Felted crochet

I have a nasty habit of starting multiple projects at a time. As of current, I'm working on a christmas present for a friend, a vest for my husband, and a blanket for my youngest daughter.

A friend of mine got me interested in felted crochet, which I told myself that I would never do. Until I saw this:

(the BAG)

I have a huge obsession with bags. And this bag, to me, is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the colouring, the simple granny square design, yet it didn't seem tacky at all. In my mind, I envisioned a similar bag but with purple and pink colouring, and most likely a different style of bag. I also brainstormed on how to add a zipper to the bag.

Following this, I went to the closest department store, and found this:


Bernat English Rose wool yarn for felting. And I literally fell in love with this colour scheme. Although the gauge is different, I decided to buy it anyways, and bought the remaining 4 balls of yarn, hoping that it's enough for my project. They recommend a 6.5 size hook, which I think I'll follow, since in the original pattern, they recommend a size 8 hook for size 8 yarn. That means my squares will be a lot smaller, but I'll just make more.

I also made a small square when I got home, and briefly hand-felted it in hot water to see the effects, and the results were promising. As this project is wholly for me, I'll be updating as my project progresses.

My only worry is that b/c the yarn is a mix of colours, the granny square scheme won't show very well.

Shake N Bake alternatives

To be honest, I can be quite a lazy cook when it comes to dinner. Partly it's because no matter how much time I spend on dinner, my husband devours it all, provided that it's completely cooked. Of course, one might think "I bet he won't eat food that tastes terrible", but during my first pregnancy, I could not tolerate the smell of meat, and thus Ken had to eat boiled chicken breast, or boiled pork chop (no seasonings whatsoever) for 9 months. And he did with no complaints!

Oh wow, I really went off topic there, didn't I?

Anyways, being a lazy cook, I rely on shake n bake a lot. Why not? Just throw the meat into a bag, place it on a pan and bake away! The other day, I wanted to make chicken nuggets for Cassie, chicken nuggets being quite high on her favourite food list. Of course, when I need my shake n bake packets, that is the time I run out.

In a panic, I googled alternatives to shake n bake, and came across bread crumbs. Did I have bread crumbs? Of course not. However, I always use cracker crumbs to replace bread crumbs, and there are always crackers around the house, as my two little critics live on crackers.

So, with a rolling pin and plastic bag, I crushed half a package of whole wheat crackers into crumbs, added a bit of salt, pepper, and basil. For proper coating, I should have dipped each chicken piece into a bowl with a beaten egg, then dip into my cracker mixture, but being the lazy person I am, I mixed my egg with my meat, and then dipped into my cracker mixture.

The result? No picture, because the girls ate them up. Ken honestly couldn't tell the difference in terms of taste, but I felt better because I felt the batter coating was much healthier.

So the next time you run out of shake n bake, try using bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, or even cereal crumbs!

Pizza

When I got my new Kitchenaid mixer, it came with a few recipes, including an easy pizza crust. Both my girls and Ken love eating pizza, so I thought I would give it a try.

My goal was to make 4 mini-pizzas from the pizza dough.

I have made pizza before, and the middle always ended up too soggy, so I decided to make smaller pizzas, as well as pan-frying my toppings prior to addition to the pizza. I made a ham and pineapple pizza, as well as a chicken and red pepper pizza. I pan-fried both sets of toppings until pretty much cooked through.

I used a fast rise yeast, which allowed me to omit the first rise.

I followed the recipe exactly, and I must admit that the kneading done by my KA mixer made life much easier. It was very satisfying to see all the dough clinging to the dough hook. After the dough rising, I divided up the dough, rolled it out, pulled it a bit, and then added the tomato sauce, grated cheese, and toppings.

It only took 15 minutes for me to bake two mini-pizzas in my tabletop convection oven. Overall, it took me 2 hours from start to finish to make the pizzas.

I will definitely make these again. My little critics devoured their portions, and all four pizzas were consumed almost the moment they came out of the oven. The dough was soft and chewy, and extremely yummy.




One thing though, a handful of cornmeal was scattered across the pan before the pizzas were laid on top. What's the purpose of this? I must google.

No crocheting?

I have been posting mostly cooking posts mainly because my current crochet projects are for Christmas gifts. Hence, no posting about them until they have been completed and opened by their receivee. Sorry!