May 30, 2008

Old School Soups for those chilly Spring Nights



Well I've been SO busy in my garden this month I have barely had any time to work on anything else. Hence the lack of any new items in my store lately.
Spring is "go time" for me in the garden and I am so busy planting veggies, tilling, weeding and watering that I have to put almost everything else on the backburner. Not to mention the 2 stray cats we are taking care of for now until we can find homes for them. Having 6 cats and 3 large dogs in a tiny 1000 sq ft home can get a little crazy and messy!
But back to my point- even though it warms up and we are ready with our shorts on, we still get a sporadic sprinkling of chilly and/or breezy spring days that make us grab the sweatshirts in defeat. As I've mentioned before, my hubby LOVES soup so we pretty much always have some every week even in the summer. I've got a long row of leeks that I planted last summer, they overwintered and then got big enough this spring. Now I think they are getting too old because some are going to seed, look at this big wiggle "scape" growing on one of them. I cooked this one last night and I couldn't bear to throw into the compost so i wrapped it around my neck like jewelry for the evening.


So one thing I have been making lately is potato soup with leeks to use up the leeks. This soup is something my grandma used to make all the time and always in HUGE batches because my mom came from a family of 12, yes 12! My grandma is gone now, and over the years of trying to get this recipe the way she made it I've realized that the most basic of ingredients is all that is needed.

Potato Soup
2-4 leeks (depending on size)
Bag of baking potatoes
Garlic (optional)
Salt Pepper
Chicken or Vegetable Broth (optional)

Slice tops of leeks off the leek and discard into your saintly compost pile. Then trim the end of the leek off, slice in half and thouroughly wash them out under water, to get all the dirt out of the layers. Then slice them up, put a little spray of oil or bit of butter in your pan and start to sautee, chop up the garlic and throw it in the pot too.
While they sautee over medium heat, peel and chop your potatoes up. They don't need to be fancy cause you will be pureeing the soup at the end. Throw em in the pot and pour water or broth over the vegetables until they are covered. Bring to a boil until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.
Turn heat to low, and puree the soup in batched or with an immersion blender. You can make it as smooth or chunky as you wish, just try to make sure you blend up those leeks. Then salt and pepper to taste. Voila, potato soup.
I like to serve with fresh snipped chives, sour cream, and/or light cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top.

The other soup I have been making lately is a new favorite for us, but an old favorite for a lot of people, chicken and dumplings. I never had this before I made it for myself and I don't know why. It's satisying, comforting and delicious. The original recipe called for 1 medium chopped onion, but I like to use sliced leeks instead.

Chicken and Dumplings
1 1/2 pounds organic chicken breast tenders
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped or 2 medium leeks, sliced
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning,
 1/3 palm full (I use season salt)
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart organic/free range chicken broth (it's one of those boxes- like 4 cups)
2 cups Heart Healthy Bisquick Mix (the lowfat one)
1/2 cup organic milk
Fresh dill
Fresh chives
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands. Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir. Place biscuit mix in a bowl. Combine with 1/2 cup milk and mined fresh herbs of choice (like the dill and/or chives).
Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit.
Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls. There you have it. Both recipes are easy and delicious and perfect for those breezy evenings.

May 22, 2008

Ski-To Sea Weekend Here

Well it's that time of year here in Whatcom county, Ski-to-Sea is on sunday!It's time for Ski-to-Sea race this weekend for any of you interested here is the info. Ski To Sea relay race info The Ski To Sea Race consists of 7 legs starting at the Mt. Baker Ski Area. The 2007 Race is online, with video of each leg. Visit them by pasting this into your browser http://www.skitosea.com/content/Race_Legs_info/Race_Legs_info.asp The legs of the race are as follows: Cross Country Downhill / Snowboard Running Biking Canoe Mountain Biking Sea Kayak I am NOT racing this year! I don't know if I will again ever, it's tough and the people I get stuck training with don't really take it seriously so I've given up. I may be down at the festivities and party area though. There's plenty of bands, bars, parades, and festival all for celebrating the end of the race. And don't forget the parade on Saturday! You can see the Blonde Ambition Belly Dancers (my old troupe!) in the parade if you go :) Cross your fingers for great weather! It always seems to rain except the year I raced it was super hot, of course.

May 11, 2008

Making the Meditation Flute Bag

SO my friend Greg sends me a message a couple months back and says he has some knitting missions he would like to take on for him. I of course say I will. This is one of them. Being a musical type he recently bought a meditation flute "Ala David Carradine" he said and he needed a bag to carry it around. This flute is 3 feet long and very narrow.

So I bought 2 skeins (135 yards each) pretty Manos Del Uruguay Space-Dyed Wool Yarn in "Jungle" -shades of green (http://www.manosdeluruguay.co.uk/) and knit the pattern for a Mutidirectional Scarf from this site in a very long length. www.angelyarns.com/free-patterns/noro-scarf.php Then I threw it in the wash with some towels and felted it. It felted very nicely and made the colors blend a lot better. But the purpose of felting was to get a more fabric-like material.

I cut the width and lenth of the scarf out of the felted yarn and then if I was thinking this out, I would have sewn the strap on the edge of the fabric at this step. I used nylon webbing and 2 D-rings to create the strap. Taking a very short length of the webbing (maybe 2-3 inches) I singed the ends with alighter (to keep it from unthreading) and then folded it over the top of the 2 D-rings and sewed it together. Then sewed the piece near the bottom end of the fabric. Then I took the rest of the of the webbing (about 2 yards) and sewed the top of the strap about 4 inches below the top of the fabric on the edge. Really I didn't do this till later, but I will explain why, it was a mistake.


Then I sewed a thin layer of cotton fill, the length/width of the fabric, onto the felted fabric. At this point I folded the piece in half (with filling on outside of fold) and sewed up the seam on the edge. Carefully I turned the tube right-side out. I took some thin, black taffeta and sewed a tube almost the same width and length of the bag and with the right side facing out, I sewed the top of the bags together, afterwards, stuffing the black tub inside the felted tube. This is the lining so the flute can easily slide in and out of the bag.

At this point this is when I actually hand-sewed the straps to the bag because I was such a scatter-brain and forgot to do it earlier. But don't do this, sew them on before you close the bag together, it will be MUCH easier! And you can use your machine. Then I used a small piece of silky thick string and sewed it around the outside of the top of the bag with a yarn needle, using big stitches, so that it can be used to open and close the bag. I used almost ALL of the yarn, so make sure you get enough. That's it, voila metitation flute tote! I know I may not be explaining this clearly enough, and if I was thinking about it I would have taken pictures as I was putting it together. But I was too impatient and felt rushed as I made Greg wait long enough for me to put this together and I have yet to finish two other scarves for him! If you do attempt to make this bag or something similar, feel free to contact me and ask any questions. I will do my best to help you :)

May 9, 2008

MEow Meow kitties Attack!

WTF? I am a kitty beacon or what? As you may or may not know, there has been construction in front of my house for about a month now. They are moving our road away from our house about 50 feet. The thing is, across the old road is a big strip of trees and brush that has separated some lawns from the road, and this where a lot of strays seem to find themselves. Seems that the noise and big construction machines are scaring these cats out of the woods. The last batch of strays (Alice and Tater) were living over there.

Then this last kitty we have at the moment, Harley, we are not sure if he is from over there or not. But now another cat showed up in my front yard yesterday when I got home from running errands. After I pulled in the driveway this cute little lady walked up to me with some hungry sounding "meow meows" and she was crusty with no collar and thin. I fed her and she totally pigged out and drank the water I gave her. I would be surprised if she belongs to anyone, and if she does, they don't deserve her if this is the way they treat her. SSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO we have yet ANOTHER stray cat in the garage, living in the big dog crate. We already started dewoming her and she's very cuddly. She loves to eat and seems to be quite happy with the new situation, although a little nervous.

Earlier this week we paid to have Harley spayed and tested for feline aids and leukemia. Even with a coupon from the Alternative Humane Society, the bill was over $100 bucks. Now some of you might think this is crazy, but I cannot turn my head and look the other way when I see stray dogs or cats, how can you???? At the very least you can take them to the humane society. There are TONS of stray cats and dogs and besides being overpopulated and neglected, many of these animals are sick, passing diseases to one another (and your cats if you let them outside) and they are breeding like CRAZY. This is a community responsibility. We should all take this responsibility and there wouldn't be this problem! I can't afford this but I am not going to ignore these sick and/or starving animals wandering around my neighborhood and I really can't understand why ALL of my neighbors ignore it! It's heartless and cruel.

I have 4 cats already and a tiny house, so even though these strays are all lovely and sweet I cannot afford to keep them. I spay and neuter them because in the chance they become stray again, they won't be spreading babies around all over the county. The stray cat population in our county has grown over 200% in my county in the past 5 years..... IF this is happening in my county you better believe it's happening in yours! Take some responsibility, even if you don't want to keep any, you can help. Call your local shelters there are plenty of them around to help. Post an ad in craigslist with the requirement to neuter or spay when they are adopted. And stop leaving your cats outside! It doesn't matter if you think they like it or not, it's not safe for them be outdoors. http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/cat_care/keep_your_cat_safe_at_home_hsuss_safe_cats_campaign/its_a_dangerous_world_out_there.html

FYI- if anyone is interested in my aprons or jewelry stuff, feel good shopping there knowing that most if not all of my "profits" are going towards taking care of these animals and all of my 7 pets (4 cats and 3 big dogs) as well that were rescued. Not that this is supposed to be plug, but I can't handle this by myself! I am NOT an ANimal Shelter!!!! And our local non-kill shelter stopped fostering cats, so they have nowhere to go except the regular Humane Society and you better believe that kitty season is from Spring through fall and no adult cats are getting adopted, they are just getting euthanized. So I am not taking them there. I have a tiny 1050 sq ft home, it barely fits us as is, but I have to do this because it's the responsible thing to do for us, and our community and these sweet cats and dogs who cannot help themselves. They cannot speak for themselves either, so give them a voice and help. YOu can find A LOT of your local shelters listed on www.petfinder.com