Just an update

I have a million things I want to share, so bare with me for a moment. First here's the progress on the garden so far. It doesn't look to impressive I admit, but there is only so much a pregnant woman can do. I cleaned up all the weed growth, and Lorenz 'installed' my bamboo fencing. I decided to leave one bed open for my new step-dog to have a poop patch. It seems to do the trick. I also cleaned up the wisteria and will hopefully have this new IKEA trellis in place soon because it will start

taking over the yard before we know it.At the front of the house we have a special little memorial Lumpkin garden which I'll post about later this week because it has some exciting features this year.

Moving on to the kitchen,
this morning i was inspired by my huge sack of the most delicious oranges this season, to create a new granola recipe.

Orange Ginger Coconut Granola
(first draft)
Preheat oven to 300' F
6 c. oats
1 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. tasted sesame seeds
1 c. unsweetened medium cut coconut
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt
........
juice and zest of one orange
1/4 c. coconut oil melted
3/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract

mix it all together and pour onto 2 cookie sheets with a rim.
bake at 300'F for 1 hr. or until it's all dried out and golden brown.
Stir once half way through baking.

I think it turned out pretty well. It wasn't terribly sweet and the oranginess was perfect.
I only use coconut oil occasionally, but a less saturated oil would work out just fine too. Give it a try and let me know what you think. In other news, I'm moving closer to finishing my little sleeveless spring knittydirtygirl sweaters. I have postponed my adventures in polymer clay button-making in exchange for a simpler solution. I've discovered the joys of Shrinky-Dinks. M2 looking very "little match girl"I got a variety pack from the local Micheal's store and I've been experimenting with it daily. I think I've settled on a simple little button for the sweaters and
I'll be sure to post the finished beauties soon!
I also want to say (and this is a little bit late) that today is the last day of the Lancaster County Library Book Sale. That means it's half price day! and if you get there late in the day around 3 or 4 they will let you fill a bag for like a $1.00. I love that book sale. M2 and I went on Monday with the rest of the book lovin' kooks in town. We had to park a half a mile away and it was pouring down rain, but we had fun. This was the first year that my youngest was able to entertain herself browsing books for a couple hours. I came away with a few gems including a cutesy little sewing book for M1 and a sweet little May Day 'Operetta' just in time for Mayday. My favorite was the tiny little hardbound Maurice Sendak alphabet book Alligators All Around. Well, I guess that's about it. We're off to have some lunch and take our nap, M2 is four years old and she's just now starting to take naps! I'm training her for when lumpkin3 arrives. Because I plan on napping constantly! I'll leave you with a peek at our lunch- Vegan grilled 'cheese' can be fun, I swear!Vegan grilled 'cheese' w/ FYH jack cheese, pizza sauce for dipping, oranges, blue corn chips, mint tea

YUM! Maybe I'll do my little Lumpkin garden post tomorrow in honor of May Day?
We'll see, have a lovely Wednesday!

Snow day part II

Well, it's happened again, the rare double snow day. It's truly beautiful outside but inside the family is getting feisty. I dare not venture out onto the ice with the girls in my condition and tempers are flaring while we are cooped up. So, we bake... This time Chocolate Chip Muffins and a recipe for once too!

Chocolate Chip Muffins (vegan)
1/2 +1/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 +1/3 c. unbleached white flour
2 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1-1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda

1-1/4 c. soymilk
4 T safflower oil
1 egg replacer (EnerG)w/the water
1 T. apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 c. vegan chocolate chips
sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease one muffin pan.
Sift dry ingredients. Wisk together wet ingredients.
Add wet to dry and mix thoroughly. Stir in choc. chips.
Pour into prepared muffin pan. Dust top with sugar/cinn.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or untiltoothpick comes out clean.
*makes 12 magnificent muffins

I'm using up the last of my real deal sugar before i make the switch back to more wholesome sweeteners like agave and rice syrup. This recipe only has a little actually sugar, the chocolate chips do the rest. they are really yummy and half whole-wheat, so you won't feel too guilty.

Yesterday I told you about some projects I'm working on, well here's one of them now.
I have been making booties as a starter project for my beginner spinning efforts. All of the booties are hand knit with fiber I spun myself with my drop spindle. Except one pair on the left made of organic cotton commercial yarns. None of the booties are actually finished yet, but soon. I also completed my second sweater vest using a new batch of KDG yarn I recently ordered from Rachel-Marie. I'm really pleased with her yarn, the colors are fantastic, the weight is very substantial, but it's also nice and soft. Perfect for little my Spring jackets and vests. I'll post a picture of the second sweater once I figure out which buttons to use on it.

And lastly, speaking of knitting, my 8 year old daughter, M1, brought home her gnome which she's been working on at school this year. She knit the entire thing and chose really great colors I might add.
She also photographed her handwork next to the cat she made last year. I'm so impressed with her. I've recruited her to teach my friend who's pregnant with triplets how to knit because M1 knits the right way (unlike her mother) and she's so much more patient than me. What an amazing person, that's all I have to say, except...
Let it Thaw to You All!

Snow Day!

Well, it's not exactly snowing out, but school is most certainly canceled. I am all for it! We are looking forward to watching the snow start to fall, staying cuddled in bed and doing some much needed baking. I go through these baking spurts in my life. In the past month I've baked more than I have in years. Coffee cake, chocolate cake, cookies, granolas, sticky buns and of course the donuts(which aren't exactly baked). I've got a killer sweet tooth that will need to be reined in at some point soon. This chocolate cake recipe was from sweetpepita, you can find it on the YetiLovesSeamonster blog

I substituted rice milk and I used my Martha mini loaf pan to make tiny little cakes. The frosting is just powdered sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla and rice milk. I added the rice milk until it was nice and creamy and I whipped it really well so it was light and fluffy. Mmmmm. So here are a couple of other updates on the home front. First, we went to our ultrasound a couple weeks ago and baby3 is superb and I'm feeling almost normal. It's a little bit strange to be in bed for so long at the beginning of pregnancy and then when I finally get up and start moving around again, I'm huge. Oh don't worry I'll get even bigger, I'm only half way there! They gave us another 3D shot this time, so cute. Baby has been kicking up a storm and we started childbirth classes in the Bradley Method taught here in Lancaster city by Kelly Cassidy a couple weeks ago. It's a refresher for me, and a beginners course for pops. It's really fun and informative. My first birth 8 years ago was a pretty sad home birth attempt/ emergency cesarean. But my second was a very successful almost pain free VBAC delivery. Thats the goal again this time! Bradley is really great because they teach you all sorts of information about what you body is going through, relaxation, prenatal exercises, medical interventions. It makes you feel really well informed and empowered when it comes time to birth that baby.
I tried my hand at dying some roving last week and that was a complete fiasco. I only did a little bit of wool because I have Procion dyes and they work best with plant fibers. I dyed some really beautiful tencel and bamboo in pink/purple, and yellow/green.
I love that stuff, so shiny, soft and silky! The gray yarn is some "black diamond" bamboo roving I spun. It's my favorite of them all. In other fibrous news I also squeezed through a little loop hole in my fabric buying strike and bought a pack of king sized organic sheets on clearance at Target for $30! I've been craving some organic fabric to go with some yarns I bought a while ago, but I'm not buying new fabric, remember? I'll dismantle the sheets, dye them in a variety of colors and see when I can do with them. Luckily the dye is still out from the roving mishap. This is the funniest.
It started out as beautiful light and fluffy wool and then it became a pink mass of sheep dreads. I have no idea what to do with it, does it need to be carded again? I have no means to do that though. Oh, so many silly little projects like this, but I do honestly have about a million ideas these days and I'm actually bringing them to life. I feel so much better about this craft business when I worry less about the business and more about the craft. I'll leave you with some happy family vegan dinner ideas that we've been eating around here lately.
Chili with 'cheese', no-smash guac, fruit salad, 'Red Hot Blues' chips

Miso soup, tofu-veggie rolls, salad, blood oranges

Baked potato, garlic sesame tofu, fruit salad, green salad, carrot apple juice

tofu salad on toast, potato salad, fruit, greens, tomatoes

veggie star pasta soup, 'cheesy bread' w/ pizza sauce, chard, rice milk


Happy Snow Day to All!

sweet success

Well I've done it. I have made vegan donuts and now I feel I may be capable of just about anything. The sky's the limit. I pretty much followed the recipe from my last post, but I substituted egg-replacer powder for 2 eggs instead of the potato starch. It's mostly potato starch anyway. It was so fun! The tedious dough rising phase wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. The hardest part it trying to juggle between the donuts that are frying and the ones that are glazing or cooling. You've got to move quick and constantly be regulating the oil temperature. I was pretty pleased with my little operation. I wish I knew some more vegans to have over for a treat, because the recipe makes a ton. I cut the donuts using a smallish glass, so I ended up getting 34 instead of the 12 suggested by the recipe. The flavor is very good as is the texture. I don't think I've ever had such a fresh (mostly organic) donut! Here's some more photographic evidence:

I will probably make these again someday when it's a special occasion/ holiday/ family gathering.
Mmmmmm delicious!

busy busy busy

I haven't been doing much of anything lumpkin related lately, but the excitement is building for some new ideas to come. Frankly, I can't wait for Spring to arrive. I get into such a funk over the winter, but Spring will come as it always does and with it my seasonal boost. And this Spring I have the added bonus of crazy pregnancy productivity so I am expecting big things. For now I'm doing little things around the house and such. This morning I am attempting to make vegan doughnuts. I settled on this recipe . Hopefully it will work out. I don't do much frying in my life but I've had a hankerin' for dough lately. I'm sure it will be way more trouble than it was worth. The dough is rising as we speak. Here some other things I've been attempting.

This is the front view of a sweater I knit for the baby while I was couchbound. I know it's blue, you're probably thinking it must be a boy, but I never reveal the sex, I just prefer darker colors for girl and boy babies. I used a gorgeous skein of KnittyDirtyGirl yarn that I had previously attempted to use for a knit hood, but there wasn't enough. I had just enough yarn to make this little sweater though. I knit it freestyle, as usual, but i think I managed to write down a vague pattern for it as I went this time.
That's the back view. I've been experimented with these rolled edges and random holes lately. I really like the way the handspun looks. The rolled edge is done in my standard Patons wool that I use for the seamonster collars. I have a ton of ideas for those little holes and a bunch of experiments to try soon. I love the handspun so much that I tried my hand at the drop spindle which I've been trying to avoid for fear of failure. Extreme boredom while on bed rest allowed me to overcome the fear and I gave it a try.

I only had some random roving that I've collected for felting over the years, but I gave it a try. I know nothing about the different types of wool, but it was fun trying them all out and seeing what was easier and struggling with the more challenging ones. I've since spun all the other roving in the back, the green one is bamboo which was my favorite. It was really wispy and messy but it was so beautiful and I was able to adjust the thickness better. I think that it was pretty fun, but I will probably resort to purchasing most of my handspun if I end up making any sweaters for the shop. Well, I'm off to fry up some dough. I'll take some shots to share with you soon....

New Look and Recipes Too

I've recently become annoyed with my banner in the Etsy shop

so I decided to make a new one this afternoon. Here's the one I'm currently trying out:

What do you think?
No, really... tell me...

In other news, I created a new salad dressing that i wanted to share.
M2 loved it because she saw me putting peanut butter in it, she eats at least 2 extra servings of salad every time I use this dressing. I think that's pretty good for a 3 year old.
I actually think it reminds her of the sauce they give with the spring rolls at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant . She would drink that stuff if I let her.

Asian Peanut Dressing
first mix the following ingredients together:
1 T. Peanut butter
1 T. soy sauce(tamari)
1t. maple syrup
1/2 t. toasted sesame oil
1 small clove chopped garlic
1/2 t. mirin (optional)
1/8c. rice wine vinegar
then slowly pour in
1/3 c. oil(safflower, flax, olive)
mixing vigorously as you add oil

You can substitute different sweetners or vinegars,
but make sure to keep the
peanut butter, garlic and sesame oil
that's what makes the recipe!

add water if you like it thinner
salt and pepper to your taste.


MMMMMMmmmmmm It's so good!
That was our dinner last night, with the tiny taters, patty pans I picked up at Eastern Market salad w/the new dressing and Boca vegan chicken patties. (I had the fake meat hankerin')

I'm also working on a new vegan chocolate chunk cookie recipe, I just want to try it out one more time before taking it public. So far it's the best.

Well, that's all for now, have a nice day everyone.

What Is Going ON?

I don't know if it's the end of the school year, or it's just me, but I'm feeling crazy busy right now. My calender is PACKED. I'm probably just worried about getting everything finished up and ready before we leave for our summer trip. Ah, the summer trip. (sigh) I had this idea last summer to travel to a new city over the this summer for an extended stay. The idea stemmed from my fear that if I don't start traveling now, then I will never travel, EVER. This fear is rooted in the fact that we decided to have our children young, before I did any major traveling, and since kids sometimes make it a little more challenging to take life on the road, we occasionally avoid travelling altogether. I'm kinda concerned that if I wait until I'm older to travel, I'll be too wimpy to leave my comfortable community. Enter--Cleveland Summer '07, (aka.,the trial run.) One of my finest pals lives there and has a spare room , so we can see how this idea pans out. I really can't imagine becoming MORE meek than I already am, but I fear it could get even uglier unless I take some preventative measures to combat my bovine nature. Inevitably, Kurt's death has forced me to be more venturesome, and I'm grateful for that. I don't know how I got onto this tangent, I guess I'm just trying to remind myself why I decided to add a travel element to our already kooky household. It'll be good...

In other news, my peas are up to my shoulders now, that's the tallest I've ever had. I'm very excited about them, and we also harvested our first strawberries of the season this weekend. they were delicious. Our out of town guest extravaganza was wonderful as always. The girls got the cutest little gifts from our Friends who visited. One of which was a little unfinished Matryoshka doll for M1. She painted it and penciled it and marked it with a face. She did an excellent job as usual. It also gave me an idea for the Lumpkin Shop...more details to follow;)

Today, we went out to the depot and wrangled up some strapping for a bunch of basket orders. I found one coveted blue strap. Ahhh. Mostly a million shades of green, which are all very lovely as well. Construction will have to begin tomorrow though, because I'm beat. Literally, M2 just gave me my nightly mental bruising, with her usual fit about tuck-in time. I should have taken a picture of her grimy tear-streaked face, but it would probably inflict upon you the same nightmares it does me. What? You can't take it?

Ohh ohh ohh, I almost forgot something good. I had the happiest little dinner tonight. Fake Mac and "Cheese" and a Fake "dog" with salad and applesauce. It was a very comforting meal- a way better version of a childhood favorite of mine (Kraft Mac and Spam) That's right I said SPAM! What, that's vegan right? Here's a new favorite salad dressing recipe I created:

Flowery Balsamic Dressing
Wisk the following ingredients together and use as dressing or marinade
1/4 c. Balsamic Vinegar
1/3c. Oil or Flax oil
1t. spicy beer mustard
2 t. fresh chopped chives
1 purple chive flower fresh from the garden and broken to bits
salt/pepper to taste

Now that's a good note to end on. Goodnight!

Night-Before-Market meal

'Twas the night before market day, when all through the fridge, not a fruit could go wasted, not even a veg... the farmers market here in Lancaster is open on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. I'm on a Tuesday schedule at the moment and so tomorrow is my day to visit Laura and her little organic stand again. But first comes the task of using up all the random veggies left from last weeks trip.

"The Stragglers"
fingerling potatoes
half a lime
half a red pepper
half a tomato
onion
green beans

"Supporting players"
leftover mushroom onion gravy
block of tofu
ketchup
peanut butter
cumin
soy sauce
olive oil
salt/pepper

the menu
(peanut lime tofu, greenbeans w/cooked salsa, boiled fingerling potatoes and gravy)

Peanut Lime Tofu
1 block extra firm tofu
1 T. olive oil
2 T. soysauce
2 T. ketchup
2 T. peanut butter
1/4 t. ground cumin
juice of half a lime

Heat oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Cut tofu into 1/2 squares, and add to pan. In a small bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over tofu. Continue to fry until the sauce is soaked in and the tofu is crisped to your liking.

Green Beans w/cooked salsa
1/2 pound of green beans
1 T. olive oil
1/2 tomato
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic chopped
1/2 red pepper
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of cumin
squeeze of whatever's left in that lime

Wash and trim ends off of beans and steam until just cooked. Heat oil in small frying pan, and add remaining ingredients. Cook until softened. Drain water from beans, and toss with salsa.

This meal should feed four, if two of those people are little girls and another one never shows up for dinner cause he's always too many hours away.