Saturday, June 29, 2013

...from my back deck...

...we've been having as many family suppers as possible out here...

...that'll probably come to an end for the hot-hot-hot part of the summer though...not to mention Scout's summer camp schedule...he's rarely home...right now though...our deck is on the shady side of the house so it's quite pleasant to sit out here together in the evenings...

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, June 28, 2013

...Best Ever Vegan Ranch Dressing and Dip...

...I've been waiting until I perfected this recipe before I shared it with y'all...
...I have been 'tweaking' this version of tofu dip for months...and I think it's finally just about perfect...
...so gather your ingredients...
...and blend up a batch...
...pour it into a pretty cup...
...it's so thick and creamy...
...serve with some crudités...or thin it with a little bit of water to serve as a dressing...
...delicious...
...of course I wrote out the final version for my notebook...but here's a printable version for you...

Best Ever Vegan Ranch Dressing and Dip

1 box firm silken tofu
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown rice vinegar
2 Tbsp apple cide vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp dried dill

Process all ingredients in blender (or food processor) until completely smooth.

...I should have photographed the little Philbe cup...I got it at an antique store for $1...and it matches my other Philbe pieces...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

...rug update...or W.I.P. Thursday...

...as I said the pattern stitch is not very difficult...you just knit into a stitch...don't take it off the needle...then pull up a loop...then knit into the stitch again...
...then you've basically increased a stitch for each stitch...but you pass the first stitch over the second...locking the loop in between...
...so the finished stitches look like this when you knit across the next row...just plain knit...

...they're a little bit too loose-y goose-y for me...I don't want them slipping out once I cut all the loops...
...so on the knit row back across...I pull up each stitch and tighten it really well...
...and you can see it increases the length of the loop too...
...I'm a little bit over half way through...I'll knit until I run out of yarn - probably the olive colour will expire first...and I may still get one more skein if I think it's not long enough...

...I doubled the cast on so it would make a nice sized rug beside Scout's bed...but my stitches are really nice and tight (reason stated above...) so I don't think it's going to be twice the listed size of 22 x 30...but more like 3' x 4.5'...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

...book club...

...Book Club day finally arrived...and we were ready...
...we set up a drink station...with coffee (decaf caramel truffle)...and hot tea...and juice...and pop...and red red wine...hopefully something for everyone...
...the spread...the Stuffed Sweet Peppers...Build your own sandwiches...a couple of cold bean salads...some cucumber dill tea sandwiches...some chips...and the Gazpacho...
...Vegan Cupcakes for dessert...
...last month's book...The Tiger's Wife...was the one we were discussing while we gnoshed...

...I loved the book...very prettily written...and I loved the interweaving of the folk stories with the 'real' story...definitely a good read...
...I made a couple of stacks of books...my favorite here...definitely 'Cutting for Stone'...but I liked them all...most were hand-me-downs from my sister's book club...
...this stack I labeled already read...take one or more...'cause I need to get rid of them...
...then there was a stack labeled 'to be read'...that I thought I'd ask the group for help choosing next month's book...
...but I know from past experience that you never get any help...it seems no one wants to be responsible for choosing a bad book...
...in the end...it came down to these two...The Story of Edgar Sawtelle...a tragedy compared to Hamlet in the reviews...and In the Forest of the Night...a mystery by local author Larry Ellis...

...one of our rules is that you can't have read the book before...so I've sort of been saving these for when my turn to host came...

...I ended up choosing The Story of Edgar Sawtelle...pretty much based on the recommendation of Stephen King on the back cover...it's a tragedy...so I'm sure it's not going to be a fun read...I'll let you know how it goes...

...maybe I'll save 'In the Forest of the Night' for the next time I host Book Club...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

...Book Club Prep...Gazpacho...

...would you believe that I've never made Gazpacho...

...I'm not sure why...as it is unbelieveably easy...
...all you do is take a bunch of fresh veggies and process them in the food processor...

...seriously...that's it...
...and it's so good...

...I used the recipe here...and my only subs were Vegan Worchestershire Sauce (of course)...and I only used one celery stalk...I like celery...I just didn't want it to be the predominant taste of the soup...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, June 24, 2013

...Vegan Cream Cheese Filled Sweet Pepper Rings...

...Book Club is at our house this month...so YAY!...that means that I get to pick the next book...but it also means that I need to prepare something edible for the group...
...preferably something easy...and something cool...it's been so hot lately...

...so I decided to stuff some of those mini sweet peppers with cream cheese...

...the cream cheese mixture is super easy...just mix some chives and a dash of cayenne into a container of tofutti better than cream cheese...
...then trim off both ends of the pepper and stuff from the top...
...until the mixture starts to come out the bottom...
...level it off nicely...
...when they're all stuffed...or you run out of cream cheese...lay the stuffed peppers on their sides...
...and slice into rings...
...be sure to wipe your knife after each slice or it will make a mess...
...and arrange on a pretty platter...

...so easy and so good...just what I was hoping for...

~Have a lovely day!

Vegan Cream Cheese Filled Sweet Pepper Rings

Ingredients:

1 tub Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped chives
1 dash cayenne - probably about 1/8 teaspoon - adjust to your liking

1 bag of mini sweet peppers

Directions:

Empty the container of tofutti better than cream cheese into a bowl and mix in the chives and cayenne.
Trim off both ends of the pepper and stuff from the top until the mixture starts to come out the bottom.
Level it off, top and bottom.
Lay the stuffed peppers on their sides and slice into rings of about 1/2 inch.
Be sure to wipe your knife after each slice.
Arrange on a pretty platter and serve chilled.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

...Camp Luther...

...we were up bright and early this morning to drive up to Camp Luther...
...it seemed like Scout brought home more stuff than he took...it always does...
...everyone packed up...
...and there were lots of hugs and goodbyes...and see you next years...

...Have a lovely day!

Friday, June 21, 2013

...weighing yarn...

...sometimes you need to divide a skein of yarn in half...to make to equally tall socks, for example...
...that's when I pull out my kitchen scale...
...voilĂ ...two equal balls of yarn...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

...W.I.P. Wednesday...on Thursday...again...

...late because I didn't want the party posts out of order...
...I had started this project a while ago...and it was supposed to be a surprise Birthday present for Scout...
...but as you can see...it's not finished...it will be the Knit Grass Rug by Lion Brand...
...I gave it to him anyway...I think he was surprised...and he likes it a lot...

...I'll finish it soon...

...Have you ever given an unfinished item as a gift?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

...the Golden Birthday...part 2...

...first I went to the party store and bought every gold thing they had...just teasing...they had more gold stuff than this...
...and we hung up the little gold birthday cakes...
...at the entrance to the dining room...
...and put some of the little gold streamers over the lights...
...and a gold Happy Birthday garland over the door...

...a gold tablecloth, plates, napkins and cups too...
...then I filled some little organza bags (actually, I think they're pale yellow or cream) with a few gold wrapped candies as a party favor...
...and put those in a pretty glass bowl...
...and we saved one of the little bags for some gold one dollar coins...15 of them...
...and made a golden birthday card...
...with a sweet little saying inside...
...got out the golden cake...
...and put on 15 golden candles...
...unwrapped the cupcakes...
...and set the table with all the party foods...

...the Giant Sub and fixin's are from Subway...there are chips and a black bean and corn salsa...and my Mom's 3 bean salad recipe...and a big bowl of punch like the one we had at the Christmas Party...except with pineapple juice and Sprite instead of grape juice and gingerale...and no cranberries...
...we just used the coffee table in the living room for gifts and cards...
...Scout lit his own Birthday candles...
...and then, blew them out...
...then opening all the cards and presents...
...lots of hugs and well wishes...

...it was a great Golden party!

~Have a lovely day!