Turnip fries

Turnips are trendy. They keep popping up on my google reader in recipes (or at least they were back in the fall).

The only turnips I had before these were pickled turnips, which are soooooooo good. I get them at Aladdin's in Cleveland on my favorite meal, the "Lamb Rolled" or in a salad.

Garden dress

Burda Style Magazine picture for the dress

I made this dress about a month ago. I was waiting to post it until it was warm enough to take pictures outside, but since that's not happening any time in the foreseeable future, I decided to take pictures with my indoor garden, which is doing well now that there is more sun. It's Burda Style Magazine 02/11 dress #101. Click the picture to see the pattern and other people's variations of this dress.

I loved this pattern. It was super simple. The neckline is my favorite part, and the invisible zipper is my best ever. Now I only need a white belt! The black doesn't really match, and I think it looks best with a belt so the gathering doesn't poof at all. This fabric hangs very well. I love it!


The dress is fully lined--the bodice is lined with some leftover batiste from another project, and the skirt is just lined with the rest of the pretty floral fabric from the outside. The instructions said to use stay tape around the armholes and neckline, but I didn't have that, so I ironed on some interfacing to the lining:

Baby plants!

I planted some seeds two weeks ago, and now I have some baby tomatoes, dill, and basil. The basil didn't grow very well (there are only two baby basil plants right next to each other in the big pot).

I have cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes (San Marzano on the packet), dill, and cinnamon basil. Cinnamon basil sounded really interesting, and since I can never have enough basil, I bought the seeds.

How to use a bamboo steamer

I bought this bamboo steamer a while ago on Amazon. When I was looking to purchase it, I had a lot of trouble understanding whether I needed to buy something else besides the steamer itself. A few weeks ago, someone asked if I had found any pictures to help me (since that's what I commented on in the review).

So anyway, here's how I use my steamer! I use it all the time to make Trader Joe's frozen wontons and sometimes for veggies like broccoli. Here's my how to:

Place the steamer into a wok or electric skillet filled with about and inch of water (I use an old electric skillet). You don't need a rack or anything underneath, the bottom of the steamer is elevated from the water.

Red Flannel Hash

I made Cooking Light's Red Flannel Hash the other day! It was DELICIOUS! And the best part is that I made 4 servings, so I ate one, had leftovers for lunch two days later, and froze the rest.

Here's the recipe: Cooking Light link. I followed the recipe exactly.

I wasn't really sure how to shred beets, so I used the food processor. Look at all that red!