Green Beans and Ham

I spoke on the phone the other day with my three year old nephew. We've only talked a few times and we've never met so it isn't always easy to think of things to say. I asked him if he liked to read and he said that he did so I asked him if he knew the story Green Eggs and Ham and I said off by heart 'I am Sam. I am Sam. Sam I am.' He said that he knew it and at the end of the story he (referring to the character) realizes that after trying them he likes green eggs after all. I thought that it was funny that he was able to jump to the end of the story without the book being there. I wonder how often he has heard it.

I haven't been cooking much. Now that I'm on my own it is easier just to have a sandwich (or popcorn). I've enjoyed testing recipes and need to do more. This Thai Inspired Green Quinoa is another of Carla's recipes. Green beans are one of my favourite vegetables but I seldom eat them. It was nice to find a recipe that was easy to make and includes chickpeas too.

Tinned soups aren't very common here. There are dry soups but they always seem to taste so artificial. So I haven't had any cream of something soups since I've lived here. For some reason I started to think would cream of mushroom soup be hard to make from scratch. One of the first recipes that I came across didn't have many ingredients so I decided to try it. It was a Fresh Cream of Mushroom Soup. Simple to make and tasted good the next day. I did use less broth like many of the reviewers suggested. I only made half of the recipe because I had bought the mushrooms before I thought of the soup. I liked it so much that I went back the next day to get more mushrooms but they were all out. Next time I'll be sure to make the whole recipe!

It Snowed!

It was my son's girlfriend birthday recently and because I don't know her that well it was difficult to come up with a gift. After looking around for a pattern for something, I found these Handy Spider Webs on Ravelry and crocheted them.


I haven't made anything for my mother and I asked one of my sisters if she could think of anything my mother might need. She suggested hand warmers because last winter Mom's hands were sometimes cold when she was at home. We agreed on a simple pattern we saw on Ravelry called fingerless mitts and I used some Regia Silk that I received in a giveaway. I'm so used to having people try on the things as I'm knitting so it is the right size that I found it a bit stressful working on the hand warmers and only having measurements to go by. Well if worse comes to worse they can send them back as they fit me!

I was given some 'winter' apples and I made some applesauce with most of them. I was looking for a snack and decided on some cottage cheese. I saw the applesauce cooling and added a dollop to the cottage cheese and it was quite good. Never had it before.

Ginger Snaps

I can't remember did we eat ginger snaps when I was growing up or did I find them after I moved out on my own. Every few years they pop in my mind (as do Fig Newtons, Cheez Whiz, etc.) and I miss them. I came across a Ginger Snap recipe from a Canadian blog and thought that I would try them. They were really good but not like the ones I used to eat. Next time I will try adding more ginger and less sugar and see how that turns out.

After I finished making the project bags I was left with the corners that I had cut out. I've been wanting a few mug coasters and I thought that I would try to use the scraps to make them.

First I cut off the rounded edges and sewed four of the squares together.

I wanted some padding but not so much that the mugs might tip over. I had no use for the rounded bits so I used them by placing them away from the seams as not to add more bulk.

Then I sewed two of the pieces together and turned them right side out and sewed in a spiral to keep the padding in place. They are just for me so I wasn't too careful how straight the edges or lines were. All that was left from the original piece of material were small scraps and I didn't feel bad bad throwing them away.