On My Needles

I am liking this pattern.....

...stay tuned!

Skinny Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Here is another pasta dish that has been on my 'weekly' list for a few week, which I finally made it as a side dish last night. It was really good! The proof for me was my mom; she does NOT like mac and cheese and she ate this dish saying it was "really good!"  Yay!

Although I will direct you to the actual recipe; I will also give you my version of the dish. Just like my knitting patterns, I tend to change recipes too.  I recently shared with  follow blogger, Tanna, that I see patterns and recipes as suggestions.

The actual recipe is from 'Damn Delicious' and can be found here.

My version:

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil, in the bottom of the pan
2. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
3. 4 cups brown rice elbows pasta (cooked)
4. 1 head cauliflower (cooked)
5. garlic powder
6. 1 cup whole-fat plain yogurt
7. 1.6 oz soft  gruyere cheese (2 wedges)
8. 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
9. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sprinkle the top lightly with bread crumbs

*WW pts+ (1/8 of 9x13 casserole) 4

*Points were calculated on WW's Recipe Builder

Sorelle Sweater to Leaf Blanket

The Sorelle Lace Edge Sweater was really going well (was is the key word here), but.....

the pattern calls for cotton and I thought I could use a worsted weight to make it a more fall/winter sweater rather than a spring/summer sweater. Well, I was wrong! (not the first time ;) ) The sweater really was not falling and draping nicely and I figured if I kept on going, I would probably finish it and never wear it. So, I decided since I really like the yarn, I would use it for the second baby gift I want to make. I found a really pretty leaf baby blanket on Ravelry. Last night I started the blanket and this morning I am happy with how it is progressing. 

Of course, me being me, I have changed it a bit. The pattern says to use double strands and cast on 100 stitches. I don't want a baby blanket that bulky, especially since this baby is due to arrive in April. So, I cast on 160 stitches using only one strand of the worsted weight yarn.  This morning I took it off the needles, laid it out on the floor to see how wide it really would be and it is PERFECT! I will post pictures of it in progress later and of course when it is finally complete.

Wishing my followers a wonderful weekend!

Mac and Cheese Muffins

I have been waiting to try these little bites for a few weeks and finally today I did.  This is a picture of them before they went into the oven. Smells so good!

I baked them for 12 minutes, but probably should've baked them the full 15 minutes as the recipe suggests. I was worried that they would just get too hard. However,  when they came out of the oven they were only slightly golden, and did not hold together when I attempted to take them out of the pan. So, I left them in the pan, covered the tin and put in the refrigerator. I don't mind that they won't look like a muffin when we eat them. I am happy that they are portioned into 12 equal amounts, which gives me better control eating them.

As a member of Weight Watchers I am happy knowing each portion is just 4 points+.   With that information, I won't overindulge as I might if I was just spooning portions onto my plate.

The recipe is from Emily Bites you can get the recipe here.

Grow Your Blog Starts Today

I am very excited to be participating in Vicki's Grow Your Blog event, which starts today.  There are over 400 blogs participating. If you care to see the list and visit some interesting blogs stop by Vicki's 2 Bags Full and check out the list.

Earlier this month I posted a bit about myself and the event here! However, because I know that many bloggers may be stopping by for a visit today, I am copying and pasting that post again today.

My name is Rose and as you can guess by the title of my blog, I am an Italian grandmother, and

proud of it.  I enjoy knitting, cooking, writing and being busy, so I do a lot of volunteer work. I have been knitting for 30 years and finally consider myself an expert knitter.  I do hope if you find my blog you will become one of my followers. I have linked my blog to some very talented and creative people, please check them out too!

One of those talented people I have discovered is the very talented and creative Vick over at  '2 Bags Full.'  Vick is the host of "Grow Your Blog" which starts today,  and I am so happy to be among those joining the group. If it was not for Tanna at Brick Street Bungalow I would never have discovered Vicki or this event.

The few of you following my blog, know that I had a pretty progressive nine year old knitting blog prior to starting this blog, as well as, a cooking blog and a photography blog.  Life happens, and I made the decision to take down all three blogs. However, I missed blogging and felt sad that my readers must've wondered what happened to me, THE KNIGHTLY KNITTER!  Although, it is doubtful that everyone who previously read my blog(s) will find me again, this is a new day, a new blog and time to find new readers. So, with that, I have joined "Grow Your Blog" party.

Thanks again to Tanna for alerting me to this great idea.  She is one of my original followers who found me because I never stopped following her! She so inspires me.

A few samples of my crafts:


KNITTING

BAKING

SEWING

GARDENING

PHOTOGRAPHY

COOKING

Chilly Night Chili Party

First, Let me share the concept of the party and all of the delicious pots of chili brought to the party last evening.

Our good friends, Nancy and Ron decided it would be fun to invite a bunch of people over for a chili tasting party. Everyone brought a version of chili they thought might be a "winner."  The pots were labeled and numbered so later anyone wishing to "buy" a vote could vote on their favorite chili. Each vote costed $5.00. Once everyone had the opportunity to taste all varieties and vote, the winning chili was announced. 

Read on to find out which chili won and to get the recipe!

Cheesy Chicken Chili

Beef Chili 

Two versions of Venison Chili

Turkey Chili

Vegetarian Chili (my creation), Chili con Carne, and Turkey Tostilla Chili 

Chicken White Bean Chili, Taco Chili, and Spicy Three Bean Chili

 Another white chicken chili and a third version of venison chili have been inadvertently  omitted from the photo list above. Third version of venison chili was actually my husband's favorite.

Knitting friends enjoying the evening together.

My dear husband making sure he tastes my chili!

Our hostess, Nancy, on the right.

Noah is not only a beautiful dog, but unbelievably well behaved.
With all the scents filling the house he never once begged, cried or barked.

Abby won the vote for her Cheesy Chicken Chili

My vegetarian chili may not have won the overall vote, but Allison (to the left of Abby in the above photo) is a vegetarian and she had two bowls full and said it was delicious! Since I never made the recipe before, coming from a sworn vegetarian, I feel complimented! If you would like the recipe I used please visit Planning the Globe

Cheesy Chicken Chili Crockpot

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 can Rotel

1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch

8 ounces cream cheese

1 tsp. cumin

1 Tbl. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

2 boneless chicken breasts

Drain and rinse beans, place chicken in bottom of crock pot; pour corn, Rotel, and beans on top. Add seasonings and ranch mix; stir together. Place cream cheese on top, cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low. Shred chicken, stir and serve. Add hot sauce for more spice (optional)

Beautiful, Natural, White Blanket

We had been warned that this winter could be worse than last winter, but thus far this beautiful, 8" deep fluffy blanket of white is the first real accumulation of the season.

So peaceful to wake up to snow-covered  land!

Comic Relief

Maile Sweater

One of two baby gifts is completed and ready to be mailed.  I knit Nikki Van De Car's Maile Sweater and love it! I think the recipient will be happy.

 I really like how the lacy details goes all the way around the bottom of the sweater, and the laciness at the shoulders.

The raglan decrease at the back of the sweater made a nice detailed effect too.

The sweater is actually bright yellow as depicted in the first picture, showing the front of the sweater. When I found this pattern on Ravelry, I thought there was only one size; the size given, however as I got near the end of the sweater things were not adding up correctly, so I went to Nikki's blog for help. There I found errata for the pattern and discovered that there are actually three sizes to this pattern. Nikki shares only one size on Ravelry, the other sizes are in her book. She does give corrections for all the sizes, however, on her blog.  Now, that I know the corrections and made it through the odd way Nikki has you attach the sleeves, I would make this sweater again. It really is adorable.

Pattern is here on Ravelry and the corrections are found here on Nikki's "What to Knit When" blog. Do yourself a favor and read through both before you start knitting. 

The sweater took less than a skien of fingering weight yarn.

Lemon-RIcotta Pasta with Seared Scallops

Last night's dinner was another very quick, easy and delicious meal.

Lemon-Pasta with Seared Scallops

I found this recipe on Pinterest, but I went to the original site for the recipe when making it last night. The only change I will make the next time is to add a bit of pasta cooking water to the dish because it was a bit dry, but that did not take away from the deliciousness!

Find the recipe on Crumb Blog.

Italian Wonderpot

Tonight I made the "Italian Wonderpot," a recipe I found on Pinterest.  It was quick, easy and delicious! Both, my husband and my mother, cleaned their bowls. Both agreed it is a recipe worth repeating and would be a definite meatless meal this Lenten season. However, there was on slight issue...the spiciness. 

Italian Wonderpot

My husband is not particularly found of overly spicy foods. This recipe calls for red pepper flakes, which I have learned I need to use less of if I want him to enjoy the meal. So, when I read the recipe called for FOUR teaspoons (yes FOUR!) of red pepper flakes I decided to only use 2 teaspoons. It was a good thing I did, because even at that the dish had heat. So much heat that my husband began to complain and had to sooth is burning lips with an after dinner popsicle (poor guy).

While we were cleaning up the kitchen, I decided to check the recipe again and know what I discovered?  

Two versions of the recipe!

Typically I go to the site from which the Pinterest post originate, but not tonight, oh no, I cooked from the Pinterest post and there it said to use 4 tsp red pepper flakes! 

Now, read on to the second version of the recipe; the recipe from the site, Budget Bytes, and you will see that the recipe actually calls for ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, big difference!!

The amount of garlic is different also, the recipe I followed, said to use 2 cloves, the original recipe says to use 4 cloves. 

I will correct both the red pepper flakes and the garlic the next time I make the Italian Wonderpot. 

Since the dish was considered a repeat even with the extra heat; I am thinking my family will really enjoy it next time I make it.

This is the recipe I followed is on the Pinterest page: (which I copied and pasted here for you)

Produce

1 3/4	1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1	2 tbsp dried basil $0.07, dried
1	2 tbsp dried oregano $0.07, dried
3/4	8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, frozen
4	Cloves garlic $0.32
1	Onion $0.43, medium

Canned Goods

1/2	4 cups vegetable broth Pasta & Grains 1 1/3 12 oz. fettuccine Baking & Spices 1 4 tsp red pepper flakes $0.02 1/8 Pepper, freshly cracked Oils & Vinegars 1/3 2 tbsp olive oil Dairy 3/4 2 oz. feta cheese

AND..........

This recipe from  Budget Bytes: (which I copied and pasted here for you)

Italian Wonderpot

 

Save Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Author: Inspired by Apron Strings

Total Cost: $6.52

Cost Per Serving: $1.09

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4 cups vegetable broth $0.52
• 2 Tbsp olive oil $0.32
• 12 oz. fettuccine $1.33
• 8 oz. frozen chopped spinach $0.79
• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes $1.73
• 1 medium onion $0.43
• 4 cloves garlic $0.32
• ½ Tbsp dried basil $0.07
• ½ Tbsp dried oregano $0.07
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes $0.02
• freshly cracked pepper to taste $0.05
• 2 oz. feta cheese $0.87

Instructions

1. Add four cups of vegetable broth to a large pot. Break the fettuccine in half to make stirring easier later, and then add it to the pot. Also add the canned tomatoes (undrained), olive oil, frozen spinach, onion (thinly sliced), garlic (thinly sliced), basil, oregano, red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper.
2. Make sure the ingredients are submerged under the liquid, place a lid on top of the pot, and then turn the heat on to high. Allow the pot to come up to a full, rolling boil over high heat then remove the lid and turn the heat down to medium.
3. Allow the pot to continue to boil over medium heat, without a lid, for 10-15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir the pot every few minutes as it cooks to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom, but avoid over stirring which can cause the pasta to become sticky and mushy. The pot must be boiling the entire time.
4. After the pasta is cooked, crumble the feta cheese over top and serve.

Spaghetti is Love

It must be an Italian thing...."Spaghetti is Love" as Mario Batali once stated is a statement I have to agree with. There really is little else that makes me feel "at home" than the smell of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove. The scent takes me back to being a little girl and feeling loved at home with my mom, my dad, my brothers, sister, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and when I was really young my maternal grandmother. Sunday was not Sunday without sauce and family!

When my children were growing up we'd often go to my parents' house on Sunday for spaghetti, and then later, when my children got older, I would make sauce every Sunday and family would gather here for Sunday dinner.

Times change, children grow up, they move away, and what once were traditions become memories. Good, happy memories.

This past Sunday, I decided to make a large pot of spaghetti sauce, and the house filled with the aroma as my husband and I were cozy in the family room, with a fire in the fireplace watching football, and my mom was comfy in her special chair reading.

It was just the three of us for Sunday spaghetti dinner, and that was fine, because I was definitely "home!"

Computer Techy....NOT!

Sunday I decided it would be fun to update my blog. I wanted to add 'widgets' and 'gadgets' so it would look more like my old blog "Knightly Knitter." I did just that. I added "Linkwithin" so you could easily find other posts you might be interested. I added "Follow me on Pinterest" so you could see other things that interest me and might interest you as well. I was able to highlight on the right sidebar most popular posts, and a few other extras. However, while working on my blog, I noticed there were 'share' buttons under my posts, which would allow anyone to share my posts and information on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Well, the whole purpose of deleting "Knightly Knitter" and starting this blog, was for the sake of privacy, so certainly I didn't want live share buttons on my new blog.

Being the motivated person that I am, I decided I could fix that!

I proceeded to go into the HTML portion of the blog's template and look for the area in the data that might mention share icons.  The computer dialogue looked something like this:

</b:includable>

              <b:includable id='postQuickEdit' var='post'>

  <b:if cond='data:post.editUrl'>

    <span expr:class='&quot;item-control &quot; + data:post.adminClass'>

      <a expr:href='data:post.editUrl' expr:title='data:top.editPostMsg'>

        <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/>

      </a>

    </span>

  </b:if>

</b:includable>

Greek to me, but I still thought I could figure it out so, I began to cut and delete what I thought would take care of the issue.  WRONG!

After going onto a blogger discussion board a very kind person told me all I had to do was go to the layout page of the blog and click on the post edit link there and a pop box would give me the option of turning off the share buttons. Great!

That worked, but guess what? With the cutting/deleting I did prior to the helpful suggest, I  lost the "leave a comment" ability under my posts.  Sigh!

I read a bit more, and discovered I could revert the template to default settings, which I have done. So, after I post this today there is a SLIGHT chance posting comments will be possible, but I am not holding my breath. So, just in case, you will notice on the right side bar, I  embedded a template for readers to email me comments and messages as I continue to work on resolving my problem. Sigh again!

Morale of the story...."Keep out from where you do NOT belong!"