Friday, October 12, 2012

The Three Rs

Review, renew, revisit! Today is one of those kind of days for me. This morning I renewed my passport. It is a simple task but for some reason I drug my feet getting it accomplished. Now that it's done I feel freer and a bit silly for waiting so long. I'm ready to complete some other tasks that fall under the heading of  The Three Rs today.

First up is a sweater. I participate in a Ravelry group called Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. It is a game of sorts. The goal is to craft items you will use, give as gifts, or donate to charity and have them fit into "class prompts". The structure is fun and supportive of growth in the crafter. Since I started with the group two and a half years ago I have taken my knitting and spinning to new heights. One of my favorite opportunities for growth is with the OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level). The goal here is to choose a project that will require steady work over the course of approximately 3 months.


This Fall I chose to knit a lace cardigan. It is beautiful! The yarn is exquisite! I know I'll love the completed project. However, as I began the project I quickly learned that I disliked the way the pattern was set up. The lace portions did not flow properly in my mind, and that prevented me from making any progress on it. I quietly set it aside and knit many other items. I realized last weekend, while reviewing my Fall knitting plans, that if I were to continue on the project some changes must be made. Since I'm participating in a challenge of sorts I had to ask for approval to make any changes. I waited for a few days and was approved. The changes require me to rip out all I'd knitted so far and start over. I'm happy to be doing this. To the non-knitter it may seem like more work since I have already knit 5 inches of the sweater body and will need to reknit it using my pattern alterations. I don't think it will feel like more work in the long run because I have chosen to make the lace flow in a way that makes sense to me. The project is ripped back and ready for speed knitting this weekend!



Next up is my cardio. Since I've already had a busy morning of appointments and have a full schedule of clients this afternoon I'm planning to hold off on my cardio until after work. It is Friday. I'll be finished seeing clients at 6:30 pm today. Plenty of time for evening cardio! The plan is to come home and do an hour of cardio-knitting. I'm feeling quite content with this. I might even go so far as to watch a movie instead of listening to a book while I ride and knit. Things could get wild!

Finally, in the kitchen today I'm choosing to revisit the Spaghetti Squash. I've cooked with it before. It is a simple squash to make. I've not been tremendously pleased with the results. It tastes like squash to me and not pasta. I have tossed it with sauteed onion, garlic, and chicken breast and then served it with a salad. That seemed OK. I'm going for the spaghetti pasta experiment today. I had a client ask me this week if I ever use it. I had another client raving about how enjoyable spaghetti squash is. Neither of these people know each other. I took it as a sign. I'm revisiting it. I'm giving it another chance. I'm going to make a simple sauce with ground turkey, fire roasted tomatoes, fresh garlic, and what is left of the basil in my garden. We'll see how starting fresh works here.


To cook spaghetti squash you cut it long wise and scoop the seeds out just like all other hard squash. Bake it cut side down in 3/4 of an inch of water at 375 degrees for an hour or until the meat is soft. To serve it you scrape it out long wise with a fork, often will come out in pasta-like strands. Serve it on a plate and top with sauce or butter.

Simple Tomato Sauce

1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tsp olive oil
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 pound ground turkey (optional)

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are clear. Add the basil and tomatoes and heat through. In a separate pan brown the turkey and drain off any fat. Add the cooked turkey to the tomato sauce and serve over the baked squash. I added a side of steamed Swiss Chard for a low glycemic impact meal. 


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