Carole Knits

october zinnia
october zinnia
martinis with a view
martinis with a view
gettysburg fence for
gettysburg fence for
germinate shawl on rocks
germinate shawl on rocks
field of flags 2
field of flags 2
color affection with edge
color affection with edge
cedar leaf shawlette 2
cedar leaf shawlette 2
3_27_2014
3_27_2014
3_18_13
3_18_13
2_24_2014
2_24_2014
1_11_13
1_11_13

Pie Day!

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I uploaded this photo to Instagram and Facebook yesterday.

It’s my Pie Plan for 2019 and I’m happy to say it’s on track. Of course, that only means I made 4 batches of pie crusts yesterday but still . . . I’m feeling organized and ready to go when I get home from work later today.

Four batches of pie crust at once might sound intimidating but it really only took about 45 minutes from start to finish  . . .  start being getting out my ingredients and finish being all cleaned up and ready to move on. Here’s my pie crust recipe if you need a refresher. It’s easy and pretty fool proof and I encourage you to just give it a try.

Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have a counter that looks similar to this once again:

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Pie Is Love

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Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I saw a lot of stuff on social media about it. I saw pictures of moms with their kids. I saw gifts that moms received. I saw brunch celebrations and bouquets of flowers. I read some beautiful words about celebrating moms, remembering moms, honoring the women in our lives who aren’t our moms but who inspire us and raise us up. It was all pretty wonderful and made what can be a bittersweet day for me quite tolerable.

You know what else made it a bomb Mother’s Day?

Teaching my girlie Hannah to bake an apple pie.

To be perfectly honest, I was not excited about baking a pie on Mother’s Day. It’s . . . work. There’s the crust and the peeling and slicing of the apples. There’s the mess and clean up and timing of it all. But I did it gladly. I did it because Hannah asked me if I would. Because Hannah thought this would be a great way of spending time together on Mother’s Day. Because it was a way of remembering and honoring my mom, teaching her granddaughter how to do this thing that she taught me to do when I was about Hannah’s age. Because Hannah sees me as an expert when it comes to baking pie and because she knows I learned from my mom and she wants to be the third generation of women in our family who make really great pie for the people they love.

Because, despite my reluctance to do anything even remotely like work on Mother’s Day, I love my daughter. And it’s the love that makes all the work and mess and time worth the effort.

And maybe also because we got to have a really great pie for dessert. My daughter’s first pie. I’m a proud mommy.

I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating the moms in your life. And I hope it included pie.

Swedish Almond Cake

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I shared this photo on Instagram and Facebook on Friday:

Two Swedish Almond Cakes for the retirement party of a friend. They were a big hit at the part and on social media, too, with several people asking for the recipe. And so, here it is.

Swedish Almond Cake

1 1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp high quality almond extract
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick melted butter, slightly cooled.

Preheat oven to 350°

Grease a half loaf pan. I use Pam with flour and it rarely sticks. You could also do the traditional grease and flour method.

Beat the sugar, egg, almond extract and milk until well combined. Add in flour and baking powder and beat until smooth. Slowly stir in the melted butter.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. The edges will be brown and the center will be slightly puffed. Cool completely in the pan before inverting. Dust with powdered sugar.

And that’s it! It’s a very simple cake to make, it literally comes together in less time than it takes to preheat the oven. Despite that simplicity, or perhaps because of it, it’s very delicious and a Christmas tradition around here.

Enjoy!

Sometimes Mondays

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Are the first Monday you’ve worked in 3 weeks. And that makes them a little . . . rough. You know what makes facing Monday easier, though? Planning ahead and that’s why I made this yesterday:

A big old ramen noodle stir fry full of chicken and vegetables. I sort of followed this recipe but I used the vegetables I had on hand (onion, carrots, summer squash and spinach) and I also added sesame oil, chili sauce, and soy sauce with the chicken broth. I packed it up into 4 containers and now I’m set for the week.

I can’t wait for lunch time!

Nashville 2018: The One With All The Food

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I’m going to warn you right now – if you are hungry don’t continue any further. In fact, even if you aren’t all that hungry, I’m going to predict that this post will make you hungry. So. Go get a snack – a good snack – and then come back before you read. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Okay, we good now? Because I’m about to flood your screen with pictures of all the great stuff we ate (and drank) while we were in Nashville.

First up? Fried brussels sprouts and beer at Embers Ski Lodge on Sunday afternoon. It was very close to our airbnb and it was a great place to grab a snack and a burger. And it reminded me of being in Park City with Margene.

Monday morning. Donuts from Five Daughters Bakery. Chamomile Creme Brulee, King Kong (that’s the one with all that bacon and maple frosting), Lemon Blueberry and The Purist. We split the King Kong and Lemon Blueberry on Monday morning and ate the other two on Tuesday morning. They were fab.

Monday night. Hot chicken and cheesy grits from The Row. Hot chicken is a Nashville thing and it’s good. Real good. We never made it to Hattie B’s, which is supposed to have the best hot chicken around, but this was excellent. Honestly, though, I think I prefer my fried chicken without the heat.

Tuesday afternoon. Fried green tomatoes at Acme Feed & Seed. This was also accompanied by shrimp and grits but I don’t have a picture of that. I truly could have eaten fried chicken and shrimp and grits every day. Oh wait. I think I did.

Tuesday night. The Loveless Cafe. First up? Biscuits accompanied by their own jams: blackberry, peach and strawberry. So light and fluffy and so good for breakfast the next day, too.

My fried chicken, accompanied by fried okra and hash brown casserole. Is it pretty? Nope. But tasty? Oh my yes. It was probably the best fried chicken I’ve had since my mother’s and that’s really saying something.

Dale had chicken fried steak (so tender he could cut it with his fork) and macaroni ‘n cheese and fried green tomatoes. Again I say, pretty? Nah. But delicious and comforting and just like having Sunday dinner at your grandma’s.

Wednesday afternoon. Fried Pimento Cheese Balls at GRAY’s On Main in Franklin. This was my reward for tromping across a battlefield. Believe me when I say that I researched where to eat in Franklin the minute Dale said he wanted to go there to see the Civil War sites. It was pretty funny when he looked at the menu and said, “oh boy, those fried pimento cheese balls sound great.” That’s when I looked at him and said, “that’s why we’re here, honey.” Heh.

My shrimp and grits with his burger in the background. This place was wonderful and I’m glad we went even if I did have to tromp that battlefield first.

Thursday morning. The Big Fix at the Flipside. It’s a Bloody Mary that comes complete with crab claws, fried chicken, tater tots, a gigantic pickle, bacon, olives, pepperoncini and celery. It was a cocktail AND lunch and we both had one. It was fun and quite the experience!

Friday late afternoon. Ice cream from Jeni’s on our way to the airport. Vicki had mentioned Jeni’s and I’m glad we made time to stop before we left. Dale had the ice cream flight with wild Brown Butter Almond, Salty Caramel and Wildberry Lavender. I had Brambleberry Crisp and Bangkok Peanut. So flavorful. So smooth and creamy. So worth the stop!

And there you have it! Of course there were things not pictured like dinner at Puckett’s on Thursday night and lunch at Pinewood Social on Friday afternoon. Nashville has great music but it also has some really fabulous food, too!

 

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