Some Sewing

My sister gave me a six-week lead time for a baby blanket for her daughter's teacher, and I still managed to squeak it in at the last minute. I finished it yesterday and she needs it by Monday so I need to mail it to her today. Luckily I got a new sewing machine, and Mark went into the office twice this week so I was able to sew a little during the day. I've had a couple of sick kids this week so that was no easy task!

I made this blanket and made a new design for the wipes pouch. Since I'm liking zippers so much, I made it a zippered pouch, and also added a side tab so that the mom can hook it on a stroller or the outside of a bag for easy access.

I've always thought to put a tab on every pouch I make, but then I forget as I'm sewing it together.

These zippers are so easy to put in, and the secret is using a glue stick! You put glue on the fabric part of the zipper, the fabric sticks nicely to it (way better than pins), and it sews up so easily. Try it out and you'll be adding zippers to everything too.

With this warmer weather the girls are scrambling for clothes to wear. None of their capris from last year fit, so we went to Target the other night to find something. We didn't buy much, but we did find a pair of jeans though that were on clearance for $7.48 so I cut them off, but didn't hem them. I sewed a straight stitch about 1/4" from the edge, and then washed them to fray.

I kind of wish I had cut them a little longer, even just an inch or two, but Rachel wanted them this length. These were a little big in the waist for her so I also added a casing with bias tape in the back with some elastic. I'd like to find some more clearance pants that we could cut off.

Happy Pi Day!

Today is Pi Day (and my niece's 12th birthday), and a good excuse to make pie. I took out Vegan Pie in the Sky and had Abram look through it (he’s been home sick the past couple days) and we decided on hand pies. I didn’t have a lot of time so we just used canned cherry filling.

Even though mine didn’t turn out very lovely looking, these were really good and really easy to make. I made a couple of changes. I can’t get plain vegan yogurt here so I used vanilla. And I also used vanilla coconut milk. I think pie crust is generally sort of bland, and growing up I never ate the pie crust, but this pie crust tasted really good.

Last Friday night our whole family went skiing for one last hurrah. Good thing since the ski hill closed on Tuesday. It rained on Monday and it’s been in the 60s and 70s all week. Even I went skiing, for the second time in my life, and we all had a great time! Mark taught Sara how to get up from a fall and she skied down the hill all by herself most of the night. It’s amazing how quickly kids can learn.

Last week I found a bed frame downtown at an occasional store that I wanted to buy for Sara. She was using an Ikea bed that we’ve had for several years and I just never liked it. It just didn’t work well for us (all the kids have used it over the years and it didn't work right for any of them!). So we bought her the bed, and posted the Ikea bed on Craigslist. It sold right away, thankfully. And I love the new bed we bought for her. It’s nice and small and so cute for her. I also picked up the little side table at the same store. I really like the addition of the nook for books on the left side and would like Mark to add some to all of our night stands.

I know the striped paint in her bedroom is hideous. I don’t know what I was thinking with that, but it’s been that way for years, when the girls had that room, and I’ve never liked it. But the sanding of the stripes, priming and repainting has kind of made me put it off. Someday soon I hope to get it done.

On Saturday we headed into the Cities…where I purchased a new sewing machine! Yay, me! My machine broke down a few weeks ago and I’ve had other problems with it recently. For someone who sews frequently, that’s really frustrating. My new machine is nothing fancy, just a little step up from the girls’ machine. I’m not interested in embroidery machines (I like hand embroidery) or machines that do everything for you. I haven’t had much of a chance to sew on it yet, but I did sew together a pillow, and so far I love the machine.

I had previously pieced together this quilted piece so I added a quilted border and back to it and covered a pillow for Sara’s room. We’re having my old machine fixed and Rachel’s going to use it.

We went over to my sister’s after picking up the sewing machine, and stopped by Half Price Books, where I scored three vegan cookbooks at amazing prices (I think they were all in the $5-7 range).

Sara saw some green frosted cake donuts at the grocery store the other day and asked if I'd make some. I've never tried making cake donuts before, so I found a recipe on all recipes and veganized it. These turned out pretty good, but still need some work.

unfrosted

The weather has been summer-like here this week. The kids are having a blast outside!

The Past Week

After having no snow all winter, we finally got dumped on last week. We were awoken last Wednesday morning at 5am by a call from the school district telling us school was canceled for the day. It had rained pretty hard most of Tuesday night, but around 3am the rain turned to snow and came down pretty fast. I was surprised they closed school, but it was also pretty windy. The girls woke up around 7am and came into our room, thinking we'd overslept, and they were ecstatic to find out school was canceled.

Around noon the snow stopped and the kids played outside most of the day. It was a wet, heavy snow, perfect for making snowmen.

playing with neighbor kids

The kids came in soaking wet though. We still have quite a bit of this snow, although today it's 50 degrees, so the snow will be disappearing here fast.

Last Saturday we took all the kids skiing. Mark and the kids all have their own skis that we have bought through a swap program. The girls skied in ski club this year, but Abram and Sara haven't been out this year. And actually, this was Sara's first time ever.

It was pretty chilly when we went, but the kids had so much fun and it was really fun for me to watch. I've never seen any of them ski before because Mark always takes them. Sara loved it, but she's so stubborn and independent. She sees what the older kids can do and tries to keep up. She went up the j-bar a few times with Mark, but then insisted on doing it alone.

She also didn't want him to hold her as she went down the hill. She fell quite a bit and got crabby a lot, but she really enjoyed it and is excited to go again.

We're hoping to go one more time for the year, and I've only skied once in my life (I grew up cross country skiing), but I might join Sara on the bunny hill if we're able to get out again.

Abram

that dot on the middle bump in the hill is Rachel

I didn't get the greatest photos because I still don't know how to use my camera (which I got two years ago), especially at night and in poorly lit places. I have some free classes for it, and just haven't gotten around to doing that yet. I really should because all I know how to use now is the auto settings. ugh.

We make green smoothies at least once a day and on leap day Strawesome had a great sale on a set of four glass straws. I've been wanting some of these for a long time, so I finally ordered some (I bought two sets). I just got them in the mail yesterday, and when the kids came home from school I made us all a smoothie. Our current favorite is: kale, green grapes, apple, banana, almonds, ice (I often add vegan rice protein as well). I love these straws and the cleaning brush for them too.

Last night I made this delicious potato soup. It was super quick and easy, and very tasty. I'd like to make it again and add broccoli or cauliflower.

Dinner Tonight

We were supposed to get a big snowstorm today, but it's turned into somewhat of a dud. Tonight it has rained quite a bit and it's supposed to turn over to snow, but it's not quite cold enough.

Our dinner tonight wasn't a dud at all though - this is going to become a regular at our house.

I made Your Vegan Mom's Baked Ziti (with penne instead). I hesitated about making this since Abram is allergic to cashews, and I wasn't sure what else to use in place of the cashews, but because it's a fairly small amount I substituted almonds in the cashew ricotta and it worked really well. (I soaked the almonds to remove the skin.) I also used marinara sauce, not tomato sauce. I love this meal because it was so simple, and yet it was so good. The whole family loved it.

I also made roasted cabbage to go with it on the side, which was also very good.

February!

It’s been a whirlwind of a month here and I haven’t had much time to post.

Heidi and Rachel celebrated their 12th birthday on Valentine’s day. I made a couple of cakes since we had family over on different days, including a pink one per their request.

We went to my sister’s one night to celebrate the girls’ birthday and her son’s birthday, which was earlier in the month, and we had different soups for supper. My sister made this tortilla soup (sub vegetarian chicken broth) and I liked it so much, I made it again this week. It’s super quick to make.

I made this rocket appliqued shirt for my nephew.

We went to see the movie The Secret World of Arrietty and loved it. Our niece came with us and spent the night. In the morning I made cinnamon rolls using a biscuit recipe for the dough. Not as good as yeasted rolls, but still good - especially when time is an issue.

The girls have been working on a History Day project. They got the assignment in the fall and the past two months have been working steadily on it, mostly in class during school and some work sessions before/after school. They also went to two Saturday field trips to larger libraries for research, and have put a lot of time in at home, especially the past few weeks. The project was due last Wednesday, and on Monday there was no school so they spent the entire day working on it. We were hoping they’d be almost done and could finish it quickly on Tuesday, but on Tuesday night they came home from school with homework in every subject. Ugh! They ended up staying up until 1:30 am to get it finished. They did a documentary (on the Blizzard of 1888) and had to have a lot of pictures and record a script they had written. They worked really hard on this project and it was much bigger than anything they’ve ever done. I know that when I was in 6th grade I didn’t know how to do an annotated bibliography or research like they’ve done.

It was really interesting to see how their uniqueness came out in this project. While they both worked super hard on this project, Rachel is really a workhorse and good with the organization behind the scenes. At the actual presentation of their project, Heidi was in her element and led the way. Both girls are quiet and reserved, but Heidi is more outgoing than Rachel. When they presented their documentary, Heidi did all the talking and Rachel gladly hung back. Their personalities kind of show through in the above picture. It’s nice to see how they can work together and both contribute in their own unique ways. Both were most confident when they were doing what suited them best, and that was really interesting to see.

It’s “I Love to Read Month” and at Abram’s school there have been a few things going on. I was the mystery reader in his class last week and that was fun. I read Tikki Tikki Tembo. Another thing at school this month was a book character parade. For this the kids are supposed to dress up as their favorite character in a book. Of course Abram does that in reverse. He figures out what he wants to be and then we find a book to go with it. At first he wanted to be a hockey player and I was just going to get him a jersey, but typical of Abram, he changed his mind the week before. He announced that he wanted to be a leprechaun. I just laughed because it really was the perfect thing for him. He actually made a costume of his own out of foam sheets and staples. This totally cracked up my dad.

I was kind of hoping to go the easy way out and buy some things, but I couldn’t find anything and didn’t have time to run around. So I ended up using some felt I had on hand and making him a green vest with a belt, a hat, and a yarn beard. I looked this up online and didn’t find a tutorial, but some general instructions for making it. It wasn’t too hard, but very time consuming. I think the result is great though and the best part of the costume. When he got home from school the day I made it he was beyond thrilled, which totally makes my day and is why I sew things for my kids – they always appreciate when I make them things.

He kind of looks like an Abraham Lincoln leprechaun!

I made this during the daytime, which is hard for me to do since Mark works from home and my sewing machine is in his office. He’s on the phone in meetings all day so I can’t sew in that room while he’s working (which often feels never-ending since he’s on late night phone calls most days too). So I hauled my machine upstairs along with all the fabric and supplies I needed and sewed at the kitchen table. This was actually really nice because it’s so bright up there. Halfway through, my machine started acting up though and skipping stitches and getting stuck so I switched and used the girls’ machine instead – good thing I now have a back-up! Sara sat on the kitchen floor and cut up felt scraps, making a huge mess, but played nicely by herself so I could get it done.

When I got done sewing Abram’s costume, I cut out some doll clothes for a friend’s daughter who had a birthday last week. I knew she didn’t have a lot of doll clothes and I told her I’d make her some for her birthday.

I just did super simple clothes, because I don’t like sewing the putzy fancy stuff. And then I made her a zippered doll sleeping bag too. These were fun to make because they go together so quickly. I hope she likes them.

We are big fans of Green Day and when we saw that the Broadway musical American Idiot was coming to Minneapolis, the girls said they'd like to go. Back in November or so we bought them tickets to give them for a birthday present.

Last Friday night I went with the girls to see it at the Orpheum in Minneapolis. It was so great!

An added bonus was that the cast stayed after for a Q & A session and that was really fun for the girls, and me too. We downloaded the CD from itunes and I can’t stop thinking about the music and the production and how talented everyone in the cast was. I'd like to go see it again.

Super Salsa

I’m super picky about salsa. I have texture issues, which is why I first went vegetarian over 20 years ago; the texture of meat was always so gross to me and I don't like a lot of the vegan meats for that same reason. But that transfers to some other foods as well, and salsa is one of them. I don’t like it chunky at all, and it seems like most storebought varieties are chunky. Sometimes when I buy storebought, I bring it home and blend it, or only spoon out the non-chunky sauce. Every once in a while I find one I like better than others, but they’re never quite like what I want and I begin my search again. When I was in college, there was a Mexican restaurant that served the perfect salsa, they even sold it in grocery stores. If it were closer, I’d drive there and get some! I’ve been on a quest for a long time to find the perfect salsa, and I finally searched online for some recipes to make my own. I found this recipe that I thought looked like it might be what I was looking for.

So I made it this week and I’m thrilled with the results. I changed the recipe slightly. I use Rotel fairly often (in vegan queso) and know that it has a good bite to it. I decided to mix everything up and taste it before adding the jalapeno. I’m glad I did that because I chose not to add the jalapeno – it’s plenty hot without it. I don’t mind it hot, but not so hot that you don’t taste the flavor of the salsa. Mark usually likes things hotter than I do and he said it's plenty hot for him. I also skipped the cumin. Cumin can give a dry taste and I didn't want that, and I didn’t think it would be necessary in salsa. I really like the flavor without it.

It does make a fair amount, so I’m trying to figure out what else I can have with salsa. We've had burritos and hummus quesadillas so far. And obviously with just plain chips, of course. I sent some home with my parents to try too.

Overdue Update

I made the roasted cauliflower lasagna from Appetite for Reduction. Yum!

After reading about how orange juice is stored in vats for a year and flavoring is added to it, I decided to make some homemade using our VitaMix. I'll never buy storebought again. This is amazing! The VitaMix recipe calls for 1 Tbs sugar and, depending on the sweetness of the oranges, it's not necessary. I've added 1 teaspoon or less of maple syrup if the oranges are too tart.

I bought a cupcake corer on clearance at Target and made some filled cupcakes. This was prompted by Sara's preschool teachers saying they'd love to try some vegan baked goods. So I brought some to them.

I sewed a little coin purse for the girls. I love making zippered pouches - so much fun and so easy.

We had stir-fry night. The kids got to fill their own bowls and we made them all individually. The sauce is just garlic and Tamari. This was so much fun and super tasty.

I made baked jo jo potatoes, using this recipe. I substituted nutritional yeast for the parmesan and did not use cayenne. My kids loved these.

I made white chocolate oreo mousse. I used the chocolate mousse recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, subbing vegan white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips, and then added crused oreos.

I made Vegan Dad's corndogs. Twice. My kids totally loved these! They are super easy to make.

Some non-vegan neighbor kids were over this week and had them and liked them too.

I got a block of Daiya cheddar from the buying club this past week, so I cut strips of cheese and filled some of them with cheese as well.

I made an iPad carrying case for my mom.

This picture has terrible lighting, and it looks crooked, but I almost forgot to even take a picture so it was rushed. This *just* fits, so next time I make one I'll have to make it a little bigger.

I made blonde brownies. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking, and baked them in a pan.

I got a lovely recovered vintage stool from one of the occasional stores downtown.

I've been looking for a while (since I picked up one for my sister) and love the fabric on this one.

I made some homemade laundry powder, using this recipe. The picture shows peppermint soap, but I used Dr Bronner's lavender soap for my first batch. I'll make peppermint next time.

We bought ice skates for the kids this past week, which makes me wonder about how smart we are. It's been such a warm winter and we hardly have any snow. The kids skated outdoors in slush. Hopefully the skates fit next year, but in the meantime they can make use of them indoors at the ice arena (even in the summer!). The girls' birthday is coming up this month - maybe we'll buy them rollerblades since it's so warm out.

I hope you had a wonderful January! I'll try to post more regularly in February.