Crochet Ribbed Hat Pattern

I'm always searching for cute homemade ideas for my husband and son. It seems like for males, they are few and far between. While searching for a hat to make my husband and coming up empty handed, I finally gave up and decided to make my own version of a knitted hat that he used to love. I hate knitting, so I decided to figure out how to make this hat only look knitted but actually be crocheted.

Here's my handsome hubby posing for some mug shots.

This hat was easy to make and only took a few hours.
The following pattern is written for an adult male.

Items needed:
Worsted Weight yarn (I used Patrons Wool )
Blunt Needle For Weaving Ends
J Needle

We're starting out on the ribbing with the band
CH 7
1-Sc in second ch and in each ch across-6
From now on crochet only in in the back loop of each stitch.
2-Ch 1, sc in each stitch across-6
3- Repeat row 2 across until piece measures desired size (this took me about 74 rows.)
4-Sc to first row without twisting to create band.

We are now above the band of the hat
ch 1 from where we left off on previous band and instead of turning, continue crocheting around band.
Crochet 68 around evenly.

Hope you love it!



-Amanda

Homemade Harlots take on Embroidery

Melanie and I try to do a fun craft together every week. This week Mel had the brilliant idea to start embroidery. I have done embroidery before but not a lot and when I did do it I really loved it, so I was ready to take on the challenge too.

I am making a folksy looking fish for my kitchen. I love the old folk art look.

and Melanie is embroidering her prayer flags, it looks amazing!

We have learned many different stitching techniques and are having a blast! This has by far been one of my favorite projects that we have taken on. I cant wait to share them when they are done!

What kind of new crafts have you been learning?

-Amanda

Divine Chocolate Mint Black Bean Cake *Now with Hot Fudge Frosting*

This cake is amazing. Believe me, but still make it for yourself. I love cutting flour when I can, it makes my joints feel happier, and this has so much protein, fiber, and potassium in it because it has a whole pound of beans!

Preheat oven to 325*

Add the following ingredients to your food processor, as well as 1/4 cup mint and 1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces:

*1 1/2 cup of cooked beans, any kind/color
*5 large eggs
*2 tsp mint extract
*1/2 tsp salt
*6 tbsp unsalted butter OR coconut oil
*3/4 cup erythritol plus 1/2 tsp pure stevia extract OR 1/2 cup honey plus 1 tsp pure stevia extract
*1 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*1 tbsp water (leave out if you use honey)
*1/4 cup mint chips
*1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Blend till everything is very well mixed and the beans and chips are totally pulverized, pour into a cake pan lightly dusted with cocoa powder. There is no rising, so keep that in mind when you choose your pan.

 Mix in an additional 1/2 cup mint chips and 1/2 dark chocolate chips, then bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is solid and slightly beginning to crack, and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.

I'm making the frosting tomorrow, to be used right before serving. Stay tuned!


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My super healthy and sugar free frosting recipe never comes out quite right, so I decided to give a hot fudge kind of frosting a try. It's NOT healthy, but mah gawd is it delicious!

Simply:
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick of butter
1/2 bag of dark chocolate chips
1/2 bag mint chips

Melt over medium low heat, whisk till well mixed and thick
Let cool for twenty minutes off the heat, whisking occasionally
Cut cake and pour hot fudge over each piece.

Devour! :)
-Melanie

Mmmmmmuffins

Every first Saturday of the month, I host a little playgroup at my house for moms with nursing toddlers. I always try to have healthy and yummy snacks, and with the holidays, I'm having trouble keeping it healthy. ;) Yummy is no problem though!

This is a "low fat" recipe... if you follow it as it says. ;) This time, I added pumpkin egg nog in place of buttermilk, flax seed instead of eggs (1tbsp flax meal with 3tbsp water per egg to be replaced), a cup of chopped cranberries, and half a bag of white chocolate chips.

Both texture and taste were divine, and they were gone so quickly! I only got to taste one because my 2 year old shared a bite.

Because they disappeared before I could find my camera, I didn't get a final picture! If you bake these, please share your pictures! :)

-Melanie

Soft Pretzel Recipe

• 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•  
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• Coarse Salt. Or cinnamon and sugar

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let sit until frothy, I usually wait about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour and add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, and elastic,  about 7 to 8 minutes. Oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into equal pieces. 

Roll each piece into a rope 

and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, 

dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

Rub Butter onto pretzels and sprinkle salt on top, if you would rather have cinnamon and sugar pretzels add that after the butter instead.

We decided to enjoy our pretzels both ways! We had the salted ones with some cheddar cheese soup that I had in the pantry, it was perfect! These are so simple and way cheaper to make than to buy from the mall!

Side Dish : Fried Green Tomatoes

I was looking for something to do with the rest of the tomatoes left in my garden that aren't turning red because of the weather now. I came up with the perfect idea, Fried Green tomatoes! This is a traditional southern dish that is so easy to make and yet so delicious. 

Ingredients:
Green tomatoes
Fish seasoning
Eggs
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Corn Meal

Chop tomatoes into 1/2 in thick slices

Beat eggs
Mix corn meal and fish seasoning in bowl











coat tomatoes in eggs and then coat in corn meal batter

 submerge in hot oil and cook on each side for about 5 min each










This is so quick and easy it doesn't need much preparation and the cook time is very minimal. Bon Appétit!

Perfect Pork Roast

Pork pot roast:

Brown the roast on all sides in a pan with olive oil or butter.

Ingredients: lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, s&p, red wine vinegar, olive oil
rosemary, garlic, onions, potatoes (I used Yukon golds), carrots, Brussels sprouts

Layer ingredients in Crock Pot- I like to put potatoes on the bottom and onions and garlic cloves on top... With a healthy sprinkling of salt and pepper over every layer. Make the sauce to taste using red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, olive oil, chopped rosemary, crushed garlic, and s& p. You don't want the sauce to be too acidic, with just the right amount of sweetness. Have the juices come up to just barely above the meat.

My uncooked roast, ready to go.

Cook on high for 6-8 hours (check temp!), keep warm till plating.

Optional- make a gravy from the juices to put on the meat and veggies by taking some juice and flour, and shaking them together vigorously (in something similar to a martini shaker) and then adding back to the rest of the juice. Keep the heat on until the gravy is nice and thick, repeating the above step until yo reach desired consistency.

Serve with a slice of freshly baked bread and a glass of Pinot Noir.

Cheers!
-Melanie

Stegosaurus Costume DIY

My mom's been sewing since high school and is teaching me how to now! We've done projects throughout the years, and this Halloween, she's helping me with a big back piece for my four year old's costume.

We bought two colors of felt and cut out squares with the Scentsy box lid as a stencil. Cut those in half into triangles, then stitched two sides together, and stuffed the inside.

Keep doing that, but trimming 1/2" off of 2 sides of the "stencil" so that your squares and triangles will be a bit smaller with each new spike as it gets closer to the ground.

We then sewed the third side, and folded out the flaps. I pinned those to the long strip of felt that we cut to be the in-between piece, and we sewed the spikes onto the strip.

After that, we sewed the strip with the spikes to a hoodless jacket. We ended up getting 6 spikes on my kiddo's costume.

I'll be tweeting the final costume pic on Monday! Follow us @homemadeharlots

Seasoning Cast Iron

My mom is remodeling her kitchen, that means I inherited several new-to-me kitchen items! I was so excited for her to bring the box over for me to go through. I found several useful items I needed and the stuff that I didn't need got donated of course!

A couple of my favorites were a new canister set

this measuring magnet

and this rad flavor injector.

But the best thing of all that I inherited were these beautiful cast iron pans, a prized part of my grandmothers kitchenware. And now, they are all mine!

Along with the cast iron pans my mother passed on the tradition of seasoning cast iron to me too, and I thought it would be a wonderful thing to share with all of you! Seasoning cast iron is important to help your pans have a non stick surface and prevent your pots and pans from rusting. If seasoning is done correctly your cast iron will last a lot longer.

First we stuck them in the oven and let the ovens cleaning cycle completely clean them. And let it cool for several hours.

Next we washed the pans with a little water and used a stiff abrasive pad to scrub it. Then we placed them back in the oven to dry. A tip my mom gave me is, you should always towel dry or dry your cast iron in the oven, you shouldn't allow it to air dry because this promotes rusting.

Then we brushed the pans with some vegetable oil (although traditionally Crisco is used, I don't have this in my house.)

We let the stove cook the oil in a little bit and then placed them in the oven with the cooking side facing the bottom of the oven on 500 degrees. There is a lot of smoke during this process so you may want to have the oven vent on and some windows opened.

Finally brushed it with one last coat of vegetable oil and let it cool! I cant wait to cook with them! I will definitely be posting the first meal I make with them. I can't wait! There are lots of different traditions that are passed down for seasoning cast iron. None of them are really wrong just different than the last! I would love to hear the ways you were taught to season cast iron! 

-Amanda

Homemade BBQ sauce!

Amanda and I made homemade BBQ sauce a few days ago, when most of my kitchen (pics coming soon!) was still in boxes. We used the recipe on the back of the molasses jar, and it came out super yummy!! We poured it over pieces of chicken thighs and baked for just over an hour at 400*.


 1 cup ketchup                                1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Grandmas Molasses          1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup vinegar                              1/4 tsp Trappys red Devil hot sauce (we used franks red hot sauce)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Combine all Ingredients in bowl and mix well.

Our first time making it, we added way too much ketchup, and it was ruined. Keep mixing and tasting to find the perfect flavor!



And of course, BBQ chicken wouldn't be complete without a sticky messy pan. I got to wash this glassware in my new dish washer for it's very first real run, and oh my goodness! It works so beautifully!! Check out these before and afters... The importance of a good dishwasher!

Before:

After:

Super easy and yummy main dish! Enjoy!
-Melanie

Tuesday Tip: Homemade Antibacterial Cleaning Spray

In my nonstop mission to make our home clean and green, I've come across a lot of homemade recipes for cleaning products and soaps that are simple and easy to make. My favorite cleaning spray is -surprise- vinegar! I mix it at home, and saves SO much money!

It's easy: take white vinegar, pour in an empty spray bottle (remember to save one when you run out of something!), and dilute about 60% with tap water.

Start cleaning!

Your house will only smell like vinegar for a little bit. After that, it will just smell clean. You may find you crave salt and vinegar chips afterward. Stay tuned for our homemade chip recipe!

-Melanie

Homemade Plum Jam

I'm so excited to share my new canning experience! For the first time ever I canned jam! I chose Jam because I love the consistency and that there are still pieces of the fruit in the mixture as opposed to just making a jelly or marmalade ect. Now, I'm new to the canning process and I try to explain it in as much detail as I can here but always make sure you research and consult older family members or friends who have canned before if anything seems off to you. Researching stuff before you do it is always the best tool!

Ingredients
about 5 cups of plums chopped (this weighed out to about 3 lbs of plums)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
6 tbsp pectin (or 1 package)
1 cup honey (or to taste depends on sweetness and ripeness of plums.
1/2 cup water

Method:
Add plums pectin and lemon juice to pot and cook on medium heat, the plums will start to liquefy and turn to mush.

When mushy add 1/2 cup of water and stir well until it comes to a boil
Let boil without stirring for 20-30 minutes

There is a kind of foam that forms on top when you leave it to boil (which you should for about 20 min) Scrape foam off top
Add honey and cook for another 15 minutes until it starts to form one syrupy consistency.

Wash and boil jars to prepare for jam, dry thoroughly and add hot jam.

Place lids and rings on jars
Process jars in boiling water for 20 minutes
and there you have it homemade jam! its so simple and delicious! If there is one thing I have realized its that everything that is made from scratch and by hand is so much simpler than you make it out to be in your head! Really try it! You will amaze yourself, plus you can add the amount of sugars or salts you want. So much healthier than store bought! And how can you go wrong with all the hard work you put into it? It's bound to taste delish!
-Amanda

Blue Ribbon White Bread

Since I was little, my mom has been in the kitchen. She worked full time my whole life, and was in music clubs, choirs, women's organizations, but still made dinner every night from scratch and spent weekends baking cookies, bread, and canning.

I have a Cuisinart food processor, the biggest size, that I use for making bread. It has a nifty dough blade and a dough setting, which makes kneading bread super easy.

You'll need:
7 c flour
2tsp sea salt
1/2 c (unsalted) butter
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 c honey
water

Take one tbsp yeast and one tbsp sugar and mix in a tall glass with 1/3 cup of warm water, set aside.

Put the flour in the food processor with the salt and butter, and mix until the butter is evenly distributed.

Add the honey.

Add 2 cups of cold water to the growing yeast, stir and add to the flour. Take the insert piece out of the top so the machine can still mix while you're pouring slowly. Mix for a couple minutes.

Once the dough is properly mixed, dump it in a big bowl. If dough is sticky, it needs more flour. If dough is crumbly, it needs more water. Shape the dough and let it rise with a damp tea towel over the top.

It takes about 3-4 hours for bread dough to rise in a house that's about 70*, and it's important that it gets to rise properly.

Once risen, punch it down and shape into three oval loaves, and place in 3 greased bread pans. Cover again with a damp tea towel and let rise until the bread is about 1" above the top of the pans.

Bake at 350* for 15 minutes, or until the top is hard and not quite golden, and rub some butter on the whole top. Put back in the oven for another 5 minutes till the butter is baked in.

Remove and promptly put on a cooling rack, and allow to cool for at least ten minutes before cutting into the deliciousness!

 

Yeah, I have three different sized bread pans, it gives my bread character. 

Enjoy!

-Mel

Rainy Day Chicken Soup

I am the biggest fan of rainy days and thunderstorms, and always make a warm cozy day out of them. Warm cup of chai, fleece blanket, plants vs zombies, and hot chicken soup. *love*

My soup is super easy to make. I always use my crockpot when I get the chance, because everything that goes in always comes out delish!

To start, take a few chicken breasts, some chicken bouillon and water (or stock), a couple stalks of celery chopped up and a couple just halved (you'll take them out at the end and toss), 2 big carrots chopped up, and half an onion diced.
Put that all in the crockpot early in the morning, to be on low all day.
Add fresh parsley and thyme (dried's ok too, but fresh is so much better!), dried bay leaves (2 or 3), sea salt and fresh pepper. Don't add too much salt at the beginning, but check it later on, because the flavors all mingle together so well, too much salt at the beginning can ruin it. Leave that all on low for 6-8 hours.
Pull out the chicken when it's cooked through (around hour 4) to shred it with forks, then put that back in the pot.
When the celery and carrots are tender, it's ready!

(While my soup was simmering, I whipped up a double batch of bread dough- 3 loaves, 1 dozen rolls, and 8 homemade hot pockets- recipes coming soon! You can also see my hard boiled eggs cooling in the sink... my kids love to eat them straight with a dash of salt.)

Take the bay leaves out (or don't, and the finder does the dishes), and serve with a slice of buttered fresh homemade bread (in another post).

Days like these call for some knitting or crocheting, can't wait till Amanda teaches me how!

-Melanie

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

So now that the holidays are coming up I thought it was the perfect time to post a made from scratch pumpkin pie! This is the perfect way to impress people during the holidays especially if you're a beginner to cooking because its just so simple!
They never come out looking just like the store bought ones but they ALWAYS come out tasting so much better!

Ingredients:
1 medium pumpkin halved and gutted (I used sugar pumpkins if you don't use sugar pumpkins add sugar to taste usually about 2 cups)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tbsp pumpkin pie seasoning (I just had some laying around, alternatively you could use cinnamon nutmeg cloves and cardamon I dont know the exact amount but taste everything! make it how you love it!)
2 eggs and an additional egg yolk
1 tbsp lemon zest
Pie Crust (I would have made this from scratch had I not had a spare pie shell sitting around. Waste not want not)

Method:
First and foremost I always pour myself a glass of wine, I love me some cooking and wine! :-)
1.Remove stem and gut pumpkin.(I save the seeds for roasted pumpkin seeds) Lay pumpkin cut side down on foil lined baking sheet bake 350 until tender and mashable like potatoes about 45 min - 1 hour.

Let cool

Peel skin (orange part) of pumpkin off.
Mash flesh of pumpkin with potato masher (or even a spoon or blend with food processor)

In food processor (or with hand mixer, ect.) add cream, seasoning, eggs and lemon zest.(enjoy the laundry in the background)

Blend until a smooth consistency
Pour into pie crust

Bake in oven at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 for 45 minutes.
Let cool.
Enjoy!
This was a really big hit with my mother in law and pumpkin pie is her favorite! SCORE! I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe and I would absolutely love to hear variations and suggestions!
Happy Baking!

-Amanda