We got to go to a fun, family party last night, so my Saturday dinner plans are now on this week for Monday. This also means that I will share the beet salad recipe on Saturday, so I can post with pictures.

The weather is making a lot of our life a little more difficult, so we had some garden/produce disappointments this past week that we are mourning. However, dear Rich got a bunch of our birds in the freezer, so they aren't roaming around and we have wonderful meat for the year. This is our first time trying muscovy meat, and we have heard it is almost like red meat. I'm excited to try it. Our neighbors are probably excited not to see so many of our birds wandering. We really need to get more fencing up on the property.

We are eating more soup because of that weather, and I am so happy. I love soup. Part of our preserving our budget is also eating soups (and legumes), and I try to serve soup or stew once a week even in the summer, and at least one meal that is based in legumes. This week, we are having three soups, which is really pushing it for Rich, but he is a good sport about it, and three legume meals (one a soup!), though two of those have meat in them. Rich really prefers soups that are creamy or thick, so at least two of these fit that description. If you are trying to keep your budget well, soups and stews are great. Beans and other legumes are protein and calcium rich foods that are an integral part of many different cultures' cuisines, and can be made in so many different delcious ways. They also have the benefit of being inexpensive and filling - especially if you cook them from dry.

Since this week contains many feasts and memorials, we have a busy time ahead of us. We do celebrate Halloween, as the fun, trick or treat and costume celebration, but we also very much remember all the saints, which is why we celebrate it in the first place. We will be praying for all the souls who have passed, as well, this week. Have a fun All Hallow's Eve, but also please remember why we celebrate.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Spiced Prune Cake (GF for Jerome), Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Bean and Bacon Soup, Sides/Salads/Bread/Fruit/Desserts brought by Parishioners
• Monday - Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
  Breakfast: Chorizo and Vegetable Hash, Toast, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Waraq ‘Ounab, Rice, Harissa, Sah'awiq, Moroccan Beet Salad*, Olive Bread
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with Chopped Apples, Raisins, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Hobbit Dinner (Sausage, Potato, Cauliflower, Carrot and Onion Skillet), Green Salad, Fruit Plate
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Potato and Vegetable Hash with Salsa, Fruit Plate, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Croatian Roux Soup with Croutons, Salad, Sliced Apples
• Thursday - Eve of the Feast of All Saints
  Breakfast: Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches (GF for Jerome), Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Columbian Beans and Rice, Corn Tortillas, Salad, Fruit Plate
• Friday - Feast of All Saints
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Spanish Farmer's Rice, Spanish Poor Man's Potatoes, Fruit Plate
• Saturday - Comemoration of All Souls
  Breakfast: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle, Chorizo Patties, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Cream of Jalapeño Soup, Crackers (GF for Jerome), Fruit Plate

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Preserving the Harvest, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:54 AM 0 comments

The final version of Shallal is knit and finished, but still needs photography. I've made progress on the baptismal gown sleeves, though. I figured out the stitch count for the yarn I am using and how many repeats to work, and now I'm more than halfway through the first one. Oh, and I started Amelia's Saint Nicholas stocking.

There are a few other projects on needles, and a couple on hooks, for grandbabies and Christmas and so on. I've accidentally taken a break from design knitting, but that is because I have one that was giving me trouble that I need to fix and another that is almost finished, but I don't want to pick it up until I finish the problem child.

So, basically I am trying to decide if I should put all the designs on the back burner and work on some of the Christmas projects, especially since I haven't taken my sabbatical months this year the way I normally do, and there are some people whose gifts might be deliverable in person over Thanksgiving, or if I should knuckle down and at least get the problem child finished and edited so I can publish it this year and finish a collection that has been open a little too long. I also have another stocking to knit, and want to get that finished. Though that is for Old Calendar family, which gives me an extra 13 days!

That brings me to the other design project I'd like to have finished: The Pascha basket cover design. 2025 is the next time East and West celebrate the Paschal feast together, and the one after that isn't until 2028. I wanted to make it a knit along, and have it start during Clean Week and end at Lazarus Saturday, with Holy Week and Bright Week being when people can share their pictures and so on of their finished covers. If I don't work on it for 2025, it will go on the back burner for another two and a half years, at least. What say ye?

My goal is for us to finish Emma before Thanksgiving. I really thought we could finish before the end of the month, but life keeps throwing stuff at us that makes our time more compressed. Normally, when we are reading something like this, we read three to four chapters at a shot, and lately it's been more like one or two. Deck the Donuts is still my brain candy reading, and I like it, but even that has been a little more time than I could take recently. It should be finished by my next Craft On post.

Hooray! I was able to pick up Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages and read a little more. Again, I don't agree with all of her conclusions, but her information is fascinating, and the history she gives is fantastic.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Books, Design, Homemaking, Knitting, Patterns, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 5:05 PM 0 comments

We celebrated Amelia's birthday this weekend! She is growing so much and we love her more each day.

I keep thinking we will be finished with the preserving, but there always seems to be a little more. We still have tomatoes to finish and a little more apple pie filling to make. The apple scrap vinegar is a great side product from all the peels and trimmings. And we'll probably smoke some more tomatoes and make more tomato powder.

Our week was challenging and some menu items were moved around so we have repeats this week. We also were given a bounty of eggplant, and used some on Friday, and will be using more this week. If we still have some, I will turn it into caponata for the freezer and pull it out when we need a quick Lenten meal.

Also, I know I was supposed to share a recipe this weekend, but we didn't get it made, so I didn't have a photo, and I thought I'd wait until I had a picture of it for you to share. We are trying again this week, and I should be able to make it because we don't have the weird appointments and schedule shifts that we did last week.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Pancakes and Maple Syrup, Bacon, Grapes, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Kofta and Potato Stew, Sides/Salads/Fruit brought by Parish Members, Leftover Birthday Cake
• Monday - Feast of Saint Hilarion the Great
  Breakfast: Spiced Prune Cake (GF for Jerome), Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pepperoni Pizzas with Peppers, Red Onion, and Tomato, Green Salad, Mandarin Oranges
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins with Cashew Butter, Fruit Plate, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Cream of Jalapeño Soup, Crackers (GF for Jerome), Fruit Plate
• Wednesday - Feast of Saint James of Jerusalem
  Breakfast: Potato and Vegetable Breakfast Tacos with Salsa, Fruit Plate, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Moroccan Lentils with Eggplant and Cauliflower, Rice, Moroccan Beet and Onion Salad*, Fruit Plate
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Overnight Breakfast Enchiladas with Egg, Chorizo and Diced Tomatoes, Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Bacon Cheeseburgers, Potato Wedges, Pickles, Fruit Plate
• Friday - Feast of Saints Crispin and Crispian
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Spanish Farmer's Rice, Spanish Poor Man's Potatoes, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Savory Parmesan French Toast with Hollandaise Sauce, Fruit Plate, Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Waraq ‘Ounab, Rice, Harissa, Tomato Salad, Fruit Plate

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Preserving the Harvest, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 4:21 AM 0 comments

I have finished all of the H'ammaam spa set and the prototype for Shallal. Now, I am working on the second, final version of Shallal and the pattern is all written. That feels good after a tough time getting my thoughts together.

Besides that, I am making progress on the baptismal gown sleeves, and hope to have both sleeves finished in just a couple weeks.

We are more than halfway through Emma. I've finished two more happy, little, doughnut murders, and I'm on the sixth in the series, Deck the Donuts, which precipitated a bizarre dream involving a former colleague of Rich's bringing us a pre-decorated, fake Christmas tree, and another bringing us three more. Which were upside down. Then meeting up with Colin Firth who came over for snacks and drinks. And could speak Arabic. It's been a hard time and my brain is doing weird things. I still haven't had a doughnut, though.

I got to read a very little in Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, but then we had more difficulties and I couldn't think enough to engage with it.

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

Labels: Books, Design, FOs, Homemaking, Knitting, Patterns, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 4:58 PM 0 comments

The peppers are finished! We still have a lot in our fridge, but we are using them in cooking. Unless we get another crate, we are finished with freezing and drying them. We are still working on apples. I want to get enough applesauce and dried apples and apple scrap vinegar made so we only have apples to fill a couple drawers in our produce fridge. I still need to make the salsa, though, and we are going to smoke some more tomatoes to preserve and turn the skins into more smoked tomato powder (which is fantastic in rice dishes, soups, sauces, added to meatballs, or in sour cream based dips). We also just picked up 50 pounds of yellow onions and 25 pounds of red onions which store really well, so mostly they are just going into storage for us to use over the next few months, but we are also going to dry (outside) some of the yellow onions to put into an onion dip mix that I will be making as part of our Christmas presents this year.

This week is the anniversary of Rich and my first date. It is 30 years since we count our first date. I don't remember if I've shared that story here, but we started that night not on a date and ended it on a date. Since times are tight, we are using a bunch of gift certificates that we have to have a progressive lunch date. Then, I am making a special dinner for us at home.

God is so good to us. With all the continually rising prices, He keeps providing for us in markdowns at the store, things we need from our gleaning group, and even produce that is still coming from our garden. One thing I have learned, too, is that apples that aren't that great (sorry, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Gala apples) can be made much better through drying them. I don't know why, but even the most bland and sad apples taste really good when dried. So, that's your tip for what to do with apples you aren't thrilled with and don't want to waste. Also, I was surprised to find that Honeycrisp apples, which are really tasty fresh and taste more than sweet enough, need a little sugar when turning them into applesauce. I've never added sugar to applesauce before using Gravensteins, Yellow Transparents, and Fujis, but this year we had a lot of Honeycrisps from our gleaning group, and when I cooked them down, they just didn't taste as sweet as those apples usually do. It is only a little sugar, and I am using brown sugar, but about a quarter cup to about 25 apples seems to be enough.

Last night was our local crisis pregnancy center's fundraising dinner. Rich and I attended again (I think we have only missed it one year since living here), and two of our girls helped serve and clear away the dishes. It was a great experience, and we were so proud of our girls for helping. The work they do at the crisis pregnancy center is so crucial to helping men, women and children in need in our community, and we are so glad to help them in their mission. Part of being pro-life is being active about supporting the people in crises who are in a position to choose other than life. Please pray that all life would be welcomed and supported.

• Sunday - Feast of Saint Edward the Confessor
  Breakfast: Leftover Roulette, Sliced Apples, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Ouzi Lamb and Rice, Sides/Salads/Fruit/Desserts brought by Church Family
• Monday
  Breakfast: Sausage and Potato Hash with Salsa, Plums, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Kofta bil Bayd, Rice Pilaf, Moroccan Beet Salad*, Sah'awiq, Apple Pies and Vanilla Ice Cream
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Chopped Apples, Raisins, Brown Sugar and Spices, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Lemon Pesto Pasta (Gluten free for Jerome), Italian Sausage Meatballs, Truffle Butter Baguettes, Green Salad, Fruit
• Wednesday - Feast of Saint Longinus the Centurion
  Breakfast: Apple Coconut Breakfast Bowls with Almond Butter Drizzle, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Bouktouf, Khoubz Zeitoun, Tomato Salad, Fruit Plate
• Thursday - Feast of Saint Hosea the Prophet
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Toast, Sliced Apples, Tea and Coffee
  Dinner: Papas con Chorizo, Salsa, Sour Cream, Chopped Avocados, Salad, Fruit Plate
• Friday - Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Spanish Farmer's Rice, Spanish Poor Man's Potatoes, Fruit Plate
• Saturday - Feast of Saint Joel the Prophet
  Breakfast: Savory Parmesan French Toast with Hollandaise Sauce, Fruit Plate, Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Pasta Bolognese Sauce (Gluten free for Jerome), Green Salad, Torta Dominguera

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Preserving the Harvest, Romance and Relationship, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:43 AM 0 comments

This is a general guideline. If you want to change it, you can. Once, we had about three tablespoons of salsa verde left in the fridge, so I tossed that in, too. I use our instant pot type pressure cooker. You could do this on the stove or in a slow cooker, but do sauté the vegetables first. In a pot on the stove, it will only take about an hour and a half to two hours, in a slow cooker, it will take six to eight hours on low. I like lime juice in it, too.

4 cups black beans, rinsed and soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight
Safflower/sunflower/avocado/olive oil
4 small onions, or 2 large, peeled and diced
8 bell peppers, seeded and sliced
24 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 or 2 hot peppers, minced
1/4 cup ground cumin
3 tablespoons dried oregano
3/4 cup tomato paste
28 - 32 ounces diced, roasted tomatoes with their juice
6 cups vegetable broth (or water)
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons kosher salt

Use the sauté function on the pot to heat it up, and add enough oil to coat the bottom. Sauté the onions and peppers until they are soft, then add the garlic and hot peppers and cook a minute more. Add the herbs and tomato paste and stir to blend with the vegetables. Cook the mixture a minute or two. Add the diced tomatoes.

Rinse out the cans (if you used cans) of tomato paste and diced tomatoes with a little warm water to get the last of it and put that in the pot. Add the broth, bay leaves, and salt. Pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. Allow to naturally release for at least 5 minutes, or all the way (they will be softer if you let it release completely), then release pressure. Serve with rice.

Labels: Fasting as a Family, Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:20 AM 0 comments

We are still putting up apples! And peppers. And tomatoes. The freezes have meant that everything is coming in to be prepped for winter. We are supposed to have a carrot glean, and i am looking forward to that, because they store so well without a lot of extra effort on our part. Also, we had an opportunity to buy two 50 pound bags of onions for less money than the three to five pound bags are costing at the grocery store, and we use a LOT of onions. We are hoping for a potato glean. We live in prime potato growing country, and potatoes are usually plentiful. Unfortunately, the flies and black widows are also trying to prepare for winter, so we are killing a ton. We are seeing more black widows in our area than is the norm, which is probably because of our milder winter and weird summer.

Because of our church schedule last week, we were just too tired for our bonfire and Michaelmas dragon, so we did it last night. We had the dragon guts with an almond crumble for Jerome, so he could avoid the bread. We have a family birthday this week, but it is for an adult son who is out of the house, so, we will see what their plans are.

My experiment with freezing the falafel mix and also freezing some of the falafel shaped, then frying them worked beautifully. Both worked equally well, but freezing them shaped and frying from frozen means less work at the fryer. So, now we have a plan of attack for the kebab fest next year.

We are still cooking our way through our freezers and pantries and making room. Also, thank God, saving some money because of this. We hope to stock our freezers with some geese and are filling it with peppers and other lovely ingredients for the fall and winter and early spring. Now that I am not afraid of my pressure canner, I have been canning any new stock we make and using the frozen stock to empty the freezers. This gives us shelf stable stocks to use in our cooking, and frees up even more space in our freezers for other things.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Chorizo and Potato Hash Burritos, Salsa, Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Garlic Herb Roasted Pork Loin, Sides/Salads/Fruit/Desserts brought by Church Family
• Monday
  Breakfast: Battatas ou Bayd, Toast, Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Thai Style Ginger Chicken with Eggplant, Stir Fried Bean Sprouts, Jasmine Rice, Sliced Watermelon
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Chopped Apples, Raisins, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon, Milky Tea
  Dinner: Korean Style Beef with Patty Pan Squash and Bean Sprouts, Jasmine Rice, Sliced Apples
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Apple Coconut Breakfast Bowls with Almond Butter Drizzle, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Fried Cauliflower, Arabic Style Rice Pilaf (without the vermicelli), Taratoor, Tomato Salad, Fruit Plate
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Overnight Breakfast Enchiladas with Egg and Chorizo, Sliced Apples, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Green Chile Pork, Salsa Rice, Corn Tortillas, Fruit Plate
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Fruit, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Florida Style Black Beans*, Rice, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Pancakes (Gluten free for Jerome) and Raspberry Syrup, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Wedding Pork (leftover in our freezer), Salsa Rice, Tortillas, Fruit Plate

Labels: Birthday, Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Preserving the Harvest, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:59 AM 0 comments