Soupitty soup....

Well....today felt like a soup making day. A cold, snowy and boring day. So I made soup. Chicken-rice soup, out of most of a chicken left in the fridge.
It looks very pretty. I have no idea how it tastes, cause i'm vegetarian, but we'll see when other people try it. I cooled some off and gave it to the dog, but he's not picky at all, and he can't give me any feedback. So I can't tell from his reaction.

Oh yes. And Church. Tonight is Pizza Rolls.
They're my special pizza dough recipe, wrapped around some tomato sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese and pepperoni(Usually I make them sans pepperoni, but if I make them with pepperoni, i'm not tempted to eat them) Again. Dunno how they taste, but as my previous pizza rolls have been good, and I made calzones from this same batch of dough yesterday that were very good, I think I can safely assume that these are good as well.

Batts and Baking

Today I made peanut butter cookies....Wanna know how good I am? I didn't eat one bit of dough or cookie, until I sat down and had a planned cookie snack this afternoon. And none since. Oh yeah!

Some batts i ordered came in the mail today as well. Beautiful, lovely things. I ordered them from Etsy.

This is a colonial wool/bamboo blend in a colourway called "Grasshopper", purchased from Fibermonster. This is so soft it's practically nonexistent. I think it'll be turned into a small and basic sort of scarf, which will likely end up going with almost everything I own!!

This one's also from Fibermonster. A Colonial/BFL wool blend in "sunrise". I started spinning this one right away. I'm thinking maybe a beret.

This is from Enchanted Knoll Farm, the colour is mermaid(all the fibers are uber blended together) It's mostly wool, with some bamboo, silk, sari silk threads and angelina(sparkly bits). I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and it is already destined for a certain finished object.

This is a sample that came with the above batt from Enchanted Knoll. I don't know it's composition, but it definetely has sari silk and angelina, and it seems pretty woolly. It's probably going to spin up into just enough yarn for a small knitted flower.

The good, the bad, and the knotted

Sometimes, you just gotta go back to basics. . Like the batch of chocolate chip and walnut cookies I baked for church this week. Simple, comforting and oh, so delicious!. I watched "Stranger than Fiction" again yesterday and, well, it makes me want chocolate chip cookies. Especially ones that are just a little undercooked. Mmmmmm.

On a completely unrelated topic(I couldn't figure out a segue any less abrupt) This is my first attempt at plying my now passable singles. It's supposed to be one strand, but, erm, well, i plied a strand that was spun to the left with a strand that was spun to the right, so instead of twisting together and making yarn, they twisted against each other and back onto themselves, forming, in effect, a giant knot. Which is okay. I'll chalk it all up to the learning process :-)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe there are some cookies calling my name.....

Cables & Cheese rolls....

Because Wednesdays are for baking....

Cheese rolls are one of my own creations, something I thought of when we were going to have fruit and cheese and crackers for dinner, only we didn't have crackers! They've been very popular at home and church since. There's no exact recipe, but i'll share as close as I have to a recipe....

Follow your preferred bread recipe, adding a couple shakes of onion powder and garlic powder, and a quarter cup or so of Parmesan cheese(if the recipe is for one loaf. If it's for two or more, increase as appropriate) Also, double or triple the amount of oil used(more if you're brave! the more you use the better the texture of the rolls) . Don't use butter or shortening...it won't impart the same texture. (if the recipe calls for butter or shortening, the same amounts of oil can, of course, be substituted) preheat oven to 350-ish(depending on how well done you like the outsides of your rolls)

Once the dough is done rising, cut it into sections and roll or flatten the first on the counter. spread it with a little butter, and sprinkle some garlic powder, onion powder, and whatever sorts of cheese you like. I usually use parmesan and sharp cheddar, and swiss and jack cheese, if they're around, You can also add whatever else appeals to you. At different times I've added diced onions, pressed garlic, bits of tomato. Whatever you like with cheese. It has occurred to me to add bits of ham, but I haven't yet(I'm vegetarian, so I'd need someone else to eat that batch!). Roll up the topped dough slab into a spiraly-tube thing. Grease some muffin tins(or a pan or cookie sheet, if you haven't any muffin tins) and cut the roll into sections of about an inch. Let them rest and rise a bit, and throw 'em in the oven till they're done(15-20 minutes-ish. I usually go by smell and sight more than the clock)

I've got a whole pike of them for church this evening, and wow, they smell great! They're awesome as a snack, or a light meal with salad or fruit...yummm!!


(as for the cables part....I've got the cast-on(crochet cast on, which takes forever, ick) and the set up row done on jeanie...now the fun begins!!)

Wednesdays are for baking...

So, on Wednesdays there's the mid week services at church. Bible studies for the grown-ups, and clubs for all the kids. One of the many, many things that is so very awesome about this church is how on Wednesday evenings, people from our church go to various places and pick kids up, kids who otherwise wouldn't have any chance to go to church at all. Most of them are kids from Mexican immigrant communities. The amount of kids coming in pretty much doubles the child population of the church, for the evening.
Wednesday evening I teach the middle-ish kids, 1st through 3rd grade. When I started three years ago, I was helping, and ended up baking snack for the kids. This expanded to become me baking for the church. Yep. after church I hang out in the church lobby providing calorie-laden snacks to everyone. Conveniently for me, they serve as my guinea pigs when I want to try a new recipe, or invent one.
Today it's brownies. Fudgy brownies with chocolate chunks in them. Mmmm. My preference is to eat them with warm with vanilla ice cream, but, as there's no ice cream in the house, I suppose i'll have to do without. Oh well :-)