Feeling crafty

I'm starting to amass a pile of crafty projects...

In my queue are:

* finishing up a present for my mom. Her birthday was the 14th of July. I've ripped this item out twice and am casting on yet again. I being extra perfectionist about it. My mom deserves the best, what can I say?

* knitting a matching baby hat to the socks I've already knit.

* crayon roll for each girl

* cloth baby shoes, for various and sundry individuals, including myself.

* finishing the recycled jeans bathroom rug project (so tedious to prepare the strips for knitting...)

* a play cloak for each of my girls - I have all the fabric & notions & pattern already.

* tracing my favorite, yet horribly stained skirt so I can make a few more to last out the summer.

* cloth (cotton, hemp, wool) nursing pads.

* new hand knit diaper covers for littles

* finishing up the diapers I started making when lily was a baby. they are size large, so I've still got some time, but I would just like to be done with the whole thing.

* mini dream pillows with non-allergy-inducing herbs for each girl.

I think that's all. That's all I can remember at any rate. It's enough to last me a little while, at least. :)

O-R-E-oh!

I just perfected a chocolate sandwich cookie recipe. You know the ones. People like to dip 'em in milk... You can get them obscenely "double-stuffed"... My one true pregnancy vice with Lily... (Sit me down with a stack of cookies and a glass of milk and call it dinner. Perhaps this is why I gained almost 60lbs with her.)

We're driving down state tomorrow - approximately a 4hr drive - to go to a failed family reunion. I was trying to think of portable bribes, I mean, snacks for the children when things start to get hairy around the 3 1/2 hr mark. Inspired by a recipe in a book whose title I cannot remember, Aevryn and I set aside the afternoon to bake cookies. In the sweltering 80+ degree, one million percent humidity, we somehow forged on. I'm sure all the chocolate cookie dough she could shove in her mouth when she thought I wasn't looking was motivation enough for Aevryn. Knowing that I have a neat treat for my littles was enough for me.

Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 C arrowroot
1 C cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vit c crystals (or cream of tartar)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 C palm shortening (or coconut oil or similar)
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C water
1 tsp vanilla extract (in our case, homemade with vodka)

Yield: approximately 80 cookies

Preheat oven to 350*F

* Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.

* In the stand mixer or with a hand mixer, whip maple syrup & shortening. Add vanilla extract.

* Add dry mixture into wet by scoopfuls, letting it mix well before putting more in.

* It will be a bizarre texture. Not quite dough-like, not quite frosting, but some nebulous inter-region. Kind of like the middle of a truffle, actually. You can smoosh it together with your hands to make a big ball if you are so inclined.

* Scoop out a hunk of dough with a teaspoon (like a measuring spoon, not the spoon with which you stir tea). Roll it into a ball in your hands. Press down to 1/8 to 1/4" thick discs onto a VERY LIGHTLY greased cookie sheet. I used a half of a tea ball as a cookie cutter. It's somewhere between 1 and 2 inches in diameter. Peel the excess dough away.

* Bake for 12 minutes at 350*F.

* Allow to cool completely before trying to make sandwich cookies with a filling. I've considered straight up frosting, jam, and nut butter. None of those are particularly portable, though all tasty. So, I'm developing a "white stuff" recipe. I believe it's going to involve shortening, vanilla, maple syrup & arrowroot. We shall see. Aevryn is in full afternoon-heat melt-down (literally) mode, so I will have to experiment another time.

If you make these, let me know how they worked out for you, and if you made them into sandwiches. If so, please share what you used and how that turned out as well. Thanks!

Tea Popsicles!

Thanks to the fabulous Soule Mama for the inspiration.

I've been struggling to drink my pregnancy tea. It tasted just way too green there for a couple weeks, but now it's tasting perfectly perfect. I think my recent cheese & leafy greens cravings point to a need for calcium right now. My heaping handful of nettles is glad to oblige.

I think pregnancy tea popsicles will be a great way to have a cool treat in this sweltering heat, while also providing good nutrition for myself and the growing alien, er, baby within.

Scrumptious Magical Chocolate Mousse Cherry pie

Warning: this is a first attempt that I totally made up on the fly this morning, and this is my best recollection over 12hrs later. If it looks, feels or tastes "off" fuss with it until it's right to your tastes. My finished product this afternoon was out of control yummy, but I need to recreate it a few times before I can totally vouch for it.

Chocolate Cookie Crust

3 tbsp arrowroot
3 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp palm shortening
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/16 tsp vit c crystals

In one bowl mix all dry ingredients. In another, mix shortening & syrup until well-blended. Mix dry into wet. This mixture will be thick and frosting-like. Press into a greased 10in pie pan. This is messy. Use your hands, lightly wet with water and a rubber spatula. Bake at 350*f for 20-25min. It will seem fluffy when hot, but will crisp up when cooled. Cool in fridge before filling.

Chocolate Mousse Filling

3 ripe avocados
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend avocados with maple syrup & vanilla in food processor. Transfer to bowl & stir in cocoa powder by hand. Cover and cool in fridge.

Cherry Glaze topping

2 cups pitted cherries
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp arrowroot + 2 tbsp (additional) water, mixed in a "slurry"

Boil cherries & water until cherries are soft. Transfer to food processor & puree. Transfer back to pan and return to boil. Stir in arrowroot/water slurry. Simmer & stir until mixture thickens. Transfer to bowl and allow to cool before glazing. [Alternatively, I'm considering just boiling the cherries, puree-ing and then reboiling down into a syrup for next time. This turned out a bit runny yet for my likes. Though still tasty.]

Assembly

Spoon mousse into cooled crust. Spread evenly. Pour cherry glaze over top. Store in fridge & serve cooled.

extremes

Yesterday was a fantastic day.

Today was not.

But, at the end of the day, Lily apologized and picked me a bouquet of wildflowers.

Tomorrow is a new day.

too hott too blogg

cleaned the guinea pig cages; vacuumed the entire house; dropped off book at library; got new baby two outfits at resale store; lunch on the riverside watching an overprotective mama swan & her two fuzzy babies; deposited garage sale money at bank; aevryn demanded (and received) a haircut; downtown to book- & toy-stores; picked up 1/3 of a half of a cow; delivered half to my parents; picked up dinner from co-op on the way home; kids in bed by 8.

still, one of the best days we've had in quite a while.

also: dear god, please let it rain and cool off. amen.

I could have been a contender!

I lost the cherry pie contest. Well, didn't lose, exactly, but didn't even place. The pies all melted; it was terrible. The 1st place pie was actually a cherry-blueberry and was the wheatiest pie of ever. Probably delicious, but still. Totally opposite of me. We had a great time at the actual picnic, though, so that's what really matters. Lily spent a good hour picking & eating wild mulberries.