knit. bake. blog.

Goals

debi — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:57:41 +0000

So.. I work really well with goals. I don’t know what it is, but I like having that pressure of knowing I have a deadline. And I like it when the deadline is closer, rather than far away. Saying, “this has to be done for Christmas” isn’t pressure enough because Christmas can seem so very far away. Instead I am focusing on daily goals. Andrew’s scarf has to be worked on daily, at least 12 rows a day (the pattern chart). It went from sitting at an inch long for a couple months to now being close to 8 inches. Still have a way to go, but with a daily routine of doing it, it’ll actually get done.

I have a few other projects for Christmas I need to work on, so I am setting up my goals for those as well. I haven’t quite determined what the daily/weekly requirement will be, but my hope is to finish the larger project by Thanksgiving and the smaller project shortly after.

I also realized that I have currently 4 projects on needles (including Andrew’s scarf) and I need to finish them. One is the farrow rib scarf on my current projects page. Super easy and fast, so I need to make time to just finish it. Plus then I can wear it this fall! The other is another easy scarf I started because I didn’t have my other projects handy. It’s a simple stockinette stitch and it’s alternating green and pink. It’s maybe half done. I need to get that finished. And then I still have Ruth’s bag to finish up. All I need to do is sew the handle on and make the closure. I should do that this weekend, actually.

The bag I’ve been working on all year will have to wait til after Christmas, but as soon as my other projects are done I’ll set goals to finish.

I’ve told myself no starting new projects (besides the Christmas projects) until the old ones are done. I am super excited to try out some patterns I have but, to get to them I have to finish the old ones! But just wait til you see what I have in mind!

Cables

debi — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:53:27 +0000

So.. a year disappears so quickly, doesn’t it? August is ending and Christmas just seems to be sneaking up on me. My family has started doing an exchange between the adults, instead of giving gifts to everyone. We do 2 exchanges; one is a store-bought gift with a limit, the other is a home-made gift (with a limit that we sometimes ignore). We draw names right after Christmas so we all have a year to plan and work on our projects.

Now, the person I got, I immediately thought of several ideas of what to make. Which, is really good, because some people are much harder than others! Anyway, here it is, August 28th and while I have ideas, I have not started a thing on it. Yesterday I narrowed down to exactly what I am making, what my timeline is for it, and what my back up plan is should I not finish in time. I seriously vow that next year I will start sooner.

One thing I’m really going to hate about this is not being able to post pictures and updates about what I’m making because that person can’t see it! So I will have to post after Christmas.

Of course, that’s given I have a camera to take pictures of the progress. I sure hope I do. As I said earlier this week, last weekend my camera died. I looked online and it looks like a fairly common problem; there are two screws inside the camera that often come loose, fall and then short out the camera. So, I am hoping once I have $90 to fix it, that will be that and I’ll be back to shooting again.

In the mean time, I am trying desperately to finish the birthday Christmas scarf for Andrew. I love this pattern. It is just rather time consuming working it because it’s 12 rows that are all slightly different, so I have to pay close attention to which I am on. There is cabling, which I seriously love. It’s not difficult but looks beautiful. My new goal is to knit (at least) a set of 12 rows each day. That way I can hope to be done in time to mail for Christmas.

Since my camera is out of commission (sad face), I took a quick picture with my phone.

The picture quality sucks but at least you can see I made progress. I’m going to attempt an extra set of 12 rows today, for bonus points. Haha!

Five Things That Happened This Weekend

debi — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:05:30 +0000

1) I successfully decorated and displayed 200 cupcakes for a wedding for a friend. The cupcakes were beautiful and delicious and all I heard were good things from guests. I over heard the bride say, “it looks just like I imagined it.” I’m not sure if she was talking the cakes specifically or the whole reception because the entire thing was beautiful. I was so happy to be a part of it.

B) My car died. Transmission. More to come.

3) My camera died. I looked online and it seems to be a common error. A company in Texas will fix it for $89. A company in town will look at it for $20 and let me know. I’m debating which to do, because if I pay $20 and then am told it will cost more than $70 to fix it, I’ll have made the wrong choice. Dilemma. But, at least I have time to wait because I have to fix my car first!

4) I got surprised at a surprise party I helped plan for my little brother. See, Ben went and graduated high school this year and no one said anything. So we decided to throw him a surprise graduation party. We even had a pinata so we could play my favorite game, Beat Ben. Well, party time comes and a sign goes around that says Happy Birthday & Graduation! And I was given a birthday balloon, found out there was a 2nd game based on quotes I say and there was a second dessert planned with me in mind. Both Ben and I were surprised to find that we were honorees at a party we both helped plan. How fun!

5) I got to see my niece in her first soccer scrimmage match. It was fun and cute to see these little girls who really don’t know what they are doing yet. The goalies did a great job and everyone had fun. I got a little sunburned. Since my car was broken, I rode my bike and realized just how out of shape I am.

Braise Aux Choux Rouges and Gratin Jurassien

debi — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:01:41 +0000

So.. this weekend I celebrated Julia Child’s 98th birthday with friends. I made Braise Aux Choux Rouges (pork braised with red cabbage) with Gratin Jurassien (scalloped potatoes with heavy cream and cheese), both of which turned out delicious! It takes about 6 hours to cook the cabbage and pork but it’s well worth it. I may try it in a slow cooker next time, because my kitchen was H-O-T HOT with the oven on all day.

My great friends brought other delicious French food for the dinner and we spent an enjoyable evening eating, drinking and laughing together. It’s always fun to have dinner with friends.

And now.. the rest of this week is dedicated to creating monograms to top the cupcakes for the wedding Friday!

A Little Something Sweet

debi — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:58:50 +0000

So.. the past two weeks I have been baking furiously and my freezer holds the proof. So far, I have 12 dozen cupcakes frozen and waiting. By the end of this week, it’ll be 18 dozen. 108 chocolate, 108 vanilla.

This weekend I will finally get to testing the Italian Meringue Buttercream and a round of cookies for the decorations of the cupcakes.

Just wait til you see these cakes when I’m done, they are going to be awesome.

And in the mean time, I’ve created a web site for Sweet Petites. Still a work in progress.

Easy Baked Manicotti

debi — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:30:39 +0000

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook 12 manicotti shells per package directions. Rinse in cold water and set on foil to dry (keep apart so they don’t stick).

Spread 3/4 cup of spaghetti sauce on bottom of 13×9-inch baking dish.

Mix 1 egg (lightly beaten), 1-3/4 cups Ricotta cheese, 1-1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup pesto. Spoon mixture into piping bag.

Fill 12 manicotti shells, one at a time, squeezing cheese mixture into both sides of shell. Place manicotti over sauce in baking dish; pour 1-3/4 cups spaghetti sauce over manicotti. Cover with foil.

Bake 40 minutes, or until heated through.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake

debi — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:05:37 +0000

Grease a 9×13 pan; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup softened butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat until combined. Add 1 egg, 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium) and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until combined. Beat in 2 cups flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips and 2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional).

Spread in prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until golden. Cool on wire rack; cut into bars. Makes about 36 (or less if you cut bigger!).

Car Wash

debi — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:37:43 +0000

Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

debi — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:20:02 +0000

So.. I had my niece and nephew sleep over last night and for dinner I decided to try a new recipe. I don’t know how much they liked it (Esther said the chicken tasted “funny”) but I thought it was pretty good.

Cook 2 cups multigraine penne pasta as directed on package.

Meanwhile, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray (or use a little olive oil) on medium-high heat. Add 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in 1-1/4 cups salsa, 1 cup frozen corn and 1 large green pepper, cut into short thin strips. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally.

Drain pasta and add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Sprinkle with 1 cup shredded cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 minute, or until cheese is melted.

I didn’t have a pepper so instead I added in a bag of broccoli stir fry vegetables. It tasted really good!

Also, since the kids were over I didn’t take a picture, but I found this one online with the recipe.

Swiss or Italian?

debi — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:43:08 +0000

So.. I have made Swiss Meringue Buttercream lots of times and love it. One of my favorite frostings ever, it is beautiful, tasty, pipes and stores well. The only down side to this frosting is that you have to beat the eggs with sugar over hot water to make sure the eggs are cooked through before beating and adding the butter etc. It’s not a big deal, but does make my arm tired if I’m making a lot.

This weekend I am going to try making Italian Meringue Buttercream. Mostly the same ingredients, however in this version you cook the sugar with water (meaning you don’t have to beat it as it cooks) and then incorporate that into whipped egg whites, cooking the egg at that point. Similar to my marshmallow frosting I make, except this one you add butter at the end to make it a buttercream.

If this works out well, I will be using it for the wedding cupcakes for the Foell-Chambers wedding in two weeks. I had planned to use my marshmallow frosting but this one may be even better, easier to work with and will be easier to color.