Yes, I Am a Domestic Goddess (Recipe)

My Mom is a very good cook. She's not a gourmet, certainly not a culinary snob, but she can follow a recipe and make the most of it. She can also walk into the kitchen, raid the pantry, and make a delicious meal from whatever's on hand. Most impressive is her ability to duplicate, or even improve upon, a (simple) restaurant recipe just by taste.

I was fortunate enough to inherit her skills and the good sense to pay attention when I helped Mom and Babcie (that's Polish for Grandma) in the kitchen. They taught me the basic techniques I needed to survive on my own and be able to cook for myself and others. Just about everything else I know about cooking and cuisine came from watching the Food Network, and before that, various cooking shows like the Great Chefs series and, of course, Julia Child. So when I throw together a recipe I really love I try to write it down immediately. Why? Because if I'm asked to share a recipe I tend to get blank stares when I say things like, ". . .then throw in a little tomato paste and a ton of garlic." How much is "a little?". . .What do you mean by "a ton?" I get it. Some people can cook by feel and some need a real, honest to goodness recipe to follow. With that, I give you a recipe that was a big hit a couple of weeks ago along with a way to use the leftovers AND a variation that tastes completely different.

I didn't have the presence of mind to take any pictures of the original recipe and the leftovers were gone by the time I thought of it, so the photos you see are of the variation that uses sausage.

Auntie's Pasta

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil

2 tsp butter (real butter, not margarine!)

1/2 c onion, chopped

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 cloves garlic, chopped (or substitute 1/2 t garlic powder)

1 (12 oz.) box of penne or ziti, cooked until it's almost done, then drained

1-1 1/2 lbs chicken, cut into bite sized cubes

1 c frozen green beans

grated parmesan cheese, to taste

Heat oil and butter in a deep, nonstick pan on medium heat until butter is completely melted

Add onion and sautee until translucent

Add garlic, Italian seasoning, and chicken and sautee until chicken is almost cooked through

Stir in pasta and vegetables

Cover and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are heated through and the chicken is done (about 7-10 minutes)

Dish up and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and serve with a side of garlic bread

Total time in the kitchen: about 45 minutes

Serves 8 generous portions

A Few Notes about Ingredients:

That little bit of butter will add a ton of flavor without adding a lot of saturated fat, so please don't leave it out. If you want to reduce the fat content then reduce the amount of oil slightly.

The pasta I prefer is a tri-color made with actual vegetables to sneak some veggies into the kids' diets or a whole grain pasta. Either is better tasting and more nutritious than that plain old white stuff. The reason you slightly undercook your pasta is that the steam released from your veggies will cook the pasta the rest of the way. If you add fully cooked pasta, it will get mushy. I add quite a bit of salt to my pasta water because I don't add salt to my recipes.

If you aren't crazy about green beans use frozen peas, carrots, or corn. Just make sure your veggies are frozen and not canned.

What to Do with the Leftovers:

The next day, once everything is sufficiently chilled, toss the whole deal with your favorite Italian dressing (about 2 Tbsp per serving) and serve cold. This makes an awesome pasta salad.

Variations:

Auntie's Pasta made with turkey sausage

Instead of chicken and Italian seasoning, use a good quality sausage (I used a turkey and cheddar sausage we all love) and oregano. (Credit for this variation has to go to my BFF who grabbed a package of sausage out of the freezer and asked, "Do you think you can turn this into that thing you made last week with the chicken and the pasta?")

You could also go with sliced steak and summer savory, but I'd leave off the parmesan cheese.

I welcome any other ideas you might have for variations. Please leave them in the comments section.

Happy Cooking!

Susan G. Komen and Safeway

Bows and Arrows hat
Pattern by Dot Matthews

I'll try to keep this post somewhat brief, but if you've been reading this blog, or ever gotten an email from me, you know I rarely succeed. Anyhow, a few months ago, a crocheter who is fairly new to the art emailed me asking for clarification on an instruction used in one of my patterns. Let's call her Kathy (because that's her name). Kathy mentioned she'd be making the pattern for a charity auction that's coming up in October. Immediately I offered to do what I could for the fundraiser because I've known countless women who've fought breast cancer. Fortunately, only one of them lost the battle (glass half full). I pledged a couple of posts, and possibly a few tweets, to give the auction some free advertising and I'll be sending on some goodies to be sold in the auction. (Thankfully I have a stash of premade goodies right now, because I've stupidly spread myself too thin yet again.) So before I take any more attention away from this worthy cause, here's the info:

Who to contact for details: Katie and Jodi 520-384-3952
What's the event: fundraiser auction to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation
Where will it be held: Safeway, 650 North Bisbee Ave., Willcox, AZ 85643
When is it happening: second weekend in October (Sat & Sun the 8th & 9th)
Why are they doing it: to raise breast cancer awareness

Lady's Skull Hat
Pattern courtesy Lily/Sugar 'n Cream

Yes, I understand that not all of you are in the state of Arizona, but I also figured we've all got talent we can lend to send off an item or two to be sold at the auction. And, for those of you in the area, why not stop in and see what's for sale? The theme of the fundraiser is Homemade Crafts and anyone who wishes to participate is more than welcome; it is fully open to the public. Any items not sold that weekend will be held for sale on the following weekend.

I know Kathy is making at least one of the Big Girl patterns to feature. I would love to see pics of any items you decide to send off for this fundraiser or any other. Email them to me at BigGirlJewelry@yahoo.com and I'll feature them in an upcoming post.

I'd love to hear your comments, but will not be able to offer further details. If you'd like more information, please do contact Katie or Jodi at the number listed above.

Happy (and Healthy) Crocheting!

Cluster Craze Hat
Pattern by Dot Matthews

Youuuuuu Did It!

I love seeing the pics you all post on Ravelry and the ones you send me. This batch is loaded with color, and I'm really excited to share it. To everyone who contributed I offer a heartfelt thank you. If your photos aren't here, but you'd like to share them, by all means email them to me at BigGirlJewelry@yahoo.com. Happy Crocheting!

Samantha (Samie1914 on Ravelry)
made 3 Big Girl Towels for Mother's Day.
Read about them in her blog.

Judit (Jucuu on Ravelry)
made a whole slew of the Plain and Simple Dishcloths.
Here they are in gray and...

Here's one in camel.

Jessica (goldmoonjd on Ravelry)
used a lovely pale yellow held together with thread
for extra texture when she made this Big Girl Scrubby.

Lisa Marie (SunCB on Ravelry)
used the leftover yarn from her Big Girl Towel
to make this Big Girl Scrubby.

Megan (themegababe on Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook)
made a couple of Broken Links Scrubbies in great colors.

Compubimbo on Ravelry
shot a pic of her first Big Girl Scrubby on a beautiful background.
(Yeah, I notice that stuff!) Wait! There's more...

Krystl (thisiskrys on Ravelry)
got a great shot of her Big Girl Pot Holder in red.

I told you there were more! Compubimbo made a whole slew
of Big Girl Scrubbies  in honor of Earth Day.

Kelly (kmulaux on Ravelry)
brought some drama to the Big Girl Scrubby by using red.

Thanks again everybody for allowing me to use your great shots and show off your handiwork. If I've asked your permission and NOT used your photo, I'm planning on showing off another group very soon, but I wouldn't be offended by a reminder from you. 

Happy Crocheting!

Payback's Not Always a . . . (You Know the Rest)

Big Girl Dish Cloth

I've been meaning for a while to give a great big shout out to someone who is at least partially responsible for much of the traffic on this blog: Rachel from Crochet Pattern Central. Rachel spends hours every week finding and posting links to FREE crochet patterns, answering emails, and keeping her site running. Crochet Pattern Central has had over eight million (wow) unique visitors since it's creation in December of 2003. The truly amazing thing is that Rachel does it all for free. She charges nobody for any of her hard work, not the users who search her sites for patterns, not the designers who post them, nobody. Why? I can only guess. I haven't interviewed her for this post. I just wanted to give her some well deserved recognition.

Big Girl Towel and Pot Holder
(while under construction)

Whenever I post a new free pattern here on the blog, I email Rachel and let her know. Within days, my link is on her site and the page in question is viewed hundreds of times. A stat I find mind boggling is that my humble little blog has had a little over 53,000 page views since I started it about a year ago. Almost 30,000 of those views came directly from Crochet Pattern Central. So do me a favor: The next time you're over at CPC searching for free crochet patterns for your next project, drop Rachel an email to thank her for all she does. And, if you find it in your heart to leave a donation while you're there. . .awesome.

Rachel, from the bottom of my yarn bag, thank you.

Happy (free) Crocheting!

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Blog Post to Bring You This Important Announcement:

Originally, I intended to post readers' and customers' photos. I had scheduled a post for yesterday, done all of the necessary pre-post work (contact the owners of the photos for permission, collect usernames and first names, write copy, program the post, edit, etc.), and readied myself to put the finishing touches on my article, but I kept procrastinating about that last step. I put it off so long that I ended up needing to postpone publishing until today. The more I thought about posting about crochet, the more my heart and mind wandered to our nation's military and the many soldiers, sailors, and airmen who've touched my life. So, for those of you who are itching to see the finished objects, come back on June 12 and you'll be quite pleased, I assure you. But please read on; I doubt you'll be disappointed.

It's Memorial Day. It's supposed to be a day when we remember our fallen servicemen and women and offer thanks to those who came back alive, but not always in one piece. Therefore, I just did not feel right letting today go by without acknowledgement of their service. Too much has happened lately to ignore all the efforts of our military. I won't speak specifically to current events; that's CNN's job. I'm no journalist, just a blogger with a lot of love for our military personnel. Instead, I want to tell you about my hero: my father who served two years in the Navy.

Me: "Daddy, did you serve in Vietnam."

Dad: "No, but I served during Vietnam. My ship was stationed in the Mediterranean. I never saw combat."

Me: "So what did you do?"

Dad: "I cut hair."

My dad was a barber, a real, old-fashioned, "shave and a haircut"-type barber. He bought his shop from the owner under whom he'd apprenticed and ran it himself for years until the physical strain of standing in one position on concrete floors for eight hours a day started to take a serious toll on his body. So it didn't surprise me that he cut hair on a ship in the Med for the two years he was enlisted. I know he loved the Navy, but I also know that family meant too much for him to make a career of his military service. He loved the travel, but he loved his home in Manchester, NH more. I don't know all the details, and Dad's a touchy subject in my family, so I dare not ask.

What I have been able to piece together is this: Dad worked in a shop not far from the restaurant where my mother waitressed. One afternoon, while having lunch with a friend/client (Bob), he finally asked Mom out on their first date. He took her to see Dr. Zhivago. That client and I ended up working together many years later and Bob told me repeatedly that if it weren't for him, I'd never have been born. You see, the way Bob told the story, Dad was too shy to approach Mom until Bob pushed Dad into it. It's a good thing he did because Dad proposed two weeks later.

Dad continued working in the shop and bought it from the owner when he retired. Eventually, when it became clear that Dad would not be physically able to continue in his chosen career for the rest of his life, he enrolled in night school and got his real estate license. He sold houses until his death in 1984. Dad always said that if he had to go, he'd choose to have a heart attack in his sleep. He did. He was 41; I was 14.

"I cut hair." That's all I know about Dad's military service, but whatever else he may have shared convinced my Uncle Walter (Mom's younger brother) to join the Navy. That statement also sums up the humble attitude that so many of our military personnel exhibit toward their service. When asked about her time in the Navy, my friend Melissa says, "I only served four years." ONLY four.

Please remember that today is not about a long weekend; it's about honor, service, and love of country. It's about Navy Seals who take on a seemingly impossible to execute mission to remove a terrorist threat. It's about families who struggle here in the states to keep up a strong resolve while their loved ones are under fire half a world away. It's about National Guard troops on the ground in the US doing their part to help our citizens who've lost everything because of natural disasters. But most of all, it's to remind us that freedom isn't free.

God bless America.

In Spring. . .

. . .a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love. My thoughts are more on the creative side. As I sit down to write this it's barely noon and I've spent my morning sketching the framework for no less than sixteen new patterns. I've also fully written (rough draft) two more, and made a game plan for acting upon seven additional sketches which will eventually become thirteen patterns. If my math is correct, I've got 31 patterns that should consume the better part of the next three months! You all are going to have plenty of crocheting to do this summer.

a sneak peek at a few of my current works in progress

Here's the best tease of all: by the time you actually read this post, some of those patterns will already be available for purchase on both Etsy and Ravelry. Why? Because in an effort to post more consistently, I've gotten into the habit of pre-scheduling my blog posts.

The best news of all is that a handful of these ideas are for the Big Girl collection and we all know what that means. . .You guessed it! They'll be FREE! So keep an eye open here, on Facebook, and/or on twitter. I intend to remain as consistent as possible and post a free pattern each month. (Just wait until you see what I have planned as your early Christmas present!)

Okay, enough teasing, I have work to do.

Happy Crocheting!

I Love to Scrapbook, But. . .

I'm a bit frustrated right now. My yarn stash is dwindling as I work on a boatload of new ideas but it's National Scrapbooking Month at Michael's. This is the point in the conversation where my BFF would ask, "What's that got to do with the price of onions?" Well, I'll tell ya. Because it's national scrapbooking month, and bridal season, and the end of the school year, the only items on sale at Michael's are scrapbook supplies, frames, bridal crafts, and kids crafts.

Still not getting it? Yarn! I want yarn! I crave yarn! I. . .Need. . .YARN! But I'm cheap, far too cheap to pay full price even at Michael's. So I check the ad every week and cross my fingers and hope that one day soon I'll see my coveted Lily Sugar n' Cream or Caron Simply Soft at a price even lower than Michael's already low everyday prices. (sigh) Then perhaps I can again find my happy place and finish the many beautiful surprises I have in store for you, my dear customers and readers. Until then, happy scrapbooking.