We were pretty much done with the holiday leftovers, except I still had a leek left over from the "Soy au Riesling" from mid-December. During a search for something that called for leeks, I found a recipe for "Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup." Only it called for cannellini beans, which I didn't have...so I used black beans. Not so creamy-looking, but very tasty.
I reworked the recipe so I could use the slow cooker, too, and made a smaller amount, because we only had one leek left, and it called for two. It was a very nice soup, and we finished off the Asiago Sourdough Bread with it. I have it in my Recipe Box app. I usually share the screen shots from the app in this blog, but the ingredients and directions wouldn't all fit in screen shots, so I emailed it to myself and made screenshots of the email. Here are the ingredients in amounts I actually used.
It wasn't that hard to make. I learned something about washing leeks, too. I really like this method. Here are the directions.
It was tasty, and we polished off most of it in one sitting. We had some neglected apples left over from the holidays, too, and they needed to be used, so I baked some Apple Crisp.
It fits in a screenshot, so here's the recipe. It makes a nice dessert with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, just a splash of half & half or just by itself.
I was in the mood to bake, so I made some more whole wheat sourdough bread and then some bran muffins. I like this recipe, because it calls for applesauce instead of butter, and I had a big jar of applesauce.
Here's the recipe for that.
I'm really enjoying the new convection microwave oven. I don't use my big oven if I don't have to. I baked a quiche on Saturday in the new oven, and while it was busy baking, I fixed some air-fried potatoes and carrots in the air fryer.
Friday was granddaughter Alex's birthday. I wanted to wish her a happy birthday, so I sent a text through our Stuart Family text thread. Everyone responded with happy birthday wishes but no response from her. I began to suspect I had an old phone number in the group text.
Daughter-in-law Alexa checked the number on the thread, and it was different from the one we used last summer. I took a screenshot of all the birthday wishes, added the new phone number to the group and sent it out again. We all had a good laugh.
The next day, Saturday, was Sandy's birthday. I can't believe he's two years old!
We decided to take the dogs to Pine Nursery off-leash area, even though it was cold. It had rained almost every day during the week, so we only got short walks, just three of them all week. The weather on Saturday was much nicer. There were a lot of other dogs to interact with, and we brought the Chuck-it, so Dusty got to chase after the ball with some competition. Sandy was more interested in making friends with the people, but he did chase after the ball when some of them left.
There are some nice trails there, so we got to walk the dogs, still off-leash, when we were done playing ball.
We had some more encounters with friendly dogs on the trail.
It wasn't a long walk, but it was longer than any other walk this week. Off-leash and interaction with other dogs was a bonus.
We followed up with a stop at the pet store to get a new toy for Sandy.
I managed to get some knitting done on the Sunday Morning Wrap during the week. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, and the doctor was running very late, so I had some time to work on it while waiting.
She apologized for being behind schedule, but I told her I'm a knitter, so I have patience. She said she used to teach elementary school, but she gave it up because she found she didn't have enough patience. So I quipped that she became a doctor so she could have patients, and we had a laugh. She said she crochets, so we had a quick chat about yarn before we got down to business.
I won't finish this project, the Sunday Morning Wrap, before I have to start on the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along, which will be starting this week; the first clue drops next Wednesday. That project will include some colorwork, I assume, so it's good to have this almost-mindless project to take along for times when I have to wait.
On Sunday afternoon on BlueSky I learned of a YA writer who is trying to organize writers of children's literature to donate books to the teachers in schools that burned down in the Los Angeles area. I assume they won't be needed until the fall, because the school districts involved have to arrange for classroom areas. I filled out a form. I'll wait to hear.
I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my needles: The Sunday Morning Wrap, to give myself something to work on. Ready to CO for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL next week.
What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.
What's on my sewing machine: Still its dust cover.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: Insomnia in Verse is the story from The Doll's Storybook for this week. This story was reworked from a combination of prose and verse, to all verse for the book and is now reproduced here.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to These High Green Hills by Jan Karon and reading In the Shelter of Each Other by Milree Latimer, but I still didn't get much listening/reading done during the week, because it was very, very busy.
What's my tip of the week: Static electricity is a problem this time of year. A fabric softener sheet or two in the laundry helps cut down on it when washing clothes.
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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