food,knitting update,books

This picture does not do this recipe justice. It is called 40 gloves of garlic chicken.  It is a family favorite and easy to make,and real comfort food.  It is worth buying a clay pot just for this dish.  First you need to put 40 gloves of garlic in the bottom of a clay pot.Sometimes I cheat and put some pre peeled garlic.  Put a few tablespoons of olive oil,lemon juice,herbs-basil thyme whatever you have hanging around the house and salt and pepper on top of the garlic. Put chicken on top of this.  Put olive oil-a couple of tablespoon and some pepper and herbs on the chicken as well.Put the chicken in a cold oven.  Turn oven on to about 425 and let cook for about an hour and a half.  Take out and check for nice brown color.  If chicken is not krispy and brown baste ,take off clay pot cover and cook for another 20 minutes--till brown and skin is krispy.  let sit for 20 minutes carve chicken and serve with garlicky juices.  Be sure to have plenty of french bread to sop up the juices.  My husband does a variation of this where he adds root vegetables to the pot along with the chicken.  I think my way is better.

Another comfort food dish I made this week was Swedish Meatballs. This recipe is taken from "More 60 minute Gourmet" from The New York Times by Pierre Franey.  I have been making this since the 1980's.It is served over brown rice in the picture but I have done it with mashed potatoes or noodles.  I now add spinach and peas to the recipe and have cut the cream from a cup to a quarter of a cup.maybe you can find this recipe on line or in the NYTimes archives because I think the book is out print.
Book wise I have gone back to reading "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides.  I really like this book a lot.Right now the main characters are living in Providence, Rhode Island so I really lie the New England references. The weather in Arizona has changed a little.  It is cool during the day(60's) and cold at night -only in 40's.  I is supposed to rain this week and be even colder.      Yeah we love cold and rain!! You can wear a scarf and sweater!!
the other morning when I was taking the dog out around 5;30 I saw the eclipse of the moon.  It was beautiful.

Now to my knitting.  First I finished 2 sweaters I have shown before.This is the Abigail Cardigan .  Yarn and pattern is by Quince and Company.  I love the pattern -knit from the top down and the yarn -a blend of wool and silk.  It feels so cozy.

t

This is the Miley Tee from C2 knits.  This is a great pattern.  I am definitely going to make another one.  Maybe in Rowan Kid Silk Haze.  The pattern is easy and fun to do.  Again knit from the top down so there is very little finishing.  Plus it looks really cute on.  You can layer it too. Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up.  My oldest son will be staying in Washington over the holidays since he has other commitments this year.  We will really miss him.  This is is the first time this has happened.I will be doing a little baking and decorating this week.  One thing I accomplished this week was sending out my presents to  my family on the East Coast.  Once that box goes out I feel the pressure lift. Last but not least I made a miniature stocking yesterday it came out really cute. This was made from leftover sock yarn and I had to use size 1 needles which was a pain but I really like the results.  The pattern was a free download from Classic EliteYarns.  Well again I timed how  long and it took me to do this post one hour and 10 minutes Yikes!!! This is probably going to a busy week for everyone but then we have 17 wonderful days off.  Hopefullly to spend with family doing baking, reading,knitting and seeing some movies.peace to all.