The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 4

The first thing is that this is not 2/3's done. Obviously. My time estimates for cross stitching are never what I think they are. 

The left bottom loop took about an hour, for reference.

The funny part about this progress was that I noticed a minor mistake in the bottom ribbon and as I was thinking about how to fix it, I made another minor mistake. Why is this my life?

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 3

Small mistakes are indicators of larger problems.

I found out why I needed to add one stitch to the end of four rows a few days ago - the entire left side was right-shifted by one stitch. I was five hours past that mistake when I realized it but only one hour into the project when I did it, so what side should I undo?

It took two hours to pull out those stitches and another hour and a half to redo them.

That greenish color on the left? All gone

Then I had to put the stitches back in. The pattern has shifted to the right by one square but as long as the rows are correct, that doesn't matter.

1/4 done, two days later. I'm shooting for 2/3 completion by the end of the week, hopefully without any more major mistakes. It's better to take care of bugs early before they become a huge problem.

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 2

I worked for about two and half hours on this on Saturday and I'm not making as much progress as I would like. I think I can work faster than I truly can.

It didn't help that two hours in, I discovered four of the longer rows were off count by one stitch. I had a mini-heart attack until I discovered that I could add the missing stitch onto the end of four rows instead of undoing it all. Doing it a second time would have been worse than the first time. 

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 1

I know, I know. It's been five months since I last worked on the Celtic Cross and I'm starting a new project? Did I even finish anything last year? Well, no.

I keep meaning to work on the Celtic Cross but when I look at it at school, I say "Nope!" and when I bring it home on breaks, I always forget the pattern.

I have the pattern for this and the break to do it. I have until May to finish this, the Cross, and a prayer shawl. I'm hoping this gets me back into cross stitching.

My goal is to have this piece done by the time I go back to class.

Southwest Salad

I'm going to have leftovers for a week with all the salad I've made. At least it's healthy... and delicious.

Southwest Salad
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 white onion
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 cut crush tortilla chips
• 1/2 cup Ranch dressing
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Cut the chicken into 1 inch strips and fry with oil in a large saucepan on medium heat until cooked through

2. Wash and shred the lettuce in a large bowl

3. Mince the onion and add it, the corn and the black beans to the bowl

4. Mix the salad well with the chicken, cheese, tortilla chips and Ranch dressing and serve cool

Modified from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southwest-Chicken-Salad-II/Detail.aspx

Roasted Vegetable Salad

I still had frozen leftover squash from the squash bread back in November. It's time to use it up.

Roasted Vegetable Salad
Serves 6

• head of romaine lettuce 
• 2 cups of butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about one squash)
• 1 red onion, quartered 
• 1 sweet potato
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes or 1/2 bag of small fingerling potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
•  2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
• 1 tbsp rosemary/thyme (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F

2. Wash and chop the potatoes and sweet potato 

3. Quarter the red onion and combine in a large bowl with the potatoes and the squash

4. Pour the olive oil and rosemary and thyme over the vegetables and mix well

5. Spread the vegetables in a foil-lined baking dish and cook for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally

6. Chop the romaine into inch pieces

7. Mix the roasted vegetables with the lettuce and pour the balsamic vinegar over everything

Modified from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roasted-Vegetables/Detail.aspx

Surprisingly, this reheats very well in the microwave.

Veggie Packed Lunch

I dislike not having lunch on weekdays. When I get hungry I stop paying attention and when I have class from 11-3:30, I get hungry.

Instead of surviving on peanut M&M's, I've started packing a simple lunch to snack on. The downside is that I forgot how loud celery and carrots can be, so I have to eat half of it during breaks.

Veggie Packed Lunch
Serves 1

• 1 pita 
• 4 teaspoons of dip (I use spinach dip)
• 2 sticks of celery
• handful of cherry tomatoes
• handful of carrot sticks, baby carrots or carrot chips
• 1 Babybel cheese 
• 1/3 chopped apple

1. Cut the pita into quarters and spread the dip inside each pocket
2. Wash the celery, carrots and tomatoes
3. Cut celery into small pieces to fit into a container or plastic bag
4. Assemble all ingredients in a plastic container or separately in sandwich bags

Squash Bread

From mid-November, when butternut squash was plentiful:

Squash Bread
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients

• 1 cup of butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 1/3 of one squash)
• 1 packet dry active yeast
• 3 tbsp warm water
• 1/3 cup of warm milk (do not heat in microwave)
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 eggs (can be done with 1 egg)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp oil (canola, vegetable or olive)
• several handfuls of flour for kneading

1. Boil the squash cubes in a large pot for 15-20 minute, until tender. (If there is leftover squash, it can be frozen for future use)
2. Mix the yeast well with 2 tbsp warm water and let stand for 10 minutes. Make sure the yeast is well mixed.
3. In a large bowl, combine the yeast with the milk, brown sugar, squash, butter, salt, flour and 1 egg, stirring well until completely mixed. The boiled squash should be broken into small pieces and thoroughly mixed into the dough. 
4. Knead the dough on a clear counter top dusted with flout until smooth, about 8-10 minutes.
5. Coat the inside of another bowl with the oil and roll the dough in it.
6. Cover with a damp cloth and let stand in a warm spot for 1 hour or until it has doubled in volume. 
7. Divide the dough into 6 long strands of equal length. 
8. Braid three of the strands together and place on a cooking sheet; repeat with the other three strands.
9. Let stand for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
11. Beat the remaining egg and water together and pour over the loaves (optional)
12. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the oven.

Modified from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/squash-braid/

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I'm happy with how this bread turned out; I wouldn't have thought that squash in bread would be any good but I was wrong. I'll definitely be making this again - there's two more cups of butternut squash in the freezer.

Pumpkins!

I frequently complain that I am 'crazy busy' and that's true to a large extent. But it was Halloween. What was I suppose to do, not carve a pumpkin?

That I found this guy smashed on Nov. 2 in no way diminished the fun it was to make him.

(It's a college campus. Pumpkin smashing is expected.)

Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Onions with Tofu

Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Onions with Tofu
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 package of firm tofu
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic bulb, broken into whole cloves (optional)
• 1 bottle of chili sauce
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger*
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of red cayenne ground pepper*
• aluminium foil
• 1 cake pan, about 9" by 13"

*omit for a less spicy dish

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. Slice the sweet potatoes into thin slices and the onion into strips. 
3. Line the pan with the foil - this is to collect the juices and prevent the pan from burning
4. Spread the sweet potatoes, onions and garlic in the pan and cover with the entire bottle of chili sauce.
5. Cover the pan with more foil and cook in the oven for 20 minutes
6. While the vegetables are cooking, cut the tofu into small pieces and trap under weight to squeexe out the juices.
7. After 20 minutes, pull out the pan, add the tofu and recover with the foil
8. Cook for another 40 minutes and then serve.

This is a scaled down, vegetarian version of Caribbean Chicken.