the crafty room

Pierogi recipe

I know this blog has been recipe-heavy of late. But I am in the midst of two knitting projects so I promise some yarn-related updates soon!

In the meantime, this is the recipe for Grandma K’s cheese pierogi. I don’t have the sauerkraut and mushroom filling recipe in front of me, but it’s basically boiled sauerkraut mixed with sauteed mushrooms and onions, with a crumbled mushroom bullion cube and caraway seeds for extra flavor.

Dough:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup water

Filling:
1 lb farmer’s cheese
grated onion to taste (1 Tbsp)
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste

Combine dough ingredients, roll out and cut into approximately 4” circles (try to cut out 9-12 circles per batch). Combine filling, place a spoonful into center of dough, fold over and seal edges.

Place dough in boiling salted water, let cook until they float, simmer for about 5 minutes more. Cool on a rack or dry on a towel.

Fry in butter and serve with sour cream.

Belgian waffles

3 cups Bisquick (or, 3 cups flour, 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3 extra tablespoons oil, shortening, or butter)
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp oil
(Few teaspoons sugar, optional. I think the vanilla makes it taste sweet enough.)

Separate eggs; beat whites to soft peaks. Blend milk, yolks, Bisquick, vanilla and oil. Fold in whites.

Cook in Belgian style waffle iron.

beer bread

I get more requests for this recipe than any other, it seems. I can’t remember where I got it – I think I may have copied it from a TV show years and years ago. Before the Food Network sucked.

Anyway, here it is.

3 cups self-rising flour, or make your own with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of regular flour
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz beer

Mix the flour and sugar together, then slowly pour the beer down the sides of the bowl and mix. Put in buttered loaf pan. Bake 30 minutes, baste the top with melted butter, bake another 30 minutes, baste again, then bake a final 30 minutes (1.5 hrs total).

I’ve used several kinds of beer with this recipe – everything from cheap lagers like PBR and Coors to dark stouts/porters like Guinness. You could really experiment with different beers and maybe more/less sugar or other ingredients with this super easy recipe.

By request

We had a bunch of friends over for Christmas dinner (Friendsmas) and there were many compliments on my family fish chowder recipe. So, I’m posting it here for everyone to enjoy! It’s a great, light (as in not fishy tasting, certainly not light health-wise), easy recipe.

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cute quick holiday projects

Still working on those damned thigh-high leg warmers. Really bored of them despite the colorful yarn, but almost done with the first one. My goal is to finish them before it gets warm again.

In the meantime I’m working on things that are much more fun – quick (1-4 hour) little projects to give as holiday gifts because money is tight this year.

My two favorites so far are these cute little star ornaments and bunny nuggets. The bunnies take a solid 4 or so hours to make with all the fiddly sewing and details and stuff and are sooo cute (will update with pictures later).

The stars are so fast I can knit one during a single train ride to work. Here’s a blurry cell phone photo of the one I did this morning. I still need to sew the seam but you can see how cute they are.

thigh-high leg warmers WIP

This yarn is ridiculous. I mean, just look at it! And, it’s called supersocke. Who doesn’t love that? Super! Socke!

Got it at my LYS anniversary sale for 25% off. I am so excited.

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…and, i’m back!

I’ve been daydreaming of picking up the needles again for a while, but between having no time and no money and not really feeling inspired by anything, it just hasn’t happened. But following some links from a guest post on a social media blog by the VP of Marketing for Lion Brand Yarn led me to this post on their blog.

Awesome thigh-high tights/leg warmers in pretty colors and styles for fall? Yep, I’m inspired. They’re probably a bit tedious to knit, but that’s the perfect kind of thing for the train commute – not too complicated and easy to work on in small chunks. Plus, I’m way out of practice and it’d be best for me not to jump into something more advanced until my fingers re-learn what they’re doing.

I also agreed to make another six-hour afghan (free pattern but log-in required); my brother and sister-in-law saw the one I made for my mom when we were home for my sister’s wedding this weekend and they want one.

the poor knitter

What happens when you want to knit, but can’t afford to buy nice yarn? I’m such a yarn snob; sure I have some cheap-o acrylic stuff I could work with, but I want to make something lovely and beautiful with yarn that’s a joy to work.

The bigger issue is that I’m tired of making little things — hats and mittens and scarves — and I want to make a vest or sweater for myself. So not only do I want nice yarn, but I need a lot of it.

In the meantime though, I may take some of that yucky acrylic stuff I have in my closet and make a bike cozy. As in, a knitted top tube pad to protect the frame of my new bike from scratches when locking it up. Why not? People sell them on Etsy! For $20!

thanks internet

Apparently all it took was the shame of telling the whole internet about my unfinished projects. I reduced the number of remaining rows and finished up the slouchy purple hat last night with just inches to spare.

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English vs. Continental

Is there any benefit to teaching myself how to knit both ways? I learned English, but whenever I read about knitting I see comments about how “awkward” “slow” and “inefficient” English style is. Should I learn Continental too?

Also, various project updates and frustrations:

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