Good gravy.

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

No, I don’t make gravy.

But y’all, how did it get to be mid-May end of May?

Speaking of that, Smallish Bear is three months almost 15 weeks old. Somebody splain how that happened.

It’s been too hot to sit outside while Bubba and Smacky have their swim lessons so I bought little man a swim diaper and took him in the Y pool. He was all mellow and relaxed and loving life.

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Not so many new recipes the last little while, mostly because of heat, too-busy weekends that leave no time for grocery shopping, and utter exhaustion. We did make Cinnamon Roll Pancakes on Bubba’s cooking night. He did the lion’s share of the making up, including pouring the batter, swirling the cinnamon goo and flipping the pancakes. No pictures, we ate them too fast. (I CAN tell you they looked nothing like the photos on that site.) Very, very delish. Bubba also did a little grilling for the fam – he and I made shish kebabs, using chicken and onion chunks marinated with this recipe, and YUM. (It was so good I’ll be using it again, this time in the oven with the chicken like the recipe calls for.)

Squishy and Cookie have convinced me to do SoS. It was the “do whatever you want, no drama allowed” that convinced me. That, and the fact that MIL requested socks for Christmas after trying on FIL’s last year’s Christmas socks. She wants red, he’ll get man socks. That requires shopping. :D I know the Tour is coming up soon, which means spinning is on the horizon, too. Plus that quilt, and some more quilts that are designing themselves in my head… I really don’t have *time* to have a job!

(Also, regarding the last post, I do know that I have to make choices and try to do the best I can. Occasionally, though, I just get overwhelmed. It’s like when you face The Closet of Doom with the intention of cleaning it out and organizing it, and there’s so much you can’t think of anything, and you shut the door and grab a beer and your knitting…)

Posted in "cheese Grommit", gift socks, SoS, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Paralysis.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

I haz it.

Not physically, but mentally. I have too many choices (not a bad thing) and each one has too many political/social/environmental implications (this is definitely a bad thing). Remember when cost and features were the only things you had to think about, when making a purchase? Do I want the blue one or the red one? Do I want to pay extra for this bell or that whistle? Is it too early in the season for those strawberries to taste really good?

Now everything is a political statement.
Do I have to choose between clothes locally made from fabrics sourced from a fair trade factory with a good safety record, and something I can afford? Or something that fits?
Did the store I bought this from give money to non-profits I support or abhor?
Do I buy more to help do my part for the economy or save money so I don’t become a drain on said economy if my personal fortunes turn for the worse in the future?
How much water, how much fossil fuel, how much fertilizer, how much unnecessary medicine went into this food?
Does this have GMOs, or food colorings, or sweeteners, or HFCS, or taste?
If a manufacturer pledges to uphold fair trade practices, but markets to mean kids, are they better or worse than the one who uses shoddy suppliers but preaches an inclusive message?
Do they “give back to the community” but treat their employees badly?
When EVERYONE in the industry (I’m looking at you, mobile phone makers and electronics makers in general) uses suppliers that treat their employees like slaves, can I be strong enough to walk away from the technology entirely until someone fixes it?
Does it matter at all if I do, or do I merely disconnect myself while they go on their merry way and make billions of dollars annually (tax-free or nearly so) while their suppliers’ employees jump from bridges or die in fires?
Is it enough to not know the source of my food, my clothing, books, electronics, entertainment?
Do I boycott a company that preaches corporate responsibility, while its availing itself of all manner of (legal, if not ethical) tax loopholes?
Do I go out of my way to find a local beneficiary for my cast-offs and donations, or do I give them to a nationwide charity that employs the disabled but might also sell my items to a buyer that resells in a third-world market and thereby destroy the market for local artisans?

How do I decide what causes I give my limited energy to, and what causes I can’t care about? How do I deal with the guilt when I buy that phone, that GMO corn, that cheap shirt, even if I do decide that the focus of my energy will be elsewhere? Is the right of a gay person in Nigeria to be free of persecution greater than the right of a factory worker in Bangladesh to work in relative safety?

How can I go back to the time when the only thing that mattered was, do I want the red one or the blue?

Posted in navel-gazing | 8 Comments

So, yeah, it’s May.

Posted on May 2, 2013 by

And since we last talked about it, I’ve knat THREE rows on a garter square. Sigh.
Seriously, I’d just put it away and accept that it ain’t happenin’, but I get real cranky real fast when I don’t do SOMETHING creative. (I know some people consider cooking to be creating, but I hate cooking with a passion that is only exceeded by my passion for Not Eating What T Cooks.) Bubba has been begging to help in the kitchen though, and since he and I don’t get a lot of one-on-one time (T takes him to school and picks him up most days) we arranged to cook together on Thursdays. Last Thursday he made a veggie stir fry with rice. He measured rice and water, julienned carrots and zucchini, pulverized mushrooms, sliced peppers, cut broccoli, allowed me to cut the onions, then cooked the whole mess, with bean sprouts, pineapple chunks and water chestnuts. This week, he wants to make meatloaf. (Photo credit T.)

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Other things I’ve made:
Chicken Yakisoba: totally delicious. I wish I could have made a double batch, but I don’t have a big-enough pan. (This one needs a wok if I add anything else.) We’re having it again tonight. I love that it’s one chicken breast for four people and heavier on the veggies than the meat. I made it as listed but will add even more veggies tonight.
Green Chile Mac N Cheese, based on that Mediterranean Mac over in the side bar. I used sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses and replaced the tomatoes and olives with a can of green chiles, and then I went to heaven and didn’t want to give any to anyone else. (I left the pepper jack out of the pan I gave the boys and just used more cheddar.)
Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken: pretty good. I didn’t have all the spices for the homemade Italian Dressing Seasoning stuff, so it had no onion powder, and also I misread it and added a teaspoon of thyme instead of 1/4 teaspoon. Way salty and had a little odd, bitter flavor, and was also really heavy on one of the spices (which I think is oregano). I’ll make this again but sub garlic powder for garlic salt, add the proper amount of thyme, and probably halve the oregano.
Last night we had Quinoa Goat Cheese Risotto and asparagus with balsamic butter sauce. The risotto always takes longer than I think it will (though this time I used frozen spinach and will probably never ever use fresh again), but the asparagus is quick and easy. I feel like that sauce would make a nice dressing for all sorts of cooked veggies.

In other news, I’m nearly ready to take a hammer to my cell phone. Never. Again. Motorola. I’m going to try to reset it to factory settings, but it’s not easy to back up an Android phone and I don’t want to lose pictures or texts or other things. If I had to call 911 on this thing, someone would die because I’d have to reboot the damn thing first. It makes me stabby.

Also, lookie! I decided to try some of those regrowing-kitchen-scraps things. T thinks I’m nuts, but I loooove the little leaves on the romaine stump, and the wee tiny sprout in the spring onion. I have yet to determine whether the onion grows only another single onion or what. In any case, I loves them and they make me happy.

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Posted in "cheese Grommit", family goodness, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

First of May

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

NSFW, unless you have headphones and don’t let the lyrics go a-scrollin’ across your screen.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

More fud.

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

So, a few updates:
cranberry pumpkin scones: a bit dry, (way too dry for the craisins, IMHO) and too much nutmeg so they taste bitter. Next time I will halve the nutmeg (at least), maybe leave out a bit of flour and dump the craisins entirely. (Dryness got worse with time and T choked down the last couple by dipping them in applesauce. Sticking with my Starbucks-pumpkin-scone-knockoff recipe.)
beef stew: OMG this was SO. VERY. NASTY. a couple days after I made it. It tasted of cooked carrots (only) and I HATE cooked carrots. It was a beautiful thing on the day I made it, so it will either need to be made in smaller batches or I will need to skip the carrots. And maybe add the wine and stuff.

New things I tried:
spinach artichoke dip pasta: ZOMG SO GOOD I MUST SHOUT MUCHLY. Cuz, seriously. SO. VERY. GOOD. T and I both said we could easily eat the whole batch and not feel the slightest bit of guilt. Bubba had seconds. Smacky had almost none, but the next day we found out he had a raging ear infection and a bit of pneumonia, so he gets a pass. We liked this so much that I had T get extra cans of artichoke hearts, bricks of neufchatel cheese and frozen spinach so we can always have the makings around.
Squishy’s alteration of my breakfast patties: DELISH. I used green onions, regular onions, green bell pepper, a bit of cheese, some bacon, some pulverized mushrooms, and eggs, and baked them in a muffin tin at 375 for about 12 minutes. (This is a guess – I baked them until the edges were ever so slightly brown.) SO TASTY! I didn’t try to freeze them but I only made twelve (small) muffins and I don’t think one is enough for breaky so this batch won’t get frozen. If I can find my muffin pan with the larger cups, one would be enough for me. I can see all manner of alterations for this, too. Smacky even liked it, but that kid loves his eggs. (Last night he wanted *four* poached eggs for dinner.) I made them last night and only had one this morning, so I can’t say (yet) how well/long they last.

Not the most photogenic of fudz, but so so yum.
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And of course, many of you see these photos twice, but hey, my babies are cute. ;)

Happy brothers.

Posted in "cheese Grommit", baby#3, family goodness | 6 Comments

Recipe rundown

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

Since last post I’ve tried a few different things. I am not a natural cook – I need a recipe for nearly everything unless I’ve made it several times, and only then will I try to make adjustments, so many of these things probably sound super basic to some of you. My laziness for shopping trumps my must-follow-recipe urges, since I won’t actually get up and go get something I don’t have, so I’ll find something close or leave it out.

So, first, there was Beef Barley stew. Again, prolly super basic but since I am not a person who can make soup without a recipe… This was basic and a little on the bland side, but everyone liked it. Plus I can see that I could doctor this with other veggies, particularly those that would stand for a long slow cook. I’m calling it a win, though Lynn sent me this link and it sounds good too. (Sans dumplings. I don’t like biscuit dumplings. I do like the onions and the wine…)

Tonight we had Chicken Fried Rice with this recipe. I didn’t have edamame so I subbed peas, I don’t like mushrooms so I didn’t have any on hand, and I didn’t measure the ginger but used the whole root I had. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. (I’d have added mushrooms if I had them, and I’d just chop them fine enough that I couldn’t feel them, but since I did the shopping this week I didn’t think to buy any.) Tasty indeed, though Smacky wouldn’t finish his. Hard to say if it’s because he didn’t like it or because he’s feeling unwell.

I’m making these scones tonight (subbing whatever flour I have since I don’t have the specific ones called for) for breakfast tomorrow, and I’m throwing this white chicken chili in the crock pot for dinner tomorrow.

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(Rotten picture, but decently good scones. I think I’d like them better without the craisins, though.)

Still haven’t knat anything, but T spent some time working in the garage and I spent some time organizing our bedroom. I also managed to get T to watch the first episode of the Dr. Who reboot (and it was nice to see Christopher again, I do miss him). (ETA: brought my knitting and a Doctor Who DVD (with Blink!) to work and watched and knat on my lunch hour with another Whovian. What a great lunch.)

Posted in "cheese Grommit" | 5 Comments

I need a new phrase

Posted on April 12, 2013 by

for “crazy-busy”. My usual phrase is not particularly worksafe and requires some vaguely spherical items (which I don’t have) and a wall.
Anyhoo.
I have not knat a stitch in two weeks at least. I *am* getting reasonably good nutrition, acceptable (if not ideal) amounts of sleep, a little exercise and some clean laundry, so I’ll take it. The gall bladder has been easing up on me, whether from time to heal (apparently gall bladder woes are common post-partum) or the natural remedies, or both, so I am feeling pretty decent and looking to get some more freezer meals put up.
Marilyn reminded me last time that I posted about recipes here. I remember most of those meals, and seem to remember enjoying the Chicken Orzo Skillet and the Chicken Fried Rice (though I recall that latter one being ungodly salty). The other ones (that were not my recipes to begin with) we didn’t care for too much. Anyway, I have added a little widget to my sidebar to help me keep track of recipes I’ve tried and whether we liked them. (I’d only track the good ones, except that I cannot always remember when I’ve tried something, and I’d be likely to encounter it, think it sounds good and then try it again, only to find that the same people still dislike it.) So, earlier this week we tried a Mediterranean Mac and Cheese. Now, I didn’t have any feta on hand, nor did I have orzo, but I did have chèvre and orecchiette. I figured it was close enough. I made it, I loved it. Bug and T liked it well enough. Smacky, who does not like olives, did not like it, Sam I Am. However, this was the first recipe with a white sauce base I’ve been able to make successfully, so even if I don’t ever make it in this configuration again (or perhaps I’ll make a small dish and set aside for Smacky before I add the olives for the rest of us) I’ll definitely use this recipe again to get the base of the sauce right. I am considering sharp cheddar, pepper jack and green chiles next time. It may also benefit from the addition of bread crumbs on top.
I didn’t attempt to freeze this, but I think I could easily do so, then just pop it in the oven to warm it up.

Tonight I have beef stew in the crock pot (bonus – I used up some of those badly freezer-burned, cut-too-thin steaks that I found buried in the freezer and didn’t have to buy meat) which seems a pretty basic recipe. This weekend I’m aiming to put enough in the freezer that next week’s dinners are handled. (The additional bonus there is that T is as busy as I am right now, and he doesn’t always have time/energy to deal with the kitchen after I have cooked in there. I am, shall we say, not tidy whilst cooking. If I cook on the weekend and only need to warm up or crock the dinners during the week, there is a reasonable chance the kitchen will not look like a war zone.)

Smallish Bear would like you to know that he fits into our family just fine.
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Posted in "cheese Grommit", Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Made it

Posted on April 7, 2013 by

No, I haven’t actually made anything new, I just made it through my first week back. Smallish Bear didn’t seem to notice a difference, and re-entry wasn’t terrible (though I was BONE TIRED by Friday). We have done reasonably well getting the boys to and fro, and handling mornings, swim lessons and bedtimes. This stuff really does take more organization than I come by naturally. It’s my sincere hope that practice makes perfect, as this week we will not be able to go out to dinner as often, nor should I be going out for lunch every day. I have been looking for some recipes to make ahead of time, for breakfasts and lunches. I know I had several that I liked, but I still have new mommy brain and cannot remember what they were or where I left my list…
I have also determined that what I thought was near fatal gas pains were actually gall bladder attacks. I am working with the naturopath on some things that aid in the functioning of that unhappy little organ, since my other options are to have the thing removed, or to give up 98% of the foods I eat on a daily basis. (Not kidding – the list of No-No Foods reads like someone followed me around for a week and wrote down everything I ate.)

Sigh. Dryer is beeping. Back to the grind!

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

It had to end sometime…

Posted on March 29, 2013 by

…maternity leave, that is. Sigh.

I got NOTHING done that I wanted to get done, including cleaning/reorganizing the house, spinning the cupcakes, quilting the quilt, knitting the blankets. I did get about half the Doctor Who episodes watched, but will now have to share the TV with T in the evenings and will have to watch what he wants to watch half the time. I didn’t get a garden in (seriously, do I EVER get a garden in?) nor did I get the patio cleaned or tidied or turned into some fancy retreat for the rest of the spring…

I did get to spend an awful lot of time snuggling on this little man, which was more than worth it.

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(I did manage to get him modeling one of the log cabin blocks of his blankie…)

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However, now that I am due back at work and my time is no longer my own, I’m going to have to admit it – I can’t knit as much as I want (or drink or eat as much as I want, in general) unless I *want* the house and yard to be trash and the kids to go feral. Is almost-40 too late to get motivation and self-control? (Oh yeah, and I want to get back to running… anyone find that time-turner or a TARDIS yet?)

Posted in baby#3, random kvetching, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Amazing

Posted on March 14, 2013 by

What a good shearing will do.

But first! The schmatta of Cookie. Isn’t it cute?

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(The color on this is all weird. The schmatta itself really is that lovely forest-y green, but my baby is not orange in real life.)

The other day I took a picture of myself holding Schnookums #3. I thought it was all artistic and sweet, and I posted it to Facebook. And almost to a comment, the sentiment was, “Go take a nap, woman!”
I did not feel particularly tired, and those dark circles under my eyes are natural and always there. (They are also structural, so no amount of concealer will hide them entirely, and I gave up a long time ago.)

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I attempted to take another one, looking happier and without the “zen-looking-into-the-distance” face, but that was just…um…no.

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(This one didn’t go to Facebook.)

Then yesterday I got some hairs cut.
Before

Before

After

After

And now I feel a little peppier. (But still, the circles remain. Sigh.)

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(Side note: When my haircut was pointed out to Smacky, he grinned and said, “Cool!”. When Bug noticed it, he said, “Wait. Did you get a hair cut? Did you MEAN for it to be that short?” )

Posted in baby#3, general knitting, random kvetching | 11 Comments