Buffalo Hat

Since I posted the picture of the buffalo hat (made for a charity benefit) on Facebook, I have had a number of people ask me for the pattern.I don't have the hat in my possession any more to count stitches or make measurements, but I can give some guidelines on how I made it.

When I was asked to make a hat that looked like a buffalo for the upcoming Janice Cline Stem Cell Transplant Benefit, I did some internet searches for "buffalo hat". I've grown up seeing cartoons of buffalos all my life... living in the Buffalo, NY area. I had a very definite idea of what a buffalo should look like!  So, I just kept a few pictures in front of me and started working.

When I design a hat, I'm working with two basic tools: a chart of measurements so that I know what the finished size should be, and a basic pattern for a top-down hat.

Here is a link to a great chart for hat measurements: How to size crocheted hat I could see from my chart that for an adult hat, I needed to make a circle about 7" across.

The second item is a basic pattern for a top-down hat.
Round 1: 6 stitches in a ring (either a "Magic Ring" or chain 3 and slip stitch to form a ring)
Round 2: increase in each stitch
Round 3: *increase in first stitch, one stitch* repeat around
Round 4: *increase in first stitch, two stitches* repeat around
You get the idea... with each round, you're putting one more stitch between your increases. If you're doing single crochet, you don't have to join your rows. You can just keep working in one continuous row, using a stitch marker to let you know when you're starting a new row and need to change your increase numbers. For taller stitches, like half-double crochet or double crochet, you would need to join your rows and make a starting chain to start the next row.

You'll notice I just said "stitches"... you can make hats with single crochet, half-double crochet, double crochet, loop stitch, etc. Once you're got the basic pattern down, and a chart to tell you what size you're shooting for, you can adjust the hat to your own liking. The hat above used loop stitch to start out, for the shaggy look, and double crochet for the body of the hat.

You'll need:
Size J, H & G crochet hooks
Two shades of brown yarn
Small amount of white yarn for eyes
Small amount of off-white yarn for horns
Two small black buttons for eyes
Two medium black buttons (or "gemstones") for nostrils
Yarn needle
4 stitch markers

Okay, on to how I made the hat.
I had some yarn in my stash that was a bit heavier than knitting worsted. It was brown with black highlights (a thin, textured black yarn with a little bit of "eyelash" to it). I only had a little over an ounce of it, so I asked my daughter to find me a coordinating brown for the rest of the hat (I'm awful with matching colors). Shout out to Bethany for going down into the cold, cold basement to search through the brown yarn tote for me!

I started with a size J hook and did my first round of 6 single crochets in a magic ring. Then I switched to loop stitch and just keep on going until I ran out of yarn. Since it was hard to keep track of where my rows started under all those loops, I kept a stitch marker on the back side of my work.  My circle was about 6" across when I ran out of yarn. I was in the middle of a row, but loop stitch is forgiving... I switched to the brown knitting worsted and changed to double crochet, making that the new start of my row. When my circle got to 7" across (one row of dc), I stopped increasing. I worked even on those rows until the hat was long enough (I tried it on rather than measuring).

Marking earflaps:
Set the hat down flat with the seam where you joined your rounds at the center back. Place a marker one inch from each side. Flip hat over and place two more stitch markers, each 2" in from the sides. You'll have two 3" sections marked off on your hat for where the earflaps go. Now join yarn by one of  your markers.
Row 1 (and all odd rows): SC in each stitch. Chain 1, turn
Row 2 (and all even rows): Decrease over first two stitches. Work to within two stitches of end, work a decrease over those two stitches. Chain 1, turn.
Keep repeating those two rows until you have one or two stitches left. Finish off, leaving a 12" strand that will end up in your braided tie. Repeat for other 3" marked section for other earflap.

Braided tie:
I wrapped yarn around a 3-ring binder (top to bottom)  24 times and then cut it to get a bunch of strings for the ties. I put 8 at a time through stitches at the bottom of the earflap and then braided them. When I tied the end and trimmed them, I saved the yarn for stuffing the snout. (Can't you just hear your Grandma's voice saying "Waste not, want not"?)

Eyes:
Several of the pictures I looked at online had button eyes for their buffalo hats. I thought "Buffalos are BIG creatures. They have BIG eyes. I want something that pops out... something like those eyes I put on the octopus cup cozy a while back. So... I borrowed the eye pattern from this pattern. 


Horns (make 2):
I started with a size G crochet hook and off-white yarn. I made 3 sc in a magic ring and kept doing SC in a continuous round, increasing here and there, and doing half-double crochet on one side to give it that little bit of a curve. When I got to about 2" long, I ended off, leaving a long tail for sewing them on. Here is a pattern for horns if you would like more exact details.

Snout:
Using the same color as the body of the hat and Size G hook, I made a chain about 1.5" long. I did one SC in the second chain and each chain across, then two more (total of three) in last chain. Then I did one SC in the back side of the chain, ending with two more in the same chain as the first sc on other side. This makes a long oval. I kept working around the oval, increasing at the four "corners". When the snout got to the right size (about 3-1/2 inches), I did 2-3 rows of single crochet without increases to make it "cup up" a bit. Finish off, leaving a long tail to sew on. Sew two medium size buttons or black gemstones on for nostrils.
Gemstones on Amazon


Ears (make 2):
Using the same color as the body of the hat and Size G hook, chain 5 (leave yourself 6-8" of yarn before your chain to sew ear on later).
Row 1: SC in 2nd chain from hook and each chain across. Ch 1, turn
Row 2: Increase in first stitch, sc in each stitch across rest of row. Ch 1, turn.
Row 3: Increase in first stitch, sc in each stitch across rest of row. Ch 1, turn.
Rows 4-6: Work even in SC
Row 7: Work a decrease over first two stitches. Work to last two stitches, work decrease. Ch 1, turn
Repeat Row 7 until you have one stitch left.  Finish off and weave in yarn end.

Sew on parts according to picture above. For an added touch (I thought of this while getting ready for work this morning), you could put a snap-ring in the bottom of the nostril.

The Story of the Four Bears

You’ve heard the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Here’s the story of the four bears.

I am involved in a fundraiser for a friend, a local pastor’s wife who was diagnosed with a blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma, over four years ago. The last four years has been a constant stream of doctors visits, hospital stays, medications and treatments.  Medical bills not covered by insurance have added up to $75,000. Friends and family of Janice Cline have come together to put on a benefit on March 15, 2014 with the theme "Bear ye one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2), in an attempt to help ease the financial burden of those medical bills.

You know, I wish I could write up a big old check for this cause. Janice was librarian at the school my girls attended, then started teaching 4^th grade. She has been a faithful fan at school games when her health permitted.  We have been called “the knitting twins” because we bring our current craft projects to basketball & volleyball games and work on them while cheering on the Falcons.

But this is a year of strict budgeting for me. A period of unemployment last year squeezed our finances. This year we have a wedding to pay for, and a vehicle that sorely needs to be replaced. Instead of giving of my money, I need to focus on giving my time and my talents. I have already made a bear hat/scarf set to build a gift basket around, and I’m also going to make up a Buffalo hat like this one and a hat or scarf in Buffalo Sabres colors. I'll keep my fingers busy making items for the craft table I will have at the event, where a percentage of my sales will also go toward the fundraiser.

So, as I was trying to fall asleep one night, I was thinking of projects I might be able to make for the upcoming benefit. There will be a live auction and a number of silent auctions of gift baskets. As I thought of the theme, “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” I thought of making bear cup cozies. I thought that if I made four cute bear cup cozies, I could put them on disposable cups in a cup holder, and make up a gift basket with a gift card to a local coffee shop. The next day, I started working on the cup cozies, and the photo above is how they turned out.

Now all I need is a “sponsor” to buy the gift card for Tim Hortons! 

And here are the patterns for all four: 

 

Brown Bear:

Uses Size H hook

About 1 oz knitting worsted weight yarn - brown

Small scraps of off-white and black yarn

Two black buttons (I used 1/2”, with 4 holes)

With brown yarn, make a half-double crochet foundation chain of 30 stitches (or an even number just long enough to fit around your cup). Join with a slip stitch.

There is a tutorial on how to do a half-double crochet foundation row here http://www.ehow.com/how_12102336_crochet-base-foundation-halfdouble-crochet.html

Row 1: Ch 2, *raised hdc, hdc* around

(You work a raised hdc by inserting your hook behind the stitch, rather than through the top loops). By alternating raised and regular stitches, you get a ribbed texture and a bit more stretchiness to your work.

Repeat Row 1 until your cozy is the desired height. I worked 12 rows to get about 3-1/2”. Join with slip stitch on the last row, but don’t cut your yarn just yet!

Ears: Skip 2 stitches. Do 7 double crochets in third stitch. Skip 2 stitches. Slip stitch in third, fourth and fifth stitch. Skip 2 stitches. Do 7 double crochets in the next stitch. Skip 2 stitches. Slip stitch in next stitch. Now you can cut the yarn! J

Nose patch:

With off-white yarn, Chain 5

Hdc in third stitch from hook and next stitch. 3 hdc in next stitch. Work 3 hdc in the back side of the chain, and make 2 hdc in the same stitch as your starting hdc. Join with slip stitch.

Row 2: 2 hdc in first stitch, hdc in next next stitch, 2 hdc in next st, hdc in next two stitches, 2 hdc in next stitch, hdc in next two stitches, 2 hdc in next stitch, hdc in next two stitches, join with slip stitch. (Basically, you are making increases at the four “corners” of your oval). Cut yarn, leaving tail to sew onto body.

Nose/mouth:

With black yarn, Chain 4

Row 1: SC in second chain from hook and each chain across (3 stitches)

Row 2: Work a SC decrease on first two stitches, then a SC in next stitch (2 stitches)

Row 3: Work a SC decrease across both stitches (1 stitch)

Chain  4. Cut yarn, leaving about 20”

Sew onto nose patch, starting with the chain four. See the picture to see how the mouth curves up a bit. Sew around the top of the nose. When you get to your last stitch at the bottom, make a loop on your crochet hook as you pass the needle through to the wrong side of your work. Bring the yarn back up to the right side just under the nose and chain 4. Now use the rest of the yarn to sew that chain 4, just like you did with the other side.

Sew nose patch onto cup cozy. Tuck in yarn ends. All done! 

Polar Bear:

Uses Size H hook

About 1 oz knitting worsted weight yarn - white

Small scraps of black yarn

Two black buttons (I used 1/2”, with 4 holes)

Follow instructions for brown bear, but with white yarn. Don’t do a nose patch. Just put the Nose/Mouth directly onto the cup cozy.

Koala Bear:

Uses Size H hook

About 1 oz knitting worsted weight yarn - gray

Small scraps of white and black yarn

Two black buttons (I used 1/2”, with 4 holes)

Make cup cozy with gray yarn. When you finish off, don’t cut the gray yarn. Attach white yarn and do ears in white. Cut white yarn. Go back to your gray yarn and do SC over the stitches of the ears.

Koala Nose:

With black yarn, chain 7.

Row 1: Hdc in 3^rd stitch from hook and each stitch (5 stitches.

Row 2 and Row 3: Chain 2, turn, hdc in each stitch

Row 4: Skip 2 stitches. 7 Double Crochet in next stitch. Skip two stitches. Slip stitch in last stitch. Cut yarn, leaving 8” or so for sewing to cup cozy.

Panda Bear:

Uses Size H hook

About 1 oz knitting worsted weight yarn - white

Small scraps of black yarn

Two white buttons (I used 1/2”, with 4 holes)

Make cup cozy with white yarn.

Ears (Make 2): Make magic ring. Chain 3 and make 8 hdc in ring. Pull tight, but don’t join stitches with slip stitch.  Chain 3 and turn. Make 2 hdc in each stitch. Cut yarn, leaving 6” or so for sewing to cup cozy. The ear is in a “Pac-Man” shape. Sew one side of his mouth to the top of the cup cozy, and the other side to one of the ribs of the cozy.

Nose: Follow directions for brown bear nose, but don’t do the chain 4 at the end.

Eyes: Make 2: Make magic ring. Chain 3 and make 10 dc in ring. Pull tight. Join with slip stitch. Cut yarn, leaving 6” or so for sewing on.

Sew a white button to each eye, slightly off-center towards the bottom.

Sew eyes and nose to cup cozy as shown in picture.

If you would like to show your appreciation for the free patterns, please consider making a donation to Janice's Stem Cell Transplant fund. You can give through the Give Forward website, or contact me if you would like to contribute toward the coffee gift card for this gift basket. Every little bit helps! 

Popcorn Jewels Cowl

Wrapped three times.

My blog has been quiet for a while.

Life has been busy: work, Mom's Taxi Service, craft shows, special orders for knit and crochet items, trying to get past level 419 in Candy Crush Saga...

In the midst of all this busy-ness, I finally got around to frogging a scrap yarn afghan on Thanksgiving Day. For those of you not familiar with the slang of yarn crafts, "frogging" means to take a project apart by ripping out the stitches. The "rip it" led to the term "frogging."

So, my frogging doubled the size of my "too small for much of anything" yarn collection. What used to fit in a jumbo-sized Ziploc bag needed a much larger container now. I ended up putting it in a large plastic cover from a catering tray. It conveniently fits under the end table next to my chair, but I realize it looks untidy and can't stay there indefinitely. My goal, once Christmas presents and special orders and craft show items are done, is to get the "small ball stash" back to fitting into the jumbo Ziploc bag.

I have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head for projects to use up some of the small scraps. A little girl from church has a striped hat done in reverse stockingnet that would be easy to duplicate. I printed out a pattern for a stained glass window scarf, and would like to scale it down for a blanket for an American Girl doll. I would like to make a few doll blankets with Granny Squares or variations on Granny Squares. I'll be making some striped baby stocking caps. The list goes on and on.

After seeing the pattern for the Stained Glass Window Scarf, I got the idea to make a cowl scarf with bobbles of color. I wanted it to work up quickly, so I used a size M hook and two strands of yarn.

The scarf used 5.3 ounces of yarn (according to my kitchen scale). If you don't have a collection of black scrap yarn to use up, you would probably need about 4.5 ounces of black yarn to use up with your colorful scraps.

Wrapped twice

I started my chain with a size N hook, then switched to size M for the pattern stitches, so that the scarf would be a little stretchier with the starting chain. You could also start with a chainless foundation HDC. Here's a Youtube tutorial on how to do that.

The "Pattern" : (Although it's actually more of a general guideline...)
With two strands of black yarn, chain 132. Join, being careful not to twist.
Round 1: Chain 2, hdc in each stitch. Join with slip stitch to chain 2.
Round 2: Chain 2, **hdc in 3 stitches, attach colored yarn and make a Popcorn Stitch in next stitch**. Repeat from ** to ** 3 or 4 times, depending on the length of your scrap yarn, working over the black yarn. Tie off scrap yarn and do 6-12 hdc with black. Then tie on another scrap color and repeat from ** again as needed around the row. You're making bobbles with 3 hdc between the individual bobbles and a longer stretch between the groups of bobbles.

I didn't have a real pattern for my bobbles - I just tied some yarn on when I felt like it, did as many bobbles as I could with that scrap, and went back to black.When I got to the end of the row, I joined with a slip stitch.

I did three rows, then finished off with a round of hdc. The finished scarf is about 68" around, and 3" wide. You could do more rows for a wider scarf.

I'm thinking of other possibilities with this pattern... done with two colors... done with off white with colored bobbles.. the ideas are as endless as my supply of scrap yarn!

Review & Giveaway: King's Faith

Fall is in the air. It's a great time of the year to gather around the woodstove with some cider and popcorn and watch a good family movie.

So many of the movies available today aren't very family-friendly. There are a few filmmakers out there who still strive to make movies the whole family can watch. Provident Films falls into that category, so when I was offered the chance to review a new DVD called "King's Faith", I eagerly agreed.

You can watch a trailer of the movie at the King's Faith website or on their Facebook page.

King's Faith is the story of Brendan King, a young man with a troubled past: eighteen foster homes, nine arrests, and a drug bust where he watched a friend die. Then he was given a Bible and his life was transformed. He moves to a new foster home away from the city streets and begins to forge new friendships and a new life.

His old life won't stay buried, though. His old gang comes to visit and they want information that Brendan isn't willing to share, information that his old friends will go to any lengths to retrieve.

My family and I really enjoyed this film. It is rated PG due to some gang-related violence. The violence, such as a beating or a shooting, is not shown in graphic, gory detail, but there are some brief glimpses of the victim afterwards, bleeding and bruised, which may be disturbing to young children.

At one point during the film, I thought to myself, "this kid is too squeaky clean for an ex-gang member." At that point, I had to scold myself for thinking that way. This is the story of a life transformed by God. Humanly speaking, people don't change like that, but with God, all things are possible. Even taking a young man out of a gang and giving him a hunger to live for God and do the right thing.

There are other stories of healing and redemption in the movie too: parents torn by grief, a teenager weighed down by secret guilt. Brendan King works as a catalyst to bring healing to those situations.

I would highly recommend this video to families and church libraries. I'm giving away a copy to a reader of my blog. Just click on the Rafflecopter logo below. You can get an extra entry by liking King's Faith on Facebook.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kale Recipe Round-Up

We have a lot of kale in our garden right now. We could eat kale every day and not exhaust the supply. Come to think of it, I think I have been eating kale every day, since it's in so many of our favorite recipes. When I canned spaghetti sauce this summer, I used kale instead of spinach. When I made a big pot of bean & sausage soup (which I've had in my lunch three times this week), I added chopped kale.

I thought I'd share a few of our favorite kale recipes for those who say "I've seen kale in the produce aisle, but I wouldn't know what to do with it!"

Our favorite:
Kale Chips
If you Google "Kale Chips Recipe", you can find thousands of recipes... using various spices and combinations of oil and lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar. I usually mix 2 Tablespoons of oil with a Tablespoon of lemon juice, mix it with a bowlful of kale, spread on a cookie sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes (anywhere from 350 to 400 degrees, depending on what's already in the oven).

I remember the first time my daughter Connie tried them. She said "These are delicious. They are so weird... but delicious!"

Sauteed Kale
We love this recipe for Sauteed Kale from Bobby Flay. It calls for sauteing some garlic... I also add some sliced onion when I'm cooking up the garlic. 

Sometimes when we want a little variety, we use this recipe for Sweet and Savory Kale.

Kale Salad
The great thing about this Super Summer Kale Salad is that you can make it up hours before. I tend to decrease the sugar in the recipe, using 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup. You can add or subtract ingredients to suit your taste. I leave out the Edamame, but have added shrimp or diced chicken breast to make it a meal salad.

Kale and Potato Hash
My family likes this side dish, too: Kale and Potato Hash. I tend to cut back a bit on the horseradish, though, using "horseradish sauce" and only about half of what they suggest. I also use a plain onion instead of shallot.

Toss some kale in there... 
If you toss a few kale leaves into the blender and chop them up fine, you can sneak some kale into just about anything...
Omelet
Spaghetti Sauce
Calzone filling
Pizza
Chicken Pot Pie
Vegetable Soup
Smoothie

Now I want to make some kale chips with dinner!

Update: Apparently October 2nd is National Kale Day. This recipe showed up on my Facebook page - Tomato-Kale-Basil Quiche. I substituted a teaspoon of dried oregano for the basil, and we all liked it! Definitely going in the "make again" folder!

How to do a canner-load of plums in the morning and still be on time for work (my 56-point plan)

Last night, somebody commented to me that I was a master of time management. It sure doesn’t feel that way. Lately, it seems like I’m running in ten directions at once and not getting much accomplished.

My daughter’s alarm goes off at 5:45, so she can have plenty of time to get ready for her 7 AM school bus. I heard her walking around and got up too. It was 5:51 when I walked into the kitchen. I thought that with three hours to work, I should surely be able to get a load of plums in the canner before leaving for work. So… here are the steps I took.

1.       Wipe and label jars of cinnamon pears that I canned Monday.

2.       Take box of cinnamon pears down to basement.

3.       Realize there’s not enough room on shelf 49 for all the cinnamon pears.

4.       Move Apple Butter to shelf 48.

5.       Update inventory spreadsheet on top of chest freezer to show that Apple Butter has been moved.

6.       Look through freezer for an idea of what to make for dinner. No idea.

7.       Refill empty box with wide-mouth canning jars.

8.       Realize that I need the sink cleaned out to wash canning jars.

9.       Empty and refill dishwasher.

10.   Take clean plastic yogurt containers that were in dishwasher out to recycling bins in garage.

11.   Realize I need more counter space to work – take Sorghum Flour from yesterday’s Amazon order to refill empty canister.

12.   Take empty box from Amazon order out to recycling bin in garage.

13.   Wash canning jars.

14.   Realize stomach is growling and wants breakfast. Grab a gluten-free pear muffin and a chai latte.

15.   Putting empty containers from Vanilla Almond Milk and Chai Concentrate tops off garbage can. Empty trash.

16.   Walking through garage to trash can, see that there are a lot of little leaves on the carpet just before coming into the kitchen. Grab the broom and do a quick sweep so all the debris doesn’t get tracked into the house.

17.   Settle into my chair with muffin and chai. 

18.   Grab phone to check e-mail.

19.   Check Facebook.

20.   Respond to message on Facebook.

21.   Clear two levels in Bubble World.

22.   Open blinds and watch for bus.

23.   Call out alert to Bethany when the bus goes down the street across from our house.

24.   Finish up chai and head back to kitchen.

25.   Fill 9 wide-mouth canning jars with plums. Start to cover with syrup and realize I didn’t make enough.

26.   Make more syrup, finishing off bag of sugar.

27.   Wash hands and grab phone to add sugar to shopping list.

28.   Check Facebook notification that popped up on phone. “Like” cute picture a friend posted.

29.   Check pantry for another bag of sugar.

30.   Realize flashlight for checking pantry is in bedroom, since I was reading by flashlight last night.

31.   Retrieve flashlight from bedroom.

32.   Make bed.

33.   Try to finish with the syrup I’ve made. Run out of syrup.

34.   Search cupboard for more sugar. Find enough for 2 more cups of syrup. Wonder what my neighbor Judy would think if I showed up on her doorstep at 7:20 AM asking for a cup of sugar.

35.   Finish up (just barely) with the last two cups of syrup.

36.   Put plums in canner.

37.   Search ten boxes of canning jars in basement, looking for any more wide-mouth pints. (There’s still one more container of plums in the fridge – probably enough for 4 more pints.) Move some jars around to empty out boxes.

38.   Take empty cardboard boxes out to recycling in garage.

39.   Search fridge for items in wide-mouth pints that can be downsized to half-pints. Find one (sweet pepper rings – with one or two sweet pepper rings floating in about ¼ cup of pickle juice).

40.   Add “Make Pickle Dip” to my to-do list to use up the pickle juice.

41.   Hear elementary bus going by… my signal that I need to hit the shower if I want to be on time for work!

42.   Miss a phone call from Bethany asking me to bring a certain shirt to the volleyball game.

43.   Put shirt in car so I don’t forget it.

44.   Take plums out of canner.

45.   Search fridge for something for lunch.

46.   Find another wide-mouth canning jar that I can downsize into a smaller jar.

47.   Rearrange dirty dishes in dishwasher to add those emptied by making my lunch.

48.   Take three cardboard boxes emptied during fridge search out to recycling.

49.   Hurry to answer the phone, thinking Bethany forgot something else… telemarketer.

50.   Get out crockpot to start teriyaki chicken.

51.   Sort yesterday’s mail that was still on the table where I put the crockpot.

52.   Realize I can’t make teriyaki chicken because there’s sugar in the recipe, and there’s no sugar in the house!

53.   Put BBQ chicken in the crockpot (Plan B).

54.   Fix hair, apply make-up.

Current knitting project is another "manly bib" like this one...

55.   Toss together “knitting to go” bag for volleyball game.

But this one has a bow tie instead of a regular tie.

56.   Out the door… on time! (Highly unusual… since, as you can see, I end up going down a lot of “rabbit trails”!)

Gluten-Free Applesauce Muffins

My blog has been quiet lately.

Sorry... life has been crazy. In mid-August, we picked pears. Lots of pears. Lots and lots of pears. I think there were 9 baskets.

Pears are a very time-consuming fruit to can, since you have to cut the peel off each one. So, I just finished canning over 50 quarts of pears a few days ago. Now I can breathe again!

Lately, I've been trying to keep my spending on groceries to a minimum. I need to use up what I have in my cupboards and canning shelves (like all those pears). I was trying to figure out what to have for breakfast last week, and felt like baking something gluten-free. After all, my favorite gluten-free cereal (Bakery On Main Extreme Fruit & Nut Granola) is $6 per bag. If I could whip up some muffins with what I had on hand, it would save a lot of money.

I leafed through my collection of gluten-free recipes I've printed from the internet. Nothing sounded good to me. Then I went through the other pile of recipes. I found a recipe for Applesauce Muffins that I printed out in 2008 (before I went gluten-free). I made a few changes, gave it a try, and loved the result. So, I will share it!

Applesauce Muffins
2 cups gluten-free flour**
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 Tbsp apple pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground cloves)
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda and spice. Add applesauce, melted butter, egg and vanilla. Mix until well-combined. Fold in walnuts. Spoon into muffin tins (use paper cupcake liners, as these muffins are a bit crumbly). Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

**I used 2/3 cup cornstarch, 2/3 cup sorghum flour, 1/3 cup brown rice flour and 1/3 cup white rice flour

I have also made these by pureeing canned pears and replacing the applesauce with pear puree. They also turned out quite well.

Now... back to canning (still have peaches, plums and rhubarb I want to finish up)... and then to knitting (I have some newly finished items in my Penguin Place Shop.

Thanks for stopping by!