a tasty rut

I'm on 'repeat' in the kitchen lately...

brought these cheese balls to a party
...along with a gingerbread cake,
made and devoured this chicken again (it still reigns as the best roast chicken ever),
enjoyed mocha pot de creme with a good friend this season,
froze the extra butternut squash soup,
love that the kid is so into kale chips these days,
and I plan on making up another batch of these lovely cranberry lemon scones soon.

Jeff's the only one trying new recipes. He made Elise's chicken parmesan tonight. Delicious! 

anticipation

Have I told you lately how much I love the month of December? Crafting, sending cards, counting the days...

Dana over at Made has a great idea for Advent: read a special Christmas or wintery book each day. This, my friends, is right up our alley. We've already started our collection and made our book wish list for the Grandparents. It'll be like watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation every year... kind of.

Here's a new book with lots of inspiration: Countdown Calendars. I'm not sure I'd ever make half of them as written (Is it really necessary to 'count down' to Halloween with candy every day?) but they could easily be adapted for Advent.

And here's a good idea for older kids: an activity advent calendar. I love that she uses her kids as motivators for her own to-do list.

Thanks to a generous friend, we are counting down the days this year with good ol' fashioned chocolate.

temporarily festive sweaters

The assignment: Two cheesy Christmas sweaters for the holiday bash at Jeff's office.

Limitations: Didn't want to buy anything. Had less than an hour of naptime to spend on this.

The process: Used bits of felt from my stash and the sewing machine to make appliques. Safety-pinned them to sweaters we already own.

The result:

wool skirt

As much as I complained about those pajamas, I will sew more clothes. In fact, I got right back on the horse with this very simple wool skirt.

And since I received this lovely book for my birthday, I've got grand plans. The little red riding hood cape on the cover may be the first thing I attempt, but I can't decide whether I'll make it with a red cotton or with a nice gray wool I already have...  ooh, a red wool would be nice.

off and on the needles

Made a pair of these socks, but they ended up being too small. Unfortunately, my kid still likes to wear them. They slip off and then she needs help getting them back on -- a high maintenance toy, really. Note to self: should probably put some sort of grip on the bottom of the next pair so she doesn't have to do so many splits and slips to get around.

Just finished another one of these sweet reversible birds. We'll keep this one. (Doh. I just realized I got carried away when I was seaming and sewed its two beaks together.)

Working on a new navy toque for me. Trying to wait until I finish the knitting before I pick out the perfect button. Free pattern via ravelry.

llama llama red pajama

This will not become an annual tradition. 

For all the folks that sew their kids new pajamas every Christmas -- wow, what an effort. I just made this one little set and think that sewing clothes is dang fiddly. I would've bought the pajamas if I could've found Plain Red Pajamas, but all I found were silly bears and moose and reindeer.

So, onwards and upwards, I decided to make my own. Granted, it would have been easier if I'd used an appropriately-sized pattern. I ended up using a baby pattern from this Amy Butler book, attempting to make the pattern bigger in the places I thought it ought to be. That's probably a relatively simple task for someone who understands clothing construction and sewing patterns, but for me, it involved some trial and error for sure. 

At any rate, the pajamas are done, and they fit, and they're pretty cute. They're to go along with a favourite bedtime book, llama llama red pajama, which, after Christmas, will finally be owned and not just perpetually borrowed from the library.

Yes, this is a Christmas gift and it is beginning of November. (Don't hate me 'cause I'm organized -- try as I might, I am not a last-minute shopper.) But this way, my kid will forget she ever saw it by the time Christmas morning arrives. 

handmade holidays

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

See you over at Sew Mama Sew this month.

happy happy

It's birthday season.

In the next two months, there are twice as many family birthdays as there are the whole rest of the year.

*cupcake pattern from One Skein (ravelry details)

for the larder

Bring it on, Winter. I'm ready.

13 lbs cherries = 17 pints cherries

tomatoes, jalepeno, green peppers and onion = 7 pints salsa (the 8th couldn't handle the pressure in the canner)

18.5 lbs peaches = 13 pints peaches + five 1/2 pint peach jams + 1 peach crisp

4 lbs ridiculously late seasonal strawberries = six 1/2 pint strawberry jams

1 flat of raspberries from friend's backyard = 1 batch raspberry freezer jam

40 lbs fresh blueberries = 40lbs frozen blueberries

28 lbs Roma tomatoes = 19.5 quarts tomatoes

11 lbs apples = 8 pints chunky applesauce with cinnamon

* Last year I experimented with freezing tomatoes and canning tomatoes. The clear winner: canned. Although the reason may have been skin off (canned) versus skin on (frozen).

** Favourite once-a-year tool: the apple machine!

beets

I didn't mean to be away quite so long. Sorry you had a whole month to contemplate our oatmeal regimen.

I wanted to just share a trick I recently learned in case I'm not the only one on the block who struggles to peel hot roasted beets with a paring knife.

Paper towel!

Since my trusty kitchen towels do most jobs just fine, we rarely buy paper towels. But peeling beets is now one task I will reach for the ol' paper kind for.

Once you roast the beets and cool them a bit, just rub them in the paper towel. The skin just slips off. Like buttah.

And you've got some beets ready, you're practically halfway to enjoying this salad.