Crochet!

A couple months ago, being newly unemployed I needed a new hobby( besides baking). So I decided to teach myself how to crochet. I started by looking on Pintrest of course to see what kind of projects I could start with. From there I used YouTube to watch videos of tutorials of the stitches and and other things. My first project was a headband! It was a little big and stitches a little weird and uneven but I was excited to finish it and the headband looked really close to what it was suppose to..sorry don't have a picture of it! After that I made A LOT of flowers they are super fun, easy and fast to make. I was getting pretty comfortable so I figured I was ready for a big project and my husbands birthday was coming up in a few days.. What husband doesn't wish to get a crochet item for his birthday! After thinking a while I decided on a throw blanket. I thought it would take a couple days to do so I had to get started soon! Little did I know what I had got myself into! Lets just say his birthday was over a month ago and I still haven't finished it! Its taken a lot longer then expected and a lot of yarn! Here are some pictures of the blanket in progress!

About half done

Up close

Mug Cozy

My cat Dax follows me where ever I go and he is always in the way. I moved him out of the picture 3 times before I just gave up.. haha But here it is... My goal is to finish it next week! This week I worked on a gift for my cousin. A coffee mug cozy! Really simple project and small. Im going to make a coaster to go with it!

Also works as a cat neck warmer!

Baked Maple Bars

I'm back! My husband had a few days off from work so I spent some time with him and neglected posting for a few days! I still tested some pins out of course.. haha. I wanted to make a dessert for him so I searched and found this pin for baked maple bars.

Baked Maple Bars

1 1/2 cup Milk

1/3 cup Crisco

The Supplies 1

4 tbs Sugar

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup lukewarm Water

2 packets Yeast

2 large Eggs beaten

5 cups Flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

 Directions

Milk Mix

1. Scaled the milk, remove from heat and melt butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar and let cool to lukewarm (about 15 minutes)
2. In mixing bowl mix yeast, remaining sugar and water and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy

Milk / Yeast

3.Add beaten eggs to foamy yeast mix.
4. Slowly add warm milk mixture to yeast mix.
5. Whisk together cinnamon and flour in separate bowl.

Step 6

6. Add flour mix gradually to milk/yeast mix until almost combined.
7.Switch to dough hook and let knead for 5-7 minutes until slightly sticky.







8. Transfer to oiled bowl and let rise for 30 minutes until doubled.

Step 8 B

Step 8 A

9.Roll out dough and cut into 12 bars. Put on cookie sheet and let rise for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat oven 425 degrees. Bake for 7-8 minutes and let cool








The Frosting
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp mapleine (maple flavor extract)
1/8 tsp salt

 Directions

1. On medium heat, bring milk butter and brown sugar to a boil for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes

 2. Mix powdered sugar, maple extract, and salt to brown sugar mix until completely combined

3. Frost donuts! 

Meow

Well this week I have been pretty busy and unfortunately haven't had much time to pin and post. I had planned on doing several pins today, but I ended up getting hurt in an unpacking avalanche in the garage. So I have been chilling on the couch watching Psych on Netflix. But I wanted to share my kitties.

Yes I really like black and white kitties and orange kitties. 

Sam and Sara are munchkins, which means they have short little legs and run like ferrets, its pretty freaking cute!

Landon and Cali we raised from kittens. PJ was from a friend who had him as a kitten.

 
Logan and JJ were strays that we took in. Their first pics shows how skinny they were. But they are fat now. ^_^

Sam and Sara were adopted off CraigsList while Connor was adopted from a rescue at my husbands work.

Hope you enjoyed meeting me kitties.

tofu scramble VS scrambled eggs

I came across a recipe for tofu scramble and thought I would try it out. I didn't follow the recipe to a T, mainly because I don't have nutritional yeast or black sea salt. Soooooo...instead I used flour and regular salt and pepper.

The original pin requires mixing:

1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon black sea salt

Instead I used

1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
pinch of salt and pepper

The flour is needed to thicken the water so its more of a sauce to coat the tofu. Just break up the tofu up into little pieces and heat in a skillet. Mix the ingredients from above and pour over the tofu while still heating. You can add other seasonings like garlic and other things you would normally put on your eggs. Once the "sauce" is absorbed, the tofu scramble should be done.

Now the pin says to serve over squash, which sounds devine, but I didn't have squash, so I sliced up potatoes.  I also made regular scrambled eggs to compare.  I served with cheese on top and with ketchup. 

I was surprised, even though the tofu scramble doesn't taste quite like eggs, I still enjoyed it way more than the eggs.  Comparing them to each other, the eggs just seemed rubbery compared to the soft tofu texture. And no, I didn't over cook the eggs. Although, if you don't like tofu, you should still to your eggs.

TOFU

EGG

Tofu vs egg

Spa Day!

After the long day of pasta and dinner making yesterday I decided to take a break and give myself a at home spa day.. kind of :D I made a hair mask and a facial scrub. Both of which I found on Pintrest! (pin1&pin2). All the items for the mask and the scrub I always have handy in my house! Since moving to Oregon, my hair has just totally hated me.. being dry and unmanageable. I don't like conditioner too often because it just makes my hair heavy and haven't found one that doesn't do that yet. And for the facial scrub.. who doesn't like a good facial scrub every once in a while! I actually love them, always makes my face nice and smooth I just love the feel of my face after! 

I was scared of the hair mask because I have never used one and really wondered if it would work.. Its not like I am using any crazy chemicals so I didn't have anything to lose!

PreCombined

What You Need

1/2 Avocado

1/2 Banana

1 Egg

2 tbs Olive Oil

Plastic Wrap

Directions
Put all ingredients in bowl (except plastic wrap)
Blend all together until completely smooth
Wrap with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes
Rinse out with COOL water. You don't want scrambled egg head.
Wash really well with shampoo

Smooth 

Head Wrap

Pretty hair!

Results: This stuff smells sooo yucky I like all these ingredients alone but together... not so much BUT I will do this again I love the way my hair feels! It is extra soft! Next.. Facial Scrub!

The Supplies

Lemon-Sugar Scrub

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

Directions
Mix juice from lemon and the sugar, more or less to get right consistency. Scrub face rinse and done!

Scrub,Scrub,Scrub!

Paste

Smooth!

Results: I loooovvee the smell of lemons so this was amazing. I really like the feel of the sugar crystals massaging my face and it was super easy!

Easy Fresh Pasta & Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls

For the longest time I have wanted pasta maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer for years but just didn't have the money to get one. This last year I finally got one! My parents bought me one for my birthday!!! Right after I got it my husband got his new job and we got busy with moving and such so no time to test it out... Well today I decided to try it out! I have never made fresh pasta, so this was going to be a pretty big task for me but I was ready! I figured that I would pair it with one of my husbands favorite pasta dishes Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls...Lasagna noodles rolled up with alfredo sauce, mozzarella and shredded chicken the are pretty much amazing. So for the pasta I found this pin. It was helpful, but kind of annoying that I had to keep hitting the "next" button...In the end it worked out. I will also put the recipe for the alfredo sauce and directions for the lasagna rolls because they are so awesome that it would be unfair of me to keep it a secret!.

Pasta Supplies

Easy Pasta

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions

1. Pile flour and then make a well in the middle

2. Crack eggs into the well of flour.

3.Mix the eggs gradually adding flour.

4.Once all combined, knead the dough until smooth. About 8-10 minutes

Just combined

Almost there

 

Done

5.Cut the dough into quarters wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 mins before rolling out.

 6.Use your fancy pasta roller-outter to the size that you want!

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Rolls                       Directions               
About 3 cups shredded chicken                      1.Preheat oven to 350                 
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese                2.Cook the fresh pasta for 3 minutes. Rinse            
2 cups Alfredo sauce                                      with cold water and pat dry.
6 lasagna noodles ( 9 if using premade dry)      3.Spread about 2tbs of sauce on the pasta 
                                                                   sprinkle with cheese and chicken.

Fancy Roll

                     4.Roll up and put in greased baking pan.
                     5.Top the rolls with remaining sauce and 
                     cheese. Bake for 30 minutes until top is 
                     golden.

                                                                   

 Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1 tbs garlic(we like a lot of garlic you can reduce it)
2 oz Neufchatel cheese
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp oregano
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
1.Melt butter over medium heat add garlic and cook for 2 don't let it burn
2.Add Neufchatel cheese. Whisk until melted and creamy
3.Add heavy cream, bring to light boil, add oregano and whisk for 12-15 minutes 
4 Add parmesan!

Dax is ready for dinner!

Good luck in your pasta making adventures! I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we do!!!

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

 As I mentioned before, my husband and I had nearly nothing except our three cats and a couple blankets (and of course my KitchenAid stand mixer) moving up to Oregon. Luckily my grandfather lives about an hour away! So when when moved into our naked apartment he came down for a visit. He brought us a kitchen table, a couple pots/pans, a camping tent,wind up lantern, some jackets, six pairs of gloves, two sets of smoke alarms both kinds, and an apocalypse size stash of dry/canned food. 

so many cans

stash continued..

In the stash he brought down there were four boxes of instant oatmeal. We don't really eat oatmeal, so I have been trying to find a creative way to use it. I found two pins for oatmeal cookies (pin1&pin2). I bake cookies a lot and neither one of them seemed to look right so I made up my own.

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

7 oatmeal packets (any flavor)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

The Supplies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  

Step 2&3

 2.Mix melted butter, oil, and sugar until well combined

3. Add eggs and vanilla

4. Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon 

5. Fold in oatmeal 

6. Spread into baking pan and bake for 20-25 mins until starts to 
get golden brown

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Golden Brown

Pile of Cookies!

Well I think think they turned out great! The taste and consistency was awesome! You could make them into actual cookies, just cut the time down to 10-15 minutes, I made bars because I only have a brownie pan! I'm glad I found use for some of the oatmeal, now I just need to find a way to use up 42 cans of potatoes!