What's for dinner mom?

I used some Christmas gift money from my dear father-in-law to buy a yogurt maker.  I made yogurt a few weeks back the old fashion way without the yogurt maker, this is much easier because you don't have to use your oven.  I figure it is not only healthier, as I will know what is in it, it will also save us money.  42 oz of milk makes 7 containers of yogurt.  

 I was in the mood to clean out my sewing room today so I tried a new recipe for

 Crockpot lasagna - http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/02/slow-cooker-lasagna.html?m=1

 I think it turned out really good, not as good as the casserole kind of lasagna but it was easier and nice to have the free time to organize a room that has been ignored for months!  If I were to make it again, I would plan on just 3 hours or put in more water than the 1 cup that the recipe calls for.  It started to have that overdone tomato sauce smell at the very end but it was still tasty!

Ready for February

 Finally have all of the Christmas and snowmen put away.  Just one plain skinny tree left but dear hubby likes the way it looks by the fireplace so it will stay until end of February.
I decorate a white tree in the corner of my dining room with Christmas, Valentines and Easter decorations.

I was going to put these vintage valentines on it too but had a second thought when remembering we have a puppy in the house.  Now they sit high on a cabinet where he cannot reach.

Every day is getting longer, garden seed catalogs are showing up in the mail and we even hit 50 degrees last week in Cedar Rapids, with February around the corner we all know Spring is on it's way!  

Still on my needles

 My striped socks have not been touched since my last post.  How hard is it just to Kitchener stitch that toe? Not my favorite stitch to do so it languishes at the bottom of my knitting bag.

 I am enjoying working on the Color Affection Shawl.  It is miles of garter stitch which is perfect when watching football, Downton Abbey or movies!  Winter in Iowa calls for a lot of that type of TV watching.

Nothing finished this week so a pretty boring post.  Stay tuned, maybe by next week I will at least, have one sock toe done!

Mason Jars - who knew? (well, not me)

I have acquired probably a dozen old mason jars.  I was listening to a podcast Knit Spin Farm, while flying a couple weeks ago and learned a few tidbits about dating them.  There are a lot more resources online if you are a jar-geek but just for fun here are a few things that I learned.  Maybe you have some jars laying around that will mean more to you now.

Ball Perfect Mason jars were made from 1923 - 1960

If it is a circle it is probably from 1933-1942

If it is square it is an newer jar as the war determined it would be a more efficient use of glass to make them a little squarish - 1942 - 1960

The blue jars are older and blue from the sand used - I have not been able to date but I have some at home that say 1906, they stopped making them in 1937

If there are no lines under the word Ball it is from 1923 - 1933
If the words Perfect and Mason are offset, then it is earlier than 1923.
Also sometimes the word perfect is misspelled and if you do not see a seam line it could have been hand blown, not made in a machine.
kinda cool for a simple utilitarian item that everyone has at least seen in their life.  I use mine for salts in the bathroom, for storing different things, not for actual canning but I still use the clear ones for freezing.
cool stuff, huh?

What's for dinner mom?

I am fortunate to have two weeks off over the holidays this year.  I really enjoyed our trip to Florida followed by a week of "nesting".  I made home-made yogurt.  It turned out so good that I've ordered a yogurt maker from William Sonoma so I can make it all the time using organic skim milk.  Here is what I did this week:  Heat one quart of milk (I used 2%), TO 180 degrees, let cool to between 110 - 120 degrees, at that time stir in store bought yogurt - 2 teaspoons, I used Greek   While working on this turn on the oven to 350 for maybe 3 minutes, just long enough to warm it.  Then pour into a glass bowl, wrap with 2 kitchen towels.  Put the bowl in the over, turn on the oven light and let it sit 8 - 12 hours.  I could not wait longer than 9 hours.  It turned out like rich Greek yogurt.  Annie's Eats blog has more information on this.  Keep posted for how the yogurt maker works, I will be sure and blog an update.

 I roasted a small turkey for New Years day.  I made turkey stock with the carcass.   I put the carcass in a crock pot, added celery, onion, carrot, garlic and some parsley then topped it with hot water.  Turned it on the medium for about 10 hours.  Then poured into some old jars, capped and froze.

 We were invited to an after the holiday dinner party at a director's house that I work for on Friday night.  I threw together a salad.  Everyone seemed to really like it so here is how I put it together.
1 bag baby spinach
1 baby baby greens
1 carton strawberries, thin sliced
1/2 small red onion, thin sliced
spiced pecans I doubled mixure the below and added to a whole bag of the pecans you buy in the baking section:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t allspice
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/3cup pecan halves
preheat oven to 350
combine all of the above dry ingredients.  Rinse and soak pecans in water while oven preheats.  Drain but do not dry.  Toss in the dry ingredients, arrange on baking sheet, I used parchment paper, if you don't have that give a good spray of Pam.  Bake for 10 minutes, stirring a couple times.

Dressing:
I "doctored" up store bought, which is a trick I do all the time.
1/2 bottle of raspberry vinaigrette, Target brand
Add juice from one lime
two really good long squirts of honey
2 T sugar
1/8 cup of oil - I used canola
sprinkle with poppy-seed
shake all up in a jar.

dress lightly, this gives you more dressing that you need.

On and off the needles

 I finished a slouchy hat for sweet college girl in December.  It is made out of handspun.  I gave it to her on Christmas day.  The pattern is one that I just kind of made up as I went along.  She loves it and it is super warm, it should keep her cozy on her campus walks this winter.

 I continue to work on the self-striping socks.  I work on them when I fly as they are very easy to transport.  The heal became much larger than I need but these will be house socks, so they will do.  This pattern is a vanilla sock with ribbing going down the top.

 I bought some awesome chunky thaki yarn while shopping in Jupiter, Florida.  I finished this cowl in about 3 hours.  I love it.  Sweet college girl is modeling how you can wear it on top of your head too.

My newest project on the needles is the Color Affection Shawl.  It is a striped yarn using 3 colors of yarn.  I have a few false starts but I am on a roll now.  Great football knitting!

Play Ball!

 Dear son participated in a baseball showcase and camp in West Palm Beach, Florida from December 27th - December 31st.  College girl and I joined him and we had a blast.  We flew from Cedar Rapids through Atlanta to get to West Palm Beach.  After a few delays in Cedar Rapids, we were off to an adventure.  We went to City Place, a shopping, dinning area, the first night.  It was decorated for Christmas and when the clock would chime they would blow bubbles to make it look like snow.  It was so fun to watch all of the little kids running around excited about the "snow".

 The first full day in West Palm Beach we hit, the beach!  It was a perfect, warm, sunny day.

It was so fun to enjoy sunshine in December, while it was single digits in Iowa!

 We ate at Bubba Gumps which was overlooking the water.  We sat outside and watched as kids enjoyed the water on kayaks and water boards.

I found two great yarn shops!  

 Dear son's games were at the Roger Dean Stadium complex.  This is where the Cardinals hold spring training.

 He had a great showcase.  It was so awesome to watch baseball in December!

 One afternoon sweet college girl and I went kayaking in the inlet waters.  We saw all types of weird birds.  In the summer manatee and dolphin can be seen.  They also have a preserve for sea turtles.

 We went back to City Place a few times, had a great meal at an Italian restaurant there, again, sitting outside.

 We also toured a Japanese Garden and Museum.  This was college girl's favorite part of the vacation.

 We spotted a nest of armadillo's in the wild.  Much like you would spot a nest of baby bunnies.

 This is in the Japanese museum.

 We enjoyed the palm tree lined streets, the beaches, the kayaking, the gardens and especially the baseball.

Although the weather was wonderful and it was a nice break from the harsh winters of the mid-west, it was still great to go home and to be all back together as a family.