Cheeseburger Pie

Cheeseburger Pie in my house, is a family favorite. It is a recipe given to us by some former neighbors from our short time living in Washington State. If you want to make my son happy, this would be the dinner to make him. Any time. Except for the onions and the green peppers.

Start gathering all your ingredients, and your recipe. The recipe is written for one pie, but when I made it and took the pictures, I doubled the recipe to make 2 pies.

Preheat the oven to 375*F.

This recipe is made in 3 layers. The crust, the filling, and the cheese topping.

Mix 1 Cup of Bisquick with 1/4 Cup of water and stir about 200 strokes. Form into a ball, and knead 5 times on a floured surface.

Roll out and put into a 9" pie shell. (I like those deep dish pie plates. You can use your fingers to shape it into the plate.)

Chop 1/4 Cup onion (optional) and 1/4 Cup of green pepper (optional) and add to 1 pound of ground hamburger.



Cook until the onions are translucent and the hamburger is well cooked. Drain all liquid off of the meat.

Add to the drained meat mixture; 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp oregano, 8 oz tomato sauce, and 1/2 Cup of bread crumbs (plain or Italian style)

Mix well, and put into the Bisquick shell. Using your spoon, smooth into a flat layer.

For the cheese topping, use any type of 'orange' cheese. This time I used Colby, but any cheddar would be fine. Grate 2 Cups of Cheese into a bowl. Add 1 egg (remember I doubled the recipe, that's why the picture has 2 eggs in it.) Add 1/4 cup of milk ( I use the measurement of a blurb), and 1/2 tsp dry mustard (again I use the measurement of a blob of table mustard)and 1/2 tsp salt.

Mix with a fork and layer over the top of the meat mixture.

Put into the oven (375*F) and bake for 30 minutes.



Cut into pie shaped wedges and serve with salad. Yummy!

Another set is ready for delivery!

Going back to the post about Baby hats on June 12, 2007, I do like this way much better to match with the Baby Jiffy Knit Sweater. In the earlier versions, I'd moved the 'textured' section higher up on the hat. I thought it made it look 'top heavy'. This time, again using the Stitch and Bitch Umbilical hats as the basis, I knit 10 rounds in stockinette stitch, then repeated the same pattern as the yokes on the Baby Jiffy Knit Sweaters, then an additional 14 rounds of st. stitch before beginning the decrease sections of *K6, K2tog* around, then a round of plain knitting, the next round *K5, K2tog* around..etc...continuing on, until you're down to 4 stitches to use for the I-chord before breaking off the thread. Yep, as for tonight, I like this balance of the textured part of the pattern.

I used Simply Soft lavendar with (US) 6 (4.00 mm) 16" addi turbos to knit the hat. The sweater used the same yarn, on size (US)8 (5.00 mm) needles with the Baby Jiffy Knit Sweater pattern.

Forgive the lighting here, it's after 1am and I'm trying to finish up this set so my son can take it with him for some friends back at school who are awaiting the birth of their first daughter. Last week I did his mending, and earlier tonight I made his favorite dinner...that will be another recipe I'll post hopefully this week. Yummy. For now, as soon as I get this all folded and packed up...I'm going to grab a few zzzzzzzzz's while I can.

First Heart Blanket is on it's way...

The Heart Blanket #1, is in the car, in the wrapped package with another blanket and a sweater, and on it's way to the Baby Shower as I type this. One down, one to go, 3 more ripple blankets to go, and 2 more knitted Feather and Fan blankets to go, 1 more Baby Jiffy Knit sweater, 4 baby hats, and 1 BSJ to go. Due, last week. Oh wait. Due before the babies arrive. Oh wait, add one more baby blanket by November. Oh wait. Daughter is no longer moving to New York! Due to changes in her office, and a very nice promotion and some new 'perks', she's staying put for a year. or so. But I'm still knitting in my sleep. Literally. Last night I fell asleep after the kids left the house at 4am (yesssssssss, it was a fun evening with daughter, son, and an extra sitting around, eating pizza, while I was trying to finish up the blanket. I'm having trouble with my right hand being a bit sore. I wonder why......

Ok, the specifics for this blanket....Heart Blanket from the Leisure Arts book #3208: Knit Layettes for Little Darlings, page 18 and 19. Hobby Lobby Sweet Delight Baby yarn in 'Pink-A-Boo' color, 5 or 6 skeins, used double stranded for the blanket. (5 skeins if you divide the last skein into 2 sections, 6 if you don't want to separate it) Label says each skein is 377 yards (345 meters). I call it a dk/sportweight yarn. (US) 10 (6.0mm) needles-I prefer circulars to keep the weight off of my wrists. I used a cast on of 137 stitches, with 5 hearts across the blanket, and 7 heart squares in length. The over all finished size ended up 43" x 45" (109 x 114 cm) and a gauge of 13.5 sts/22 rows = 4"/10 cm. And boy is it soft and warm! I've now officially fallen asleep several times with it laying across my lap while trying to finish it.

Son is coming over for his last Cheeseburger Pie dinner before hitting the road back to Indiana for school. At this point...it's going to be his last year in school. Well, for now. Until he decides he wants more school loans.

Me? I'm off to take a nap.

Today's Knitting Accessory

Today's coolest new knitting accessory, comes compliments of CVS---can you see it?

Can't see it? Come on..look again...they're right there...

They're called Beach Readers! What are they? Bi-focal sunglasses with magnifiers in them!

Which means...NO MORE DOUBLE LAYERING glasses AND sunglasses on top of each other when I'm knitting in the sun anymore!

Now, before you all start saying..silly old woman...get RX sunglasses..well...let me tell you...at $14.99 this is even more than I said I'd ever spend on Sunglasses. My all time favorites came from K-Mart about a hundred years ago..for $8.00. (Huge, BLUE, and very 80's thankyouverymuch-ok, I'm cheap..except for my Addi's) I said I'd never spend more than that...well. I now have to change my mind. After having 4 small children back a 'few years ago'..who loved to 'try on mommy's glasses' and then you hear a 'SNAP!' Moments later....or lost them..or left them at the library, or store, or vacation, on a plane, or McDonald's...or, or, or.......sat on them (ulg-did that a bunch), plus my prescription changes too often to warrant spending that kind of money on something that isn't going to 'live' long enough to sink money into....waaaaaaa-laaaaaaaaaa!

These are the coolest things since sliced bread, I tell you! Can you hear me say...OOOOH BABY!

chug, chug, chug...chugging along...

Laurie, this one's JUST FOR YOU!!! MMMMMMMMMMMM GOOD STUFF!

Sometimes, I just really feel short!

See what I mean?

I'm just sayin'......

The baby blanket challenge continues. We had secured enough 'nearly' white to finish the first one.

Making headway on the first of two Heart blankets....hoping to be finished with the pink one this weekend...we'll see...

However, the find of the week....were these! Yes, 14...count 'em 14 all WHITE simply soft, even in smaller 3 oz sizes..but WHITE nonetheless skeins! 3 more crocheted Ripple blankets to go...if I knit/errrrrrrrr crochet in my sleep....think I'll get them all finished?

The phrase...."Hurt Me" comes to mind here...Chocolate Bread Pudding, with both liquid Dark and White Chocolate poured over the top! YUMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answers from the email and comments....

Just checking in while I'm madly trying to get these blankets finished...which might be easier if I could get Caron to ship their new White to the stores NOW! GRRRRRRRR...I did email the company, and they sent back a response stating that the new yarn would be in the stores come August...hmmmm.....remember being a kid and sitting at the table thinking you were really cute pounding your silverware on the table shouting...FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!...do you think that would work if we all started yelling ...YARN YARN YARN?


Probably not...


Either way. I've been asked by several people which sweater I prefer for little boys. Now, I have done many of the Baby Jiffy Knit Baby Sweaters for boys, too in the past. However, at the moment, it's been the Baby Surprise Jackets with striping to match sports teams. The first one I did, you can see the progress from the March postings. The final outcome was so cute (at least to me) that I had a hard time letting go.

I'm finding myself snapping pictures of college and professional hockey teams' jerseys with my cell phone as I shop to have on hand. They make it soooooooooooo easy to use this little pattern for both boys and girls..and to really personalize it as you pick..just by adding or changing around the stripes . Oh, and don't forget to add a collar or not...or cuffs (I've not done that yet), or, or, or...as Yvette says..they're addicting! And just like potato chips, you can't eat just one! ERRRRRR..knit just one!

See the changes, use a print yarn, use stripes....change the stripes. If you google BSJ or Baby Surprise Jacket, you'll see sooooooooo many different ways to make this sweater! I dare you to keep your fingers off the needles..rather than running FAST to cast one on and while you're making that first one...see how many ideas you come up with for making your next..ohhhhhh 2039483409586098 sweaters with this pattern. Elizabeth Zimmermann...I bow.


Another question was asked about which size of the Baby Jiffy Knit pattern to make for a newborn. That's a really good question Rae! And it's also the reason I didn't put 'age sizes' on them. I just listed the finished sizes that I got using particular sizes of needles.


I went hunting through my books to see which sizes were recommended for baby sweaters. Mostly I found the smallest sizes in books to be a finished size of 17-18" size across the chest, and are then labeled for 6-12 month sized babies. Keep in mind, just like sweaters that you and I wear...we're not wearing sizes that are the same chest size we have. In an adult sweater you want a minimum of 4" of ease. Try it. Measure your own chest size, then go grab a sweater you really like to wear. See the difference in the chest measurement? That's the ease. And the baggier the sweater, the greater the ease.

Now, back to the issue at hand. With this baby sweater, I wouldn't go smaller than the sweater I made with the (US) 5 (3.75mm) or actually (US) 6(4.0mm) needles. That gives you finished chest measurements of 15.5" (39.3 cm)and 16.5"(41.8 cm) if you get the same gauge as I did. Remember your knitting might be tighter, or looser than mine, and your yarn might be different than mine way. However, if most of the books list an 18" chest size as a 6 month size, I'd shoot from there.

Another suggestion, which I've not gotten around to doing yet, would be to visit a store that has baby sweaters for sale. Find one that is marked (really you should shoot for 3 or more to compare) newborn size, and measure what they say. Patterns over the past 30+ years have changed to a degree as the industry differs in how clothes are now worn. If you look at older patterns from the 50's and 60's, baby sweaters, and adults as well, were worn tighter to the body than we do today, but not as loose as the over sized sweaters from the 80's and 90's.

Basically, it's up to you to pick which size you want. The last question to ask yourself, is how big do you think that little one is going to be? My babies were 7# 13.5 oz, 7# 15oz, 8# 10oz, and 7# 15oz. When my middle daughter was born at 8# 10 oz, a friend of mine had a full term baby at 5#! Let me tell you how different those babies were to hold at the same age!

So, I guess I'd have to say that the smallest size sweater that I made with a finished chest of 13.5" (34.2 cm) I would consider to be a preemie size. Not a small preemie, but smaller than what the clothing manufacturers would consider to be newborn.

Clear as mud? Sorry, you're on your own here to pick sizes. I know, I know. You wanted an easy answer. I had big babies. And I know they're not the biggest around. And some are much smaller. Good luck with your sizes! Now you understand why I picked so many different sizes to make. I wanted to have a good selection all the way across the board. Oh, and keep in mind something else, too. Those little bitty sizes? They'll only last a few weeks. Think potato chips...have a few...

Lastly, I was asked about the Hearts Blanket that I'm working on. Now, going back to when I first started knitting for NMCRS, they wanted the blankets all square sizes. If you read patterns in the books, they're generally rectangular. And on tiny needles. Well, since I have a thing about cranking out baby blankets without spending a lifetime on them. I started playing with the worsted weight yarn I was given and larger needles.

.

This is a picture of the one I did in 2006. The one I did previously in a different yarn, only had 6 pattern repeats while this one has 7. I'm not sure how many I'll do this time. I'll figure that out as I get towards the end.

It's the Hearts Blanket from Leisure Arts book #3208, Knit Layettes for Little Darlings, page 18 and 19. You can find it in most 'box craft' stores. Today, I'm using Hobby Lobby Sweet Delight Baby yarn in pink-a-boo, double stranded. Contrary to it's label gauge listed, I consider it to be more like a DK/Sport weight yarn. Boy oh Boy is it SOFT! (love me a good soft yarn for baby stuff!)

The changes I've made to this original pattern, I'm double stranding the yarn (two strands at once), using a (US) 10 (6.oomm) needles and a cast on amount of 137 stitches. In the past I've also slipped the first stitch of each row as if to knit, but this time I'm doing a straight seed stitch and knitting the first stitch. Just to keep it interesting. I'm getting a gauge of 13.5 sts/22 rows in seed stitch on this one.

How many ways can YOU find to change around a pattern to make it unique to you? I'm heading back to the blankets.