summer blahs......

In the Phoenix area we now have had over 30 straight days of triple digit heat. It is very hot and it is so hard to ignore. My typical way of dealing with this every summer is to just ignore it, sort of blocking it out psychologically but this year, wow, there is just no way! Right now it is 106 which means it will probably go up to around 112 or 113 today. Also it is humid and we never used to have humidity.

It was SO nice in Taos. I guess I did not blog about that. It was so green and refreshing and full of flowers. What a beautiful place. I definitely am going to go back and spend a good week or or more there. If I could swing it, I would be going back for the wool festival in October, but I don't think I can...... the problem is you have to really fly into Albuquerque and then drive a few hours up to Taos, but we'll see. Definitely next year.......
I thought I'd show some of the photos from Taos and how pretty it is. Some of these are from the grounds of the Old Taos Guesthouse, a B & B where we stayed....

Here is the front entrance of the guesthouse and the really cool back gate which led to where our rooms were, and also a shot of some flower gardens somewhere in Taos. There were so many flowers everywhere and at night, it cooled down to 50 degrees and was just so beautiful.....




We visited LaLana wools. I posted about it on the One Planet Blog. What an amazing amazing store. And the people are just so nice. I can't believe the owner really. I have to say that their yarns and patterns (to me) are really the top of any I have ever seen ANYWHERE. Their designs are just stunning. I can't think of another word. They have an "almost wholesale" program so in the next month we will be getting in some of their yarns and kits, which I can't wait for......... I need to pick out something to make for myself, if only I would get more motivated to knit... We have a few other special things we are going to be working on with LaLana and it is really exciting...... I wish I had the time and space to learn more about natural dyeing because I just find it fascinating and it goes so well with my love of plants and food and all......

Here is a photo of my mom and my sister Jodi in front of La Lana. We were celebrating their respective birthdays, big years for both of them.......



I have to get my motivation back to start knitting. I want to knit. My projects are all organized. I know what I have to finish first and what comes next, but I just can't seem to motivate. I haven't been spinning either, and it is the same story. I want to do it, but I just don't. I could blame it on the triple digit heat or my period I suppose!! What a bad PMS month by the way. A few of you I have emailed about it. There have to be some solutions to this......

I am still enjoying my organic boxes. And the one great thing I have done is stay on my organic diet so that is good. Look at this weird item that came in my box this week. They are called Royal Trumpet Mushrooms....




At first I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then I just treated them like any other mushrooms. I ended up making a fantastic omelette. I just sauteed these sliced up with organic red onions in a bit of olive oil for awhile. I added some chopped fresh dill and a bit of feta cheese. Then I whipped up some organic eggs (which really do taste better by the way) and scrambled it all. It was really incredible to be honest..

This weeks box was not too exotic. I received a beautiful cantaloupe and some more red simka plums. The one thing I have noticed really tastes better than conventional produce are the salad greens. I have been enjoying the red leaf lettuce and baby arugala. I have some sweet onions and zucchini and I am not sure yet what I'll do with those. Zucchini is not one of my most favorite vegetables I have to say, but I am wiling to try. So I think actually I am going to make some pasta tonight that I saw advertised at Trader Joes. It is their new lemon zest papperadelle (not sure I spelled that right) and I will just saute some of these veggies and mix them with the pasta........

If anyone has ideas for how they love zucchinis and sweet onions prepared, let me know. Or if you have a recipe or recipe site you love. I do look at epicurious.com and cookinglight.com. I like epicurious but some of the recipes are a bit fattening and I am trying really hard to keep things low fat or good fat is more like it! It is funny, so many people email me about the food posts, but you don't leave comments for me here! I'd love some comments friends..... I am glad some others like to eat green as well.....

I hope there will be more knitting posts soon. We are starting a new One Planet Knitters group. It is for people who are on the affiliate program and anyone who wants to make a new project to show off on their blog, gets an added little bonus, so join up if you want......! So anyhow, I have to pick out what project I want to do...... it is hard to decide! I want to do more sweaters but the reality is I don't wear a ton of sweaters but if I can find a light weight one, maybe..... I am waiting for a few new things to come in.......!





Happy weekend!

More Food And Cooking

I promise there will be new fiber posts soon. Next weekend, I will be in Taos New Mexico so I plan on going to any fiber / yarn stores around. Any recommendations anyone? The one I am most looking forward to visiting (that I know of ) is Lalana Wools, of course!! We have thought of contacting them many times about carrying their stuff at One Planet but I am not sure it is a good idea since they sell online already. Their patterns and yarns are absolutely exquisite! And expensive! I will have to buy something for myself, of course. I am not sure they even sell wholesale. They had an ad recently that said "almost wholesale" and I am not sure what that means. Since they naturally dye all their own yarn in small batches, I can understand why it is hard for them to move to all wholesale, because of the cut and all. It is hard for all indie artists... I am going to ask though when I am there............

I still have not been knitting or spinning. I admit I am in a funk. Maybe it is the icky hot and humid weather. 100 in Arizona and humid is just gross. I have knit a few rows a day of this or that but nothing too intense..... I don't feel motivated to do a lot of things now. I even broke my great organic diet after not losing any weight. I got very frustrated and really I am just going to have to join a gym which will happen soon, after my weekend away......

I did get another great organic boxed from Boxed Greens this week. I really enjoyed the fresh organic red leaf lettuce and spinach in salads and the tomatoes were yummy as well. I got a mango and some seedless black grapes that were unusual and amazing. They were really as sweet as candy..... I also got a few things that I didn't know what I would do with, so I ended up making a great soup. The first item was a Delicata Squash and I had to look it up. If I would have known how amazing it tasted by itself, I would have eaten it plain. It has a peanutty sweet type taste and it is fantastic. It is an heirloom variety of squash. Here is a photo and that link has some great info about the variety. I am going to buy this again and I think just bake it and add a bit of olive oil and cinnamon. I know that sounds weird but it is a great combo. Or make a sweeter soup with delicata, sweet potatoes, and orange...... This would be great.



I also received two large pure white onions and a head of this rosy red garlic. I have to say these aren't the onions I usually buy. I grew up I guess buying either the yellow type or eating sweet vidalia or red onions. In culinary school, we never used these pure white onions either. I discovered that they are actually sweeter than the yellow variety but they do make your eyes still water...... I looked up these onions and they are just called white sweet onions and they come from an organic farm in the midwest



I decided to make some soup using only ingredients I already had in the house. I have a huge sage plant outside in my herb garden so I wanted to use some of that. I don't have a photo of the final result but it turned out amazing so here is a recipe for you. I usually only add in a little of this and a little of that, but I wrote it down this time.... This is very low fat by the way. For the vegan version, leave out the butter (substitute olive oil) and use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. And of course, I used 100% organic ingredients...

Creamy Delicata Squash Soup

2 large white sweet onions
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon sweet cream butter
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 medium-large delicata squash
4-5 small gold potatoes
1 large garnet yam
3 cups organic chicken broth
2 cups spring water
1 teaspoon powdered ginger (you could use fresh too)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage (or substitute 1 teaspoon dry)
sea salt - to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

First, chop the garlic and place in a large soup pot with the butter and olive oil. Put the heat on low and let the garlic cook for 15-20 minutes. The heat should be very low so the garlic doesn't brown. Add the onions and continue to cook on low until the onions are very wilted. You might have to add some of the chicken broth so that this doesn't burn.

While this is cooking, preheat the overn to 350. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place in a roasting pan with the sweet potatoes and the gold potatoes and let these all roast for about an hour until cooked through.

The onions and garlic can simmer this entire hour. Just keep the heat on low and add broth if necessary. When the vegetables are done, let them cool and then chop the gold potatoes and add to the soup (don't peel). Peel off the skin of the garnet yam and coarsely chop and add to the soup. Also scoop out the flesh of the delicata squash and add to the pot. Add the chicken broth and water, bring to a boil and then turn the heat down and simmer for about an hour. It is just soup so have fun, no rules here, you could add other veggies if you wanted too.

Let it cool slightly, then puree in a blender and put it back in the pot. Add the herbs and spices and taste and adjust the seasoning. It is pretty yummy. It has an interesting tang from the spice combo......

You could make it look pretty by serving it with some sage chopped on top and a add a dollop of fresh yogurt, light sour cream or creme fraiche depending on your taste..........




That is it for now. I never thought my knitting blog would get into cooking but life changes. This used to be my love in life-cooking and food, but the constant struggle with my weight just made me turn away from the interest. Plus it is weird but working as a chef diminished my interests too...... I don't want that to ever happen with yarn!