knitting and pumpkin

Hallelujah!!! I finally finished Granny B's lap blanket with a pocket.  My sweet Grandma Beth moved in with her daughter, Rhea about two years ago.  They live in Fredonia, Arizona, which is a small town right on the border of Utah and Arizona.  It gets chilly there but not freezing.  The last time we visited her was last fall on our way to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim and she kept adding wood to the fire they had going and seemed cold all the time.  She has also lost a lot of weight and is down to about 115 lbs. so I decided for Christmas this year I would make her something she could use.  So I found a picture of a lap blanket in one of the knitting books I borrowed from the library and felt inspired.  I sort of made up the pattern and did a 4x4 rib pattern and added a pocket so she can keep her crochet hooks and glasses and tissues handy and contained.  I think it turned out pretty good, I hope she likes it.  It has taken me FOREVER to make it, I would bring it everywhere with me: the doctors office, my inlaws, my parents, I would work on it any chance I had and finally finished!  I have so many knitting projects to complete for Christmas, I'm so glad to have the most time consuming one out of the way.

Olivia is modeling it for me- I had to put a button on the pocket so it wasn't so camouflaged.

With November in full swing, pumpkin has been one of my cooking staples.  For young womens on Wednesday I made chocolate brownies with lots of pumpkin puree, they were delicious!  I mixed some puree into pancakes last week, Norwegian pancakes this morning, smoothies with kefir about every day and tonight I made the most delicious frittata ever!  Frittatas are kind of regular dinner fare at our house and I love to experiment with different ingredients.  Love to make them with asparagus and bacon, onions and potatoes, broccoli or whatever else I have around.  

I think that tonight's is one of my favorites ever.  It has caramelized onions and about a cup of pumpkin puree.  The thing I love about pumpkin is that you hardly know it's there and it can be sweet or savory.

So now I'm going to write the recipe because I know I'll want to make it again and since I usually just make things up as I cook, it's hard to replicate unless I write it down.

Pumpkin Frittata:

1 cup pumpkin puree (canned)

3 eggs

7 egg whites

1/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 onion- diced

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Heat oven to 450

In oven safe skillet, saute onions in a little oil or butter

mix all remaining ingredients except cheese

once caramelized, spread onions in an even layer in the pan

add egg mixture and cook on med till just the bottom is set

add cheese evenly on the top

pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes 

remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes, cut in triangles

Enjoy!