...and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas! It's been a blur of friends, family, and pajama breakfasts (and some suppers!). Somehow, I managed to get my homemade Christmas cards out on time. I have a rediscovered love of rubber stamps, which originated with many lost hours spent at my grandpa's miniature printing press.

However, the house was sadly lacking in Christmas cheer. We have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations...stockings, ornaments, a big wooden advent calendar, and lots of things that dangle from hooks and doorways...but everything was in storage. We didn't get a tree this year, but I felt like I should contrive a way to liven things up without spending a lot of money or emptying out our storage unit.

Candy canes are cheap and festive, and awfully cute when tied in the shape of a heart.

I made a small table centerpiece with some things I had lying around. Alas, I didn't get a chance to make miniature holly ties for the candles, which would've completed the picture, but I'm satisfied.

I had some pine cone garland with light green wooden balls and twists of twigs that I rescued from a forgotten shelf and strung up in our sun room.

Two years ago, inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder's idea, I made a button string. It's been languishing in a basket, but made a cheerful border for our big picture window.

I leave these yellow fabric stars up all the time, because I love stars and dangling things. However, I added some wooden ornaments that I'd picked up at Crate and Barrel a few years ago, that were sitting in a bowl, ignored, on the back of a high bookcase.

I brought out copious amounts of candlesticks. They were made at Wirth Pottery in Germany, by a little old potter in the hills. Every trip I've taken there, I've bought more of them. They're functional, and I love how rustic and natural they are. Again, miniature springs of holly would've been an improvement, but I was still happy to have them.

A string that had been in the kitchen (if it's star-related and dangles, I have it up all year round!) was relocated to the living room.

A pine cone wreath from our bedroom was pressed into service.

Todd brought home 3 big poinsettias, and I stacked them on boxes of varying heights to make a tree of sorts. I filled in the gaps with my house plants: 2 different types of ivy. It made a very nice display!

The poinsettia originated in Central America. It was brought to the United States in the early 1800s by a man named Joel Robert Poinsett. Believe it or not, the red "flower petals" of a poinsettia are actually the leaves. These small yellow centers are the actual flower.

The birds got a Christmas treat, too, with a new suet cage. They seem pretty pleased with it!

"Goodwill toward men" applied to our cats these past weeks. I've caught them napping together several times...

...and could this be called anything but a snuggle?

I discovered a new yarn that I'm absolutely wild about, a mint and cream sock yarn in soft wool that makes me think of snowflakes. It was sold in GeminiKnits' etsy store a few years ago, but I contacted the owner and she is kind enough to dye a new batch for me.

Knit up, it makes very pleasing stripes. I plan to order enough to make a simple cardigan. I can't wait!

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I can post photos of my knitted Christmas gifts to friends and family.

A cardigan for my mother-in-law:

A hat and matching gloves for my sister:

Socks for my stepfather-in-law:

Socks for my sister-in-law:



A hot water bottle cover for a friend:



A sweater for my sister (yes, that is an OWL yoke!):



Heart socks for my husband:

Fingerless gloves for a friend:



Socks for a friend:

A hat and mittens for my nephew...

...and also this owl!

Phew! I feel like I've done a LOT of knitting in 2010. When I added it up, I realized that I've knitted 28 items over the course of the year. Next year, I'll probably knit a lot less, since I'll be focusing on my knitted blanket and a few miscellaneous gifts.

There's Christmas decorating and Christmas knitting, but the star of the show for me is Christmas baking. Normally I bake up a storm during the holidays, but I'm trying to keep things healthier around the house...a little less butter and sugar. I found a recipe that was really delicious that didn't contain any butter, and very little sugar, relatively speaking.

Pumpkin Roll
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
10 servings

For the roll:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon lemon juice

For the filling:
2/3 cup (5 ounces) neufchatel cheese, softened
4 tablespoons sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons sour cream or yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup crystallized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I didn't have the jelly roll pan called for in the recipe, so I greased and floured a 9 x 12 inch cookie sheet. Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice, and then stir in the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg white, and lemon juice. Pour into pan and spread to cover evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.

I was a little nervous about this next part, but it worked out just fine. Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar on a damp, clean dish towel. Run a spatula along the edges of your roll to loosen it, then take a deep breath and turn the cookie sheet over onto the towel.

Success!

Next, very carefully roll up the towel with the pumpkin rectangle inside. Let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Go ahead and make up your filling. I originally used 4 tablespoons of yogurt, which made the filling too runny...but it didn't detract from the taste. I recommend using only a tablespoon or so, depending on how thick you'd like the filling.

Unroll your dishcloth and spread the filling evenly over the cake. Then, roll it back up, sans dishcloth.

Don't be afraid! I creased the edges of my roll to make it easier to work with.

The end result was runny, messy, and delicious. The roll seemed to grow more moist by the day...not that it lasted more than two or three days. I'll make it again soon, with the thicker filling. What a way to get your veggies! ;)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I'll see you next year!

Just (Cinnamon) Roll With It.

I've just been out in the garden, weeding in the dill patch. There's a lot of love about dill. I love how my skin smells after contact with it...a prickly, pungent smell. Its soft, ferny leaves stroke my arms as I pull weeds, and I'm entertained by the tiny flowers on the seed head, fluttering open as they're warmed by the sun. As I work, I daydream about what I could make with a handful of the green sprigs...a white sauce for salmon? A spicy soup? I never make anything with dill, though. I just grow it because it's beautiful.


Here's something functional, though. My tomatoes are coming in, and soon I'll have more than I know what to do with! I see a lot of homemade sauces and salsas in my future. I liked these particular tomatoes. Each is an exact replica of the one before, slightly enlarged.


At long last, my cosmos are up! I've planted bright orange, pink, and cream colored varieties this year, and they are cheerfully nodding in the breeze as I write.


Cosmos are so easy to care for...a recurring theme in my garden plan.


When these flowers bloomed, they made a liar out of me. I'd written earlier about my mysterious self-seeding hollyhocks...imagine my surprise when these great spikes of purple and white bloomed, and proved to be mallow plants. Still, they're quite lovely, and very similar to hollyhocks. I'm pleased that they've come.


A soldier beetle (Cantharidae) marches with purpose across the head of this yarrow plant. Soldier beetles are wonderful additions to any garden. They eat a number of pests and do no damage to garden plants.


A grasshopper (Caelifera) relaxes in this daylily. I chased a lot of grasshoppers as a little girl and was rewarded with frequently stained clothing...as a defense mechanism, grasshoppers will "spit" a dark brown fluid that's distasteful to attackers. I'm not fond of large brown grasshoppers with their staring eyes and scratchy, spiny legs, but these small green ones are pleasant.


As I quietly watched, a large katydid (Tettigoniidae) clambered over the left side of the lily and chewed busily on a petal. The grasshopper fled, and after having a quick nibble, the katydid disappeared into the greenery.


I've been busily knitting this week on several different projects. A 12-pointed star is halfway done, but still lying like a deflated balloon in my knitting basket. A pair of fingerless gloves and matching neck wrap, knitted up for my swap partner on Ravelry, is waiting patiently for last-minute buttons. An accusing glare comes from my red knee socks, which have not yet been repaired. Two balls of cheerful orange cotton wait to be formed into an elephant, my first commissioned project, for a friend of my husband's. A big project has been completed, though. Eunny Jang's Tangled Yoke Cardigan, begun in January, is finally blocking in my sunroom.


I had a lot of trouble with the braid that twists across the sweater yoke. It's from a 17-line chart that requires up to 400 stitches across at times. Being off by just one or two stitches could ruin the whole pattern, so frequently I frogged back hours of work to get a correct count! I ran out of yarn several times. At the end, I had to order an entire skein just to complete my final 20 inches of work. A sigh of relief...and I think I'll take a break on sweaters for now!

Busy in the kitchen, as usual. I found a good recipe for sourdough bread on the King Arthur website. These two loaves were finished just in time for our Fourth of July celebration.


Today I felt inspired to rework an old recipe. I'm a huge fan of Cinnabon's cinnamon rolls, but I don't like the heavy, sick feeling I get after eating there, or the nagging feeling that cavities are forming at an accelerated rate with each and every bite. I decided to play with the recipe and make it a little lighter, easier, and dare I say...healthier?

Don't worry, if you're a die-hard fan who can't bear the thought of sacrificing one iota of sugar, just send me a request and I'll post the original recipe.

Copycat "Healthy" Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Todd Wilbur's More Top Secret Recipes
Makes 16 cinnamon rolls

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup skim milk, warm
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk, 2 egg whites
2 cups white flour (I prefer unbleached)
2 cups whole wheat flour

FILLING
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 tablespoons butter, softened

ICING
1/2 cup powdered sugar
dash of vanilla
1 tablespoon reduced fat cream cheese
Skim milk - enough to make a thin glaze

DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest of the dough ingredients and knead for 5 - 7 minutes. Cover dough and let rise for an hour. Next, roll dough out in a long rectangle (it was easier for me to split dough into two portions and work with each portion individually). Once dough is about 1/4 inch thick (or a bit thinner), spread evenly with 3 tablespoons softened butter. Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and sprinkle over dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut even 1 inch strips and roll each strip up.


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cover your pan and let the dough rest for another 30 - 60 minutes. It's hard to wait, but this second step really improves the flavor of your final product! You should see a fine rise before too long.


When ready, bake rolls for 10 - 12 minutes.

While baking, mix your sugar glaze. I used a pastry brush to lightly glaze the tops of the rolls after they came out of the oven. They looked great!


But what about the taste? I'm pleased to report that they're just as good as the cinnamon rolls I remember from my food court days. They're soft, chewy, and flavorful, with caramelized bottoms and sweet, sugary tops. I tried one right away, still warm from the oven. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke (ahem), I tried a second roll. Yum!

This will be my new go-to recipe when friends are stopping by.


No one has to know that they're practically good for you!

Enjoy!