My First Craft

I made this awhile ago, but I'm kinda proud of it. I was bored one day waiting in the long hours the cable people say they will be there and having been dragged around by them all day I needed something to keep my mind off the waiting. I went home the weekend before and packed up my sewing machine, but forgot it when I left early. I needed to do something crafty that day; it was just one of those days. I knew I had felt, I knew I had embroidery thread and I definitely had time. 

I chose my large felt, pink, and two scrap pieces, orange and blue. I folded and pinned. I cut the flowers and chose where to place them. I threaded the needle and sewed the flowers on, orange then blue. I pinned again and sewed the folds. I sewed up the edges and I think the end result looks pretty good.

I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet or if I'm actually done with it. I've been thinking of adding a zipper. Maybe it could be a make up bag? Maybe a pencil case? The possibilities are endless.

I'm a Genius, I know.

Right now I'm supposed to be reorganizing the kitchen. It's not my apartment kitchen though. My boyfriends roommate was nice enough to give me their apartment kitchen. It's bigger than mine, but like mine it's over flowing with stuff. The upside is that they have more cabinetry, the down side is that they have a million dishes. What makes a happy cook? Two of her own kitchens :)

But, I'm not here to blog about the kitchen cleaning that has to be done. I'm here to talk about my most genius idea ever. It's Sunday and it's football season. Sunday lunch usually consists of brats. Yuck. Some of you may be gasping at the fact that I said yuck, but that's fine with me. I HATE them. It's their smell, they smell so gross. Bryan loves them though and I happily comply and cook some up for him. The worst part about making them? They roll! They always burn because I can't get them to say put how I set them in the pan. Until today!

I was frustrated at the Brats burning on two sides and not cooking at all on the others. I needed something to hold them up. I looked around the kitchen. Aluminum foil. Genius! I fashioned two aluminum foil brats and using tongs arranged them all in the pan. Perfect! It worked so well. No more hassling with brats that roll and burn. Yay!

Sorry for the bad photo! All the camera memories are full.

A Little Change to Come...

Other than cooking and baking, I love arts and crafts. Always have, always will. So, I have decided to not only include my favorite recipes on this blog, but also include my random arts and crafts projects. I'm excited for this new addition to my blog and look forward to sharing my new creations, both edible and not so edible with you in the future.

Another Birthday Cake!

I spent a great deal of my week making a very special birthday cake. If you've seen my first post then you know how much I love to make birthday cakes. I like to go a bit further than just the plain square cake with the edible confetti. This was a 21st birthday cake for a friend of mine. He happens to love Mikes Hard Pink Lemonade, so I thought what would be better than a Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade birthday cake?! Granted this didn't have any alcohol in it, but it did taste like pink lemonade!
My first challenge was the find a recipe for a pink lemonade cake. I searched the internet, mostly finding recipes that required you to freeze the cake. That was something I didn't want to do. I posted a recipe search on Yahoo Answers and received a recipe made by Paula Deen's sons. It was the perfect recipe. It was super simple and was made with ingredients that aren't a pain to find, like some I was reading about in other recipes. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 box white cake mix (18.25-ounce)
3 tablespoons pink lemonade drink powder
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Directions
Cooking Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans or sheet cake pan and line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

For the cake, in a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and lemonade powder. Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions, using the eggs and the oil. Stir the lemon zest into the batter. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers of the cakes comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Carefully turn cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

The most labor intensive, if you could call it that, was zesting the lemon. Granted I do hate zesting anything, it wasn't that bad. I used a 9 by 13 inch pan since I had to carve something out of the cake. I was slightly disappointed when the cake didn't rise as much as other cakes do. I was expecting to be able to cut the cake in half and ice it to make it look bigger, but I was unable to cut it due to the size. Also, it didn't take 30 to 35 minutes for me, maybe 27 at most.

After it kind of cooled ( I felt the need to rush, so I didn't let it cool so long. Big Mistake. Let it cool!) I cut it into the shape using the template I made out of parchment paper. I crumb coated it and set it in the fridge to set before icing it. For those of you who aren't addicted to baking shows like me, crumb coating is when you ice a very thin layer of icing in order to "lock" the crumbs in. You don't want crumbs in the icing to ruin the look of the cake, do you? After about 15 minutes I took the cake out of the fridge and iced it with my family's secret icing recipe. I wish I could share it because it really is the best icing ever! I tinted some pink to make it look like it was filled with pink lemonade. I set it back in the fridge and made the royal icing to put the finishing touches on the cake at a later point. Royal icing recipe found here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html (Mine was the meringue powder recipe!)

Day two of cake decorating was my panic day. If you've made a cake with me or seen me make a cake then you understand what my panic day was like. It's the day the cake is due to be celebrated with and I'm icing and decorating down to the wire. I start to panic if something goes wrong, but things seems to work themselves out. Anyways, day two consisted of the wost cake baking day ever! I couldn't tint my icing black. It just kept turning purple. Not good. I panicked, I cried. A terrible day in the history of cake baking. But, it got done after an hour of walking to stores trying to find dye. I mixed the colors and followed the pattern I made with tooth pick pokes. I carried the cake covered through the rain to the surprise party place. It was a hit. It was a surprise!
Happy Birthday Adam!

An Incredible Thanksgiving Smell

When you think of Thanksgiving, most of you think turkey or stuffing, not me! My kitchen smells incredible. The reason for this is my new Thanksgiving staple, Pumpkin Muffins. These are seriously the easiest dessert that you could make. All you have to do is mix five ingredients together, put it in muffins tins and bake for 20 minutes; so simple to make something so irresistible.

What You Need:

Mixing Bowl

Spoon, whisk or spatula (I actually end up using all three by the end)

A sifter

1 box Yellow Cake mix

1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

½ tsp Ground Nutmeg

¼ tsp Ground Cloves

Sifting the cake mix into the bowl is optional and my original directions did not include this step, the mix just seems to come out so much better after you sift the cake mix.  Pour the pumpkin into the cake mix and stir until combined well. When you have blended them together well, add in all the spices and stir until they are incorporated. Prepare the muffin tins. I normally use the mini tins that bake twenty four at a time, but the large ones will work too. I line the tins with paper liners and use a cookie scoop to fills the liners. Using a teaspoon would work well for a job, but I found my cookie scoop is the perfect tool.

Bake the muffins in a 350 degree oven for twenty to twenty five minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Just look at the picture! How can you resist?!

(Seriously irresistible; they've been out of the oven for 20 minutes and I've eaten 7 already!)

Enjoy!

For the Taco Lovers

When finding new recipes I always try to mix it with a recipe I already know; like the potatoes from last night. Tonight's dinner was done for me! Blogchef.net's Taco Stuffed Shells nicely combine Mexican and Italian and its the perfect way to change up the normal weeks tacos.

Here's the recipe link: http://blogchef.net/taco-stuffed-shells-recipe/

 I did make a few changes though. First off, the amount of shells. It calls for twelve, but the ones I bought were somewhat smaller than I expected. I ended up using about twenty five shells to fill the 9 by 13 pan. The next change I made was the cheese choice. I misread the recipe when making the grocery list and forgot to buy cheddar, so I ended up using the Monterey Jack cheese plus a cheese with jalapenos in it I had already shredded for omelet making in the fridge. This worked out nicely, the finished product just didn't have the nice orange color. The third change was not really a change at all. While shopping I missed the chip isle and still needed the tortilla chips. I managed to find a small bag of tortilla chips, like the size available to toss in your lunches. When crushing these I was able to snip a small corner of the bag off and just crush them in the bag. It saved a mess. Although, I do have to warn you that stuffing the shells is INCREDIBLY messy. Be prepared, I was covered in filling by the end.


This recipe is delicious and I believe it has rightfully earned a spot in our favorite meals.

Sorry for the bad photos, the camera memory was full. These do not do this excellent meal justice!

Dijon Crash Potatoes

I decided when planning meals for this week that I wanted to try something new. I remembered seeing a recipe on Stacey Snacks that I thought looked delicious. I love red potatoes, so this couldn't possibly be bad. This recipe was perfect to mix the old and the new, so I decided to combine it with a favorite recipe of Bryans for our dinner tonight. Dijon mustard potatoes combined with crash hot potatoes.

Now, the idea of this recipe sounded perfect, but I still have a bit to work out to make it look perfect. First, they are incredibly easy to do. Second, they have the possibility of being delicious. Believe me, they would have been last night if I wasn't so tired and hadn't nicked myself with the knife while prepping the potatoes. Also, I have no pictures. Sorry. But heres a link to Stacey Snacks Crash Potatoes; she has photos that will make your mouth water! http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2009/02/great-way-to-make-spuds.html
Lets start.

Step 1: Boil your red potatoes until fork tender. Mine took awhile because the bag of potatoes I chose had ones the size of my head; ideally you would want smaller red potatoes. Towards the end of the boiling process, when I know they are reaching fork tender, I started my Dijon sauce. I always eyeball this because that was how I was taught, but if I had to put measurements I would probably say 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/3 cup Dijon mustard and about a teaspoon each of Basil, Thyme and Oregano. This amount also depends on the amount of potatoes you are preparing. But, like I said, eye ball it. You don't want too much mustard; you want the mixture to coat the potatoes, not just sit on top of them.
Step 2: Prepare a baking dish with olive oil drizzled in the bottom for the potatoes. When they are fork tender, transfer them to the pan. Carefully mash them with a potato masher, not too much though. I didn't have one so I tried using a number of things - forks, spatulas, knifes - all of which didn't work. If you have a potato masher use it!
Step 3: Pour a little of the Dijon mixture over each potato, making sure each is nicely covered in it.
Step 4: Bake for 20 minutes at 425.
Step 5: Enjoy!

These were simple and besides the boiling, did not take much time to bake. They are just crispy enough on the outside and have the perfect potato texture on the inside. The are worth making with any dinner, but pair perfectly with a nice steak. Enjoy!

Thanks to both Stacey and the Pioneer Lady for the recipe!