Summer dinners

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Ali

It’s always hard for me to think of things to make for dinner in the summer. In the winter and fall it’s much easier, soups, roasts, pot pies, hot pasta dishes, etc. But in the summer I usually don’t want something very heavy, or warm for that matter. Enter: pasta salad.

We just threw in what we had on hand, which today happened to be olives, cucumbers, ham, onions and tomato, topped with a squirt of Italian salad dressing- but now I am imagining all sorts of combination that I could make…

And it was delish! And perfect for a hot Idaho evening, when you’re not in the mood to slave over a hot stove.

P.S. I am on the last legs of this cable-knit brown sweater, 1/2 way done with the hood, then just the seaming is left! Can’t wait for it’s grand debut. I think this one might go in the “keeping-for-my-future-children” box…. or maybe I’ll just have to make another. I really, really, really like this pattern. Lots.

Sewing

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Ali

It’s so very nice to have a place to keep my sewing machine all the time. In the old apartment I had to haul it out to the kitchen table, and kitchens and fabric isn’t a great combo while trying to keep the fabric clean. I spent a little time sewing this afternoon.

I enjoy having a craft room very, very much.

This was the first time I had worked on my quilt in a few months. I think since about February, maybe! Eek.

But now that I’ve got a permanent home for my sewing machine hopefully I’ll finish it one of these days…

In the kitchen.

Posted on June 27, 2010 by Ali

I’ve spent alot of time in the kitchen lately.

Barefoot in the kitchen.

We made kale chips. Unfortunately they were way too salty. Yech. The few that managed not to get too salty were really good, though. I’ll have to try them again.

A word to the wise; don’t be generous with the salt.

Also made some cookies! The no-bake kind, since my house was already hot today, I didn’t want to have my kitchen even hotter.

Farmer’s Market Veggies

Posted on June 26, 2010 by Ali

We got kale, snap peas, garlic, zucchini and squash. I’m going to try out some kale chips later today.

Brown Sweater

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Ali

I’ve gotten a significant amount done on the brown cable knit sweater.

That’s the back and the two halves of the front there. All that’s left is the sleeves and the collar. Although I am kind of thinking to put a hood on it instead of a collar. I just like babies in hoods.

It’s a fun pattern, a lot easier than I thought it would be. What do you guys think about the hood vs collar?

**votes are in, we’re making it a hood**

Aviatrix

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Ali

I’m not really all that pleased with this hat. It turned out several sizes too large, and the pattern has some bumpy spots, I think when I make it again I will make some changes.

It’s supposed to look like an aviator cap, but Paul mentioned it looked more like an old football helmet. Oh well, live and learn.

Calzones

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Ali

We made calzones for dinner this evening, and they were a huge hit. These were better than calzones I think I’ve ever had at a restaurant.(Mostly thanks to my husband who had spent a few years in the pizza biz back in the day)

What you’ll need:

Dough:

1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons white sugar

Toppings: (you can use any pizza toppings, but this is what we used)

Mozzarella cheese

1 can cubed pineapple

1 bag of diced ham

1/4 cup alfredo sauce

1/4 cup thinly sliced green pepper

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll out your dough.
Add your toppings to 1/2 of the dough, leaving room to ‘seal’ it up.
Fold it over, and press, use a fork or just your fingers to make sure it’s got a good seal. You don’t want any of your cheese to escape!
Brush the top with either olive oil or egg whites, whatever your preference is, and then shake generous amounts of spices ( we have one in our cabinet that’s just called Pizza Seasoning, the best I can reckon is that it’s oregano and basil)
Cut slits in the top so they don’t explode.
Bake them for about 30 minutes, depending on how full you made yours.
Enjoy!

Cooking in my new kitchen is way more fun.

Want to see the new place?

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Ali

Sorry it’s taken so long to get pictures up. I am lazy.

Kitchen!

And the living room (only part of it, the rest was dirty)

Don’t mind the two unpacked boxes… sigh.

The bathroom with it’s awesome floral wallpaper in the shelf.

And my craft area!

And the view from our bedroom

Booties!

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Ali

I made these yesterday. Cute, no?

I recycled the yarn from a pair of socks that I wore once, but didn’t really like the way they fit.

The only problem was finding 4 buttons… I had 4 different kinds of small brown ones, so we’ll just call it good and don’t look too closely, because none of them match.

In other news, we’re leaving for the weekend, see you on the other side.