As seen in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts, 2011
September 3, 2011 at 9:33 pm | Posted in art, Christmas, country life, faith, family, food, knitting, Life, love, recipes, relationships, shopping, socks, Vintage, weight loss, Weight Watchers | 9 CommentsTags: art, country living, home, inspiration, knitting, Life, women
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I have another “As seen in…” to report, dear readers. Interweave Knit’s Holiday Gifts, 2011 issue will hit newsstands on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 and our Knitter’s Eye Charts are featured in the issue in the Gifts for Knitter’s section.
They wrote to me earlier in the summer, and of course I was very excited to learn they wanted to feature our Eye Chart in the issue. Both Interweave and Vogue (Vogue Knitting Fall 2011) had me send them a copy of the Eye Chart for a photo shoot … I am looking forward to seeing how Interweave Knits approached theirs.
We were in good company in the Vogue Knitting magazine. The piece focused on knitting related art for the walls, and ours was in the number one position on the page. It is a little difficult to get my hands on some magazines out here in the country, so if you get the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2011 issue and spot our Eye Chart in there, I would love to hear your report. If you do see it and can send a photo — that would be something along the lines of awesome.
I am soooooo close to finishing the scrunchie, slouchy socks for little Sweet Pea and publishing the pattern for you guys. There are so many things to do, and I just need this one year of my life to have twice as many hours in my days … please, pretty please.
My son just released a few beautiful retouched vintage/antique maps he’s been working on. He is such a hard working guy, I admire him very much. He sent me one map as a surprise for my birthday back in early August. It was a map of one of the villages we live near (we live sort of between two villages). The painstaking retouching he did on that map was amazing, and he had it printed especially for me on watercolor paper. The printing was exquisite, the colors rich … and the retouching he did was impeccable.
The three he has released on his blog are of Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles. I had to order the Brooklyn map for my husband because of the boats and ships in the harbor — he is a boat kind of a man. It was a nice surprise for him when it came in the mail this week, and we both loved being on the receiving end of my sons carefully thought out, aesthethic packaging. The whole experience of being his customer (not just his mom) was a great, and it makes me proud that my son is this kind of an artist and business person.
One more thing, a while back I promised to share my Black Bean Hummus recipe … and I missed doing that. I wanted to share it with you now in case any of you want to give it a try this holiday weekend. It is super simple, and so delicious!
Black Bean Hummus
1 can black beans (14 oz size) — not drained, keep the liquid
4 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup walnuts
pinch of sea salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
a big handful of Cilantro (optional)
Grind up the walnuts in your blender until they are very fine–I used a hand-operated chopper to do this.
Put the black beans, with the liquid, in a blender. Add lime juice. (Or, if you prefer to use a hand-held immersion blender, put the beans with liquid and lime juice in bowl.)
Add salt, cayenne pepper and Cilantro (be sure to wash the Cilantro first).
Blend until somewhat smooth — doesn’t have to be perfect.
Add the walnuts and blend more.
That’s it. The hummus is ready to dip some tortilla chips in. If you are on Weight Watchers, you will want to measure out just about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the hummus along with only one serving of tortilla chips. Even with the measuring, this is very satisfying as a mini-meal for Weight Watchers and is only a few points, as long as you do measure and calculate points before you munch!
I’ve lost 13 pounds now, and it feels great!
Hope you have a beautiful holiday weekend!
~firefly
Recipe: Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan
August 24, 2011 at 3:12 pm | Posted in country living, family, food, gardening, recipes, weight loss, Weight Watchers | 5 CommentsTags: culture, farm, farm life, food, home, inspiration, recipes, women
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This is my Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan recipe … shared with love. I hope you give it a try. It is especially good if you can get your hands on eggplant from a local farm market rather than at the grocery store. I have noticed the eggplants we buy at the farm stand are more tender and have less seeds than those I can find in a grocery store.
This recipe serves two. It is quick and simple to prepare, Weight Watcher friendly, and a tasty way to enjoy fresh eggplant. The recipe calls for breadcrumbs; if you are using this as a Weight-Watcher recipe be mindful what you use for bread crumbs. I have made this recipe using homemade bread crumbs tossed in olive oil and Italian herbs, baked in the oven until browned. However, while dieting I bake the bread crumbs without tossing them in oil. Or, try buying store-bought bread crumbs that are only toasted bread (read the ingredients and pick a brand that just has “wheat bread” or something like that for the ingredients).
Ingredients
One medium-sized eggplant
4 tsp olive oil
1 to 1-1/2 cups any marinara sauce*
1/2 to 2/3 cups prepared bread crumbs*
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese*
Thick-sliced mushrooms, any amount you choose to use
(For items marked with *, if you are following Weight Watchers, decide on amount to use based on the PointsPlus values you can allow for this meal.)
Preparation
Grill mushrooms until lightly browned on indoor grill.
Cut eggplant into 1/2″ diagonal slices. Rub olive oil on both sides of eggplant slices. When the mushrooms come off the grill, set them aside and get the eggplants grilling. Grill eggplants until tender but not mushy — this will not take very long, so watch them closely.
While eggplant is grilling, heat up marinara sauce on stove top.
Once eggplants come off the grill, arrange them on two plates. Spoon marinara sauce over the eggplants; sprinkle grated Parmesan over marinara sauce and top that with bread crumbs, followed by mushrooms.
That’s it — simple, and quite delicious. Healthy, low-calorie, satisfying!
~firefly
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