Deja Vu

I'm back to dividing the body from the arms on my Zombie Apocalypse sweater and have reknit all the unravled yarn. When I went to add new yarn I couldn't find it. I'm not sure if it's in a safe place or out in the open camouflaged by other yarn but as I didn't have time to look for it I picked up my default knitting sock yarn blanket.

While knitting I watched Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux. What a deja vu moment. I've never seen the movie, didn't recognize the story or plot, and yet I have seen each and every action scene from that movie before, and I don't mean on Liquid Television.  I finally decided that the movie trailer way back when must have shown all the action scenes, or I watched a "Making Of...." piece someplace, or something.

The sock yarn blanket is to the point it needs two new colors every row as it increases in width. I had been looking at mini skien clubs when I noticed the clearance colors of Louet Gems at Webs and that a 50g skein was marked down to the same price as 10g mini. I took the amount of one month subscription of a box of minis and used it on the clearance yarn.

I'm set for 5 more rows I'm hopeful that 5 rows will also get the final width too. At that point I'll only need new colors as the current yarn runs out.

I'm going to hold out as long as I can but I feel the grays are dwindling rapidly and soon I will need to be buying replacement full size skeins of the base colors. Emotionally I'm worried. The rational part of my brain says it's going to be a non issue for the rest of the year. Almost out, yes, but a small amount on distance on the blanket is a whole lot of knitting .

Spicy

Back to the Budget Byte App

149 calories for 1/2c

African Peanut Stew from the app. This is very good! I've been making a different recipe for years that uses a whole 2c container of peanut butter instead of Budget Bytes 1/2c. That recipe is thick and rich and dense. This recipe is light, fresh, and but rather thin right off the stove however the next day its thickened up into the dense soup I'm expecting. With 1/4 of the peanut butter I will be replacing my old standby with this one. I just need to remember to make it spicier next time. 

 

Horrible photo of the Kit Kat hat but the only current photo of me on my phone. Hat knit out of scraps of Plymouth Encore

Today is my year anniversary of my 30lb weight loss.  It's thrown about that 95% of the people that loose weight gain it all back plus more in the first year. While that study from the 1950s isn't likely to represent the general population I went into this determined I would beat the odds whatever the % might be. 

How have I done it? Quite simply by learning the calorie count of food and the amount I need. Like everything in life, simple isn't the same as easy, but, man, is it worth it. So worth it. Physically I feel better in my 40s than any other point in my life. A year later I'm still amazed at how much fun it is to be light on my feet. It. Is. Awesome.

Flax Seeds and Slivered Almonds

The nice thing about the cookbook is that there will be a run of recipes that use the same ingredients. The flax seeds and slivered almonds that I bought special for the Breakfast Parfait are then used in the next recipe, Cherry-Almond Granola. Maybe the app does that too but if it does it's not as evident. I appreciate the specialty ingredients are being used again in other dishes. 

Cherry-Almond Granola is pretty good.  I'm not keen on the amount of oil it uses and I left out the almond extract all together (I already mentioned how I feel about Marzipan) and I disagree with the choice to add the dried cranberries before cooking, but I'm thrilled to see a granola recipe in a current publication. It's so easy to make.

What I did like is the vanilla. I've never added vanilla to granola before and there is a substantial amount. The vanilla holds well and comes through the mild sweetness of the granola and accents the nutty flavor of the slivered almonds and roasted flax seeds. I also like that it isn't sweet at all. I will make this again. - maybe- At 305 calories for a small bowl filled half full I would rather more filling things for breakfast. Oatmeal is a calorie dense and I'll be glad to leave this section of the book.

With the oven on and the ingredients out I also made Autumn Delight Baked Oatmeal. Now this is what I'm talking about. It's so good!

Pumpkin and apples, cinnamon and cloves, along with some of the dried cranberries left from the last recipe. It's rich and sweet and reminds me of coffee cake. At 260 calories for a reasonable sized slice this is a winner.

Well, except that I promptly ate two slices and wanted a third but that's my issue and not a problem with the recipe. I was able to get the rest safely away in the freezer for later.