Roasted Cauli-Garlic Soup - VEGAN

It was a bit cold yesterday, and grey and rainy - a cool, wet, spring day. I'm not complaining, everything looked very green and I was a bit chilled so the weather made the perfect excuse for a spring soup.

I had saved a recipe on pinterest that looked interesting so I hunted it down to determine if I had the ingredients required and it looked makeable for a big, warm pot of dinner.  Here is the original pin from the recipe that inspired my version of this soup.  I had a bit of a time pulling up the original recipe on mobile as the blog has so many ads and I kept accidentally clicking on them.  It made the original recipe on the phone an annoying experience - watch out.

What caught my attention when I found the recipe was that the soup called for the addition of hummus - that to me seemed wonderfully odd and I liked it!  I have a vegan lasagna recipe that uses garlic hummus mixed with tofu to create the "ricotta cheese" filling and it works really well so I felt good about trying hummus in soup.

Ingredients for Roasted Cauli-Garlic Soup

(I prefer to use all organic ingredients)
1 large onion (white yellow or red)
1 large or 2 small heads of garlic
1 small head of cauliflower
1/2 cup smooth and creamy hummus
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup raw cashews
32-48 oz vegetable broth
1/2 lemon or 1/4t dried lemon peel
1/4 c fresh chopped cilantro
olive oil
salt and pepper

Photo directions -- here goes.

Set a 1/2 cup (mine was heaping) of raw cashews in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Since I had to set the kettle to boil, I went ahead and enjoyed a cup of tea.  I left the cashews soaking about one hour 15 minutes.

 
Start the quinoa cooking according to package directions.  I used tri-color quinoa.

Prepare veggies for roasting.  I managed to get them all on one pan, lined with baking paper.  For the garlic heads I just cut off the very top of each.  Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  I roasted the veggies on convection roast at 425F for about 30 mins.  The most important thing is that the cauliflower be soft enough to stab a dinner fork into.

I usually turn the veggies half way through the cooking to get them browned on all sides.  This was half way.

I pulled asided some of the smaller cauliflower pieces to add back into the soup whole for a bit of bite to the pureed finale.

Into the blend went the big chunks of cauliflower and all of the onions.  I also added enough broth to each blender batch so that the blender could do its thing without the mixture being too thick.  My broth was room temperature so the batch wasn't very hot.  If you are blending hot ingredients and especially pureeing a soup - remember to remove the center section from your blender top so that the steam doesn't make the blending dangerous.

I ended up using about 1.5 of these containers by the time the soup was done.  How much broth you use will depend on how thick you want your final product or how much help your blender needs to smooth and blend your ingredients.

Here is the blended cauliflower and onion.

Next, pop the roasted garlic cloves into the blender.  Then add a heaping half cup of hummus.  The original recipe creator called specifically for Sabra hummus because maybe they sponsor her? But I don't use Sabra since their soybean oil and other ingredients are GMO and I avoid all GMO products.

 

I think the original recipe called for garlic hummus but I didn't have that - mine was original which is why I used two small heads of roasted garlic in my recipe.

 

It was a bit smoother and thinner and I did add more broth.

 

 

 



Next in - the cashews and quinoa!  Crazy but awesome - love the inventiveness of this recipe by the original creator.

I have a large blender so the entire recipe filled it to the top but it did fit.  Add the blended ingredients all at once or in batches to a soup pot.  Once in the pot, I added more broth until I had the consistency I was looking for and then added in the reserved pieces of cauliflower.

Taste the soup and season.

I added quite a bit more salt but the soup tasted like it needed a bit of brightening up.  I felt like half a lemon squeezed in would have done the trick but I was plum out of lemons.  However, on my last trip to Mom's Organic Market, I had picked up some dried lemon peel from their bulk spice section.  I used about 1/4 teaspoon, maybe a bit more... I didn't measure.  That definitely brightened things up but I thought the soup still needed something herb-y.  Cilantro seemed like the right thing.  I had frozen some freshly chopped cilantro about a week earlier so I grabbed it from the freezer and dumped in the whole bit.

I stirred it in (about 1/4 cup in total).  I tasted again, added a bit more salt, thinned the soup a tad bit more and claimed it ready for dinner.

The original recipe calls this soup a chowder.  It uses a potato and miso paste.  I didn't have either so my recipe differed that way as well.  Also - the original doesn't use the roasted onion but since I wasn't going to use Miso paste I thought I needed the added flavor of the onion.  This soup didn't say chowder to me, it was more like a nice thick bowl of soup puree.  It was delish.  Enjoy. Cheers. Sher.

Tee Baskets

For a while I've wanted to try to make a basket out of tee shirt yarn.  One of my crochet friends did also - so we got together last week to give it a try.

I asked her to pick a pattern that she liked and we'd both follow the same pattern and make a basket.  We cut our tee shirts into balls of yarn.  I use these instructions.  I make my yarn strips about 1" wide and then tug on them which stretches them from a flat piece of tee shirt into a curled piece of tee shirt yarn.

Once we had our shirts done, we got straight to work.  We used this pattern.  We both failed miserably.  I think one of the reasons it didn't work is that we didn't understand when we were crocheting from the outside of the basket towards the inside and when we were going the other way - this made some of the instructions completely backwards... tho. I think it was our mistake and the pattern is probably fine.  Our resulting basket didn't have nice straight sides, it was slumped and mis-shapen.  I don't know what we did wrong.  I'm quite an advanced crocheter but what a mess.  I knew I would never use the basket I had made the way it looked - I wish I had taken a photo of it.

Since the basket was pretty easy to UNmake, I did just that.  Then, using what I had learned from the failed basket, I made up my own pattern.  Now there are a ton of tee shirt basket crochet patterns floating around.  I've been collecting them.  I have a whole pinterest board called Crochet Baskets which you might want to check out - there are oodles of designs and patterns, most of them are free.  If you make one of the patterns from my pin board, please let me know - I'd love to keep track of what patterns are good.

The first basket I made that was successful was a bit smaller than what I would have wanted.  I made it small in case I had to pull it all out again.  So, both to test my new method of making and also to have a bigger basket, I made a second basket.  It worked well twice so I consider my pattern to be somewhat successful.  The little basket has handles, the bigger one does not - just to try it differently, I left it without handles but I could still go back and add to it to make handles.  I didn't write the directions for handles - so take a look at another pattern with handles if you decide to add them.

Also - please note a few things about tee baskets.  First, making one is not relaxing!  The big fat yarn, tight stitches and hook combo made my hands very tired.  I'd make more, but this type of crochet it like battling with the yarn to get it to the shape you want, not like smooth, happy and carefree stitching.  Second, it takes a lot of tee shirts and tee shirt yarn to make a basket.  The tee shirt yarn making process requires a lot of cutting fabric, and I have THESE FISKARS scissors to make it easier and still my hands were tired after cutting and creating all the tee shirt yarn.

Sizes... my bigger basket (the one in the photo tutorial) is about 8 inches in diameter across the bottom and 8 inches high about and it took me 7 large tee shirts to have enough yarn for this size.

Step 1: Create a flat round circle.  If you don't know how to do this, use this method.  I started with 8 stitches in the first round.  I also started with a magic ring.  It doesn't matter how you do it - just make a flat circle.  Remember in the example I refer to above about the flat circle, she is using UK crochet terms so her htr is a US hdc.  Make the circle as big as you want the bottom of your basket.  Because I was using such a small hook (size M - 9mm) for this size yarn I found I had to increase more than I normally would on my last round in order to keep the circle flat.  You can probably use a size N (10mm) hook and it wouldn't be as much as a struggle.  I made my circle with all hdcs (half double crochets - American terms).  OH... throughout the pattern, you make a round and then join with a slip stitch before starting the next round.  If your next round is going to be sc, chain one at the beginning of the round.  If your next round is going to be hdc, chain two at the beginning of each new round.

Step 2:  Once your circle is the size you want, make one final round on the circle doing a flsc all the way around and don't increase.  When you are making this front loop single crochet, remember that it is the front loop if you are working from the inside of the circle going out... I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it does matter if you are working from the inside of the circle out - or the outside of the circle in.  I am working at this point from the inside of the circle outwards.

see how my hook is only going under the front loop of the VEE at the top of the stitch.

if you are doing the flsc correctly, you will see a ridge or line form on the outside of your basket

if you correctly completed your flsc row, your bowl will look a bit like a dish with an edge

this is my little basket (the first one I made using my own pattern) sitting inside the bigger second basket bottom

Step 3:  Now, here's where I did something different from the other basket pattern I tried.  I worked the rest of the basket working my stitches from the outside of the basket inwards.  In other words, I poked my crochet hook into the stitches from the outside of the basket.

For this first side row, I worked all hdc stitches around the basket, working from the outside in.  Work the hdc stitches by going under both loops on the VEE as with any normal stitch.  I switched to green yarn because I had run out of grey.  You can change colors or change yarns as you need to throughout the pattern.

here's how it looks after adding a few hdc stitches and working from outside in.

Step 4: The next round I made using blsc.  I used blsc because it makes a little line around the outside of the basket and I liked that textural detail.  I'm sure the basket would be fine making all the rounds hdc or alternating between stitches however you prefer the look.

Continue adding rows and changing colors or yarns as needed until your basket is as tall as you like.  You can see the little line around the outside which is the where the blsc shows up.

I finished my last round as sc.  I thought it finished off the basket nicely.

And - if nothing else, your little crochet baskets will at least be a place you can hold the rest of your tee shirt yarn!

Enjoy - Sher

Pin Some Loving Hearts

Do you like Valentine's Day?

I realized last year whilst doing a bit of blog reading that some people really dislike Valentine's Day.  Not me.  It also happens to be my anniversary (#26 in 2015 to be exact).  And on the year I got married Valentines was a Tuesday to boot!  Yes, I got married on a Tuesday night.  I do not like to do what everyone else does and I don't not like my holidays and celebrations defined by what the rest of the world thinks is the right way to go about it.  But I do, bottom line, like Valentine's Day.

So for me - I love to make Crochet Hearts!  And I happen to have a pretty nice collection of heart patterns for crocheters on one of my pinterest boards - aptly named, Crochet Hearts.

Above in the photo you will find just a snippet of those crochet heart patterns, but you can go to the REAL board and save all your faves on your own pinterest board.  If you make any of them, please share them with me - I'd LOVE to see your LOVELY creations that are all about the day of LOVE.  Simply click the picture of the board above in this post and it should whip you right over onto my Crochet Hearts Pinterest board.

Enjoy - and happy hooking.  Sher

PS - while you are over there, take a look at my other crochet boards.  They are decently well organized and give me loads of pleasure to scroll through them and pick and choose which ones will be next on my DOING list!

More Paint Chips for Halloween

On the blog path today I saw this!



Go here to see the HOW TO.

You may remember that I posted HERE about a rather somber grey paint chip tomb stone bunting a few years ago.



What is it about paint chips and Halloween that excites me?  I would LOVE to make these cute paint chip characters into a bunting and send it off to my niece and nephew who are super into decorating the house for Halloween.  There's certainly still time to make one NOW for you own house this season, but... I'd have to send mine in the mail as my sister's family lives a few hours away.  I've pinned this craft to my Halloween Board so I'll remember it for next year.  Pop on over to pinterest and see what else is there.

Sher

It's a HOOT Crochet Owl Fun

I pin the BEST stuff on Pinterest.

I LOVE to just browse through all of my awesome boards and gaze at the things I will make...some day...

Then, SOME DAY arrives, and it's PIN_DO!!!

Yesterday, after hours of computer work, my crochet hook called me into the next room and literally begged me to make something - how could I not comply?

"Hoot," called the hook.  "Hoot Hoot Heart," it cried again.  I couldn't help it - I had to go.  This is what happened:

I have a friend who loves owls, so I started pinning them...mostly they are of the crochet variety.

With some cotton worsted by my side and a trusty H-hook, I got to work.

I made this:

It's from this pattern here:  OWL PATTERN (found on Pinterest).

I made two (front and back).  The back side didn't have eyes or a beak.  I crocheted the two sides together.  On the join round, I also made a bit more of a picot where the ears are - to make them more pronounced.  I stuffed it with some polyester fluff.

Since my friend LOVES owls, I thought a heart was in order.  I have a big pinterest board with hearts.  I wanted one I could stuff.  I uses this pattern here:  HEART PATTERN (I love the way she made the square at the beginning of the heart - genius, never saw it done that way, must remember!).

And ONE MORE THING.... It needed a flower - why?  Because I've been itching to make a few of these flowers.  Love them.  So colorful and happy (just like my new running shoes).  I used this pattern here:  FLOWER PATTERN.

I strung them all together - tho. frankly I might take it apart and re-join them.  Not so happy with my joining. I did it all very fast to be done because I was excited to see it finished, but I really don't like the way I've connected them.  Nonetheless, I took some photos (didn't turn out as well as I would've liked) and here's the happy little owl with heart and flower.

TADAH!

NOTE:  See how happy the new running shoes are?

Springy Flower Wreath in Crochet

I was REALLY tired of the fake flower forsythia wreath from the JoAnns clearance sale going up on my front door every spring.

I wanted something handmade.

I started looking around on my favorite blogs, and checking out Pinterest to see what inspiration I could find.

These two ideas struck me:

This first one is from Lucy at Attic24.  Hands down my favorite UK Crochet gal.  I loved everything about her sweet little wreath EXCEPT the size.  Not that a 6" wreath wasn't perfect for where she hung it, but my front door required something bigger.

This other one is from an unknown source.  I found it on pinterest and did my best to trace it back to its original source with no luck (I am not a fan of unsourced pinterest photos).  I apologize in advance to its original creator and would LOVE to offer credit for the beautiful design.

One thing I liked about this second wreath is all the different flowers.  However, the pastel colors wouldn't look as good on my front door and I didn't really want to add any leaves.  I liked the way Lucy's wreath showed some of the actual wreath as well.

So, I went to work adapting a larger wreath using Lucy's FREELY SHARED (Thanks Lucy!) pattern from her blog.

To make my larger wreath, I used 3 colors of I Love This Yarn that I bought online from Hobby Lobby.  I wanted to use cotton but I didn't have any appropriate weight cotton yarn that had the vibrant colors I was looking for.  So, I went with this acrylic.  After a bit of trial and error, here is the pattern that I used to create the larger sized wreath base.  My wreath measures about 13" in its finished size after the front and back of the wreath have been stitched together.

All instructions are in American Crochet terminology.

To make ONE SIDE of the wreath, crochet 96 chains.  Then, dc (in the 3rd chain from the hook).  dc in the next 5 stitches.  2dc in the next stitch.  *dc in the next 6 stitches, 2 dc in the next stitch, repeat from * to the end of the row of chains.  You will notice that you can now form a soft circle with your strand of crochet as the 2dc in the same stitch make it turn slightly circular.  Slip stitch to join the strand into a circle.  I then also threaded the tail onto a big needle and wove the end in so that both the top and the bottom of the dc row were smoothly attached into a circle.  For my wreath, I changed colors at this point to continue, but you don't have to.

Chain 3 (after joining new color if you're changing colors) which counts as a dc.  dc in the next 9 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, *dc in next 10 stitches, 2 dc in next stitch, continue from * to end of circle.  Join new color here or continue in same color.

Chain 3, dc in the next 15 stitches, 2 dc.  *dc in the next 16 stitches, 2 dc in the next stitch.  Repeat from * to end.  Join new color here or continue in same color.

Chain 3, dc in the next 19 stitches, 2 dc.  *dc in the next 20 stitches, 2 dc int he next stitch.  Repeat from * to end.  Join new color here or continue in same color.

Chain 3, dc in the next 23 stitches, 2 dc.  *dc in the next 24 stitches, 2 dc in the next stitch.  Repeat from * to end.  Slip stitch to finish the front of wreath.

To create the flowers, I played around in 3 crochet books and experimented with different flowers.  I made all the flowers using a worsted weight of cotton yarn.  I used a combination of I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby, Lion Brand cotton yarn and Sugar and Cream yarn by Lily.  I combined several big flowers with several small flowers to create some double and triple decker flowers.  I cannot reprint the patterns for the flowers I made specifically because I got them from books and don't want to infringe on those copyrights.  Here are the books that I used.

 

Go to book 1 on amazon here.

Go to book 2 on Amazon here.

Go to book 3 on Amazon here.

I bought mine on Amazon but my local library does carry two of the three, so check out your library to test drive them first.

I also checked my pinterest board called Crochet Lovlies Motifs which is loaded with fabulous flower motifs attached to patterns from crochet bloggers and craft sites.  Check out that pinterest board by clicking HERE.

Once your wreath front and flowers are complete, lay the flowers out on your wreath front and arrange them the way you like them.  I used T-pins to hold the flowers in place.  I used pearl cotton to attach them to the front of the wreath and knotted them in the back to remain in place.

You may need to block or flatten or iron (press with steam only if using cotton) your flowers before you attach them.  Mine seemed to lay reasonably flat, so I didn't.

Create a wreath back the same way you made the front.  Weave in the ends of both the front and back of your wreath pieces.

Next, go to your recycling bin and look for a piece of cardboard.  I used a cereal box.  Cut a donut shape from your cereal box.  I traced around my wreath front with my pencil pointing inward so the cardboard donut was a bit smaller than the wreath.

At this point, put your two wreath sides with wrong sides together and the cardboard donut in between and use a sc to "stitch" together the two sides.  I started with the outside circle of the wreath but think it might have been easier to start with the inside.  I also added an additional row of sc to the inside circle when stitching together but that's just because I liked the look.

I crocheted a row of about 20 chains.  Then, I sc in each chain and attached that to the top of my wreath as a hanging loop.  You could probably incorporate the hanging loop into your row of sc joining stitches, but I sort of forgot that detail until I'd crocheted it all together. 

In addition to a cardboard structure on the inside, you could use a piece of circular foam, a coat hanger or even some stuffing depending on the look you want to achieve with your wreath.

I hope my instructions were clear and if you DO make a wreath inspired by my creation, feel free to share it on my FB Page by clicking here and uploading your photo!

Happy Hooking, Sher

PS - apparently, the dog was much less impressed my wreath than the she was with the squirrel that was on the front porch!