Braided Gardening

As much as I love seeing the daffodils peek through the snow and crispy leaves,  I love the mid spring flowers growing around the fading spring bulbs.

My sister - in - law told me once that her mom would have her roll all the daffodil leaves and tie them close to the ground.  Every single plant individually. 

I think about that every year when I'm ready to rid the flower beds of the thin spiked leaves.   I never seem to have the right tools when I want to clean up the beds. 

This year,  I did a simple French braid across three daffodil plants with a simple knot At the end. 

At least it's interesting. 

Rice-sagna

We like rice.
We like broccoli.
We like ground sausage and beef.

We love cheese.

I found a recipe that used quinoa and chicken in layers.   I used the idea and switched it up to come up with a layered dish the whole family enjoyed.

Big Boy said,  "Wow, this tastes a lot better than it looks."

I think that was a compliment.

Rice-sagna

Preheat oven to 400° and coat casserole pan with cooking spray.

1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
2 cups chicken stock
2 broccoli crowns
3/4 lbs ground sausage
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
4 eggs
Garlic and basil

1.  Make rice according to package directions,  using the chicken stock as part of required liquid.   (I added basil and garlic to the rice.)  Set aside to cool.

2.  Cook ground meat (ground turkey would work) in skillet until no longer pink.   Add chopped onion and one clove of garlic,  chopped.   Remove meat,  leaving any grease in the pan.

3.  While meat is cooking,  partially steam small pieces of broccoli.

4.  Add al dente broccoli to hot pan with grease to brown it a touch,  salt and pepper to taste.

5.  Add whisked eggs to cooled rice.   Mix thoroughly.  (My rice wasn't totally cooled,  you just don't want the rice to cook the egg. )

6.  Layer 1/3 of rice in casserole dish.   Top with half meat.  Add all broccoli.  Layer 1/3 rice, reading meat,  and last layer of remaining rice.

7.  Top with shredded cheddar or Italian blend of cheese.   (I use whatever is in the fridge.)

8.  Bake 20 minutes,  or until warned through.   Finish off under the broiler to brown the cheese.

Eat!

We added some Frank's Red Hot Sauce and it gave it a nice kick.

I Cut It Off

I am ashamed to say that it has been 4 years since I have touched my weaving loom.

Let me rephrase that it has been 4 years since I have woven on my weaving loom. It has been a table for much too long.

The piece of fabric that came off of it was a sample piece used during an art show. I took my loom with me and allowed customers to try it. The four inch square pieces were meant to be coasters and I was going to send them to the people that wove them.  I grossly misjudged the time it would take newbie to weave four inches of fabric. Most people took one or two sweeps and they were done. I was left with a lot of unwoven yarn in a pattern that didn't make any sense for anything but coasters.  And I don't need any coasters.

I have a couple ideas for the leftover yarn but that will have to wait for another day.

Tomorrow I start dreaming of new projects on the loom.

Okay, maybe not tomorrow.

How about right now?

Frozen

This weather has made us hermits.

Even the dog is getting antsy.   She is eating everything that she shouldn't be: Sharpie Paint Marker,  Valentine list for school, lid for our pretzels and most heartbreaking, Tom's wool hat he has had since he was 13 years old.

We went for a walk tonight. She is very protective of her yard.   Barking incessantly.   On our walk,  a neighbor dog was barking at us.   Millie couldn't understand what the noise was about.   Quite funny.   Although my legs were frozen within three minutes of the start of our walk,  we forged on.

A warm-up is on the way.   31 degrees.   Sounds like short sleeve weather.

Hello, My Name is Carrie

Happy New Year!

I've missed this blog.  My former boss used to say, "If you are going to work from home, you must get dressed and ready to work each morning in order to be productive."

I may have not bought into his mantra a couple years ago, but I have been thinking about it recently.  It's been a year and a half since I stopped working full time.  I had many plans.  I've done some, been sidetracked on others.

Building my Etsy shop was going to be my number one task.  I haven't done that.  I have four purses, almost complete, that could go on Etsy.  Instead, I made this:

And this:

And I've made other things, which are fulfilling, yet not money makers.

It's time to get dressed and be productive. 

~Carrie