Mason Dixon cooking

Here is my binder o' random recipes--and here is where it lives.
See Mason-Dixon Knitting for more details.


Below is a fav recipe--but I never need to look at the binder for it anymore. A vegetarian friend of mine made this for me once, and it just stuck (she obviously did not use chicken broth--but hey I think it tastes good). It was back in the day when cooking for myself was new and fun. I wrote down the recipe and stuck it in the pile that eventually went to live in this binder.

This is a recipe I use all the time, but particularly when I need to be on a low iodine diet (LID) before an iodine uptake scan. For other LID recipes see the Thyca cookbook.


Roasted veggies

Preheat oven to 500. Chop up various veggies that you like into equal(ish) size pieces.
mushrooms (quartered)
onions (keep them sort of together so they don't burn)
sweet potatoes squash (any you like, I like butternut)
red peppers (or other colors)
carrots
garlic (whole peeled clove)

That is my base--I might also add parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, beets depending on what's around at the store/farm.
Put the chopped veggies in a roasting pan, with a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. (Pile up the veggies as they tend to reduce during cooking)
Roast veggies in oven for approximately 1 hour (until the harder veggies are as soft as you like) stirring every 20 minutes or so.
I serve this on a bed of couscous (made with a LID broth would be yummy, or just water). When not on LID I also sprinkle feta on top.

Stay tuned for the next post--when I discuss my monkeys!

Christmas loot

Amongst other fun things, Santa brought me these two books!

Now I don't need to constantly hog my library's copy of Mason Dixon Knitting, and I'm really looking forward to the Clara Parkes book.

Now if only I had gotten what I really wanted--more time to knit!

I can't complain, we had a very nice time with the Holidays this year (except for a few episodes of vomiting, but what can you expect with kids in the picture).

The recipient of the twisted stitches hat seemed pleased--which is always fun.

I'm missing my regular knitting buddies. The holidays have interfered with our usual Monday night gathering. I can't make it to the rescheduled Wednesday nights, so I'm having a little bit of withdrawal. It will be nice when things are back to normal.

And the days are getting (ever so slightly) longer!! Hooray.

Twisted Stitches Hat

You could still finish this in time for Christmas! I made this for a nephew, in the colors of his football team.




Use two colors of Valley Yarns Berkshire
Needles size US 10

LTwist=knit second stitch through back look, knit first stitch, slip both stitches off


With brim color CO 80 stitches
*K4 P4 * repeat.
Turn work *k4 P4 * repeat.
Join and knit in the round.
k4 P4 for about 2 inches.
Knit one row
Break yarn and join main color. Begin pattern below.

Row 1 *P4 K4* repeat
Row 2 *P4 LTwist* repeat
Row 3 *P4 K4* repeat
Row 4 *P4 K1 LTwist K1* repeat
Row 5 * P4 K4* repeat
Row 6 *P4 K2 LTwist* repeat

Work pattern until the hat measures approximately 9 inches (or longer if you prefer). End with Row 6 then continue


Row 1 *P2tog P2tog K2tog K2tog* repeat
Row 2 *P2 LTwist* repeat
Row 3 *P2tog K2tog* repeat
Row 4 *P1 K1* repeat
Row 5 *K2tog* repeat
Row 6 *K2tog* repeat--5 stitches remain

Break yarn and draw through remaining stitches. Sew the join and weave in ends. Flip up brim. To make it larger or smaller, increase or decrease stitches in groups of 8 (or change needle size for finer adjustment). Adjust length as needed.

This last image is in a mirrow, so the pattern is a mirrow image.

Goodies

Goodies in the mail. Not my swap package (yet) but the sock yarn that I ordered (yesterday!).

Gotta love speedy service! Thanks Dani!

In case you haven't looked out your window--

take a look out of mine.

It is beautiful today--and the streets are mostly clear. My kind of snow.

Let's see if the mail brings any goodies today!

Now back to work.

It's beginning to look a lot . . .

More snow here in New England. Looks like it is going to be one of those years. I knew the squirrels were just a little busier with their food hoarding this fall. My bird feeder is nearly empty--but I don't know if I can reach it to refill it. I will just have to get cold and wet, so the birds will still come visit.

On yarn news--keep me away from etsy! Maybe all this snow is making me think of knitting more socks. I just ordered some sock yarn from Sunshine Yarns. I'll be sure to post pictures when it gets here.

And the hand knits I shipped out have reached their destinations--hooray. My cutie-patootie niece loves her poncho.

Too bad she will outgrow it so quickly. I will just have to knit another one.

Stay warm, dry and safe!

24 FOs (give or take)

I was just looking at my Ravelry projects and noticed something funny. I have about 24 projects that I completed in the past year--which is when my projects start. (I certainly can't remember what I did more than a year ago without pictures. I got on Ravelry in August and somehow I managed to remember 6 months worth of knitting, anything made before that is just gone.) Among the 24, only 3 were for me. Two pairs of socks (one which needs repairs to a hole formed because I probably should not have used that yarn for socks) and some clog slippers that I wore to bits and are now not functional.
If I look at my queue, the items are mostly for me--yet I just don't end up making them. I love making gifts for others, but I like hand knits too.

So, for 2008 my goal is to knit more for myself.
We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, my husband sent me this link to an article in the WSJ. It had me laughing out loud at work.