Someone seems to be telling me, once again, to slow down and rest.  I’m not very good at resting, but I am trying. Happy Winter everyone, and Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating.  I’ll see you next week.

Welcome back to Whole Grain Weekends, a space to share and explore cooking with whole grains!  Whole Grain Weekends will be happening in this space the first and third weekends of the month.  I’m going to post a recipe and photos, and have a space below where I will link to all of your recipes, too!  The basic rule to play is: post a recipe on your blog using whole grains.  Whole grain flour doesn’t count, those beautiful grains have to be in their whole form.  Soup with grains, sprouted grain bread, salad with whole grains added, etc . . . If you want to join us but don’t have a blog, you can leave it in the comments, or email me your recipe (wheatberryma (a) gmail.com), and I will post it for you at the end of the weekend.

This week, I’m sharing a recipe for Chicken Spelt Berry Soup.  You may want to glance back at my chicken stock recipe.  This soup is simple if you have stock already made, hearty, and nourishing.  It’s a favorite both at our home and at Wheatberry.  Spelt is an ancient kind of wheat, and some folks who are sensitive to wheat find that they can tolerate spelt – please note that spelt is not gluten free.

Chicken Spelt Berry Soup

6 cups chicken stock

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large beet, peeled and chopped

2 onions, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp butter, fat, or oil

1 cup spelt berries (as usual, these can be substituted with wheat berries, rye berries, oat groats, barley berries, emmer, rice .  . . your imagination is the limit!)

This recipe starts the night before – begin by soaking your grains in 2 cups cold water.

The next day, melt butter in a large soup pot.  Add your onions, carrots, and beets, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until they are fragrant, soft, and the onions are beginning to turn golden.  Add the chicken stock.  Drain the grains, and add to the soup.  Simmer, covered, for approximately 30 minutes.  When the grains are cooked they will be plump and juicy, and not crunchy at all.  Salt to taste, and serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

The lovely folks at Storey Publishing sent us a free copy of this book, and I thought I’d pass it on to you, friends.  Leave a comment below before Sunday at 9 pm – winner will be announced Monday.  Don’t forget to join us tomorrow for Whole Grain Weekends!  Blessings on your weekend.

*** Congratulations to Amanda, winner of the giveaway!***

Turning this fabric into one of these.  (So luscious that I may have to make one for myself, too.)

I had planned to make Ella one of these dolls for her gift this year, but when I lost more than a week of crafting time due to illness, I let go of that goal.  It will be a birthday gift instead.  While we were  sick, Ella wanted me to sew something for her, and playing with some fabric seemed like something I could muster a bit of strength for.  She chose this bunny vintage fabric, a pink knit, and the flower print on the pocket (a fat quarter from my birthday -thank you Mom!), and we cut out fabric for a smock.  She desperately needed a full-coverage apron for the bakery (she likes to make “cupcakes” using a lot of baking soda, spices, and soy sauce.  Yum.), and all I have left is to sew some bias tape around the neck, plus buttons and buttonholes.  I’m using a pattern from one of the staff at the fabulous Textile Company in Greenfield, MA (also where I got the bunny fabric).

Using some felted sweaters from the thrift store, I’ve made some hot pads as simple but useful gifts.  Three layers of felt, stitched around the edge with a design in the center (which is so much fun!)  I’m going to try doing a blanket stitch around the edge to finish it a bit more nicely.  I know already that some presents won’t be finished, but I’m okay with that, and I hope the receivers will be, too.

Some of my favorite works in progress this week are these two: we planted our solstice bulbs again, and I’m hanging up some gratitude stars above our nature table, to mark the passing days and remind myself of the magic and our many blessings.

Best to you and all your works today.

(Playing along with Ginny of Small Things with Yarn Along.)

This week, I’ve finished one bootie for a little baby friend, and am quite hopeful that I will indeed finish the second one by the holidays.  These are made with the Stay-On Booties from Knitting for Baby (an excellent book, which I used to re-teach myself to knit two winters ago).  I used larger needles, knowing that this babe would be at least six months by the time these were on his toes.  Oh yes, and the yarn?  Ella chose the colors, and the tie-dye colorway is perfect for this family.

I’m reading American Wood Heat Cookery, which is a really neat look at cooking which can be done on top of (or inside) your woodstove.  I’ve done a bit of this, but can really use the reminder (and some inspiration) that since I’ve got that stove cranking for heat anyhow, I should be cooking on it!

For December’s Piece Together Peace intention, I’m working to “take joy.”  This comes from the oft-quoted Fra Diavoli prayer:

No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.
Take heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant.
Take Peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy.
Take joy.
And so, at this Christmas time, I greet you with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day
breaks and the shadows flee away.

I see all around me that many of us (myself included) struggle to take the joys which come to us, and this time of year is perhaps hardest of all.

It’s so easy to want so badly for the holidays to be beautiful, exciting, blissful – and so we run around, snapping like the wicked witch at our families and friends while trying to create magic for them.  Do we have the strength to fan the sparks of love and kindness as this season us to do?  What can we drop from our to-do lists?  Are we demonstrating anxiety and making our families feel that they are getting in our way instead of showing love?  Are we more absorbed with how great we will look when giving this present or throwing that party, instead of trying to truly give something that blesses the receiver?

I know these are all traps I fall in to, which I work each year to step away from a little further.  You probably won’t be surprised that I’m not a fan of buying lots of presents, but even hand-making can get out of control.  A big advantage of making gifts by hand is that it is naturally more limited, but we can still ask far too much of ourselves – and too much of the recipients, as well.  Getting sick right at Thanksgiving forced me right away to let go of some of my plans for Hannukah – and while I was a little disappointed, I also found myself relieved.  How we are with ourselves, our families, and our neighbors is far more important, and lasts much longer than anything else we give them.

Will you join me this month in choosing joy and peace?

Let’s talk about sewing, shall we?  Somehow, I forgot to show you some projects for the past few months, and I’m jazzed about a few new ones for the holidays.  I keep forgetting to mention it, but I’m joining Tonya and many others in making this a Handmade Holiday.  Today, I’ll show you what’s finished, and tomorrow, what’s begun.  Last week, while the grandmothers were visiting and I had a burst of pent-up energy from being sick, I cleaned and organized in the sewing room.  And guess what?  Suddenly I wanted to sew.  Magical.  Note to self – keep the sewing room clean.

This little piece is from the great One-Yard Wonders.  It’s a little car bag that buckles around the head rest and hangs behind a passenger seat, ready to hold trash or anything that doesn’t belong.  Then you unbuckle it and bring it inside.  I made this last May (I told you it had been a while!), and I really do think it’s fun and useful.

Also from One Yard Wonders, I made this binder cover.  I love this fabric – it makes me smile, and I was saving it and saving it, until I finally decided to use it to cover my homeschooling planner binder.  This pattern was super simple, and is a really nice way to personalize a binder (this would be a great simple gift, come to think of it!).  Here’s the inside:

And the next piece, I showed you a sneak peek of back in August.  I made this sweet little bag as a birthday present for my mom, using the Blue Party Bag pattern from Patchwork Style.  I love, love this book – if you’ve got scraps, it’s fabulous.  The bag came out a little smaller than I expected, but otherwise the pattern was pretty simple.  I altered it to use a zipper instead of a magnetic button.

The fabric on the back is from a skirt my mom wore and then handed on to me, and when it finally could be patched no more, I figured this was a great way for it to be reborn.

I’ve saved my favorite for last.  Ella joined me at the sewing machine this fall (be still my heart), and this is the first thing we really made together.  She learned to iron (very supervised, of course), and she chose the fabric and the ribbon.  This is the super-easy, so-cute lazy days skirt from oliver + s.

Happy holiday crafting, everyone!

Outside

Inside

Today I’m joining Ginny‘s love of knitting and reading with Yarn Along:

One Zimmerman mitered mitten done, one to go!  (And yes, I know there’s no thumb yet – she has you unravel some stitches to place the thumb in the exact right spot!).  Looking at this fun new book we have at Wheatberry, geared towards getting kids sewing.  One bonus of being so sick was that I spent a fair bit of time sitting in the living room, knitting.  I finished Ella’s vest (photo soon), and made some good progress on these mittens, as well as darning a whole lot of socks.  Somehow, I’ve managed to get at least one hole in every pair of socks I won.  Does this happen to everyone, or just me?  Someday soon I hope to discover a pattern for the World’s Most Indestructible Sock.

First, I want to thank all of you for your warm welcome to Whole Grain Weekends. I’m so excited to see it evolve and grow, and to share with all of you.

So, the sweet potato pecan balls I made for Thanksgiving disappeared before I took a photo, so I had to make them again to get you the recipe with a proper visual. It was hard work, but we managed. My mother made these for holidays when I was a child – I think she originally got the recipe from Southern Living, and my brother and I insisted she make them every year.  They are perfect for a side dish that’s quite easy to make, but very impressive looking and delicious.  (Oh, and in case you’re wondering, we bought the organic shell-on pecans last year as one of our family Christmas presents, from a farmer through LocalHarvest).

Sweet Potato Pecan Balls

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Scrub sweet potatoes and poke with fork a few times, then lay on a sheet pan and bake at 375 degrees F until completely tender when poked (about 30 minutes, depending how thick they are).  Set aside until they are cool enough to handle.

Take off the skins and mash up the sweet potatoes (you could blend them in a food processor if you wanted them really smooth).  Add the butter and salt to taste, and mix well.  At this point, I like to chill the mash in the fridge until it firms up a bit so it’s easier to work with (about 10 minutes).

Place your chopped nuts in a shallow bowl or pie pan.  Scoop about 1/3 cup of mashed sweet potato into your hands and roll it into a ball the size of a small orange.  Roll the ball in the nuts until coated, and place in a baking dish.  Repeat until you’ve used all your potato mixture.  Now, you can chill them until you’re ready to serve.  Bake your balls at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until warmed through and the nuts are toasted and aromatic (this may take longer if you’ve had them in the fridge for a long time).  Serve hot.  Bon Appetit!