Residents of Springfield?

Me and my husband as Simpsons!

Cottage Cheese & Apple Pancakes

Cottage Cheese & Apple Pancakes
from: The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

4 eggs separated (yolks optional - use all, some, or none) I used a couple of the yolks
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup (packed) grated tart apple this was one Granny Smith apple. The apple wouldn't grate for me, just kind of mushed. So I chunked it and threw it in my mini food chopper to get it to more of a tiny chop than a grate.
3/4 cup flour
1 to 2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon I only used a small dash
optional: 1 Tablespoon honey I wanted these more on the savory side and did not use the honey
1/2 tsp salt
optional: 2 to 3 Tbs. finely minced walnuts or almonds I don't really like nuts so didn't use
oil or butter for frying

1) Beat the egg whites until stiff.
2) Combine other ingredients and mix well. Fold in the egg whites.
3) Heat oil or melt butter in a skillet. When it is hot enough to sizzle, add spoonfuls of batter. Fry on both sides until firm and lightly browned. Serve right away, topped with your choice of toppings.

toppings: maple syrup
sour cream or yogurt
Berry sauce This is another recipe in the book - I suggest fresh or frozen strawberries or strawberry jam
We tried these with all of the toppings (separately) the strawberry was great (some fresh made strawberry jam) and the maple syrup was also very good.

Once again the recipe says serves about 4 but I'd cut that in half. I doubled the recipe (to use up all the cottage cheese) and we cooked and ate half the first day and half the second day. (Recipe states: The batter keeps well for days so you can have it on hand.) Served this one with soy/sausage as well. I'm told it went really well with the polish sausage and also really well with the side of vidalia onion he cooked to go with the sausage the second day.

This one sounds a little odd, I think, but it is a real winner. I experimented by trying it and am happy I did.

Banana Pancakes

These were quicky cheater pancakes. I had two bananas that were in an emergency need of being used so I just added them to a small batch of pancakes from mix (1 cup of mix size batch). When I looked at Banana Pancake recipes they were talking about slicing the bananas and putting them on the pancakes as they cook (like blueberries). I wanted the banana to be integrated into the pancake (plus mine were too soft for slicing). So I just made up the mix and stirred in the mashed banana. Then I added a little extra water until the consistency looked good (the banana thickened it up). They turned out nice and banana-y - like a nice banana bread flavor.

Oh, I was going to use my grandma-in-law's trick for great pancakes - she uses an all in one pancake mix where you are only supposed to add water but adds the egg and oil that it calls for waffles. Basically she makes waffle pancakes, whatever you call them they are great. But anyway, I was out of eggs. But consider that when you are making pancakes from a mix.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Sweet Potato Pancakes
from: The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen note: This is an update of the original Moosewood Cookbook from 1977 so the same or similar recipe may be in that edition as well

4 cups (packed) coarsely grated sweet potatoes (recipe says 1 large or 2 medium - I had 1 large and only got 3 cups so...) done with the largest grate on my box grater
1/2 cup grated onion I used vidalia. I grate onion with the small grate on my flat hand grater to get it very fine
3 to 4 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
4 beaten eggs (yolks optional) I used the whole eggs since I didn't have another use for the yolks
1/3 cup flour
optional: 1/3 cup minced parsley I used a random small handful

oil for frying
toppings: sour cream or yogurt
applesauce

1) Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2) Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet until it is very hot. (A fleck of batter should sizzle on contact.)
3) Use a non-slotted spoon to form thin pancakes, patting the batter down. Fry on both sides until brown, adding small amounts of additional oil, if/as needed.
4) serve hot, with toppings.

This is basically the same as a regular potato pancake recipe but I never thought of using sweet potatoes. It is a really good idea! They come out nicely colored orange and taste great.
Oh, the recipe says 4 to 6 servings but I don't see that happening. Maybe as breakfast with a bunch of other stuff. I adapted the recipe the go along with my 3 cups of sweet potato and the two of us ate almost all of them for dinner with a soysage/polish sausage each on the side.

Making Pancakes like... Hotcakes

This has unintentionally turned out to be the summer of the pancake in my house. When we realized how many pancake varieties we've already tried we decided to make it official and keep it up with the pancakes. Pancakes make a good quick Friday night supper. And so, I blog them to spread the pancake wealth. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of any we've made so far - some of them looked pretty good. I'll blog each recipe separately - so far we've had Sweet Potato Pancakes, Banana Pancakes (these were a breakfast), and Cottage Cheese Apple Pancakes. Up to bat next is Zucchini Feta Pancakes. Then, who knows.... the search for other crazy pancakes begins.

Damn you, George!

"George" sock #1 is done, finally. Well, I shouldn't be blaming George - he's just the yarn color. ;-) It isn't his fault that I tried a different pattern with more stitches and it took too long for no-patience-me. But, it didn't quite turn out as I planned. The pattern was only supposed to be at a tighter gauge than the other Fixation sock I made. It did come out at a much tighter gauge but the result was that it was pretty thick (definitely a winter sock) and a little bit too big. For my foot that is. Then I got the idea to see if it would fit my husband's giant foot by any chance. And it did! He proclaimed it a perfect fit, "very comfortable" and said he wanted them. So I guess he will be getting socks sooner than I planned. Luckily I made this in a man friendly color so it all worked out.

Cascade Fixation 9891 "George" Pattern: Two-Toed Sock (without the color changes)

In other knitting news, I have started a Ballband Dishcloth - made famous by Mason-Dixon Knitting but also available inside the band of Peaches & Cream cotton and on their website. I really like the way it is turning out so far although it seems a little big for a dishcloth. (I have gauge but it is still bigger than the pattern says it should be. huh.)

Annnnnd, one more thing. My great-grandmother's darning egg! My mom had it and passed it on to me when I started making socks. I had seen it around the house (in an antique wooden bowl with some yarn bobbins) but I never knew what it was for until my sock class. My mom knows my great-grandmother (her father's mother) knitted but she's not sure if she made socks or if she used this for darning store bought socks. I used it today for weaving up George!

Jam on biscuits, jam on toast, jam is the thing that I like most!

Title courtesy of Frances, of course. ;-) Just a post of the jams I have made this summer so I can keep track to know how much to make next year.

Strawberry: 13 jelly jars (2 batches certo & 1 smaller batch?)

Cherry: 15 jelly jars (2 Sour Cherry, 3 Sour Cherry Almond, 2 Sweet Cherry Vanilla, 3 Sweet Cherry, 5 Sweet & Sour Cherry) (3 batches)

Black Raspberry: 11 jelly jars (2 batches)

Update: Blueberry: 7 jelly jars (1 batch) (not local berries)

Gooseberry: 1 batch (farmer's market berries)
Red Currant: 1 batch (farmer's market berries)
Peach: 2 or 3 batches (fresh picked)

notes: the certo set up better than the surejell; don't make cherry vanilla again, Sour cherry almond is the favorite cherry

updating 2007 just in time for 2008 ;-)

Tiny sock!

I have turned the heel on the first of the "George" colored pair, but then I felt like something a little different. Like a tiny sock! I am in love with it and am thinking about starting another one. I'm thinking of making a tiny pair for my sister who keeps trying to get me to make her socks. ;-) And Christmas presents... Oh and somebody suggested giving one as an "IOU" for a sock gift - that way the recipient can pick the color and you can check their size. Anyway, here's my first tiny sock! Made from leftover Fixation in "Koi": Pattern here
updated to add the sock measurements: almost 2 1/2" high from cuff to heel, leg is 1" across, foot is 2"
Oh, and I had my first Sock Club meeting the other night. It was great! Everybody is nice, the leader/shop owner is great. She showed me how to fix the dropped stitch at the way top of my George sock that I didn't notice until the heel (eye roll) and next week she will be demo-ing different heel methods to the group.

First Socks!

They are done! Here they are!

Cascade Fixation #9877 "Koi" Pattern = "Cookie's Beginner Socks" by my sock class instructor

I am so impressed with myself. :-) They actually turned out to match pretty good except for the way top of the cuff, despite the way it looked when I was working on the second one. The toes are the same, the heels are almost the same...
And now here is one of them on my feet...

Grungy porch floor we haven't painted yet. Don't ask me why I walked out there instead of asking the photographer to come in where it was clean. sigh. Oh shoot, and the cuff curled when I put it on and I didn't notice. They are actually the same length.

I am in love with the pattern, she chooses the simplest way to do each thing and writes out more of the lines - instead of saying continue in this manner as much as most patterns do. Some of the more advanced knitters learned kitchener for the toe finish but I did not. Maybe next class I take from her, after I am a more advanced knitter.

In other sock news...
a) My sock club has been postponed a week so it won't be starting tomorrow. :-(
b) This is the fixation I bought the other day - #9891 "George" It has light brown, green (doesn't really come through in the photo), and two shades of blue
c) And this is the "baby blues" Panda Cotton I bought the other day. I cast on the fixation first because I don't have the right size needles yet for this and the knit store was out of them...