urggg

So I feel foolish.  On a whim, I bought 3 crochet patterns off an etsy shop. I liked her stuff and didn't want to surf etsy for hours for the perfect ones. They were cute and good priced, $4.50 each or 3 for $10.  Obviously I decided to go with 3 for 10, but when I got the patterns, 2 were exactly the same except add ears to it.  I should have looked closer and seen that, but I would think she would have specified that especially when I ordered.  Kind of annoying.  Even her flower patterns are the same on all 3.  I feel like I got a little gipped and foolish that I didn't look closer.  It is a cute pattern, but I would have just bought the one or something totally different if I knew it was going to be the same. At least make your flowers different. Most other pattern stores give you the base pattern with the ears and flowers as part of it so one pattern 3 ways.  Since they were separate, I thought the base of the hat was different.  A little bad business in my opinion. Well, that's my rant.  I am not going to buy from her shop again. But I do have a really adorable hat.

One Step Ahead

I was just thinking to myself the other day about revamping some of my hundreds of old crappy tees into something a little more interesting like cascading ruffles and low and behold, I hopped on one of my favorite blogs, Make it and Love it, and she has a tutorial for just what I was looking for.  Guess it's a definite on my list now!!  You can check her site out here. Currently I am crocheting baby hats.  I bought 3 patterns off etsy yesterday instead of doing what I always do, make one up, not write it down, and never able to recreate it again. It's so annoying, especially when it comes out soo cute and I want another one.  So I am sticking with a pattern and making my changes to it later if I feel like it.  Pics to come soon.

Happy Easter

We are indulging in a number of prepackaged "treats" (or rather sugar in various forms with various colors).  One thing I did make that was delicious, Portuguese sweet bread.  It is similar to Hawaiin bread or the brand King's rolls, but much thicker and a slight zestier taste.  I am half Portuguese, but shamefully do not know much about my culture, but I do know that there are a few Portuguese meals I will always love from my childhood.  This sweet bread is number one.  I combed the internet for a number of authentic seeming recipes and ended up with this one.  I was hesitant to trust it with no comments or ratings, and let's face it, the site seems a little archaic, but it seemed like the best combination of ingredients for me. It is the slowest raising bread I have ever made.  My little brother warned me when he tried another recipe, that it took forever to rise and the recipe does say 2-3 hours for each rise and it requires 2 rises before shaping!!!  Well, it was more like 4 or more hours for each rise. I let it do it's first rise over night in the fridge. Then did it's second rise for 5 hours in our kitchen, then 2 more hours after I shaped it.  These puppies went in the oven at 11:00 at night.  Was not expecting to be up that late waiting for bread to rise. Definitely letting the baked bread sit over night made the texture and flavor better.  It is not a stretchy dough, so I experimented with different shapes to see what cooked best.  I have so many memories of my mom making loafs in round cake pans and the whole center would be dough.  I wanted to avoid that so I just braided a ring in a round pan, alleviating the middle.  It did end up doubling in size to fill in the middle, but it was cooked and the best looking!! My rolls and just plain round pan loaf were cooked fine and yummy tasting too.  The egg wash gave it that beautiful shiny brown crust that was soft and would peel off.  I will absolutely be making this a holiday staple now.  My adjustments, a hearty splash or 2 of lemon juice and I didn't have mace so I subbed a pinch of ground cloves and no cinnamon. Everything else was good. 

Fresh

I made penne pasta with fresh home made pesto from the basil in my garden today (and a batch of my go to rolls, of course).  It was soooo good.  I am loving the fresh herbs. Hope I can keep them going all year.

UPDATED:meh......(this means I am unimpressed)

 UPDATED:  I didn't give my sign a chance with that pic.  I have had it on my mantle with some fresh cut roses from my garden and it has really grown on me.  So here's a better pic.  And my granola was actually really good.  If you let it cool overnight then cut it, it holds a bar shape.  Totally recommend it.

I attempted to springify my house by making a wood block sign.  I don't have a cricut or vinyl letters so I hand painted "bloom".  I was inspired by this wood letter sign I saw in the background on a mantle in a tv show. Totally random I know.  But although I do have a jigsaw, I knew I did not want to test my beginner skills but cutting that out.  Then I saw this.  I decided to do my own, but with bloom.  But I wasted enough time on this trying to salvage it. Then I put a pearlized finish on it. 
I am not one for sparkles, but this is nice and soft.  It's fine for decorating my house until Easter, but I wouldn't be offended if we had to burn it in the fireplace for heat!!!  I also attempted to make this granola bar recipe.  It was just too crumbly.  So I broke it up and made it granola for snacking.  Yum.  Mine has almonds, craisins and shredded coconut.  My next big tasks, baby presents.  I have lots in my head, so hopefully they come out as I imagine them.  Keep you posted.

Yum again

Ben has the flu today.  Good thing I made some chicken noodle soup.  What do you do when you are stuck at home with a clingy child and another child climbing the walls??  We watched the musical stage version of Peter Pan.  Kids got halfway when Ben said he was bored.  Lasted longer than I thought.  He is currently on his second nap so I took the opportunity to bake for Amelia (Ok, me too)  I made these.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies.  And yes, they are as good as they sound.  Imagine truffles that are coated in cocoa that you get at Trader Joe's or Costco (or at least that's where I get mine) but in cookie form.  These have no eggs, so the undercooked thing is good and is what totally makes them truffle like.  Really good.  I made a few adjustments for the dairy free thing.  I used non dairy margarine instead of butter and soured soy milk (soy milk with vinegar and let it curdle a little) instead of yogurt.  I also increased the flour a little since the dough was a little runnier and the margarine tends to make cookies spread more.  I also froze them for a little bit so they were nice and cold when the went in the oven.  Seemed to keep them from spreading too much.  They weren't quite balls, but round little mounds.......of deliciousness.  I highly recommend. But seriously, what don't I recommend from her blog???  Now I am off to play outside with a highly needy and today, greatly neglected 4 year old.

What's cooking at my house this weekend

My list this weekend consisted of cooking.  I started strong, dwindled a bit on Saturday and ended just right on Sunday.  I shop at Costco, so we have stuff in bulk, which I love, except the produce we can't eat through it fast enough.  So I have started blanching and freezing the stuff we usually won't get through when it's fresh so there's no tossing good veggies.  It also is nice to have some produce on hand on that last week before we make it shopping again, granted it's frozen but it's way better than canned or nothing.  Lots of times it is just used in soups and stir frys and lots of baking if it got too soggy or mushy (like yucky bananas for banana bread, or carrot cupcakes with lemon frosting, I've even tackled the spinach brownies).  So here's my list I tackled on Friday:

• a batch of chicken noodle soup (minus the noodles) with some carrots and celery that needed to be used.  I ended up with a family sized batch and a kid sized batch for those days we eat something not Amelia friendly. 
• blanched and bagged 3 ziplocs full of broccoli and carrots.  
• my weekly batch of Mel's kitchen cafe rolls. I have drooled over these on here before.  Still drooling.  
• some chicken breasts to have on hand for quick meals.  
• and for dinner I made a batch of cream of broccoli soup.  It was a little cold outside and those homemade rolls and a hefty sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese on the soup was perfect.  Doesn't get much better.  

Then Amelia requested apple pie and my mind started thinking what I could do instead of that.  I don't like apple pie.  I will eat it once a year to pretend to be patriotic or indulge someone who has slaved over one for the holidays, but I can do without.  But she is a little carboholic and has a big sweet tooth, and I love catering to that because she gets it from me.  I decided to do apple turnovers instead.  I made them a year or so ago on a whim with some mealy apples and leftover puff pastry I had and my husband couldn't get over how good they were.  He's not one to rave over desserts, so if he asks for it again, you know it's good.  Just good comfort food and super easy.  Here's how.  And I love that puff pastry is Amelia friendly.  Makes the world of pastry not so bleak for her. I cooked down some granny smith apples with butter (Amelia friendly, but real would have been even better) and once they were soft added 3 hefty spoonfuls of sugar and some dashes of cinnamon.  Then cut the softened and rolled out puff pastry in 4 squares.  I pricked one triangle corner with a fork.  Then scooped a big amount of apples on the pastry keeping to the triangle corner I pricked and sealed up.  Baked at 400 for 20 minutes or so.  This is what they looked like coming out.  (If you look really closely above the turnover you can see white lines.  I love that  my camera picked up the steam.  The steam kept fogging up the lense and it took a few tries to focus.  That's how fresh out of the oven these are).

 But of course you can't eat turnovers, or pie, plain, so I added a scoop of vanilla bean (soy for Amelia) ice cream and some dairy free caramel sauce I made a while back and keep on hand in the fridge for these very occasions.  Don't let the dairy free get you, that caramel is good enough to snitch with a spoon when you need a sugar rush.  Now if only I can remember how I made it because I am almost out!!!

And of course, the happy customers digging in while watching a special Friday night movie and staying up way past their bedtime!!!

latest projects

 I painted some plastic Easter eggs to look like blue bird eggs (I think that is what they are supposed to be???)  My crafty and talented sister-in-law gave me the nest and the small white egg and the light blue ones and I love them so much I wanted more.  Her's are so much better.  I didn't want to splatter because I didn't want the mess inside and my eggs look less real.  I may still go and splatter, or just deal.

 I attempted to make some knobs for a wall hanging I am in the process of creating.  I used the fabric from Amelia's dress, painted some empty thread bobbins and put diamond glaze on it to make it seem like porcelain.  Total flop.  I saw the idea of wood bobbins as hooks on a rack and loved it and the idea of door knobs and loved it so I tried to combine the 2.  I still may try again, but with wood.  The plastic bobbins I had on hand were not good.  Try again later.

 I am sure you have seen these peeps buntings all over the craft blogging world, but I LOVE peeps.  I was so excited when the started making them every season.  They are one of the truly gross holiday traditions I love to keep doing.  Philip loves his stale.  I love mine frozen. The vanilla creme flavor I found at Valentine's is the best. Even after seeing Amelia throw these up her first Easter, I still want to eat them.  So I love my little homage to them in non edible form.  Makes my mouth water when I pass by.  I didn't want sew, or buy supplies, so I used some flannel scraps I have.  You know the ends you cut off the selvage when you make a blanket straight.  It was the perfect size to make these.  Because flannel frays, I used iron on fusible tape to stick them together and keep the edges from fraying.  Then used the same to attach the ribbon I had on hand.  Then painted the eyes and nose with just plain old acrylic.  Voila.  I cut and fused while watching my new favorite show, Chopped, and then finished it off the next morning.  Easy peasy. (and I apologize for the ugly pic.  I didn't feel like taking it down and yes, that is the paint job in our dining room.  someone's attempt at crafty, but I'm not judging.  I have been known to do ugly things like this, just look above!!!)

 I painted some jars blue from an idea I got from the blog modpodgerocks.  You basically dye mod podge with food coloring and paint.  You can see the lines from the brush, but it gives it a cool old school vibe.  Then I hung them inside my faux fireplace.  I hope to fill it up as I get more empty jars and remove the plant and have a cool jar lantern chandelier type thing.  It's a work in progress.  Someday I hope to use all these outside and hang from a tree for a garden party.  By the time I have a garden for a party, I should have collected enough jars!!!

 I also made one out of a smuckers jar and it's not the best, but I clamped it to a board with a dryer clamp.  I am still working on finishing the rest of the board and it hangs on my picture collage wall, but both are unfinished.  I will post pics when it is done.  Don't want to spoil it too much.

 Here's a close of up the better one in the fireplace.  This was a pickle relish jar.  I need to get my hands on some baby food ones now.  They are the cutest size.

I hung them up with twine and wrapped wired around the mouth to make the lantern handle.

And, I love my rose bushes.  These are 2 that I cut yesterday and I have a ton more.  I just didn't want to cut too many off plus they are covered in aphids.  I have been trying to get rid of them, but not been successful yet.  I am honestly not really trying that hard.  But we have white, a really pretty pink, this peachy one, the dark red and a bright red.  Adds some nice color to the back and the kids love coming out every day to see how many have opened.  My favorite rose is still the purple ones that are called sterling silver.  But this peachy one comes pretty close.  It's so pretty.  And who doesn't love a classic deep red rose.  Remember my wedding flowers???

Side Tracked

I have been doing some cute crafts and decorating, but haven't taken pics.  Maybe today and post tomorrow.  But in the meantime, here is a funny story.  I have bad skin.  Always breaking out, black circles, eczema, scarring, you name it.  And both my poor kids suffer from some of it already.  Rashes are all too common in our house.  Well, I can't seem to control a spot of eczema that keeps coming back on my forehead.  Rough and red and raised.  Hard to hide.  It all started when we moved and I think the water here plus the treatment I was using was too harsh of a combo.  I stopped using it, but then the acne comes back.  It's never ending and you know I am desperate when I start googleing home remedies and they sound like a great idea.  I was reading some homeopathic remedies today and read about how drinking apple cider vinegar can help acne and a number of things.  So I made myself an oatmeal and soy milk face mask and while I was waiting for it to do it's thing, I decided to try drinking the vinegar.  I poured in a guestimate of 2-3 TABLESPOONS vinegar in a cup of water and chugged.  Ohhh, the burning and the gagging and now the heartburn.  I swore it was what the internet said to do.  I just double checked, 2 TEASPOONS!!!!! I don't know if I can ever do that again, even the right amount.  I am going to be paying for that all day!!!

Igniting an old flame....

Gardening.....C'mon.  Growing up we had gardens in every house I can remember.  Flowers and veggies and fruit trees.  We had to weed and clip and prune and water and can and I don't remember hating it.  I couldn't wait until I was old enough to mow the lawn, or when it was time to separate bulbs, or cutting off limbs of unruly shrubs and trees.  I loved canning, and we did it old school style, hot water baths and boxes of mason jars where you had to wait and make sure the seal set by popping down on the metal lid.  We filled shelves with apricot jam and apricot pie filling from an apricot tree that produced mealy apricots, but those didn't go unused and I crave a good apricot pie with vanilla bean ice cream once in a while.  We had an apple tree that had lots of worms and tiny apples, but we peeled and cut up bags upon bags of these and then ground them up in with a hand cranked something or other and cooked them down to make apple butter, apple sauce or apple pie filling. (maybe that is why I hate apple pie, but why do I love apple butter??)  The gardens were best known for there ridiculous crops of zucchini and my mothers famous cookbook of 101 ways to cook them including the dreaded zucchini burgers, which as an adult now, I can see myself trying it out and maybe liking.  My family could not be vegetarians.  I still love zucchini casserole and prefer zucchini bread to banana bread any day, but not everyone in my little family agrees.  Long story short, we decided on a whim to go out and plant veggies.  Our backyard is mostly concrete and we rent, so we didn't want to do anything permanent.  We planted a tub of herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley) and a chili pepper because they all sounded good to me and lots of people have success with herbs.  Did I mention I am a plant killer?!?!?  Hearty is necessary. Then we bought some pumpkin plants for the kids to have their own Halloween pumpkins and cooked pumpkins for the holiday season.  Finally we got some butternut squash seeds.  I wanted to do at least some seeds and I love squash and I remember it being a plant that can over run your garden too. Perfect for me.  The kids had such a good time digging in what they called "poop dirt" because it had bat guano in it.

We are going to attempt to build a small planter for the pumpkins and squash, but the hardwood store in town didn't have any supplies we needed, so next week, and maybe pics if it turns out.  My other little project was inspired by Martha Stewart.  She (or the clever people she gets her ideas from) suggested planting seeds in egg shells and once they are ready to be planted, transport them to your garden.  The egg shells are biodegradable, not to mention cute for the spring/ Easter theme.  So we are planting some egg shell seeds and hopefully the spring up by Easter for some table decor.  When we bought our Prius 2 years ago they sent us a thank you card that was paper with seeds in it.  You rip up the paper, bury in 1/4 inch of dirt, water and in 2-4 weeks, flowers.  I hope it works considering how old they are.