PBJ Cups

Clam Bow ties

1 box bow tie pasta (I got the kind made out of vegetables)
1 package frozen little neck clams (sold in frozen fish cooler ~$9.00)
1 nice large tomato
few sprigs parsley
1 package fresh mushrooms (cut into pieces)
butter, white wine, black pepper, and garlic

In a colander, rinse your frozen clams.  They are fully cooked, but you have to rinse off the vegetable oil and ice crystals.  Use your vegetable steamer in your largest sauce pot (4qt if you have it).  Steam the clams until they start to open (5 minutes?). Remove from heat, and dump back in colander.  I don't like the fishy broth.  In your 9" skillet melt 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 tsp of garlic.  Use this to saute the mushrooms a little bit.  Season with pepper or lemon pepper.  Add the diced tomato and parsley with 1/4 C. white wine.  This will smell delicious!  Add the clams, and use a spoon to mix them around.  Serve over pasta.

Pemmican

I was talking to my mother about beef jerky, and she asked if D and I had ever tried pemmican.  HOLY YUCK! I think I found a food source even worse than peanut butter Cliff Bars.

Pemmican is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein used as a nutritious food.  It was invented by the native peoples of North America.  Traditionally, pemmican was prepared from the lean meat of large game. The meat was cut in thin slices and dried over a slow fire, or in the hot sun until it was hard and brittle. About 5 pounds of meat are required to make one pound of dried meat suitable for pemmican. Then it was pounded into very small pieces, almost powder-like in consistency, using stones. The pounded meat was mixed with melted fat in an approximate 1:1 ratio.  In some cases, dried fruits  were pounded into powder and then added to the meat/fat mixture. The resulting mixture was then packed into rawhide pouches for storage.

Minecraft Village

I have been using all my free time to build a little town in Minecraft. It is incredibly addictive. But I am thankful there is not a monthly service fee.  We are playing on the 2Girls1Minecraft server.  If you want to visit my town, it is Acorn. Type: /town spawn Acorn

Honey Butter

• 1 1/2 cups (360 g) butter, softened
• 1 cup (240 ml) light olive oil
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) honey (or to taste)

Directions:
Put all the ingredients into the Vitamix container and lock the lid.  Select Variable 1.  Switch the machine on and gradually turn up the speed to Variable 5.  Blend until smooth.  Freeze until ready to use.

image credit

Shrimp Scampi

Wheat Pizza Dough

4 1/2 C. flour	1/2 C. wheat bran	1/4 C. corn meal
1 Tbs. honey	1 tsp. kosher salt	2 tsp. yeast (1 packet)
2 Tbs. olive oil .	1 3/4 C. warm water .	extra oil

In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with dough hook, combine all ingredients except for extra oil. Mix until this is dough. Use more water if it gets to hard to mix. Dough should form a ball around the hook. Transfer dough to a clean bowl and cover with enough of the extra oil so the surface of dough does not dry out. Let rise until doubled in size. Punch down dough and use flour to smooth out to desired thickness. Makes enough dough for 2 medium sized pizzas.

Stuffed Pig

Yet another great tutorial I found for making a stuffed piggie!! OINK!

Stuffed Rabbit

Found an excellent tutorial on a stuffed rabbit toy.  I recommend paying attention to scaling after it is print (this means you have to enlarge head pattern)

Chicken Parmesan

I got very hungry and forgot to follow my recipe, but I discovered a new 10 minute recipe by doing so. Super Easy Chicken Parmesan. It is probably misleading to say Parmesan since this dish does not contain any! For this recipe you will need:
2 thawed chicken breasts, Penzey's Forward seasoning, 2 slices provolone cheese, 1 jar marinara sauce, spaghetti

Over medium high heat, pan searing your chicken on both sides. Add Forward seasoning and cook until chicken has a bit of a crust. Add a tablespoon of water to help the chicken cook in the center without the top/bottom burning. (Forward contains turmeric, so the pan water will look yellow.) In 10 minutes (the amount of time it takes to make spaghetti), your chicken should be cooked. Turn off heat, add cheese to chicken pieces. Don't worry, it will melt as it sits there.  Drain and plate pasta, top with cold marinara sauce, top with chicken.

Caturday

Pear Puffball

This is a picture of pear puffballs.  They are edible, but we left them alone. They are the size of grapes.

Ear Flap Hat

Size 0-3 months. Size 6 double point needles, baby weight hand dyed wool.

Oregano

I am embroidering my own set of herbal kitchen towels. Here is my first one!

Chicken A La King

1 package (5-6 piece) Chicken thighs	1 small chopped onion
1/2 C. chopped celery	1/2 C. chopped carrot
1 tsp. garlic, minced	black pepper
1 can (reduced sodium) chicken broth	1 can cream of chicken soup (fat free)
2 Tbs. corn starch	1/4 cup chopped parsley

Preheat your 10" skillet. Place washed chicken thighs in skillet. (If you preheated, they will not stick to the bottom.)  Season the chicken with pepper and garlic.  Add can of chicken broth and boil the chicken until it is no longer pink. Put chopped onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf and garlic in a skillet, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Dissolve corn starch in small amount of cold water.  Add to chicken.  Stir in cream of chicken soup and parsley, blending well. Mix well and heat thoroughly.
Served with biscuits it is chicken a la king; with noodles, it is chicken hot dish. If I threw this in a pie crust it would be a pot pie. I love this recipe.

Slipper Socks

Pattern. Youth large, women's small.

Pita Dips

Hummus and za'atar (made with olive oil).

Fish

Koi Fish pattern.

Wheat Bran Pancake

1 1/4 C. flour
1/3 C. wheat bran
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1-2 eggs
1 1/4 C. buttermilk
2 Tbs. melted butter*

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a 2 C. measuring cup, measure milk, and add egg. Melt butter in skillet you plan on cooking pancakes in, then add that butter to the liquids. Mix liquids until the egg is incorporated.  Add liquids to dry ingredients. Mix until it resembles pancake batter (It will be just a little lumpy). Make pancakes in skillet.

Stripes

This sweater is approx 9 mo. size. It was knit on size three needles with self striping sock yarn. It feels delightfully soft like a dish cloth.