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12/30/2011

Hello, Delicious. So Nice to Meet You.

12/30/2011 0 Comments

Don't you just love it when you fall in love with a dish. Not the "Hey, I'm really glad I made this. It's really yummy" kind of love. I'm talking about the "Oh my goodness! Where have you been all my life, and why am I not eating you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?" kind of love. That was a Christmas gift I received this year. The first recipe I can only link to because I basically just stumbled across it on Pinterest.

Hello, my name is Dana, and I am addicted to Pinterest...

Anyhoo, the pin was captioned with : The best broccoli of your life. That's a mighty big claim, but not one that I could ignore. After all, this was Christmas Eve dinner I needed a veggie for. That's a pretty big deal for us. So here it is, the best broccoli of your life.

True story. This was, hands down, the best broccoli I have ever had. The caramelized bits are such a neat texture, and the rest of the broccoli doesn't get all mushy from the roasting. Plus, the garlic adds some nice, low heat, while the Parm is salty and a little nutty. Amazing! I easily filled up half my plate with the great, green stalks every time I had some. I may never serve another veggie again.

But wait, there's more! There was another endorphine-producing part of dinner...

Roasted, Smashed, and Loaded Potatoes
Courtesy Claire Robinson

1 lb small red bliss potatoes
6 Tbsp garlic-infused olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sliced scallions

Preheat the oven to 450° F. Adjust the oven racks to the top and bottom positions.

Place the potatoes on a sheet pan, pour 3/4 cup water over the potatoes and cover tightly with foil. Bake on the bottom rack until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, drain any remaining water and let rest 8 minutes.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over the potatoes, making sure they are evenly coasted. Space the potatoes evenly on the sheet pan and, using a potato masher, flatten the potatoes to about 1/2 inch thick (about 1/2 the length of your thumb to the first joint). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil over the potatoes and roast on the top rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Roast on the bottom rack until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the sour cream and scallions. Serve immediately.

BYOC: Think of your favorite baked potato items and just add it on top. Bacon would be delicious, as well as chopped up broccoli with shredded Cheddar cheese. Sometimes for dinner, I just make the potato plain and poach an egg on top. Easy dinner with great leftovers.

Okay, these potatoes are great for so many reasons. One, they're so easy to make. Two, it's really fun to smash them. This is where you can involve the kids! Just be sure to be careful of the hot pan and potatoes. Three, they're so versatile. I set up a potato bar with the scallions, sour cream, bacon bits (homemade is awesome!), and extra parm cheese. Oh, and did I mention these smashed potatoes are so good they're...well, let's just say I wished the potatoes and I had a private room together.

Oh course we had the goose as well, but I've discussed that in the past. It will be featured again next week, though. I just love that I've found two new recipes that are so simple and basic, yet so delicious. I think I've already told my mum that I'll be making these two sides for them when I visit in March. I promise, you and yours will not be disappointed when you whip these up.


12/29/2011

Getting My Art On

12/29/2011 5 Comments
Hey guys!

Boy, this week week between Christmas and New Year's really wreaks havoc with stuff. I haven't been doing things I know I should, and instead sitting on my tuckus enjoying all the trimmings of Christmas.

I did get a ton of stuff done before the holidays, but I only took pictures of  one of the gifts, because I'm a dodo.

Dana will have to supply some photos of her gift for you guys, but I'm sure she will. I'm an excellent nag. Ask the hubs. :)

So anyways, back to the conversation at hand - handmade gifts. I should really say altered gift in this case, but whatever the case - I want some for myself.

My sister, Nicole moved into her own place with her fiance' this year and as such she's been setting up her house.

She's decided that the colors in her kitchen will be black and white. That's a palette I can work with. :)

So I headed to Target and got some of their flour sack dish towels. These are great. They're large and they're only $5 for 4 of them.

Then I found these Sharpie fabric markers.
Click the picture to go to Sharpie's page.
Now, I bought them before I really thought about the implications.

I would have to draw on these towels with these. Draw. Ergh. I'm not an artist. Not the pencil and creating and image out of it kind of artist, but my head down and ram it attitude provided me with the determination (note that I did not say confidence) to tackle this project.

I went to The Graphics Fairy and downloaded a couple of black and white steampunk images. Love her site! So then I printed out said images in a 5 x7 format, but I made sure that the images weren't cropped or anything.

I laid the pictures beneath the towel and outlined the picture, then I moved the image out from underneath the towel and went to town on them. I think I did alright. here are some close-ups.



The fan is my favorite one, and the utensils were the first ones I did. I think I improved between them and all the rest. The marker was very smooth and didn't catch on the fabric at all.

I want some for myself now, and I have some good ideas with the rest of the colors.

See you guys later!
Heather

12/27/2011

More goals and stuff

12/27/2011 1 Comments
So blogger decided to erase my first post so this one might not be as eloquent.

 Firstly, did everyone have a nice Christmas? I did the hubs spoiled me and got me the running and gym gear I wanted.

 I got these new Zumba shoes. Aren't they awesome?
Isn't that pajama'ed leg awesome?

I can't wait  for Zumba tomorrow. These shoes are so very comfortable.

Second he got me the Nike+ SportBand. I can't wait to try this thing out. I don't know how soon I'll be using it since its been sort of miserable lately, but I am excited about it nonetheless. I was hoping to be able to use it at the gym since some of the machines are Nike+ compatible, but according to Nike's website, they are not compatible. Sigh.

Anyways, back to the goals and stuff. When I set up the SportBand, I had to sign up for a Nike+ account and of course that led to some exploring and playing. I decided to start the coaching program for the 10k training. I'm excited about this because when I run the 8k in March I'll be ready, because the training will end two weeks after the race, but given the distance variance between the training and the race, I think I'll do ok.

My goal for next week is to  log 3 runs. Two 3-milers and one 5-miler. The latter should be interesting as I've never run that far before, but I'm hoping that my time doesn't suffer too much because of the added distance.

Anyways, that's all I wanted to ramble on about tonight. I hope you guys have a great evening.

12:01 AM

12/27/2011 1 Comments
At 12:01 AM I was going into labor - 6 years ago.

It was my due date, but I didn't think I'd actually be giving birth. It was another false labor, just like the other 4 or 5 times. They send me home around 3:30 or 4. I'm effaced enough but not dilated enough.

They tell me to get some sleep and go to my OB in the AM. Sleep eludes me. I finally give up around 6.

I waddle out to our living room and sit in my favorite chair. I watch the sun rise. My contractions are getting worse, but I don't want to wake anyone. It was a long night for them too. If I only knew.

18 hours of labor is what I was in. You, big guy, decided to grace us with your presence at 6:30 on the dot.

Happy 6th Birthday D!

I can't believe how you've grown.





Happy Birthday Big Guy! We love you so much and we're so blessed to have you in our lives.

Heather

12/24/2011

Sweets For My Sweet

12/24/2011 0 Comments

Some of you have heard about my sordid love affair with Starbucks. Their coffee and baked goods are so tasty, but, let's face it, it's probably not that good for me. I don't know what goes into their sweet, delicious goodies after all. Plus, Starbucks takes my money. Jerk...I love you. Anyway, Mike knows of this situation, and keeps my affair in check. It used to be easier to convince him to make the detour to Starbucks because they carried molasses cookies. You see where this is going, right? Yeah, they stopped carrying the cookies, and I lost my best card to play to convince him that we should indulge in my habit. But I love my husband, so I've brought his cookies back!

Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies
1 cup plus 3 Tbsp butter
1-1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Blend in molasses and egg. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves; add to creamed mixture. Mix until well blended.

Shape dough into 1-1/4-in. balls. Roll balls in remaining sugar. Place on greased baking sheets. Press flat with a fork. Bake at 350° about 10-12 minutes or until set. Yield: about 4 dozen.


I don't know why, but I love creaming sugar and butter together. Maybe it's because it's so decadent.


This is my first time using molasses. It wasn't quite as viscous as I thought it would be. I do keep my house pretty warm, though. It's a good that I ended up liking these cookies, because I have a lot of molasses left.


Ever since the biscuit-cake incident from a few months ago, I've been really worried about over-mixing anything I bake, so I make sure I watch Beatrice, my mixer, closely.


If you're worried about the little balls being too sticky, not to worry. They're really very easy to roll out. Mike was really sweet and helped me out at this point because I burned myself earlier in the day.

Side Note: If you want a really good way to burn yourself, dip your fingertips into hot, boiling, deep-fry oil. I don't think I've ever screeched like that before in my life.


Okay, here's the part I'm going to do differently next time. I really flattened my cookie dough out. Next time I'm going to leave it a little thick so that my cookies aren't so flat.


Don't get me wrong, they turned out great, but I like a thicker cookie.

Crap. I didn't realize these would be dangerous cookies. Dangerously delicious that is. Mike loved them, I loved them, and we want to eat them everyday! Buttery and sweet, these are great for...well...any and everything. Mix, bake, and enjoy! As for Starbucks and I, we're still growing further apart, but it's not over yet.



12/21/2011

I have not forgotten!

12/21/2011 0 Comments
Its been a busy week for us here at the house.  Wrapping gifts, baking, and sewing. 40 minutes spent standing in line at the USPS to get stamps. Don't you just love the holiday season?

I do!

So without any ado, here is how the house is decked out. I'm only sharing the main floor today, tomorrow I'll get to the kids' trees. :)

So first up is the dining room. We have a new tree! I've never had a white tree. It was pretty fun to put up and decorate.


The table is set for Christmas Eve dinner already. Thank goodness some paper plates will be going on that china so I don't have to wash dishes. Its the compromise that I made  with the hubs this year, since he's usually the one doing the dishes.

I tried to just stick with silver and white for the tree in the dining room, but while I was  putting out ornaments, I found some  antique ornaments and decided that they could have a place on the tree as well. I think next year I'll have to do something else with them.


So now we're back to the family room. I switched up the trees this year, because I didn't want to move my chair. This is also a new tree. Its a little slimmer than the tree it replaced. Its also fairly bright,  which is nice, but I think next year I'll be putting more lights on it. :)
 
 And there's the whole tableau. So very pretty and traditional. I like it. I also like how everything pops nicely off the orange walls. I do think that my poor mixed nut wreath needs some beefing up next year. Don't worry I have an idea for this :)

Now on to the living room. Here's my shining glory tree! I love this tree. I just can't explain how much I love this tree.

 So here's a view of our balcony from right in front of the front door, looking up. That's the kids tree. I added some white lights to it this year and I love it. I'll share the trees upstairs tomorrow.
Hope you guys enjoyed this quick and dirty tour. :)

Heather

12/17/2011

What a Week!

12/17/2011 0 Comments

I'm free! I'm free! Christmas for our families is out the door and out of my hands. This has consumed my life for the last two weeks, but it's all done! Now I just hope our families love their gifts. We'll find out next week...

Well, I embarked on a new adventure this week: Candy making. I don't have any pictures sadly, as it was a rather manic week, but I'll try to paint some pictures with my words instead. Let's jump right in.

Homemade Marshmallows
Courtesy Alton Brown

3 pkg unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 oz granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240° F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

For regular marshmallows: Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

For miniature marshmallows: Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper, spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray and dust with the confectioners' sugar mixture.

Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round piping tip. Pipe the mixture onto the prepared sheet pans lengthwise, leaving about 1-inch between each strip. Sprinkle the tops with enough of the remaining cornstarch and sugar mixture to lightly cover. Let the strips set for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Cut into 1/2 inch pieces using a pizza wheel or scissors dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Okay, let me just tell you that everything about this recipe is magic. When you pour the hot liquid sugar into the mixer and crank it up, the whole thing turns snowy white right before your eyes. The hardest part, I found, was spreading the marshmallow fluff into the pan. I made this recipe twice this week and oiled my spatula with cooking spray the first time and butter the second time. Both times, the fluff just stuck fast and refused to let go without a fight. I also found that using butter flavored cooking spray will transfer the yellow color onto your marshmallows, which looks kind of weird...yellow snow-ish. Oh, I also absolutely recommend a digital thermometer for this. Mine has a function where I can set the temp and it will beep at me once that temperature has been reached.

This recipe was so much fun, though. The part where you dust the marshmallows after cutting them would be a great task for your kids because it's really easy but messy, which they'll love. :-) The people around you will love these little, white puffs of deliciousness too. I took them to work and everyone raved about them! I think everyone thinks I'm a wizard or something now because they all wanted to know, "How do you make your own marshmallows?!" There is apparently a common belief in our society that marshmallows are spawned from plastic bags. Seriously impressive and delicious. Plus, they make hot cocoa even better! Who knew candy making was so easy?



12/16/2011

Not a Cartographer

12/16/2011 0 Comments
You know there are some things that I do really well, and others....well, at least I tried.

Not to say that today's ornament is not a looker. I'm quite pleased with how these three turned out, but its a good thing that I'm not a cartographer. Or maybe if I was then these would be more geographically correct.

By now you all  have seen and drooled over these lovelies in the Pottery Barn catalog. If not, well you and I have missed out because they are now sold out.

Oh well. Its not like they were too hard to replicate. Well they were hard to replicate accurately, but like I said. I like my creations.
Isn't she pretty? I like her.

Here's PB's version

There are some slight differences. The main one being that I think they used silver German glass glitter, whereas I used clear.

Here's another shot of mine.
I like  the outline in silver. I used a Sharpie oil-based marker in silver metallic for these cuties. I will not show you the very first one. Its not pretty. I tried coloring in the continents and it didn't go well, because you can see every stroke I made on it. Not good. The glitter did not hide them either. So I'll just stick with the latter two. Of course, you're seeing the better, geographically speaking, of  the two.

Even though they're not perfect I still like them. :)

G'night ya'll
Heather

12/13/2011

Wood Grain Ornaments

12/13/2011 0 Comments
Well I'm sharing some ornaments with you guys again today.

I just can't seem to get enough of wood grain, so I decided that I would freehand some on some ornaments.

I painted the inside of these ornaments and let that dry completely.

Then I grabbed a Sharpie oil-based marker in white and to town.


I just went around and around making knots every so often in my woody texture.

I'm pretty pleased with myself over how these came out. I ended up making a set of four. Glitter on these guys would look pretty amazing too.

What do you guys think?

Heather

12/12/2011

Glittered Monogram Ornament

12/12/2011 1 Comments
I’m going to start by saying that my big guy is such a sweet sentimental guy. I don’t know what Hubs and I did to deserve such a sweetheart, but maybe we’re doing something right.

This year each kiddo has their own tree in their room, and my super sweet, sentimental guy wanted me to make him ornaments. He told me that he wanted everyone’s name on his tree. I asked him why and he said – Because we’re a  family and I want all of you guys on my tree.   *heart melts*

Well after playing around on Silhouette Studio and not being happy with any of my ideas for our names, I decided that I was going to simplify my life a bit. We’re going to go with our monograms inside a circle. What I ended up with, I think, is timeless. I really love these ornaments, and so does the big guy. Not to mention he now knows all of our middle names.

So I’ve created a tutorial with {a lot of} pictures to walk you guys just what I did to create these wonderful little works of art.

What you’re going to need:
Cardstock
Glue or a sticker machine like  Xyron – 5” Creative Station
Glitter
Modge Podge

What I did:
I started in Silhouette Studio and a new document. Then with the type tool I typed out the first set of initials. I made sure they were all in caps to make my life easier. Then I picked a font. I ended up going with Calisto. Don’t know where I got it, but I’m going to hazard a guess that it was at dafont.com.

Next up is the circle shape tool. Hold down the shift key while you draw a circle somewhere on your page. When you’ve got about a 3” circle let go. Go to your resize screen and make your circle exactly 3” around.

Next we’re going to make an outside offset for our circle.  In the offset screen make sure your offset is set to a 1/4” and hit apply. Now highlight both of your circles (making sure not to move one or the other) and right click and click make compound path.


 Now back at your text, right click and ungroup your letters. Then drag the initial of the last name to the center of your circles.

While holding down Shift, click on the circle. Both your circles and the letter should now be highlighted. On the modify menu, go to align, and click on center-middle. This will center your letter inside the circles. This is about where I realized I was working with the wrong letter. Darn it. So I had to go back and fix it.

Now on just your letter, we want to start transforming it to fit inside our circle. With the letter highlighted, start pulling the top and bottom edges of the letter until they intersect the innermost circle. I also adjust the width of my letter so that it is just under 1” wide. Recenter your letter inside the circles by repeating the step from above.

 Now grab one of your other letters and bring it to the circle. I started with the middle initial, which is why its going on the right side of the letter we just worked on. I just eyeballed where I thought the center of this letter was in the white space next to the right of the center. Now stretch this letter so that the top and bottom intersect the inner-most circle.

When positioning these side letters, I try to space them so that the bounding box of the letter is even with the center letter. That gives me enough of a margin between the letters, so that it doesn’t look crowded. Highlight the letter and the circles, go up to the object menu and click on align, this time click on middle. This should center your letter in the circle, without moving it on top of the letter we were just working on. Repeat for the last letter.


Now highlight all of the letters and the circles and weld them. I try to not have any of my letters extend past the outer circle, because it makes it easier to weld. Weld all of your shapes and letters.


*If your letters extend past the outer circle then instead of welding everything right now, you will click on subtract all. Then click on the individual shapes that are outside of the outer circle and delete them. Now highlight everything again and weld again. Sometimes after doing this you need to go in and adjust or delete some of the points, but not always.

Now we’re going to make another small circle to  hold a ribbon or an ornament hanger. I did this on only two ornaments, because I got the first 3 done before I had my Eureka! moment. Click on the circle shape again, and while holding shift make about a 1/2” circle. Go back to the resize menu and resize the circle to 1/2”, if need be.


Now click on the offset window again, and this time click on internal offset. Keep reducing your offset circle until it is 1/4” big.

Highlight both small circles and right click. Click on the Make Compound Path.

Now move your circles to about top center of your monogram. I try to line up the outer edge of the ornament with the inner edge of the smaller circle. with everything highlighted click on the object menu and click on align. Now click center. This will horizontally center your smaller circle against the ornament.

Highlight everything and weld it all together.

Move your ornament to the top left corner of your paper. Make sure to stay within the cutting margins of your paper. Go to the Clone menu and click on the column of three. Now you should have three copies of your ornament.

Move one of the copies to the upper right corner, and move the last one below and centered the other two. This will maximize your leftover paper.

Following the instructions to cut out your ornaments. Remove the ornaments from the cutting mat, and toss the negative space. I would keep the larger paper though, because that bottom half could be used for something.

Now that you have 3 identical ornaments cut out its time to layer them together. This is where my Xyron comes in handy. At least it would if I hadn’t run out sticker stuff. Oh well, we’re going to do this last ornament old school. Bring out the glue stick! On the wrong side of your ornament apply glue everywhere, paying special attention to any small or dangling areas. Making sure to have your ornaments lined up correctly, glue two of the pieces together. Make sure everything is firmly adhered and lined up. Glue the remaining ornament on top of the two ornaments you just glued together. Your ornament now has some beef to it.


Time to paint some Modge Podge on this baby. I covered both sides of my ornament in Modge Podge. It was messy, but it got the job done. Immediately after I was done painting both sides of the ornament, I popped it into a bowl of German glass glitter and gently shook it around, unfortunately that was taking too long so I dumped some more glitter on top of my ornament. Then fish out the ornament, I used an ornament hanger, and hang to dry.

Then hang on tree and enjoy.




Wondering about the monogram I made in this tutorial? Its our friend who stays with us quite often. The boys think of him as part of the family, so when I was making these family ornaments, Dev was quite adamant that I found out Evan’s middle name and make him an ornament too.  Such a sweetheart! Oh and its still drying.

Well I hope you guys have liked this little tutorial. I had a blast making these and they’re so very easy and personal. I may have to make up some more to decorate Christmas gifts with!

Have a great day ya’ll.