Friday, March 29, 2013

I guess I never posted both of the bunny baskets that I finished. I  mailed these out a while ago. They are from the Spring issue of Crochet World, from 2012. 

Faces..

Side view.  :)

I also (just today, with 20 minutes to spare before I have to go pick up Eli from school) finished two Ugly Bunnies for Eli and Eon to go in their Easter baskets. I've been working on them while they are in school. It's the Ugly Bunny Pincushion pattern. Since they are past the cute and cuddly bunny stage, I thought they would get a kick out of these. :P   The green one is Eons', the red one is for Eli.

I tried another new recipe lately: Taco Bake. This is the second time I've actually made it. It's yummy. I think you would have to make a couple/few pans if you have a big family/company..  But for me and the kids, it's enough to just make one pan. Another yummy Pinterest find. :D  Oh, I did use my Springform pan ($2 thrift store find, yay me), and the sides/edges didn't get so brown as they did when I just used a pizza pan the first time making this..  

Yum...  

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It technically isn't until tomorrow, but..  

We usually don't do much for St. Patrick's Day. Unless it's food related. :P  Oh look, this still is food related.. Lol  I just realized that. I always buy these fruit cups. Everyone likes them, and it's not Junk Food. My husband buys chips, the kids always "have" to have pop.  I have been trying to buy things that they will like, that are healthier for everyone (and that I can eat instead of being tempted by the Junk Food). Anyway~~

Eon has been wanting to do Arts and Crafts lately. I asked him what he wanted to make. I got out the bag of his craft supplies. (It was all Christmas stuff, and a few odd ball things. Of course he wants to do Arts and Crafts when I just cleaned out his bag, because he never wants to do them anymore-- I had egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, bread tabs.. You name it.) He asked me what the next holiday is besides Easter. I said St. Patricks Day is this weekend. So then I started Googling St Patricks Day crafts for kids. I saw some pots of gold on Pinterest; and some other cute things.. He liked the pot of gold best. I said "Why don't you look in the recycling stuff, to see if there's anything you could use. There has to be something you could use in there, that we could paint black for a pot.."  (I forgot about the fruit cups-- he always wants to do things when I am tired, a half hour before bed time; or just finally sat down to relax/crochet/knit/check my email..) We didn't have any black paint, though. So yesterday morning I went back to Walmart and got some. (I needed other stuff I forgot to get when I went shopping, too.)

Look how cute his Pot of Gold came out. :) He did it all by himself. He had some four leaf clover coins from last year. He only painted the inside of the cup. (Smart kid!) And used some of the green tinsel and letters from the Christmas Ornament craft we did last year. I am still waiting for him to clean up the mess he made from making this. But..  :P

Sunday, March 10, 2013

More Food..

Lol. This is turning into more of a food blog than crochet. I had these pictures on my phone. I posted them on facebook, but not here. These are the homemade gyros I was talking about in my last post. I was craving gyros bad, and when you don't want to drive an hour to the closest Mad Greek Cafe..  You google recipes to see if you can make your own. :D  They weren't really all that hard to make, just a little time consuming. I used this recipe: Ground Beef Gyros. I bought the flatbreads at Walmart next to the Pita breads, by the deli/bakery.. It was pretty good. Not like the "real thing", but.. Close! :) 

I saw this recipe on Pinterest, too. Strawberry Lassi. If you are not on Pinterest, you can find the recipe here: ambrosiabaking Strawberry Lassi. I make smoothies for the kids with frozen bananas and fresh strawberries. My husband was complaining about how "gross" they were; and if it was just strawberry then he would eat it. I said "You can't make just a strawberry smoothie..."  Then I found this recipe, so I made it. It was okay. I wonder if it would be better with frozen strawberries. I still have strawberries; I might make some more of this today. 

I'm pretty sure I never blogged about these, either? Buckeye candies. Another thing I had been craving. Like, for years... Lol  I made these a while ago. I think over Christmas Break.  I don't have the recipe in my sidebar, I must have printed it out. But you can google it. :)

Here is another recipe I have been wanting to try: Breakfast Polenta. One of these weekends.. I bought the Polenta for it. Just need to do it. :)

What I Did All Day Yesterday..

Yesterday I made some Pineapple Upside Down Cake. (Doesn't look very yummy does it??... ) I had bought a can of crushed pineapple because I had some plain yogurt I used for the sauce, for homemade gyros. I don't know if I ever posted those.. Well I asked my husband if he thought he would eat this if it had fruit in it. (He loves fruit on the bottom yogurts.) I like yogurt, but I can't eat it (although once in a while I do), because I'm lactose intolerant. Anyway he said it would taste good with some crushed pineapple. Sooo.. Yesterday I mixed some into some of the plain yogurt, and thought "What am I going to do with the rest of this?" I immediately thought "Pineapple Upside Down Cake". Never mind that I already made homemade egg and cheese biscuits for breakfast, and still had to make dinner. (What am I? Part Amish?...)  :P  Well when you have hungry boys and they have friends over, you need food. And since they ate all the "good stuff", now I have to bake. 

I made the cake from scratch, too. The recipe called for Cake Flour. I don't have any cake flour. I was just going to use regular flour. But then I wondered if there would be a substitute. So I googled it and found one: How to Make Cake Flour.  I have never made pineapple upside down cake before. 

It turned out pretty yummy. Even though it doesn't look very yummy. :P   What do the boys do when I made a super yummy dessert I worked all afternoon on? Inhale it...  O.o  Lol

This was what I made for breakfast. Homemade egg and cheese biscuits. I had seen something like this somewhere. Maybe on Pinterest? I didn't feel like looking it up. I thought, "I could just make the biscuits, then make the eggs like an omelette, and use the biscuit cutter to make the eggs and cheese all the same size..."    I for the longest time said I am not joining Pinterest. I didn't even know what it was when I first heard about it. Then when someone told me, I thought "How stupid is that? You 'pin' something to a board? What a waste of time..'"  Lol!! Guess who is HOOKED now?... ME. They have a lot of the cutest ideas on there. I found a lot of new recipes to try there, too. 

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Baby Bunny Basket #1 Is Done..

I don't know how I finished this today, but I did. I feel like I have been cooking all day long; doing the dishes, cooking, doing the dishes...  Eli has a friend over night. I will save that for another post. I started this bunny basket last year, when I got the Crochet World issue in the mail. I was going to make it to send to two of the little kids (well, one is not so little any more-she's one grade below Eli, so she's a Freshman in high school now).  Well I never did finish them. I don't know why. Probably cuz that's just me.  I had to order the plastic canvas hearts through the mail. I don't remember where I got them from. Probably Mary Maxim or maybe JoAnns. I don't know. I tried some other plastic canvas hearts from a local yarn store here; but they weren't the right kind, and wouldn't work for the ears. Maybe that's why I didn't finish these. I did have one ear done (this one). Maybe I just did the one, even though I wasn't going to make it in time for Easter. Well, I am hoping to get them both done for this Easter. I have everything on the couch, so as soon as I'm done posting this, I'm going to work on it and watch a movie.   My only real issues with this pattern were, in the magazine it looked like the inside of the basket was crocheted, but the pattern does not say to make two baskets. I was confused. I didn't really feel like punching holes into the plastic container (I used a Hummus container from Walmart.) So... I used an H hook and crocheted a second basket, and worked through both of them to join the white trim on.  I'm tired.. so I hope that makes sense. :P  

Friday, March 08, 2013

Easter is Coming...

Someone on facebook posted about these bunny baskets, in the 2012 Feb issue of Crochet World. I said "Oh I have at least two of those started from last year~~ *Somewhere*..."  Today I thought, "I'm going to see if I can find those baskets.."  I could send them to the little kids I send things to on Pine Ridge. (They were who I started them for.) I started buying hummus for the containers for these baskets. :P  I should get some more. It's good with carrot sticks. Which I need to start eating. :/

I also found these Easter things I bought last year. I should look to see if I have anything else. I have been trying to get organized (well, more than I am). I watched an episodeof Hoarders the other night and it really freaked me out. I thought "Oh. My. God. My craft room is not far behind some of these people!".. With moving so many times the last few years, I've gotten kind of to the point where; Um... I'm just not as organized as I used to be. :/

Guess  who came to stay with "Grandma and Grandpa" a couple weeks ago? :D  Bailey!!... I call her Bay Leaf. She's our oldest son and daughter-in-law's puppy. They went to California for an extended weekend, and I said we would watch her. Look at them both, so cute and innocent...  "We'll be good, we promise..." (That'll be the day..)  Bailey actually isn't the problem. It's Jetta.  Speaking of problems with Jetta...  She had been snapping her collar the last couple of weeks. She has just recently been running off TEARING out the back door as soon as I hook her up, barking and growling at the neighbor dogs.  ??  I don't know what the deal is. The dogs have been there all along... I don't know why she just started doing this. She broke a collar just after Bailey left. Then this morning, I went to let her back in, and all I see is the tie out chain, with her collar connected to it, laying on the pavement. I thought "Oh Crap!!". (We don't have a fence, and we live on a busy road..)Then I looked up and saw her standing there, waiting for me to let her in.  Just now I let her out and she totally broke her collar again! UGH!!  I don't know what I am going to do about her...  I have her harness, I guess I will hook her up to that. 


Jetta had competition competing for the bed and blankie, while Bailey was here...   She was taking a nap with Grandpa. :P

It was Nevada week, or Nevada reading week, or something; last week? Well, recently anyway.. I can't keep up. Every day was something. I forget what each day was. But Wednesday was "Wacky Wednesday". Eon wore his clothes all backwards, even his backpack. Lol. He said he was the only one who did that. (Maybe the only one in his class.) 

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Newborn Pinafore

This has been done being crocheted for a while, I just needed to sew some buttons on the back. I bought some little tights to send with it, too. I wanted to crochet some little Mary Janes, or a headband to go with it. But I didn't even have enough for a headband. So..  I crocheted a little flower to put onto a barrette. Then I had enough to do another one, so I sewed that on to the front of the dress. I should send these all out so they can be there in time for Easter, maybe, huh? :)  The pattern is the Angel Wings Pinafore pattern. I was doing a search on Ravelry, and all the cutest little dresses IMO were that pattern. :)   

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Food!

I tried a couple new recipes. Actually, one yesterday; and one today. I have been wanting to make/try some Kerapok Lekor for a while now. One of my pen pals wrote to me about it and said it is her favorite. I was literally talking to the letter as I was reading it.. "Oh, that sounds good. I want to try it."  Lol  So, I googled it. I found a couple blogs with recipes, but 1. I could not find Mackerel ANYWHERE. 2. I could not find Tapioca Flour anywhere, either.  Then, I found an "American Version". Woo Hoo! I had a little bit of a problem getting it to all stick together in order to make a log to cut. I even put more tuna fish in. (Two of the little tuna pouches that are 2.6 ounces, each; so total 5.2 ounces of tuna fish, I used?) It still wouldn't all clump together. So... I took it all out and put it back in the bowl, and added one egg. So... I probably totally changed the whole recipe. But..   

Here is the little patties before frying..  

..and after. Mine don't look anything like hers. :/ But, they did taste good. :)  

I couldn't find any chili sauce that looked good to me. (I do not like hot sauce, anyway.)  So... I got some Chipolte Sauce. Lol.  I thought they were pretty good.  Here is a blog with Keropok Lekor made with Mackerel and Tapioca Flour. Here is the blog with the American Version, that I tried. 

And here is the new recipe I tried for breakfast this morning. Mini German Pancakes, with Triple Berry Sauce. Hers look so much prettier. :(  I think she used a special pan. I just used muffin tins. (Which is what the recipe said to do..) They are yummy. A little time consuming, if you make the Triple Berry Sauce.  The link for that is on her blog, too. My computer must be having issues, because every time I tried to click on her link, it wouldn't work. But then I did a google search for Triple Berry Sauce, and her blog (with the original link that I tried to click on) came up.  Weird..  Anyway, if you do make these- I didn't take the one pan out right at fifteen minutes, and they did get a little over done. They will still look "liquid-y" on top, but don't let that fool you. They also fall a little after you take them out. I opened the oven and was like "What? How am I going to put the berry sauce in those?"..  Lol  But they do fall a little to make little "cups".  :)

Saturday, March 02, 2013

I'm Still Here..

... See? I am crocheting, too. Even though I have been neglecting my blog. This is a dress and headband I finished. It's becoming an obssession with me to crochet dresses lately. I don't know why, when I am surrounded by boys/men! Maybe that is why. Lol. I made another set about a year ago, almost. I just love how this one worked up. It's "Peruvian Print" by Red Heart. I wanted to get a pair of leggings, or tights, to go with it. I did get a pair of leggings for the other dress (linked), but I couldn't find any in an 18 month size to go with this dress. I'm sending this to Pine Ridge. I have also finished (and bought a package of tights to go with) another dress, in a 0-3 month size. The Angel Wings Pinafore, which is so similar to this pattern. I just need to sew the buttons on that, and take a picture...  I don't know if I will have enough yarn to make a matching headband for that one. I don't have much yarn left of that color and I was using stash yarn that someone gave me. (6th picture down.. Lol) Sooo...  

..Anyway. Here's another picture you can see a little more clearly. The dress pattern is the Girl's Lace Pinafore by Bernat. That was the Ravelry link .. Sigh... Hopefully this link will work to the actual pdf?:    Girls Lace Pinafore   If not, you can go to the Bernat site and do a search. :)The headband pattern is the Genius Headband pattern (free Ravelry download), with the flower from this pattern.  I don't know why I did that (combine two patterns); but that's me so.. :P

Oh, and I have been knitting, too. :D  A knitted "vest" I finished for Knit-A-Square. It looks more like a tank top to me, but..  I did it for the February Pattern of the Month, along with the car and plane squares I finished. 

And, a slipper (it's the Ruby's Slipper pattern) I am going to attempt to try and make into a pink bunny slipper? I don't know if it will work... Maybe I will just end up with some all pink slippers. Yesterday I went to Walmart to get another skein of the pink yarn, and some Banquet chicken fingers dinners, because Eli ate the last one that Eon wanted. :( That was all I bought. Two dinners, one skein of yarn. I got all the way home and in the house and realized I didn't have the yarn. GRRRRR!!! I guess it's just as much my fault as it is the cashiers, but... So irritating. So I went all the way back to get it (again).

And here is a picture of an afghan I have been working on (The Eye Dazzler afghan pattern-from Annie's Attic- a scrap yarn pattern club I was in before). It's just kind of on the couch and I work on it when I watch tv... Jetta thinks it is hers. :/ I keep trying to get her off of it, but she will get in the weirdest positions just to "claim" it. Strange dog... Lol  I will definitely be washing it, before I send it. I had to do that with Evan's afghan, too. (She tried claiming that, too.. Last picture in that post.)