Author: Life of Momma B

Computer Crash

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Have you ever had one of those weeks. Well mine has been just that! It all began when my computer crashed. The poor thing is just thinking, I get that hideous little blue spiny thingy. It just can’t quite get there. I have tried rebooting, but it won’t boot up fully, it just gets stuck.

I am kicking myself right now. I know I should be backing up regularly, but am I? Of course not! Do you realize how much we depend on electronic devices? I cannot begin to think about what is on my laptop. My sweet husband is trying to figure it out. I am electronically challenged so until he figures it out, I wait.

But don’t worry, I have been busy. I did manage to get Madison’s hat finished and am trying to complete some quick fingerless gloves done before I put the box into the mail.

A break from dishclothes

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The week has come to an end, and that means it’s time to post another craft project. As you know I am in the middle of making 12 dishclothes, but I needed a break from the dull beige yarn that I have been working on. My sweet niece, Madison, is turning 10 so I decided to make her a scarf and hat set. She lives in Maryland so she still has a little more cold weather.

Martha Stewart Scarf

The pattern came from Martha Stewart website. I choose a turquoise acrylic yarn. Turquoise because it is Madison’s current favorite color and acrylic because it was the only type available in the color I wanted. I adjusted the pattern a little to make it fit a 10 year old girl versus an adult. I only cast on 28 stitches so it was a little narrower and shortened the length a bit.

This is officially the first thing I have knitted besides dishclothes. This learning to knit has been an adventure. As you can imagine Lily B. is wanting something of her own and the matching hat is not ready yet. I am going to be busy over the next week. But you will have to wait till next week to see the next project.

Chocolate Marshmallows

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OH MY!!! I had no idea how good these were going to be. Yes, I know that chocolate is the answer to all of life’s questions and nothing beats a marshmallow when a sugar craving hits, but who knew these were all that. I could have eaten the whole batch.

Thankfully for my daughter, we made these for her to take to a Father/Daughter Dance with her American Heritage Girl Troop so I was able to contain myself. I had seen these over at Pinterest (my favorite site) but had never actually made them. I figured it could not be that hard so I gave it a try.

chocolate marshmallow

The concept seems pretty easy – insert stick, dip in melted chocolate and cover in sprinkles. However, I did learn a few thing.

1) Inserting the craft stick is harder than it seems. To overcome this, I used a toothpick. I inserted the toothpick all the way through the marshmallow first then inserted the stick. The toothpick became quite gummy so for the batch I used a bunch of toothpicks.

2) You don’t want the chocolate to pool at the bottom of the marshmallow when they are drying. This takes a little patience to allow the chocolate to drain back into the dipping bowl before you put sprinkles on them. This also made these take longer than anticipated.

3) This used a LOT of sprinkles. While I realize my daughter was the one putting the sprinkles on more sprinkles is always better, so next time I need a new bottle before I make these.

Checkerboard dishcloth – 6 of 12

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Well I am halfway complete with my dozen dishclothes as I learn to knit.  If you are just joining me, here are the previous five dishclothes I made.
#1 – Diamond pattern
#2 – Button in a Square
#3 – Basketweave
#4 – Seed stitch
#5 – The letter B

As I said when I learned the seed stitch, I love the texture that it created so I wanted to incorpate it into another one of my dishclothes.  I found a potholder over at allfreeknitting.com that looked interesting. Using this concept I created a dishcloth.

checkerboard dishcloth

The difference between the pattern and what I did was I only knitted with one strand since I didn’t want it extra thick. I also used size 8 needles, since those are the ones I was given and it keeps the stitches same size as the others.

Cream Cheese and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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Sitting in my potato bin are a few too many potatoes! As I stare at them, I am determined to find something different to do with them. Then it hit me – use cream cheese instead of butter!

cream cheese garlic mashed potatoes

Cream Cheese and Garlic Mashed Potatoes*
2 Really large baking potatoes (about 2 pounds)
4 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of dried parsley
about 1/2 cup of milk
salt and pepper

Peel and cube potatoes. But into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook 5-10 minutes until a fork can easily be inserted (time depends on the size of the potato pieces). Drain and place in a mixing bowl. Add cream cheese and stir until in melts into the potatoes. Add garlic and parsley and a small about of milk. Cream using an electric mixture. Keep adding milk until they are smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tip:
Top serving bowl with extra parsley flakes.

*the picture above is not of the full dish but the left-overs with a little fresh parsley

Updated on 7/15/2013: here is a printable recipe card Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes