Domestic Goodies!

I started this post ages ago, but never finished it. Here are some of the cooking and sewing projects I have done recently (meaning in the past 6 months) to keep myself from going crazy!

Here is a farewell cake I made for my cousin Michael when he left on his mission to the Ukraine, hence the colors of the Ukranian flag. It's not the fanciest cake in the world, but it was an accomplishment for yours truly, since I have no experience with cake decorating whatsoever.

This was my Valentine's gift for Adam: a giant chocolate kiss, made of chocolate rice krispies with M&Ms. 

This is the Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake, which I made for Adam's birthday. It was soooo good!

And this is one of Adam's gifts, a remote control holder, which I made for his birthday. I have never sewn anything "remotely" like that before (haha), so I'm glad it turned out okay. :) Tutorial found here: http://www.sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/spring-clean-tidy-week-sofa-caddy.

My friend's baby was turning one, so I made him a toy and a reversible bib in honor of the occasion (I found the pattern for the bib on this website: http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/05/bapron-tutorial.html)

I enjoyed making the baby bib so much that I made several more for baby gifts.

These are opposite sides of two matching bibs that I made for Lily and for her (self-proclaimed) best friend, a little girl in our ward who is about 5 months younger than Lily.

Well, I never would have guessed it, but I suppose I have gone and gotten "crafty." I don't know if I am going crazy or what, but I honestly hated doing crafts when I was younger. They just seemed like such a waste of time. Does it say something about my life that I am doing them now, and actually enjoying it? No, I am not less busy. I guess I just have fewer outlets for creativity now that I stay at home all day. A girl's gotta do somethin! As my mom would have said, I'm just practicing Alzheimer's prevention. :)

Daddy, Mommy, Dogs, and Bananas (the most important things in the world, of course)

It seems like Lily has just been growing up so fast lately. She has been crawling for over a month now and has been pulling herself up on the furniture more often and with greater stability. Her favorite thing is to hold onto one of our hands and cruise around our apartment or the lawns outside picking up anything and everything from off the ground (sometimes it takes a very long time to get very far). It has been very exciting and interesting to see Lily growing up and interacting more and more with her surroundings. I know what you're thinking: every first-time parent goes through this stage of awe at every little thing their child does from pooping to pulling the books off the bookshelf. Well, you're right. But you're here reading it so that means you want to hear about all the cute stuff she does too ;)

So like I was saying, it's been so much fun to see Lily growing up before our eyes and learning more about the world around her. Like when I come home from class and she gets a big grin on her face and points. Or when she sees one of us coming from down the hall or across the lawn and she turns, giggling as she tries to get away. It has been so much fun getting to know her little (or rather, big) personality. We just wish she could tell us what it was that she wanted more of the time. Which is why the title of this post has us very excited. If you haven't guessed, the title refers to the four words that Lily can say (or at least uses consistently in reference to something): Dadda, Mamma, Daw-do (which means dog, or cat), and "Na-na," which means banana. Other recent additions to her vocabulary include hand signs for "more" and "milk" which she generally signs quite emphatically and with gusto! She's also getting a lot better at pointing at things that she wants instead of just grunting.

Which brings us to another interesting development: Lily's culinary preferences. She has apparently developed an affinity for seafood. A few days ago Christina was having some lunch with Lily in her high chair at the dinner table. Lily didn't seem too interested in her peaches or banana, which is surprising since bananas are basically her favorite food. She kept pointing at something on the table very earnestly but Christina couldn't figure out what she wanted. Finally, she realized that the object of Lily's insistent attention was Christina's tuna sandwich. So, as an obliging mother, she gave her some tuna with a little piece of bread and Lily gobbled it up gleefully by the handful, immediately demanding more. The worst (or best) part about it was that Lily's hands smelled strongly of tuna for the next 24 hours. The next day we had shrimp soup with our dinner and Lily was equally enthusiastic about her portions. Funny, I thought most kids didn't like seafood.

And now for the pictures:

Strawberry Jam, Anyone?

So Adam and I got ambitious last week and decided to pick strawberries. We went with our friend Brianna and her baby girl to Twedt's Farms and labored strawberry picking for 2 1/2 hours on Thursday morning. Little did we know (Have you seen Stranger than Fiction? Well I have, and every time someone, including me, says "Little did he know," it makes me laugh. I hope you laugh too. If no, go see Stranger than Fiction because it's really funny.)

Anyway. Little did we know how effective our strawberry picking would be. We ended up with 18 pounds of strawberries! Yes, I said 18 pounds! And it only cost us 13 dollars! That's not including the opportunity cost of course, and I certainly know that if I had a good job, it would not be worth my while to pick strawberries at all when I could be earning much more than the money we saved by not buying these strawberries at the store. However, I am now a stay-at-home mom and I earn nothing, so it was definitely worth while. And in case you are wondering, yes, Lily did try desperately to eat the strawberries right out of the bucket almost the whole time. I mostly succeeded in preventing this.

With 18 pounds of super-ripe strawberries overflowing all over our kitchen, I had to make jam pronto in order to keep them from rotting. I used up every canning jar in the house and an entire bucket of sugar, even though I made low-sugar jam! I ended up with 5 quarts and 14 pints of jam, which comes out to 3 gallons! Here is the resulting state of my freezer:

I guess I will be making cooked jam when raspberry season rolls around.

After all this, I still had enough strawberries to make a large strawberry pie and cram two bags of whole strawberries into the door of the freezer.

If you come visit me, I will give you some strawberry jam . . .  :)

Recents Crafts and Experiments

I have been inspired in my new motherhood by my two sisters-in-law, Amber and Lisa, who are both ridiculously crafty, artistic, and creative. I am generally none of these things. But their talent has inspired me to try a few crafts of my own, which I never would have done in my working non-mommy days. Here are some of my first attempts to develop my inner craftiness:

This is a French memo board I made for Adam's mom for her birthday:

 

This is a baby album I made for my friend Candice when she had a baby boy:

This is a hair-accessory-organizing-board I made to put all of Lily's (and my) hair accessories on (which is funny because Lily hardly has any hair!):

And this is the shelf in Lily's room which I decided to use for her stuffed animals. Please note that I did not make anything in this picture. The stuffed animals are all store-bought as far as I know, and Adam's aunt made the gorgeous quilt underneath them.

Besides this stuff (simple I know, but I am proud of myself anyway considering that I have never done anything crafty in my life before now!), I have also gotten into somewhat of a make-it-yourself craze. I long ago gave up using canned cream soups, and have been making my own for several years. But recently I decided I wanted to make a whole bunch of other things by myself. I started with tortillas, which proved to be very simple, although time consuming to roll out without a tortilla press. I also decided to make my own yogurt, which is AMAZINGLY easy! I seriously takes only 3 ingredients, less than 10 minutes of active time, and just has to keep warm for a while. We have been mixing homemade blackberry jam into it, or sometimes the leftover juice from canned pineapple or bottled apricots. It is so yummy, and cheaper and healthier than store-bought yogurt.

Last week I also decided to try my hand at homemade granola bars. Mmm, they are so good! The only problem is that the ingredients are kind of expensive, since they have lots of nuts, dried fruit, and honey in them. But they are so much healthier than the store-bought kind that I think it is worth it. I also make pizza dough, something Adam is very good at, but that I had not mastered, and homemade breakfast granola (quite different from the granola bars). Next, I think I will try homemade stewed tomatoes, and I heard that you can make applesauce easily my microwaving apples and then putting them in the blender with some cinnamon. Do you have any great ideas or recipes for easy homemade foods?

Vegetarian Fajitas

Did you think fajitas couldn't be vegetarian? That's what I thought, since they usually consist of mostly meat with a few veggies. But they can be vegetarian, and they can also be really good! Below is my Vegetarian Fajita recipe, modified from The Best-Ever Vegetarian Cookbook by Linda Fraser. This recipe only takes about 25 minutes altogether!


Ingredients:
1/2 onion

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed
8 oz sliced mushrooms
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 large tomato
1 tbsp cilantro
cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
1 ripe avocado
salt
lime juice
large tortillas


Cut the onion in half and then slice. Slice the bell peppers as well. Combine the bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and garlic in a large bowl. Stir together the oil, chili powder, cumin, and Worchestershire sauce. Pour over the vegetables and stir until coated. Let this marinate while you cut the tomato in as many wedges as you can (8-12). Chop the cilantro and grate the cheese. Prepare the guacamole by mashing the avocado and adding salt and lime juice to taste. Cover tightly.

Heat a wok or large frying pan and add the vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and cilantro and cook for one more minute. Serve immediately on tortillas with the cheese and guacamole. Serves 3. 

Soup, Salad, and . . . Latkes?

So Adam and I have made some very yummy dishes the last two days. We made two different kinds of soup and a yummy salad all from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. They were just so good I want to share them with the world!

Winter Vegetable Soup

from http://www.marthastewart.com/336693/winter-vegetable-soup

This yummy vegetarian soup is much better than I expected. The squash is the key ingredient. Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound acorn squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 bunch kale ( 3/4 pound), ribs cut away and discarded, leaves torn
• 5 1/2 cups (43.5 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed
• 3 sprigs thyme
• Grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Cook onion and garlic until fragrant, 3 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add squash and kale and cook until kale is wilted, about 3 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add broth, beans, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash and kale are tender, about 12 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper and serve with Parmesan, if desired.

Chicken and Chickpea Soup

from http://www.marthastewart.com/318142/chicken-and-chickpea-soup

Cinnamon, coriander, and cilantro make this soup taste really yummy, and it has a sort of Moroccan flavor. Serves 6.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I used garbanzo beans, which are almost the same thing)

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook, skin side down, until skin is browned and crisp, about 6 minutes. Flip chicken and cook until browned, 6 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
2. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from pot. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons garlic and spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in carrots and return chicken to pot. Stir in broth.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a medium simmer, partially cover, and cook until chicken is falling off the bone, 50 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from soup. When cool enough to handle, tear chicken into large pieces, discarding skin and bones. Return meat to pot. Add chickpeas and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. In a small bowl, stir together 1 teaspoon garlic, lemon zest, and cilantro; sprinkle over soup before serving.

Escarole Salad with Apples

from http://www.marthastewart.com/312496/wilted-escarole-with-apples

This salad is so good, and really easy. You basically only need lettuce, apples, and an onion.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 shallot, diced small (1/4 onion works too)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 bunch (about 1 pound) escarole (I just used green leaf lettuce)

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high. Add shallot and season with coarse salt and ground pepper; cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add apples and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cider vinegar. In a large bowl, toss escarole, roughly chopped, with apple mixture; season with salt and pepper.

Latkes

Latkes are potato pancakes served traditionally at Hannukah. I am not Jewish, but I have never made them before and it sounded fun. :) I just peeled and grated 3 Russet potatoes, and seasoned them with salt and pepper (generously). I also added a good amount of dried minced onion because I thought it would make them more interesting (it definitely did!). Let it sit for a while (at least 10 minutes) and mix the juices in so they will stick together. Then heat a few teaspoons of oil in a large pan and place spoonfuls of potato in the pan, flattening with a spatula. Cook on both sides until they are done.

I think they are usually served with sour cream, but we didn't have any, so we ate them with cottage cheese. It turned out great. I hope you like them too!