Red Lentil Stew

After the over-indulgence of the holidays, I was craving something a bit healthy, fresh, delicious and comforting. Hmmmm...
As I looked 'round the kitchen, I spied a jar of gorgeous red lentils and had my "AH HA!" moment. I began gathering ingredients and working out the details in my mind. Now, I was ready to create. The end result was just what I was after, it hit the spot.

I thought I would share the recipe with you here. Whilst it may appear to have quite a few ingredients, it is a simple recipe and only takes about 20 minutes of active time and then simmers away. I hope you like it.

Red Lentil Stew

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lg carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, chopped (you can substitute 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes)
1 rounded teaspoon ground cumin
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups broth/stock (I used homemade chicken stock but, you can use vegetable if you want to make it vegetarian/vegan)
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (you could substitute parsley if you aren't fond of cilantro)
juice from 1/2 lemon

Preparation:
Heat oil in a 4 -5 quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute onion, stirring until golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, celery, pepper, tomato, cumin, red pepper flakes, and salt and saute, stirring for about 3 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and wine. Bring to a soft boil then lower heat and let simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Once the lentils are tender, remove from heat.
Stir in cilantro, lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.

I spooned it over cooked brown rice and served it with whole wheat pita bread. The Engineer liked his with hot chili sauce drizzled on top, while I preferred a dollop of plain low fat yogurt on mine. Yum!

What are you having for dinner?

Calm After the Storm

Good heavens, what a weekend! We are all a little tuckered out like little Baby Moonface here. Who, by the way, was born at the last minute in the wee hours. Her mama and accompanying receiving quilt of Pegasus magic, caused me to break a good number of my sewing rules and to utter a few unpleasants upon discovering a dearth of stuffing material.

Any imperfections were overlooked and the sheer number of ponies and pony related items found under the tree were vastly more intriguing anyway.

We had an amazing holiday feast with family. The Engineer and I joined forces to become a team of super chefs, creating a complete Middle Eastern vegetarian Mezza spread. Tabbouleh, Falafel, Fatayer (spinach pastry), Hummus...all from scratch, even the Pita were handmade. It was delicious! Yes, much feasting has been done! Our wee kitchen was put through it's paces and performed beautifully. Another night there was a roast chicken, mash potato, gravy with homemade rolls...not to mention the 6 dozen cookies made earlier in the week. I must admit, that never before have I had so many dishwasher fantasies. Still, unless we put one in the living room, I just don't think it's going to happen.

After all the hubbub, we have been soaking up a little lazy time. Pajamas have been worn long after the morning's gone, thankful for leftovers giving us respite from the cooking, and generally just hanging out as a family. There is a vague plan to motor up the mountain in search of snow play but, for now we are just letting it roll.
What have you been up to?

Comfort and Joy

Thank you for joining me in my little shiny place here...for reading, commenting, encouraging, inspiring and making this a most amazing journey! However it is that you mark the passing of another year, I hope that you and yours are blessed with comfort and joy, love and peace, health and happiness!

I wish you a most beautiful New Year!

Tins in Turtlenecks, Cans in Cardigans

The little green cottage smells of cinnamon and ginger, the cold winter wind is ruffling the feathers of the hens, the twinkle lights glow and we are up to our elbows in last minute doings.

You may recognize those spiky Aloes from my header. Despite my best efforts at neglect, they have continued to grow and propagate, multiplying in bunny-like abandon. So, inspired by Dottie Angel's jars in jackets, I thought why not tins in turtlenecks and cans in cardis?

What a grand last minute gift idea! I'll make them all cozy, dressed in their best sweaters, and at the last minute deposit them on doorsteps with notes of care. The recipient will open their door and see that a canned aloe has come seeking shelter and a forever home. If you see one upon your doorstep, please take them in and give them some love. They wont cause nearly as much mischief as a pesky gnome and they are quite useful around the house.

I am off, for the Gingerbread men are demanding duds and decorations!

I hope you are having a cozy day where ever you are!

Hello Monday

Happy Monday my friends! I'm back from my busy week on the first official day of the school holidays.
I want to thank you all for the lovely comments and birthday wishes you sent my way. They certainly cheered me up and put me in a birthday state of mind. Unfortunately, due to some sort of technical glitch, I have been unable to reply to comments individually. Hopefully that will sort itself out soon. In the meantime please know that I read all of your words and appreciate them immensely!

The day itself was just right. I was surprised by The Engineer and Pony Girl with a pancake breakfast, then spent the morning with a little yarn on the sofa next to a glorious spot of sun. There was a crazy trip to the thrift store and then a dinner date with the Mr. - after which I was reminded of the danger lurking in drinks that come with sippy straws. All in all, a very pleasant day.
I even managed a photo for my 'self portrait experiment' which I had been neglecting. I think I will be starting that back up again in earnest at the new year...possibly a flickr group in the works.

I've been hoping for snow but, instead we have dark, cold and rainy. I do believe some tent building and bread baking are in order for the day. I'm also itching to know what all of you have been up to so, I might come visiting. If you hear an unexpected knock at the door, it could be me.

Have a sweet day!

Busy

Are you as busy at your house as we are at the little green cottage?

We've had a wonderful few days with Nana visiting. Pony Girl has been soaking up some Nana love for sure! Just a few more days of school before the holiday break, which means I need to get super busy.

This weekend I had the immense pleasure of finding my little 'Happy How To' featured on Whipup. Such an amazing site full of tutorials, reviews, interviews, and loads of inspiration! They have an awesome 2011 calendar available for download for just $5.00! Go check it out.

I'm also gearing up for a birthday on Friday. I have to admit, I am approaching 42 with considerably less grace than 41. In fact, I may just not bother at all. As Pony Girl said to me last night, "I'm skipping bedtime tonight," maybe I'll just skip turning 42.

I don't imagine I will be around much this week - what with gifts to finish, a drivers license to renew, gray hairs to banish, and a mountain of laundry to climb. So, I am wishing you now a glorious week!

See you soon.

C'mon Get Happy!

Kate from Fox's Lane has a little happy meme going on and I thought it was a great way to start the weekend! So, here is what is making me happy:

A fleeting moment of winter light coming through the window.
A warm little green cottage.
The Engineer cheering me on.
My daughter's knock knock jokes that make no sense.
Tangerines.
Mastering zippers.
A friend who laughs out loud at my puns.
Vintage Gingham.
Singing in the car.
Homemade jam.
A healthy family.
Stripy socks always make me happy!
Twinkle lights.
Blog buddies.
Happy Lists.

Go find a whole bunch of happy over here!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Happy 'How To'

Last week whilst I was sweeping up the little green cottage, a light bulb popped on over my untamed curls. It was the shiny light of an exciting crafty idea, the kind that keeps one up all hours mulling it over.

You see, in my making, I end up with scraps of fabric in all shapes and sizes. There is a sort of loose organization going on with my save piles. I do hold on to cherished bits and vintage darlings. I keep especially, the long straight-ish strips of favorite fabrics, selvedge ends, cuts from quilting, anything stripy. Recently I had taken note that my basket of strips was bursting and threatening to make a run for it if I didn't make use of them quickly.

And so...long story short, I started having a bit of a crafty revolution, making up all sorts of goodness with my runaway strips. In this 'how to' I will show you how to make those stripy trees in the top picture. However, the technique I'm going to show you is limitless in it's possible applications. It is so easy peasy and slightly addictive ...or maybe it's just me.

Here's what you'll need:
A collection of fabric strips in varying widths (none of mine were over an inch wide).
Some cardstock paper
Scissors
Thread
Glue stick (optional)
Sewing Machine
some buttons and bits of lace or ribbon

Now, choose a bunch of strips that you like and start laying them out together in an order that is pleasing to you. Grab your cardstock (in this example, I am using an A4 piece that has been cut in half lengthwise). I make sure that I have the right amount of fabric strips to cover the entire piece of cardstock.

Pick up your first fabric strip, I work from the bottom up. Place your fabric strip so that it is even with the bottom edge of your piece of paper.

If you like, you can use a small bit of glue to hold it in place. If you are using glue you will want to wait a few minutes to let it dry before going to your sewing machine and use the smallest amount so that it doesn't goop up your machine.

Now, take your paper and fabric to the sewing machine and simply straight stitch down the middle of your fabric strip, attaching it to the cardstock.

Choose your next strip of fabric and place it next to your first strip, slightly overlapping the sewn strip.

Stitch this strip in the same way as the first.

Continue repeating the process with all of your strips, remembering to overlap each one slightly. Or, you could lightly glue all your strips into place first, allow the glue to dry and then stitch them to the paper.

Once you have finished, turn the paper over and draw equal triangles onto the cardstock. I used a ruler and a pencil to make my markings. I was able to get 6 equal triangles out of this piece, with 2 half triangles left over.

Cut along your lines and voila! you have 6 lovely stripy tree triangles.

Aren't they nice? Oh, they could use a little something though. Time to break out the buttons and lace.

Sew on some buttons, a label, some lace or ribbon, whatever strikes your fancy!

At this point, you could turn them into some pretty groovy tree ornaments by either sewing or gluing two of the triangles back to back. With a good size needle, sew some embroidery floss or yarn through the top to be able to hang it.

I decided to turn these into a happy little garland.

Depending on what fabrics you use, this technique can look quilty or pleated, it's pretty fun to see what you can come up with. You could make this a 'no sew' kid friendly project too just by using a bit more glue. There is no limit to what you can make with this process.

I think it would make a pretty great stitched postcard!

I turned some of the small left over bits into gift tags by sewing another piece of cardstock to the back.

I even turned some into little birds on a string of ric-rac, tweet!

I hope you have enjoyed this simple 'Happy How To'! If you make some trees or use this technique to make other clever stuff, I would love it if you added photos to my flickr group!

Have a happy happy day!