Ketchup Cookies

The day before the snow storm my parents, my siblings, my husband, my son, and I were sitting around the table eating pizza, hot dogs, and other leftovers when Jason picked up the ketchup bottle and studied the back for some time. Curious, I picked up the ketchup bottle and read these words "Tic Tac Toe Cookies". I thought to myself, "How strange to have a recipe on the back of the bottle. Usually when a company puts a recipe on their package it's to use their product." I read the ingredients of the the cookies and there, right before 1 egg and just after brown sugar were the words 1/4 Cup Heinz Tomato Ketchup. "Oh," I said, "we are so making these tomorrow with the daycare kids."

That is just what we did during Thursday's snow storm. After the kiddos came in from the snowy cold we gathered at the island and whipped up a batch.

The cookies received two sideways thumbs, but one of the kiddos did eat two, so they were at least yummy enough for a second helping. I have to agree with them, the cookies don't taste awful, but they aren't that great either. There is peanut-butter in them so that is what you mostly taste, but there is this faint taste of something--else.

Ketchup Cookies (from the back of Heinz)

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together and then set aside:
1 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream with electric mixer:
3/4 Cup Peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 Cup softened butter or marg
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar packed

Add In:
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1 Egg

Mix in the flour mixture

Drop by tablespoon on to baking sheets.
With floured fork make a # over the top of each cookie.
Bake for 8-10 mins or until tops are slightly browned.

Startle your friends when you say: "Like them? I put ketchup in them"

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via Amanda

Snow Day

We are spending some time at my parents house this week. I have been working at the daycare few days a week for her when there are more two year old boys than her. Today, during the storm, she went to the doctor to "rule out" strep-throat, as she has been experiencing some throat pain. To her surprise she has strep-throat, so it is a good thing that I am here. She has been sent to bed (not that she went, she's stationed her self in front of the TV watching the DIY Channel) with a big bowl of ice cream and a loving hubby to keep her warm. She was instructed to not go back to work until Monday, but, unfortunately when you are the boss, the workers, the chef, and the teacher of your one-woman-daycare that is hard to do. My sister and I are "holding down the fort" for today and tomorrow I'm on my own most of the day, as I told her that since we are stranded here anyway due to the storm that I'd just work for her tomorrow.

The kids went outside and enjoyed the snow, despite the 23degree temp outside. Apparently the horse is of like mind as the kids because he won't come in when it snows either. The small pup though has sense, he went out did his business and begged to let back in.

Happy Snow Day!

Muffins

Recently mini-muffins have become a staple in our house. I'm not sure which came first the Pampered Chef Mini-Muffin Tin or the desire, but it is good to have both on hand. I make a batch a week and by the end of the week they are gone. I often give Stomper two (one for each hand) first thing in the morning while I am getting a diaper and other necessities ready for him, so I wanted them to be healthy. Also, I wanted to use what I usually have on hand.

The following recipe is an adaption of one that my Mom found for me on-line (I don't know from who). It uses baby cereal and baby food so it is great for using up any leftovers. I noticed that these muffins don't crumble which is great when I give them to Stomper in the car. I gave some to church on Sunday that were made using banana, sweet potato, and carob chip and they were gobbled up in a flash! Since they get all the flavor from the baby food the possibilities are quite endless. I have added cranberries and carob chips to mine, and I intend on using shredded zucchini in the next batch. If you use a fresh banana I suggest using just one as the banana comes through quite strong even when diluted with other fruits. I have made them with and without sugar and there is no taste difference.

Happy Baking!

Baby Food Muffins

ingredients:

Dry:

1 Cup of Flour

3/4 Cup of Baby Cereal

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 - 1/3 Cup sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit you are using

Wet:

2 4oz jars of Stage 2 baby food

or 8oz/1 Cup of pureed fruit/sweet vegetable

or 1 mashed banana PLUS enough of pureed fruit ti equal 1 Cup

2 Tbs milk

3 Eggs 

Extra:

1/4 Cup carob chips, chocolate chips, nuts, shredded zucchini, or dried fruit (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400. Spray mini-muffin tin with oil

2. Mix dry ingredients together.

3. Add wet ingredients and stir. Mixture may be lumpy if you used mashed bananas

4. Stir in the Extras if any

5. Fill muffin tin with all the batter. There should be just enough batter to make 2 dozen mini muffins. The batter will be rounded up a bit, which is fine. The muffins don't raise or spread very much, so it is all right if they are a little full.

6. Cook for 8-10 mins until tops are slightly browned.

7. Remove from tin and cool on a rack.

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ via Ginny

A Noble Cowl

Gillaspie Gothic Gauntlets

I don't have a photo but I am reading Wicked on my Nook. I am really enjoying getting to know the cast of characters. I just passed the first section where Elphaba is a baby so I'm interested to read about when she is older. As far as my knitting goes I am with in sight of finished the first--FIRST--glove for my sister. I promised these to her last Christmas so I really should get on the ball. The hold up is the fact that it takes so much concentration to knit them. Every row is different until you get to the final bit at the top. I will be so thankful when I am finished! This glove pattern is going in the "I Won't Make This Ever Again" pile along with the cow. I finished the first striped glove for my cousin and I have decided to take a bit of a break and knit a cowl. I've never knit a cowl before, but I think I like it. I may make another.

Make sure you take a moment to look at my contest!

Advent Calendar Contest

My Aunty Anne, Aunt Jane, and Grandma Blidberg collaborated in 1982 to make me an advent calendar. Each Christmas growing up I looked forward every year to pulling it out of the Christmas box, having my Mom re-fill the pockets with the ornaments, and then every day adding an ornament to my tree. Sometimes my Dad would slip a fifty cent piece into a pocket and I would get an extra surprise that day. I still have many of those fifty cent pieces and I probably will pass them down to Stomper some day.

This past Christmas season I thought a lot about family traditions and the advent. I thought and brainstormed ideas with Jason on how to make Christmas special and get the focus off the commercialism and back to where it belonged. I think we did a pretty good job this year. We attended services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, put only useful things in our stockings, and had a strict budget to spend on each other. The only thing that was missing was the advent calendar. We decided not to use it this year because Stomper was still too little to understand.

I think next year we will use just the pockets of the advent and have the tree permanently decorated. In the pockets we will use adornaments (if I can find them, they had names of God on them and verses to look up); little treats like sweets, money, or small trinkets; and probably in the last day I will put baby Jesus for our nativity set. I also like what Svenna does when she puts in little notes for her son about things they will do together that day like: make biscuits or go for a special walk.

This is where I need your help. I want to revive my advent calendar and add my name to the back as a co-collaborator, but I don't know what to do. I want to permanently decorate it, but I'm not sure how. I have a few ornaments from when I was a kid and some that my siblings added, that I could sew on, but I'm having issues envisioning it.

For the contest I would like your help to envision what this tree could look like permanently decorated. I have washed the advent and everything stayed in place, but the tree now has a green "halo" from where the colors ran. It is stuffed with stuffing and is sewn on to a towel. I am not a good sewer, actually I haven't sewn anything for probably 20 some odd years, but I am willing to stretch myself a little to update the tree. I would like the updates to cost very little, be something I can easily make, and maybe incorporate some knitting.

In the comment section of this post send me your ideas. Everyone who sends me an idea will be entered into a drawing and I will choose one lucky winner out of a hat. You can enter multiple times by also mentioning this post on Twitter (make sure to link me using @DeliaKnits), becoming my fan on Facebook (if you already are a fan on Facebook send me a comment on my wall to add you to the contest), and by mentioning this post in your blog (send me a link to your blog post via Facebook or Twitter) that's a total of four times you can enter!

(top left: diaper, wipes & cream, top right: make-up,

 bottom left: project bag, and bottom right: Nook holder)

The prize is a handmade entirely up-cycled jean clutch, and sewed by my Mom with my ironing and cutting and seam ripping skills assisting. It is made from a pair of my son's courdory jeans, an old sheet, and a button from my grandmother's stash. It is ten inches wide and six  inches deep, my Nook fits in it well with a little wiggle room. It would make a great little project bag for all you knitters out there; for you Mom's of little ones: a diaper, some wipes, and butt cream fits snugly; and it is also roomy enough for a make-up bag for a week-end escape. If you are anything like me, I am always on the look out for the right sized bag to put inside my big day bag (the one that travels to work, church, and visits at the in-laws) and this bag fits that goal. For more photos check out the album on my Facebook Page.

The contest is open now and will close Feburary 24th at midnight. The winner will be announced February 27th and the prize will sent out that week.

Good Luck!

Barn cats

This summer I kicked two of our three cats outside. They were given rabies shots and their ability to make more kittens was taken away so I felt it was time. Also, they were peeing on everything and with a baby crawling around I didn't wan't to deal with one more mess or smell. As fall approached I increased their food allotment, gave them some place out of the wind to hide in, and Jason gives them treats like tuna and chicken to keep them fattened for the winter. They have been doing really well.

Piper has asked to come in a few times, but I tell her she's fine and to go find her sister.

Bullet like's to bake in the sun on the haybales we have in front of the house. It must be nice having a winter coat that warms you as you laze in the sun



This is one of the strays that my cats have brought home. This is the uglier of the two. It was more rough looking and skinny before it started munching at the Hamin Porch Cat Cafe. I am hoping that it is fixed, I don't want kittens living in my barn or under my house.

I love this one of Piper, such a pretty girl. Both cats have remained very friendly. I was worried that they'd get feral, but they still love to be scooped up and loved on.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via Amanda

Yarn Along: Christmas Knitting Finished

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ via Ginny

I am reading a book on my new Nook I got for Christmas. It's called Starfire Angels and it's an easy read. It was free on my Nook which is one of the reasons that I picked it. I haven't finished Graceling, mostly because I forgot I was reading it. I am hoping to get Wicked or Twilight this week-end and read those.

I was late getting it to him, but I finally finished Stomper Sleep Sack. It is basically a large top down raglan sweater on steroids. It's thirty inches long from armpit to bottom making it roomy enough to crawl, stand up, and roll around in bed in. It's like wearing a blanket. I used double strand of some red heart yarn I had kicking around. It took 3 skeins, but one of the skeins (the brown) I used both ends at the same time. I ran out of the orange and the yellow, which is why it is solid brown at the end. The sleeves I should have done a few rows of garter or moss or something, because they roll and I don't like how it looks. I also had to sew down the color, because I made the neck too wide and he was chewing on it.

I made nine of these Upcycled T-shirt Pot Scrubbers for Christmas. They are super quick to knit and best yet cost nothing in yarn! Check out the Raverly page for the pattern and a link to how to make yarn out of t-shirts. All of the family members who received one were thrilled to get one. Now I just need to make one for myself.

Finished Jason's Christmas stocking just in time. I got the dimentions and some of the instructions from Knitting Through the Year, which I am also using to knit Jason's cousin some gloves. I think I could have made more red on the toe, but I was told not to rip it out and fix it so I will fight the urge. I knit them to look like the first pair of socks I ever knit that I gave to Jason one year. They are almost as big as this one.

Christmas

We started our Christmas festivities on Saturday the 17th with presents with Honey Bee. Saturday night we went to my parents house and Stomper opened up Honey Bee's presents. It was late and everyone was tired, but we opened up the gifts and my parents said "So-long" to their first Foster Granddaughter. We went home and in the morning had our own Christmas celebration as a family. Honey Bee gave Stomper and Papa her gifts to them and Stomper opened up her gifts (mostly clothes and a few toys).

We had a really nice day together as a family. I made a big Christmas dinner with all the fixings and we watched Christmas movies and spent a lot of time in our jammies.  Sunday night we went to Jason's parents house for presents and to say "So-long". Then Monday morning we said "So-long" to Honey Bee (see previous post for an explanation).

The rest of our week I cleaned a bit and wrapped a bit and picked out pictures to print off. The festivities kicked into high gear on Friday with a dinner at Jason's Grandparents. We dropped Stomper off at my parents house for a new family tradition on Friday night. My Mom wants to do "Christmasy" things with her grandkid(s) on Christmas Eve. She gave him a new toy to keep at Grandma's house and spent some time together.

The Hamlins 2011

We picked him up for Christmas Eve service at our church, then back to Grandma's house for some eating, then home. Sunday morning I couldn't wait for Stomper to wake up, so I woke him up. We had stockings in bed just like I used to when I was a kid, then breakfast, then the tree, then we went to Jason's sisters church for Christmas service, then to Jason's parents for brunch and tree, back home where we all napped, then my parents came over to swap gifts, and finally to bed. Monday morning Jason had to work, but Stomper and I were picked up by Jason's Mom so that we could go to Christmas at Jason's other Grandma's house. We were there all day opening gifts, laughing, and of course eating. Whew!

The hat I knit for Stomper doesn't really fit him so between Christmas and New Years I knit him a new hat that fits much better. I also managed to finish Jason's Christmas stocking (not pictured). I am hoping in the next year to make one for Stomper and possibly myself. Jason was very happy to finally be able to wear his new winter hat (I made him wait almost a year for it) and I am back to knitting the other fingerless glove for myself.

I should have more knitting photos and a contest soon!