To Spin A Yarn

Reading List 2011 – Final

Kali — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:28:13 +0000

Yeah, yeah… it’s nearly the end of January 2012. I’m behind in posting this. I’ve been just a little busy, though. I’m hoping that as Wesley gets a little older and more settled, I’ll have just a little more time to start keeping up with my blog again. My goal for now is once a week. We’ll see if that happens!

November and December
93. Eragon, Christopher Paolini (audiobook) – recommended
94. Eldest, Christopher Paolini (audiobook) – recommended
95. Brisinger, Christopher Paolini (audiobook) – recommended
96. Inheritance, Christopher Paolini – recommended
97. In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster, Stephanie Laurens
98. The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, Tracy Hogg and Melinda Blau
99. The Goose Girl, Shannon Hale
100. Enna Burning, Shannon Hale
101. The Baby Owner’s Manual, Louis Borgenicht
102. Changing Diapers, Kelly Wels
103. When Harry Met Molly, Kieran Kramer

October
88. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended
89. Sanctuary, Nora Roberts
90. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended
91. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended
92. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended

September
76. 6 Ranier Drive, Debbie Macomber
77. 74 Seaside Avenue, Debbie Macomber
78. 8 Sandpiper Way, Debbie Macomber
79. 92 Pacific Boulevard, Debbie Macomber
80. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended
81. 1022 Evergreen Place, Debbie Macomber
82. 1105 Yakima Street, Debbie Macomber
83. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended
84. Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue, Stephanie Laurens
85. Just Like Heaven, Julia Quinn
86. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling (audiobook) – recommended

August
66., 67. and 68. The Calhouns: Catherine, Amanda, and Lilah, Nora Roberts
69. and 70. The Calhouns: Suzanna and Megan, Nora Roberts
71. 16 Lighthouse Road, Debbie Macomber
72. 204 Rosewood Lane, Debbie Macomber
73. 311 Pelican Court, Debbie Macomber
74. 44 Cranberry Point, Debbie Macomber
75. 50 Harbor Street, Debbie Macomber

July
58. A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
59. A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin
60. A Dance with Dragons, George R. R. Martin
61. Heartless, Gail Carringer – highly recommended
62. and 63. Cordina’s Royal Family: Gabriella & Alexander, Nora Roberts
64. and 65. Cordina’s Royal Family: Bennett & Camilla, Nora Roberts

June
49. Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, Rick Riordan (audiobook)
50. Believe in Me, Laura Moore
51. Lean, Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich – recommended
52. Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich – recommended
53. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, Janet Evanovich – recommended
54. Sizzling Sixteen, Janet Evanovich – recommended
55. Smokin’ Seventeen, Janet Evanovich – recommended
56. A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
57. A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin

May
38. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
39. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
40. The Face on the Milk Carton, Caroline B. Cooney
41. Whatever Happened to Janie?, Caroline B. Cooney
42. The Voice on the Radio, Caroline B. Cooney
43. What Janie Found, Caroline B. Cooney
44. Chance Meeting, Laura Moore
45. Remember Me, Laura Moore
46. Married by Morning, Lisa Kleypas
47. Baby Bargains, Denise & Alan Fields (recommended if you’re interested in purchasing baby things)
48. Around My French Table, Dorie Greenspan (cookbook) – I don’t usually include cookbooks in my reading list, but I have read this one cover to cover in the past two days and it is FABULOUS! Expect recipes on the blog from this book in the future.

April
31. Seduce Me at Sunrise, Lisa Kleypas (audiobook)
32. Tempt Me at Twilight, Lisa Kleypas (audiobook)
33. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
34. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
36. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)
37. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling (audiobook)

March
25. The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss – highly recommended
26. Shanna, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
27. To Ride A Dark Horse, Laura Moore
28. Mine Til Midnight, Lisa Kleypas (audiobook)
29. No Choice but Seduction, Johanna Lindsey
30. Pegasus, Robin McKinley

February
20. Lean, Mean Thirteen, Janet Evanovich (audiobook)
21. The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss – strongly recommended
22. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey (audiobook)
23. Dragonquest, Anne McCaffrey (audiobook)
24. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey (audiobook)

January
1. What to Expect when You’re Expecting, Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
(for the record, I’m not expecting. A friend gave me this and it’s interesting.)
2. Eragon, Christopher Paolini (audio book)
3. Soulless, Gail Carrington – strongly recommended
4. Changeless, Gail Carrington – strongly recommended
5. Blameless, Gail Carrington – strongly recommended
6. Twin: A Memoir, Allen Shawn
7. Green Rider, Kristen Britain -strongly recommended
8. First Rider’s Call, Kristen Britain – strongly recommended
9. The High King’s Tomb, Kristen Britain – strongly recommended
10. Eldest, Christopher Paolini (audiobook)
11. Alanna, Tamora Pierce
12. In the Hands of the Goddess, Tamora Pierce
13. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Tamora Pierce
14. Lioness Rampant, Tamora Pierce
15. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini (audiobook)
16. Sea Swept, Nora Roberts (audiobook) – recommended
17. Rising Tides, Nora Roberts (audiobook) – recommended
18. Inner Harbor, Nora Roberts (audiobook) – recommended
19. Chesapeake Blue, Nora Roberts (audiobook) – recommended

The best thing…

Kali — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:16:52 +0000

Of all the things I have done and accomplished in 2011, one stands out far above the rest…

Wesley on December 23rd, just an hour old.

Lots and Lots of Cookies…

Kali — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:12:57 +0000

The food blogs Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen recently wrapped up a very impressive project… The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 2011. Roughly 620 food bloggers participated in the cookie swap, and their recipes are all live and posted on these two blogs.

As I’ve been less than active lately, I leave you with Page 1 and Page 2 – full of links to a ton of fabulous looking cookies.

Rob and I unanimously agreed that the very first cookies we have to make are the Rolo Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies from the Ambitious Kitchen blog. They look and sound absolutely spectacular, and just as soon as I find the energy to make cookies again, they will be gracing my oven.

Some other cookies I think look good or find interesting are:
Four Ingredient Nutella Cookies from Sprinkle Massacre
Better Than Hot Chocolate Cookies from Twice Cooked Half Baked
Peanut Butter Fudgies from Sweet Words, Tasty Treats
Raspberry Ribbons from The Cultural Dish
Toblerone Shortbreads from Baking in the ‘Burg
Confetti Cookies from Namely Marley
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies from wannafoodie
Hot Cocoa Marshmallow Cookies from DeLish
Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe
Salted Millionaire’s Shortbread from Double the Sugar
Maple-frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookies from For the Love of Kale
Brown Sugar Roll Out Cookies from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle

Quite a list, right? I would like to participate next year, when I’m not obscenely pregnant and too tired to work on creating wonderful and delicious cookies. Until then, I’ll simply enjoy the best that 620 other cooks could come up with. You should definitely look through the linked pages. I’m sure you’ll find something amazing you want to try out.

Enjoy and Happy Hunting!

Baby Blanket, half done

Kali — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:27:58 +0000

Well, I’m still working on the brown blanket for baby boy. I had to take a hiatus from working on it while I waited for longer knitting needle cables to come in.

I know the size is pretty difficult to tell what size the blanket currently is from this picture. The circumference of the two needles is 83 inches, or nearly 7 feet around. I’m on the last pattern I need to worry about, but still only about half way done and have a fair bit of knitting left to go.

It’s hard… alright, impossible… to see what the lace pattern looks like so far. The ring I just finished says: Hush * Baby * Sleep * Baby *. It will be much easier to see once I have finished and blocked the entire blanket.

I’m working on the Lullaby Blanket Pattern, using Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Elk Heather. It’s incredibly soft, fully washable, and will hopefully be very durable for baby.

Now I just need to get back to work to get it finished before baby boy joins the outside world. And with any luck I can finish quickly so he can come soon after.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Almonds

Kali — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:09:05 +0000

It has been an incredibly busy month for me. I left my job, my parents came for a wonderful visit where we worked like mad on the baby’s room (Dad painted it twice), I cleaned the house top to bottom, and I cooked a small Thanksgiving dinner for three. Clearly I’ve posted about none of it. I can only claim, entirely truthfully, that I have been nothing short of exhausted for the entire month. Fortunately, I have managed to rack up items for the blog, even if I haven’t manged to write them up.

I’ll have recipes coming for pie crust, and turkey pot pie in the next week or so, but I thought I would start with a simple and yet delicious chicken salad recipe. Especially because it is a great way to use up some of your leftover turkey (though save some for the pot pie… it’s fabulous!).

This chicken salad (or turkey salad) is easy, simple, and fabulous. The best part is, it’s 100% adjustable. Add more grapes and less mayo, or more chili powder and less almonds. Tinker to your heart’s content to make it to your taste. I’m not even going to include measurements in my recipe.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Almonds

leftover chicken, cubed or shredded
slivered almonds
green grapes, halved
mayonnaise or miracle whip
chili powder
salt and pepper

1. Combine all ingredients to taste. Be amazed by how easy that was. Serve and enjoy.

Homemade Granola Bars

Kali — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:24:50 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of granola bars, usually. I find them to be too hard, and they tend to tear up the inside of my mouth. Still, they’re pretty tasty and there’s a lot I like about them aside from the texture. So when I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, which looks much softer than normal granola bars, I knew immediately that I had to make them.

I filled mine with a lot more nuts and other additives than she did, and left out the coconut completely (yuck – so not my thing). I made a few other changes to her recipe, such as a tad more flour to help bind the bars together better, but really stayed with the spirit of what she had done.

Be inventive with the fillings you add to these bars. They’re yours to customize as you wish. I used almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, and chocolate chips this time. In the past I’ve included wheat germ, dried apples, dried apricots, and dried cranberries. Take a look through your bulk health food aisle for things you may want to include.

(I’m not admitting anything… but I may have put in two extra cups of fillers because the baby has affected my ability to read directions properly. I may have in fact noticed this after I started stirring everything together and tried to pick out nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips only to decide that I was being crazy. Extra fillings just made these extra delicious.)

The only challenging piece of this recipe, and it’s really not that difficult, is getting everything to mix together without spilling oats and sugar all over your kitchen. Once you manage to get it all to combine (stir carefully, I’m not exaggerating), you get this:

40 minutes in the oven, and the bars come out nice and golden brown. The parchment paper does two fabulous things. First, it helps ensure that nothing sticks to the pan. Secondly, and way more importantly, it makes it very, very easy to lift the cooled bars from the pan by providing you with a granola bar sling.

Make sure you let them cool absolutely the whole way before removing them from the pan. I let them sit for about 5 hours before pulling them out. If you take them out while they are warm and try to let them cool on a rack, they will crumble and fall apart. These absolutely need the time to cool in order to remain intact… and this is coming from someone who chronically does not wait for things to cool.

Homemade Granola Bars

1 2/3 cups oats
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oat bran flour (I used a heaping 1/3 cup to help bind them together)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 5 cups dried fruits and nuts, chopped (and chocolate chips… chocolate chips never hurt)
1/3 cup peanut butter
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (can use extra honey)
1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a square pan with parchment paper and coat with a non-stick spray.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, melted butter, honey, light corn syrup, and water.

4. Carefully mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Pour it into your pan and press it down firmly.

5. Bake the bars for 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges. Be sure to let these bars completely cool before trying to move them. SmittenKitchen recommends transferring them to a cooling rack after 20 minutes, but I really found that to be a disaster. They may take longer to cool in their pan, but they’ll have the support they need to keep them intact.

6. Cut them into bars and serve. I’ve wrapped mine in saran wrap and put them in the freezer, but they also store quite well in a sealed container such as ziploc or tupperware.

Enjoy!!!

Reading List 2011

Kali — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:32:21 +0000

After a very book heavy September, I went rather light in October, simply continuing listening to the Harry Potter series for the second time this year. I’ll probably listen to them again in another 6 months, truth be told. I absolutely love these books. Truth be told, I’m only about half way through the last book. It takes a lot longer to listen to a book than to read it, but as I have two months to read 8 books in order to hit my goal (one of the few goals I had for this year that I will actually reach), I’m pretty confident that’s possible.

Salmon and Arugula Fritatta

Kali — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:46:04 +0000

I’ve been experimenting with meals that can be frozen and reheated in preparation for baby’s forthcoming arrival. This being my first, I have absolutely no idea what I may or may not be capable of after he’s born, how many hours of sleep I can hope to be getting, or how much of my waking time he is actually going to consume. So… meals that freeze.

I don’t want to be eating only pasta dishes once the baby arrives, which freeze quite well but do get a little boring. I love lasagna and other baked pastas as much as the next girl… possibly more… but I also appreciate variety. So when I came across a recipe for a lox and arugula fritatta as a freezer meal, I decided to give it a go.

The original recipe called for smoked Lox, and I did buy nice, smoked salmon. I feel a little bit like this is a waste of money, though. If you make salmon for dinner one night, you could easily use leftover salmon in this fritatta, or even buy a can of salmon. Once it is cooked the Lox just tastes like normal cooked salmon. I didn’t need to spend extra money on special smoked salmon just to cook it.

A much smaller modification I would suggest is to roughly chop the arugula before wilting it. One of the great things about fritatta is that it is a fork-only meal – no knives necessary. The whole pieces of arugula really make a knife helpful. Especially as I am considering ways to be able to eat one handed, I fully believe that a quick chop of the arugula would make this a meal that is easier to consume.

Salmon and Arugula Fritatta

1-2 cups cooked salmon (or lox) chopped into bite-size pieces
1 bag arugula, chopped (baby spinach would work, too)
8 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1 clove garlic, minced
zest from 1 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs and cream together. Add chopped salmon, lemon zest, salt and pepper and whisk to incorporate.

3. Heat a large nonstick, oven safe skillet over medium heat. Add 1 T olive oil and garlic. Saute garlic until fragrant and softening, about 1 minute. Add chopped arugula and wilt, about 2 minutes.

4. Spread arugula out evenly in pan and pour egg mixture in. Gently spread out salmon. Cook until bottom is golden brown, roughly 5 minutes.

5. Using a rubber spatula, loosen the edges of the fritatta from the pan. Turn off burner and place the pan into the oven to finish cooking the fritatta, 7-10 minutes.

6. Test to ensure egg is fully cooked. When fritatta is finished cooking allow it to cool for 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

Fast and Easy Vegetable Polenta Soup

Kali — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:10:47 +0000

I love looking for easy dinners to make on a weeknight that are full of vegetables, and this one was a winner in all ways. It completely fulfills any vegetable cravings I get, while being thick and hearty enough to actually fill me up. I wasn’t hungry again just a few hours after eating which is quite a feat at 7 months pregnant.

I also think this dish is pretty easy to customize. Don’t like tomatoes? Take them out. Add more zucchini, or try tossing in a potato. It might take a little trial and error, but I really believe this is a soup that can be made with almost any combination of vegetables.

I used carrots, onions, zucchini, and tomatoes. I could easily see the addition of potatoes, mushrooms, spinach or some other wilting green, and any number of root vegetables.

Try out your own combinations and tell me how they work!

Fast and Easy Vegetable Polenta Soup

1 medium onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 zucchini, diced
3 whole cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 t dried thyme (use fresh if available)
2 T dried parsley (use fresh if available)
4 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup polenta or cornmeal
3 T butter
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. When melted, add onions and carrots. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the zucchini, tomato and garlic to the pot. Saute until soft, about 3 minutes.

3. Add thyme, parsley and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

4. Slowly add the polenta, stirring gently but continuously while cooking it over medium low heat for 5 minutes.

5. Stir in remaining butter and serve.

Tomato Flatbread

Kali — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:53:45 +0000

I forgot to take pictures of my tomato flatbread while I was making it, but it was yummy enough that I’m sharing the recipe anyway.

I’m not a huge fan of pizza. In fact, I’m incredibly picky about pizza, mostly because I don’t like the tomato sauce most pizzas use. I think pizza should be salty and full of garlic, but commercial pizza chains seem to think pizza should be sweet. This mostly means I don’t eat a lot of it.

When I saw a recipe for flatbread, I really thought about how I could make it so that it was something I would enjoy eating and not end up wasting my time on. I like a lot of cheese, tomato, salt, and garlic. Next time I’ll get more adventurous with what I put on the flatbread, but for this first attempt that was enough.

I worked from a number of different recipes, and came up with one I thought worked pretty well.

Tomato Flatbread

pizza dough (I used Pillsbury canned pizza dough)
4 plum tomatoes, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
mozzarella cheese
romano cheese
basil
oregano
a sprinkle of flour

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. On a clean, dry work surface, sprinkle out some flour and gently stretch out your pizza dough into the size and shape you want it to be. (This apparently works better if you let your pizza dough sit untouched for 5-10 minutes first, a tip I did not learn until after this attempt.)

3. Place it on your cooking surface, I used a large baking sheet, and pierce the dough a number of times with a fork. Brush the dough with a little olive oil and place the tomato slices on top. Brush the tomato slices with olive oil as well, and salt and pepper the tomatoes. Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Remove flatbread from oven. Sprinkle with garlic powder and cover with mozzarella and romano cheese. Add basil or oregano as desired. Return to oven and bake for 7 more minutes.

5. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 3 minutes before slicing. Serve and enjoy.