Baking and knitting

Hello again. Not too much going on here other than housework, gardening and work work. I've been laying low as far as the internet goes for a week or so and trying to do more real life stuff. Last week I was feeling especially burned out so I had a baking day. That always perks me up, how about you? I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and we ate them before I could get a picture, but I did get the other stuff.

Regular old white bread from my beloved Artisan Bread... book.


Split pea soup with homemade sausage.

No, I did not personally make the sausage. One of my Dad's friends from work makes it. And it is really good. No gristle and NO caraway seeds. I hate those things. As usual, I can't give you an actual recipe, because all of my soups are improvised, but I'll tell you what went into it so you can recreate if you wish.

Simmer smoked ham hock, two or three bay leaves and fresh ground pepper in medium stock pot, just barely covered with water, for two hours.
Transfer to large bowl or different pot and strain back into original pot so that only broth remains. Add two vegetable boullion cubes, some fresh dill and lots of fresh chives.
Thoroughly rinse and drain approximately 1 - 1 1/2 lbs dried split green peas and add to broth.
Add fresh water to cover peas.
Cook sausage until lightly browned and add to soup.
Cook for a while until the peas start to mush up on their own.
Add 2 tbsp butter.

Smash with a potato masher and enjoy!

Baked a pie from the Rustic Fruit Desserts book (finally). Apple and blackberry. Yum.


It was a big hit. I can't wait to make it in the fall with local produce.

Speaking of local produce: The Scranton Farmer's Co-op opens for the season this Friday! I absolutely cannot wait!!! I have missed it so much over the past 7 1/2 months and I'm super excited to take the kiddos over for opening day. :)

And now, some knitting. Remember knitting? I sort of do... I've been working pretty much exclusively on a surprise for a friend, so I haven't had anything new to show. And I haven't had much time for knitting anyway. But recently I made a miniature dishcloth and did a scan of each side for John to use in a school project. It's mercerized cotton, so the shine made it look pretty cool when it was scanned.

Knit!


Purl!

And for another part of his project, he took this photo of me knitting a sample dishcloth (also for the project) and he made it all neat looking in Photoshop.

This photo is on my photostream, but if you're interested in seeing his Flickr stuff, you can find him here.

That's all for now as I must get back to the land of laundry and dishes. Have a good one!