...Over the Weekend...

...sorry to be away from this space...but we are in full on Wedding Prep Mode...W minus 5 and counting down... (w = wedding)...

...so let's go back to Friday and have a little Dinner and a Movie...and the Man and I actually went out for dinner...on a Friday night...shocker...I know...we went to a Cuban restaurant...and they first brought us this bruschetta-like appetizer...

...and we ordered the fried yucca as an actual appetizer before we knew they were going to bring the bread...

...and my vegan entree...Vegetables Rice and Black Beans...it was all so delicious...

...and then we we got home...we thought it was a bit late to start a whole movie...so we watched a couple of episodes (as long as a movie...haha) of Dr. Who...we are now on Season 14...and we have "my Doctor"...Tom Baker...the doctor that we grew up with in the 70s...and if he's not everyone's favorite...he should be...usually there are four 25 minute episodes that make up a 'story'...it's so much fun to watch!...who's your Doctor?...

...a couple of hundred wedding bulletins got printed...

...they are so sweet and pretty...

...we had a breezy sunshine-y day after a week of rain...so I washed all the guest room bedding and hung it on the line to dry...

...Our Girl's dress is back from the seamstress...so we took it to the shop to have it steamed...and ready for pickup on Friday...

...Kitten...always curious...couldn't resist the dress...

...copious amounts of nuts and mints...plates, forks, cups and napkins...24 white...two blush and twl navy tablecloths...all ready for the reception...not pictured quarts and quarts of pineapple juice, gingerale, and koolaid for the punch...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...there was a little bit of progress on the Holiday Candy Socks...but not a lot...you can see the princess sole with the bumpy side of the stockinette to the outside and the smooth side to the inside against the foot...so comfy...

...and the reason not a lot of progress on the socks...I've started a wedding shawl for myself...navy blue...

...I looked at several patterns online for wedding shawls...and the dimensions are roughly 24" X 72"...so a pretty long rectangle...

...I'm using part of the pattern from the Yes, Yes shawl...but keeping it flat and rectangular instead of triangular...it's tricky...

...and I'm adding a bead in each dip on the last row of the repeat...and I'll add a beaded picot border around the finished shawl as well...

...what's in your workbasket?

~Have a lovely day!

...Over the Weekend...

...well...all the normal weekend things got done...shopping...dog walks in the park...church lesson prep...etc...

...and I gathered everything to start the tax preparation...arghhh!

...I made some oat milk and turned that into some frugal vegan yogurt...

...I had had pickled red onions on a deli sandwich recently...and thought that it just 'made' the sandwich...so I set about making some pickled red onions of my own...

...I just looked at several recipes online and combined the parts that I thought we would like...garlic, thyme, sugar, salt, and vinegar...pretty simple...

...added the blanched sliced red onions...and cooked it for a bit...

...and then packed it into a jar...it's pretty and pink...

...Scout painted an old bird cage for guests to slip their cards into at the reception...

...these kids constantly amaze me with their calm get-er-done attitude about all things wedding related...

...and we attended an Eagle Scout ceremony...

...it was awesome...and it definitely brought back memories of Scout's big day...remember that hair...oh my...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...Our Favorite Vegan Whole Wheat Bread...

This week on Friday Favorites I'm sharing a very simplified and veganized adaptation of an old Cook’s Illustrated recipe for whole wheat bread.

...it starts the normal way...with some kneading...and it's a pretty soft dough...not sticky...just soft...

...then I just put it back in the bowl...

...and let it rise covered with a damp towel for 45 minutes or so until doubled...

...then I roll it out into a rectangle and roll the rectangle up into a log...not sure why I didn't photograph that...cover it again with a damp cloth...

...and let it rise again until double...

...bake until golden brown and hollow sounding when thumped...

...just about the best thing on earth...hot from the oven...

...with a good slather of vegan butter...

...I use the handy dandy slicer guide that came with my ancient bread machine...to get nice even slices...we love this bread for sandwiches and toast...

...and I always make two loaves so that I can freeze one...

Vegan Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups warm water
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
4 tablespoons vegan butter , melted - I used Earth Balance
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast - I used instant yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface

~Have a lovely day!

...Lover's Day 2019 ...

...before breakfast...we all opened our cards...so sweet...

...and then a little bit later in the morning these arrived...

...I love tulips...

~Happy Valentine's Day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...I've turned the heel on the Holday Candy Sock...I'm not a huge fan of the short row heel...but thought I'd try it with this pattern anyway...

...I photographed it on my workstation for a bit more contrast...and I did reverse stockinette stitch instead of the knit stitch in the pattern...you know how I like my princess soles...

...and...I somehow managed to break a tiny little piece off of my camera card...so I just very carefully superglued that back on...and it seems to be working fine...

...what's in your workbasket?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made VEGAN NAVETS À LA CHAMPENOISE which is a Turnip Casserole...and it was strange because it was all cooked on the stovetop...

...it was good though...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...Over the Weekend....

...another random weekend post...just a bunch of things that got done...in addition to wedding things...haha...

...I hate to throw away those last few slices of bread when I buy a new loaf each Saturday...so I've been using them up by making croutons...

...I just oil the pan...and lay the slices out...then turn them over so that both sides have a light coating...then I sprinkle on some Italian seasoning, garlic salt and paper...

...then I cut them into cubes...

...this time...while they were baking I prepped some collards for the Instant Pot...and these were baby collards...unlike the large leaves I usually get...this bunch was all little tender baby greens...so...so good...

...then the croutons were ready...

...we love these croutons so much...they are nice and crisp without being hard like the ones in the bags...

...speaking so shopping...my local grocery store now carries this vegan sugar...when we lived in North Dakota...beet sugar was easy to come by and not 'spendy'...but here in the South...most sugar is cane sugar and is processed with bone char...

...and this bag specifically states that it is not...

...months ago...Mom had given me some linens that belonged to my Great-Grandma (Momaw)...and I finally got around to treating some of the spots...

...just made a paste of oxy-clean...and scrubbed the spots with the paste and then left them soaking...I'll let you know how the turn out...

...I thought this was a funny photo as it looks like I'm making chocolate chip muffins...but it's actually lima beans and kidney beans soup that the Man made and I'm putting it into the freezer in the muffin tin so that it's easier to portion out when we take it out of the freezer...

...and finally I made a plate of microwave potato chips again...so easy...crisp and good...

...what randomness did you get up to over the weekend...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!