Recently, I decided to start packing better food. I am tired of sandwiches, plus I think eating so much junk is catching up with me. So my new plan is that on weekends, I’ll also cook a second batch of food just for lunches. This was my first week of doing so, and I made Chickpea Potato Curry, Broccoli with Red Pepper Flakes and Toasted Garlic, and rice.

The Chickpea Potato Curry was new to me and was yummy. The prep was minimal, and once the veggies were chopped everything went into one pan for about 30 minutes of simmering. Which is pretty darn easy, and it yielded five lunches for me and two for Hubby. Not bad, right? The broccoli side dish is from the March 2007 issue of Cooking Light and is a standard rotation for us. Really simple and tasty.

I’ve already found several new recipes I want to try for lunches, and once we head into summer, I’ll probably do some salads. What do you usually eat for weekday lunches?

There are two things I would change:
(1) The hood. I would wear the CPH more if it didn’t have a hood. I don’t use it at all, and it creates an uncomfortable lump when I wear a coat over it.
(2) The size. I knit the 36″, which is clearly too large. There is excess sweater flapping around in the back.

So I decided to another another CPH this year. Meet the smaller, hoodless version.

I was tempted to knit this sweater in gray or even another shade of brown because I tend to gravitate toward those colors. But I made myself branch out. Even when I finished the project, I was still second-guessing my color choice. I like grass green a lot; I just don’t wear much of it.

From beginning to end, this sweater took me seven weeks. Not a record by any stretch of the imagination, but very good for someone who usually drags these things out! What probably helped is that I didn’t have much of anything else on the needles so I tried to be monogamous. The seaming didn’t feel nearly as brutal this time around. It still took me a few hours, but it went smoothly.

Overall, I really like the style and fit of this hoodless version! We’ll see what I think after another couple of years.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Color 9430 (Highland Green), a little over 4 skeins
Pattern: from Fall 2006 KnitScene
Size: 32″
Needles: US #7 and #9
Modifications:
: Lengthened the body by half an inch
: Followed normaknits’ guidelines (Rav link) for the hoodless version.
–After seaming the shoulders, use the smaller needles to pick up the same number of stitches you would have picked up for the hood. I picked up the stitches with the wrong side facing me so that the ridge would be on the inside of the sweater.
–The next row is *p2, k2, repeat from * to last two stitches, p2. Continue to knit the 2×2 ribbing as established until you reach the desired length of the collar. I knit for about 3.75″; I think 4″ would be even better. BO all stitches.
–With the right side facing you, pick up stitches for the button band starting from the bottom front and continuing all the way up through the end of the collar. I picked up 126 stitches on each side. I can’t remember now how I came up with that number, but it worked okay for me. You want to pick a number that is a multiple of 4 + 2 so that you can do the same 2×2 ribbing as for the collar. The next row is *p2, k2, repeat from * to last two stitches, p2. I knit the button bands until they reached 2″. BO all stitches. Repeat for second button band.

Back in September, I cut the fabric to make sets of zippered pouches and tissue holders. I wanted to give the sets to my colleagues as Christmas gifts, and I was all pleased with myself because I was starting early. Of course, then I lost interest in sewing for three months and didn’t get around to making them. Three days after Christmas, I was totally in the mood to sew. Go figure. At least I’m early for 2010.

Yarn: Yarntini Self-Striping Sock yarn, 1 skein
Pattern: My generic 56 stitch top-down sock with 30-row slip stitch heel
Needles: US #1 + #2 / 32 inch circular

I had never eaten tuna casserole before, and was hoping this might be a simple, hearty meal. I incorporated a few mods as suggested in the recipe reviews, and they worked well, but unfortunately this is not repeatable dish. Hubby and I learned that we don’t like tuna casserole — it’s just too heavy.

I also made the Chipotle Bean Burritos from the same issue of Cooking Light, and these turned out quite well!

We used pico de gallo instead of salsa, bagged lettuce instead of the chopped tomatoes and lettuce, and cilantro instead of green onions. The cilantro made a huge difference - it really brightened up the flavors! This recipe is definitely a keeper. On a side note, the magazine recommended organic beans because they are lower in sodium. I did a quick comparison at the supermarket, and was surprised to find that it was indeed true.

I searched on Ravelry for other mitten patterns, and came across the Very Cabley Mittens. They appeared simple, and I had enough leftover yarn from the Evangeline mitts. So I cast on and finished them about a week later.

Pattern: Very Cabley Mittens (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, Grey Tabby, less than 1 skein
Needles: US #5 for cuff, US #6 for body
Mods: I went down a needle size for the cuff based on project notes I found on Rav. I did not check gauge, but I know I knit tightly. Normally, I have to go up one needle size to reach gauge. However, since I have small hands I stuck with the #6s suggested in the pattern. It worked out fine for me.

A couple of weeks ago, I baked a batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies using an Everyday Food recipe. I thought they turned out pretty decent. I used 8 oz of chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups) because that was all I had on hand. I also used a mixture of reduced fat creamy and reduced fat super chunky peanut butter. The peanut butter flavor came out quite good — I could taste it, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The only thing I didn’t like? The cookies became very hard and crispy after they cooled. I prefer a much softer cookie, so I ended up microwaving my cookies before I ate them.

I’m planning to try this recipe again, with the following mods in the hopes that I will achieve the texture I am striving for:
(1) use a cookie scoop to get more of a “mound” shape
(2) mix full fat with reduced fat peanut butter
(3) reduce baking time from 14 minutes to 13 minutes

Do any of you have suggestions that might work or a favorite PB chocolate chip recipe to share?

This pattern only uses one skein of Malabrigo, which is a big plus.

Sadly, though, I don’t think this beret works well on me. It isn’t slouchy enough and generally looks too small. I should have done at least another half of the pattern repeat before the decreases. I’m still debating whether to frog it and re-knit it, or to donate the hat to charity.

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Rav link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Polar Morn, less than 1 skein
Needles: US #9, #10, #11
Mods: I used US #9/16″ needles for the ribbing based on project notes I found Ravelry. I think this worked well. The US #11s/16″ were for the main body. For the decreases I used US#10 DPNs. I’m not sure why the pattern calls for 24″ needles — I tried them and didn’t like how the stitches were overly stretched out. The 16″ needles worked just fine.

The recipe was a bit interesting to me. I’m certainly not an expert baker, but most recipes I’ve used seem to call for the baking soda and baking powder to go in with the dry ingredients. This recipe (which is essentially the same as the one on the back of the package) has the baking soda+powder mixed in at the same time as the sugars, butter, and eggs. Second, most recipes call for brown sugar to be packed when measured. This one didn’t say either way, so I opted for somewhere in between packed and loose. Third, the recipe gave a weight measurement for the size of the dough balls instead of a volume or diameter measurement. Yes, I did bust out the scale.

While these cookies tasted perfectly fine to me, I can’t say I particularly lliked them. It felt like I was eating one large Andes Mint without really tasting any cookie. I guess my memory of them was better than the actual thing.

When I am at work, I park my car underground. This works out really great during the summer months when the temperatures are in the high 90s or 100s, but in the winter my car gets chilly. Since November, I’ve been telling myself that I need to knit up some fingerless mitts because my steering wheel is cold at the end of the day. I had a pair of Fetching mitts from 2006, but I only wore them for one season because the fit wasn’t right (too big) and the yarn (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran) pilled like crazy. I can’t even remember what I did with them.

I saw the Evangeline pattern a long time ago and printed it. If my memory is correct, I believe it used to be a free pattern on MagKnits. Well, when I reorganized my craft room over the summer, I sorted through the many knitting patterns I printed over the years and tossed the ones I didn’t think I would use. Guess which pattern ended up in the recyle pile? Yup — Evangeline. So in order to knit these mitts, I actually paid for a pattern that I used to have for free. You can bet I was kicking myself for being overzealous in my cleaning!

But the pattern was worth it. I really like these mitts. They are easy to knit but not super boring. The fit is perfect, and I am hoping (fingers crossed) that the yarn will hold up well. This was my second time using Dream in Color Classy, and I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. I don’t particularly like the feel of DIC when I’m knitting with it — it seems kind of rough — but it was a good match for this pattern and the mitts don’t feel rough or itchy at all on my hands. Verdict: I would definitely knit this pattern again with the same yarn.

Pattern: Evangeline (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, Grey Tabby, less than 1 skein
Needles: US #7 / 32″ for Magic Loop