Help in the kitchen

13th activity of Advent: chocolate-chip cookies

Growing up in Andi's house, if there were chocolate-chip cookies, it must be Christmas.



(Lucy was pretty sure the cookie dough ought to be squished before baking.)

We must have done them right, because Andi declared "now that tastes like Christmas!"

Why my kitchen looks the way it does

(Well, that and it being food-preservation crunch time. That's also why we had pancakes for dinner tonight.)

Making a home away from home

There hasn't been a lot of crafting going on here this week. But there's been a lot of "making" of another kind; we're getting ready to go on vacation next week (halleluiah!), and I've been preparing...stocking up for our home away from home. Partly out of a desire to save money, and partly to make it easier to just relax and not have to worry about anything once we're there (even as simple as which restaurant to go to). In the past several hours, I've made granola (for breakfast in pajamas in the cottage):

Brownies (ignore the horrible look--they are called "Ugly Duckling Brownies," after all, but they taste good!), for emergency chocolate situations:

And deodorant, because there is no way I'm packing that broken-up scrap of jagged crystal rock I've been using. (I've been wanting to get to this recipe for ages, and this vacation was somehow the motivation I needed to finally get to it. What took me so long? It took only 5 minutes to make and so far, it works great!)

Now, off to make Lucy some new longies. Somehow, her ratty old ones are fine for home, but if we're going on vacation, surely she needs to have some nice new ones...

Time to make the bagels

Yes, it was definitely time! My mother got us Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day when it first came out, and I quickly got into the habit of making bread. But that habit fell by the wayside when we had a baby and life felt too busy. I've been wanting to get back into it, and kept thinking I would, but not doing it. Until I saw Molly's post about making bagels, and I knew I had to do it now. I love bagels. I'm willing to go all junky-white-flour for bagels. And we buy them, too often. And in my head, it's one of those things you don't make; you buy. No more!






They're not the prettiest bagels (I'm hoping that will come with practice), but they sure were yummy! And I still can't quite believe I made them! There's dough left in the fridge, ready for this weekend's bagels. I think making the bagel dough may have to become a Friday-night tradition.

Progress

Here's an update on a few projects...

My sprouts are off to a slow, but definite, start.



Is it my cold house? It seems to be taking ages! We want some green stuff!

I'm crocheting!



(Yes, I know it's wonky and, even though my friend says it's not possible, I've been dropping stitches as I go. But I think I have that under control now. Right after I took this picture, I ripped it all out for another try.)

Boy, was that crochet class nerve-wracking! I turned out to be the only beginner in there! I sat down all nervous and insecure, only to see women pulling half-finished lacy-looking shawls and adorable baby hats out of their bags. Yikes! But I plan to show my face again on Wednesday. And yes, the yarn seems to have changed colors. When I couldn't figure out where to poke the crochet hook in (don't you love my adept use of technical crochet language?), the teacher said "well, it's black. You didn't do yourself any favors." So now I'm working in red. If, by some miracle, a scarf appears by February 14, it will be the right color for Craft Hope's latest project.)

And I've made a good start on the Food Waste Reduction Challenge. I surveyed the fridge (too much cheese, limp carrots, fuzzy mold on some carrots and beets), the bedroom closet (apples going soft, too many that needed to go straight to the compost), and the basement (squash that need to be eaten right now, ditto the onions). Boy, we're disgusting, aren't we? After chucking out the worst offenders, I tackled some of the must-eat-now things, and today we ate:

apple-oat bake (super-soft apples)--one of our standard breakfasts
2-bean salad (canned) with grated beets (about to go)--got rave reviews from the kids
squash soup (nearly-gone squash, coconut milk, curry paste)--more happy kid reviews
mojadra (onion-lentil-rice thing from here), using nearly-gone onions

We've planned tomorrow's dinner around the leftovers: we'll have squash stuffed with mojadra. The kids are getting lots of leftovers, too (they're used to that). I'm going to work more on getting them to take more realistic portions so we don't end up feeding so much of their food to the chickens.

How about you? (I'm so glad to see a few readers joining in on this challenge!)

Independence Days challenge, week 17

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

1. Plant something: No.
2. Harvest something: Eggs. 4 pecks peaches from a local farm.
3. Preserve something: Dried peaches. Froze shredded zucchini.
4. Waste not: I found creative uses for food I might otherwise have thrown away this week (does it make up for the veggies I let rot in the produce drawer?). When I drained the zucchini, I set the colander in a bowl and caught all the liquid. Blended it with some watermelon and froze it into popsicles. When I made green pepper puree for Lucy and she hated it (her first rejected food), I used the leftovers as part of a marinade for tofu.
5. Preparation and storage: No, and boy are we getting low on stored food. Need to get on the ball!
6. Build community food systems: No.
7. Eat the food: Made 5 loaves of zucchini bread. Tried a new (yummy) recipe for corn fritters.

Mama needs a treat

Rough morning. Five asleep. One awake and at my feet. There's only one thing to do with this naptime:





Cowboy cookies with crystallized ginger added. That's better.