I am feeling better, I have more energy, tho’ I still fatigue quicker than normal. But for whatever reason, posting has seemed overwhelming to me. Which is bizarre, I’ve been blogging for nearly 5 years.

So, the crockpot meals have been great. In response to Katie’s comment the other day, I soak it all night long and wash it out in the morning. It cleans up easily.

I only had one dud which happened to be on the same night that Carol brought me soup, so that worked out nicely. It was the ham and potatoes. I think the recipe could be altered and saved, but last Wednesday, the only edible part of the dish was the scary looking, mushy bit at the bottom of the crockpot.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m using the Fix It And Forget It cookbook. Whenever I make a recipe from this book, I make notes, highlight the good ones, or write in suggestions for how to make it better on the next try. It can be a very overwhelming thing, looking through 15 stew recipes in one book, so it’s nice to see what I’ve already done and liked/disliked.

The favorite discovery this past week? Taco Soup with Black Beans, pg 36.

YUM!

Everyone liked it.

The Tater Tot Casserole went over very well, pg 116. Chicken in a Pot has been a favorite for years, pg 168. I add 3 sliced potatoes and make biscuits with it, thicken the juices into gravy… Mmmmmm. Aromatic Chicken, pg 185 was pretty good. I think it’d be better converted into a thai curry by adding the curry paste at the beginning, and the bamboo shoots, bell peppers the last 5 minutes, basil at the end.

On the list that I’ve made in the past, but haven’t got to yet is the Hamburger Soup with Barley, pg 34. This is so amazingly good. I always use ground turkey in place of ground beef in these and all recipes (except for hamburgers themselves) because gr beef grosses me out. For the barley soup, I use 2 cartons of Swanson’s organic beef broth and crushed tomatoes in heavy puree. And the Chicken Curry (indian style) on page 187 is fantabulous IF the sweet potatoes you get are good. With flavorless sweet potatoes, it’s pretty lame. We’re going to try that again, and I’m hoping my sweet potatoes are good. I don’t know how to tell before I’m committed and they’re actually cooked.

Tonight, we’re having Beef, Tomatoes, and Noodles on page 78. I haven’t made this before, but it seemed like a good idea to brown the beef instead of just coating it with flour and tossing it in. So I did.

Anyway, having dinner done in the morning when I still have energy has been wonderful. Such a load off my mind. The only downside is, being home most of the day as I am, I anticipate eating dinner all. day. long. Makes for a long day sometimes.

So, I’ve done a little more dyeing.

This is bits of gray fleece, white fleece, and brown alpaca dyed tan.

This is silk noil I was trying to do different colors of cream, beige, mahogany, and dark brown that I was hoping would bleed into each other a little bit. It didn’t quite work for a number of reasons. The blue bit was supposed to be the dark brown. I don’t know WHAT’S up with that. I still think it’ll look pretty carded into the brown. At least the more colorful parts.

This is some blue on gray fleece and alpaca top, white fleece and alpaca top, that I messed up the measurement on. I was looking at the wrong manufacturer’s directions and added too much dye. I had to take the fiber out well before the dyebath was exhausted. I haven’t washed it out yet, it’s still wet from the dyebath Saturday.

I had thrown one of Clark’s sweater swatches in the blue dye along with the other fibers.

It has a little bit of a greenish tint to it, but not as bad as what shows up in the picture. I think I’m going to dye his yarn with this dye. I’d wanted it to be a lightish sort of blue, as light as it could be, being dyed over brown yarn, to pick up the blue in his eyes. With his fair skin and hair, I thought it’d look really good. I’m not sure if it’s exactly the right shade of blue, but I do like it.

I’m wanting to dye my light gray fleece tan and blue to make a tan sweater for Nate and a blue sweater for me, with the same colors of noil blended into both. I think it’d be neat looking if I can get the colors right. I need to try the blue again in the right amount. It’s supposed to be lighter.

Finally, the girls had their first Cross Country meet on Wednesday. I’m so proud of them.