Knit slipper project

I picked up this pattern book Whimsical Little Knits 3  when I was in Oregon earlier this summer at Websters, one of my favorite yarn stores in Ashalnd Oregon. I fell in love with this pattern for knit slippers and had this vision of me knitting piles of adorable brightly colored slippers that would be passed out at Christmas to everyone on my list.

Every summer I scheme that I am going to prepare amazing Christmas gifts in July, and this vision has never really come to life the way I envision it. I remember staying up until 1am on Christmas Eve frantically finishing an overly ambitious and started-too-late shawl for my mother.  Not my vision of gift prep perfection. 

I will now make the public statement that this year is

going to be different. I made myself a practice pair of slippers and now that I have figured out this fun and well written  pattern, I am going to start popping these out! We are going on road trip this weekend to my husband's family reunion, so I will seize this car time to start on my first giftable pair.

Please note that the practice pair is not giftable since one is bigger than the other.   I will probably re-do one of them, but for now I am ready to start on a new pair with some jewel tone teal yarn I am excited about working with.  Maybe I will fix up the practice pair for myself.  I think I might feel more giving if I have a pair for myself.  Hopefully mine turn out as cute as in this darling pattern.

       

Kale Salad

Before going out of town, we pretty much cleared out the fridge completely.  Therefore, coming home I had the perfect opportunity to try to stock up on super healthy stuff since some questionable items had been cleared out.  I bought 2 bunches of kale not having a recipe in mind for them, but was inspired by a friends amazing kale salad and thought I would find a fun way to mix it up salad style.

I remembered seeing a kale and chickpea salad recipe on a blog I really like, The Spontaneous Hausfrau - "A blog about (messy) cooking and (irreverent) domesticity."  Cute right?

I tweaked this recipe a bit based on what I had in the kitchen and it was excellent! The olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest dressing was so good, it was so simple and so flavorful.

Here is the link to original recipe from The Spontaneous Hausfrau  I didn't have any sundried tomatoes on hand like the recipe calls for, but I bet they would have been great. 
                                                           Ingredients:

For the dressing:

olive oil

lemon juice

lemon zest

*I added a little bit of ceyenne pepper for some spice 

Salad:1 bunch of kale

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

1 can garbonzo beans

kalamata olives

*I added some thai basil

Salsa shout out!

I am back from my last trip of the summer.  We went to New Mexico to stay with my aunt and uncle who are not only the best hosts ever, but also have a home on a mountain in the forrest.  It was a great place to be and we had a great trip.           

Something that we did well on our trip (besides hike, visit, and see amazing views of course) was eat.  My aunt is an amazing cook and makes home made bread at least twice a week. (!!!)  I can't believe that we ever ate out considering what she can do in her kitchen, but we did go out for Mexican food.  Being from Austin Texas, I am no stranger to tacos, mole, enchiladas, and queso.  But Mexican food is different than the TEX-Mex that we eat here in Austin.  (If you have not been to Austin, trust me when I say that tacos are part  of our daily diet at least once a week.  Especially breakfast tacos on the weekends.)  

So after enjoying green chile enchiladas with an egg on top, and even corn chowder with green chile, I came home loving the spice.  Lucky for me, our fridge was stocked with... homemade salsa.  A trio of salsas was created by our good friend who is not only culinary creative, but also really good at it.  Getting three kinds of homemade salsa was awesome gift that lead to some great food moments. (Thanks guys!) 

 We had finished off the grilled pineapple salsa and the jalapeño salsa before even leaving town.  But we still had an almost full jar of the Habanero salsa.  The only reason it was still left was that it is VERY spicy.  Delicious, but spicy.  Not something to be had in large spoonfuls, but something to be applied in "dabs."  So it has been dabbed on everything since we got back and we have really made in dent in our jar.    

Salsa is a staple in our house, but I usually stick to the "mild" or "medium" variety.  So I am feeling so much more adventurous and spicier now.  I am going to keep it up this summer and try some new varieties and see what else is out there!