Who says sweets can’t be (relatively) healthy? I mean, that’s just nonsense! Case in point…peanut butter balls. I have a good recipe for those, and I love making them, although these days I make them in bar form. But they are super sweet, and super high calorie, while not having much in the of nutritional value.

However, there’s another way.

In no particular order:

A million years ago, back when I first learned to crochet, I crocheted MANY blankets from a free pattern I found on some yarn company’s website.  And I crocheted almost all of them in acrylic yarn.  I of course can no longer remember the company name nor find the pattern, but that doesn’t really matter because I wrote up the instructions (in a clearer manner, if I do say so myself).

In my ongoing quest for organization, I’ve made some more pouches.  Unlike the packing cubes, these are just flat little zippered pouches good for anything you like.  When deciding on your size, remember that the zippered opening will be 1” narrower than the width of your pouch.  I mention this because I actually made one pouch that I can barely get my hand inside, which isn’t terribly functional.

It’s a brand new year, so I’m starting my book nook count from scratch.  This is the first (but almost certainly not the last).  It’s this kit and a beauty it is.  In the distant past (okay, it was last year), all my book nook builds had some things in common, mostly that they were heavy on miniature books and scholarly accouterments, as this is the aesthetic I particularly like.  But this one is completely different.

A couple weeks ago, during a little extra time between appointments, I just happened to find myself in the vicinity of Craft Warehouse and decided to pop in “just to have a look around.”  I am truly old enough to know better but I did it anyway and ended up spending the entirety of my entertainment budget for the month.  I don’t even really feel bad about it.  I should…but I don’t. Disgraceful.

I mentioned in a previous blog post about the beauty of legumes that I have an absolutely sublime split pea soup recipe.  But the reason I seldom make it is that this particular recipe requires a very meaty ham bone.  Not smoked ham hocks that you can get from your butcher, or cubed up ham, but a real ham bone with lots of meat and fat still on it, and presumably with some marrow still in the bone.

A number of years ago, I made a few versions of something called the 1898 Hat.  This is a free pattern that you can get here on Ravelry. The designer constructed the pattern by looking at a picture from a 1910 magazine.  I believe it was part of the charitable knitting drive meant for knitters to provide wooly warmth for soldiers and sailors during wartime.  So I think of it as a sailor’s hat.  I might not have those detail exactly correct, but I like that narrative in my head, so that’s what I’m going with.

I love biscuits.  No, I mean I LOVE biscuits.  I’m not above baking biscuits from a can, but I really like homemade biscuits, particularly homemade buttermilk biscuits.  What I don’t like about making biscuits from scratch is the hassle of cutting cold butter into flour.  I mean, I can do it and I have done it, but given a choice, I’d just as soon skip cutting in the butter.  Enter cream biscuits.  No butter to cut in!

A friend of mine will be having her second child in the not-too-distant future.  For her first, I crocheted her a baby blanket in white and pastel yarn in my favorite blanket pattern. For her second, I thought I’d try a quilt.  I didn’t realize this until I started getting interested in quilting, but the companies that specialize in quilting cotton fabric sometimes make fabric panels…that is, a larger piece of fabric that has a picture or pattern on it, and is meant to be used in one piece, instead of being cut up and pieced back together like usual.

I mentioned kale salad in a previous post and since it’s a family favorite and family gets together around the holidays, I thought I’d present it here in time for Christmas.  I believe I mentioned in the previous post that kale smells like sweaty socks, and therefore palatability can be a challenge.  This raw kale salad gets around that issue with an amazing dressing that tenderizes the kale and renders it absolutely delicious.

I like a convenient, quick breakfast as much as the next person.  Factor in my sweet tooth, and I find that the Quaker oatmeal packets of instant oatmeal are fast, easy, and tasty when I’m in a hurry.  They are not, however, super healthy.

When I was in college, I often took the longer break between classes to drive a couple miles to a nearby mall, where there was a Waldenbooks store (anyone remember that book chain?) right across from a little sandwich deli.  I’d buy a book (not related to my school work) and then go have a sandwich and soda at the deli.

My nephew (the favorite one, who just went off to college) loves all things lemon.  As a child, he was known to just eat a whole lemon, skin and all.  So now that my mother and I are trading off turns sending him care packages (because apparently, he’s “starving” in college), I thought it might be nice to send him a lemony treat.

BBB.  Basic Banana Bread, of course.  What did you think I meant?

In May of 2017, the Wonder Woman movie came out to great acclaim.  Even boys liked it!  Well, some boys who were known for taste and discernment.  At any rate, I loved it.  I remember sitting in the theatre with a friend of mine; she and I were just rapt for the whole movie.  Fantastic!  Superhero mythology done right!  Along with the movie came this new iteration of the famous linked W’s which comprised both her logo and part of her costume.

I’m a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen blog. I have been following her almost as long as she has been posting. Fabulous recipes, easy to make, with some entertaining commentary along the way. She’s also written several cookbooks, one of which features in today’s blog post.

As with many of my projects, this one started with a YouTube video.  This one, to be precise. The YouTuber presents these little square pouches as “packing cubes.” They could be used for anything, obviously, but I was delighted with the idea of packing cubes.

I’m not sure why, but I always think of caramel corn as a holiday treat.  Maybe that’s because it was often something my mother would make around Christmas time. Or maybe because I vaguely remember her making “caramel corn balls” (a little bigger than a baseball) to hand out one Halloween.  But there’s no reason you can’t have caramel corn year around…

I know I said I was quitting the book nooks cold turkey.  What can I say?  I fell off the wagon.