-systems on the market, the Addi Turbo Clicks and the Knit Picks Harmony Options. They rival bamboo in that you can knit slippery yarn and not have stuff fall off the needle. Well, a girl has to have needles for slippery yarn and for regular yarn, right? So I'm all set, my hand knitting basket is overflowing and so is the yarn basket (uh....cupboard(S) :-)

I think its time to share some yarn with my fellow club members. We have a box in the clubhouse here at the condo and we're rapidly filling it with books, supplies and needles for each other to use. I'm going to go through the yarn stash and add some yarn, there's just no way in this lifetime I can knit all this yarn. Its almost sinful to look at (and I have been known to say I was going to have to go to confession if I buy any more...but surely I'll be forgiven for buying that Lorna's Laces, especially if I share some yarn with my fellow knitters).

Ready for Winter

2 years ago I made the crossed stitches scarf and hat. It was inspired by a DIY hand knitting show, Knitty Gritty. Someone came on and showed a scarf with the crossed stitches. I knew it could be done on the machine but couldn't figure out how until Colleen Smitherman on the LK 150 group told me she had a pattern using that stitch. She generously shared the technique with the group and I absolutely loved how it looked. I had this nifty Bernat yarn that was on clearance at Walmart and made my scarf. Then I decided I could easily make a hat using the crossed stitches technique on the brim so I made the hat. Next I made a mitten but life got in the way and I never made another mitten. Now, I've moved and lost the yarn. To make it worse, I never put a fringe on the scarf and it really needed a fringe to finish it off. So while I was looking for the yarn I dug through my bags that moved with me and found some specialty ribbon yarn. I don't even remember buying the stuff but it was the same shade of beige as the scarf and had a dark brown in with it. The yarn has the appearance of feathers and fuzzies along with the ribbon. It was perfect for the fringe, don't you think?

So with that finished, what to do for a second mitten. I decided to go get some brown yarn that matched the brown in the fringe and make a new pair. I started last week and made a pair that turned out too small. Then I made a second pair that came out too big (2 different patterns). I decided the first pair was the easiest to make so I figured out my gauge and where I needed to put more stitches and rows to make a pair that fit using the first mitten pattern. Today I sat down and tried out my revised pattern and it worked. The pattern is from Kangamooknits.com but there is a problem with the web site. Its not a free pattern so I hesitate to tell you to go to the web site, apparently it has been struck by a horrible bug of some sort. Here's a picture of my finished set, I love it and I can't wait to go to club tomorrow to show the set off.


Unlike the original mittens, I didn't do the crossed stitches on the cuff, mainly because I wasn't sure these mittens were going to fit and really, it was 29 degrees out this morning when the dog and I walked...I needed mittens TOMORROW!

Now that I look at the picture of the mittens, they look like one is longer than the other but they're exactly the same size so thought I'd better write that or you'll think I've gone totally bonkers and can't count knit rows

I'm seriously thinking about making another pair now with the crossed stitches. I made a blue scarf just like this one and never made a hat to go with it. If I do, I'll definitely make the mittens with the crossed stitches cuffs. Only thing is...I wonder where THAT yarn went???

First though, I have some dishcloths to make on my Brother 970. I haven't used that machine in almost 4 years and its time to see if it even works after being neglected for so long.

Finally I have a knitting room

So what happened to the sewing room? Well, its a mess or I'd show you...its strictly for sewing, there's too many built in cabinets and things to make room for a knitting machine so I took over the extra bedroom for knitting. The room was soooo dark. It had a dull green paint on the walls, mauve-purple colored shades on the windows and absolutely no lights in the entire room, not even a ceiling light. I had my son put up some white blinds in the room and tossed the hideous purple things. I gave the kids the futon for their basement where they have a huge bedroom for guests. Then I emptied the room and the closets of the stuff I had packed in there waiting for someplace to go.. and had a painter come in and paint the room an off-white semi-gloss. Already it looked better. Then yesterday I went shopping for lights. I got myself a floor lamp that has 3 positional halogen lights on it. I positioned the KH 970 between the 2 windows. I don't like to be facing the windows when I knit because that makes it way too bright for me so I figured between would be better. The Halogen can be moved to sit behind me which is where I like my work light. I can always move it closer or whatever. I had some bookcases and a couple 2-drawer file cabinets so am using the file cabinets for lamp holders and of course the overflow of tools when I'm knitting. I put all the knitting accessories like color changers,etc in the closet. One whole wall of the room is closets so that's handy for storage.
Here's pictures of the work space I hope I can keep it looking as good as it looks now but we all know what happens when we get busy. One nice thing, the sewing room is handy when I need it for my knits and the ironing board is right across the hall from the knitting room. (steamer doesn't seem to have a space yet, I've stashed it in the master bedroom for now).



I should mention, the pictures go from 1. entering the room and looking to the right, 2. straight ahead from the door on the left and 3. on the left, the first closet.

Its not a very big room but looks like it will be fine for knitting. I have all my books arranged in the bookcases. Spinning, Weaving, Machine Knitting and Hand Knitting. I also have books stashed in the closet in order as well, hopefully I'll keep them in order.

Room done! Yaaay. I want to make a couple clocks, one for the sewing room and one for the knitting room (with my embroidery room) but have a couple other projects I have to do first. To begin with, I owe a friend a dozen washcloths and that's first on the list (as soon as I find the 16/2 cotton--I think its still in the garage.

Then I have curtains to iron and get up in the dining room which was also painted in this flurry to ginish and chill out for the winter.

Bought myself a Wii because I am absolutely terrified of driving in the snow after all the years of not driving so I don't want to push it by having to drive to a gym every other day...Wii has 3 or 4 excellent workout "games" and I got myself one of those...plus just moving around with the other games ought to be fun and good for an old lady