Growing Sprouts

I've been growing our own bean sprouts after being inspired by friends.  We invited them for dinner, and their hostess gift was a bowl of alfalfa sprouts!  That inspired me on several levels (I am always looking for easy, thoughtful hostess gifts).

I re-read the section in More With Less on sprouting.  I bought a bag of daikon radish seeds at the health food store - I wanted to get alfalfa seeds or at least a sprouting mix, but apparently everyone is sprouting seeds at this time of year and daikon radish was the only thing left.

daikon radish seeds soaking

The picture is actually of lentil sprouts.  Genevieve wanted to sprout lentils. 

 

the dark, warm place where I put them:  the cupboard above the oven hood

 

Here is our method:

1.  Soak 2 tbsp. of seeds or mung beans or lentils overnight in water.  Best choice are seeds marked specifically for sprouting.  I keep the extra in the freezer.

2.  In the morning, place the drained seeds in a glass jar.

3.  Cover the mouth of the jar with a piece of cheesecloth and rubber-band it in place.

4.  Place the jar on its side in a warm, dark place (a cupboard next to or over your fridge or oven or close to a heater).

5.  About three times a day, swish water through the jar, wetting all the seeds.  Drain it again and put it back in its dark spot.

6.  You'll see sprouts in a few days.  When they're a few inches long, remove the cheesecloth and rubberband and put the lid on the jar.  Keep in the fridge about a week.

So far, we've just tossed the sprouts in salads and made lunchtime sandwich melts with them (the secret to great melts under the broiler:  put thin rings of onion on TOP of the cheese so that the onion gets slightly browned and sweetens up while the cheese melts underneath). 

What do you like to do with sprouts?

A Handy Trash Bag for the Sewing Room

When I began my sewing career, I put my snipped threads and fabric trash in a little pile immediately to the right of the machine.  I never put a trashcan proper at my sewing station, and I was forever picking up little piles of threads from the floor or my children's shoulders when they leaned in to see what I was doing.

Finally, I looked on Pinterest for a solution.  I found one!  I made a little fabric can to dangle over the side of my worktable, held in place by a wide ribbon glued around a baked-potato-sized rock. Nifty,  huh?

 

The thread catchers I saw online had pin cushions to keep them in place, but I subbed in a rock because I have a pin cushion I'm devoted to (Genevieve reminded me that she picked up the rock on this blissful vacation last spring). 

I did try to sew a sleeve for the rock, but then I thought the trash can would be more portable if the rock was firmly attached to the ribbon.  I wrapped the ribbon around the rock a time or two, hot-gluing as I went.  I intend to carry the little can to the living room coffee table or dining room table when I carry my handsewing there. No more sewing snips on the floor!

There was Ice Cream for Breakfast

Did you have ice cream for breakfast on Saturday morning? We did!  It was decadent and silly and my sister stopped by, which always makes a party.

I used the fabulous vanilla recipe that Jennifer Jo posted. I was not pleased with my yeast waffles from More With Less. I made baking-powder waffles last year, and I think that's the way to go. I also attempted to make a blueberry syrup which was too watery and nobody ate it; in fact, nobody ate any fruit of any kind at that meal. 

How to Freeze Unbaked Sticky Buns to Bake Later

Here are some helpful ways to fit a warm yeasted sweet bread (sticky buns or sweet rolls, etc.) into your life - what is better on a bitter winter morning? Start these methods before the morning of.

Method 1.  Allow dough to rise in bowl per recipe.  Once the buns are shaped, put them in their pan and pop them, covered, in the fridge overnight (I use my metal 9x13 with its metal lid, which is not airtight, but an airtight bag is fine too).  Let stand on the counter for 10-15 minutes in the morning. Bake 10 degrees warmer than the recipe originally called for OR add 5-10 minutes to the original baking time using the original baking temperature. 

Method 2. Allow dough to rise, allow shaped buns to rise to the point where you would bake them.  Then, instead, wrap the pan up tight and freeze them.  The day before you want them, put the frozen buns in their pan in the fridge for 12 or so hours.  Then, bake the same way as #1.

Isn't that handy?  I made sticky buns using method #2 on Christmas morning because there were so many festivities piled up that I couldn't bear the thought of fiddling with sticky buns on Christmas eve evening.

Sticky buns in the pan, just before baking.

Now, here is a bread-freezing trick that I tried over Christmas that did not work for me.  I parbaked French bread and froze it, so that I could bake it another day and have hot bread then.  The first time, the parbaking, I baked the loaves just until they were taking on color.  When I baked the bread a second time, it kept its doughy, underdone center no matter how long I baked it and how dark the crust was getting.  Not successful!  So, now you know. 

Pretty Happy Funny Real

Here's a slice of our life, organized in Leila and Rosie's categories for their Thursday roundup (pretty happy funny real).

 

These burpcloths are pretty.  I made them for a new baby sweetie girl and delivered them along with a meal.  To the right is some plaid (left from this shirt) that I used to make Ben a bowtie for my grandma's funeral.  I do love those bowties: so easy to whip up and instant cuteness for Ben.

 

 

My mending pile is happy to me.  Usually the fixes are fast and it's so satisfying to get the items back in circulation.  Here I have a flowered shoe bag whose seam I made too shallow so it frayed loose.  A pair of oxblood tights that I wore so much they lost their tightness at the top, so I put some elastic in there to help.  A blue sweater with a small hole on a seam that I handstitched closed.  Poof!  Back on the job!

Last Thursday was a funny day.  Ben was requested to dress as a favorite book character for school, and Genevieve was requested to dress crazy in support of anti-bullying school spirit.  Yes, on the same day.  Trying to coordinate this, plus get me out the door for my job was not funny.

Ben was Bananas Gorilla from Richard Scarry.  His daddy helped him make four watches in addition to the two he already had, so he could wear three on each arm like Bananas Gorilla.  Ben dressed in similar clothes to Bananas Gorilla and carried a bunch of bananas.

 

We had to explain the concept of "clash day" to Genevieve, which is kind of hilarious because she already wears the top-of-the-pile shirt with her red plaid skirt to madcap effect.  Sometimes I make her change before I take her out in public.  She totally owned this school spirit day!

 

 

 

Here is a real Lego creation from the Genevieve.  Those people are standing in line at an ATM.  Which niggles at me, because my husband and I rarely use ATMs and I can't imagine where she sees people standing in line for one.  But there you have it:  a 7-year-old's social observation.

 

 

Happy Thursday to you!

 

A Zipper Solution

Suddenly, 3 zippers at our house are snipped between the teeth, so the zipper slider flies right off the track when it gets to that spot.  Not good.  We think it may be from the bunny nibbling at the zippers when the children are snuggling her!

The one zipper is mostly decorative on Genevieve's top, another zipper is on Genevieve's hood so now she will wear a hat the rest of winter, but the other zipper is on Ben's only sweatshirt.  So I fixed it. 

I trimmed off the rest of the plastic teeth above the snip and bound the raw edge in bias tape.  I stitched extra hard to make a zipper stop, but if the zipper pull is being dragged up hard, it can still fly off.  Oh well.

 

 

 It's more functional now, and the kids have been warned to keep the bunny's teeth away from their zippers.  I'm not keen to replace coat zippers again!

I Didn't Like the Fruitcake

I didn't like the fruitcake. Other people did, but I did not.  It was not transcendent, as I expected.  It tasted like cake heavily laden with raisins and a whiff of marzipan.  It was, surprisingly enough given the amount of brandy I spooned over it, not boozy; I guess the alcohol got used up in the preservation.

Maybe I have a baseline dislike of fruitcake?  Actually, I don't know because I've never really had it before.  So I'm not saying this is a bad recipe, understand, just that maybe now I have tasted fruitcake and it's not a passionate love affair. 

I still have half of the thing left.  I don't want it to become the butt of bad jokes!  Maybe I'll try it with ice cream next time, not just a cup of coffee.

As a Christmas treat, I much preferred Grandma's Christmas bread.  That will go into rotation at our house.