Monday, January 31, 2011

It's amazing how busy life can be with a toddler. Yep I said Toddler, the Llama is walking like crazy, and it's a full time job keeping up with him.

I've managed to squeeze in quite a bit of knitting and sewing during naps and while wearing him, but I never seem to be able to find a moment to sit down and write a blog post, when I have a free moment I usually would rather be relaxing and knitting rather than typing, but I'm making an effort to get a post our today since I have such a backlog of things to write about.

I finally got around to sewing the last buttons on the Llama's baby surprise jacket, which I finished months ago. Thankfully it still fins him, and will for a while; all I will need to do is lengthen the sleeves occasionally, which should be no problem since I still have some yarn leftover.

tommys green bsj finished 01-26-11 0

tommys green bsj finished 01-26-11 1

tommys green bsj finished 01-26-11 2


the Llama outgrew the hat his grandmother made him, so I had to make another.

tommys pixie 12-27-10 hat

Stella pixie hat
Lion brand wool ease
US Size 6 (4mm) needles

tommys pixie 12-27-10 1

tommys pixie 12-27-10 2

tommys pixie 12-27-10 3

The original pattern called for a normal cast on with a thin neck band sewn on later, but I wanted something that would cover his neck while we were out walking. I did a provisional cast on and then once the min hat was finished I picked up the bottom stitches, knit a few rows, then cast on 8 more stitches and joined it in the round and ribbed for 2 more inches. I threw in a few short rows along the front for a bit more coverage.

It works beautifully and is so stretchy that it will probably fit him next year too, and he looks so adorable!

goin walkies 01-01-11 pixie

I also knit him a pair of socks, he was outgrowing his old socks, and they were all cotton anyways and I wanted him to have something warmer for the wintertime.

tommys stripey sox 12-27-10

It's just my usually sock patter sized way down. They keep his feet warm, but as little ones are known to do, he keeps pulling them off. I need to make some more, he's already beginning to outgrow them.

tommys stripey sox  on 12-27-10 2

tommys stripey sox  on 12-27-10 1

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Llama's first art

today i pulled out the markers so the Llama could 'sign' our holiday letters, while we were at it i decided to grab some blank paper to let him play with the markers a bit, he really seemed to enjoy it, even if i did have to keep taking them out of his mouth.

Tommys first art 12-12-10 making art

Tommys first art 12-12-10 fridge

i'm so proud!
:D

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

hail seitan

posting this here because I love this recipe, but keep loosing it.


Seitan Roasts -- Mark X

The chicken roast is great to make, and then cut into strips or cubes and freeze for use in stir-fries, casseroles, fajitas, "mock chicken salad" or use to make seitan "crab cakes", whatever! I also like to slice the roast into lunch meat style thin slices (particularly the ham roast) and put on sandwich with vegenaise--DELICIOUS!!

My other favorite is to make the chicken roast, cut off several patty sized slices from the loaf, fry in a little oil until well heated, but not until browns and crisps on the outside. Then top with spaghetti sauce and some soy cheese or deborah's pizza cheeze, and nuke for a minute to melt the cheeze. Voila, tastes like veal Parmesan!

"Chicken" Roast
Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a large bowl, mix together:
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour (1 box arrowhead mills)
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
2 Tbs powdered vegan chicken broth or bouillon
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp pepper (optional)
1/4 tsp of turmeric (optional, but it gives the roast a yellowish hue, reminiscent of real chicken!)

Gluten liquid: In separate bowl mix together:
1 Tbs olive oil (optional)
1 + 1/2 cup of water
Pour into flour mixture.
Stir/knead until is a dough ball
(add additional water or gluten flour if needed to get proper consistency. All of the flour should be well incorporated
but the dough should be firm and not tacky to the touch).
Knead vigorously for additional 1 minute

Basting liquid: Whisk together in measuring cup:
2-3 Tbs of chicken broth powder
1 Tbs of olive oil (optional)
then add enough water to make 3/4 to 1 cup (see below for precise measurement) total liquid

Set aside basting liquid
Spray a bread loaf pan with cooking spray:
Stretch gluten ball into a loaf and place in loaf pan (ensure it has room to expand in the pan). Pour basting liquid over
the gluten loaf (loaf should be 1/3 to 1/2 submerged in the liquid (no more). Baste over the loaf.
Cover with foil and bake in oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Baste every 20 minutes or so.


Beef variation:
Eliminate turmeric. Substitute beef flavored broth for chicken broth throughout recipe. Add 2 Tbs of soy sauce to gluten liquid, reducing water by same. Add 1 Tbs of A1 sauce and 1 tablespoon of vegan Worcestershire to basting liquid and reduce the amount of water accordingly.

Ham variation:
Eliminate turmeric. Substitute ham flavored broth for chicken broth throughout recipe. Add 1 Tbs soy sauce and 1/2 to 1 tsp of liquid smoke to gluten liquid and reduce water by same amount. Add 2 Tbs of soy sauce, 1 tsp of liquid smoke and 1 tsp of brown sugar to the basting liquid. Reduce water accordingly.

Basic seasoned gluten roast:
Eliminate turmeric. Substitute vegetable broth powder in lieu of chicken broth throughout recipe. Omit nutritional yeast. After gluten and basting liquid are in the loaf pan add a cup or so (depending on size of loaf pan, but allow room for seitan to expand) of the any of the following vegetables: Carrots, onions, leeks, celery, garlic, or other vegetables appropriate for a pot roast. You can then eat the veggies when the roast is done, but they are pretty soft.

Traditional Asian Gluten roast
Though not truly traditional, because in Asia they usually simmer the gluten.

Omit all spices. Add only vital wheat gluten flour to water. for basting liquid, add 2T of soy sauce to the basting liquid, reducing water accordingly, and add several strips of sea vegetable (kombu, wakame, hijiki, nori, or whatever you got).

Your Customized Seitan roast.
You can really monkey with this however you want. You could try to make a fish roast, if you could get some seafood broth to substitute for the chicken broth. You can also have mexican roast, by adding in chili powder, red pepper, cumin, and adding some dashes of hot sauce to the basting liquid. You can also make a curry loaf, adding in a table spoon or two of curry powder in lieu of the chicken broth. I also like mixing in some paprika, and cumin and red pepper to the ham variation, and adding some ketchup (2T) the gluten liquid to get kind of a pepperoni type of roast.

Last thought, an italian sausage roast. Go with the ham variation. Omit turmeric. Substitute red pepper for black pepper. Add 1 T of sage and another of thyme to the dry ingredients. Eliminate brown sugar in basting liquid. 2 tsp of Italian seasoning mix (basil oregano). Be sure to include oil.


from http://www.vegsource.com/articles/deb_seitan.htm



{edit}
some changes/mods I find I like:
I use 1 Tbsp Vegetarian Better than Bullion in the gluten liquid instead of dry powder
add 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast to dry mix instead of one
omit turmeric
1 Tbsp each onion and garlic
(occasionally I'll add 1 Tbsp Mrs. Dash onion & herb as well)
add only 1 Tbsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp oil to basting liquid - no bullion.

also a note that this takes A LOT of needing to get the proper consistency, it starts out really loose and squishy but eventually becomes quite elastic with enough kneading, then I just roll it into a loaf shape and squish it around until it fits into the loaf pan.

Monday, November 8, 2010

NY Sheep and Wool

some pictures of me and the Llama at Rhinebeck this year.

baby back rhineback 10-16-10
(this one was taken by our friend Jess)



and of course, some of us with the Llama's namesake: Llamas!
rhinebeck 10-16-10 llama 2

rhinebeck 10-16-10 llama 1




his grandma knit the hat
I knit the sweater (baby poonam)
I also sewed the wrap, and the blankie.

A sweater and other things

so what have I been up to these last couple of months? mostly just enjoying my little guy, but there has been quite a bit of crafting as well.

first off, the Baby poonam, i finished this before The Llama was born, but it was way too big to begin with, luckily, he finally grew into the sweater just as the weather started getting nippy.

baby poonam 09-23-10 1

baby poonam 09-23-10 2

baby poonam 09-23-10 3

Pattern: baby Poonam
(ravelry link to my project page for specs)

as for stuff I've been workign on recently, there is a cute little bunny binky I made to help with bedtime and naps, he sleeps much better with his bunny.

rainbow bunny binky

bunny blanket buddy
(ravelry link for specs)

the Llama loves bright colours the cotton chenille yarn is really soft, yet washable, a plus! there's another one in the works too, but, well, it'll look pretty much the same when it's finished.

on the sewing front, as the weather cools it becomes more important to keep the Llama warm on our daily walks, so I modified one of my old jackets (pack rat for the win!!) into a babywearing coat.

new diy bw coat 11-01-10 1

we both stay toasty, and he loves it!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Teething giraffes and more

Wow how time flies, the Llama is seven months, is crawling like crazy, pulling himself up and standing whenever he can, and has two teeth coming in already. At lunch time the Llama Papa will take the little chomping terror for about an hour or two while he naps (the boy won't nap on his own) and I will either make baby food to freeze or craft.

Pictures of baby food are pretty boring, but I have a lot of crafty stuff too.

teething giraffes 1

Newest first are some teething giraffes, (did I mention that the Llama is chewing on EVERYTHING right now?)
I originally heard about teething giraffes from a baby forum I'm on and immediately went looking for a pattern. I found this one but wasn't very happy with my results (it didn't even get stuffed) so I fiddled around and came up with a slightly better model, but I found the body too square and its legs too spindly to be stable, also my first attempt at head gust to give it more umph for chewing was a lopsided failure. But the boy loved it. The plain boring, muslin, lopsided, spindly giraffe hung around for a while, and I got more and more annoyed with it, I knew I could do better. I widened the legs, sloped the back and tried to make a better head gusset. Along the way I discovered starbright baby on etsy. Well huh. After a bit of brooding I tried my third giraffe (the white one) and it was much better, but the head gusset was even worse than before! A little more fiddling, and a crappy attempt at ears and I had the best giraffe of them all, (the blue one). the Llama loves them all

teething giraffes 2

Obviously since there is already somebody out there selling teething giraffes (at a very reasonable price, I might add) I'm not going to post my pattern. Go buy one of her's, and support a crafty work at home mom.


bug wrap pod 07-15-10

More of my babywearing madness, I made a narrow bodied wrap strapped Podaegi (Pod for short). It's kinda like if a mei tai and a wrap had a baby.
I really like it, the fabric is a light/med weight denim with bugs, lizards and frogs embroidered al over it that I found in the red tag bin at Jo-Anns. It went together really quickly and easy using this pattern and this pattern (which seems to have disappeared, hmph - still posting link for future reference) as inspiration.

RR wrap pod 07-15-10 side

I forgot to use my walking foot, so the fabric puckered a bit, but I reinforced the heck out of the straps, so while not aesthetically perfect, it's quite secure. There are tons of different ways to wear a Pod, a few can be seen here on you tube.

FWCC wrap pod 07-15-10

And we love it.


I made another baby block using fabric leftover from a crappy dress to awesome skirt project for a while back. the Llama loves the bright colours. And it gets manhandled and chewed often.

visiting grandparents 07-03-10 11

You can see it on my Grandmother's lap while she plays with the best baby ever.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Gumbo

last night I made gumbo for dinner. I haven't made gumbo in ages, but the Llama Papa and I were talking about okra, (he loves it with Indian spices and tomatoes, the Llama loves it plain, but it's so slimy the only way I can eat it is in gumbo) and I really started craving gumbo.

I looked up a bunch of recipes online, mashed them around a bit and came up with this:

gumbo

Super yummy

Vegie Gumbo

1/2 C Canola Oil
3/4 C Flour

1 Lg onion
4 cloves garlic
3 celery stalks
1 gr. pepper
1 red pepper

1 (28 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes
1 lb bag frozen sliced okra
1 pkg (soy boy brand) smoked tofu - sm dice or one package of extra firm tofu, frozen and then thawed and drained.
1 sweet potato - sm dice
2 (16 oz) cans kidney beans

2 qt veggie broth

2 bay leaves
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp file powder
1 tsp each thyme, oregano, basil
1/2 tsp jalapeno powder (or 1/4 tsp cayenne)
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

*****

Heat the oil in a non stick stock pot, add the flour and stir well, continue stirring and cooking over med heat until roux is slightly lighter than a penny. (this page: http://www.southerngumbotrail.com/roux.shtml calls it a mahogany roux)

Add the onions and sauté for a few minutes; add peppers, celery and garlic and sauté until onions are translucent.

Add stock, spices and the rest of the ingredients. Cook at a low simmer for two hours.

Serve over rice.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

foods eaten so far

Peas
Corn
Gr. Beans
Lima Beans
Sw. Potato
Carrots
Parsnips
Potato
Asparagus
Broccoli
Okra
Zucchini

Lentils
Chick Peas
PB

Prunes
Raisins
Apricots
Figs
Dates

Peaches
Cherries
Strawberries
Apples
Avocados
Bananas
Mango
Kiwi

Quinoa
Br Basmati Rice
Oats

Yogurt
Coconut Milk


***

herbs/spices

Ginger
Coriander
Cumin
Garlic
Cinnamon
Apple/Pumpkin Pie Spice
Curry Powder
Italian (basil, oregano etc)
Carob

***

from our dinners

Split pea soup
Sw potato peanut soup
Aloo Chana
White bean soup
Masuman curry
Skillet lentils
Chick pea coconut lemon soup
Minestrone
"Mexican"
Daal
Pasta fazool (fagioli)

Friday, June 11, 2010

stuff!

how time flies! Here is a post with some of the Llama related things I've been working on the last two months (oldest first):

Remember the cthulhu embroidered onesie? I finally colored it in.

embroidered onesies coloured cthulhu

And then made another embroidered onesie, this one with Godzilla:

embroidered onesies coloured godzilla

DMC#s:
356, 433, 471, 666 (heh), 740, 815, 905, 3787

****

I made myself a new baby wrap, this one out of a tablecloth from Target; just cut down the middle and hem! Its 2.1m and perfect for the rebozo carry, which the Llama loves to fall asleep in.

siting with naping tommy 05-09-10 2

***

Baby blocks!!

denim blocks 2

the Llama Papa had these really nifty pj pants with rubber duckies on them that eventually wore out as pjs are wont to do, but I loved the print so I kept them. When we had the Llama I thought it would be awesome to make something for him out of them. My first thought was blocks! But since I had a limited supply of fabric I made a prototype first out of an old worn out pair of jeans. It's a good thing I did; the first block was HUGE! (5" squares) so I made the next one a bit smaller, and that worked out much better (3.5" squares)

denim blocks 1

Now to get off my butt and make the ducky ones.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!

siting with naping tommy 05-09-10 2

siting with naping tommy 05-09-10 1

Happy Mothers' Day to my Mom, Mom-in-law, Grandmother and to all my mommy friends!


this is how I'm spending my day, how about you?
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