Yarn & Food, Two of My Favorite Things

This  (bread) bowl of yarn was once.....

....this sweater from Goodwill.

I know, you're thinking it can't be, as they aren't even the same color. Try as I might, I couldn't get the yarn balls to photograph right. It was a bit late in the day when I took pictures of the wound balls of yarn. The partially dismembered sweater above was actually a whole sweater when I bought it. I didn't think to photograph it bfeore I began the long and laborious job of deconstructing it.  I've recycled thrift store sweaters into yarn before, but never one as time-consuming as this. I was disappointed to find many knots in the yarn, too; hence so many varied sizes of balls.  Goodwill's sweaters are $3.49, but they were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale, so this sweater only cost me $1.75. I couldn't find another worthy of recycling, but I found a lovely chocolate brown zip-up cardi in great shape, which I think my daughter might  like.

The sweater's yarn color was much richer than it looks in the picture above. The color of it really jumped out at me in the store. I usually look for size large or extra-large sweaters, so I'll get more yarn. This was sized small, but such a pretty color. I'm thinking of knitting an infinity cowl with the yarn.   I realize winter is nearly over; but knowing me, it may not get  completed before next winter. It took me  a few days to get to this point with the yarn. I still have to wash it, then hang it to dry over the shower stall.  I'll weight the ends  to pull out the kinks in the yarn. I'll then wind it back into balls and be ready to get my knit on!

A little something to tempt your taste buds.

My son saw this dish being cooked on a morning news show earlier this week. He's not one to care about cooking or recipes, but he does know what looks good to him, and apparently this dish did.  I googled and found the recipe here. I'm not one to take someone else's recipe and pass off as my own, but I will type it out here, simply because I made some modifications, which I felt it needed. The original was the idea for it, though.

Crock Pot Soft Chicken Tacos
1)Put 3 or 4 chicken breasts (I used frozen) in your crock pot. Spellchecker reminded me crock pot is two words. I can never remember that. Yea for spellchecker!
2)Add  one can Rotel tomatoes (I use store brand equivalent).
3)You can add in a diced onion, or you can wait & use fresh chopped onion as you're making your tacos, which is what I did.
4)Add one can whole kernel corn, drained.
5)Add one can black beans, drained (I rinsed mine in a colander).

Sheesh, that was hard, huh?  Seriously, for starters, that's all there is to it. That makes the filler for your tacos.  All I did differently was to add seasonings. I did this after cooking it, when I realized it was somewhat bland.

I added about a teaspoon of cumin, and some onion  & garlic powders, all to taste.  You could probably even add a package of taco seasoning to the crock pot as you're cooking the chicken, but I'm trying to get away from using processed foods. I'm not there yet, but I leave them out when I can. Of course, you can also make your own taco seasoning, which I guess is sort of what I did.

To make the soft tacos, I buttered one side of corn tortillas, laid them buttered side down in a nonstick skillet on medium heat for a couple of minutes.
After removing from the skillet, I sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top.  You can use cheddar, but just sos' you know, it's nearly twice the saturated fat grams as the white stuff. Just sayin'.
I spooned the chicken mixture in a strip across the center of the tortilla, sprinkled a little more cheese on top of the meat, then carefully folded over the tortilla and returned it to the pan. You may have to hold it with a spatula to keep it from unfolding.
After a minute or so, gently turn it over to the other side.  This doesn't make the tortillas crispy like a store bought shell, but it gives them a slight crunch, and makes it easier to hold when eating.
Return the taco to a plate, then fill with whatever ingredients you like in a taco. Mine has diced tomatoes, diced onions, sour cream (nonfat), picante sauce, & shredded lettuce.   This meal was a big hit with Mr.Studley & my son. I used 3 chicken breasts in mine, and it made a LOT.

I celebrated a birthday last week. Well, celebrated might be stretching it a bit.  We live in a small town, with a handful or restaurants, and not a lot else. Eating out isn't a big deal since we do it through the year anyway, always at the same old places. We could've driven a couple of hours to big  D, but I just wan't feeling a road trip. Mr. Studley took me to a couple of thrift stores, waiting patiently while I looked to my heart's content, then we went out for some yummo  Chinese food.  Hardly an exciting way to commemorate my 56 years here on this earth, but a fun day for me, nonetheless.  I always have fun hanging out with Mr. Studley.

Our weather has been mild, and I'm starting to see a lot of these. They always make me smile.  Be blessed!

Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].

~1 Peter 4:8 Amplified Bible

Garden Goodies Galore!

These started out as a pair of mittens for a little girl who likes yellow. I ended up frogging them, as they were looking more like a pair of mittens for a big girl, who may or may not like yellow. No, I didn't do a guage swatch, but when I'm knitting something that small, I figure it doesn't take me any longer to knit part way up  the pattern than it would to do the swatch. For my non-knitting friends, frogging means to rip it out. Rip it. Get it?   Okay, well, in other news, look below at the yummy goodies we got today.

Mr.Studley & I have been very blessed by friends this week. On Sunday, a man at church brought us a big bag of turnips, as well as turnip greens.  Today, a woman from church dropped us off two huge bags of yummy goodness  from her & her husband's garden.  I love...no, I LOVE turnips. The greens I can take or leave, but I'd just  as soon eat a bowl of stewed turnips as I would a bowl of ice-cream, and I do like ice-cream.  In case you're from some far away place that's never heard of turnips, or maybe you have, but thought they were some odd thing southerners eat, like fried okra, or fried green tomatoes, I'll tell you how to cook them. I'm sure there's more than one way, but this works for me.

How to prepare turnips:

Slice off the ends, like you would with an onion
Peel
Cut into 1-2 inch cubes
place in a 1 1/2 to 2 quart microwaveable bowl
Add just a little water, maybe a half cup or so
nuke on high for about 5 minutes, then check them by seeing if a fork easily penetrates the cube; this will take longer or less time, depending on the amount of turnips you're cooking
When done, drain the water, or at least most of it
Add a 'sprinkling' of sugar, but not too much. You don't want to sweeten them, you merely want to take away the bitter edge turnips sometimes have
Add butter/margerine, or whatever you use for that, and salt & pepper

That's it. You'll love 'em, or you'll hate 'em, but I'm betting you'll love 'em. If you want a simple meal, whip up a pan of cornbread and bake it in a cast iron skillet.  When you cook your cornbread in a cast iron skillet, put a little oil in the skillet (I use olive oil for just about everything), then put the pan in the oven while the oven is preheating. If you'll let your pan heat  for at leat 10 minutes before adding the cornbread batter, you'll get a nice, crisp bottom crust, and the entire round of cornbread will easily slide out of the pan onto a serving plate; and  assuming you have a well seasoned skillet, all the cleaning  it will need is a quick swipe with a paper towel.  Do all this, and  you've got yourself a nice little southern meal right there, I tell you what (sorry, I have Hank Hill on the brain right now).

I didn't take pictures of everything, but there were turnips, green onions, carrots, turnip greens, kale, collard greens,  cilantro, thyme, and dill, all freshly picked this morning from our friends' garden.  Heaven...I'm in Heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.....and that's all I can remember from that song. ;-)

I'm still spending lots of time at Pinterest, mostly at night before I go to bed. A neighbor's birthday was yesterday, so I made her this coffee cake, then topped it with a glaze from this recipe.  The recipe for the cake is enough to make two 8 x 8 coffee cakes.  Whatever was I supposed to do with the second cake??  I could have frozen it, I suppose....but Studley and I had much more fun eating it. Sorry, I didn't think to take  a picture, but I baked one in my one-and-only 8 x 8 pan, and the other in my 9 1/2" cast iron skillet. Just as I do when cooking cornbread, I let the skillet get sizzling hot in the oven before I poured in the cake batter. After it was out of the oven and cooled a bit, I slid a spatula around it to loosen the edges of the cake from the edge of the pan, then placed a plate over the skillet and flipped it over. Of course, this put the top of the cake facing down. I then flipped it over again onto another plate, and voila',  it stayed intact. I poured the cooked glaze over it, and once the glaze had cooled a bit,  I had a very pretty  cake for sending over to my neighbors.  I let Studley take it over, since it was raining cats & dogs at the time. He's so handy at times like that. He even volunteered to do it. All I had to do was lament, "how ever will I get that cake next door in all this rain?", followed by a big sigh. Next thing I knew, he was heading out the front door, a cake in one hand, and an umbrella in the other.  I'm a blessed woman, I am.

Among the greens we received, there was a batch of one kind that I didn't recognize. They looked similar to the turnip greens, but one side of the leaves were green, and the other sides were a sort of burgundy color.  Plus, I think they were a bit more oblong shaped than the turnip greens which were slightly more rounded.   Come to think of it, the leaves were more pointed and narrower than the turnip greens.  While some types of  kale have a purplish color, I do know these aren't kale.  Anyone have a clue what they are?  I forgot to take a picture of them, and have already cleaned them and packed them away. I'll send out two of my handknit dishcloths to the first one to comment (with a continental US address, please) who can correctly identify them for me.  In the unlikely event that two of you comment at the same time on the clock, I'll send you each two dishcloths.  You'll have to give me a day or two to get more knit in the event of their being two winners; and yes, I realize that constitutes about 98% of my readers. ;-)  Meanwhile, I'll give my friend a call this week to see what the greens are, so I'll know who got it right.

You guys have a great week, and remember, try and do something to bless someone today!

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.
~Psalm 13:6 Amplified Bible

"We are born helpless....
We need others physically, emotionally, intellectually;

We need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves."

~C.S. Lewis

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Isn't it funny how your perception of birthdays changes when you become a parent? As children, we are offten rather narcissistic about our birthdays. We are made to feel as if the world revolves around us. It can be a little dismaying when we enter the real world and find out it doesn't.

I made over both my children on their birthdays, just as my folks did with me. For me, my children's birthdays are a time of poignant reflection. Today, my baby turned twenty-five. She is one quarter of a century old. Though twenty-five years have gone by, I can remember her birth, and the events leading up to it, as if it happened yesterday. I can barely remember the names of people I knew or worked with back then, but the memory of the day I was blessed with my beautiful baby girl is of utmost clarity.

One part of her birth day, I don't remember, as I was off sleeping off the trauma of childbirth. I've heard it told many times by my mom, though. The entire family was in the waiting room. My late husband was Italian. If you know Italians (or are one), you'll know they tend to be very close knit as a family. John was one of five siblings. His folks and siblings (and some of their spouses) were all in the waiting room, along with my mom and dad, my then 8 year old son, and my 11 year old nephew. I'm sure the waiting room was packed.

John was in the delivery room with me. After Nikki was born and had been cleaned up, and all the necessary data taken, John was pointed to a rocker in a nearby room to sit and bond with his new baby. According to my mom, it was two hours after the birth before he let the rest of the family know she'd been born. He sat in that room rocking her, holding her close. Yes, my mom has been known to exaggerate a tad, and I figure she was then, though to this day, she claims it to be true. The rest of them don't remember. ;-Þ

The bottom line is, he did stay in there with her for a long period of time. I often thought after his death that it was as if he had some uncanny sense that he needed to make the most of every minute with her.

Another memory of that day is shared by my son every year on his sister's birthday. He still remembers his Pappa telling him and his cousin to turn off the tv so they could go to the hospital, as he was about to get a baby sister. He resented not getting to watch the rest of that Three Stooges episode!

One last memory was about my son. I've shared it with my husband now, and he still cracks up everytime it's brought up, since he knows my son's personality so well. It was the day we came home from the hospital. It had been a long and grueling day, as people came out of the woodwork to come see our new baby. We were tired and ready for bed, but Nikki commenced to crying. I'd nursed her, changed her, and rocked her to no avail. I was about to the point of joining her and having a good crying jag myself. My son, also John, walked up to the crying baby, patted her little face, and said in the softest, sweetest little singsong voice, "now, shut up". It was priceless! He still tells her that today, when she's chattering a mile a minute, though not quite so sweetly as he did that day.

Happy 25th birthday, my sweet little Nikki!

Don't you see that children are God's best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior's fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.

~Psalm 127:3 The Message

Happy Birthday to Me!

Not today, but yesterday was my birthday. I learned this weekend from my mother that she requested the doctor induce birth two weeks early so that I would be born on my bio dad's Valentine birthday. I was 8 1/2 hours late. Of course, she'd never have done that today, but 53 years ago, a little less was known about the advantages of letting a kid cook to full term.

Mr.Studley and I spent my birthday with my mom and her husband in Fort Worth. They took us out one night for Mexican food, and the next night for a fabulous steak dinner. We had birthday cake back at their house, and my mom gave me a fat check to buy a new outfit of clothes. Life is good.

I was still carrying around the money Mother had given me for Christmas, saving it until I got a chance to shop in Dallas. I bought several skeins of yarn in JoAnn's Fabrics, and a Lucy Neatby sock knitting book, along with three new sets of bamboo dpn's at the Woolie Ewe in Plano. There were scads of yarn there that I wanted to buy, but it wasn't in my budget.

On our way home, we stopped at Whole Foods Market in Plano. Mr.Studley and I were like a couple of kids in a candy store. All that luscious looking organic produce had our mouths watering. There were samples being given throughout the store of various goodies. I told Mr. Studley, if we lived there, I could do a lot less cooking. I'd just drag him down there every day at dinner time, and we could cruise the store for sample freebies. Not having to buy groceries is likely the only way we could afford to live over there. Practically every other parking space was occupied by a Lexus.

Fortunately for us, the weather had turned a bit colder the night before, so we were able to pick up some perishables there (purchases, not freebie stuff). We sat them in the back of the pick-up so they'd stay cold on the trip home.

One of the things we bought at Whole Foods was goat cheese, something Mr.S. and I had never tried before. It is now our new favorite snack! Another stop we made on the way home was at the World Market in McKinney, where I bought some flatbread crackers. They have toasted carraway, poppy, and sesame seeds in them. We've been spreading the goat cheese on them, then drizzling honey on top. It sounds weird, but it's truly delicious.

In other, and more exciting news, I won a blog contest last week! Natalie, at Tins and Treasures, gave away a big bag of pink, girlie-girl, Valentine goodies, and I won! I had a blast going through the bag, pulling out one pink treat after another. What a shame the only one at home to hear my squeals of delight was my dog, Leyna. ;-Þ

I first met Natalie through her blog about six months ago. We became quick friends. I'm so thankful that our paths have crossed. She's such a warm and caring person. I love reading about the high school classes she teaches. It shows that she puts 100+ percent into those classes, and her students. They are blessed to have her as their teacher! She shares many of the recipes she teaches her students with her blog readers, too. Her crafts are amazing. She has such talent! Everytime I walk in my front door, I now see the red heart she made. I think of her, and am blessed all over again.

Whoa. Would you look at the size of that big, honking box?

What a pretty gift bag. It was stuffed to the gills, too!

It looks like I hit the motherlode! Click on the photo to enlarge, and you can see all my goodies.

This is now hanging on my front door. I love it. I love everything. Thank you, Natalie! You have truly blessed me.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

~1 John 3:11 New King James