What I've been doing

Hello everyone.  It's a beautiful Sunday and I woke up ill so things I planned on accomplishing today will not happen.  What a week.  One good thing - one of the five cats that my brother rescued (he neutered and found homes for three stray litters), came home injured after a week of absence.  Peanut is his favorite and we thought the little wild girl was gone for good.  She looks like a round brush, long hair stands straight out in all directions, with legs WAY too short for her body. one of which is broken.  You can barely see them!  She will be fine and we are happy, but one of mine - the big male that I can't trap - is not doing well. 

On the stitching front, I finally finished the Algerian eye alphabet on the left side and will start on the top right now instead of continuing the left to the bottom.   This stitch wimp can't wait to return to the basic X's!  I also worked for days on creating a few new labels.  Nothing painted yet, and not sure when or if they will be listed, but I was in the mood to play on the computer and here's a preview.  The smoke detector hasn't gone off for a while so you know the edges haven't been scorched yet. 

Remember the oranges I am drying?  Here's a snap showing their progress.  Five are already hard and I poked holes in the stem to help the inside dry completely.  The others are still soft but I poked those too.  You can see how some are perfect, some are misshapen, and some will be mottled.

And I've been cooking.  One of my favorites - kugel.  SO easy.

It's kind of like cottage cheese pierogis or blintzes, but not.

Low-fat cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and a little cream cheese blended and mixed with yolk free cooked noodles and baked.  I held back on the crushed graham cracker/butter/sugar topping.  OMG.  TOO good.

We have so many of these noodle recipes, another favorite is with cottage cheese, egg, crushed pineapple, and walnuts.

The next is the standard with fresh fish - macaroni and cheese.  Another very easy dish to make from scratch and great because you can use your favorite cheese.  White cheddar, cheddar blends, swiss and hot pepper, Jack, anything.  Hub likes buttered bread crumbs on top.

You just melt 2 -3 Tbsp butter with 2 - 3 Tbsp flour in a saucepan, cook for a minute, add 2 cups milk (any), whisk, and add at least 8 oz of the cheese of choice, cook till melted, pour over cooked elbows and bake.  We like cheddars mixed with Jack or hot pepper and I usually add more than 8 oz.

Speaking of whisks, am I the only one with arthritis that can't whisk well?  I have always used the tool in the palm of my hands and rolled back and forth like a beater to prevent the fatigue and pain in my hand.  That's it.  I was tied up most of the week so nothing happened with kitchen plans but hopefully this week will bring a decision.  A few other things - I found this thumb pincushion and think it is so neat for a sewer.  I also found a sampler pattern I plan on ordering - it isn't new - but I just found it!  Eliza Low Pumroy.  Long and skinny like I used to be.

Thank you all so much for visiting and taking the time to read.

Have a wonderful week, talk to you soon!