RSS
 

Archive for January, 2009

Pasta Bake

26 Jan

We had a little tiny bit of left over pasta sauce…like less then a cup. It wasn’t enough for us to have another night of pasta with sauce on it. So I started thinking and decided to make a nice pasta bake. It was easy and it used the little sauce that was left and turned it into something different and delightful.

Here’s how.

Cook your pasta. I used mini whole wheat bow tie pasta. And drain well.

Place the pasta in an oven proof contain (preheat the oven to 350)

In a saucepan, put a tablespoon or so of butter over medium heat. Once it has melted add about a tablespoon of flour. (this makes a roux). Cook your roux until golden brown. You must stir constantly or it will burn…so stir stir stir.

Once your roux is ready, get a whisk and some 2% milk. Add a little bit of milk to the roux and whisk until you get a thick paste. The roux will get thicker and more pastelike when you first add the milk. Don’t worry that is what it is supposed to do. Once that milk is blended add more milk (I probably used 1.5 cups of milk total).

Then I took a couple of handfuls of grated 2% cheese. I used a mexican blend but other cheeses would be fine also. Add that to your milk/roux sauce and whisk until the cheese is melted. Finish with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta. Top with the left pasta sauce.

Bake for 30mins or so.

Tasty and a good use of leftover pasta sauce.

 
No Comments

Posted in cooking

 

17 Bean Soup

25 Jan

We were at Trader Joes yesterday and I spotted their bags of 17 bean mix. It has been very cold recently and a hot bowl of bean soup seems just right.

I don’t usually cook with dried beans, it’s not because I don’t like dried beans. But they take longer to cook and you have to soak them overnight. I took advantage of the weekend and had my beans soaking last night so they were ready for me today.


Here are the beans soaking.

Ingredients
1 lb beef stew meat
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can beer
16 oz chicken stock
12 oz baby carrots
1 package Trader Joe’s 17 bean mix
a couple of handfuls of whole wheat bow tie pasta
salt, pepper and oregano

I started with the beef. It takes FOREVER to cook. So get it going first.

In a large stock pot, brown the meat in olive oil and then add the onions, tomatoes, garlic and beer.

Put a tight fitting lid on and let it cook for 1.5 hours. Stiring occasionally and adding more water as needed.

When the meat is tender, add the drained beans, the chicken stock and carrots. Season with Salt, Pepper and Oregano. Let cook until the beans are tender.

In a separate pan cook the pasta. Drain the pasta and set aside. When the soup is done add the pasta and serve.

Serve with a nice crusty french bread and large green salad.

Perfect for a cold January Day.

 
1 Comment

Posted in cooking

 

Dr Who Amigurumi

25 Jan

So I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I love Doctor Who. The new Doctor who episodes are ok, but nothing beats the old ones from when I was a kid. Those are my favorite and my favorite Doctor was played by Tom Baker.

Well, I knitted my parents a dalek last year. Since giving them the dalek, it has run amok in their house. So I thought this was the perfect chance to get to make them another doctor who related item. And because Tom Baker is my favorite Doctor, I thought it was only right that he be the doctor that I made to help keep the dalek under control.

I searched the internet, but I couldn’t find a pattern for a Tom Baker Doctor. So I adapted snuffykin’s pattern to make my doctor.

I used a mix of different yarns. I think a majority of the doctor was made out of red heart. It is easy to crochet and it will stand up to any abuse that it might take from doing battle with the dalek.

Body
This was worked with yellow yarn.
Ch 24
1-14. Sc all
15. *Sc2 Sc2Tog. Repeat from *
16. *Sc1 Sc2Tog. Repeat from *
Break the yarn and work it through the last stitch.

Head
This is the going to give an egg shaped head. I think I would have prefered a standard round head instead.
This was worked with flesh colored yarn.
Ch2
1. magic ring to make 6 Sc stitches
2. 2Sc in each St (12 sts)
3. Sc around. (skip this row if you want a round head)
4. *Sc in next st, 2 Sc into next st) repeat * (18 sts)
5. Sc around. (skip this row if you want a round head)
6. *Sc into each of the next 2 sts, 2 Sc in next st. Repeat * (24 sts)
7. *Sc into each of the next 3 sts, 2 Sc in next st. Repeat * (30 sts)
8-14. Sc around
15. *Sc into next 3 sts, Sc2Tog. Repeat * (24 sts)
16. *Sc into next 2 sts, Sc2Tog. Repeat * (18 sts)
17. *Sc into next st, Sc2Tog. Repeat * (12 sts)
Break the yarn and work it through the last st.

Arms Make 2
Using flesh colored yarn, Ch 2.

1. Magic ring 4 St (4 sts)
2. *2Sc into next st. Repeat * (8 sts)
3-4. Sc around
5. *Sc2Tog. Repeat * (4 sts) Stuff Hand
Change to yellow shirt color
6. *2Sc in next st. Repeat * (8 sts)
7. *Sc in each of the next 3 sts, 2 Sc in next st. Repeat * (10 sts)
8-13. Sc around.
Break yarn and work it through the final sts. Stuff the arms.

Pants
Pu 24 sts from the bottom of the body.
1-2. Sc
3. *Sc next 3 sts, Sc2Tog. repeat* (18 sts)
4. * Sc next 2 sts, Sc2Tog. repeat* (12 sts)

Break yarn, leaving a long tail. Using a yarn needle stitch up the bottom so only the neck is open. Go ahead and stuff the body.

Feet and Legs Make 2
In black Ch 2
1. Magic Ring 5 (5 Sts)
2. 2Sc in first St, hdc in next st, 3 dc in next st, hdc in next st, 2 sc in last st. (9 sts)
3. 2 Sc in first St, sc in each of the next 3 sts, 2 sc in next st, sc in each of the next 3 sts, 2 sc in last st. (12 sts)
4. 2 Sc in next st, sc in each of the next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc2tog, sc in each of the next 3 sts, 2 sc in last st (12 sts)
5. Sc in first st, sc2tog, sc in each of the next 6 sts, sc2tog, sc in last st. (10 sts)
6. Sc in each of the next 8 sts, sc2tog. (9 sts)
7. Sc2Tog, sc in each of the next 7 sts. (8 sts)
Stuff shoe
Using brown yarn for pants
8. *Sc in next st, 2Sc in next st. Repeat * (12 sts)
9. Sc around
10. Sc in next 4 sts. Sc2tog, sc in the next 4 sts, sc2tog (10 sts)
11-15. Sc around (you can do additional rounds till the legs are the length you want. 15 was enough for me).
Break yarn and work through final sts. Stuff legs.

Make sure Arms and Legs are stuffed and sew them onto the body. I used safety eyes for the doctor. To do the hair. I did a Sc starting in the middle of the head and spiraling around. I pulled a loop out as I finished each Sc And held it while I did the next Sc.

After the hair has been put and the head stuffed, sew the head on to the body.

Now for the fun part, making the Coat and scarf.

Sleeve Make 2
I did this in red.
1. Ch 13, Sl 1 to join round
2-11. Sc or until desired sleeve length.
Break yarn and work through last sts.

Coat Body
In red
Ch 21
1. Sc
2. Sc1 Sl4 Sc11 Sl4 Sc1
3.Sc1 Ch4 Sc11 Ch4 Sc1 (Rows 2 and 3 will make arm holes)
4 -? Sc all
I stopped when the coat measured 3.5 inches.
Break yarn and work thought last st.

Sew Sleeves onto Coat and make sure it fits ok on the doctor.

Scarf
Use whatever colors you have
Ch3
1-? Sc all
Make the scarf long enough to wrap around the doctor. I also put a little fringe on the end.

I have not tested this pattern for errors. Please let me know if you find any.

 
1 Comment

Posted in knitting

 

Zucchini with fettucini

22 Jan

This is one of my favorite recipes but I only ever make it on special occasions. It’s extremely easy, but it does require the use of a mandoline. Since I risk losing a finger everytime I use one, it is only on rare occasions that it gets pulled out of the closet of forgotten appliances.

Anyway…the recipe goes like this. Run some zucchini through the mandoline. It needs to be set with the wide toothed blade and slices should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The zucchine should end up similar in size to the pasta.

You can also use yellow squash, but I’ve found because of the larger seeds they don’t go through the mandoline as easily. I also like to use carrots, but be extra carful with the carrots because you really might lose a finger trying to get them to go through the mandoline.

Once all of the veggies are cut you are done with the hard part. The rest is easy peasy and super fast.


Bring a Big Pot (like a stock pot) of water to a boil. Cook the fettucini. When there is like 7 mins left on the pasta, throw the cut carrots into the water. When there is about 3 min left on the pasta throw in the zucchini (or yellow squash). When the time is up drain everything.

For the pasta sauce, I usually return the now empty stock pot to the stove and add some butter, salt, pepper, garlic and dried parsley. Heat until the garlic is browned. Add the pasta and veggies back to the pot and toss. You are now finished and are ready to enjoy your pasta.



Seriously…watch your fingers if you are going to use the mandoline.

 
1 Comment

Posted in cooking

 

Craft Fair and Finger Puppets

11 Jan

My company had a craft fair back in december. This is the first craft fair that I have ever attended as a participant and it was a lot of fun. We were given an opportunity to sell some of our handmade items (with some of the proceeds going to the local boys and girls club) and we also got to do demonstrations of our crafts.

I thought a long time about what I wanted to demonstrate. I figured no one really wanted to watch me knit or embroider. So I thought it would be fun to do a hands-on make-and-take item for people to do and get to take with them.

The problem with this is, it needed to be something easy that people could make. I’ve found it take about 2 hours to teach someone how to knit. And that just gets them to the point that they can go home and wrestle with it. I taught a brief embroidery class at my SnB last year and it takes about 30-45 mins for people to work through some basic stitches. All these things take time to learn and then time to practice. We weren’t going to have either of those for this event. So I decided that a super easy activity would be some type of felt applique. That lead me to search around for felt crafts and I found two great examples of monster finger puppets at the following sites:

mahar dry goods and
emotional moster finger puppets at etsy.

I didn’t get a chance to make any like this, but I love the designs.

I spent about a week making finger puppets at night to have examples and to get the supplies together for the craft fair.


(My favorite is the red one because he is freaking out)


I also made a Gene Simons but he isn’t technically a monster.

Everyone that made a finger puppet had a great time and I got a lot of comments about how easy they were to make. I enjoyed making them also.

 
1 Comment

Posted in charity, crafting

 

This is the best thing I’ve seen all week

11 Jan

This is absolutely the best thing I’ve seen all week (and in all of 2009 for that matter).
Architecture in Helsinki – Like It Or Not from craftzine.

 
No Comments

Posted in embroidery

 

Jayne Hat

05 Jan

My husband is a big fan of firefly and I’ve been wanting to make a Jayne hat for him for a while. I finally got to make one during the holiday break. I used this pattern.



The hat itself was easy to make. And I think it turned out pretty nice. Cinnamon, however, was not impressed.


Now we just need to go back and watch the episode of firefly that Jayne gets his hat from Ma Cobb.

 
No Comments

Posted in knitting

 

Viking hats

04 Jan

When I saw the dwarven battle bonnet pattern on craftzine, I knew I needed to make one for my dad. While I was making his, I decided to make a matching one for my mom.



My dad’s hat was made using the standard pattern. My mom’s hat was made using the same helmet pattern but then I added the long braids and viking horns.

The hats were lots of fun to make and I’m sure my parents will have a fun time wearing them.

 
1 Comment

Posted in knitting

 

Special Olympics charity scarf

04 Jan

The SnB that I belong to tries to do several charity activities each year. Currently we are making scarves for the special olympics.

Charity scarf
This scarf was made using long rows of double crochet in alternating colors. I then went back over the finished scarf body and added a decorative edging and fringe along the bottom.

I always enjoy making charity items quite a bit and often wonder where the items end up. I hope who ever receives the scarf enjoys it.

 
No Comments

Posted in charity, knitting