Today I am thankful - dinner, project and colour

 - for dinner: mmm ... threw this together in slow cooker before I headed out to an ABA group meeting this morning and is has bubbled away all day smelling yummy!

Slow Cooker Herb and Garlic Lamb Shanks

Ingredients

• 4 small or 2 large lamb shanks cut into smaller pieces (I used a small) leg
• 2 tablespoons dried lamb herbs or to taste
• 2 cloves garlic chopped finely
• 1 420 g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 200 g punnet button mushrooms halved
• 1 onion chopped into eighths
• ¾ cup good quality red wine
• 1 cup plain flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 200 g tub sour cream

Combine the flour, herbs, salt and pepper in a plastic bag and shake until well combined.

Add the shanks and shake until well coated.

Put the shanks in the slow cooker and add all remaining ingredients, except the sour cream.

Add a little extra water so that the shanks are mostly covered, if required.

Cook on slow for approximately 8 hours.

Add the sour cream just before serving.

- for project: It involves a canvas (which Kieran kindly painted balck for me today), old Scrabble tiles and all the names in our family - plus kindly donated missing letters offered by a Facebook friend! Melissa and I spend some time this afternoon shuffling and rearranging before finally arriving on the format that includes everything I wanted - so I quickly took a photo so we can reproduce it with glue and the missing tiles!

- for colour: as i work away on my crochet Friendship Blanket, I have fun deciding which colours are added - complimentary, contrast or reminiscent - each gives me that little Aha! moment. And the whole project is reminding me of the last crohet blanket I made, back in the early 80s! That was granny squares, but once it covered the top of the bed, I edged it round and round in granny stripes. It was heavy and warm - but sadly  ended up as a dog blanket and eventually went to God! But its memory is living on in this one, as I go round and round!