Here's the "pattern" I was working to. And by pattern I mean, drawing free hand this pumpkin:
And here's the result, with my husband's pumpkin too:
Not too shabby. In any event, they are something to put out tomorrow for the trick or treaters!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Happy Halloween!
Tonight we decided to finally carve the pumpkins we got at the beginning of the month. Our intention was to do it over the weekend, but hurricane Sandy had other plans. On the plus side they will probably last until tomorrow night now. :) My husband chose to get creative with his design and make his own which I think turned out pretty awesome, especially when lit with a candle. I opted to pick something cool I saw on the internet and try to repeat it.
Here's the "pattern" I was working to. And by pattern I mean, drawing free hand this pumpkin:
And here's the result, with my husband's pumpkin too:
Not too shabby. In any event, they are something to put out tomorrow for the trick or treaters!
Here's the "pattern" I was working to. And by pattern I mean, drawing free hand this pumpkin:
And here's the result, with my husband's pumpkin too:
Not too shabby. In any event, they are something to put out tomorrow for the trick or treaters!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Making Your Own Baby Food
This may seem like an intimidating idea, but trust me, nothing could be easier to make. I wish all my meals could be as simple as the ones for a baby. During a visit to the pediatrician's office we were told some enlightening things about baby food. The first of which is they do not need to start with cereal. Silly uneducated me thought that was what you had to do! She actually suggested avocado as a great first food. The added bonus being you can eat whatever they don't. Fabulous!
We actually did choose to make avocado Colin's first food and it was probably one of the best decisions we made. He actually liked the avocado and, as we later found out, on the mess scale, it's pretty low. He did still manage the get it all over him, but it wasn't nearly as bad as cereal. We decided to make that the second food so in a pinch if we had to, we would know it would be ok to give that to him. I am glad I bought a small box because I can't see going back to that EVER. On the mess scale that was probably oh, about an 11. I think the only way we are going to finish that box is if it gets mixed in with other real food.
After that episode, I decided to go educate myself on what a baby needs and great first foods. Aside from avocados; apples, sweet potatoes, and bananas are great too. My dad sent a big care package of apples from the family orchard in NY, so those were immediately used to make the first batch of food for him. Surprisingly, they were very easy to make. I chose the boil method, where you peel, core, and cut up apples and place in a pot. I added a small amount of water and cooked for about 15 minutes or until they were breaking down to mush. That's when you know they are ready.
For the sweet potatoes, I scrubbed them and stabbed them with a fork. Wrapped them up in tin foil and baked in a 400 degree oven for an hour. I didn't have time to puree them yesterday, so I put them in the fridge and did that today.
You basically blend them up until they are smooth. You will probably need to add a little water to get a decent consistency. I think I added maybe a half a cup for two sweet potatoes. I just kind of eye balled it.
You should get a pretty smooth puree which you can then portion on into ice cube trays. For me, my ice cube measurement is roughly a tablespoon, so that works out pretty much perfectly. Place all your puree into your trays and then freeze. Once they are froze you can use a knife to pop out the cubes and place into a Ziploc freezer bag. Two potatoes gave me 30 cubes of food plus 2-3 servings which I didn't freeze since I will be using them for a few days.
Between this and the apples, I have plenty of food to keep him fed for a while. Total hands on time was maybe an hour for each food. I am using the Wholesome Baby Food website as a reference/guide to making food for Colin. I think it has a lot of good information and recipes. Lentils will probably be one of the next foods to get prepared this way as they are rich in iron and provide a great base for adding in other foods. Good luck!
We actually did choose to make avocado Colin's first food and it was probably one of the best decisions we made. He actually liked the avocado and, as we later found out, on the mess scale, it's pretty low. He did still manage the get it all over him, but it wasn't nearly as bad as cereal. We decided to make that the second food so in a pinch if we had to, we would know it would be ok to give that to him. I am glad I bought a small box because I can't see going back to that EVER. On the mess scale that was probably oh, about an 11. I think the only way we are going to finish that box is if it gets mixed in with other real food.
After that episode, I decided to go educate myself on what a baby needs and great first foods. Aside from avocados; apples, sweet potatoes, and bananas are great too. My dad sent a big care package of apples from the family orchard in NY, so those were immediately used to make the first batch of food for him. Surprisingly, they were very easy to make. I chose the boil method, where you peel, core, and cut up apples and place in a pot. I added a small amount of water and cooked for about 15 minutes or until they were breaking down to mush. That's when you know they are ready.
For the sweet potatoes, I scrubbed them and stabbed them with a fork. Wrapped them up in tin foil and baked in a 400 degree oven for an hour. I didn't have time to puree them yesterday, so I put them in the fridge and did that today.
I peeled the sweet potatoes, which is really easy after they are cooled. The skin just peels off almost on it's own. Then I dropped them into my food processor.
You basically blend them up until they are smooth. You will probably need to add a little water to get a decent consistency. I think I added maybe a half a cup for two sweet potatoes. I just kind of eye balled it.
You should get a pretty smooth puree which you can then portion on into ice cube trays. For me, my ice cube measurement is roughly a tablespoon, so that works out pretty much perfectly. Place all your puree into your trays and then freeze. Once they are froze you can use a knife to pop out the cubes and place into a Ziploc freezer bag. Two potatoes gave me 30 cubes of food plus 2-3 servings which I didn't freeze since I will be using them for a few days.
Between this and the apples, I have plenty of food to keep him fed for a while. Total hands on time was maybe an hour for each food. I am using the Wholesome Baby Food website as a reference/guide to making food for Colin. I think it has a lot of good information and recipes. Lentils will probably be one of the next foods to get prepared this way as they are rich in iron and provide a great base for adding in other foods. Good luck!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Halloween Creations
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays in this household. We have a number of decorations to put up around the house, but most of what we had filled a small apartment, so it looks sparse in our much bigger home. So I have been looking for ways to add to our collection.
I am going to have to give credit to Pinterest again for this idea, but I still love it. It was very easy and didn't take a lot of time. The hardest part was finding the silly spider rings at the craft store. This project is also way wallet friendly ($4 with supplies left over). So much so I didn't feel too bad about not having a coupon on me for this. Here's what you will need:
Step 1: Cut the ring part off of the spider rings so you just have the spider bodies left. Note: The back of the spider will not be super smooth, but just try to cut it as close as you can.
Step 2: Cut the magnets to match the size of the spider body. This should be enough to get them to stick.
Step 3: Using your hot glue gun, put a small dot of glue on the magnet and press onto your spider body.
Step 4: Apply to whatever surface you wish. I chose my door because I think it's way fun. You can do any surface that a magnet will stick to.
Happy Halloweening!
I am going to have to give credit to Pinterest again for this idea, but I still love it. It was very easy and didn't take a lot of time. The hardest part was finding the silly spider rings at the craft store. This project is also way wallet friendly ($4 with supplies left over). So much so I didn't feel too bad about not having a coupon on me for this. Here's what you will need:
- Spider Rings (or other small Halloween toys - they have to be light for this to work)
- Magnets (I used a strip of magnet tape found at the craft store)
- Hot Glue Gun (and sticks)
- Scissors
Step 1: Cut the ring part off of the spider rings so you just have the spider bodies left. Note: The back of the spider will not be super smooth, but just try to cut it as close as you can.
Step 2: Cut the magnets to match the size of the spider body. This should be enough to get them to stick.
Step 3: Using your hot glue gun, put a small dot of glue on the magnet and press onto your spider body.
Step 4: Apply to whatever surface you wish. I chose my door because I think it's way fun. You can do any surface that a magnet will stick to.
Happy Halloweening!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Homemade Mixes
Lately I have been pondering ways to be more efficient in the kitchen. Sometimes this means time-wise and sometimes this means cost-wise. In this particular instance, I think it might have been a little bit of both. With fall settling in fast and furious, comfort food season will soon be underway. This time of year I find myself wanting to bake more and this includes breads, specifically as it relates to this post - corn bread. Ain't nothing wrong with that!
I have always just bought the blue box of Jiffy mix and called it a day, but I thought how hard can this be to make my own corn bread? Thanks to the age of the internet, turns out, its really not too difficult. This website offered the recipe for the dry mix and then how to use it. For those that are too lazy to go to the site, here's the scoop.
This cornbread mix makes one batch of either a 8x8 baking dish, or approximately 6 muffins. You can also use it any place a recipe calls for a “8.5 ounce cornbread mix box.” It can be easily doubled, tripled or multiplied to any degree you wish (I did quadruple) and stored in an airtight container for 4-6 months. If you do multiply this mix recipe, simply use approximately 1 ¾ cup mix.
Homemade Cornbread Mix
¾ cup cornmeal
¾ cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients together. Store if needed.
When ready to use preheat oven to 425 degrees, then, mix in a separate bowl:
1 egg
¾ cup skim milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Add the wet ingredients to the cornmeal mix and stir until just incorporated.
Cook for 20-25 minutes if using a 8x8 baking dish, or 15-20 minutes for muffins, removing the muffins or bread from the oven when the center is no longer jiggly and the edges are slightly browned.
The site goes on to mention that this is a great money saving way to use pantry staples for something you would normally get "out of a box". Also, they make another great point which is this probably has less chemicals/garbage than you average box mix too. That's always nice.
I am hoping to make a few more of these mixes as I find ones I would actually use. I just need to find containers for them all. I happened to find the one for this in a random cleaning on the cupboards the other day. I don't think I'll get that lucky again, but ya never know!
I have always just bought the blue box of Jiffy mix and called it a day, but I thought how hard can this be to make my own corn bread? Thanks to the age of the internet, turns out, its really not too difficult. This website offered the recipe for the dry mix and then how to use it. For those that are too lazy to go to the site, here's the scoop.
This cornbread mix makes one batch of either a 8x8 baking dish, or approximately 6 muffins. You can also use it any place a recipe calls for a “8.5 ounce cornbread mix box.” It can be easily doubled, tripled or multiplied to any degree you wish (I did quadruple) and stored in an airtight container for 4-6 months. If you do multiply this mix recipe, simply use approximately 1 ¾ cup mix.
Homemade Cornbread Mix
¾ cup cornmeal
¾ cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients together. Store if needed.
When ready to use preheat oven to 425 degrees, then, mix in a separate bowl:
1 egg
¾ cup skim milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Add the wet ingredients to the cornmeal mix and stir until just incorporated.
Cook for 20-25 minutes if using a 8x8 baking dish, or 15-20 minutes for muffins, removing the muffins or bread from the oven when the center is no longer jiggly and the edges are slightly browned.
The site goes on to mention that this is a great money saving way to use pantry staples for something you would normally get "out of a box". Also, they make another great point which is this probably has less chemicals/garbage than you average box mix too. That's always nice.
I am hoping to make a few more of these mixes as I find ones I would actually use. I just need to find containers for them all. I happened to find the one for this in a random cleaning on the cupboards the other day. I don't think I'll get that lucky again, but ya never know!
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