Sausage, Basil, and Port Fettuccine

  
It's so good I have to share it with the world. Everyone should make this. Every day. It's so good.

Have I mentioned it's good?

I'm not sure where we got the recipe, but I remember Mom making it, then it becoming my brother's favorite "date" dinner. It's a great meal to impress- delicious and beautiful in the platter.

Sausage, Basil, and Port Fettuccine
From Ryan's recipe box

1.25 lbs mild or hot italian sausages, casings removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup sliced green onion
3 cups thinly sliced red onions
1 1/2 cup Port
3 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil
12 ounces dried fettuccine, cooked
salt and pepper
fresh basil

In a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat, break sausage into 1-inch chunks and stir often until brown, 8-10 minutes.  Lift from pan and set aside.

Discard all but 2 tablespoons fat from pan.  Over medium heat, ad garlic and green and red onions.  Stir often until onions are very limp, 12-15 minutes.  Add port, bring to a boil over high heat, and boil until reduced by half, about 5 mintues.

Add tomatoes, sausage, and vinegar; stir often until bubbling, about 2 minutes.  Stir in chopped basil.  On a platter, spoon sausage mixture over cooked fettuccine.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Garnish with basil sprigs.  Serves 6. 

Flowers

I found a winter headband at Anthropologie the other day that was cute, but waaaay too expensive to purchase when you know how to knit.  So I'm going to try to make one.

I went on Ravelry to find a pattern for a flower. I've never made one before. There are SO MANY options. It's a little hard to handle that many choices. So I decided I would try two different ones and go from there.

My first attempt was at a free pattern from Lion Brand yarn, a simple knit rose.

Here's what it's supposed to look like:

Cute and small, right?

Well, mine didn't turn out anything like that. Not sure if I didn't use the right needles for my yarn or what, but it turned out.....

Kind of looking like a va-jay-jay.

Oops.

So, I tried a different pattern. This time, I used a pattern posted by a fellow Raveler.

This gal turned out true to the pattern:

Now that I've got the flowers, I just have to make the headband to attach them to. I'm thinking about using the yarn I harvested from the sweater.

Also thinking about trying to knit this other braided headwrap at Anthropologie. Looks super simple, and I actually have a pattern for a braided scarf that I could go off of. Not that you really need a pattern for something this simple. Or that you could ever wear a braided scarf and a braided headwrap at the same time. Too matchy-matchy.

I'll keep you posted with updates. Pun intended.

Repurposed

I've had this sweater hanging in my closet for a year. Not that long of a time to the ladies, but way too long for the men. I wore it a couple times after purchasing, but then decided it didn't have enough shape and it just kind of hung off my body. And it shed little gray fibers on EVERYTHING. After wearing it, my desk chair at work would be covered in lint balls.

So I decided to pull it apart and reuse the yarn to make something else.

Easier said than done. Yeesh.

The sweater had a wide ribbing at the boat-neck and a smaller ribbing on the sleeves. I started with these first. It was terribly difficult. I couldn't figure out what they had done to stitch the two pieces together. I knew it had to be something simple, but it eluded me until I made it about 1/4 of the way through the back panel (after the neck, both sleeves, and half of the front).  This meant lots of snipping with the scissors, some time with the seam rippers, and lots of swearing when I'd pull out a three foot piece of yarn that I thought was going to be 50 feet long.

But alas, I finally ripped out the whole thing. Once I got past the middle of the front I had it down pat and my hands were flying at pulling it all out.

Got quite a bit of yarn out of it. I'm considering making some headbands with it. I might have a hard time knitting something for myself with it because I know the amount of shedding that goes on. But it's 60% alpaca, 40% acrylic, so it's really decent yarn. Totally worth reusing.

I know I could have donated the sweater to Goodwill and made someone very happy at their newish Ann Taylor Loft purchase, but it seemed like a disservice to donate something that I knew didn't fit well and shed all over the place. Instead, I'm going to knit it up into some other fantastic thing, and then get people to pay me for it.

Makes me feel kind of like Scrooge McDuck. 

Drops Purse

I finally finished knitting the purse I've been working on since... April? Surely not that long, but close to it. It was a simple pattern that didn't require much attention, but I couldn't work on it when there were so many other fun projects to do (and other activities occupying my time this summer). But, at long last, I finished the main part of the bag.

Pattern: Drops bag, by Garn Studios DROPS Design
Yarn: eBay stuff I bought three years ago that has been sitting around waiting for a project
Needles: Size US 8 29" circulars

I kind of like the dark strip across the middle. I think it adds a little pizazz. 

I still need to sew up the bottom, line it, add a closure, and find some handles. The pattern suggests knitting some straps, but I just don't see knit straps holding up quite the way I want them to. I need to hit the craft store to check out my options, but I'm seriously considering buying a purse at Goodwill and surgically removing the strap.

Someday, hopefully soon, this guy will hold all my stuff. Yay!

Rags

I've been working on a bigger project that is going to take quite a bit of time, so I decided that I would take mini breaks after each pattern repeat to work on a small project that could be completed quickly. So far I've done three, with varying degrees of "quickness."

 First up was Leaves.

Pattern: Leaves, by Evelyn A. Clark, in Trendy Knit Dishcloths
Yarn: Lily Sugar & Cream, Key Lime Pie
Needles: Size 8 straight
Time to complete: 3.5 hours

I really like the way this one turned out. Took me two movies, then I was back on to the "big project." I certainly think they look like leaves.

Then I started on Sun.

Pattern: Sun, by Evelyn A. Clark, in Trendy Knit Dishcloths
Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Cotton, Candy
Needles: Size 8, 16" circular
Time: 7 hours

This baby took me much longer than Leaves. Lots of turning and slipping stitches. It's big and I like it, but it was a bit obnoxious to knit.

Then, just last night, I started and finished Ripples.

Pattern: Ripples, by Evelyn A. Clark, in Trendy Knit Dishcloths
Yarn: Lily Sugar & Cream, Yellow
Needles: Size 8 16" circulars
Time: 2 hours

It only took one movie! Awesome! I didn't even hate the pattern. It was quite simple and enjoyable, actually. I think I like Leaves a bit better, but for the time this was the best thing possible.

All in all, a good start to stocking up some "inventory," just in case we ever start to market our knitting goods. Or, if that doesn't happen, good stocking stuffers at Christmas, or filler in gift baskets.

"It's-Not-Bad-Yet" Creations

I've been knitting. Really, I have. I have even taken pictures of completed projects so I can blog about them.

I just forgot my camera at home.

Again.

So instead I'm going to show you my genius-born-out-of-necessity creations (sorry 'bout the iPhone photo quality):

Mint chip ice cream in a Girl Scout Thin Mint Sammie!

You may wonder how in the heck I had Thin Mints around in September, many many long months after February.

Have I ever mentioned I need to clean out my freezer?



Also, I had more stone fruits from my box that were going bad. Not because they were old, but because I left them to ripen and they went from fruits of stone to mush in about 48 seconds. So I used two nectarines and made AB's recipe for Peach Nectarine Upside Down Cake.

Still delicious with the nectarines.

After this experience I can tell you three things:

1. Even if you use nectarines, you should still remove the skins. They make it hard to cut the fruit for a smaller bite.

2. They're just as delicious as Right Side Up Cake.

3. You feel like you're getting away with something when you eat one for breakfast.


Knitting posts coming soon. I promise.

She (me) screams for Ice Creams!

After a marathon trip to the giant Goodwill downtown, I returned home with a Sunbeam ice cream maker, brand spankin' new and still in the original package with bits and pieces still in plastic bags. I was excited that I only spent $15 for it, but after some research found it's only $20 on Amazon. Oh, well. I lived in the moment and have already reaped the benefits!

No pictures, because I was so excited that I forgot to pull out my camera. On the way home from Goodwill I did some Googling for Alton Brown's ice cream recipes, but decided I needed instant gratification and didn't want to use 8 eggs. Maybe some day, but for now, I made Easy Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from the All Recipes site. It turned out FABULOUS. I have found it really hard to not eat just that for dinner every night that it has been in my freezer. I definitely recommend it.


Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from All Recipes

2 cups 2% milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

In large bowl, combine all ingredients except chocolate until the sugar has dissolved. If not cold, store in refrigerator for 10 minutes to 2 hours until cold.  If you like your mint ice cream unnaturally green, add drops of green food coloring now.

Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions.  After about 15 minutes of freezing, add the chocolate chips.  Once ice cream has thickened, about 25 minutes more (40 total), spoon into air tight container and freeze for 2 hours.



A couple days later, I remembered I had some strawberries left in the fridge from making Strawberry Lemon Marmalade.  And I knew I had some greek yogurt, so obviously I had to make Strawbery Froyo. Obviously. Sometimes things just fall into place and you have to follow. It's fate. I was meant to make froyo.

The recipe called for pureed strawberries, but I decided I would rather have some chunks of berries, so I mashed them with a potato masher instead. Recipe also called for fat free sweetened condensed milk, but I think that's a crime against nature (and I'd never seen it in the store and had full fat in the cupboard). And, my final modification, I happened to have drank the last of my fat free milk in cereal that morning, so I substituted some of roomie's fat-free lactose-free milk. It worked great. If I was making a non-berry froyo I might have tried almond milk, but decided plain strawberry was what fate wanted.



Strawberry Froyo
Adapted from All Recipes

2 cups fat free greek yogurt
2 cups mashed strawberries
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup fat free milk
3 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.  Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions. Place in air tight container in the freezer for at least 2 hours to ripen.  Allow to sit out 30-40 minutes before serving to soften.


This turned out to be a great basic froyo recipe. It's a wee bit icy, but I'm a-ok with that for how much like breakfast it is (aka pseudo-healthy).  Next time I might try just making plain froyo and throwing in things like brownie chunks or cookie dough. Maybe some chocolate and caramel swirls.

Instead of vanilla extract, I used vanilla paste in all these. What is vanilla paste, you ask? I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it's pure vanilla with vanilla seeds in it. It's a thick sauce, and it made my ice cream look super gourmet with little vanilla seeds floating around. I highly suggest it... but only if you can find it on sale for cheap at Ross like I did....