Month: February 2023

Chicken chopped salad

On By CarynIn chickens

I was a little enthusiastic buying lettuces, and ended up getting more when I still had some in the fridge. Oops. No worries, the chickens need some greens too. I chopped up the spinach and romain to make it easier for the chickens to eat. Sometimes I will make a hanging bundle so they are able to tear off small chunks themselves, but spinach is easier to just chop. I layered the ingredients, starting with an apple that had a large worm hole. I cut out the decayed part for the compost bin, but chopped the rest. Then in went the spinach, then the romain.

Layered chopped salad in a clear bowl

The chickens saw me coming with the bowl and made excited clucks.When I flipped over the bowl in the chicken run, the apples were on top, which I think was a nice turn out. The hens appreciated it.

Hens tucking into a pile of chopped greens

By the next day it was almost all gone, just the largest pieces of romaine remained.

Spinning cinnamon rolls

On By CarynIn Craft

Spinning and cinnamon rolls are two of my favorite things. When I saw a yarn preparation at my local spinning store (we have one now! Squee!) called “Cinnamon Rolags” by The Fiber Bakery by Anniewhere, I had to buy some. This particular preparation has a blend of Merino Wool, Bluefaced Leicester (BFL), Alpaca, Tussah Silk, and Finn Wool. I haven’t spun Finn wool before, so am totally going to count this spin for ticking that box.

Drop spindle with spun and unspun Cinnamon Rolags

The spindle is one I designed and had 3D printed locally by X of All Trades. I’m getting larger ones made, but I wanted to start spinning. I like the rolled rolag prep. The roll fits comfortably in my hand so I don’t need a distaff or other fiber management device. The blend spins up well too; it drafts evenly, has no nebbs or tangled bits, and the spun single has a nice halo on it.

Cheesecake pots

On By CarynIn Recipe
Single-serve Cheesecake pots

We love cheesecake in this house. Even better is eating it out of a ramekin with a spoon! No crust, no sugar, low fat yumminess in single servings.

  • Two 8-oz packages of low-fat cream cheese
  • Two eggs
  • 1/2 cup Splenda
  • 1/2 cup half and half
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese with one egg until blended. Scrape down the sides, add the second egg and mix until blended. Add Splenda, half and half, and vanilla, beating between each addition. Place four 4-oz ramekins in a baking dish, then fill the ramekins with cheesecake mixture evenly. Place the baking dish in the oven and add water to about 1” depth. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cheesecake is set but slightly wobbly. Remove baking tray from the oven and set ramekins on a cooling rack. Top with chocolate chips, almond slivers, or leave plain. Eat when cool enough to touch (so good warm!), although it can be refrigerated.

Tri-fold card

On By CarynIn Craft

I enjoy using my Cricut cutter to design cards. This one is for a fellow singer who is getting married this year. I particularly like the trifold and how nice it looks in the standing position.

Tri-fold Wedding card

Last length of yarn

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

A good way to neaten up the last bit of yarn from a project is to take the label, roll it up, and wrap the yarn nostepinne style around the label. Then the information stays with the yarn bit, and the yarn stays neat in your stash. I’ve mentioned this before, but it came up again in my life, and I discovered if the label is small, wrapping it around a pen gives a temporary handle, and makes winding yarn easier.

Yarn label, wrapped on a pen, then the start of the yarn wrap
Neat ball of leftover yarn

Here is the video I did on nostepinne style wrapping a year ago.