Sunday Morning Pancakes

As a kid, one of my favorite nights was when my mom would let us have reading suppers. This would involve everyone bringing the book they were currently reading down to the dinner table and reading through dinner. Even my parents would join in, and secretly, they were probably glad to have a dinner time with no fights.

The only way dinner got any better was when we would have breakfast for supper. There's nothing like pancakes, bacon and/or sausage, eggs, pure maple syrup, and a big glass of cold milk enjoyed at dinner time. Apparently, Dan didn't like breakfast for dinner as a kid. He thought it was cheating, but he's changed his mind after we got married. PHEW. There's almost always what we need for breakfast-for-dinner in our cupboards, fridge, and freezer, so it's a good thing he doesn't mind when we indulge in this delectable meal for dinner.

Although this time we didn't enjoy these pancakes at dinner, I love this recipe for its healthy spin. They are hearty and wholesome without tasting too healthy, and sprinkled with a few blueberries (picked this past summer and frozen in bags) they are a great start to the day. Hope you enjoy them!

Whole Grain Pancakes*

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup wheat germ OR 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal & 2 tablespoons oat bran

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons oil

Combine dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients and add to dry. Let set for a few minutes as the griddle heats. Sprinkle with blueberries when cooking pancakes on the griddle. Enjoy!

*Perhaps this recipe is courtesy of Aunt Amy? The baked oatmeal wasn't (oops!), but I think this one is. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Knitting Project

I've come to realize that knitting is not exactly a cheap way to make gifts for others. The most cost-effective gifts are the small ones, like the hats I made for my family at Christmas. Nice yarn costs a good bit of money, but instead of seeing that as a downside to my hobby, I've embraced the fact that quality yarn creates a lasting gift.

As my friends have started to have babies, I've vowed to make at least one hand-knit thing for each of them. That is, each of their first babies. I can't vouch for my ability to knit gifts for an unknown number of kiddos, but I think I can swing at least one hand-knit gift per friend. I had no idea how many gorgeous baby items I can (theoretically) make. I'm loving the challenges I find in new patterns. Knitting for babies is so quick, too, and I don't need as much yarn, which is why I was able to splurge on yarn with gorgeous colors for Natalie's baby.

Natalie and Brandon didn't know what gender baby they were having until he arrived (hi baby Wesley!), so I didn't choose my pattern until he made it safely into the world. My friend Kate (whose daughter was the recipient of my first ever baby blanket) advised me to make something for a year or so into life, when the abundance of baby shower clothes had diminished, so I decided upon the Chunky Monkey by the brown stitch. I purchased the yarn after driving all about the Miami Valley on one of my recent snow days, and after finally landing at The Yarn and the Needle, I found a navy tweed (Cascade 120) and a buttery yellow, perfect for a boy but equally as perfect for any future kids they may have.

So without further ado, the final results!

And another shot:

I hope baby Wesley loves his vest when he can wear it, in about a year.

P.S. This present is not to its recipients yet. I'm hoping that Natalie will be too busy with the baby to read this post. And if not... Natalie, this is your gift!

A Weekend Visit

One of the best parts of living in Ohio is that we live relatively close to our families. We live close enough that they were able to help us pack up our moving truck (and oh shucks, I had to go to a bridal shower while that was going on) and Dan's parents were gracious enough to drive out to help us unload all of our possessions. My dad and mom have visited once, and then my mom and sister came out for cookie weekend in early December. Last weekend we were graced with a visit from the Aiken family, who win the award for our closest relatives, at 3 hours away.

A few years ago, right after we were married, we lived in rural Western New York. The Aikens came and visited us there, too, and while I was organizing pictures for this blog, I stumbled upon a few pictures from that visit. The big activity from that trip was a visit to Houghton College's climbing wall. My, how they have grown since these pictures were taken!

Living in Dayton has afforded plenty of activities for us all to enjoy, and we took the Aikens ice skating on the outdoor rink in Riverscape MetroPark and to the US Air Force Museum. The boys loved the big airplanes at the Museum, and we all enjoyed ice skating. The boys were fairly new to ice skating, so there was, alternately, a lot of hand holding and falling, but we made it through without any tears and celebrated with lots of hot chocolate at home.

Thanks, Aikens, for coming to visit us! We loved having you!

Baked Oatmeal

I like warm food. It's so much more comforting to have a bowl of warm soup than a cold sandwich. Or melted cheese on crackers, instead of just cheese with crackers. A tuna melt instead of a tuna and cheese sandwich. Toast instead of cereal, and so on and so forth.*

But in the morning, in the rush to get out of the door for school, I don't have time to make eggs + toast unless I plan it out ahead of time (which would mean exchanging hair-time for cooking-time). In general, I stick to quickly made foods. Unfortunately, that means I sacrifice my warm food for a bowl of cold cereal quite frequently. Unless, of course, I make baked oatmeal in the evening and then heat it up in the microwave as I'm tossing my lunch in my lunch box.

I read somewhere that the longer oatmeal takes to cook, the better it is for you. Hence, steel cut oats are the best for you. If you haven't ever seen them, they look like little pellets of oatmeal, but they take forever to cook -- an hour, according to the outside of the can. Then there are rolled oats (old fashioned) and instant oats, whose cooking time decreases in that order. I don't mind the kind of instant oatmeal that you buy in packets and put in the microwave, but I so often get little crunches of yucky sugar/salt/flavoring that grosses me out. In any case, there is quite a lot of sugar and salt in those little packets!

So in the interest of my warm breakfasts and healthy start to the day, here's my very favorite oatmeal recipe. A note: If you like your oatmeal the consistency of snot, this isn't for you -- it's a very solid oatmeal. But that's what Dan and I like about it. It also keeps me full until lunch. Thank goodness!

Baked Oatmeal, recipe courtesy of Aunt Amy

Bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees; Serves 6

2 1/2 cups regular rolled oats

1/4 cup oat bran

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1/4 cup steel cut oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups milk

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup veggie oil

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups fruit (1 15.5 oz can of peaches, drained and cut into small pieces; blueberries; some combination of the two, or anything else your heart desires)

In a large mixing bowl, stir together rolled oats, oat bran, flaxseed meal, steel-cut oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, stir together milk, egg, applesauce, oil and sugars. Add to oat mixture and stir. Turn into a lightly greased 2 qt. casserole dish. Bake, covered, 20 minutes. Stir in fruit. Bake 20 minutes more, uncovered, or until lightly browned. Spoon into bowls. Top with yogurt, milk or cream, or eat it as is.

*This does not apply, of course, to my all time favorite food: ice cream.

Hat Family Christmas!

Sometime this fall, I got the bright idea to knit each of my family members a hat for Christmas. Not only would this include my family, but Dan's entire family: his siblings, their spouses, their kids, and his 'rents. You see, I was unemployed at the time, and the idea of knitting 19 hats sounded like fun. I visited ravelry.com to find my pattern inspiration and began with the stash of yarn I've accumulated since I started knitting. Now, I don't have a stash like some people, but I had enough to make about 5 hats without breaking a sweat. For the rest, I ordered yarn from Knit Picks and began knitting until my fingers were sore.

Here's Dan's family, modeling their hats for us!

I started with this owl pattern for the 3 little boys, each knit in their own color.

Then for K, I made a headband based on this pattern and embellished it with a few leather flowers.

For Miss E, I made a flapper-inspired hat embellished with a purple flower, but alas, I need to a.) block it and b.) knit earflaps so that her cute little ears stay warm! This was my only project that seriously needed to be fixed so it was useful. (And that's my project for my snow day -- today.)

For all of the adult males, I used Jared Flood's Turn A Square pattern, which I was 100% satisfied with. I loved the decreases and once I decreased my needle size by one, it was the perfect hat for guys. They each got their own colors -- for Tyler, a Brown's inspired palate; for Mike, cool colors; and for my father-in-law, a little bit of everything.

The women got individual chosen hats, based on their preferences! For my mother-in-law, I used a pattern that was similar to a scarf I had knit her last year and used the same color yarn. For Kristy, a simple hat knit in a bulky yarn which ended up being one of my overall favorites. And for Colleen, who was super supportive and excited about the entire project, I made a black beret embellished with tea roses in shades of cream.

For my side of the family, I knit all of the women the same pattern: a cute, loose hat embellished with a button. They had all liked my own hat in this pattern, so I thought that I'd stick to simple and do the same for all 3! For my brother, I knit the same hat as for all the guys in Dan's family. I also knit his soon-to-be-born son a simple, rolled-brim baby hat in a beautiful gray-blue alpaca. Matching hats for the boys! And for my Dad? Well, he rarely wears hats, but I think he was a little disappointed that he didn't get one. So maybe I'll knit him one for his upcoming birthday. It didn't occur to me to take a picture of the in their hats, so perhaps when we visit after Baby Ben is born, I'll get a few pictures.

Last but not least, I just had to knit a hat for Dan. His was the last completed, but at the same time, was the most important that I finish. He opened it on Christmas Eve and loved it. (I'm showing off the huge candy bar that was my Christmas Eve gift.)

So what's next? First, fixing E's hat and mailing it off to Pennsylvania so she can actually use it. Then something for my friend Natalie who just gave birth to a baby boy yesterday, a hat for my friend Ashley, and something for myself. A scarf? My own hat? Learning how to crochet adorable flowers?

Only time will tell. :)

Pondering...

I'm thinking about running a marathon.

There. I said it.

In fact, I've moved past thinking about a marathon, and I've started planning to run a marathon. I'm debating between the Pittsburgh Marathon and the Flying Pig Marathon. There's a difference of 2 weeks between them, and one happens to be located significantly closer to our home. However, Pittsburgh has family nearby, and I'm pretty sure they'd come to cheer me (or possibly us) on. (Dan is thinking about training for one too. He just hasn't informed me if he's doing it or not.)

Why a marathon? Why now?

Part of it is so I can join the other family members who have run marathons -- my Dad, brother, sister-in-law, and multiple relatives.

Part of it is because I want to know that I can run a marathon. The Biggest Loser finalists can run marathons -- I'd better be able to as well!

Part of it is because the timing is right.

Part of it is because we have amazing bike ways that I can run along, located not a quarter mile from our apartment, with drinking fountains at convenient intervals throughout.

Part of it is just that I want the challenge.

And the last part of it is because I've been eating way too many of these:

And these:

And I've made toffee and hot fudge sauce and caramels since. Uh oh. Training, here I come.

P.S. The bottom spritz cookie is a camel. How cool is that?

Thanksgivingness

Mondays after long weekends stink. Since this isn't PA you do not get off of work. In PA the Monday after Thanksgiving is the first day of buck season, so in PA, you get off. The students are even off. This is because most people in PA over the age of 13 will be hunting, and even if they weren't, I'm pretty sure every single bus driver in PA is also a hunter. Anyway...

We do not live in PA, so I had to go to work today and it wasn't any fun. Tomorrow will be better though, the first day back is just rough.

This past weekend we traveled north to visit family and friends. Due to traffic it took us 5.5 hours instead of 3. There was a lot, a lot of traffic, but we made the best of it by listening to Christmas music, talking about previous Thanksgivings, and stopping for fuel and hot drinks. I borrowed a neat little video camera from work to recored the events of the 5k, but the 5k was postponed a year due to pouring down rain and 35 degree temperatures. I did manage to capture the inside festivities though...so here you go.

I hope you liked it, more to come in the future.