Micah's Marinated and Grilled Asparagus

I came across the prettiest bunch of asparagus while I was grocery shopping last Friday and just had to pick it up. The price was perfect and I remembered my brother, Micah, telling me about how he had grilled some asparagus a few years ago but I had never gotten the opportunity to try it. This was my chance!

Before I got home, I had already planned out our family's Sunday dinner. Planning ahead is very important with the tight budget and all of the chauffeuring I do on the weekends. I am always trying to stay ahead of the game with healthy, easy and inexpensive meals.

Sunday Dinner Menu:

Grilled Pork Chops
Macaroni and Cheese
Collard Greens
Grilled Asparagus

Before I got busy with my usual "mom things", I unloaded my groceries and placed the new bunch of asparagus in the fridge, standing in a cup of water with the cut ends down. (This helps to keep them perky and crisp.) Then I went about my weekend of band practices, hubby's pool tournament, and various errands.

Sunday afternoon before I started prepping my pork chops, I cleaned my asparagus, cut the ends off and placed them in a bag with a little Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing. When I finished all but 3 of my pork chops, I put my collard greens on to cook and started heating the macaroni water. After I finished my pork chops, I placed them on a pan in the warm oven and I added about a table spoon of bacon fat to the griddle. I then poured my asparagus and the marinade onto the hot griddle and it began to sizzle and steam. I stirred them around cooking them evenly until they achieved the perfect tender-crisp consistency. Then I pulled them off the griddle and immediately topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I have to say that this, by far, is my favorite way to eat asparagus!

Thanks for sharing, Micah!

Nina's Lovely Beef and Veggie Soup

Ok, so I realize I'm a little off topic today, but I did mention that I am also a foodie and may be posting some delicious recipes to share with all of my blog buddies!

Nina's Lovely Beef and Veggie Soup

1.5 lbs. beef stew meat
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 - 15oz. can of diced tomatoes (in sauce)
water
1 cup frozen green beans
1/2 cup frozen corn
3 medium red potatoes, cut into eighths
2 medium carrots, cut into 1" chunks
Salt, Pepper, Worcestershire Sauce - to your taste


Thoroughly brown the stew meat, stirring constantly as to not burn it. Add the onions, celery and carrots and sauté with the meat until onions are tender. Add the tomatoes and sauce to the meat and veggie mixture. Then add 3 cans of water. Allow this to mixture simmer for about 30 minutes so the meat becomes tender and it will also allow the veggies to infuse the liquid with their great flavors. Stir in the frozen veggies, potatoes and season to taste. Allow to cook until the potatoes and carrot chunks are fork tender.

You can also add egg noodles if you'd like, but we eat our soup with saltine crackers. Everyone in my family loves this recipe. I sure hope you and your family enjoy it as well.

New baby project

A friend of mine is expecting a little boy this summer and I'm so excited for her and her husband.

I've been seeing a bunch of crochet photo props on the internet lately and decided that Sarah needs a turtle costume for her baby boy.

I found this pattern on Stitch11 by Corina. It's called Turtle Love. It's so easy and very fast to work up. There are some great tutorial pictures posted for this precious project! Great job, Corina! And thanks for sharing!

http://stitch11.com/turtle-love/

I used Red Heart yarns in Spring Green and Warm Brown.

I haven't finished the hat yet but here is a picture of the shell.

Thank you Stitch11 for sharing your great patterns!

Arm Knitting, Anyone?

So I came across this new trend called Arm Knitting... (I'm sure it's nothing new, just new to me...) And I decided to give it a go. I have this wonderfully crazy new yarn called Boutique Chic by Red Heart. I purchased two skeins of the Mulberry color and was dreaming of a very chunky cowl, but I didn't really care for the way it was knitting up... Or crocheting up... So I picked up my WIP for a few months and then yesterday I decided to give Arm Knitting a try.

This was so easy! And FAST! I was able to complete the entire cowl in about 20 minutes. It was a little confusing at first but once I got the hang of it, it went much faster.

Here is a LionBrandYarn youtube video with some great instructions.

Here are my instructions:

Cowl
You will be working with two strands of your favorite chunky yarn.
Cast on 8 stitches.
Row 1: Knit across.
Repeat Row 1 until you have about 24 inches of working yarn left.
Bind off and then sew the two short ends together. Trim and weave in ends when you're finished.

I'll try to get a picture of my finished product later this evening.

Have you completed any arm knitting projects? If so, please feel free to share below.

Onnie's New Sweater

Hi, everyone!

So, I finished Onnie's sweater over the weekend! She's so excited about it, too! Here is Miss Onnie loving her bright new sweater.

This is a Lion Brand pattern called Spring Blossom Baby Kimono.

I used Lion Brand's Hometown USA yarn in Syracuse Orange.

I really enjoyed this pattern. It was very easy to understand and worked up quickly. I also learned how to increase my stitches beyond the pattern (for the sleeves). I'm sure this technique will come in very handy in the future.

Now my older daughter is waiting for hers. I'm thinking I may attempt to do the same style sweater with a lighter weight yarn and large needles so she'll have looser and more airy stitches... more like a cover-up than a sweater...

Cute sweater for Onnie

I'm currently working on this cute sweater for my youngest daughter.  It's my first sweater ever and much easier than I anticipated. (Yay!)

Spring Blossom Baby Kimono

Isn't it just precious?!  My 11 year old daughter even asked if I would make her one!

I'm using Lion Brand's Hometown USA yarn in Syracuse Orange and size 13 Boye brand knitting needles.

I'll post my finished project as soon as I can! 

Welcome!

Welcome to my nook! My name is Nina and I've been exploring the art of knitting and crocheting for over 20 years. I am so excited about sharing my love of yarn crafting with the world! I love everything from chunky cables to fine lace, doilies to sweaters, and afghans to cowls. Please join me in my fabulous crafting adventures! And just a side note... There may be a few stray posts along the way as I'm also a food lover and the mom of 5 beautiful children...