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Friday Roundup: Comfort Knitting and Comfort Food

What I’m Knitting:

I’m almost finished with my Transposed baby hat in the adult size.

It’s such relaxing knitting–an easy colorwork pattern that I’ve already knit before, so no surprises. This skein of Malabrigo Rios in Pocion is the kind of crazy colorway I usually wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but I LOVE the way it’s working up in this hat.

What I’m Cooking:

Lots of comfort food this week! I started with a nice goopy stir fry (love me some thick, glossy sauce):

Early in the week I was craving pasta, so I made some roasted red pepper sauce and poured it over quinoa-corn pasta. We’re not a gluten-free household, but I was happy to discover this GF pasta that’s much more tasty than any other kind I’ve tried. Sometimes you don’t want a whole plate full of wheat, y’know?

The leftovers were delicious over some steamed broccoli the next day:

A few days ago, I had to come up with something to cook for a crowd that included vegans and GF people… so I decided to make the same thing! This time I threw in lots of veggies, though. With fake parmesan cheese (raw cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt pulsed in the food processor), a salad and crusty bread, it was deeelicious.

The last vestiges (I hope!) of winter are making themselves felt here in Indiana today, so I’m planning a big pot of hearty stew. Can’t have enough of that, right?

What I’m Reading:

I just finished Stormbreaker yesterday. I wasn’t a huge fan–it was like one of those loud action movies in book form, although it was decently written. Today I’m starting Greenglass House by Kate Milford, because I keep seeing rave reviews. I want to know what all the fuss is about!

Friday Roundup #2

What I’m Knitting:

Stuff I can’t show here. But I’m on the home stretch with the bulky baby vest, and working madly on swatching for some new designs. Stay tuned–hopefully I’ll have stuff I can show off here in a little while.

In the meantime, let me distract you with…

What I’m Cooking:

I went a little nuts with the cooking and baking this week. Not pictured: a very tasty quinoa, lentil, and kale stew; butternut squash pasta; creamy tomato pasta.

First up, vegan enchilada casserole. I thought this was just okay, and not really worth the hour plus it took to make it. My husband seemed to really like it, though. The “cream” on top is made from soaked cashews:

These carrot cake pancakes are AWESOME. The cookbook says they’re perfect when you really want carrot cake, but it’s morning and you can’t justify it. They really are. Not too difficult, either–the most annoying part is grating the carrot.

Banana nut muffins, which I make fairly often because we somehow always seem to have overripe bananas:

And my favorite for the week: vegan eggplant “parmesan”! This recipe just has you sprinkle breadcrumbs between layers of eggplant, sauce, and dairy-free cheese. SO GOOD. I don’t think I’ll ever do the labor-intensive coating each slice thing again.