I want to make: Quiet Book

This whole blog is dedicated to making a quiet book - way cool! This will be a good place to get started with ideas...

How to Make a Quiet Book

I want to make: Diaper covers

This is an free easy pattern for a diaper cover. The only "special" thing I'd need is elastic.

by Made found here

Website: Budgeting

This website/blog looks pretty interesting. The format is prose so it might take a little reading to get the information I want, but it looks like it has some good tips for living frugally.

Frugal Wife = Wealthy Life
http://frugalwifewealthylife.blogspot.com/

Halloween Placemats

So I was looking through my mother's awesome stash of fabric to look for some cute prints for my apron, and I came upon this darling fall Halloween fabric.

Hmmm... what to make... what to make...

Placemats!

So I did. Wednesday. And Thursday. I think they turned out pretty well, although I've now learned the beastly part of sewing - cutting. Any tips about how to make it easier? How to get those straight lines and perfect corners?

Anyway, the cool part is that when I was topstitching (is this the correct term?) the edges, I realized I need to sew on the main part to keep the layers in place. I was going to do a nice old rectangle or something, but then I had a fun idea - a spider web!

So I sewed wicked cool spider webs onto the mats in contrasting colors - I'm happy with how it turned out! Now if only I had thought of these BEFORE Halloween... =)

FRONT:

BACK:

I want to make: Aprons

For me and Evie!

Found here

I want to make: Chocolate Cupcakes

Someday soon (I hope) I want to try to make this recipe that I found in the news today. It's from a bakery in the South End and looks to be pretty delicious. I couldn't believe the frosting - 1 1/2 c. butter to only 2 1/3 c. sugar?! Maybe that's why bakery frostings are so much yummier...


Recipe: Chocolate cupcakes with crispy magic frosting

Makes 12

BATTER

2	ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4	cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1	cup granulated sugar
1/2	cup (1 stick) butter, cut up
1/3	cup water
1/2	cup milk
1	egg plus 1 extra yolk
1/2	teaspoon vanilla extract
1	cup flour
1	teaspoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1/2	teaspoon salt

1. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa powder.

3. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the granulated sugar, butter, and water, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Pour the butter mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

4. Whisk the milk, egg, extra yolk, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until combined.

5. In a bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until blended. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.

6. Let the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

7. Set the oven at 350 degrees.

8. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Set on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

FROSTING

2/3	cup granulated sugar
2	egg whites
1 1/2	cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature, cut up
1 2/3	cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4	teaspoon kosher salt
2	tablespoons milk
1	tablespoon vanilla extract

1. In a heatproof bowl, whisk the sugar and egg whites. Fill a saucepan half full with simmering water. Set the bowl over (but not touching) the water. Whisk for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture is hot to the touch. It will thin as the sugar melts.

2. Remove the bowl from the heat. Tip the mixture into an electric mixer fitted with a whip. Beat at medium-high speed for 6 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick and white like a meringue and is cool to the touch.

3. Turn the mixer to medium and add the butter a few chunks at a time, beating for 3 to 4 minutes or until it is all incorporated. Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla. Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and satiny. (If not using immediately, transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature up to 3 days; beat in the mixer for a few minutes until smooth.)

4. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tins and arrange on a platter. Fit a pastry bag with a star or round tip. Fill the bag halfway with frosting and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Alternatively, spread the frosting with an offset spatula. Adapted from “Flour: Spectacular Recipes From Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe’’

via

How to cook anything Asian

According to me. Who is not really an expert but decent at making things up (sometimes). Tonight I made pseudo-teriyaki chicken with bell peppers and it turned out deliciously.

Before we discovered my daughter's extreme allergy to cow's milk, I was a pro at concocting Italian delights but had never really wanted to make Asian food for dinner. But now that I'm feeding someone dairy-free, I've realized that Asian is a perfect go-to meal that doesn't need substitutions or modifications. From my limited experience then, here is how most Asian recipes go...

Recipe: Asian Whatever You Want

1. Get rice cooking.
2. Saute meat (chicken/pork/beef) strips in a little olive oil. Once the outside is cooked, remove from wok and set aside.
3. Lightly saute vegetables (julienned bell peppers, broccoli, sliced carrots, asparagus, etc.) in the vacated wok. Cook until they start to soften, but are still crisp. Add diced garlic/ginger.
   
4. Return the meat to the wok with vegetables.
   
5. Stir up a sauce (*soy sauce/Worcestershire sauce/sesame oil/brown sugar/honey/lemon juice/coconut milk/teriyaki sauce/peanut butter/seasonings) and pour over the meat & veggies. Simmer on med-low until sauce thickens and coats meat.
   
6. Serve the meat & veggie mixture over rice. Add nuts/dried noodles if desired.

And that's basically it. A good amount of slicing and dicing but cooked all in one pan (except for the rice I guess). Which makes for a quick night of dishwashing. And a happy husband =).

*use a combination of these sauce ingredients, not all of them together... gross

Produce tip: Squash

Tonight I'm baking some butternut squash, and I wanted to share this tip about getting the most squash for your buck at the grocery store.

Since the seeds that you'll scoop out are on the fattest end...

You want to buy a well-proportioned fat one as opposed to a fat-bottom and skinny-top one. That doesn't make sense so hopefully this picture shows better...

Hooray for fall vegetables!

picture based from here

"I'm kinda making this up"

This is the phrase Spencer hears every so often as I'm making a random dinner to use up on-hand ingredients or approximate some fantasy meal in my mind. Usually, at least according to Spencer, this means it will be AWESOME. I love my husband.

To start, I want to post about a memorable meal from a few summers ago. When we arrived in Austin for summer internships in 2008, our arrival was a little dramatic and not in a good way. Fred's transmission had died in the middle of nowhere Texas (which was actually Roosevelt, TX, population: less than 150) and so we had to get a 170-mile tow to our new apartment. It was after dark on a Friday night and we had no furniture and little food. We found out the next day that there was a grocery store within semi-walking distance but for the night we improvised for our meal: cheesy rice.

Recipe: Cheesy Rice
Cook white rice.
Make a sauce with powdered milk and leftover roadtrip cheese. Thicken with flour.
Combine cheesy sauce with rice.
Gag.

This attempt was a definite failure, and one that has definitely made us chuckle when we reflect on the nastiness that was our meal.


Fortunately I can contrast this recipe with a delicious one I made up last night.


Recipe: Ham/Potato/Corn Casserole that is Yet to be Named

3/4 onion, chopped
1-2 T. olive oil
4 unpeeled potatoes, diced
water
garlic powder
salt and pepper
parsley
*1 1/2 c. diced ham
*1 c. frozen corn
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a skillet, heat olive oil. Saute onion for a few minutes (while you are dicing the potato). Add potato to skillet and heat until onions are soft and translucent. Pour water over the potatoes (enough to cover the bottom of the pan but not drown everything). Stir and let simmer until the water all evaporates. Repeat once more until the potatoes soften and the mixture is slightly creamy. Sprinkle in seasonings and mix well.

Spray a casserole dish with oil and pour potato mixture into the dish. Mix in ham chunks and corn. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake, covered, at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and potatoes are soft. Remove cover for last 10 minutes of cooking.


This dish ended up exactly as I wanted it to - it's creamy and delicious because of the potato without having any dairy (like milk or cream of whatever soup or sour cream) other than the cheese. It had good flavor with the onion and I like mixing vegetables in with foods to spread out the calories and add nutrition. I could easily serve this again for dinner or breakfast/brunch and could make a portion without cheese to serve to Evelyn. Success!

*Note to self: these measurements are approximate

This is it

For the last 15 months I have had the joy of taking care of our little one at home. This has definitely been a challenge for me - at adjusting my schedule, my goals, my measures of "success" - although this is absolutely where I want to be and what I want to be doing right now.

One of the many opportunities of being home so much has been having time to focus on making our apartment into our own little haven. I make no claims as to being a domestic expert, but I wanted to start now in documenting things that I've tried to enrich our home - both the successes and the failures. Enter this blog.

My goal for this blog is to record my attempts at providing food, making our home more lovely, sewing and crafting, taking care of the things that we have, caring for my husband, and teaching my children - as well as linking to ideas for future attempts.

Now I know that some may feel that domestic tasks are beneath them, or claim that womankind has been repressed by its duty to these tasks, but I believe that I have an inherent capacity to nurture and take care of those around me and I want to do everything I can to develop this talent. Cooking and cleaning and such things can certainly be done well by either partner in a marriage (and should thus be shared in some way) but I see my nurturing talents more as an opportunity to excel and enrich others rather than shackles to certain tasks. I want to embrace my gifts as a woman to bless my family.

This my journey into embracing this part of my life.