Santa Must Be Real

After going to KS, I drove with Rodney, Carmina and my nieces back to Illinois for Christmas with my folks. From there we drove to Michigan for a couple of days and then on to Canada. We made it there in time for one of our favorite Christmas traditions: Christmas Eve service in Baden, Ontario with warm apple dumplings for dessert when we get home. Thanks, Aunt Gladys!

On Christmas morning we were surprised to discover that "Santa must be real because he ate some of the cheese and cookies and drank all of the milk." He even wrote a note to Ember and Cheyanne and SIGNED it!

Cheyanne's favorite present was the pretend ice cream that she got.

Ember's favorite present included body crayons, which were great entertainment on the 22 hour drive back to Kansas.

A Parade of Cookies

Every Christmas involves lots of travel for me. This year I took the train to Kansas for our Annual Cookie Parade where we get together with friends and bake cookies. It must include peppernuts, or pfefferneusse made with anise. I prefer the small, crispy kind.

They are tedious to make and I don't have any pictures of the finished products because we were too busy gathering and eating them. We had such a variety of cookies in the end that we took some to neighbors and friends, brought a couple tins to Canada, and still have some to finish off after Christmas.

It's Snow Time!

Be careful what you wish for. The snow is here, and the forecast is for snow on nearly every day for the next 10 days. Certainly a snow day is in our near future...



Now, since this blog is called "KnitB4Sleep," I thought I should include something I've been knitting. This is a baby sweater that my coworker asked me to make for her niece. It was the first lacy thing that I have made, and it was easier than I thought it would be. The pattern is Helena from Ravelry.com.

Mmmmm...Peanut and Curry Chicken

Peanut Curry Chicken

1 tsp peanut oil
2/3 cup onion
3 cloves garlic
1 pound boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
3 TBSP peanut butter
1 tsp curry
1/8 tsp red pepper
black pepper
3 oz tomato paste
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth

Heat oil in pan. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender. Add chicken and cook 4 minutes or until chicken is almost done. Stir in peanut butter, curry, red pepper, black pepper and tomato paste. Cook 1 minute. Add broth and tomatoes. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, or until thickened. Serve over rice. Yum!

Thanksgiving Blessings Again

Are you still wondering what to do with the leftover turkey and squash from Thanksgiving? I had fun mixing together the leftovers from the fridge, plus a few extra ingredients, to make soup the Friday after Thanksgiving and it was yummy!

Thanksgiving Blessings Soup
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
4 cups turkey stock (or chicken broth)
2 TBSP leftover gravy
3/4 cup wild rice (uncooked)
1 1/2 cup squash puree (just put leftover squash in blender with some broth)
1 1/2 cup cooked turkey, cut into small, bite-size chunks
(My turkey had an herb rub on it, so I didn't add other spices to the soup, but you could add 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp sage to the soup if you wish)

In stockpot, saute' onion, celery and garlic in oil until softened, then add mushrooms and saute' some more. Add turkey stock, gravy, bay leaf, desired herbs and rice. Bring to boil and cook above a simmer for 1 hour, or until wild rice is cooked. Remove bay leaf. Add squash puree and turkey. Heat until cooked through.

If You Can't Take the Heat...

Earlier this year I bought a jar of sauce to make Makhani Chicken (Indian Butter Chicken). Basically, you put the sauce in a pan with cut up chicken and simmer. Very easy so, of course, I decided to see how I could make things more difficult by making it from scratch. Although it has quite a few steps, it is not really very difficult and it is sooooooo yummy! It was a bit spicy for my taste, but not too hot to eat and many of you like spicy more than I do.

Makhani Chicken (Indian Butter Chicken)
(Allow 4 hours for marinating)

1 1/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2 1/2 TBSP lemon juice, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt
2 1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP + 1 1/4 tsp garam masala (this is a spice)
2 1/2 TBSP melted butter, divided
1 TBSP + 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, divided
2 1/2 TBSP ginger paste (I used grated, fresh ginger)
1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP chopped, green chili pepper (you can buy these in a little can)
2 cups tomato puree
1 cup water
1 TBSP honey
1 cup heavy cream

Marinate chicken in glass bowl with 1 TBSP lemon juice, 2 tsp chili powder and salt. Toss to coat and refrigerate for 1 hour.

In the meantime, drain yogurt in a cloth for 15 - 20 minutes. Place in a medium bowl. Add garlic paste, 1 1/4 tsp garam masala, 1 1/2 TBSP butter, 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 1/2 TBSP ginger, 1 1/2 TBSP lemon juice and oil. Refrigerate until chicken is done marinating, then pour over chicken and marinate another 3 hours.

(If you want to serve this over rice, this would be a good time to put the rice on to cook).

Preheat oven to 400. Place chicken on grill pan. Bake 15 - 20 minutes, or until almost cooked through.

To make sauce, melt 1 TBSP butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 TBSP garam masala and saute. Add 1 TBSP ginger paste, 1 TBSP garlic and green chile. Saute until tender, then add tomato puree, 1 tsp chili powder and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, add honey and simmer until chicken is done baking. Place chicken in sauce mixture. Continue cooking another 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in cream. Serve over rice.

(I found this to be pretty runny, but maybe that is how it is supposed to be. I might thicken it a bit with just a little flour the next time).

Just a Little Ol' Farm Girl

Okay, so I'm not really a farm girl but I finally found someone to plow up my yard so I can have a vegetable garden next year. After asking everyone in town if they knew someone with a small plow, I finally found someone. He drove his tractor from his house to mine and plowed up my garden plot while I was at work one day. I wish I could have seen him do it and taken a pic to share. He even said he'd disc it up in the spring! He charged me a very small amount. I think he had great fun doing it. I love small towns.

Pasta Fagioli

This is actually a crock pot recipe, but I didn't have time to do it in the crock pot so I just did it on the stove. To do it in the crock pot, brown the ground beef and put everything except the pasta in the crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, then add pasta and cook another 20 minutes on high or until pasta is cooked. It is super yummy!

Pasta Fagioli

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, choped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can northern beans, drained and rinsed
32 oz low sodium beef broth
1 jar pasta sauce
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (recipe called for 1 TBSP, but 1 tsp was plenty)
1 small green or yellow summer squash, sliced (optional)
dash of black pepper
1 cup dry pasta (I used Rotini)

If you're not using the crock pot method:
Brown meat and drain well. Saute' onion and celery in a bit of olive oil until onions are translucent. Add chopped carrots, tomatoes (with juice), both kinds of beans, broth, pasta sauce, oregano, Tabasco sauce, pepper and squash. Cover and simmer 30 - 45 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Add pasta. Simmer another 15 minutes, or until pasta is cooked.

Not Quite Julia Child

Okay, so I am no Julia Child. I just can't bring myself to cook with that much butter...usually. When I saw the movie Julie and Julia, one thing that I really wanted was a kitchen pegboard like Julia had. I couldn't stop thinking how nifty it would be if I could just grab a utensil from the wall when I'm cooking. Thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of my parents, I now have a kitchen pegboard.

I wonder what I'll cook next??

Shrimp, Not Soup

I love to try new recipes. It's very satisfying to make something from start to finish and have it taste good. I am trying to get my mind around the concept that many folks don't like to cook, but I can't really figure that one out. Tonight I decided to try Sesame Shrimp. Very easy and yummy, if you can find chili garlic sauce.

Sesame Shrimp

1 TBSP fresh lime juice
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 TBSP orange marmalade
2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined and tails off

Combine juice, chili garlic sauce, salt, marmalade and 1 tsp oil. Mix well. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Marinate in fridge for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If you wish, you can skewer the shrimp). Heat remaining 1 tsp oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Cook 4 minutes, turning once. Serve with rice and veggies! Mmmmmmmmmmm...

Soup Weather

I love soup weather! Tonight it is Tortellini Soup. I used zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, green pepper and onions from my garden. Yum!

Tortellini Soup
(6 servings)

1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
(Or buy the breakfast kind so you don't have remove casings. I actually used turkey sausage because I was cooking for my folks).
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
40 oz low-sodium beef broth (very important to get the low sodium kind or it will be wayyyyyyyyyy to salty)
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
1 medium-size green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 TBSP dried basil
2 TBSP dried oregano
10 oz cheese tortellini (fresh, dried or frozen)
Grated Parmesan cheese

Saute sausage in heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat until cooked through. Remove cooked sausage. Pour off all but 1 TBSP drippings. (If you use turkey sausage you won't even have that much, which is fine.) Add onion and garlic to Dutch oven and saute until translucent. Return sausage to Dutch oven. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, wine, basil and oregano. Simmer about 40 minutes. (Can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to a simmer before continuing).

Add tortellini to soup and cook as long as package tells you, or until tortellini is done. Each person can top with Parmesan cheese if they wish.

A Path to My Door

Since moving here, we have found flat stones all over the property, buried just beneath the grass. Thanks to the energy and creativity of my parents, I now have stepping stones to my front door and stones at the base of my back steps.



I bought one leaf stepping stone from my friend Anne. She does great work. Check it out at everlastingleaves.etsy.com

A Cabin in the Woods

Last weekend we strapped the canoe atop my car and I hauled it to Indiana to transfer it to Rodney.



We all stayed at a cozy 3 bedroom cabin in the woods and went to the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale. Although they don't sell verenike at this sale, we had fun nevertheless. I wasn't feeling well at all for most of the weekend, but I didn't want to miss out on the fun with my nieces.

They had fun bidding at the children's auction and Rodney got a bunch of stuff at the new and used auction. Carmina and I wanted the quilt that went for $2,000.

The girls helped me make homemade waffles for breakfast on Sunday. I could only eat 2 bites but I think they were a hit.



















I was sad to see them leave because I won't see them until Christmas. This will be the longest stretch of time that we're apart. I hate it.


Just hours after the last picture was taken, I went to the emergency room to figure out why I was sick all week and all weekend. Turns out that a new medication I was taking caused my sodium to drop dangerously low. They told me to go home and drink pop and Gatorade and eat salty chips. No water for 3 days. Very strange, but it worked!

Retreating

I went to Women's Retreat at Camp Friedenswald again this year. It was just nice to get away and to be with the women from Community Mennonite. They are my family. Here they are leading a song for the rest of the group.

Can You Smell This?

I wish I could post the smell of the juice I just squeezed out of my wild grapes. Mmmmmmmmm! Since there's not enough to make grape jelly, I think I'll add some to a smoothie and put the rest in ice cube trays for another time.

Keep the Leftover Pancakes!

Do you ever make pancakes and find that you have a few leftover? Toss them in the freezer for this sweet breakfast treat!

Overnight Blueberry French Toast
4 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch
Leftover pancakes (torn into pieces)
6 eggs
3/4 cup milk
generous 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

In the morning:
2 TSP butter, melted
Maple syrup

Mix blueberries, sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. Grease 10 X 15 (or 9 X 13) pan and pour blueberry mixture into pan. Place pieces of pancakes over blueberries. In bowl, mix eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Pour over pancakes. Press pancakes down to soak them and place pan in fridge. In the morning, preheat oven to 425. Press pancakes a bit to make sure all are coated with egg mixture. Brush with melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with maple syrup.

Chicken Twice Over

reThis week I made Chicken Burgers with pesto mayo and then chopped up the leftover burgers, mixed in the leftover pesto mayo, added a little more mayo, and made chicken salad sandwiches for Fiber Fest today. Loved it!

Pesto
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBSP chicken broth
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
1/4 cup cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 1/2 TBSP Romano cheese

Place in blender in order listed. Blend until smooth. Add more oil if needed. (You'll only need 2 TBSP for the pesto mayo and you can freeze the rest in ice cube trays to use later!)

Chicken Burgers
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken (if you can't find it at the store, just grind up chicken breasts in a food processor)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Mix ground chicken, cheese and pepper. Form into 6 patties and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm them up. Grill burgers for 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Pesto Mayo
1/2 cup mayo
2 TBSP pesto

Mix mayo and pesto. Put on cooked burgers. Yum!

Catching Nature

My nieces have been here all week. My Mom and I met Rodney in Missouri and brought the girls back with us. The week has flown by and we've enjoyed spending quite a bit of time outside in this fantastic Michigan summer.

Ember and I like to sit on the dock and try to catch minnows. We're not usually too successful.


Cheyanne and Ember also like to look for frogs, toads and salamanders and keep them for pets until bedtime. The found 5 salamanders, 3 frogs and some toads one day.



Yesterday we jumped the waves at Silver Beach in St. Joseph, MI. It is a big beach with soft sand way out into Lake Michigan. The waves were just the right size for us yesterday. I didn't get any pics, but we have some great memories.

Nostalgia

One of the great things about moving is finding little bits of nostalgia.

My Little Dumplings

After having Chinese Dim Sum dumplings in Chicago's China town in January, I have been searching everywhere for them. Wei Wei Seafood Palace in Grand Rapids is the only place I've found that comes close and they only have seafood options. I decided to try and make them myself. I'd read that they are very difficult to make, but I figured I could handle it. Wrong! The dough is made with wheat starch and potato starch and is very sticky. When I added more dry ingredients it just dried the dough out and overall it was a very tedious process of rolling out the finicky dough and stuffing the dumplings with chopped up shrimp, pork and veggies. As I was working, I said I would never make them again. But, when I ate them, they tasted just like I remembered. I think I'll play around with different dough recipes.

After forming the dumplings, I put them in a vegetable steamer lined with cabbage, since I didn't have a bamboo steamer.


I've found a great book called A World of Dumplings and I hope to try out some of their recipes.

Purple Beans??

I've grown green beans before and I don't remember the flowers being purple. They are quite pretty, but I hope the beans aren't purple.



I've never grown cabbage. I hope they are doing okay. They are just really leafy right now and I hope they develop nice cabbage heads and that I'll know when to harvest them.



While Carmina and the girls were here, we picked cherries. Yum, yum! I don't think we were supposed to CLIMB the trees, but I'll bet Carmina found some good ones up there.



We had to pick carefully because many of the cherries were moldy because of heavy rains we had the week before. A day later I went to a different farm with beautiful cherries. Not a moldy one in sight. I guess I know where we'll go next year.

Old Fashioned Things

You know how expensive those photo booths are these days? Well, we found one for $1 at The Children's Museum in Chicago. My Mom came up with the dollar and my nieces and I goofed around for the photos. Fun!

Act of God

Well, in the previous post you may have seen my new flower garden that I spent many hours toiling over. During the night, we had a terrible storm. I could hear the wind and rain pounding against my bedroom window, so I went to sleep in the guest room for fear that a tree might fall on me. When I opened the living room curtains in the morning, this is what I saw:




Actually, these pics were taken from the road, but you get the idea. Lots of trees and power lines down today. Feel like after a tornado in KS. I cancelled my visits and am hoping they'll call this an "Act of God" day so I can still get paid. You'd be surprised how much it costs to get a tree removed when it's already on the ground.

Been Too Busy To Blog

Looks like it's been ages since I posted here. I finally have high-speed internet again so maybe I'll be a better blogger. I've also been busy buying a house.


It ended up needing much more work than I really anticipated, but it is almost in order now. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, nieces, and one cousin came to work on the house over Memorial Day weekend and for the next week while I went to work to pay for everything. My coworkers came to help me move in. I really couldn't have done this without all the help. I'm so grateful to everyone!



My Mom sewed curtains for all of the rooms.

Berry

This is Berry. My Mom found out that his owners were moving and needing to find him a home so she volunteered me. He's pretty cute. My folks bought him this great pen so he can be in the yard and they also built an awesome hutch for him to live in.


He was pretty worn out after his first day in the pen and he seems to be using his hay-filled tube as a pillow inside the igloo my parents bought him. I think he might be spoiled already.

Easter Chocolate

I love Easter because it is an excuse to make chocolate Easter nests with candy eggs inside. Yum!

You can find the very easy recipe at the Enchanted Learning website.

It is definitely a Good Friday today because I found out that I am getting the house I've been wanting. Check it out at Realtor.com!

Under the Kansas Sky

I am in Kansas for Spring Break! They have blue sky here. And sun!


















We went on a walk on the Sand Creek Trail. In college, we used to find our way through the tall grasses and trees, cross a bridge over Sand Creek and have parties. Guys with walkie-talkies would help us find our way. The bridge is still there but now a beautiful nature trail leads right past.




















I'm having a blast with my nieces and I drove to see Jacob and his Mom. Great fun!


























Here's a video for those of you not on Facebook. Why aren't you on Facebook?? :)

Flood

Boy, have we had rain! I've been arguing with my Mom since I moved here about whether or not the woods next to the cottage are actually a swamp. I'd never been back there when it was flooded, so I thought it would be a great place to put a cabin. I guess I was wrong.




While it rained over 2 inches last weekend, I left the moon roof WIDE open on my new vehicle and soaked the seats and floor pretty good. The cup holders were full to overflowing. Thankfully nothing seems to have been ruined in that mishap.

Laughing Cow

One of my favorite things is Laughing Cow spreadable cheese. Sometimes I take it with crackers and some fruit for lunch. Or, I put it on an English muffin with some egg for breakfast. Yum!








Tonight I made Nutty Stuffed Chicken. The recipe calls for almonds, but I used pine nuts and it was very tasty and sooooo easy!

1/3 cup light garlic-and-herb spreadable cheese
1/4 cup slivered almonds (or pine nuts), toasted and coarsely chopped
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley (or 2 tsp dried)
4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine cheese, nuts and parsley in small bowl. Set aside. Slit chicken through thickest portion of east breast half to form a pocket. Stuff 1 1/2 TBS nut mixture into each pocket. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. You may secure with a wooden pick. Place in casserole pan and bake for 45 minutes.

New Wheels

Also in February, I bought a new vehicle! Many of the roads and lanes that I drive down for work are mucky and full of deep ruts. I listened to my poor little Ford Escort get scraped up underneath and sometimes wondered if I'd be stuck in the mud or snow and have to call someone to get me out. My new Ford Escape is much higher and I feel much more secure on the bad roads now! I really would have like a different color, since every car I have ever owned has been red, but it was the only one that was in my price range and had 4WD.