I finished knitting my shawl a few days ago (I can’t get a decent picture of it) so I decided to do a little fall knitting.  I’m making one of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Rib Warmers in my handspun yarn, it’s a mix of Romney/Merino/Angora/Cashmere, it’s what I spun last year for the Tour de Fleece. I love the lumpy bumpy texture of the yarn and the dense fabric this is making. I think it will be great this fall.

I haven’t been knitting or do any other crafting much this week, I just haven’t really felt like it. I have been cooking a ton, though. I’ve been trying to eat more leafy dark green vegetables because I know they’re really good for you and have lots of vitamins and nutrients and things but with the exception of raw spinach and lettuce, I’m just not that into greens. So last week at the grocery store I bought a bunch of kale thinking I would try a couple different ways of cooking it and see what I thought. I had a little bit raw on a tomato and avocado sandwich and that wasn’t bad, it was a bit tough, though. Next I tried kale chips, which I’ve heard people rave about online for a long time. I sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil spray and broke some kale up into bit sized pieces and laid them on the sheet, sprayed the kale with olive oil and sprinkled on some seasoning (I don’t remember what I used, Greek seasoning probably). Then I baked the kale for about 10 minutes at 350°, until it was crunchy. This was pretty good, it had a weird aftertaste but I think that came from the seasoning.

But yesterday, I think I hit gold with the kale. I removed the stems from the rest of my bunch (I had about half of it left) and put that in a pot on the stove with some chopped green onions and baby portabello mushrooms and about a cup of water, I also added a pinch of sugar (it cuts the bitterness) and a little salt and pepper. I brought the water to a boil and then immediately turned down the heat to let it simmer with the pot covered for about twenty minutes until the greens were soft. When the greens were done (and a lovely bright green color) I drained out the water and mixed in a little fat free Italian salad dressing. I ate this with a roll and it was a nice, filling lunch. I loved the way this came out, it had so much flavor and texture. The greens tasted good and I think this would be even better with either some white or kidney beans added in the pot and you could even mix in other greens, too. I think I’ll be trying some more variations on this later. It was really tasty.

I also made some vegan oatmeal raisin cookie ice cream and it tastes like a bowl of oatmeal, or like a oatmeal raisin cookie, only it’s ice cream. It was so good. And then today I made dog treats, which my dog loves and gobbles like crazy.

One great side effect of eating better is that I have a ton of energy. Unfortunately, I have nothing to do. I’m stuck in the house all day without a car and it is so hot here, it’s been 99°F every day this week, except today when it was 101°F with the heat index around 110°, it’s just way too hot to walk anywhere or play outside with Sally. I just keep trying to find stuff to do around the house but I’m not doing a very good job at it. I’ll try more next week.