Thursday, August 25, 2011

Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

Stumbled on this recipe last week and have now made them twice.

As it is, its lovely, I made only 1 substitution, Pecans instead of Walnuts.

Having a chat with a friend at work today though, I think maybe some more changes are in store to maybe make it a vegan treat too. I'm pondering upping the pumpkin for egg, and using applesauce for butter. (She also wanted more pumpkin just because its yummy).

Great recipe and way to use up a some delicious Quinoa.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

WIC

We know some people who are both young, and un-experienced cooks. They are soon to have a baby and qualify for wic... but were a little concerned with their limitations from the WIC menu... time for my favorite thing to do... research

Here's some really great things I've found to make the tight budget not seem quite so unfriendly.

Military Wives Saving - Cooking with WIC Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

You don't have to give up the good stuff.

My husband is lactose intolerant, almost severely so. I love ice cream - but feel guilty buying the delicious treat for just myself.

Then I realized his grandma left us an ice cream maker... and cow's milk is no longer the only choice.

So I went on a hunt for Chocolate - Coconut Ice Cream. OMG! I am so glad that I did.

We tried a Gnowfglins recipe for our first try... sorry, I didn't take any photos of this experiment. I used 2/3 cup of cocoa powder and everything else to the recipe. A little bit of user/mechanical error caused it to freeze a little too hard - but the taste was perfect.

Some other recipes I discovered on my searches can be found at...

I also did a little bit of math... while I really enjoy Coconut Bliss ice cream from my local freezer section... it costs over $6 for 1 pint... Making my 2 quart batch... I spent just a little less than double that amount. (2 quarts = 4 pints)




Monday, July 18, 2011

Family Cabin


We just returned from a trip to see the family cabin. I've been a part of this family officially for a little more than a year and half... but on an unofficial part for just about 7 years. This is my first time to the cabin. We've been invited before, but some people don't like other people's driving... *sigh*.

It's a rustic, hand cut and built shelter up in the mountains south-east of Chico, (closer to a little town called La Porte) an area known as Strawberry Valley... but even still a ways up the hill from there.

It's wired for a generator - but if you don't bring one with you can have batteries or gas light.

The first floor has a table, a small futon and the kitchen. It's roughly 12' x 10' or so.
Second floor is really just a narrow set of ladder/stairs climbing through the rafters to a place for laying out a bed or sleeping bags.

There was a smallish amount of snow on the ground still, in a pocket mounds

And a creek running just behind. Super cold water so don't fall in.

Best part, while Sacramento was experiences temps in the 90's... we were chillin' out in the 50's. Looking forward to our next trip, this time hopefully with lots of family in attendance for Labor Day weekend.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Family Recipe


There is this old family memory of Empanada's in Scott's family. Nobody has made them since his Great Grandmother Nettie passed away. We weren't even sure if anyone had the recipe, but we were able to get a copy of at least a part of it. However, this "part" was very vague, and wasn't even much more then an ingredients list... with comments like "3 cans sauce" and "1/2 dozen hard boiled eggs".

The list itself doesn't sound very cohesive, but after picking the brains of all who remember helping out in the kitchen, or even eating them, we THINK we got it pretty well worked out.

This past weekend, off to the store for some stew meat, and the few ingredients we didn't already have. Food scale, measuring cups, pen & paper in hand as we worked... we have come to a pretty good set of instructions.

As the first ones were coming out of the oven, his parents were able to stop by on their way home from a visit elsewhere, and after a minor bit of tweaking, believed we had it right.

So now, the only things we await... a picture of Gma Nettie if one exists, and a family event at which to share them with everyone else.

I'm so happy to have been able to make this family memory come to life again.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

KnitPicks Community


Visit Knitting Community

I discovered another knitters community, check it out.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Homespun Heart

So I plied up my first skein of spinning wheel wool.













It yielded about 30 yards, of "super bulky" which isn't
useful for very much, but I still wanted SOMETHING
to turn it into.

With the help of SimpleKnits I found this great little
pattern for felted (really fulled) heart that I had more than
enough yarn for.

The pattern is free one called Heartfelt on Berroco's website

And worked up pretty quickly. Used
about half of my mini skein and now
I've got this cute little heart.

Stuffed it with some non-spinnable
wool and threw it in the laundry.













I'm thinking it's destined for a pincushion more than anything else.