My mom sent me this recipe and I decided to make it tonight. This soup was really delicious, just like she said.

Here it is with my alterations:




Hearty Cabbage Tomato Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 (16 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes WITH green chilies (mexican spices)
1 (16 oz.) canned beef broth
1 (16 oz.) can kidney beans--don’t drain
1/2 head cabbage, cut into bite-size pieces
(No salt is added as all canned items have salt in them)

Brown beef, celery and onion in a skillet.
While browning, in large stock-pot, add remaining ingredients. Add in beef & veggies when cooked through. Simmer for one hour or more.

Serve with toasted bread with cheddar cheese.

Yieds: 6 servings.

I made myself a lightbox for photos - I'm liking it a lot! Now I need to make more small things, becasue a whole sweater won't fit in for a photo.

I've started a childs sweater design. I am not sure what size it is, so I'll take it to Old Navy when I am done to get the sizing nailed down. I picked the yarn from my stash. I think I am not going to have enough green for the hood, but that should be OK. I really do enjoy writing up patterns - so this one should be next, unless the sweater turns out badly.

I wanted to lay off the knitting to rest my arm, but I am addicted, so it's not so easy.

I did manage to paint some interior trim in the house last night that I caulked with a friend on Sunday. Seems like I am more inspired to get at these house projects in the Jan-Feb time frame. It's too cold to garden and it's getting on my nerves, not being finished for two years.

Jesper's sweater is moving along, perfect for bus and TV knitting.

I think I've been knitting so much my elbow is slightly achy, so I'll try to lay off for the next week. I started a sweater for Jesper. Then I got a bit bored with the repetitive st st that I used my knitting software to make a child sweater from some of my spare Knit Picks yarn, it's so fun to be able to knit whatever whenever with the huge stash I have. It feels good to use it up too.

The chickens are giving us more eggs, 3 this morning and 1 when I got home from work. The eggs are stacking up—we need to start eating them faster! I let them in the yard today before it got dark, then when it was dark, they put themselves to bed. They are so instinctive, it's crazy. They are pretty social, so we can pet them easily and they'll follow us around a bit.

Tonight I made tiramisu, and used some fresh eggs, I love the recipe I have, but I need to use a smaller dish next time, the layout wasn't quite right. It's definitely a dessert that can be ugly, but taste just as good.

Last Sunday I had the day to myself and had fun knitting up a new pattern! It's a glögg wine bottle cover. I have added my Swedish Glogg recipe to the pattern as well. Here it is!

Knitted wine bottle cover with Glögg recipe

I find this wine bottle cover is handy becasue when I made the glögg ahead of time, I put it back in the wine bottle I started with and I want to be able to see the bottle and know that it's Glogg not, left-over red wine.

Our chickens layed two eggs! We don't know exactly what day this week, since we haven't gone out to check on them in a few days. They are pretty small, but we're looking forward to trying them at breakfast. It's going to be strange eating them though.

We've gotten really good at making homemade thin pizza with our pizza stone. Here is our recipe. The dough comes out amazing and wonderfully smooth.

Pizza

By Weight:
500gr flour
325gr water (65% hydration)
10gr salt
3gr active dry yeast

mix yeast in warm water.
put flour in a stand mixer, Kitchenaid with dough hook, and pour in liquid while running.
Add salt.

Mix the dough slowly for two minutes, faster for 5 minutes, and slow again for 2 minutes.

Remove and place in bowl. Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or until doubled in a warm place or proofing oven.

Punch it down and push out the air bubbles. Form the dough into a large ball, then cut it into 4-5 equal pieces.

To make your pizza balls, shape each piece of dough into a ball. Gently roll your dough into a ball, then stretch the top of the ball down and around the rest of the ball, until the outer layer wraps around the other side. Pinch the two ends together to make a smooth ball with a tight outer "skin." Set your ball seam-side down where it can rest.

-------At this point - we usually put the dough in plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator until the next day or two.--------

Dust your pizza balls with flour, and store them under a damp towel, in a proofing tray, or under plastic wrap. This will prevent the outside of the ball from drying out and creating a crust, and becoming difficult to work with. The top of the pizza ball should be soft and silky.

Your pizza balls will need to rest for about an hour to become soft and elastic, so that they can be easily stretched into a thin crust pizza.

If you won't need your dough for more than an hour, refrigerate it until you are ready to start.

----- If taking out of rerigerator, remove 1 hour prior to baking to bring dough to room temperature-----------

Cooking:
Heat oven with pizza stone to 550F. Prepare dough circle on floured surface then transfer to a parchment paper covered pizza pan or wooden pizza peel. Arrange dough as you want. Top with sauce and toppings. Make sure pizza slides on the parchement paper by shakeing the pie to loosen any grip it has made.
When loose and moveable, open oven and slide quickly onto baking stone. Bake for about 5-8 minutes.

Good Toppings:
basil, mozzerella cheese, Prego sauce, ham, artichoke hearts, pepperoni, pineapple, mushrooms