One Year

L and I just celebrated our one year anniversary about a week ago. I can't believe it's been an entire year already. We've also lived in our house for a little over a year and haven't gotten nearly as many projects done as we could have hoped. 
For our anniversary my brother (walnut hills photography https://www.facebook.com/pages/Walnut-Hills-Photography/128094513919137) took some pictures for us that I had been wanting. 

 Year old cake was okay. It was much better when we ate the leftovers of the main cake at Thanksgiving.

 One year and still going strong

We used scrabble letters for some wedding pictures and decided to continue the tradition

Pot Holders for Skillet Handle

You know those little pot holders that are always on the end of cast iron skillets at restaurants when you get fajitas? Well, I decided I was tired of using a dish towel to hold the handle of my skillet while cooking and set out to make some of my own. I will be posting the finished products and a brief tutorial sometime this coming week. They turned out pretty well.

English Muffins Revisited

For quite some time the freezer had been running low on English Muffins. Call it laziness, busyness, or lack of desire, but I what not been in the mood to mess up my kitchen and make another batch of english muffins. After cleaning up my kitchen today I decided I was in the mood to create another batch of muffins revisiting the recipie I had used previously (found here).
Last time they did not have the nooks and crannies that English Muffins usually have, so I thought I'd try it again to see if it would have a different result. It didn't, but this time they turned out much prettier and much tastier!

Next time I'll have to try a different recipe.

Farmer's Market

Every Saturday, April through October our city/town has a farmer's market downtown. Since we live in walking distance of downtown I like to go to the farmer's market to check out what the different venders have. There are always fresh vegetables, flowers, and fresh baked goods.
This week I bought a zucchini, some French bread, and a cinnamon roll (that wasn't nearly as good as the ones my mom makes). Each vender you spend $3 at give you a ticket that you write your name and a phone number on for the weekly basket drawing. My mom and mother in law have already won this year and I decided today was the day I would win. And guess what, I DID!!
I got kettle corn, spinach, romaine, zucchini, two bags of microwaveable hull-less popcorn, homemade eggs noodles, body butter, barbecue seasoning, braided bread, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, snicker doodle cookies, giant iced sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, and 4 honey straws!
Overall a good day at the famers market.

A thought on knitting

This past weekend L and I went to a reenactment in Michigan. While there I was chatting with a woman who was knitting a scarf. When she learned that I had taught myself to knit without a teacher she was impressed, especially when she found out I made mittens first. When I started knitting I wanted to make something useful. As I'm sure I mentioned before, I didn't want or need a scarf, I wanted mittens!! Anyway, the lady knitting showed me how she was doing cabling. It looks like something I want to try next. Maybe in a few months you will see a knitted project with cabling. It will all depend on how many other projects get in the way.

Garden Update

I just read my last update and it was quite terrible. I guess that's what I get for writing a post and not finishing in the same day or even week. 


Here's an update on my garden:
-The peppers I started from seed in February/March were planted in the ground and then shriveled up and wilted from the heat.
-My mom so graciously bought me some pepper plants to replace the ones that died. (I've decided to never plant from seed again on peppers)
   -I have a chocolate pepper plant, California wonder peppers, and orange pepper plant, and some yellow pepper plants
   -There are quite a few blossom, one pepper an inch or 2 long, and a few tiny tiny peppers
-I had to replant my green bean row because none of the beans came up, but now they are thriving
-I replanted my carrot row, we'll see if they come up too
-The tomatoes are doing fantastic! They must really like the type of soil we have!!! They are starting to get blossoms and maybe some tiny tiny tomatoes
-The sweet corn I planted is barely coming up, so that may be a flop this year too
-zucchini and summer squash are popping up!
-Some of the onions are thriving, others have died, but that's fine.

 Tomatoes and peppers

Everything else!

Garden Disaster!!

It happen!!!! The first of my garden disasters!! Remember those pepper plants I love so dearly? DEAD, every single one of them!!! I think I've given up on starting pepper plants from seed!!
Last week I purchased quite a few pepper plants to feed our pepper need. So far they are faring very well!

As for the rest of my garden, we finally got it tilled and mostly planted. A few things have come up, and others I've had to replant due to the hot hot hot weather we had a few weeks back.

I am a negligent blogger who left her camera at her parent's house, so no pictures of the garden right now.

Knitted Socks

My sister got me a lovely skein of fisherman's wool for this past Christmas. L asked me to use the yarn to make him a pair of knitted socks since his feet get cold in the winter. Shortly after Christmas I began knitting socks without a pattern. I figure I'd wind it under I got to the heel portion; and so I did. Our local library has a good selection of knitting books, and I was able to pick up a book called Teach Yourself Visually, Sock Knitting. The book was exactly what I need to get working on my socks to get them completed. I am happy to announce that about a month ago I completed my first pair of knitted wool socks!!!

They took forever with size 1 needles, but they are very warm and very comfortable. Since L and I have similarly sized feet, I am able to steal borrow them if I want.

Cast Iron Care

I am a strong believer in cast iron. Food  barely ever sticks, it cooks better and more evenly, and (in my opinion) tastes better. I have at least 6 cast iron pots and skillets, (not including the two fajitas ones). I use my 12 inch skillet for nearly every meal. What I like best is their versatility and ease of care. Did I mention they can go from stove to oven? How many pans do you own that can do that? When I take my cast iron to our events all I have to do is give it a quick scrub with hot water and a stiff brush and it's clean, and the same at home, so easy!


I recently acquired a nice old cast iron set from my grandmother, so I'm going to walk you through the steps of cleaning and seasoning old cast iron

The set I acquired can be two separate skillets, or a skillet with a lid; very versatile.


Here they are before

I'd bet that you've been to an antique store and seen the selection of cast iron, and a lot of it looks like the before pictures. You probably thought to yourself that it was ruined and worthless and it would be better to buy new cast iron. Let me tell you that the old cast iron is much heavier and usually higher quality than the cast iron you can buy in stores today. And, the ugly old ruined cast iron can look brand new again and cook like a dream.

When you pick up older cast iron look for the amount of rust on it. Minimal rust can be easily fixed, but lots of rust takes lots of work (think sand blasting). Mine had a tiny bit of rust and looked unsightly, but was overall in great condition.

1. Put the skillet, pot, etc. in your sink under running water, the hottest you can stand. Using a stiff bristled brush, or plain steel wool, scrub the entire surface of the pan; inside, outside, handle, and the crevices. DO NOT USE SOAP. Salt may also be used as a scrubbing agent if needed. 

Note: NEVER EVER leave cast iron in the sink to soak, it can ruin it!

2. Dry thoroughly with a towel.

3. Place on stove top and turn on burner, add a small about of food safe oil or shortening, heat until melted. 

4. Turn off heat, and carefully with a paper towel rub the oil/melted shortening over the entire surface of the pan.

5. Get to cooking!!!! I always use canola cooking spray before I cook something, and after cleaning and drying to maintain the seasoning. At first stay away from acid foods such as tomatoes, and beans, and stick to cooking fatty foods like hamburger, bacon, sausage, etc. And remember, the more you cook in your cast iron, the better seasoned it will be, and the smoother the surface will be.

NOTE: The pans I got did not need to be seasoned more than this, however, some pans will need to be stripped of their current seasoning and re-seasoned in the oven. For more information check out Cast Iron Cooking for Dummies (one of my favorite resources)


Edit: As my loving husband pointed out, I switched the pans in the after photo. Oh well, you get the point.

Too Small!!

From my sneak preview a couple months ago (here), you may have guessed that I was making L a new waistcoat for reenacting. Because I was starting from the beginning, I wanted to make it as authentic as possible. This means that I needed to completely hand stitch the entire thing, start to finish, button hole and all. That first day I cut out the pattern in a size based on the measurements I had taken of L the night before. After that I cut out the lining and had it completely together by the time he came home from work. He tried it on, and IT WAS TOO SMALL. I was able to remedy this by added a small triangular section across the shoulder. 

From then on I sewed here and there whenever I had the time or got into the mood. Recently I had finished attaching the lining and the pockets and all that was needed were button holes and buttons. I had L try it on, just for good measure, and it was once again too small. 

(Insert picture here of sad looking husband in a too small waistcoat)

So for now this project has reached the back burner as those of you who have ever hand sewn anything know that you don't want to undo your hard work. Plus, I haven't figured out how exactly I'm going to fix said waistcoat.

Oh well

I may have spoken too soon

Here it is, the third week in March, and I've had our furnace off for 2 weeks if not longer. The lowest day time temperature this month was 36 degrees. Today the temperature is in the low 80s. These are record highs here in the midwest for this time of the year. This is not be complaining, just me in awe of the wonderful weather we've been getting. However, if I know Indiana, we could still be in for some surprises in a few weeks.


With the warm weather, the tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and all those other spring flowers have bloomed. It's been an adventure seeing what kind of flowers we have around our house. Our beautiful big magnolia tree in the backyard is in full bloom. It's a nice shady place for our hammock.

 I bet you've been wondering about my garden. Well, we cleared the branches from my garden area, but have no tilled it yet. I started my tomato plants (Beefsteak, roma, and cherry), and a different type of pepper plant as well. ...and about those other pepper plants.... We are down to 5-6 total plants, the cats got sneaky and ate a few of them. However, since the weather had been so nice they are outside.


And with that I will leave you. I promise, I am working on projects, I just haven't finished any yet.

Come on spring

As the weather starts to get a little more mild (and the 65 degree day we had last week), I'm starting to plan out my garden for the summer. Husband and I have started making a list of the things we'd like to grow and how we want the garden to look. I've been pinning lots of ideas from pinterest and reading some books from the library. Ideally I'd like to only use produce from our garden this summer, and I hope that I can make that work


Since we've only been living in our house since August, there was no time for planting a garden. We only had time to trim bushes and trees, and clear out the overgrown flower beds. There is a large pile of branches lying where my garden will be that will have to be cleared before it can be tilled. I'm waiting for warm weather because I dislike wearing coats and being cold.


I can't wait for warmer weather where I can finally work in the yard and tend to my garden. No pictures today, sorry. I didn't think you wanted to see my sad garden patch.

I Spy Peppers

Husband and I both love sweet bell peppers, but they can be costly if you always buy them from the store. Last year I thought I would try my hand at growing my own in the family garden. I started the seeds in early April just like the package said to. I watched and waited for the first sprouts to appear and carefully watered and cared for each of the plants until I could plant them outside. My siblings made fun of me because I would take daily trips to the garden (in the backyard) just to check on my 10 precious pepper plants and the other things I had planted. I made announcements and got excited when the first few flowers began to appear, and became upset and disappointed when the flowers died and the tiny pepper buds dropped to the ground. 


Finally, after much waiting the first pepper actually stayed on the plant and started to grow. Little did I know, but it would be until October until I would get any harvest from my plants. To my surprise my 10 pepper plants produced 4 peppers!!!!!!! All that work for 4 measly peppers that were used up in one meal.
This year I got smart. I checked out some books from the library to educate myself, and already have my game plan down. I started my first "batch" of peppers in December, but my cats thought they were a tasty treat and ate them when they were just little sprouts. At the beginning of the month I planted the next round of seeds, being smart this time and covered the pot with plastic to keep the heat and moisture in, along with keeping the kitties out.


As my seeds sprouted I removed the plastic wrap cover and replaced it with a mesh cover to discourage those curious cats. I am proud to announce that I have 5 plants that have sprouted and at least 3 more that are emerging.

Meet my pepper plants. The straws hold up the mesh so that the plants have room to grow.

Baked Apple Crisp

I've had apples sitting in my fridge since November (yuck, I know) They came straight from the orchard when I wanted to make an apple pie and I had some left over. (When properly stored, apples can last for a while) I'd been eyeing baked apple recipes and toying with ideas for them. Recently I saw a picture of single serve apple pies baked right inside the apples. This peaked my attention but I was not in the mood for making pie dough (it's too messy and finicky). Since I prefer apple crisp I set out to see if I could make an apple crisp baked inside the apples. And guess what, it worked!!
Baked Apple Crisp
Ingredients
2 apples
lemon juice
2 T butter (softened)
2 T brown sugar
2 T flour
2 T old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
Directions
1. Cut the tops off the apples and hollow them out.

 2. Save the apple pieces that you hollowed out and put them in a bowl with lemon juice and water to keep them from browning.

3. Mix together rest of the ingredients making sure to chop up the butter and spread over the drained apples (This makes enough topping for more than two apples)

4. Bake at 350 degrees F until apples are soft and filling is bubbling. About 10-15 min.

 5. Enjoy it plain or with a scoop of ice cream!

Kung Pao Mac and Cheese

I'd like to introduce you to a little dish I like to call Kung Pao Macaroni and Cheese. It's like mac and cheese with a spicy kick. Truly delicious in my opinion. I found the recipe on pinterest, but it originally came from Southern Living (here). They call it King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese, but this name is deceiving as there is absolutely no ranch in the dish at all.

(source) 

I forgot to take my own picture and because it was so good it's all gone

This recipe is modified from the original to please my tastes and cooking techniques

Ingredients
 16-oz. pasta (elbow, fusilli, penne, or other small pasta)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 (10-oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 (8-oz.) package Velveeta, cubed (I used more than this because it was cheesy enough for me)
3 cups  cooked chicken, shredded
1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pasta according to package directions.


Meanwhile, heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomatoes and green chiles and prepared cheese product; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Stir in chicken, next 4 ingredients, and hot cooked pasta until blended. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish; sprinkle


Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!!

We are reenactors

Husband and I are French and Indian War reenactors. He's been reenacting since he was young, and I have been since 15. I don't remember the story of how his family started, but I started when my best friend invited me to join her family for the weekend. That weekend was a lot of fun! Husband and I actually met at that same reenactment the next year when we were 16. It's funny because that weekend a lady was telling us about how she had met her husband at an event years ago and I thought that was the cutest thing, but enough about us.

I have slowly been working on replacing our machine sewn clothing with hand sewn because only rich people had sewing machines in the mid 18th century (that's 1750s for those of you who get confused by centuries like I do). Sewing by hand can take forever, but I find it relaxing to be able to sew anywhere I want; in font of the TV, in my sewing room, on the couch, in bed, while I'm driving, at dinner (ok, so I admit, I've never done those last two.)

Last fall I began working on a Robe à l’Anglaise (or English Nightgown) for myself as I had had been reenacting for a while and wanted a fancy dress for a Christmas ball we were having.

Underneath the dress is a set of panniers. They enhance your hips and allow more of the dress fabric to be shown. I made my own pair, but do not have a picture. They look like this:

(source)

Every piece of this dress is hand sewn, and while I didn't keep track of how long it took, if I had to guess it would be over 48 hours of sewing. 

This is the best picture I could get of the pleating I did on the back of the dress. The pleats flow down into the skirt of the dress. 

In my sneak peek from earlier this week, I started working on a new waistcoat for Husband. I haven't finished it yet, but I promise it will be done soon.

Busy, Busy, Busy

With the start of a new school semester (last semester before student teaching!) I thought I might warn you that blog post may be more infrequent than before. I am currently working on two projects, one sewing and one knitting but have no idea when either is done since I am trying to stay ahead this semester. Plus husband and I have started working on our house again.


Since I don't want to disappoint you, I'll leave you with a sneak peek of one of my projects. 

My silly kitties immediately think that anything new is a toy for them. (Charlie and Captain Jack)

English Muffins

A week or two ago my sister came to visit and we decided to make english muffins based on a recipe found on none other than pinterest. The only problem was they didn't turn our right and we ended up finishing them in the oven because they weren't cooking through. After a little more digging on my part, I found a recipe with good reviews and just as simple, And I Made English Muffins!!! (recipe here, but I made my own tweaks to it)

 

English Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted shortening
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Corn Meal

Directions

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl stir together sugar, yeast and warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening, salt and flour cup by cup until dough is smooth. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.

Roll out dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutterSprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Can be frozen. 

The best part about making my own English muffins is I know exactly what I put in them. I don't know when it started, but, lately I've been big on making my own food to save money and to lessen preservatives. Part of it stems from my food allergies but the other part I think is me wanting to be more healthy and stay away from preservatives. While time consuming and making my kitchen a disaster, it's worthwhile to make my own English Muffins!

Homemade Nutella

I was craving Nutella today but not interested in spending the $3.50+ it costs per jar and not interested in the "mystery" ingredients. I had found a recipe for homemade nutella on pinterest and decided today was the day to try it. (Here is the recipe I used Homemade Nutella)

Homemade Nutella

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts (The grocery only had chopped hazelnuts, so recipe will reflect that)

1 1/2 cups whole milk

3/4 cup powdered milk

1 Tbsp. honey

pinch salt

1 heaping cup chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, or chips

1 scant cup chopped milk chocolate, or chips

Directions
On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the nuts in a 400ºF for about 5 minutes, or until fragrant. While warm, transfer to the bowl of a food processor and blend until they go from finely ground to pasty and thick, like natural peanut butter.

Meanwhile, warm the milk, powdered milk, honey and salt in a small saucepan just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat. In a double boiler or in the microwave, melt the chocolates, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate to the ground nuts and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well blended and as smooth as you can get it. 

Store in refrigerator and enjoy on crackers, bread, cookies, etc.

Be aware that it can look soupy at first but will thicken as it cools. Also, The original recipe said it would make 2 cups of spread, but I ended up with almost a whole quart! I don't know what I did differently.