Proud owner of a Dehydrator!

Gotta Love Freecycle! I know have a dehydrator- I'm very excited- my kitchen is about 85% organized- all spices have spice jars, all flours have bins, all odd and end lids are GONE. I even learned that my oven is self cleaning, which is very wicked in itself!!!

I'm a new Auntie today!!! Marshall Robert was born at 8:30 this morning at 8lbs 14oz- I can't wait to see Rhonda tomorrow- what an amazing momma! Love you guys!

I'll write more tonight- I know I've been neglectful again

Great Recipe Source

So, my goal is to try and incorporate raw foods into 2/3rds of our diet- I have that awesome cookbook, and now I've found a good website with recipes

http://www.rawfoods.com/recipes/

I really need a dehydrator- maybe that's something I can get with tax return money- yippee!

Changes

I'm about to start a new fun chapter beginning in March - can't spill the details yet.

and yes.

there may be some extreme knitting :)

Seriously though, I'm going to be taking the Chicks who Click course to help with my photography, and meet some fun new people! It's once a month for 5 months- and a little road trip to boot. I'm also gearing up for a really fun summer- yes I know that it is far away still, but it feels like it's right around the corner!

OK - so how much fun will this be!

Through a little hyenacart research, I learned that you can dye protein fibers (wool and silk) with unsweetened Kool-Aid. (I'll never drink the stuff again!). Now, I couldn't find the unsweetened here in town, and an awesome Mama offered to find me some in the States and send it to me.

Anna from A Mother's Nature bought me a whole bunch of different colours and is shipping it to me next week! I'm so excited, because I was a little intimidated by the Dharma Dyes that I have on order, so this will be a great step in!

So now, as if I didn't have a whole whack of different crafts to do, I'm going to be a yarn dyer!!!! I have some Roving, and some Cestari Bulky and some playsilk blanks on the way, so I imagine by spring, I'll by creating my own beautiful yarn- yippee!

Matt's Hat got finished this afternoon, just in time for his trip so that's awesome. I'm really going to make a run at finishing my Ice Queen Cowl tonight, since it's the last of the month, I want to start a new monthly project on time and this one has been lagging me for awhile- but it's so pretty!

I also want to do a papercraft mural for Avari this week- she can help me glue things on it. Thank goodness for Dollarama (while hanging my head in shame...) Once I'm a rich designer, I'll shop responsibly!

Here it is...

I give this recipe 5 gold stars














I ordered some figs this week from Sunshine Organics and was looking for a recipe that used them. The glaze has to be one of the best things I've ever made. Since we're trying to cut out the "bad" stuff, I ordered some raw blue agave syrup as a sweetener to use instead of brown sugar. I was also just informed that agave is what is used to make tequila, so that makes it even more interesting! Roasted Sweet Potatoes rounded up the meal very nicely!

Here's the recipe:

Fig and Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour Yields: 12 servings

"Sweet figs provide a rich contrast to tart lemon in this citrus-glazed composition."

INGREDIENTS:

1 lemon, juiced 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 pounds dried figs

1 lemon, sliced 12 chicken thighs salt to taste 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon dried parsley

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.	In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, brown sugar, vinegar and water; set aside.
3.	Place figs and lemon slices in the bottom of an 11x16 inch baking/roasting dish. Arrange chicken thighs on top, then pour vinegar mixture over chicken. Finally, sprinkle with salt and dried parsley to taste.
4.	Bake/roast at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 50 minutes, basting frequently (turn figs if they begin to brown).
5.	With a slotted spoon, remove chicken, figs and lemon slices from baking dish and place on a warm platter. Skim fat from cooking juices, then pour over chicken as sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.

and that's that- try it out!! Tomorrow morning I have a new "pancake" recipe on the list. I've heard if you scramble one egg with one banana and fry it in a pan, it makes some great pancakes- so we'll see!

Woo hoo- it's Wednesday!!!

Wednesday is treat night- I adore it! I don't have an idea of what the treat is yet, but I did get my little "monthly spoil me" in the mail today- it's a beautiful headband - I'll share fund pictures tonight. I'm off to make a Moroccan Chicken for dinner- yumm

Some New Projects

I've had to put my personal knitting and sewing aside this week because I've had so many fun projects for people!

This is part of the fun secret project I was working on last week- I'm still waiting for some little goodies in the mail to put in it to be sent away- crossed fingers they get here by Friday!











































Today at the Mom's Cafe, it is Finger Puppet Day- I was asked if I could make some finger puppet forms so the moms and kids could decorate them, so here they are!













I made Pigs, Bees, Bears, Frogs, Bunnies, Birds and Ladybugs- sounds like fun! I'll bring the camera so I can get some action shots of the decorating