Cajun Chicken Soup

So I came back from my family gathering with the Christmas yuck. Most likely from my dear big brother who was hacking and coughing the whole time. Yay.

I've felt like doing little other than sitting on the couch and crocheting. Oh, and I made some chicken soup. It was so good even the hubs, who doesn't usually like soups, enjoyed it.

So, even though this is a blog primarily about crocheting, I thought I'd share my soup recipe with you. Maybe you can crochet a potholder or something to use when cooking this soup.

Cajun Chicken Quinoa Barley Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped (I often use frozen chopped onions when not feeling well or in a hurry)

12 baby carrots, chopped into halves or thirds

4 boneless, skinless chicken tenderlions, whole

1/3 cup uncooked barley

1/3 cup uncooked quinoa

32 oz. chicken broth (I prefer low sodium)

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 tbsp. cajun seasoning

1 tbsp. smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients into a stovetop pot or slow cooker. If using a slow cooker, you may wish to add up to two additional cups of broth. In slow cooker, place on low and allow to cook for 4 hours. For stovetop pot, place on medium heat and bring to a boil.

2. When chicken is cooked through, remove to cutting board and shred with fork. Return to pot or slow cooker.

3. Simmer soup until grains and vegetables are tender. 

We usually eat this with grilled cheese sandwiches! MMM.

For those interested in nutritional facts, this recipe contains:
Per 1 cup serving:
129 calories
1 g. fat
26 g. carbs
5 g. protein
469 g. sodium
4 g. sugar

For lower sodium, use a low- or no-sodium cajun seasoning.

I hope you enjoy this warm, hearty soup this winter. I sure have!

Christmas Gift Idea: Soap Scrubby!

I don't know if I mentioned it, but this year my goal is to crochet all of my Christmas gifts. My index finger on my right hand hurts every morning when I wake up. But, in the process, I'm learning a lot and making many cool things for people in my life.

While surfing for "last minute Christmas gifts", I came across the idea of a soap scrubby, given with a bar of handmade soap. My favorite soap is a handmade soap that I buy several bars of at Pennsic each year from Past Thyme Perfumerie. I love love love their Dragon's Blood soap.

So, I took a look a look at several patterns, and then true to form, decided not to use any of them and make my own. I thought these might be great for some of my coworkers. SO....here's the pattern!

Materials
Hook: J (6.0mm)
Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream Cotton

Stitches:
sc= single crochet
DC= double crochet
HDC= half double crochet
CL= Custer stitch

Note: To complete CL, yarn over, insert hook into next stitch, yarn over, pull yarn through loop to height of row, yarn over, repeat four times. Yarn over, pull yarn through eight loops on hook, yarn over, pull through remaining two loops on hook.

Rnd 1:  Ch 10, insert hook in 2nd chain from hook and HDC in each chain across. Make 3 HDC in last stitch, and contine down the other side with 1 HDC in each stitch on the other side of foundation chain. Make 3 HDC in last stitch, join to first stitch with sl.

Rnd 2: Ch 1, 1 sc in next two stitches, (CL in next stitch, sc in next stitch) three times, sc in next three stitches, (CL in next stitch, sc in next stitch) three times, sc in each stitch to end of round, sl to last stitch in round.

Rnd 3: Ch 1, DC in each stitch around. Sl to last stitch in round.

Rnd 4-9: Repeat Rnds 2-3 three times.

Rnd 10: Ch 1, DC in each stitch around.

Rnd 11: Ch 1, sc in each stitch around. Finish off and tie in ends.

Drawstring:
Braid three strands of yarn to create a 5'' braid. Knot off at both ends. Starting at last stitch made, weave in to every other stitch on last row.

I made one for us too and hubs loves it! Enjoy!

Sunny Kitchen Hot Pad

As promised in my last post, I'm going to share with you how to create my Sunny Kitchen Hot pads. I looked and looked and looked for a pattern for hot pads that I liked, but couldn't find one, so I whipped this one up. They're super easy (and quick to make). They look nice and make great gifts (I will be giving some to coworkers for Christmas!)

Materials

Hook: J (6.0 MM)

Yarn: The "Sunny" hot pads use Sugar and Cream Cotton Yarn in Creamsicle (less than 1 skein), or you can use any color of cotton yarn you like

Stitches

DC= double crochet
HDC=half double crochet

Sl= slipstitch

Directions

Rnd 1: Ch 3, insert hook in first chain and slipstitch to join. 10 HDC inside ring, sl to first stitch of round.

Rnd 2 & 3: Ch 1, 2 HDC in each stitch around, sl to first stitch of round

Rnd 4: Ch 1, (2 HDC in first stitch, 1 HDC in next stitch) repeat around, sl to first stitch of round

Rnd 5: Ch 1, (2 HDC in first stitch, 1 HDC in next two stitches) repeat around, sl to first stitch of round

Rnd 6: Ch 1, (5 DC in first stitch, skip two stitches, sl, skip two stitches) repeat around to create scallops. Sl to first stitch in round. Weave in ends.

This pattern is also available as a FREE PDF  download on Ravelry.

Enjoy!