Posted on

channa masala for dummies

We got the coolest Christmas present from Tanuj and Claire—a big basket of all kinds of Indian spices. They’re the pre-mixed kind that come in a box. Monday night I made my basic Channa Masala recipe, but substituted the box spices for my own blend. Yum! This was so easy to make. You could follow the recipe on the back of the box if you want to measure things out in grams or you can follow my basic combination:

Quick & Easy Channa Masala
double if you want to serve as a main course or want leftovers
(Who are we kidding? Of course you want leftovers!)

•one small onion, chopped
•1 1/2 T chana masala spice mix
•one can diced tomatoes
•one can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
•one baking potato, peeled and chopped

Saute the onions in a little olive oil until they start to brown around the edges. Add the spices and stir them for a minute until they smell fragrant. Add the tomatoes, chick peas and potato. Bring to a boil and then turn to low and simmer until potato is tender.

For a really quick meal, microwave the potato first!

Posted on

knitting for baby d.

Last Saturday afternoon our knitting group had a lunch for Lauren and Baby D. I knew she’d be getting some blankets, a Baby Surprise sweater and a Hug Me sweater, so I had to find something different to knit. I chose the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It turned out nice. I used Knit Picks Gloss in the Dusk colorway with two strands held together and velcro dots for the closures.

kimono

Posted on

mini santa hat pattern!

Last year I tried knitting a little stocking for our knitting group’s ornament exchange and it turned out really wonky. The night before the exchange, I whipped up this little Santa hat instead.

santa hat

For this year’s exchange, I knit the stocking from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and it turned out MUCH better. Tana, who picked my Santa hat from last year, picked the stocking this year. I knit them both out of the same yarn. Too funny! I should see if I can complete her set with a mini sweater next season.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the little Santa hat ornament. It was so cute and easy! So the other night I decided to knit another one for our tree. I love it so much! Here’s the pattern so you can knit up some cuteness for your tree.

Knitted Santa Hat Ornament

Yarn: Lion Brand Micro Spun colors red and white
Needles: I used size 3 dpns
Gauge: 6 stitches = 1 inch
Time to complete: Less than two episodes of the Sopranos.

Hat

Using white yarn, cast on 30 stitches and divide evenly over 3 dpns.
Join and knit 8 rows in white (add rows if you need to so it forms a nice roll brim).
Change to red yarn and knit 12 rows.

Begin decreases:
Knit the first two stitches on each needle together.
Knit a plain round.

Repeat these two rows until you only have 3 stitches left. Tie them off.

Pom Pom

Start with a slip knot of white yarn on a single needle.
Knit in the front and back of the stitch, increasing to 2 stitches.
Knit in the front and back of both stitches, increasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat once more for a total of 8 stitches.

Begin decreases:
Knit two together across, decreasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat, decreasing to 2 stitches.
Repeat once more and tie off.

Pull the two ends together and shape a little ball. With a darning needle, thread the ends through the top of the hat and tie a knot.

If you want your hat to hang straight, string it up from the top. If you want it to have a little curl, like mine, string it up from the middle.

Hang on the tree and admire your craftiness. Merry Christmas!

Posted on

getting ready for the holidays

I can’t believe it. As of today, I am all caught up on work. My newsletter project is finally at the printer and all of my other jobs are up to date. I might be able to finish up some holiday gifts today. I’m even going to make it to knitting tonight. Speaking of knitting, I know I said I was done with fuzzy scarves, but never say never.

scarf

Posted on

more bread

The other day while we were iChatting with my parents, M pulled the bananas off of the counter and opened four of them. I’ve been itching to make something out of Deceptively Delicious because I love hiding good-for-you stuff in my cooking, so I decided to try the banana bread. It called for 1 1/2 cups banana and 1/2 cup cauliflower purees. Surprisingly, four bananas doesn’t make a lot of puree and I didn’t have any frozen cauliflower on hand, so I microwaved a sweet potato to make up the difference. I was a little worried being so adventurous, but it was sweet potato, after all.

bread

The bread turned out fabulous. It smelled so good it was hard to wait for it too cool. I immediately ate two slices and could eat more. I’m not planning to tell T about the sweet potato until he tries it. We’ll see if he can tell. This one has 1/2 cup of sugar in it, so he should be happy. (My zucchini bread wasn’t sweet enough for him.) It also has a good bit of whole wheat flour in it. I’ll definitely be making this again, even if I am the only one who eats it.

UPDATE: T and M both LOVE the bread. T wasn’t even phased by the sweet potato. I’ve trained him well.

Posted on

etsy shop was a little empty

My etsy items are at a craft open house today and are hopefully being sold. (Details on Christy’s blog.) The shop was looking a little bare, and I couldn’t figure out which sweater to sew up next, so I decided to let you pick your own. All the details can be found here.

custom

Posted on

i think i need to knit a square or something

I’m not sure what else to do. The shootings in Omaha have knocked the wind out of our sails. Knitting squares seemed to help last time. How about I just post some pictures of last Sunday in the gallery and call it a day?

tree

Posted on

mmm… bread

bread

We’ve been doing a lot of bread and muffins around here. M likes to eat bread and I like to hide nutritious stuff in the loaves. It makes me smile when she’s chowing down on a slice bread and ignoring all of her other vegetables because I know it’s filled with zucchini, carrots and yogurt. Yesterday I made mini pumpkin muffins, which I thought she would adore because she loves pumpkin pie, but she’s totally not interested in them. The zucchini bread, however, is a different story. So far we’ve been through three loaves and she still devours it.

I’ve been making the Zucchini Cheddar Quick Bread recipe from The All Purpose Joy of Cooking with some modifications (of course!). No cheese, extra zucchini, two grated carrots, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, olive oil instead of butter and substituting wheat flour for 1/3 of the white flour. I also used dried dill, onion and garlic powder. T was bummed I didn’t make the more traditional zucchini bread recipe. You know the one that’s really sweet and uses 2 1/2 cups of sugar? I’d never get M down for a nap after a slice of that!

Posted on

bella bib

I know most kids get a mustache while drinking their milk, but M gets a goatee. She sucks in a bunch of milk from her sippy cup, smiles, and lets it dribble down her chin. This is why she is only allowed to drink in her chair with a bib. (I thought after the first few months of nursing we were done with smelling like milk around here. Who knew?)

Anyway, we have this one quilted bib that is perfect for catching all of the goatee dribbles. One. I needed more and couldn’t find any big and absorbent enough for full coverage, so I made one of my own.

bib

The back of the bib is terry cloth from bath towel. This should be absorbent enough, don’t you think?

bib

I’m happy with the size, but I bought some fat quarters of cute fabric from Michael’s and would like to get two bibs out of one piece. Right now this bib is just a little too big for that, so I’ve got some scaling and redrawing to do. I’ve got some real work to do this week, so I guess the bib will have to wait until the weekend.