Vacation--Part 1 Big Lake

Ric and I were invited to go camping with Kel and Ash on Saturday the 19th to the 22nd. Ric has been camping but this is my first trip sense living here in Arizona. We used to camp a lot while we lived in Washington. We would take the kids and tent camp and then we worked up to our tent trailer, then on to our cabin on Lake Kachess. Thanks to their great care we had a great time at Big Lake. Kel and the kids caught fish, hiked, and generally had a great time in the mountains. Peach Cobbler in a dutch oven, s'mores, and dinners cooked on the fire were yummy. We brought Rusty and he loved all the attention. I enjoyed the drive and the scenery coming down the Beeline Highway. Now that I remember what camping is like, we are looking forward to more trips with the kids.

Another Recipe and A Little Knitting

Another Recipe
Yesterday I wanted to bring cookies to RS to share with the ladies. It needed to be something that I could promote food storage. This recipe is one of my favorites because it is quick, doesn’t need an oven to heat up the house and it has chocolate as one of the ingredients.

Mountain Bar Cookies
½ cup butter/margarine
½ cup cocoa
½ cup milk
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix above ingredients into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in ½ cup peanut butter, ½ coconut (optional), and 3 cups quick oats. Drop on wax paper to cool.
(I usually double this recipe.)



A Little Knitting
While watching the FIFA World Cup soccer matches I have been doing a little knitting. These are a fun and easy knit that I can do will watching some great soccer. The Patterns include, my Southwest Rib stitch, the Basket weave stitch, the Waffle stitch, the Interrupted Rib stitch from my perpetual calendar and Anita's Broken Rib pattern.

Ashley called and asked me to make another “I Spy” for Payton. It seems that Hailee doesn’t want to share the one I had made for the family.

English Muffins

At our house we like English Muffins. They are great for snacks, breakfast and our favorite is to make English Muffin Pizzas. Many years ago when I was first married I got a recipe from a friend and made them up. I could not find that recipe but found this one on the All recipe site. They turned out great and were not very hard to do. I think this will be a new favorite.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/English-Muffins/Detail.aspx

English Muffins
By: Linda Pinda

Original Recipe Yield 18 muffins (approximately)

Ingredients
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
3. Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
4. Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.
(They didn't take all of the 10 minutes on each side so watch them as they might burn.)

A Productive Weekend

Thursday Ric and I attended Hailee's Kindergarten promotion. We enjoyed seeing Hailee and her classmates as they received their certificates. Hailee wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up. Ashley brought the canopies so we were saved from being in the sun for part of the morning.





On Saturday, Sevrine and Colleen wanted to climb Thunderbird Mountain. We tagged along. I hadn’t hiked this for about 8 years. I wasn’t as sore or stiff as I thought I would be. It was nice to see out over the valley and see all the changes in the landscape.







With the NCAA super regional softball tournament on and NASCAR, I got a lot of stitching done. I completed the two projects from the earlier post. I also did some frogging on the “Williams” lace. After looking at the picture I posted on Thursday, I noticed that the second “I” looked odd. I realized I had added a couple of stitches and I needed to fix the mistake. I got the lace redone and in the mail on schedule. So here are the finished projects for the Month of May.

Meeting Deadlines

Next weekend is Carolyn's wedding. She is my dd best friend. I wanted to make something for her sense she is so special. Carolyn is a recent graduate of Parson's School of Design in NY. (Project Runway fame) This is my design and I think she will appreciate this Table Lace. This took only a week and just needs to be washed and blocked.

Starts

The weather forecast says we are going to have our first 100 degree day. I am ready for the heat with projects to keep me inside in the air conditioning and a pool that looks inviting when it is too hot.

The Merry Month of May

The month of May has brought activities that affirm that Spring is here. I am starting to see results of our little garden. I am so glad that we planted so many tomato plants because after tasting the few that have ripened I could eat the little cherry tomatoes like candy.


Last night we went to watch Colleen run her first 5K. She came in at 37:04. She is happy with the results and now has a bench mark for the other races she is planning to do. This race was sponsored by Shade the skin cancer organization that Shonda Shilling started. We thought this was fitting sense Colleen had a cancerous mole removed from her back a few years ago. Colleen had matching shirts made that said " Run Like A Girl" with wings on the back. They looked really cute.

Mother’s Day we had the kids over and we had Spaghetti (my favorite). It was a great day and I loved seeing all the grand kids. Sevrine was here for the weekend and again this weekend for Colleen’s 5K. I got this perpetual calendar from Kristen and I am so excited to try the different patterns in my dish cloth knitting.


On the stitching front, I have been working on a couple of samplers that I will be giving to friends at the end of the month. One is a birthday gift and another a graduation present to a awesome lady who finished her nursing program. Along with the normal baby gifts, I work on dish cloths to keep my gift pile stocked. I tried working from a chart with the tulip cloth. I wanted to try chart reading before I started a bigger project on my to-do list.