Any Special Valentines' Traditions?

Behind Thanksgiving and Christmas, Valentines is one of my favorite holidays. I love the reds and pinks and hearts and everything about love. As a little girl, my Mother would often buy me gifts for Valentine's day- a purse, a book or anything special.

I've been wondering what I should do for my family and those that I love. I bought a bag for my daughter and plan to fill it with all kinds of treats. I'm not really sure what to get for my son-perhaps something red.

At any rate, what if any traditions do you have? Do you make any crafts? Do you send out cards? Do you hate Valentine's day? Just thought I would throw that in there just in case. Gotta be fair, right?

Our Garden-The First Signs of Life

Today we have a sprout from our cucumber seeds! How exciting. My son actually remembered that it was the cucumber seed was planted there. Wow, what a brain! I need to go ahead and get busy on getting our Square Foot Garden box together. It will time to transplant these babies before you know it.

Is anyone else out there planting? What are you planting? How is it going? Any sprouts yet?

New Hobby-Knitting

I was reading someone's blog and saw a reference to a knitting site that teaches you how to knit. My daughter had asked me how to knit. I have never knitted anything or seen anyone knit anything for that matter, but I learned how to crochet from a video in 1997-the year my daughter was born.

So I figured well how hard can it be, right? I found out that two ladies at my church know how to knit (one learned in the 5th grade and still remebers) and were gracious enough to show my daughter and me some of the basics. The knitting video actually helped me more than the live instruction. I'm guessing because I could keep rewinding and I didn't have to keep asking someone to "do it over, please". :-)

Here is what I have been working on. I'm learning all the stitches.

My daughter wants to make a scarf. We haven't started any projects yet as we are still learning the basics. We have pretty much mastered the Cast-On and knit stitch. I'm still working on the purl stitch. My last row and a half is what I have done of that so far. I have a ton of ideas of things I would like to make...

Do you knit? If so, please share what you are working on and how you learned.

Menu Plan Monday 2-4-08

Edited to add Mock Chicken Recipe:

Sunday- Mock Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Monday-Haystacks

Tuesday-Basil Pasta

Wednesday-Pigs in a Blanket

Thursday-Soup and Salad

Friday-Homemade Pizza w/leftover Soup and Salad

Sabbath Dinner-Calzones

Be sure to visit Laura's page for more menu ideas.

Mock Chicken

7 Secrets Cookbook

Neva and Jim Brackett

2 cups soaked soybeans or garbanzos, drained (may use canned or do it yourself)

1/4 Braggs Liquid Aminos or 2 TB soy sauce

3 TB Chicken Like Seasoning

2 TB yeast flakes

1 TB onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 cups vital wheat gluten

1. Place beans in blender with 1 1/2 cups water and blend.

2. While blending, add all the seasonings and continue until smooth.

3. Pour into a bowl and add the gluten flour. Work the flour in with your handsfor about minutes or until stiff. Add more gluten flour if it is still a little to soft.The less kneadingthe more spongy and breadlike. The more kneading makes it more chewy andelastic.

4. Form intotwo oval shaped loaves and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.Bake 50minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on a rack

For the chkn salad, cut the loaf and shred in a food processor. For my salad I add in Nayonaise and onions. I'm thinking of adding in some tofu for an egglike feel, but I haven't tried that yet. Let me know how you like it!

Starting Our Garden-Again

Today we planted seeds in hopes to begin a garden this year. We planted seeds last year but never made it past the seedling stage. I think I was just overwhelmed with many things at once. This year we plan to actually have the plants make it outside. :-)

So far we are starting seeds for:
Onions
Roma Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Bell Peppers (Red and Green)
Watermelon
Zucchini
Eggplant
Sugar Snap Peas
Lettuce (Red Romaine and Green Leef)
Basil
Rosemary
Spinach
Baby's Breath

In clay pots, we planted bulbs for Calla Lillies and Iris. We also have some Strawberry seeds that bought a few years ago. I don't have much hope that they will grow, but we will plant them none the less.

We are using the Square Foot Gardening Method by Mel Bartholomew.

I have plans for the front yard as well. When we first moved into this house, I planted Dahlia bulbs. They were the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen in my life. That was of course until Peter rabbit came and literally ate every bit of them! Why do we call him Peter you ask? Because when I chased him, he ran but he couldn't find his way back under the fence at first. That made my daughter remember the story of Peter rabbit and this his name. Let's hope that Peter has found a new home. :-)