First Lambs of Spring 2010

Twin boys were out there this morning, both already dried up and walking around mommy!

Off the Needles

Made over the last few weeks for dd#1, on size 1 dpns borrowed from dd#2's knitpicks sock needle collection with superwash wool/nylon blend sock yarn from our LYS - Unwind in Claremore, OK.

I used the toe up generic sock pattern and these fit her feet exactly.

Sprouts day6

We've eaten most the sprouts already, so I definitely still need to work on my ratios of seeds to jar size. These were delicious and the seeds came from Azure Standard. Most of the sprouts we ate on raw hummous with olives and pita bread. I'll serve these in a salad today. The dark area is the hulls plus a few late sprouting seeds.

Sprouting with Mason Jars

You're looking at a wide mouthed quart sized mason jar with a small-sieved plastic lid upside down resting in a funnel, balanced in a coffee cup. In times past, anytime I tried sprouting, I would inevitably think too many seeds and end up with a musty smelling mess in the middle or too many sprouts for my family's taste buds to tolerate. I finally got it that with sprouts, you don't need a mega-meal of them to get the nutrients you need. So, for this batch, I used one rounded tablespoon of alfalfa and one rounded tablespoon of broccoli. I soaked them last night in filtered water, drained, rinsed, and have them sitting now on my counter.

According to the Azure Standard website directions for sprouting, I may need to move them up to a larger sized jar, but I think they're ok for today in this one. I'll rinse several more times today.

Long Neck Squash - talk about food storage!

We think this squash is actually two years+ old now, but even if it is just one year old, it's still in excellent shape and I'm cutting into it today to make some pumpkin pies and Garbanzo Lamb Stew (recipe from my favorite dinner menu cookbook: Extending the Table). I've got organic chickpeas soaking. I love this variety of squash not just for its excellent keeping qualities, but it's taste, and ease of preparing as well. The seeds are in the small round cavity, and the entire neck is solid flesh.

I kept this squash and others in the basement on shelves and then moved it to the garage when we had company living in the basement for 5 months last spring and completely forgot about it until looking for some pumpkin to make dinner with tonight.