Tiny Yarn Baskets

These are a fun way to use up bits of yarn. I just wound up balls, and found these cute little baskets. They are about 3" square, with a handle. But now I am out of left over bits of yarn!

Lamb Stuffed Portobellos

This recipe works best with very large portobello caps; if you can only find smaller ones, buy one or two extra and divide the filling among all the caps. Serve with a tossed salad.

4 large portobello mushroom caps
1/2 # ground lamb, browned and salted to taste.
1 C ricotta cheese
1 C finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix ground lamb, ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and Italian seasoning in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot.
4. When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup lamb/ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot and cheese melts, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.

What'sgoing on in my world.

In case you are wondering why my posts are coming more slowly than usual..... Between the new BLU (Bluefaced Leicester Union) board meetings and helping get all that organized; helping get orders together for a BIG BFL semen importation from the UK; and getting organized to go to the farmer's market very soon, most my creative juices have been used up!

Besides, how many pictures of snow can you stand?

Mom's 84th Birthday

Today is Mom's 84th birthday. Yesterday, some of us met at the Emerald Room in Green Hills to celebrate with her. This is Mom and her best friend, Edith (seated) with sisters Tammy, SueAnn and I. Mom enjoyed opening her gifts, and ate most of the chocolates. Now you know where I get that. :^)
Not pictured are Mike (Sue's hubby), Todd, their son; Lou (Tammy's man) and my Chuck.

Teddy Bears

Braised Rabbit in Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:
1/4 c flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
3 T vegetable oil
1 (3 pound) dressed rabbit, cut up
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c fresh sliced mushrooms
1 tsp fresh rosemary, snipped
1 c water
1 1/2 c baby carrots
2 cups of new red potatoes, in 3/4 in chunks

Directions:
Combine flour, salt, pepper, and onion powder in a bowl, and set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Coat each piece of rabbit with the seasoned flour mixture, and cook in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes per side, until the rabbit pieces are golden brown. Remove the rabbit from the skillet and set aside.
Preheat an oven to 325 degrees
Mix together the mushroom soup, mushrooms, rosemary, and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Or use microwave.
Place the browned rabbit pieces in a large roasting pan or Dutch oven with a lid, and cover the rabbit with the carrots and potatoes. Pour the mushroom sauce over the rabbit, carrots, and potatoes, cover, and bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours, until the rabbit and vegetables are tender and the sauce is bubbling.

Sierra Leone's kits

These are Sierra's kits. Looks like a fawn buck, fawn doe, 2 tort does (one may end up a buck) and a REW doe.

River City Farmers Market

Chuck and I went to Marietta for breakfast yesterday, and then stopped by the River City Farmer's Market at the Washington county fairgrounds. I talked with 3 of the board members, and they have invited us to open a vendor booth there on Saturday mornings.
I took some handcrafts and yarn to show them, and discuss selling lamb and rabbit meat there. Its a very nice group of people, with lots of quality items. This time of year they have meats, cheeses, baked goods, and lots of handmade crafts. I'm told in the summer, they have 120 vendors, mostly vegetables, and some weekends have 3500+ people attend the market.

Cyrenaica's Kits

They are now a little over a month old, and getting really cute. Cyr is a good mama - they are FAT and solid little girls. Yes, all girls as far as I can tell. All chocolate torts, too.

Pinwheel Lamb meatloaf

Filling

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 cup parsley (I used some fresh rosemary)
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch ground black pepper

Sliced mozzerella, swiss or cheese of your choice - how 'bout feta?

Meat Mixture
1 pound ground lamb

1/2 pound lean ground pork

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Make the filling: Coarsely chop the spinach, and place in a large bowl; set aside. Heat butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute mushrooms and onion until onion is translucent. Transfer mushroom mixture to bowl with spinach. Mix in 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg and parsley. Season with salt, and pepper.
In a large bowl, combine ground lamb, ground pork, Cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg. Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Place meat mixture between two sheets of waxed paper, and roll into a rectangle approximately 18x8 inches. Remove top sheet. Lay out a layer of cheese slices on the meat mixture. Spread spinach mixture evenly over meat, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Roll up meat from the short end in jelly-roll style, lifting and removing paper as you go. Place loaf into an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until browned and juices run clear. Serve hot or cold.

Out of the Blue!

Be sure to visit and bookmark the new BFL Fiber Co-op sales blog, Out of the Blue!
We've been adding new items - including a whole batch of gorgeous rovings.

If you have BFL fiber items you'd like to list there, please email me at OutoftheBlue2010@yahoo.com

More Dyeing.....

I've got a couple more skeins in a dye bath.
Now I am out of BFL lambswool yarn to dye. Where did we put those sheep shears...................I can't believe I'm gonna have to wait until March for more wool.

Lamb Waldorf Salad

2 C diced cooked lamb roast
1.5 C white grape halves
1.5 C diced apple
1 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 T wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne

Combine lamb, grapes, apple and walnuts. Mix together remaining ingredients, add lamb mixture and toss well.

Knitting?

I started knitting this afternoon. I have a skein of blue/purple/green BFL yarn that got screwed up in the drying process.......somehow the ties came loose, and it got scrambled.
Since I've not seen anything made from my yarns, and want to see how the colors develop in the finished knitted fabric, I decided to knit a square, and then felt it to see how much it shrinks in the fulling process. I've posted a picture of it after its knitted, and will make another entry once its felted. The closeup picture is frustrating - I cannot get the colors to come out true. The colors in the photo of the book, needles and some of the yarn are much closer.

Ah - a yarn customer/friend, Jan, came to the rescue with a photo of something she knitted. :^) This is a good example of this yarn knitted up.

French Angoras on the way?

I may regret this next month, but I bred Nightshade to Voodoo, and Benz to Vendetta this morning. So hopefully on Feb 2nd, the groundhog will see his shadow because its a nice, sunny day.

I'm hoping for lots of creams in these litters. :^)

Satin Angora does

This is Somerhill Jamaica, a chocolate tort SA. She was born 7-13-09 - the day I broke my leg. She and her sister, Corsica, were the bunnies in my hands when I slid and fell. They went flying across the rabbitry! Luckily, they were unhurt. :^)
Corsica is a chocolate. Her coat is growing back in from being clipped in late October.

Bourbon Street Lamb

4 leg shanks
1 can tomato paste
1/2 c chicken broth
1tsp basil
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
splash of bourbon

Put everything in a crockpot on low and cook until the lamb is tender and falls off the bones.
Check after a couple hours and stir the sauce together. This is a favorite dish; the tomato mellows from the meat juices and is dark and rich.
Serve over rice. If you like, add a chopped onion to the recipe.