Colorful

 You know those baby booties  (click here)

I made and showed a couple of posts back ~~

  I had run out of the embroidery thread I used

and needed just a  bit more

to crochet the second 12 inch shoe string.

So, I checked at JoAnns

 and they didn't carry this type of thread at all. 

 It's DMC's Craft Thread ~ 100% cotton.

  I went to the Sewing Room/Crafter's Mall where I purchased the thread in the first place.

They no longer had the thread hanging where it had been.

 Uh, Oh.

  I was worried that I would have to go

 with my second choice cream color on the shoe strings,

and I had tried that  first,  but didn't like it.

  I asked about the thread

that was hanging right there ~

  pointing at the empty space,

and the shop owner told me they no longer carry it.

OH NO!

But there was a couple of baskets

 of what was left of the thread around the corner,

 and it's on sale,for a quarter a piece.  Oh, sigh of relief. 

 Instead of buying just one more skein at  fifty nine cents apiece,

I purchased quite a bit more for future wool felt projects, plus the correct color for the second shoe lace. 

  I hope to find a new local source,

since I don't have a couple of colors that I would like to have. 

  

Now on to more color.

I've been hand dyeing some paper.

Doesn't that sound so very artistic?

Actually I'm dunking some paper into a food coloring bath.

As easy as dyeing Easter eggs.

So there you go.  I love the colors.

I'll show you what I'm working on ~~ next time.

Saturday

What did we do yesterday?

An entire day of this on a hillside:

Cleaning up fallen branches, cutting down  brush, 

 and taking down dead trees.

Thankfully it was a foggy 41 degree day,

and perfect for work like this.

   

Baby Booties

For

Baby

Katelyn

who will be here in mid March.

I used   Simplicity Pattern # 2867

a  new vintage pattern that originally was offered  in 1948.

The Challenger disaster happened 25 years ago today.

It's one of those news stories in our lives that you remember

where you were when you first heard the news. 

   We were stationed at Mare Island, CA and I was taking the kids to school

and waiting at an intersection signal on base right next to an electrical maintenance building.

 We were  listening to the launch on the radio as it happened. 

  I dropped the kids off and then headed down to the barn/stables to feed our horse.

It was horrible to see the footage on television when I got home.

  "Roger, go with throttle up."

I'll never forget those words or the shock of what happened.

Cupcakes AND Pie for Dinner

I wasn't going to create two food posts in a row,

but you know what?   Birthdays happen!

So not only did we have Ricks favorite Apple Pie last night,

 we had Cupcakes too!

Grandson Conner,

"Uh, that's not frosting."

Meatloaf and mashed potato  cupcake recipe   

 from  Mommy's Kitchen.

Edited to add a note for Cathy:   Click on the word recipe for the turkey meatloaf recipe.   Thanks.

next up, hopefully ~~ wool felt baby booties.

White Bean Chili and Golden Parmesan Bread Sticks

 We had our Senior Potluck This past Saturday.

This months main course was soups  and we ended up with  Eight or Nine different kinds.  I only tried two,

but a few people managed to taste each and every one.

They ranged from broccoli with cheese,

to lentil, along with tortilla soup (yum) and vegetable soup

and more.

    We tried this last year for our potluck theme,  

and  soup is a winner. 

Of course there were desserts,

salads, and several types of bread and crackers.

 Here's a quote from a satisfied member and she happened to try each and every soup there was.

  "We have the best cooks!"

There was more than enough food ~ as always. 

Here's the recipe I used.  I doubled it, but didn't need to.

White Bean Chili 

1 pound dried Great Northern Beans

2 medium onions chopped (Oh, the tears chopping 4 onions.)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chillies, undrained  (I used fire roasted chillies.)

2 teaspoons cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon red pepper

6 cups chicken broth ( I'd cut this down to 4 otherwise it's too thin)

5 cups chopped  cooked chicken breast

3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

Salt and black pepper to taste

Salsa

Sour cream

Garnish: chopped fresh parsley  (didn't use, but  fresh cilantro would be delicious.)

Sort and wash beans;  place in a large Dutch oven.  Cover with water 2 inches above beans;

let soak 8 hours.  Drain and set beans aside.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring  constantly, until tender.

  Add green chilies and next 3 ingredients;

cook 2 minutes, stirring constangly. 

Add beans and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 2 hours  or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken, one cup cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil;  reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes, stirring often.  Ladle chili into individual soup bowls. 

 Top each serving evenly with remaining 2 cups cheese, salsa and sour cream.  Garnish, if desired. 

Makes 13 cups.

  Recipe is from Gooseberry Patch  Christmas Cookbook (2004 ) 

For the following day, we had a mug/bowl of the leftover white bean chili along with freshly baked

Golden Parmesan Bread Sticks

4 cups bread flour, divided

1 package active dry yeast  (scant tablespoon if you purchase in bulk and store in freezer)

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed (I used fresh from the garden.)

1/4 cup grated   Parmesan cheese ( I use fresh grated and even more than 1/4 cup.  More like 1/2 cup.)

1/2 teaspoon pepper  (yes pepper, adds a nice warmth and I use white pepper for this.)

1 1/4 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons margarine  (Use real butter ~ )

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon water

garlic salt to taste

Blend together 2 cups flour, yeast, salt, sugar, rosemary, cheese and pepper in a heavy-duty mixer.  Blend in warm water and margarine; beat 4 minutes, until a soft dough forms.   On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth, adding more flour until dough is no longer sticky.  Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat the top.  Let rise until double in bulk, about one hour.  Divide dough in half and cut each into 12 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out until it's approximately 6 inches long; repeat with remaining dough.  Place bread sticks on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Whisk together egg white and one tablespoon water, brush over bread sticks.  Sprinkle to taste with garlic salt.  Let rise until double, then bake at 375*F degees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. 

 Makes 24 bread sticks.

I do add the ingredients a bit differently than the recipe directions: 

 I proof the yeast with the 1 1/4 cups warm water with the tablespoon of sugar sprinkled over the yeast. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and room temp butter. 

  This recipe is from another Gooseberry Patch cookbook.

Christmas Pantry

This recipe is linked to: http://www.deepsouthdish.com/

Winter Chores

Our fall was wet, but so far this winter has been on the dry side.

We're going from above average rainfall for the year, to

below average soon.  Rats!

Right now the next two weeks are forecast to be sunny.

We need to prune and dormant spray the fruit trees

 before it's too late.

It's also time to collect fallen branches,

cut brush and get the debris burned.

It's better to burn it now, while it's safe,

than to leave it on the ground increasing the wild fire threat

later this summer.

So this is what I'll be doing for awhile.

Yep, it was hot getting this photo.

Early Spring?

The daffodils in the oak barrel are pushing through

to spring time.  No matter that it's January.

Or do they do that every year, and I just think we're

still supposed to be indoors, because after all  ~  it is January.

Time to start the garden lists, while pondering

which new variety of  basil and tomatoes to try.

  

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden." --Thomas Jefferson

Time to Play

Our little grandson came for a visit.

So I put him to work. (grin)

He steps right in to help in making soup.

Next up:  Cookies

I think he needs just a bit more help in cracking eggs.

The   Oatmeal Cookies

are packaged up and ready to go home with him.

Time to play.

"Take a picture of my car."

To top off the afternoon:

A half cup of Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate

 with french vanilla snowman marshmallows.

 Delicious.

   

Thanks for the visit Conner.

Let's do it again!

This Morning

 This morning Mt. Shasta  was beautiful.

They're expecting snow up there tomorrow.

So ~

 today was a good day to go up

and swipe the grandson for a couple of days.

  

~~~ See ya later ~~~



Moomie's Hamburger Buns along with Oven Baked Barbecue Beef

The other day I didn't want to run to town

 for just hamburger buns, so I made my own.

This recipe originally came from  a King Arthur Baking Circle online bulletin board where it

became very popular.  Then it got shared on CompuServe's Cook's Forum which

I participated in years ago.  It was a hit there and for good reason.

They're good.  Plus they stay fresh and soft for several days.

Moomie's Hamburger Buns

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter ~ softened

1 egg

3 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon yeast

These instructions are for using a Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Proof  your dry yeast in 1/4 cup of the water.

Place all the dry ingredients and the softened butter into the mixing bowl.  Mix well.

Beat egg into the remaining 3/4 cup of water: with mixer running on lowest setting

 pour slowly into flour mixture.  Add the proofed yeast.

Mix on speed 2 until dough comes together and cleans sides of bowl, but sticks to the very bottom.

  Adjust flour or water to make this happen. Knead for 6 ~ 8 minutes at your normal kneading speed.

Cover and allow to double, almost 45 minutes.

Place on a floured surface and divide into 8 pieces.

  Roll pieces into a ball then flatten a little to make hamburger buns,

 for hot dog buns roll into a cylinder about 6 inches long.

Place on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking sheet leaving enough space for the final rise.

Cover and allow to almost double, 30 ~ 40 minutes.  Bake at 375*F. for 12 ~ 15 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Now for the Oven Baked Barbecue Beef.  I am not overly fond of recipes using canned soup, but I do make exceptions.  This recipe being one of them.  Except this time I made a substitute using Trader Joe's Tomato soup in place of the canned soup plus water.  This resulted in a bit sloppier meat mixture, but it was still good.    So, go ahead and use whatever tomato soup you have in your cupboard.  Either way, with condensed soup or not, it's going to be OK.

Oven Baked Barbecue Beef

from Gooseberry Patch ~~ Farm House Christmas

10 3/4-ounce can tomato soup

1/3 cup vinegar

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 small onion diced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 t. celery salt  (didn't have)

1 t. garlic salt  (used 2 t.)

2 pounds stew beef

Preheat oven to 350*F.  In a covered roasting pan, mix together tomato soup, vinegar

water, sugar, onion, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and garlic salt.  Add stew beef to the mixture.  Cover and roast at 350*F. for 2 hours.  Remove from oven and mash with a potato masher until stew beef is shredded.  Cover and Roast at 350*F. for one more hour.  Serve on hamburger buns.

my notes:  Beef wasn't ready to shred at 2 hours, it took three.

Plus I shred it using a couple of forks.  The potato masher doesn't work well for me.

Take care this weekend.     

Andaman Healthy Thai Cuisine

We love Thai food, and have a favorite  "hole in the wall" Thai restaurant here in Redding.

But while we were up in Mt. Shasta we ran across another Thai restaurant

and decided to try it out for lunch.   I'm glad I hadn't read the reviews first.

We liked it, but the reviews aren't so kind.  Especially when they

were first opened this past summer.  I did run across some reviews

that were very favorable.

At first we were the only customers in there for lunch, so we grabbed the window table

with a view of the shops and Mt. Shasta.

It's definately not fancy, but I did like the colorful tableclothes.  There were blue ones as well.

I loved the light fixtures and the ceiling.

The steaming hot Jasmine tea was fragrant and wonderful. 

The stock in this small bowl of seafood/rice noodle soup was delicious,

and tasted fresh from the sea.

Plain steamed rice, came in a star shaped serving,

with the accompaning bowl of mild spicey yellow curry chicken and vegetables.

 

And for the view

 ~~~

Mt. Shasta, still there with her top in the clouds.



Window Shopping in Mt. Shasta

Here's a peak of the central district of Mt. Shasta.

This is looking north, towards Black Butte  (lava dome).

I love the street lamps, still decorated for the Christmas holiday season.

Watch your step, it's icy.

You'll need warm boots and a colorful hat.

Oh, and perhaps a scarf.

We could stop in for a cup of tea, if they were open.

I love the name of this store.

Sereni- Tea

  I have that red tea pot in my kitchen window right now.

 Mine came from That Kitchen Place,

here in Redding.

I think Mt. Shasta (town) is full of crystal shops.

There were three of them within the same block.

 OK, One was around the corner.  What's up with all the crystals?

There were a couple of shops open.

One was the antique store.

Each little collection was set apart by it's color theme.

I'm partial to this blue

Willow pattern.

Over on the sunny side of the street, without the icy walkway we found this

 monument  to the mountain, that we would have been able to see, if the clouds

hadn't continued to hide bits and pieces.

It was fun to explore just a couple of  the blocks in town.

Next up: Lunch

On the way to Mt. Shasta

I love this mountain to our North,

even if she is playing hide and seek.

Mt. Shasta was hidden amongst the clouds.

Along the way, we passed  Castle Crags.

I tried to capture a good photo of the crags.

 It's not an easy task while traveling the freeway.  I didn't want to stop and get cold.

Especially since we had a grandson in the car, who was homesick  excited to see his Mama (smile),

after a four day visit with us.

The trees kept getting in the way.

Oh, man, this next one would have been good.

Ah, here it is.

Castle Crags.

The view from the Northwestern side.

We're almost there Grandson,

Mama is just on the other side of this mountain.

Next up:  A little bit of window shopping

in Mt. Shasta.