Margaritas

I love margaritas and a few months back I made homemade margarita mix for a get-together with some friends and they were delicious - like, really delicious. I concocted that batch in my usual manner of adding a little of this and a little of that, but then I had requests for my recipe - eek! Then, as luck would have it, my sister-in-law had a birthday, she mentions margaritas and this was perfect because I had a boatload of limes in the fridge just for this. It was meant to be, right?

Seizing this perfect opportunity - "perfect" meaning I got to be in the kitchen AND knit her the above  Canning Jar Sweater - I tried to recreate what I had done a few weeks back and kept track of the actual recipe. End result... It's really close and pretty darn good! First and foremost, use fresh limes. This requires some elbow grease, but they really make a difference and the little bits of lime pulp are wonderful. To avoid pulling a muscle to get as much juice as possible from each lime, I present my handy dandy:

Tips for juicing limes:

• Microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute and let set for 1 minute.
• Roll on the counter with pressure before cutting.
• Use a citrus reamer or fork to get every last little bit of juice.

Alisa The Yarnista's Margaritas

• 1-1/2 cups of freshly squeezed lime juice (8-10 limes)
• 2 cups Triple Sec
• 2 cups tequila
• 2 tbs Agave syrup (add more if you like a sweeter margarita)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix all ingredients and pour over ice - I also love mixing in some beer for a beergarita or seltzer water to lighten it up a little bit. These margaritas are so much tastier that the store-bought mix and I'm sure you'll agree! Cheers!

Do you have a homemade version of margaritas or another beverage that you'd like to share? 

Ree's Mom's Muffins

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, always has wonderful recipes that frequently include all sorts of goodness that is best in moderation (butter, sugar, bacon...). Then last month I was catching up on blog posts and came across this recipe on Ree's blog - I was floored to discover the list of ingredients did not include butter or oil and had a reasonable amount of sugar. Then it made sense... it was her mom's recipe! I rarely bake and have a long history of mediocre and failed baking attempts - mostly because baking requires following a recipe when you don't understand the mechanics of making it work. I usually start out with good intentions, but in the end my creativity overrides and the results are less than favorable for anyone with any sort of taste.

But... I saw this recipe and had no desire to get 'creative'. These are healthy, very easy to make and simply delicious!

As you can see, there are quite a few ingredients - I accidentally left the oats out of the above photo, but I did omit the nasty raisins in the actual muffins so it evens out. Ree shares her feelings on bananas in her recipe post and my feeling on raisins are just about the same. The raisins did make the photo because I was going to make 2 batches - 1 with raisins for hubby and 1 without - but I forgot a banana at the store and wasn't going back to work for that, so I only made one batch. More that you wanted or needed to know, right?

So... Here we are with all the ingredients and there are the oats!

Look at that! I would say we have baking success!!! They are seriously yummy and I'm making another batch this weekend. They were great for a grab-and-go breakfast or a quick snack. One wrapped muffin resided in my purse for a couple days just in case I ended up somewhere and was starving - yes, I'm weird like that and always have food, water and knitting at my disposal.

So even though these aren't my mom's muffins, I'm sure my mom would approve and maybe she'll even make a batch when she reads this. I hope you try them, too!

Cheers!

Busy bee...

I've been busy at work and at home. This time of year is always exciting with new yarn, new patterns, and I always love cooking at home - even more when it's cold out. I've been knitting away on shop samples for the new Simple Beret by Knitbot and I just finished the last of the 4 weights today. This is the fingering weight in Shibui Staccato and the one that is now drying. It turned out lovely, just as the others did. I will share more later, but I will say now that this pattern and the samples have been a joy to knit from beginning to end!

I also recently cast on Grace, she is the last of the 5 designs from Jane Richmond's Island collection - some have been knit more than once because they are so much fun and perfect for showcasing the amazing yarn at the shop. Grace waited awhile because I had a tough time deciding on yarn and color. I must say that I am 100% happy with the final selection of SweetGeorgia's Tough Love Sock in Saltwater - it is the perfect marriage of amazing base yarn and fabulous color for a super fun knit! I am a bit further now and will give updates along the way.

It's also bread season in our house. I love bread and have tried making bread over the years and was mostly very unsuccessful. A few years back I received a copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and have been successfully making delicious bread ever since! I started a fresh batch of dough yesterday now that life is resuming somewhat normal pace, I made a batch of dough and this is the first loaf fresh out of the oven this morning. Can you say, "YUM"?

We've had some odd weather here. It was almost 60 degrees early last week with a snow storm and below zero temps shortly after. There is one guy that I rely on for loving the white stuff, that is my amazing Mr. Joey. He will be 12 this month and I'm contemplating baking him a cake - really, can you blame me? I have a book and he's a dog, so he will be kind to my baking incompetence, as will his sidekick Mr. Logan our 9 year old German Shepherd.

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What are you knitting and what are you doing in the kitchen? Do you have different cooking habits this time of year?

Cheers!

Alisa