1 Cup Sugar

Shutting down

2010-11-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

Rather than leave the few readers I have hanging, I thought I'd let you know I am not going to be posting here much anymore. Maybe for just a while or maybe for good, not sure. This was supposed to be a cooking crafting blog and since I am hardly doing either there isn't much to blog about. And weight loss doesn't really fit in there, and sadly there isn't much to blog about on that front either, despite my best efforts. I keep trying though, and I feel healthier from all that working out, my scale isn't showing much of a difference at this point.

I would like to tell you about my new pet project though. I've started an Etsy shop to sell some of my quilted creations. http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappierThanABird I also have a corresponding blog http://happierthanabirdquilts.blogspot.com/ and facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Ogden-UT/Happier-Than-A-Bird-Quilts/169853126364828?ref=ts So check it out, tell your friends, become a fan/follower etc. I am still waiting for my first sell, but it feels good to be doing something I love and hopefully it will one day support my hobby.

The quilt!

2010-10-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, be it a few days late, pictures of my newly finished quilt.
I called it Little Boy Blue. I pieced it about 3 years ago, I did not have enough backing fabric, so I pieced that a bit too. Great idea right? I thought so, but the quilter didn't. So I learned a new skill with this quilt, quilting on my own machine.
It's very basic and possibly a little too sparse, but it felt good so I left it as it was.

And the most awesome thing about this quilt is that I was able to donate it to the Festival of Trees. I have no idea where it will go, but I am happy that wherever it is its for a good cause. I love supporting Primary Children's Medical Center.
Now I am back to the eternal basting process for this quilt:

of which I have one block done (the pink contrast did not pick up well in the photo at all)

And a mini workout update. I've done a great job this week in the workout department, not so much in the avoiding delicious cake department, but I'll try harder. LOL P90X cardio workout kicks some serious butt, but it was fun!

Oops!

2010-10-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here I am one month later without much to show for that time. Argh.

I could give you any number of excuses, but what does it matter. I didn't do what I set out to do, so here I am hanging my head in shame.

The good news - I am back on the wagon again! The last 3 days I have done 30-40 min step aerobics workouts. Tonight I even threw in some arms with my 2 lbs weights and boy did that pump things up fast. I then did some abs. I feel AWESOME, and energized....which is good but bad because its 10:23 pm and there is no saying if my baby will sleep through the night or past 6 am. Oh well, its worth it.

I have not taken new measurements because I can feel that I haven't changed, at least not in the right direction. My weight went down a few pounds then right back up.

I have 2 1/2 months til I see my husband. I am not sure where I want to be by then, I guess I better start thinking about some goals. I don't know that the 30 lbs will be gone by then, halfway there would be good. Fitting into my "skinny" jeans would be awesome. A little more tone all over would be great.

And to my original readers, I know you wanted to read about delicious food and maybe some crafts, not me kicking myself in the butt for my lack of working my butt off, one day I'll get back to food - healthier food (did you see the biggest loser last night? I want to make 100 calorie cupcakes!!), and I have a few crafts up my sleeve in the next few weeks, so watch out!

And if you are wondering about my lack of reading...or at least accounting for it, I am stuck reading 3 books, the Book of Mormon, To Kill a Mockingbird and Eat, Pray, Love. I rotate through them making for slow progress with them all. I am apparently suffering some ADD in all areas of my life at the moment. The only thing I have accomplished is finishing a quilt. Pictures tomorrow.

Accountability

2010-09-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

ac·count·abil·i·ty

noun \ə-ˌkau̇n-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\

: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to accountfor one's actions

I am beginning to understand why I am failing miserably at loosing weight. I am not accountable to anybody but myself for what I eat or the exercise I do. So that all changes today. I am not going to keep a food journal, though I am turning my eating habits around, my fridge is fully stocked with lettuce (seriously if I took a picture you would think "wow that is a lot of lettuce") and other more healthy things for myself to eat. I am banning myself from "kid food". No more mac-n-cheese or corn dogs. No more fruit snacks or rice crispy treats (though I am still allowing myself graham crackers - they are a much better alternative to Oreos, and fulfill my cookie craving). I'm going to eat lots more veggies (which my diet currently lacks in greatly), drink a ton more water and a lot less soda, and find balance among the other things.

But my biggest thing is exercise. I've seen evidence that even without diet chances exercise can make a HUGE difference in my life. Last summer I went on a lot of walks with my older daughter to keep us both entertained. A LOT of walks. Not even brisk walks and the pounds started falling off. Of course I got pregnant and that all went down the drain. And I had every intention of getting back out there for LOTS of walks this summer, but I was surprised to learn that 2 year olds have short attention spans even in the great outdoors, and babies don't like wind/heat/their sister poking them/poopie diapers/being hungry/etc. so we've hardly hit the pavement at all this year.

Exercise while they are awake...yeah not so much. My 2 year old ejects my workout DVDs about 10 minutes into each one, just when I am warmed up and getting into it. Out comes the DVD with pleas for Kai-Lan or Curious George. The treadmill with her around? I don't even dare. And with the baby? We'd probably still be dealing with their sister poking them/poopie diapers/being hungry/etc. And of course their naps overlap by about 20 minutes sometimes. So after bedtime it is. And half the time I'd happily climb right into bed after they are tucked in. But I can't do that and succeed at this. And I know I'll have a ton more energy if I do.

So today will be officially Day 1 of my new plan! And I am off to a great start. I hopped on the treadmill and did Day 1 of Couch to 5k. I have 16 weeks until I will see my husband for mid-tour leave. 9 weeks of Cto5k (plus some crunches and things like that to do some toning) then I think a round of 30 Day Shred, and maybe finally get started in his workout program of choice P90X....or maybe I'll be a happy runner by then. We'll see. All I know is that I have 4 months and if I work hard I believe I can meet my goal of loosing 30 lbs dropping my BMI from 28 to 23. I CAN DO IT!!

And so now for my accountability. Each Monday I will weigh in, and I'll post it on my sidebar. And for even more accountability I am going to show a little skin and post my before picture and then on the 1st Monday of every month I will post an update picture. I will update occasionally about how my workouts are going, how I am doing with the diet, etc.

Don't look if you don't want to, but here they are. The dreaded before, taken July 6th, 2010. Black and white makes them a little less scary, and definitely masks the stretch marks quite a bit.

Quilts Quilts Quilts

2010-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

My husband has been gone for 2 months and I have completed 5 quilts! I went through a few weeks of crazed quilting and was whipping out project after project. And of course I have to share them with you!
I posted a photo of this one previously, but it is now quilted and hanging in my kitchen. =)
The fabric is Moda's Zippity Do Dah by Sandy Gervais and was quilted with red stars. I called it "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in honor of my husband's deployment, but apparently it would need to be changed to "New Dawn" or whatever they are calling it these days....oh well. Either way it's patriotic and my first labor of love with him far away.

This is my mysterious gift quilt for my brother and his wife as a belated wedding gift. I call it "City Lights" and it was made of a mish-mash of fabrics that fit their decorating scheme. Its quilted with bubbles. =)

I have 3 more quilt tops done, plus another I found in storage waiting to be quilted. Now I am just awaiting funds to have them quilted...pictures will come as projects are 100% completed.
In other news, I may be starting an Etsy shop to sell some of these quilts that are in need of a loving home. I may even do some commission quilts. I'm working on a commission for my mom right now, and have heard I may have a few more in my future. I am excited at the prospect because I love making quilts, but pretty soon our house with be over run with them.

Reading

2010-07-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

I am up to 26 books and about 7700 pages if I added correctly. Wow! And that's without taking too much time for reading.
I just finished The Hunger Games this morning and am already starting Catching Fire knowing I'll be eagerly anticipating the release of the 3rd book in the series. I love series, knowing that I'll have another book to read that I'll enjoy and not worrying about getting into the story line or getting to know the characters.
I wonder what I should read next...

30 Day Shred

2010-07-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

I discovered I have something seriously motivating that will be happen in 30 days and my random little workouts aren't going to cut it (though I have lost 1 1/2 lbs!). So what to do with 30 days? The 30 Day Shred!!

Today was day 1, and I of course started with level 1. 20 minutes, anybody can work out for 20 minutes. That's when you usually want to quit anyway right? Well I wanted to quit at about 5 minutes after the first circuit of strength and cardio and we hadn't even gotten to abs yet. I persevered. By the 3rd and final circuit I was actually thinking I could do one more, which was awesome!! I did the modified workout, and to be honest took a couple of really short breaks to catch my breath or shake out my muscles, but I kept up and I kept jumping right back in. By the end I was drenched in sweat, which is probably one of the things I hate most in the world, but I felt great! Well until I tried to walk up the stairs to shower and discovered its already a challenge and I don't even want to know how my legs will feel tomorrow, esp when I have to do the whole thing all over again. Sigh.

And now comes the part of this post where I could post the photos I took of myself without my shirt on so I can see just how much my body will change (wow are those photos motivating for me to keep up with the program!). And if I weren't such a modest person I would probably post them, despite the fact that people I know in real life read this blog. I also took measurements...and in the end I'll share with you how much I have shrunk. Right now I am 165.5 lbs, 38 inch waist, 41.5 inch hips.

For anybody who wants to do the 30 day shred with me, I'd love the company! If you don't want to buy the DVD, I just did a google search and found some Chinese website that has the whole thing loaded up on it.
Okay here is the link to the Chinese website if you want to check out the workout for free.

Good things to come

2010-07-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my lack of blogging, the last couple of months have been very busy with family time as we have prepared for my husband to deploy.
He is gone now =( so to keep busy you can bet I'll be doing A LOT of projects.

In fact I have already completed one...

...and will finish up another quilt this week. Sorry no pictures til it has been given to its owners.

I've been reading a lot. I gave up on The Host for the second time, about halfway through this time, when I realized I truly did not care how it ended, and just assumed that somehow it works out in the end. I decided while reading it that Stephenie Meyer can sure make a book drag on needlessly, but I guess I was interested enough in the Twilight Saga to follow through. I did enjoy The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, and it was good and short, and definitely interesting to see more from the "bad vampires" perspective.
How to Train Your Dragon is just fun - though very very very different from the movie (also fun). Like the only thing they have in common is Hiccup and his dragon Toothless, not even the training of the dragons is the same. Oh well. And apparently there is a whole Hiccup series that I think we may just have to get, and I am going to look into other (more girlie books) by the author, Cressida Cowell.
And now I am onto the Hunger Games, and already quite enthralled, so I am sure I'll continue on with the series for now.

Stitched Cards

2010-05-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

I recently learned of a website called Simply Utah. It is an online directory of creative businesses in Utah. Awesome, right? And on that site, I saw a link for Stitched Cards, which are so cute, but I realized I could totally do those myself! (Though after doing a couple, I thought I should totally make these and sell them on Etsy. I love doing embroidery but one can only have so much sitting around the house. So maybe...)

So here is the original Stitched Card, my inspiration:

I then went into Word, made some word art with a similar font I liked. I was not a fan of the Word heart, no any hearts I have in doodle fonts. So I decided to just cut out my own. First I cut to big, so I cut a smaller heart inside and realized the scrap was way cuter than a regular heart, so I started over to make it the right side. I printed my Word art in "draft" so I'd have a really light line, then I traced my heart lightly with pencil.

Then I took my needle and pre-poked my holes for stitching so I could make sure they were fairly uniform, and it would make the actual stitching go a lot quicker. I originally just did this hanging off the edge of my desk, but I had to be careful about messing up the cardstock. Then I tried it on top of a piece of cardboard, but that was to hard to press through. I finally ended up on top of one of my baby's blankets, and that was perfect for allowing the needle to go through.

You need to be really accurate with your poking otherwise your stitches will be wonky.

Then you just need to pick your embroidery thread color, and do a basic running stitch.

And finally the finished product

I was able to do this pretty quickly, even taking care of 2 little girls (I did most of the stitching standing, wearing my baby in my BabyHawk Mei Tai, while my older daughter "cooked" me some stir-fry on her play kitchen, watching Arthur.)

I will add more pictures as I get more done.

Loosing Weight

2010-05-12T20:58:00.001-07:00

I don't know if any of you every scroll down far enough to see it, but I have added a new accessory to my blog: a MyFittnessPal weight loss ticker. I think my doctor and my husband are the only ones who know how much I weigh, so feel honored in being trusted with this knowledge. I am 5'5" and 167 lbs. I wear a size 14 pant, I was a size 12 before my first daughter was born, but never got back to it. My weight is not pregnancy related, I am somehow blessed to drop every single pregnancy pound (though I don't gain much to start with) with ease, though my stomach is far from what it was before I had children.

My husband is deploying next month (something I don't really plan on talking about here, but now you know). I will have 2 little girls and a lot of time on my hands and a long beautiful summer ahead of me. I live right around the corner from a lovely paved track, I am equipped with a double jogging stroller, and my oldest daughter loves to go for walks (my baby still just sleeps through them).

So my plan: walk walk walk! And beyond walking I will be doing the Couch to 5K running plan, to get my butt in shape and to hopefully get myself loosing weight. Once I have accomplished that (and it seems like so much right now, I am quite out of shape) I am going to add some different things to my routine - exercise videos most likely, because I can do those during naps or after the girls go to sleep. I've got Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and I want to try out pilates to hopefully bring back some tone to my body.

My goal: 135 lbs, but more than that I'd be very happy to fit into a size 10 and to not look like I am in those early weeks of pregnancy anymore. Really I just want to look great for my husband when he comes home (though he'll say he loves me just the way I am and wants me to be happy with myself).

I will do weigh-ins every Monday morning. I may even take a picture each week to see how things change. Dieting isn't really going to be a part of this, though I will be skipping desserts a lot more often, and I am enjoying my postpartum craving of salad with blue cheese (much better than the buffalo wings craving after my first pregnancy). Breastfeeding and diets don't go together that well, but it is reminding me to eat healthier.

P.S. Sorry there hasn't been much cooking or crafting going on. I've taken a break from the daring kitchen for the foreseeable future, but I look forward to starting up again when my husband is back home, if not before. And we've been too busy spending time together and getting things ready for me to do much besides add a few stitches here and there to my matryoshka doll embroidery, so crafting hasn't been happening. I have plans to make 2 quilts in the next year, a red white and blue one in honor of the deployment, and a belated wedding gift for my brother and his wife.

April Reading

2010-05-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

I read 3 books in April, totaling 1200 pages. For the year I've read 19 books, totaling 5916 pages.

The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks I am a fan of Nicholas Sparks books, you just can't read them back to back otherwise you get to overwhelmed by the weight of his stories. I really enjoyed this one, I haven't seen the movie but would like to.

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris, yes another vampire book

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater This book was really good! It was recommended on a forum I belong to as a good alternative for Twilight fans, though there are no vampires in this one, just werewolves. I like the concept, and the story was very good, sucks you right in and wraps you up and you want everything to turn out all right because the alternative would just be too heartbreaking. It is the first in a series and I cannot wait to read more!

Baby Quilt

2010-05-03T20:50:00.001-07:00

I finished my sweet baby girl's quilt the night before I had her. I'd been holding off finishing turning the binding because I felt like when the quilt was done she would come and we didn't want that to happen to soon. I was right! LOL. And I already had the label ready to go except for her birthdate, so it was easy to finish up and add on later.

Here is a link to my first post about the quilt.

The quote on the label is from Faith Hill's song "Fireflies". I have a vinyl rub on of this up in Brynlee's room as well (picture below).

Sweet Baby Girl

2010-04-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

After going on bed rest then back off again, and things still not looking great either way with my blood pressure, it was decided baby should come out.

My sweet baby girl was born March 26 at 9:55 pm weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 18 1/2 inches long.

She is very sweet and already full of her own little quirks (like sleeping with a light on). We are both doing great, and everybody is adjusting to life with a new baby around.

She's lying on the quilt I made for her, which I got done just in time (finished turning the binding at about 11 pm the night before I had her), I just need to get the label on and take some pictures to show you all.

And I am off bedrest

2010-03-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

I won't bore you with the details, but after 2 weeks on bedrest it was determined I didn't need to be, so I am up again though I shall continue to take it easy for the next few weeks.
I've been finishing up a quilt for my baby, I'm almost done turning the binding then I will post some pictures. And I just ordered some adorable embroidery patterns from Etsy! I think they are all so cute, but I ordered a set of 4 Russian Nesting dolls, hopefully she relists it quickly so you can see them. Kind of makes me wish I was still on bedrest so I could have an excuse to work on them all day. =) But seriously, why did I never think to look at embroidery patterns on Etsy?? I just did a quick browse through what is listed on there and there are some very cute patterns out there. Like this store has tons of bird themed embroidery patterns which would look so cute in my daughters room, but I don't know how I'll ever decide on which pattern....

Anyway, more of a sales pitch for Etsy than an actual post, but that is okay.

*edited to add picture. All rights belong to alittlesweetness I will post the completed pictures of my own work when they are done. =)

March Reading

2010-03-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

I read 4 books, totaling about 945 pages. For the year I've read 16 books, totaling 4716 pages.

The Poacher's Son by Paul Dorian. BarnesandNoble.com has book clubs (you should check them out if you like discussing books). One of them is called the First Look Book Club: "This is a unique opportunity to enroll in a private discussion with an author, and to talk to other readers about a book that won't be released for a few months. We'll send you an Advance Reading Copy -- for free! -- in time for the book club. In other words, you can be the first to get the scoop on the next great book, long before it ever hits the shelves!" (from bn.com go to link for A LOT more info, and to watch for future First Look books go here. I hope these links work okay. There isn't a lot of warning when a new book comes up and enrollment fills up fast, so I check it pretty often.)
Anyway, this book was their mystery First Look selection. I probably shouldn't have signed up for it because I knew it wasn't my type of book, but I did anyway. I couldn't get into it of course, so I quit (I really need to stop quitting partway through books, it annoys me when I do it.). But I still love the B&N program, I read one last year called The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe and I really enjoyed it, and some of the other books they have selected seem really interesting. So hopefully in the future I can find another interesting book.

Living Dead in Dallas & Club Dead - Charlaine Harris. More silly vamp books to help pass the time.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin. I read this planning on having a natural childbirth. I learned a lot and was very inspired, but in the end I went with an epidural and was happy as a clam and had the easiest labor known to mankind.

Bedrest

2010-03-05T04:15:00.000-08:00

You might not see much from me, besides that I am reading (probably A LOT of ) books for a little while. Pregnancy and I do not deal well with each other, and despite my high hopes for a happy healthy 9 months this time around, looks like my body had other plans. So with 6 weeks til my due date I am now on bedrest hoping we can buy just a few more weeks for my little girl.

February Reading

2010-02-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

I read, at least partially, 8 books in February, totaling 1982 pages. That puts me at 12 books and 3771 pages so far this year! Wow!

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella was a fun mystery. Very easy read. I figured out what happened before the story got around to revealing it, but that was okay.
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams. I saw this reviewed on a book blog and the woman gave it 5/5 stars which she rarely does. It's about a young girl who lives in a polygamist community and is "chosen" to marry her uncle. It's interesting but incredibly infuriating and I almost just stopped reading it because I couldn't stand what I read, but I decided I needed to find out what happened, so I kept on reading. I read it in a day, which I never read books that quickly, but it was a really easy read, just a heavy topic. I'd really like to know how much of it was based on fact and how much was thought up by the author...because if half of what I read is real...well I don't know, but it made me sick. I don't know that I'd recommend reading it. If you want more specifics about what bothered me feel free to ask.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. This was another book reviewed on the book blog, and it's much better. Still a very different kind of story, but one that keeps you very intrigued and you just want to keep reading so you make time to do it. I think it would be really interesting to listen to it as an audio book because the premise of the book is listening to tapes a girl has recorded telling the 13 reasons why she committed suicide. I finished this book in one day too. Nesting has made me very productive in every way apparently.
Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen. I like Sarah Dessen books, yeah they are teen fiction, but typically they are a good story about some teen girl learning an important lesson - things I wish I'd learned in high school. Like with this one, Colie learns how to be confident, despite how others see her and treat her. It was a pretty simple story, not on of Sarah Dessen's best, but pretty good. I actually only have 2 more Dessen books to read and I'll have gone through them all.
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. It's really sad when are you 1/3 of the way through a book and you realize you've read it before, but you can't remember everything that happened and that it must mean you didn't really care for it after all. And so I decided to just stop right there and move onto the next book.
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. I've read a few of Picoults books. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't. I got really into this one in the beginning, but the story didn't hold me in very well...and then of course my Kindle came and I wanted to jump right to reading on that, but was not about to purchase this book. So halfway through I decided to just stop. And I don't wonder what will happen in the end.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. Just a silly vampire book not deep reading, but it kept me entertained. Its also the first book I read on my lovely new Kindle. I got the first 8 (out of 10) books in the series in a box set which was a really good deal.
And finally Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife by Peggy Vincent. I really enjoyed this book! I never would have read it without recommendations, but even the reviews say its a compelling read and it was! It was so interesting to read a little about the history of obstetrics in America as well as the evolution of midwifery into a licensed medical practice. And the birth stories were crazy!! Anyway, it was really inspiring to read about so many women who found ways to handle the pain of childbirth without medication and managed to create calm environments to welcome their new babies into the world. I still wouldn't go for a home birth myself, I quite like the reassurance of safety a hospital can provide, but I've got some new ideas of how I can approach a natural child birth. I guess we'll see... Anyway I recommend this book!!

Daring Bakers, February Challenge: Heaven on a Dessert Plate!

2010-02-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well you all read my teaser post a few weeks ago, about how this was truly going to be a challenge for me. Tiramisu uses both alcohol and coffee, both of which I do not consume, and therefore do not cook/bake with.
Well, turns out this was nowhere near as challenging as I thought it would be! It just took a little more thinking on my part, and it turned out wonderfully!
The challenge was 3 part - Make the Tiramisu of course, but also make the Ladyfingers/Savoiardi bsicuts and the mascarpone. So here we go....

We started with the Ladyfingers because they would keep the longest. Recipe Source: Cordon Bleu at Home. This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons confectioner's suger

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper. (We just used my brand new Sil-Pats.)
Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with a form and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon.
Sift flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important that you fold very gently and not overdo the folding, otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the bater.
Pipe the batter onto your parchment lined baking sheets, into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.
Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Hold the parchment in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheet and bake for another 5 minutes or until they puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.
Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove them with a metal spatula while still hot and cool on a rack.
Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

Next came the Mascarpone. We failed at this. My husband spent an hour trying to get it to temperature hardly coming close, so we called it a lost cause and ran to the store to buy some Mascarpone instead. Recipe Source: Vera's Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese This recipe makes 12 oz of mascarpone.
Ingredients:
2 cups whipping cream pasteurized
1tablespoon fresh lime juice (lemon works as well)

Directions:
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 degrees F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating.
Add the lime/lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done creme anglaise. it will cover the back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth (or a dishtowel) and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time. Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.
Vera's Notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it'd been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy. Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

And finally the Tiramisu! I basically followed to recipe but changed it up in a few placed, I'll give you the original recipe, and then type my alterations in red. Recipe Source: 1000 Italian Recipes by Michele Scicolone. This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings.
Incredients:
1 cup chilled heavy or whipping cream
1 pound mascarpone
1/3 cup sugar
24 ladyfinger biscuits (use as many or as little as you need)
1 cup brewed espresso coffee at room temperature 1 cup orange juice concentrate at room temperature (I literally just thawed a frozen juice concentrate)

1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa power

3/4 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting top

Directions:
Chill your bowl and beatings in the fridge for awhile before starting. When ready remove from fridge. Pour the cream into the bowl and whip at high speeds for about 4 minutes or until the cream forms soft peaks when the mixer is lifted up.
In another bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and sugar till smooth. Split into two bowls.
Sift together unsweetened cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar until well blended. Add a small spoonful at a time to one bowl of mascarpone mixture until you reach the amount of chocolatey goodness you desire. If needed add a little milk to keep mixture creamy.
Add 1/3rd of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and fold it in gently. Carefully fold in the remaining cream as well. Add 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture to the plain mascarpone mixture, add the other 1/2 to the chocolate mascarpone mixture, and gently fold in.
Quickly dip half the ladyfinger biscuits into the coffee (or orange juice concentrate) till they are moist but not soggy, or they will fall apart. I just dipped the top side of the ladyfingers and then placed them in the dish bottom down. Arrange the ladyfingers in a single layer in a square or round serving dish.
Spread half the prepared cream in a uniform layer covering the biscuits completely. This is where I put the chocolate layer. Repeat once more with the remaining biscuits and then the other half of the cream. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 4 hours at least or overnight so the flavors can mature.
Before serving, shake some unsweetend cocoa powder through a fine mesh strainer over the top of the tiramisu. Cut into portions and serve.
This tiramisu keeps well in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days.

Project Complete: A Tree Grew...

2010-02-17T09:15:00.001-08:00

Tree Mural Tutorial can be found here.

I did it a little more simply, mainly because I could not find an overhead projector. I just printed off pictures of her finished tree and free handed it onto the wall myself, using chalk like she suggests. It allowed me to erase more errors (because I am far from an artist, I don't even doodle because my doodles aren't pretty), make changes once I saw the big picture, and allowed for last minute changes as I was painting. The only issue with the chalk is painting over it, the paint will eventually flake off, so be aware of that and try and paint within the lines, or do what I did - wipe all the chalk off the walks after the first coat (because my tree did take 2 coats), helping that painted over chalk to flake off, then apply your second coat.
I found an angled tip brush really helpful when doing the leaves, but to do the large areas of the branches and trunk I was just frustrated will all of my brush options, first using one of the small bristled brushes for the first coat, and then a sponge brush for the second coat. In the first completed tree picture you can see the the trunk is quite blotchy, I finally just slapped paint up so that the green was at least covered and planned to make it look better with my second coat.
And then finally I added a few vinyl embellishments to the tree. I ordered from Single Stone Studios on etsy. She was very kind to alter the side of the birdhouse and the birds for me to fit my tree. The birds don't contrast the wall as much as I'd hoped, I am waiting for a day with some good sunlight to see how I feel about them, but I may be reordered them in a much darker blue.
It was a really fun project and I have never done anything like it. My daughter loves it and I love that it can grow with her. We've thought it would be fun to decorate it for different holidays, probably not with vinyl, but just making our own paper Christmas ornaments and things like that.
Anyway, here is the wall from start to finish, and with this first picture you can see why that blank canvas was just begging for a tree. (If you click on any of the photos they will get much bigger so you can see the details better, especially with the last one to see the birds.)

Daring Cooks, February Challenge: Mezze: Hummus and Pita Bread

2010-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the recipes.

I didn't go very daring with this challenge, I guess I was a chicken about stepping too far out of my comfort zone. And I don't really care for hummus...
The pita bread is great! Really quite easy to make, though unfortunately not all of them poofed up, and they definitely did not turn into a stuff-able pita pocket =(. But they were good.
The hummus was interesting, really easy to make as well. I went the cheater route with a can of garbanzo beans, and just threw it all into the food-pro so it took just a few minutes. It was pretty liquidy at first, but we let it sit over night and it thickened up nicely. My husband really liked it and wants to experiment with different flavor options - like a TON more garlic and less peanut butter flavor. But he liked it, he took pita bread and hummus for lunch the day after we made it and was a happy camper.

Baby Quilt

2010-02-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

I finished the quilt top for my new baby the other night and I thought I'd share. I actually took a few work in progress pics, which I always forget to do. Please forgive the randomly rotated pictures, my computer is trying to think for itself.
The pattern is called Honey Bun Hourglass by Sandy Workman, finished size is 48 x 53. I bought it as a kit from Pine Needles. It calls for 1 Moda Honey Bunn, 2 1/2 yards solid white, 1/2 yard binding, 3 yards backing, and a 45 degree triangle ruler.
It is a really quilt project, even with all of those triangles, but it took me a few months to complete because I was lazy about it. Anyway, here you go...

The edges are a little wavery, I seem to have that problem a lot with quilts, but I know it'll look okay quilted and bound, so I'm okay with it. Now I just need to take it into the quilters and decide on a pattern, right now I have no clue what I want to do.

Thoughts on the Daring Kitchen

2010-02-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Last month's Daring Bakers Challenge was just fun. It was something I've never made before and I got to learn a lot of new things. But it didn't really challenge me in any way.
This month is going to be very different. I cannot divulge what we'll be making, but wow its really going to be a challenge for me. I considered using this as an opt-out month, but I am sure there will be other months in the future that time will be more of an issue than recipe, so I'm going to keep savings those.
For religious reasons I cannot use 2 of the most important ingredients that are traditionally present in this dish. Thankfully they've given us some ideas of how to incorporate other items because they knew this would be a problem for some people, but I am just thinking "wow, I have to make THAT?" And I'm just crossing my fingers that it turns out as good as last months challenge. Don't forget to come back and read about my experience on the 27th.

January Reading

2010-02-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

I read only 4 books in January. The first two were books two and three from the Children of the Promise series by Dean Hughes, Since You Went Away and Far From Home. I would have continued on in the series, since there are 2 books left (then 5 more in the Hearts of the Children series), but I needed a break from them.
I also read Julie & Julia after finally being inspired to read it because I loved the movie. I'd tried reading it before watching the movie and I couldn't get into it, it's definitely different from the movie, and Julie is nowhere near as charming as Amy Adams' character of Julie is in the movie. Oh well, it was alright.
And finally I read The Reading Group, just one I picked up at the library. It was interesting, I found myself skipping over the book discussions because they give away parts of the stories and there were a few I may want to read, and I didn't want the ending spoiled. It was pretty good, I did enjoy that it was written in very British English, not changed to accommodate American readers, like a lot of English books are. (Like I would love to be able to get my hands on all of the Harry Potter books that were released in England.)
I read a total of 1789 pages. =)

5 Minute Chocolate Cake

2010-01-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

I'd recommend beating the egg together with the milk and oil before adding it to your dry ingredients. We just tried this out and it was VERY FIRM. We think it just gets mixed TOO much. And the chocolate chips are good, so add a bunch!

Daring Bakers, January Challenge: Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

Graham Wafers recipe can be found here. Nanaimo Bars recipe can be found here.

January 10, 2009 - Challenge Complete!
This was my first challenge as a member of The Daring Kitchen. I was really excited to try something new that tested me and excited that an occasion came up early in the month that called for a tasty dessert, my sister-in-law is leaving for the Ukraine this week.

The original challenge recipe for the graham wafers is a gluten-free recipe. I chose to go the regular route and used all-purpose flour instead of the gluten-free flours. My budget couldn't justify buying 3 flours I'd likely not use again, and we ended up having most of the ingredients in our pantry anyway.
We made the wafer dough after lunch on Saturday, let it chill in to pieces for an hour, then my wonderful husband rolled it out, cut it and baked it for me - we work as a team and my part of the team was not feeling well and lying in bed instead. The smelled wonderful baking, and my daughter could not get enough of them, she ate quite a few and we called it her dinner. We followed some tips on the baker's forum, and cut them into manageable cracker size pieces before baking, which cut down on the time (about 12 minutes), and made them a nice hand held treat for my little girl. After making 1 1/4 cup of crumbs, we have plenty left over.

By Saturday evening I was feeling better so I decided to go for it with making the Nanaimo Bars.
I decided to change up the recipe for the custard layer to suite a craving I've been having, so I made Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars instead! Here is my complete recipe:

Ingredients:
Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
5 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 Cups Graham Wafer Crumbs
1/2 Cup Nuts, Finely Chopped (original recipe calls for Almonds, I used Peanuts)
1 Cup Coconut, Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened.

Middle Layer:
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter
1/3 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Confectioner's (Powdered) Sugar

Top Layer:
4 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

Directions:
For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan. Chill while working on middle layer.

I was uncertain about when the egg was "done", I figured it must be when it wasn't changing consistency anymore and I could pick up globs of the mixture with my spoon. The butter had also created quite the layer of oily goodness. Everything mixed together really well. One thing I think I would do in the future would be to put some parchment into the pan so I could pop it out prior to cutting the bars.

Middle Layer: Melt butter and peanut butter in top of a double boiler, mix in sugar til well blended. Pour over bottom layer and freeze while you prepare the top layer.

It was really warm and really runny so I left mine in the freezer for a longer period of time before doing the top layer, but I don't think I should have, my top layer isn't sticking very well and I think my middle layer had set too much.

Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter in top of double boiler. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
After pouring on the chocolate I placed the bars in the fridge for about an hour before covering with plastic wrap and leaving them to chill over night. This morning that were so hard we couldn't cut them until they'd been left out on the counter for 30 minutes.

I sacrificed one corner to dig out the bars and my husband took a bite and said "wow! okay I'm good." They are delicious but so rich.
I really like how they turned out with the peanut butter and almost satisfied my craving. The coconut makes them chewier and I think next time I'd swap that our from some crispy rice cereal or something that may add some crunch without the chewiness.
They sure are beautiful though, and I fear eating too many and having them be my downfall for my gestational diabetes test this week.
I can't wait to see what next month brings.

Molly's Clothing

2010-01-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Molly's Clothing? I hadn't until today, but I am intiruged. I am a fan of Down East undershirts. I like the neckline, and the capsleeves, and that they are form fitted so they don't show under other clothing. But they do have one problem, they ride up. This doesn't work so well under dresses, and Molly's Clothing has a solution:

The Mini Molly! It comes in long or short sleeve...well and a cami too, but if you are going for modesty I don't know what that would do.
I am very intrigued!! I don't know about the material, but the concept is awesome!
And you could totally still wear this with a big pregnant belly!

They also have a lot of regular shirts, skirts, dresses, coats and accessories.

In need of a simple slow cooker dinner recipe?

2010-01-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

I tried a new one yesterday. I didn't even plan ahead! Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms from 365 Days of Slow Cooking.

1 1/4 lbs chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up into bite size pieces
4 oz canned mushrooms, drained
1 oz packet of dry Ranch dressing
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 0z cream cheese (reduced fat works great)

Combine chicken and mushrooms in slow cooker. Sprinkle ranch over the top. Dissolve bouillon cube in one cup of boiling water. Pour over chicken. Make sure chicken is completely covered in liquid. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Stir in soup and cream cheese, stirring until melted and warmed. Serve over rice.

I got the chicken out of the freezer in the morning, did a quick thaw: chicken in ziplock bag, in bowl of cold water with more cold water constantly dripping in from faucet. It only took a couple of hours to be completely thawed.
Then I almost forgot to start cooking, so I quickly cut up my chicken, and threw it all in the crock pot. If I was better at cutting up chicken tenders and getting that strange little tendon out this would have taken me about 5 minutes, but it took 10.
After 3 hours I added the cream cheese and soup, put on some rice and they were ready to go at the same time.
It's a simple dish, kid friendly...my daughter didn't even hesitate to go for it with this one, mushrooms and all. And my husband thinks it could easily be adapted to other flavors, just substitute the ranch for your preferred flavor. And Karen from 365 days says you can easily make it more healthy by using Fat Free cream cheese and cream of chicken soup, and lower the sodium by using only half the bouillon cube (to which I'd add, you might be able to just do away with the bouillon cube, and add salt as needed).

Must Make/Do! Part 2

2010-01-22T11:26:00.000-08:00

Felt Heart Garland, found here.

Or an even fancier felt garland, plus a few other ideas can be found here.

It seems you can't skimp on your felt, the cheap stuff from Michael's just won't do.

I think I'll use scraps from all the felt food I'll one day make...

Cute easy tie dyed t-shirts to make with your kids, this one will have to wait a year or two.

Monster Repellent It's just some water and your favorite essential oil,

maybe some lavender for it's calming effects, and a label and you are set!

VIP or Time Out Chair Cover well the example is VIP, but I think a time out chair cover would be a great idea.

Thai Peanut Noodles & Satay

2010-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

Can I just say YUM!! I have always been a fan of peanut sauces, peanut butter, even just peanuts. And when I discovered the wonderful world of Thai food I was of course drawn to dishes featuring peanut sauces. We lived out in California for awhile and we had the best Thai restaurant I've ever been too. It was heartbreaking to leave it behind. They never disappointed us, we went there so often they practically knew us by name. And now we are without a Thai restaurant. =(

But now I have a recipe I can make to ease some of that heartbreak: Thai Peanut Noodles! How authentic it is, I have no idea, but I do know it is delicious! And yet another great recipe from the girls at Our Best Bites. Here is the link. We made it according to the recipe, opting for the "mild" version with only 1 tsp of the Sriracha chili sauce, because of my temperamental stomach and because we were hosting my in-laws for dinner, and they prefer things on the mild side. Hey, who can blame them, it's nice to be able to taste your food rather then burning off your taste buds, right? And this is one dish you'll be happy to have your taste buds intact. For the cilantro, onions, peanuts and lime, we just put those in little bowls for people to doctor up their noodles to their liking (like I left out the onions because I don't care for them).

To accompany our noodles my husband made some Chicken Satay. This was the January Cooks Challenge from the Daring Kitchen. I don't know if I was supposed to make it or not, but we love Satay, and have yet to find a good recipe, so of course we tired it! The consensus. It's good, but maybe don't pack on too much of the marinade when you actually cook it. We broiled it, and my husband added some extra marinade mid broil to help keep it from drying out. This resulted in a very strong flavor. Good, but strong.

Here is the Satay recipe, originally for pork, but can be adapted to whatever protein you wish: tofu, shrimp, beef, and of course chicken, and it's accompanying Peanut Sauce:

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Chill Chart

Pork	Beef/Lamb	Chicken	Vegetables	Tofu (no oil)
4-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	6-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	1-4 hours Up to 12 hrs	20 min – 2 hrs Up to 4 hrs	20 min – 4 hrs Up to 12 hrs

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

I am really happy that there was just enough leftovers for me to enjoy for lunch. =)

Must Make/Do! Part 1

2010-01-15T13:35:00.001-08:00

http://j-a-girl.blogspot.com/2009/12/tree-mural-tutorial.html
This would be amazingly perfect on my daughter's currently empty wall and would certainly help us on our way to the bird theme I have in mind.

http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2009/06/funky-bow-holder-thingy-tutorial-from.html
To hang in my little girls bathroom to contain some of the many bows we have and are bound to collect in years to come.

The Julie/Julia Project

2010-01-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

Recently I tried searching for Julie Powell's blog, I though I might have found it but wasn't certain so I didn't look at it very much. Besides what I am interested in is what she wrote in 2002 while she was actually doing the Project, not now...and I definitely didn't want to try and navigate back 8 years.
I was just googling Mastering the Art of French Cooking, trying to get a good picture of the book to steal the colors from with my Colorzilla add-on on Firefox, when I was inspired to add the word blog after the title of the book. And guess what I found!
That's right the real deal Julie/Julia Project blog posts starting with #1 way back on August 25, 2002. So for your reading pleasure: http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html
From what I figure if you want to read along with her, you just need to click the dates on the calendar on the right.

Oh how I wish I knew about all of this while I was on bed rest and desperate for something to do, not know when I have too much I should be doing but want to avoid.

Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers

2010-01-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Monday night we tried out a new recipe: Crispy Coconut Chicken Fingers, brought to you by the ladies from Our Best Bites. It's a nice spin on a dish that originally contains seafood, which we don't mind in our house, but is currently being eaten in moderation due to my pregnancy.
Here is the recipe:

12 chicken tenders (ya know, more or less...)
1-2 eggs (start with one and crack another if it runs out)
1/2 C flour
1 C sweetened coconut flakes
1 C panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (you can leave this out if you want to skip the spice for the kiddos)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Give coconut a rough chop so it's about the same size as the panko pieces. Combine it with Panko and spices in a shallow dish. Mix well to distribute all of the spices. Place the flour in another shallow dish, and the egg in another. Give the egg a quick beating.
Working with one chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour, then dip in egg, and then finally coat in the coconut Panko mixture. Press in with your fingers to make sure the entire thing is well coated.

Place chicken tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up!) that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. I give mine a teeny drizzle of olive oil on top to help them crisp nicely, but it's optional.

Bake in your 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Try not to overcook them because chicken tenders go from perfect to overcooked really fast! If your tenders are on the small side, they could even be done in about 15 minutes so keep an eye on them. If they're big they can take more like 25. The coconut will be nice and golden and the panko crisp, but light in color still.

I halved the recipe, though was still generous with the red pepper and mine cooked up in about 14 minutes. It was delicious!! When you first put a bite in your mouth you can taste the sweetness of the coconut, and after you swallow you get the bite from the spices. Sara, from Our Best Bites, discusses the use of dipping sauces, saying her kids like ranch and that she and her husband use sweet and sour, but are searching for something better. Now I myself am a fan of dipping sauces, but for once I did not want anything, just the delicious chicken, in my mouth. My husband tried a ginger garlic Asian sauce, and we had a bowl of ranch, but both were so overpowering to the flavors in the breading I decided to pass on them.

And as we ate we discussed possible side dishes, and we decided something like Pad Thai would go perfectly, and we can't wait to make this again, and it will definitely be a go-to dish for guests.

Super Blog Cuteness!

2010-01-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here is a tutorial to use cute fonts for your blogger post titles, dates & sidebar titles.
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-cute-font-for-your-blogger-post-titles.html
It's really easy to follow, especially if you've ever played with the HTML on your blog before. Just read the directions and follow each step exactly and you should have no problems. And if you have a 3 column blog like I do, just keep scrolling down the page and she tells you how to include your 3rd column.

After that you of course need to do something to make your blog title pretty, if you have Photoshop you could do this way easy, and probably know how, but I don't so this is what I did...(all photos are examples from my family blog)

Open Word. =) Type the title of your blog in the font that you wish, make it bigger, center it and add a few blank lines above it. Then you'll need to get the words to the exact right color...so switch over to your web browser. While you do this you can also figure out your background color at the same time.
Go to Layout and Fonts and Colors, select the Background or Blog Title Color, whichever you want to figure out first, and it will display the color hex code in the box on the right.
Then you can just google that color code and RGB, mine was "FFD9D9 RGB"
My first result showed: "RGB: 255 217 217" (by the way www.colourlovers.com is a fun site where you can find color palates and all the hex codes for them, that is where I found my pink scheme.)
To change the color your font to your custom color, open the Text color drop down, select More Colors

Then type in your RGB color code. The search results did not specify which was which, so I just typed mine in order Red Green then Blue.
To make my background, I opened up Paint, selected Colors, then Edit Colors
Then I typed the numbers in order into the Red, Green & Blue boxes and voi-la there was my color!I then expanded the surface in paint and painted it pink. Save your file.
Insert your picture file into Word. Change the Position setting for the photo so that it can be behind your text, move your text to the appropriate spot. I zoomed in on the document to make sure the text appeared about the size that I would want it to on my blog.
Then hit the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard,hopefully you know where this saves to. For me, if I have Picasa open it will save it to a file in Picasa that I can easily edit. I crop it down to size, then Save As to an easy to locate file.
Then go back to your web browser, go to "Page Elements" and select "Edit" on your post title. Browse and select the image we just created. Make sure you select the bubble "Instead of Title and Description" and save. You may need to shrink to fit if it ends up being huge or looks odd for some reason, hopefully not though.
Then select "Save" and go view your beautiful work. =)

If you'd like to use a cute font for your entire blog post, here is the tutorial:
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-custom-font-for-your-entire-bloggerblogspot-posts.html
And finally a tutorial to add a signature to every blog post.
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/add-a-signature-to-every-blog-post-on-your-bloggerblogspot-blog.html

Waahoo!

2010-01-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

I finished my first Daring Kitchen, Daring Baker's Challenge last night. You can all look forward to reading about it on January 27th when we are allowed to publish our results. I'll just say this: YUM! and if you are lucky enough to be a member of my family you get to enjoy some tonight.

Our Nursery

2010-01-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

I honestly did not expect our nursery to be even close to done for at least another month. We painted it over New Year's, added a couple things, and I thought that would be that.

Well this weekend we are painting my daughter's room. Up to this point the changing table has of course lived in her room, but we decided to go ahead and move it to the nursery because she no longer wakes up at night, and if for some unknown reason she does we don't change her diaper. And of course with us painting her room, she really shouldn't be sleeping in it for a few days, so we moved her crib to the nursery too (just for the weekend, then she's moving back and in the next few weeks we'll get the new crib). At this point I realized why not do more, so I moved in the rocking chair, hung some stuff on the walls and voi-la!

So we just need to add some more wall decor, of course the real crib, and the baby the nursery will be complete!

Creamy Corn Chowder

2010-01-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sunday I tired out a brand new recipe which I found here. I made a few changes based on personal preference, so I've typed those changes in red.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
2 1/2 cup milk (skim or 1% works just fine and lighten it up considerably)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 teaspoons chicken base
1/2 lb. bacon (optional) I used about 1/4 lb ham

1 onion, minced I used only 1/2 onion and it was PLENTY
2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes, skin optional
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained
Salt and pepper to taste (you'll need a considerable amount of salt--probably at least 1/4 tsp. More about this later) I added about 1/8 teaspoon pepper and just under 1/4 teaspoon salt
A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula) I did about 8 dashes of Chipotle Tabasco, plus a couple of dashes of Paprika to add some smokiness.

Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over medium-low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions and garlic, and simmer (but don't boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. (This took considerably longer for me.)

Add crumbled bacon (or ham) and corn and heat through. Add hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste. The bacon (or ham) will affect the salt content, so give it a few minutes then taste again and add more if needed.

Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you wish.

Sorry no photos but we LOVED this soup!! I think its the best soup I've ever made and will definitely be making it again.

A Wonderful Christmas!

2009-12-30T21:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone, so quickly like always, after so much stress and preparations. But also like always it was a wonderful day spent with family, full of joy and laughter and love.

It was especially great to see my daughter enjoy Christmas for the first time. She was overwhelmed by all the gifts she received and has a few clear favorites, one of which is a pull around puppy by Melissa and Doug - though she has yet to figure out how to pull him around. Somehow though a little wooden dog is the greatest thing to cuddle and kiss.

I'm back to work on non-Christmas projects, which feels great!! I made a little baby blanket (I plan on making another one of these soon, so I'll put together a tutorial when I do) for a friend who is expecting the week before me...

Finished my daughter's eye-spy bag (I don't know if I'll make another but if I do, I'll put together a tutorial)...

And finally finished cutting all the fabric for my new baby's quilt. Time to start sewing....but first we are painting the nursery and trying to not spend all our Christmas money on the baby or home improvement projects.

Christmas Eve Feast

2009-12-24T07:29:00.001-08:00

We missed enjoyed our favorite Thanksgiving dishes this year because my dear husband was on a business trip and I joined him for the holiday (thankfully we did get to enjoy a yummy dinner with his co-workers, but it wasn't the same.) So we decided to start a new tradition of making our favorites for Christmas Eve dinner.

We start off with the most delicious turkey known to mankind. One word BRINE. My mother learned about brining turkeys and chickens a few years ago and once we all tasted those first few delicious bites, we knew we'd never be turning back. We usually make our own brine, but this year we are using one we purchased at World Market that has juniper berries, dried apples, orange peels, among other tasty things.
The traditional brine recipe we use is this:

Chicken or Turkey Brine

3/4 cup kosher salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup boiling water

1 gallon cold water, or even iced water (or how ever much you need to cover the bird)

1 tablespoon black pepper

1-2 cloves minced garlic

Boil water, stir in salt and sugar, stir until dissolved (or as close as you can get), it's easiest to do this on the stove. Add pepper and garlic. Cool to room temperature, adding ice cubes helps or place in fridge for awhile.

Place chicken or turkey in large pot or bucket, basically whatever you have that is food safe, that you don't care about coating with birdie germs that may forever carry the smell of garlic. Pour brine mixture over bird. Add cold water to cover bird.

For small birds, like a 5 lb chicken just a few hours will do, we typically brine our Chickens in the morning, then start cooking them in the afternoon. For larger birds, like this year our 13 lbs young turkey, we did the brine overnight. Typically 8-16 hours is fine.

Now onto cooking the turkey. Take the bird out of its brine bath, rinse the outside and the inside so it is free of any debris. Pat dry and place breast down in your roasting pan, yes breast down, it helps maintain that delicious juiciness. Give it a nice rub down with some olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper if you wish (though we think this is more for making the skin tasty to much on as you are carving the turkey, and doesn't do much for the actual flavor of the bird).
This year we are going to try out the Alton Brown method of roasting a turkey. Here is a link you need to make sure you watch the videos as the written recipe leaves out a few important steps. Basically, he starts cooking the bird at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes, which helps move along the cooking of the dark meat, as well as giving the skin a beautiful brown glow. Then he covers the breast (which he does breast up) with foil, lowers the oven temp to 350 degrees F and cooks for another 2 hours or so. The important thing is to use a probe thermometer set to 161 degrees to tell you when the bird is done, do not trust that pop up thermometer or your turkey with be overcooked. When the temp reaches 161, take it out of the oven, leave in roasting pan, "tent" with foil, large bowl, lid to your BBQ grill, whatever, and the turkey will continue to cook as it rests. After about 15 minutes you are good to go with carving the bird. Enjoy! (Oh and you may be wondering why basting was not mentioned. It's not necessary! Esp when cooking the bird breast down. Trust me!)

Now onto side dishes. My dear husband has a love affair with his mother's dressing, which was her mother's dressing, and so on. Its very straightforward.

Dressing: this serves a lot of people. There is usually enough to put inside the turkey and still have a big dish just to bake in the oven. We are halving the recipe for the 3 of us and still planning on lots of leftovers.

2 pounds saltine crackers
2 small onions
3/4 small bottle of sage (to taste)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
3-4 eggs (depending on size)
1/3 cup oil
1-2 cans evaporated milk
Bacon

Mix all ingredients and spread evenly in a cake pan. Place strips of bacon across the top and bake at 350° for 1 hour until done.
Alternately you can stuff a turkey with the dressing and bake with the turkey. Make sure to bake until a thermometer in the center reads 160° to 180°. Also be mindful not to over-stuff the turkey as this will result in an uncooked center.

Creamy Cauliflower Goodness:

3 cups cauliflower florets (1 good sized head)
8 ounces cream cheese softened
8 ounces sour cream
2 tablespoons half & half
1/4 cup butter
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (I usually do closer to 1/2 teaspoon, depending on the amount of cauliflower)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Optional: Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and/or bacon bits

Steam cauliflower until tender, puree with butter and half and half in food processor.
If you have room, add sour cream & cream cheese. Mix well. (or if you are like me and have a TINY food processor you can just mix it by hand or use a hand mixer or stand mixer).
Bake at 350 degrees F only until brown on top (20-30 minutes).

Frosted Sugar Cookies

2009-12-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

As odd as it sounds, in our almost 5 years of marriage, we've never done any Christmas baking! I actually had no plans to this year either, but the cravings for a delicious frosted cookie got the better of me. And this recipe is soooooo good!! We halved it so as to not have an excess of cookies, and it made plenty to eat and to share (and to hopefully save a couple for Santa). I got the recipes from the newspaper, but Better Homes & Gardens is attributed for the frosting.

Cookies:
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
5 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Frosting:
6 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 - 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whole, skim, or evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

For the cookies, cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix completely. Dissolve baking soda in hot water, add to bowl and blend well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternating milk with dry ingredients, add to the cream-sugar mixture, mixing thoroughly each time. Cover and chill, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and grease two baking sheets (or you can use parchment paper, that is what I did).
Roll dough out on a floured surface until 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Place on prepared baking sheets. (Tip: you can use powdered sugar in place of flour, it blends into the cookie better, but doesn't make it too sweet either.)
Bake until lightly brown, 7-10 minutes. Let cook completely.

For the frosting, in a small mixer bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add half of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in the milk and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the remaining powdered sugar and additional milk, if necessary to make the frosting spreading consistency. Frost cookies. (We make the frosting a little thinner to make sure we had enough. We made a lot of small cookies, as well as regular sized, so we weren't sure how far it would go. Plus it was easier to spread and make look pretty, plus we were able to pipe some, using sandwich baggies, to decorate the trees and to make the stripes on the candy canes.)

Homemade Advent

2009-12-21T14:08:00.000-08:00

Every winter my church has a crafter-noon with a variety of projects we can choose from. I chose a couple, my favorite being the Muffin Tin Advent. Thankfully they put together a nice kit with all the embellishments for us, we just had to assemble the pieces and stick on the magnets and find a tasty treat to put in the cups (I choose Reece's Peanut Butter cups because they fit beautifully, in the future I may try and find some trinkets that my girls can enjoy, erasers, stickers and such).

Christmas Gifts

2009-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

This year we handled Christmas differently. We decided not to buy gifts for my husbands family. It is big and it keeps growing and we just can't afford to do an individual gift for everybody anymore. We considered starting a Secret Santa, but we weren't sure how everybody else would feel about that. We considered just purchasing gifts for each family, but we weren't sure how to please everybody, to make it fair, and to keep it affordable. So we opted to make our Christmas gifts this year!

The project I chose is from the Not So Idle Hands blog and of course I discovered in back in July when she posted it and have been trying to pull it together since. But when you are relying on others for materials (my dad's friend cut our blocks for us, to help us save a little more money, and I asked each family for a family picture of them, because oddly enough we don't have any) things can take longer. So finally the second week of December I got to start working on them. And it was so easy and fun and they came together really fast!

They worked out perfectly for my husband's family. There are 5 children, so each family got their own side, and then his parents the final side. I made a set for my parents as well that just have photos of my daughter on it (though I left 3 sides blank for this baby that is still in the oven, and in a while I'll add pictures of her as well).

I bought Martha Stewart treat boxes from Michael's, they were a little roomy so we just padded them with tissue paper and stuffed the blocks in. I can't wait to hand them out and see the reactions on Christmas. And I am really looking forward to coming up with a new project to make for next year's Christmas gifts.

1 cup sugar

2009-12-21T12:15:00.001-08:00

Welcome!
For 2010 I have set some goals for myself, and I want a way to track them. That is where this blog comes in, especially in my quest for learning to love to cook. I'll be sharing plenty of new recipes I try as well as my experiencing cooking and baking along with The Daring Kitchen.
I'm a wife, mother, avid reader, quilter, wanna be cook/chef/baker/enjoy-er of good food.
Thanks for joining me!