Monday, September 24, 2012

Pine Nuts,Woven Blankets and Native things

If you have never cooked with pine nuts,you should try it.Don't eat these if you have an allergy to nuts.
From About.com
Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pine trees. They are small elongated ivory-colored seeds from pine cones, measuring about 1/2 inch long. When raw, the seeds have a soft texture and a sweet, buttery flavor. They are often lightly toasted to bring out the flavor and to add a little crunch.

The most commonly harvested seeds come from four particular pine tree varieties: the Mexican pinon (Pinus cembroides), the Colorado pinion (P. edulis), the Italian stone pine (P. pinea), and the Chinese nut pine (P. koraiensis). It takes anywhere from 15 to 25 years for the trees to begin producing the seeds and up to triple that time for them to reach top production. The majority of the North American harvest comes from wild, uncultivated trees. For the most part, the seeds are harvested by hand, a contributing factor to their expensive pricetag.

And they are expensive BUT they are so good.Some pesto sauces have pine nuts in them. The first time I used them was when we had steak one night. I cooked some onions,bell peppers,mushrooms and pine nuts in a skillet and WOW it was so good.It gave the combo of food a different but unique flavor.Add the pine nuts after you've cooked the other ingredients for a few minutes.They are soft and will cook hard.

From Wikipedia-

Just sharing something I really like!

I don't know how many of you have any woven blankets,mine are store bought but they are sure warm. I have gotten to where I can fall asleep under one faster than I can under a regular blanket.I bought this turquoise one and hubstead confiscated it from me.


Mine,I have fell asleep under this one many and one times-

My extra one-
These are the only three I have but would like more.The turquoise one came from El Paso Saddle Blanket in El Paso,Texas. It's heavier than the other two and a tab bit warmer to be under.

Now for the Native things-This was the first thing I did with the Cheyenne Lazy Stitch.It's a comb holder with a round mirror at the top.


My in-laws went to New Mexico and found this cute vase




Some wall decor from Sams'



They are really nice plaques.And now my camera decided it wanted to run out of battery juice.Well I'll have to take more pictures later.Now you kinda see why I like it out here.But I figured out that it's just a place and as long as I keep it in my heart,it's ok.I love surrounding myself with this stuff and along with my beadwork I can create an atmosphere of being there.YAH! It's all good.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and if you have something in this line let me know.Please go visit the website for the blankets,they have alot more stuff there too.I'm gonna get me a queen size bedspread before we move.

Just some little tidbits here for Monday,have a great day folks!