Moussaka Monday

Hello all!  Today I made a vegetarian moussaka.  No, it's not raw.  But moussaka is my weakness at the Greek festival and I thought I would try this meatless version from allrecipes.com.  I made extra bachemel sauce and it overflowed in the oven!

It looked better when the top browned a bit.

Also, I wanted to show Christina my linzortorte because I was telling her on Facebook that it looks like my kids made it, but I alone am responsible for the wonky weirdness.

Sarah says it looks sensational.  Mmmm!  It's dark because there's 1 Tbsp of cocoa in the dough, along with cinnamon and stuff.  It's supposed to be made well in advance and kept in the fridge, so we'll see how it tastes on Thanksgiving. 
Again-not raw.  I am starting to think I should have named this blog "The Catholic Cooking Knitter."
Speaking of knitting, tonight was our new knit-night.  (used to be Thursday, now it's Monday).  I didn't go.  I watched "The Lord of the Rings" with Spencer.  Sometimes, this is the priority.
For those who asked, the hot water bottle cover from yesterday was made out of left-over Rowan Kid Classic.  70 stitches on US #7.  Thanks for checking in!  God bless you all! 

I'm back!

Hello my friends!  I am back to the world of blogging after many weeks of silence.  I have been struggling hard against seasonal depression, the flu, teenage drama, and other single-mom-related stresses.  Thanks to anyone who was checking my blog in my absence!
I have been enjoying my work as kitchen staff. I meal-plan with the help of all-recipes.com and my recipe box.  As a result, I run to the store less frequently and my kids eat less convenience foods.  Also, we are starting our holiday baking and cooking.  I did a trial-run Thanksgiving meal (mostly because I never host Thanksgiving, so I like to do one at our house).  We watched a Thanksgiving DVD of Good Eats and brined the turkey as suggested.  The meat was good, but the gravy was uber-salty.  (Alton Brown doesn't make gravy, so he didn't mention that).
Spencer came back from the Apostolic school and is going to the local Catholic school now.  Also Theresa is doing online classes thru the local high school.  So the past few weeks the order and routine of my life has been obliviated, if obliviated is the word I mean.  I don't do well with change.  It's starting to settle in now, though.  Phew.
My hands have not been idle.  Here is one of the projects I have completed for Christmas, but which will probably be given to the recipient this week because I cannot wait to give people their gifts:

One of my sisters is using her vacation time to go to Disney this week by herself.  One of my other sisters just got back from a pilgrimage to Italy where she saw Padre Pio's town and had mass in St. Peter's and went to Benedict's monastery...  I am not jealous, though, because I am happy for both of them and I know that God has wonderful plans for me, too.  On Black Friday, my sisters and mother and I are going to see Harry Potter.  And the same group is going to see the musical Christmas Carol in Pittsburgh during Christmas week.  Yeah!  AND Wicked is coming to Pittsburgh in September.  I am very excited as I have been wanting to take my girls to see it for a couple of years, now.  Hopefully, we can have enough lemonade sales to buy tickets for all of us!

A Pretty Thing

Happy All Saints Day!  Did you go to mass yet?  It's not obligatory in my diocese, but I'm not sure why.  I mean, do they think that it's too harsh to make folks go to mass on a Holy day if it falls on either side of a Sunday?  I think we'll survive!  Christmas falls on a Saturday this year.  Hmmm.

Well, I am not done with the first one yet, but I thought I'd show you Ginny's birthday sock(s).  I am also using this opportunity to show off the socks that I finished today that are for me (the ones on my feet in the picture).  Don't tell Ginny I was knitting for me when I was supposed to be knitting for her!  Actually, I needed mindless knitting today and that meant not knitting her crazy-cables-and-twists-socks.

I am pretty happy with the way Ginny's are coming out, but for some reason I am over the moon about my own!  Not sure if you can see their true beauty, the right one's not that dark in real life.  This is the first pair that I have knit for me.  I have 2 pair that were kind-of "factory rejects."  Now I have my very own!

I am still cleansing.  My kids are pretty happy because apparently I cook like a fiend for them whenever I am on the Cleanse.  You know that scene in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when Barbossa is watching Elisabeth eat and he says, "And the apples?  One of those?"  I go around feeding everyone and saying "And the apples?  One of those?"  Today I made my Grandmother's Bread Pudding, but don't worry, I won't show you.  My kitchen counters are too messy.  :)