winning the battle?

Chocolate chip cookies have always been my biggest baking weakness.  Remember this?  Well..maybe my luck is changing?

We were in serious need of some cookies last night, and Dave found this Martha recipe floating around.  The cookies were fantastic!!  Seriously, it’s all I could do to keep myself from sitting around eating them all day.

So, despite having a hugely busy weekend, I managed to make it through the leg of my sock.

I had planned on continuing through to the heel tonight, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen.  I’m getting sick, so I should probably just finish some homework and go to bed early.  Ah, well.  Maybe I can finish a sock before the end of the month.

PS: New header!

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Squash of the Week!

Ack, a day late!  :oX  This week’s squash is the BUTTERNUT SQUASH.  I guess after my previous squashy disappointments, I figured I’d go familiar over foreign.  It was awesome!

It was a lot more orange than I thought it would be!

I had really wanted to, you know, DO something with it..but all of the recipes I found required equipment I don’t own, so I just roasted it with some salt and pepper (and butter of course).

Mmm.  I haven’t had a chance to toast the seeds yet, but I’m sure they’ll be yummy when I do.  :o)

(I’ve made it through the leg of my sock this weekend..onto the heel!)

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knit happens

At some point in the recent past, you may have come to the conclusion that this blog is not about knitting and craftiness at all.  In fact, it’s mostly about food and my dog!  Any writing I’ve done about knitting is probably just a face to appease you, right?  Not quite.

I may be weeks behind everyone else in the knitalong, but hey!  Progress is progress, right?  Actually, this is just a picture of the cuff.  Since taking this picture, I’ve traversed halfway down the leg.  I really like the way that it’s turning out!

This past weekend, we took Snake to the park again, and this time there was another puppy there!

Er..yeah, she came home pretty dirty.  It was really amusing to watch her play with another puppy around her weight but only half of her height.  It seems like I’m seeing Corgis everywhere all of a sudden..

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Squash of the Week!

This week’s squash is the SWEET DUMPLING SQUASH.  It’s really pretty and seasonal-looking!

When I opened it up, it smelled just like a pumpkin, and I was really looking forward to eating it.

..but I have to be honest.  I thought this squash was gross!  Unlike its name suggests, it was quite bitter and had an off taste.  Maybe I did something wrong?

I was so disappointed by the squash that I nearly just tossed the seeds.  Since I’d already gone through the trouble of cleaning them, however, I went ahead and threw them in the oven with some butter, and I’m glad I did!  Despite the unappealing squash, the seeds turned out great!

See?

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

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tart-tastic

Ack!  I really wanted to show off the tart I made with the apples we “picked” this weekend sooner..but tons of schoolwork has gotten in the way!  Funny how that happens..  In any case, I made this great apple tart recipe from Martha Stewart.  I’m sure I’ve commented on this before, but she really is my go-to gal for dessert recipes!  Like most of hers, this is a quick easy recipe that turns out great.  The ingredients were easy to find and inexpensive.  And, seriously..this thing didn’t last 24 hours around here!

Tonight was going to be my knitting/lazing about/maybe baking something else with apples night, but homework got in the way again.  Let’s hope I at least make it beyond the cuff of my Through the Loops mystery knitalong sock!

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apples and pumpkins and cold weather oh my

Not so much about the cold weather (at least not since yesterday and the day before..and cold is for sure relative here), but we did go apple and pumpkin picking this weekend, as promised! We had a big group of people this year, and it was a blast!

I’m actually not in that one since I took the picture, but that was the start of our adventure at the apple orchard.

If it’s not obvious from the barren trees..there were no apples to pick!! We walked around the entire orchard and back to the main shop before asking someone and discovering this. Eventually we had to settle for the pre-picked apples in bins under a tent. (And I DID get this great shot of Lindsay and Bianca disappearing into the trees.)

I wound up buying a bunch of apples, and I’ve already started to bake with them. I’ll talk about that later, though. Just a teaser for now. :o)

The pumpkin patch proved to be much less barren, as you can see. We had a great time running through the pumpkin fields in search of the perfect squash. I wound up with 2 that cost a total of $20..so you might imagine they’re quite sizable. I haven’t decided yet whether I want to carve them or cook them. Hmm.

Anyways, I have a whole set up on Flickr if you want to see my unabridged fall adventures. We all had a really great time! Snake had a great time too, and I’m thrilled to know that she’ll be alright in the car on longer trips!

Food and (maybe? hopefully?) knitting to come soon.

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Squash of the Week!

As promised..a weekly squash feature for fall! I love squash. They’re easy to cook, and you can pair them with basically anything to add fall flair to a meal. You could even (gasp) branch out and incorporate them INTO your dish. ..but I don’t.

This week’s squash is BUTTERCUP SQUASH.

Prior to cutting in, I had no idea what to expect. Once I opened it up, I exposed a vibrant orange flesh, fat seeds, and a sharp almost cucumber smell.

Baked in the oven, it was pretty tasty.

I used butter to toast the seeds.

All in all, I would say that this squash was not my favorite, if for no other reason than the fact that I like some others SO much. It was by no means bad, and I was intrigued by the outward appearance of this giant. However, I would caution any seed lovers against toasting up some buttercup seeds. When I saw how fat they were, I was expecting a lot of tasty seed-meat, but once I tasted them I quickly realized that the majority of their bulk is hull.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic fall weekend! We are going apple/pumpkin picking today down in Willcox, and it should be a lot of fun!

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trading time for taste

It’s finally fall in Arizona! At least..yesterday’s high was below 90. It’s going to go back up, but I’m hopeful that it’ll remain cool for a while soon. My busy schedule should calm down a bit after this week, hopefully lending to some relaxation, knitting, and REAL baking. In the meantime? Cake in the microwave.

That’s right. The microwave. I got this recipe from Ravelry buddy Lani. It’s quick and easy! (And to be honest, it’s not half bad.) I think it would have turned out better if I didn’t have a shit microwave, but really, for a 3 minute cake, I can’t complain. Thanks, Lani!

CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour (that’s plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

I also got a little crazy this weekend and actually (gasp) threw up a wall decoration. I had to do something with my overabundance of clothespins, right?

(I’m sure if you think about it REALLY hard, you can tell which note is mine and which is Dave’s.)

It was pretty simple to make, and I really like the way it dresses up the wall over our (yes, in TUCSON) fireplace. If you want to make your own, all you need are clothespins, some yarn, some little papers, and a writing utensil. I just grabbed some little origami papers and a colored pencil, and it’s stuck to the wall with two pushpins. If anyone does something similar, I’d love to see it!

Just to give you a sneak peek..I’m planning on adding a weekly feature here based on squash for the fall. Here’s a picture from last week’s Delicata! I toasted the seeds like pumpkin seeds, and they were delicious. I actually, er..ate them before anyone else got home. Oops!

PS: Snake lost 2 teeth this weekend! Dang!

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