Taking Stock

My soon-to-be mother-in-law's Christmas present:

Clare's Christmas present:

My sister's Christmas present:

I've finished 4 scarves since November, one of them was ruined in the washing machine and I've started that one over again. So that's #5. I am trying to teach myself how to knit a hat, which is project #6. I am working on a gift for a friend that I started today, #7, a scarf for mom, #8, and I have yarn for a scarf for myself, another gift for a friend and another scarf for my mom. That's #9, #10 and #11. Currently, I have 4 of these projects on needles. Phew, it sounds like I have some work to do! The good news is that watching the Olympics and knitting go very well together :-)

Not your average Peeps

I'll admit it. I love Peeps. My dad fully supports my love of Peeps as evidenced by the mostly eaten box above. My mom came down a couple weeks ago to go wedding dress shopping and my dad sent this down for me. 1) Can you believe Easter candy is already out? 2) Can you believe there are still some left in my box? Thanks,Daddy!!

There's really no way of telling what kinds of unnatural, processed ingredients go into Peeps that for me, make them so addicting (and I fully believe that the ducks taste better than the rabbits. Perhaps because I had pet rabbits as a kid?) I've seen recipes for homemade marshmallows and they always look a little daunting--they involve a candy thermometer for goodness sake! But the string of snow days and an upcoming weekend in Wintergreen that will involve s'mores convinced me that it was time. Time to make marshmallows and I have to tell you, it was not nearly as hard as it seemed to be. Visit www.smittenkitchen.com for the recipe!

Mise en place:

The recipe called for a metal 9x13x2, which I don't have so I improvised.

Bringing the sugar, corn starch, water and salt to a boil (while the gelatin softens in another bowl).

The mixture is almost at the 240 degree point--look at how clear it is, the sugar is completely dissolved.

Bottom layer is the gelatin, water and mixture from the stove whipped together for about 10 minutes. On top is two egg whites whipped just until stiff peaks are formed and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. This is when you can add whatever you want to flavor the marshmallows. I think mint extract would be delicious in marshmallows in a tall cup of (spiked) hot chocolate!

I only ended up needed two of the pans and I took Deb's advice on Smitten Kitchen and did not try to get every last bit out of the bowl.

After sitting overnight in the refrigerator, I cut the marshmallows into squares and rolled them in more confectioners sugar (I guess you just can't get enough sugar in these). I think I was supposed to sift the sugar, but I had not yet had coffee so this is unsifted sugar.

I can't wait to get these into some s'mores!

And yes, it is still snowing. I don't want to talk about it.

Lisa :-)

We're Converts

This title sounds a lot more serious than it actually is :-) A few weeks ago, Jeromy bought us a french press to make coffee and quite honestly, it's the best way we've ever had coffee--it beats drip coffeemakers by leaps and bounds. The trick is to add a pinch of salt to the ground coffee before adding the water and you will end up with a perfect cup. I'm drooling just thinking about tomorrow's cup of coffee (because we have another snow day tomorrow. I'm beginning to forget what my office looks like!).

I've also converted the way that I eat oatmeal. I love me some oatmeal, it sticks to the ribs and keeps me full all day long, or at least until after noon. Years ago I stopped eating the packets of oatmeal because of all of the added sugar and processed foods that I just didn't want to eat. So I started buying plain old oatmeal, preparing it plain and then adding toppings so I could control what I was eating. I was over on Danielle's blog, beltwaytobay.com and saw an entry about overnight oats. I was intrigued. So I looked around the internets a little further and found a recipe. Oats? I like oats. Greek yogurt? Delicious. Milk? I love milk. Little brown sugar? Great. Mix it all together, let it sit overnight in the fridge and you have overnight oats! Add whatever you want to it, it's like a blank canvas. Here is the recipe I use, found at keepitsimplefoods.com (serves 2):

1 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 cup Greek yogurt (I use fat free)
generous dash of brown sugar

Mix it all together, leave it overnight in the fridge and the next day you have a delicious and nutritious breakfast. So far I've tried the following combos:

leftover cranberry compote
grape-nuts
sliced almonds

blueberry muesli

bananas
flaxseed
Trader Joe's superfruit spread
Trader Joe's natural peanut butter
The third combination was my favorite!

Because of my boot I haven't been able to do my normal grocery shopping runs to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Safeway (I'm crazy, I know, but I like what I like!). I've been sticking only to Safeway since it's the closest to the house and they did not have Greek yogurt last week :-( After being snowed in for 3 days, I made my way to Giant today and was able to get a big tub of Greek yogurt. I'm very much looking forward to more overnight oats tomorrow. Thanks, Danielle, for introducing me to my new favorite breakfast!

We're hunkering down for another major storm in our neighborhood. I don't know when, but apparently we moved to Maine....

I'll post some pictures of the snow in the next couple of days along with all of the knitting projects I've been working on.

Lisa :-)