It’s All About the Yarn Wreath

Crafty

I am excited about Christmas, but with only trace amounts of snow in Toronto (so far) I’m sort of forcing it. The best way to get in the spirit (aside from unhealthy amounts of Bailey’s in my coffee) is through decorations and baking, right? So I have been trolling the internet (no really?) looking for fun Christmas projects. Of all the neat things I have found, this yarn wreath idea, posted on Craftster tops them all. Yes, I know Starbucks did it last year, but I’m looking forward to doing it myself this year.

I would love to hang this on my front door! It’s so ‘me’ and my Saturday night Stitch n Bitch ladies will love it too! I think the yarn balls were made by wrapping yarn around different sized styrofoam balls and secured with hot glue. I’m going to try to make one with found objects around the house, we’ll see how it goes!! There are enough balls loose from games long forgotten kicking around here for me to put to good use, though I will have to take a trip to the dollar store to get the shiny balls to fill in the gaps and add some twinkle. Twinkle! I could cover the whole thing in glitter!! I’m a little more excited about this wreath than I probably should be. Pfft.

Christmas stuff for the kids classes is a fast approaching issue, these candy cane Rudolphs are a really sweet idea, especially for the kindergarteners! There are two kids in wee one #2’s class that have serious peanut allergies, so these little treats are something we can give and know that the little ones with peanut issues wont have to pass them up!

It’s been said before but Ill go there again, while the husband machine and I are both on the odd side, we are odd in very different ways. If I could, I’d embroider a skull on pretty much anything I could – dish towels, socks, underwear, whatever. He, however, would love the Star Trek emblem emblazoned on everything. I’m down with Star Trek, but clearly not as down as he is. These stockings are a great fit for that vibe, though I think I’ll just make one for him! Maybe I’ll make myself a similar one with a skull instead!

I am head over heels for these guys! I want to make a whole family of them and dress them in different hats and scarves. If I didn’t already have wee one #2’s teacher’s gift on the needles (Fetching), I’d be casting on for these fun characters right now!

The parade of baked goods to join the hilarity I’ve already made is growing. We’ll see how many of these ideas I get to try out. We’re alternating going away around the holidays every year now, and this year we’re away so I don’t know if I’ll be able to play around in the kitchen as much but I know I’ll be able to do some baking before we leave, and at two out of the three places we’re visiting. 🙂 Here are some of the cookies that caught my eye (a bunch of them are from a site I just found with nice recipes!); Santa Hats, Rudolph the Red Nosed Cookie, Pinwheel Cookies, The Elve’s Snickerdoodles, Vanilla Marshmallows, Gingerbread Reindeer, Rocky Road Brownies, Surprise Cookies.

The marshmallows are on the must-do list! I’d love to give them away with homemade hot chocolate mix – with a chocolate dipped spoon! Feel free to steal that idea if you’re willing to do it all! When I make some of those packages up, I’ll post the marshmallow how to and a good recipe for hot chocolate. Maybe packaged in a cute cup. The pinnacle of this I think would be to make the cup yourself, but I’m not into pottery so that’s that. 😛

I’ll end on a few Martha ideas I’ve had on my to do since at least last Christmas! Mitten Clips, Candy Sticks, Snowman Button Cards, and Mini Stockings.

Next week, I’ll have my own versions of some of these ideas and a few others!

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Summer Roadtrip and Smores Pie

Crafty, Domestic

It is hysterically late to be writing this post now, but I made some fun treats worth talking about, and my Smore Pie is very photogenic. But we have to back up to a few treats before we went on a road trip to visit the husband machine’s family.

The last pie I made for a Stitch n Bitch before we left was #37, Raspberry Custard Pie, which I think is pretty self-explanatory. 😉

#37 – Raspberry Custard Pie

Crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

Topping:
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup icing sugar
Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix melted butter and graham crumbs, pat into pie pan.

2. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks and milk in a saucepan, bring to a boil slowly, over medium heat. Whisk the whole time! If you turn your back for a second you’ve burnt it. It gets thicker as it boils.

3. Remove from heat and immediately mix in the butter and vanilla, let cool slightly.

4. Pour custard into pie crust, arrange raspberries on top. Sprinkle icing sugar on top with a small sieve!

Once we got where we were going, I still wanted to bake, but no one eats sweets. My only opportunity to play around in the kitchen is when I’m making something for the kids and their cousins and long distance friends! First up was a BBQ night at one of the husband machine’s aunts houses (the man has a lot of aunts!), I made pie #38, Banana Ice Cream Pie. It’s the sort of pie children request over and over and over again because it is so ridiculously good!

    

#38 – Banana Ice Cream Pie

Crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/-1/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
Filling:
2 bananas, sliced into circles
1 pint of something chocolately
1 pint of something lighter
1 jar sundae topping

This is less a recipe and more assembly instructions, really! Mix the butter and the crumbs and pat into a pie pan, spread half the sundae topping on the crust, arrange a layer of banana slices on top, then 1/2 the chocolatey ice cream on that, and half the other ice cream on that. Then do it again! I topped mine with leftover cookie crumbs and an Oreo. This pie works best in a deep dish!

Before we left for our trip, I had so busy with other things I wasn’t knitting much but I seriously made up for it while we were gone! I started my Tadpoles before we left, but I ripped through them on the first couple of days! They’re a fantastically belated birthday gift for one of my best friends. Happy Birthday Brigitte! <3

 

As I was weaving in the ends of Brigitte’s Tadpoles, wee one #1 asked me to knit him a pair of socks and he looked through Ravelry and decided on these cute ones called Air Raid. I made them in 5 days! It was a fun, quick pattern and made for 9 year old feet, so I had that going for me!

 

While already 5 hours from home, we took a little day trip to visit our good friends / former neighbors, who bought a cute house on a serious chunk of land in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere both frightens and appeals to me, which also frightens me! We had a fantastic day, with a fire and Smores to top it off! I went into town with my friend Melissa to pick up a few things and I found this kit with a BBQ basket, a giant Jersey Milk bar, a pack of graham crackers and a bag of mini marshmallows. Genius!

The very next night we were all invited to a bonfire and more Smore making with old friends! To celebrate, I made #39 Smore pie! Essentially, it’s a graham cracker crumb and butter crust, with a chocolate pudding filling, topped with marshmallows and cookie crumbs. Wen I got it to the bonfire, it hadn’t had a chance to set, so we set it in the host’s fridge and promptly forgot about it. She took it out a couple of days later, after it had finally set up, she ate it! Apparently, it was delicious.

 

Our second day home from our summer visit up north landed on one of my best friend’s birthdays, so I gathered the usual suspects and we celebrated on the porch with Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (and Chocolate Cupcakes)! Naturally, that weekend’s Stitch n Bitch was dedicated to her as well, Happy Birthday Gill!

This is one of those pies I saw in the LCBO‘s Food & Drink magazine, marked it and it waited patiently for over a year until I finally baked it. Pie #40, Blueberry Honey Pie. This is just a typical blueberry pie with a couple tablespoons of honey in it, baked in a graham cracker crust. I was really all about the graham cracker crust this summer.

 

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Smell You Later (with pie!)

Domestic

One of my best and oldest friends has left the country – again. The first time she left was for England, then she came back for a few years and now she’s trying Australia on for size. I knew she’d love Australia, and though her Visa is only good for a year I wanted to give her a serious send off! The weekend before her Smell You later party, I made this pretty little pie and we finished up the prep work for the following Saturday!

Keeping in my kick with the chocolate crust, I pulled together this number – Peppermint Pie with a Chocolate Crust. Most of the ladies at the Stitch n Bitch where I served this said it tasted like Christmas. It’s a pretty accurate description, actually, so much so that I think I’ll pull this out at Christmas time from now on.

The Smell You Later party was all about good friends and good food. 🙂 It was a semi-surprise, as in she knew about the fete being thrown in her honor, but didn’t know I was inviting all her favorites – even the ones that don’t usually cross social circles! Fun!!

    

First up was this Apple Caramel pie! Essentially, you can rig up any apple pie recipe for this. My only suggestions for altering your favorite recipe to include the caramel is to not use Granny Smith apples, up your cinnamon and use all brown (or golden yellow) sugar instead of granulated. Even when the caramel started to ooze out the top, I was still very happy with it! I dusted the top of it with cinnamon and sugar before baking as well.

I also made Marshmallow-Topped Cocoa Brownies from my fail-safe Good Housekeeping scratch brownie recipe, I just sprinkled marshmallows on top, as per wee one #2’s suggestion. They turned out as good as they look!

Raw batter and mini marshmallows…

Baked brownies, melty and browned marshmallows….

Cooled and cut!

My Uncle Glenn loves to cook, and often comes over on Fridays, especially before a large weekend gathering, to play in the kitchen with me. This week he showed me his favorite dish to make for a crowd, Sausage and Peppers. We started with a red onion, chopped it really chunky and sauteed it with some whole garlic cloves and a bit of olive oil, and added the sausages. At the same time, we chopped the peppers, put them on a cookie sheet with a bit of fresh black pepper and some olive oil. By the time the sausages were cooked, the peppers were ready, we added everything to one casserole dish and popped it back in the oven for another 30 minutes or so. Tah-dah!

 

I know we’ve got a blurry one here and I try to avoid that but it’s the only shot I took of all three of this week’s pies. The Apple-Caramel Pie is on the left, on the right is this Triple Layer Mud Pie from Kraft, and under it, my first successful Frozen Key Lime Pie, recipe courtesy of Martha!

My hands down favorite treat that I made for Lindsay’s Smell You Later party was this tray of pink cake balls, which I think we all know by now I discovered on Bakerella. I made these ones from cherry cake and pink frosting! I ran out of lollipop sticks, but had chocolate to melt, so I made little cake balls with my tablespoon, dropped them in cute cupcake liners and drizzled them in chocolate! So so so good, I swear it doesn’t matter what you do to a cake ball, it’s delicious. Bakerella has so many amazing ideas for decorating cake pops, check it out!

 

I will end this post with details of the full spread, though the three pies I mentioned above are not pictured here, as they were all in the fridge when I snapped this photo. Going across the back row, from left; pork and chicken meatballs, with a bowl of tangy dipping sauce, pizza bread, loukoumathes (my mother picked up a box of them from Athena Bakery), my cheddar crackers, and raspberry scones. Going across the bottom row, from right to left; apple-cinnamon scones, cherry cake balls, cheesy garlic bread, a rice and broccoli number and the sausage and peppers are just out of the frame. Honestly, there really wasn’t much left over!

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Christine of Flapper Girl

Crafty, Domestic, Interviews

Flapper Girl

Hostess aprons! Cupcake iron on patches! Ruffle bum knickers! Coffee cup cozies! Ruffle bum knickers did it for you, didn’t it? Flapper Girl is equal parts sassy, retro and cute! Run by Christine, all items are handmade and are 100% adorable. I had no idea how much I needed a hostess apron, but now that I’m in love with them all (especially this pink and brown number), I have no idea how I’ve entertained every weekend for this long without one! The coffee cozies are so sweet and a pretty way to add more green efforts to everyday life, the bags, hairclips and baking gear are all so rad too!

When did you open Flapper Girl? What was it about that time that made it right to launch?

I opened my Etsy shop in May of 2007. I was really excited about starting this journey of making and selling things I created. I had a few tote bags and aprons and was applying for my first two craft fairs. Since I had a full-time day job at the time, there was no pressure, really. I was just doing what I loved in my spare time. It seemed like the next step.

Where did your love of the 20s flapper girl come from?

There’s just something about 1920s Art Deco design that speaks to me. I think I first fell in love with that. Whether it’s architecture, a beaded dress, a picture frame, or a set of kitchen canisters, if it’s Art Deco, it makes me hold my breath and admire. Then there are my favorite famous flappers of that time: Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, and Theda Bara. I admire all these women for being sexy, powerful, and successful radicals in their field. Moreover, I’ve always admired that the flappers were liberal and rebellious in a time where that sort of behavior and mindset in women was unheard of. They didn’t care that so many people thought they were acting inappropriate and rebellious. They did what they wanted to do, and that was that. I can relate to that. I love finding vintage photographs from the 20s, especially those of flappers. They seem so mischievous. And happy. I connect to that, too.

The fun and girlie but rebellious vibe shines through in all your creations, from your jewelry to your coffee cozies, is it fair to say that reflects your personality?

Yeah, I have a rebellious streak in me. I think it all started when I learned to play the drums at 13. It felt awesome to be doing something I enjoyed, and I felt pretty bad-ass that it was something that wasn’t typical for a teenage girl. There weren’t many female drummers back then. It’s good to see more and more of us take the stage. I played in various punk rock bands throughout high school. Then in 2003, I joined an all-girl rock-n-roll band, The Jolenes. We had a lot of fun playing up and down the west coast.

The office-dwelling corporate life is definitely not for me. I consider that to be rebellious. I was a secretary for many years, and found it to be incredibly oppressive and depressing. I’m one of those people who flourishes making my own schedule, and doing what I love.

Are you domestic? I have to ask because I am so very, and I adore
all of your hostess aprons!

Thank you! I have a love affair with vintage aprons. I’ve been collecting them since I went to my first estate sale with my mom when I was 16. The fancy hostess aprons have always been my favorite kind. I started making my own vintage-inspired tulle hostess aprons because I never wanted to wear my vintage ones, in fear that their old, fragile fibers would come apart. My hostess aprons are built sturdily to stand up beautifully to many, many years of use.

I do have a domestic bone or two in my body. I love to bake, though I don’t bake as much as I used to. Over the past few years, my little family has discovered that we are all intolerant to gluten and dairy, so that has cut into my baking, I’m afraid. I know there are a lot of great gluten-free/dairy-free cookbooks out there, but I have yet to get my feet wet in that arena. This year I got my domesticity on for my daughter’s 8th birthday. She had her first sleepover, and I made each of her guests a simple felt purse that they got to decorate using an assortment of embellishments, including some felt shapes I cut out by hand. I had fun setting up the craft table all Martha Stewart style, with each girl getting her own little tray of supplies, and fancy paper cup of craft glue.

Your coffee cozies are a hit as well, both for their cutenessfactor and for their eco factor. What inspired you to add these to your shop?

The first coffee cozy I ever made was for my husband, actually. It was a Valentine’s Day gift. He still uses it to this day. It has the word HUSTLIN’ embroidered on it. He loved it, and from the response he was getting at the coffee shops whenever he used it, I figured other people would like the cozies too. I realized that choosing words to embroider on coffee cups would be sort of difficult, so I went with cute designs instead. My first pattern was vintage eyewear. Bikes and squirrels soon followed.

I’m really proud of these cozies. I feel good about making something that is keeping unwanted waste out of the landfills. The cozies themselves keep people from using those drab cardboard java jackets that get tossed with the cups. Plus the cozies are made from either eco-fi felt (which is made from recycled plastic bottles), or repurposed felt from second hand stores (mostly the Knittn Kitten) and estate/yard sales. They are truly an eco-friendly item!

Tell me about your home studio. Where do you craft and how do you
keep it organized (or do you not)?

It’s pretty cozy, and hard to keep organized, but I do my best. We live in a wonderful old building that’s on the historic register. As such, we have old plaster walls that aren’t made for hanging stuff on. This means that we can’t install any wall shelving, so I have to get creative in keeping my craft space organized. My vintage pink Morse sewing machine is set up on an antique vanity-turned-desk. It has huge, deep drawers, which I’m thankful for. I also have a few bins and various storage cubes for fabric, and a tall, standing shelving unit with some plastic bins to keep various supplies and projects in. If I’m working on a project that doesn’t require my sewing machine, I find myself working at the kitchen table, or on the couch. I can’t watch TV and create at the same time, so whether I’m sewing, making jewelry, or embroidering, I’m most likely listening to an audiobook on my iPod. I’d like to hug the person who invented audiobooks.

Flapper Girl

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Window Shopping Wednesday, Part 1

Crafty, Domestic, Window Shopping

When I finally plunked down to decide on the cotton for our diapers, I headed first to Etsy, and then to eBay where I found Tonic Living, the shop where I picked up all of the cotton flannel I used for the diapers. Along the way I came across so many cute crafty things I instinctively felt that I ‘needed’. Naturally, as much as I’d love to say that I have a legitimate use for 20 Colourful Hello Kitty Shank Buttons, I just don’t. So until I come up with ideas for all of these supplies, I’ll have to just drool over them here. I’m posting photos of my finds with links to the shop, if the exact item has sold, poke around to see what else they have listed!

My *fave* Etsy shop is Rainbow Fabrics! It’s one of those places that I lose all track of time when I go there. So many fun and vibrant fabrics to pick from, I got 14 different fabrics (fat quarters and half yards) and I already have a long wish list again! This set of apple fabric I want to use to make some school gear for wee one #2, she started kindergarten this fall and is crafty-minded. I wonder where she gets it from. Ha! Would have been a cute a first day of school dress with apples? That’s not too cheesy, is it? Sometimes I have to hold myself back from the uber cheesy, so I can’t always tell. If it’s not flamed as lame, I’ll do it up next year. Or maybe a crayon case?

 
Alexander Henry Perfect Pattern Pair, Japanese Elephants and Mushrooms with Glitter

 
Michael Miller Apple Dot Set, Kitties, Birdies, Buggies and Flowers

I was looking for Hello Kitty fabric and came across a shop based in Japan called This and That From Japan, with fabric, ribbons, stamps and other neat stuff. The only issue is the shipping (most items are $4.50 in shipping, $2.75 if shipped with another item), but that depends on both where you are and how much you love the item. I love this fabric because you can find Hello Kitty on fabric here, but I’ve never seen her apple picking before!


Japanese Fabric – Hello Kitty Picking Apples – Half Yard

Of course I have to add in the Kero fabric I found when I found the Hello Kitty stuff. Soooo cute! I have no idea what I’d use this for. Maybe a dress for one of my girls? Maybe a wee little tote for myself? When I get better at it, I’d really love to make some kind of sweet/creepy Japanese cartoon quilt, but I’m not going to collect pieces for it until my quilting skills are better.


Japanese Fabric – Kerokerokeroppi and Friends – Blue – Half Yard

All this neat baking gear can be found at Cupcake Social. I will readily admit it’s the shop’s name that had me clicking the link and I’m glad it did because its packed full of really cute baking supplies! I’ve mentioned before that 2010 will be Cake and Cupcake Year, I’m so looking forward to using some of this neat gear.

 
Mini Assorted Animal Print Cupcake Liners, Pretty in Pink and Black Cupcake or Muffins Baking Liners


Creepy Crawly Sugar Bug Layons

Then, of course, are the botton shops. It is so easy to get sucked into the button shops! This one, Forsythe Company Store has a lot of sweet treasures.

 
One Inch Plaid Scottie Dog Buttons, Sweet Turquoise Summer T-shirt Buttons

These four gems were found at Delish Beads.

 
17mm Purple Bunny Buttons, 15mm White Teddy Bear Cabochons

 
25mm Fuzzy Skull Appliques, 45mm Big Pink Star Pendants

    Buttons and beads for sure are the worst for me, because I literally never make anything from them, but they are shiny and pretty and I’m such a sucker!! I want to, and I hope to, but at the moment I don’t have any projects planned with beads. I’d use the bunny buttons on a sweater for one of the girls, and I’d love the fuzzy skulls on something for me. One thing at a time though!

    I aim to continue with this series! Send me links to neat crafty supplies!

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    Pies, Socks and Scones (in that order)

    Crafty, Domestic

    At the end of 2008, I declared 2009 ‘Pie Year’, for a dear friend who would choose pie over cake or ice cream or brownies – every time. Most of the pies I’ve made this year have been adored by everyone who ate them, with a few exceptions but generally if one person didn’t like a certain pie someone else did. This held true until I attempted Shoo Fly Pie aka Maple Syrup Pie. Either I can’t read a recipe (and 6 months of successful pies would say otherwise) or this pie just isn’t very good. I wont even post photos of it. Once a slice was cut and you looked away, it would all sort of fall back into itself and you’d never even know a slice was removed. Scary. So the following week I had to redeem myself by baking two of the easiest pies known to man – Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Pie.

    These two are not the only pies in this post, but they are both fantastically simple and worth mentioning. Generally, when I make Cherry Pie, I use Martha’s Sour Cherry Pie recipe. This week however, I was asked to use a can (the horror!) because one of my knitting group ladies loves cherry pie filling from a can. For the Pumpkin Pie, I often use my Grandmother’s recipe but this time I used a Paula Deen recipe and it was fantastic! Cream cheese and half and half isn’t exactly the best for the waistline, but really if you go healthy with the pumpkin pie it’s just not the same. This recipe had the added treat of a bit of fresh ginger, too!

    These socks were painstakingly made for my wonderful Mother in Law, and of course, they’re too small. I have to block them. I have wanted to make her socks for a while, but she’s allergic to the fun sock yarns I always have on hand and can only wear cotton socks. I didn’t want to just make her some boring socks so I searched for some nice cotton sock yarn and found this beautiful crimson cotton yarn from Butterfly 10! It’s a bonus that happens to be Greek yarn too! I used the Menehune Cobblestones Socks pattern from Straw. There is a whole gallery of free sock patterns on their site, the toddler socks are so cute and are going in my cue!

    I’m sort of bummed that I have to block these because I don’t want to hurt them – but I really, really love the way they knit up.

    This next pie is my 31st of the year (yes, I’m slacking a little in updating them here), it’s called Satan’s Choice, my sister found it in a book our Grandmother gave me called Pies and Tarts with Schmecks Appeal by a very sweet little lady, Edna Staebler.

    #31 – Satan’s Choice

    Crumb Crust:
    1-1/2 cups cookie crumbs
    1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter
    1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
    Filling:
    15 large marshmallows
    4 almond chocolate bars
    1/2 cup milk
    1 cup whipping cream
    reserved crumbs from crust

    This pie was fairly easy to make, if a little alarming after reading the ingredients. The crumb is a standard crumb and Becel combo, with some sugar as well. Just mix the cookie crumbs with the sugar, add the butter/marg/Becel and pat into your pie pan.

    Then melt the marshmallows and chocolate bars with the milk in a double boiler. Cool it in the fridge for half an hour or so, then whip the cream and fold that into the chilled chocolate mixture before pouring the whole thing into the crumb crust. Top it with the rest of the cookie crumbs and chill it again before you cut into it. This was one of my sister’s favorite pies this year and she’s asked me to make it again for her birthday!

    This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie doesn’t count toward my ‘pie a week’ challenge because I already made this one as my 22nd pie this year. The Mud Pie beside (#32) it does though! This recipe came from the Kraft Kitchens. A lot of people have an issue with the big box sites like theirs, but I find it very useful and helpful and I’m sure due to their test kitchens their recipes always work! This pie was a hit and is one of those pies I’ve made this year that I will be recreating again I’m sure.

    I’ve recently fallen head over heels for scones. All kinds of scones! I’ve been making apple scones the most often because we always have apples on hand. I have had this recipe for years and no longer know where I got it from. I hadn’t used it much before recently and now I’ve used it 5 or 6 times this month!

    Apple Cinnamon Scones

    2 cups flour
    1/4 cup + 2tbsp sugar
    2 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1/4 cup cold butter
    1 shredded apple
    1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cup milk
    1 + 1 tsp ground cinnamon

    These scones are so easy (and quick) to make, especially with the mixer it’s a 10 minute operation. Mix flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the shredded apple, 1/2 cup milk and cinnamon. Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture and (using the hook attachment) add the milk mixture to it. It forms a dough fairly quickly.

    Roll the dough, with the assistance of a handful of flour, into two equal balls. Squish them down a little, and using a sharp knife score slice wedges into them. Whisk the reserved milk, sugar and cinnamon together and brush the dough with it. Bake for 10 minutes at 375, take out to brush with the milk mixture again, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Ready! This recipe made these.

    Next up is more pie, naturally, and weekly pie on vacation!

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    Nomi of Manic Muffin Totes

    Crafty, Interviews

    Manic Muffin Totes is a sweet Etsy shop stocked with super cute owls, pillows and other fun quilted items. Run by Nomi, everything is handmade – all quilted items are hand quilted! All of the treasures in this shop are so cute and the attention to detail is mind blowing.

    Manic Muffin Totes – Pink and Sassy lil Hoot!!

    1. Your ‘Lil Hoots’ owls and pip Squeaks are so cute it hurts, how was the idea for these wee creatures born?

    My lil hoots started out as purse I designed. I found out very fast, that I hate sewing in zippers. After fighting with this one impossible zipper, I just stuffed it, sewed the owl closed, and lil Hoots were born. They are cuter as pillow/plushies anyway.

    My pip Squeaks are one of my newer designs. I collect mice, so I thought I would make a mouse pincushion, after a few attempts, I actually made something really cute, and I didn’t want to stick it full of pins so I gave it to my niece, who loves it. So I thought these little guys might do well on Etsy, and I gave they a try. They make really great baby shower gifts.

    2. Your quilted items are hand quilted! Holy cow. Where did you learn that?

    I am a self-taught quilter. A very good friend of mine gave me her grandmothers quilt books when she passed away, and I fell in love with quilting. I absolutely love to lap quilt, I average 12 stitches per inch, but I can actually get 15 stitches per inch! But that is serious over kill, and really not practical. I just like to brag that I can do it. J Quilting keeps me sane and grounded. I think it is the repetitive motion, that is much like meditating.

    Continue Reading »

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    Spaghetti Pie, Cake and Cupcakes!

    Domestic

    When I decided to make a different pie every week, I knew I wanted to make supper pies as well as desert pies and of course, I wanted to make some really weird ones. Weird pies, like Spaghetti Pie. Really. This was take one, and there will for sure be a take two now that I’ve tried it out and sort of know what I’m going for. I had bumped into a few recipes for it, like this one from Kats Kitchen, and this one from Dinner With Julie, which are both essentially spaghetti mixed with eggs, cheese, sauce and veggies, poured into a pie pan. Then there are recipes for it like this, from Big Red Kitchen, where the spaghetti is used as a crust and the sauce, meat and cheese is on top. I went with the base of the first two and used what I had. While the spaghetti was cooking I chopped the veggies, I used carrots, a tomato, oregano, zucchini, and of course onions and garlic. I also cubed some cheddar cheese and poured 3 whisked eggs around it. I recommend mixing it all in a bowl first and then putting it in your pan because the cheese mostly melted on top. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been much better.

     

    Next time, I will use more like 5 eggs for this pan, I’ll add some peppers and spinach and I think I’ll use mozzarella and parmesan instead of cheddar.

    These cupcakes, along with the Spaghetti Pie, were made to say smell you later to a friend who was going away for a couple of weeks – whose favorite color is green. I didn’t want to make green frosting for a plain chocolate cupcake, it’s a little misleading, so I made mint chocolate cupcakes.

    2009 has been the year of the pie, and I’ll keep going with the pies and tarts till the end of the year, but 2010 is going to be the year of cakes and cupcakes! I was getting into it early with the cupcakes and then a few days later with this marble cake, and then again with more cupcakes. I don’t know why I love it so much more than either vanilla or chocolate cake. Presentation, maybe? It’s much prettier than a plain cake. I didn’t even frost it, we just ate squares of it with coffee.

     

    I had to make something special for wee one #1’s last day of school party, he wanted cupcakes, but he wanted them to be different. I saw some rainbow cupcakes on Craftster a while ago but had no reason for them at the time. They look far more impossible than they really are and I so wish I had taken photos of the process. I will do them up again for the year of the cake and cupcake and take better pics then. Essentially, you just make a vanilla cake, separate it into how over many smaller batches as you like and tint them all different colors with food coloring. Then we you fill the cupcake liners, you just use about a tablespoon or so of each color (depending, of course, on how many colors you use).

    When they bake up, you can see the layers of colors in the crust on top, but they are downright impressive when you break one open!

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    Chocolate Espresso Pecan Pie and Potato Crisps

    Domestic

    I have never really been a big fan of pecans, but when I read about this recipe via a Tweet from Jen Yu, I had to try it. It’s a pecan pie, sure, but it’s a chocolate espresso pecan pie. I love chocolate and I adore espresso, so its a win! The recipe is posted here at Use Real Butter, modified from Fine Cooking, and I modified it just a little as well. I made my usual crust and I didn’t have any corn syrup so I used maple syrup (ha!). I’m going to repost it here anyway, in the interest of organization! Use the crust suggested, or your own standard crust.

    #25 – Chocolate Espresso Pecan Pie
    3oz unsweetened chocolate
    2 oz butter
    4 large eggs
    1 cup maple syrup
    1 cup sugar
    1/4 tsp salt
    2 tbsp instant espresso powder
    1 tbsp hot water
    2 tbsp Bailey’s (or something like it)
    2 cups pecans

    This pie comes together just as you’d imagine it would, chop and melt the chocolate and butter together. Let it cool off and mix the eggs, maple syrup, sugar and salt. Whip up the espresso and hot water before adding it to the egg mix, then add the chocolate mix and the Bailey’s.

    Spread the pecans on the bottom of your crust and the pour the mix on top (pecans float, who knew?). The recipe says to arrange some half pecans along the edge of the pie before you pour in the filling. Your call, I didn’t. Bake it at 350 ’till the filling puffs’ and man does it ever, about 45 for me (be warned, my oven runs HOT).

    I don’t think I can possibly describe this pie, it has to be tasted. It’s not too chocolaty, and though you can taste the coffee flavor, it’s not overpowering. This is a pie I will make again and again. I loved it.

    Sidenote, I’ve taken to making little potato crisps in the afternoon for the kids when they ask me for a snack. I just scrub down a potato, leave the skin on and slice it really thin. I just sprinkle with a little Becel oil and black pepper. Sometimes I also use a little romano or parm cheese. I pop them in the oven at about 400 for 15 minutes or so (depending on how thin they are).

    Wee one #1 eats them plain, wee one #2 dips them in ketchup and wee one #3 doesn’t have any teeth yet so she doesn’t have a preference yet. 😛 I’m going to try this will various root veggies and different toppings. Like can you imagine how garlic and green onions could transform a potato? Or what cheese and chives would do for a yam?! I am getting excited about the possibilities!

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    Three Pies and Piri Piri

    Domestic

    So much has happened this summer, I can’t post about it all at once, so I’ll break it into multiple posts.

    We’ll start with this incredible Coconut Cream Pie I put together. The inspiration came from this Martha Stewart version, but I didn’t want to use meringue on top, and the cream of coconut (while delish) is way too fattening for me to serve it to my friends with a clear conscious! So instead I put together something still fairly fattening, but not over the top – what was over the top was the taste! Amazing. This is pie number 21 in my self-inflicted Pie a Week Challenge!

    #21 – Coconut Cream Pie
    3 cups of half and half (yeah, I know)
    2 eggs
    3/4 cup sugar
    1/2 cup flour
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 cup flaked coconut
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    1 9″ pie shell (baked)
    1 cup whipped cream

    Before you start, make your pie crust and toast your coconut. I used my standard pie crust and I just toasted the coconut in a frying pan for about 10 minutes on med-high.

    In your favorite saucepan, mix half and half, eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Bring this to a boil on low heat and don’t walk away from it! Keep stirring or it will start to scorch. Once it thickens up a little, take it off the stove, and stir in 3/4 of your coconut flakes and the vanilla. Pour the mix into your pie shell, spread the whipped cream on top and sprinkle with the rest of your toasted coconut, then freeze for at least 3 hours.

     

    Voila! Refreshing and creamy Coconut Cream Pie! I served this on a day when my girlfriends and I were planting a vegetable garden in my backyard.

    The following week, I made two pies. I had planned to bake a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for a dear friend who visits every weekend and has a serious soft spot for rhubarb, so that came first. Getting my hands on fresh rhubarb was proving to be harder than I had thought so when I finally had some, there was no question what this week’s pie would be! Presenting pie number 22 of 2009!

    #22 – Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
    1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
    1/2 cup flour
    1 lb fresh rhubarb
    2 pints fresh strawberries
    9″ pie crust
    2 tbsp butter
    1 egg yolk

    Preheat your oven to 400 and wash and chop your strawberries and rhubarb. Mix flour and sugar, add strawberries and rhubarb and toss it all around until the fruit is nicely coated. Set this aside for about 20 minutes to set.

     

    Pour the filling into the pie crust, top with a dollop of butter and cover with the top crust. I got a little silly and cut out about 20 stars from the crust and arranged them instead of making a flat top with one star cut out of it as I usually do.

    Mix up the yolk and brush it over the pastry, then sprinkle with sugar and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.

    Like a lot of the weirder creations that come out of my kitchen, this started with a proper recipe from a really fun foodie site, Dutch Girl Cooking, emailed to me by a sweet friend who knew I’d love this. I read over the recipe and got so excited! She has made a wonderful step by step on her blog to follow along with. I made the recipe as she posted, but just before I popped it in the oven, one of my Stitch n Bitch ladies came over and suggested I put my cocoa brownies on top – instantly I knew this was a great idea! In the end, I inverted it so the brownie is actually under the pie. So delish, I can’t even explain.

    #23 – Brownie Bottomed Chocolate Apple Pie:
    Dough
    1 1/2 cups flour
    3 tbsp cocoa powder
    2/3 cup butter
    5 tbsp sugar
    1/2 tsp vanilla extract
    1 tbsp cold water
    Filling
    7 apples (mix them up!)
    2 tbsp butter
    1 tsp cinnamon
    2 oz (1/4 cup) dark chocolate
    sugar
    Brownie
    1/2 cup flour
    1/2 cup cocoa powder
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/2 cup butter
    1 cup sugar
    2 large eggs
    1 tsp vanilla extract

      

    Instructions for the dough and filling are outlined on Dutch Girl Cooking, but essentially I mixed all the dough ingredients in the Kitchen Aid with the hook attachment and rolled it out. I totally agree that there is no other pan to make this in than a spring-form. I popped the dough in, and smoothed it out and left the edges of the dough hanging off the side of the pan.

    I did the apples almost the same as Dutch Girl, except I didn’t cook it as long because I don’t like it as mushy. 🙂 After I poured in the chocolate-apple mix, and folded over the edge of the crust and added the top, we decided to whip up some brownies and put them on top because I had a bigger pan than I thought and had almost 3″ to the top!

    For the brownies, melt the butter in a saucepan, then take it off the stove to add the sugar and eggs (one at a time). In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt before slowly adding that mix to the warm sugar mix. Pour that out on top of the pie and pop the whole thing in the (preheated to 350) oven for about 35 minutes. Once it cooled off, I opened the spring-form and flipped it upside down to put the brownies on the bottom. Next time I make this (and there will certainly be a next time) I’ll put wee cutouts on the bottom of the pan so they’re on top when I turn it out!

    Years ago, my husband machine had an office job outside of the house (the horror!), and he went to a little Portuguese place for lunch all the time. He raved about this not-too-hot sauce that came with a chicken/rice/mini potato lunch. He’s been working at home for two years now and hasn’t had this sauce at all, until wee one #3’s baptism in May. The place we got our chicken from this time around included this sauce and I set out to recreate it! He said I came pretty close!

    Maytina’s Piri Piri Sauce – Take One
    1-1/4 cups olive oil
    4 jalapeno peppers
    2 sprigs fresh oregano
    1 tbsp paprika
    3 cloves garlic
    2 green onions

     

    Chop the peppers, if you like it really hot include the seeds. If you like it ‘pinchy’ but not too hot, leave them out. I left them out. Chop your oregano, green onions and garlic as well, and add all but the garlic to a saucepan with the olive oil.

    Stir till the peppers get mushy, then add the paprika and chopped garlic. Cook for a few more minutes, until garlic is soft. Then pour the entire mixture through a sieve over your jar and let the liquid sit, sealed, at the back of the fridge for a week before you use it. Goes great over lemon chicken, potatoes or rice.

     

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