A Pretzel, A Kiss, A M&M and More....

Well, another day spent in the kitchen and out running errands as we get ready to leave in the morning for Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas with my family. We start at 8:00 am with breakfast and go until well after supper. It is always a great day!! I made a few extra snacks to have around while we are there. One thing I made is a pan of the caramel Rice Krispie treats and I am SO PROUD to say that I did not even sample them!!! This may not seem like a big thing to you, but trust me, it is!!


I made a batch of these: If you have never made them, they are so easy and taste great. A perfect treat to do make with young kids! You need:
1 bag of Holiday Ring Pretzels (I use Old Dutch)
1 bag of Hershey Kisses
1 bag of M&M's

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place pretzels on parchment paper on cookie sheet. Place Hershey kiss inside each pretzel. Place in oven for 3-4 minutes... until chocolate is soft. Remove and press one M&M into chocolate. Place in fridge until hardened. You can vary this with all the fun Kisses and Hugs that are available now!!




We got the popcorn and cranberries strung as we watched "It's A Wonderful Life". What a great movie. I always get a little teary eyed at the end when all of George's friends show up to help. Reminds me of all the wonderful friends and family that I have been blessed with as well!! (Not that they've ever given me $8000.00.......)




Now the tree is complete!! Doesn't the popcorn and cranberries add?? We have strung popcorn and cranberries every year since we got married. It has been fun over the years to see the kids' strings get longer and longer. (When they were little, I would tie all of theirs together for the top layer!!!) This year Kirstin was the fastest and longest.... It is the bottom string.
No small feat!!! (She is quite proud!!)













Sumo was on hand to help with any stray popcorn kernels that might need to be eaten.
(If only he had opposable thumbs, he could actually help us string it as well!!!)















I think I may have accidently started a new tradition on popcorn/cranberry night. Under intense pressure, I caved and made a batch of homemade caramel rolls. (Didn't even start them until 7:00 tonight!!) These are made with the Swedish Tea Ring recipe, except for, instead of making the ring, you roll up the dough and slice them into 12 rolls. For the caramel you need 1/3 cup butter; 1/2 cup brown sugar and 3 TBSP white Karo syrup . Melt butter in microwave. Stir in the brown sugar and Karo syrup. Heat in microwave another minute or so until nice and creamy. Place in greased 9x13 pan and put rolls on top. (I like to use a glass pan so I can keep a close eye on how done they are) Let rise and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (Watch closely... you want them to be quite brown so they aren't doughy!!) Flip onto jelly roll pan or cutting board. Best warm.....

Well, off to finish packing. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

Until Next Time.....

Christmas Tree Decorating and More.....

I received this picture from my parents and thought you would like to see the Swedish Tea Ring that my dad made for our family Christmas this weekend. He's always been the master Tea Ring maker!! And, although it has been a few years, he hasn't lost his touch!!

He varies the recipe some and adds Maple flavoring to the frosting and tops it up with the Maraschino cherries. Mmmmm, looks great, Dad!!!

(Recipe is in my last post)







I finished my second purse from the pattern I am writing "Kirstin's Bag". I changed the top a bit, but think I will go back to the original one. Again I used the Paton's SWS... I just love the colorways of this yarn when it felts!!






The Christmas tree is up and decorated...for the most part! Each year one of our family traditions is to watch ''It's A Wonderful Life" and string popcorn and cranberries for the tree. We will be doing that Thursday night when Aaron gets home from college so he won't miss it. But we got everything else on.

Steve always puts on the little white lights first. I then add the red ribbons and red apples all over. And then it's time to add the ornaments...which consisit mainly of wheat ornaments handmade by my mom.







Here are closeups of a few of my favorites....






































This last one is not actually made from wheat, but I have several of them and they look so beautiful on the tree. I wonder if my mom can make one big enough for the top of the tree...wouldn't that be pretty?? (hint hint)












Kirstin and Aliya helped with the tree from beginning to end. Here they are at the Christmas Tree farm helping to choose the 'perfect tree'....









....and in front of the tree after the decorations are all in place











As for Sumo, all of this Christmas decorating and baking and shopping etc.. just wears him out. Poor thing!!








Until Next Time....

Swedish Tea Ring...

I have spent 7 hours in the kitchen already today preparing food for our family Christmas in Minnesota this coming Saturday. One of the things that I always bring are the Swedish Tea Rings for breakfast. They are easy to make and quick to impress wherever you take them!!

SWEDISH TEA RING



Dissolve 2 pkgs. yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (add 1 Tbsp. sugar to feed the yeast) Let sit 5-10 minutes.




In the meantime:

Put in Cusinart/Kitchen Aid bowl: (referred to as mixer in recipe)
4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix in another bowl:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted shortening (not oil)
1 egg

1. Add yeast mixture to milk mixture and stir.
2. With mixer on, slowly pour the liquid into the flour mixture.
3. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes or so. (Check the dough periodically and if too sticky add a Tbsp of flour at a time until you have a nice dough.)
4. Knead on counter a few minutes.
5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rise until double.





6. Roll dough out into a rectangle.








7. Spread with melted butter (1/4 cup) and sprinkle
with a cinnamon sugar mixture.
(Little over 1/2 cup)










8. Roll up. Form a horseshoe and cut the dough every inch or so, but not quite all the way through. (I first cut off the ends and put in a separate pan for rolls)








9. Bring the dough together in a circle (on greased cookie sheet, or pie dripping pan) flipping each section on its side until it comes together.

10. Let rise again

11. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. (time varies a bit by oven...you don't want it doughy)
12. Frost with powder sugar frosting.

POWDER SUGAR FROSTING

1 1/2 cups powder sugar 6 tsp. milk 1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix all together. Add additional milk tsp. at a time.



Here are my finished ones of the day:


After they cool completely, I will wrap them well and put them in the freezer to bring to Minnesota. My dad is also making one with Maple frosting to bring as well! (Thanks Dad!)

The rolls will not get frozen. They will be eaten.

ALWAYS make that little pan of rolls...keeps the family happy :-)



Until next time.....

Bye Bye Kitty Pi.......

It is finished. After an enormous amount of knitting; for a cat that is not my own; I have finished my first Kitty Pi bed!! There is a part of me that feels just a little silly having put so much time and yarn into a cat bed! My daughter reassures me that my niece will LOVE it and her cat Cougar will think it's 'fun'. Ok. I feel SOOO much better now!

Here it is prefelted. It was HUGE. (Sumo has figured out when I'm taking pictures for my blog and comes running...He has a huge need to be famous, I guess!!) He tried to 'model' it. Not quite big enough for that, but it did help me decide I would never make a Puppy Pi bed!!






Here it is again prefelted. You can see what beautiful colors are in it. My niece loves purple, and since Cougar is a Siamese (which were considerd Royal in ancient Siam), I thought purple (the color of royalty) was very appropriate!














Oops! There's Sumo again. Yes, you can have ANOTHER picture on the blog. (Needy, needy dog!!)


















After an eternity in the wash machine, here is the finished product. The purple eyelash yarn at the top is so fun!! I can't wait to give it to Cougar this Saturday and see what he thinks. Hopefully I can get a picture of him enjoying it!!



Will I do another Kitty Pi Bed? Yes I will. Again, for a cat I do not own. But I know I will be 'reassured' of how much the cat loves it and assage any silly feelings I have spending so much time on the project. :-) But I think I'll wait a few weeks to start. For now I think I will cast on another bag.....

Until next time.....

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas...

Well, snow or no snow, it is time to start decorating for Christmas. It just doesn't seem right to not have snow on the ground. Cranking the Christmas music helped as I spent the day unpacking decorations and Christmas dishes etc... There are a few items that I always look forward to having out each year. Thought I would share them with you.

The first is a Nativity set I purchased in Seoul Korea when we were living in Japan. (I used to take 'hops' over to Korea to go shopping!!)
I fell in love with this Nativity set and wanted it to be the focal point of our Christmas decorating. When the kids were younger, I would wrap baby Jesus in a beautiful box and that would be the first gift we opened Christmas morning. Hmmm... I should still be doing that!!



The second is another Nativity set that belonged to Steve's mom. She loved Lladro and this Nativity reminds me of her. It is so delicate and beautiful.








The last two decorations that I will share today are cross stich pieces done by my dad. He is an amazing cross-stitcher!! Here is my round frame Santa. Isn't he incredible??












And here is the second... Santa in the forest.








The most beautiful Christmas cross stitch he has done hangs in the home of my little brother. Sigh. I threaten to steal it every year.... but they do a pretty thorough search of our car before we leave and always find it!!


We will get our tree on Saturday and I will post a picture after it is decorated. I will be showcasing the beautiful wheat weaving done by my mom....

Not much knitting time, but am making progress on the Kitty Pi bed. Found some wonderful purple eyelash yarn to put at the top of it. Am looking for 'bird-colored' yarn to make a second one for a loopy cat I know.....



Here is a sneak peek at another project on my needles. It is a gift for a friend who may or may not be a regular blog reader, so I don't want to give too much away... But it is a fun knit!




Kirstin is loving her new purse. I need to make a thinner loop for the button (or find a WAY bigger button...)

I am ready to cast on my second one with a few modifications. After that, if anyone wants the pattern I would be very happy to share. (But only if you promise to send pictures of purses you've made with it! :-))









And now, as promised, here is my recipe for Mexican Lasagna. A delicious, easy meal. Goes great with the corn bread rolls from my earlier post!




Mexican Lasagna

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 tsp. Lawry’s salt
1 1.25 oz pkg. Taco seasoning mix (we like hot & spicey)
1 cup diced tomatoes (Or 1 can petite diced tomatoes)
2 8oz. cans tomato sauce
1 4oz. can diced green chilies
8 oz. Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
9 corn tortillas
10 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded.

1. Brown ground beef. Drain fat.
2. Add Lawry’s, taco mix, tomatoes, tomato sauce and green chilies. Blend well and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
4. In bowl, combine Ricotta and eggs.
5. In bottom of 9 X 13 pan, spread half of the meat mixture, top with half of the tortillas. Spread with half of the Ricotta/egg mixture and sprinkle with half of the shredded Monterey Jack.
6. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
7. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
8. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
9. (Can be made early & refrigerated or frozen)

We top ours with shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream and crunchy tortilla strips

Dinner: Serve with pineapple,rice and cornbread rolls.

Until next time.......

The Gift Of LIfe...

I don't know if I mentioned that Kirstin has been working very hard organizing a blood drive for the past several months. Well, Saturday was the BIG DAY. Starting at 9:00 am, friends from school and church came to give blood and show their support for her and all the work she put in organizing the drive. She had over 60 people show up.. which I think is tremendous!!

Over half of the people who gave were high school students and I bet 85 % of everyone who came was giving blood for the first time. (She did a great job recruiting!!!)


Here she is with her friend Amy who dressed up as a 'Super-Hero Blood-drop' and welcomed people as they arrived.


Her brothers were very supportive of all of her efforts. Aaron drove the 90 miles home from college to show his support and to help set up give!

Here he is giving his gift of life.



Ryan showed up early with one of his college buddies to help set up and to give blood. He also recruited several of his friends to come and give as well!

Such a great encouragement to his sister!!







Aliya came and gave blood for the very first time. She was so nervous!! I'm not sure if she will do it again, but I am very proud that she came and donated. Again, such a huge support for Kirstin




Steve and I were there the whole time and ran the canteen where we gave everyone juice and homemade cookies and made sure they didn't pass out! We were very busy!!

We both took breaks from the canteen and gave blood as well. Here's Steve giving blood.

No picture of me on the bed, but trust me, they got my blood!! I donate quite often, usually apherisis. I started donating shortly after one of my best friends daughter died of Leukemia at age 17. I will never forget watching her get the platelets and seeing color return to her cheeks and her energy level rise. It truly was life coursing into her veins. I vowed then to become a lifetime donor. It is neat to see Kirstin continue to carry this torch. (And several of my brothers are now very active donors as well). Take the time. Give the gift. You won't regret it.

After the Blood Drive, Kirstin, Aliya and I hopped in the car and drove to Galena for 24 hours of movie watching; knitting and just having 'girl time'. (Oh, and did I mention eating junk food???)

I used the time to make my first proto-type of the bag I have been designing. It is my attempt to make the 'perfect' bag for Kirstin to carry. Several things I am going to change in my next bag, but I am really liking it so far. This one is knit with 2 strands of Paton's SWS yarn. I am loving the colors. May have to make one for myself with this yarn.




Cast on a Kitty-Pi bed for my niece's cat, Cougar. Cougar is a Siamese that looks IDENTICAL to the cat I had for 15 years growing up. If Ryan and Kirstin weren't so allergic to cats, I'd have a siamese as well.

Sarah likes purple, so that is what I am making the bed with. Boy, sure hope Cougar likes it!!

(If you click Here you can see a gallery of kitty's 'modeling' their beds. Gee, maybe I can send a picture in of Cougar and his bed....)




Also worked on and finished a bag for my Bag Me Kal... the Philosophers Bag. I think I need to felt it a little more, but I really like the colors.



No progress to show on the Fair Isle carry-all bag. Needed to do knitting that didn't take much concentration. Hope to make some progress this week.

Well, need to clean up dishes from the Sunday Night Youth group that meets here at our house every Sunday night. Made Mexican Lasagna. Will share the recipe next post. Goes great with the cornbread rolls from my earlier post.

Until next time......

Baby It's Cold Outside....

Well, winter is here. It is freezing out and the wind makes it extremely cold. I know it is almost December and all, but I always dread the coming of the cold. At least this year I will have my knitting to curl up with and keep my mind off how cold it is outside.



I have been doing some more knitting. Here is my second Gelato bag. This is a quick, easy
pattern to knit up and I love how it turns out.

I used Knit Picks WOTA Heather and Malabrigo.
(And, yes, it needs a button!!)












My Daughter had made a scarf out of the Malabrigo, which she didn't like, so I tried to FROG it, to no avail. I then just decided to felt the whole mess and plan on making roses and/or a strap with it.









On my needles now is this bag that I am trying for Kirstin. Here is a picture of it. It is called 'Kristin's Carry-All'. It is my first real attempt at Fair Isle knitting (knitting with two or more colors at one time). It is slow and go, but fun.












Here is what I have done so far... (remember I said it was slow and go.....) I am using yarn that Kirstin had left over from some afghans she wove a few years ago. If I 'pass' on my first attempt, I am going to order some fun yarn to do a second bag with.

I will keep you posted with progress.....


In the meantime, I have to decide what else to knit next. I have about a dozen projects I'd like to do. I have a pattern I am designing in my brain for a bag, so I may start a proto-type. But then there are the clogs I need to do. Oh, and I want to learn to knit socks on 2 circular needles. Another felted hat or bowl would be fun. Ok, I guess I have enough to keep me busy through the cold, winter months!!

Even Sumo is trying to catch a little of the sun's warmth today!! (Yes, I have wimpy indoor dogs) He has many 'issues'...all of which crack me up. One is his need to have his paw under a rug when he is laying down. (The rugs are everywhere because another one of his 'issues' is being unable to walk on our tile or wood floors.....) I don't think he minds me telling you this. He's comfortable with his doghood. He just has issues.

Well, off to do a little baking and some knitting.


Until next time....

Back To 'Normal'

Well, Thanksgiving break is over; the boys are back to school; Kirstin is feeling better and went to school as well; Aliya is back from a visit to her parents in Chicago; so I guess you could say that things are back to 'normal'. It was great having the 5 of us together for a very long weekend.. it has been awhile. Ryan studied in England last year so he was not around for any of the Holidays. It felt so good to all be together.

We worked on taking some family photos for a Christmas card... We got a couple that could work, so I hope to have them in the mail next week. I have been a bit delinquent in sending out Christmas cards and want to be sure to get them out early this year! I love hearing from family and friends from around the world during the Holidays.




I was very proud of Nikko and Sumo for how well they did in the photo. They usually don't like to sit and have their picture taken.. especially Nikko. (The one on the left). They have been the greatest dogs!! They are brother and sister from different litters. Nikko is 11 and Sumo is 10.




I did get some knitting done over break as well. Two bags actually. (Well, almost two bags. Ran out of yarn on one of them. Bummer)
Both bags were new for me, which is always fun to try a new pattern. The first is called the Romantic Ruffle. (The pattern can be found here in PDF format)
I need more yarn to do the handle, but the rest of the purse is ready to felt. I used Lambs Pride Bulky in Pistachio.

The second bag is the Fiber Trends Gelato pattern. This was a fun pattern to knit and I can't wait for it to dry. I can see many more of these in my knitting future!! (Knit with Galway Highland Heather and Plymouth Outback Mohair)
Here it is before felting:






And here it is after a date with my washing machine:

Needs a button. Story of my life.




I leave you with this fun picture of me and my boys. They are becoming such fine young men. I'm very proud of both of them.

They make me smile :-)




Until next time.....

Can Anyone Relate?