Home Made Bread


I have always wanted to make bread. I always thought it was so complicated and took forever! I was right about it taking forever! On Saturday I decided to give it a go. I found a recipe for whole wheat bread in the book, "Baking with Julia", written by Dorie Greenspan. It turns out the actual bread mixing baking is not time consuming but the waiting for the dough to rise is the killer! If you are going to be home a good portion of the day, you should try making bread. It's fun, easy and best of all, it tastes so yummy! If you want the recipe please let me know and I would be more than happy to type it out, but I am sure they have this book at your local library. Try the bread with a little peanut butter and jelly after toasting. Wow, the taste of fresh home made bread, there is nothing like it!

Carrot Cake



Link





To get a smile on my face my mom and I spent the day together yesterday. We just did odd and ends during the day and had lunch. After lunch we were in Palo Alto near my favorite cupcake store, "Kara's Cupcakes". The original store is in San Francisco but has expanded! We decided we had to have a cupcake! It made me feel better for the day! Today, after a long career transition workshop I felt I needed to let go of some stress so I made some muffins. The recipe I tried was from Ellie Krieger's book "The Food you Crave".

Here is my variation of Ellie's Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/4 cups walnuts
1/4 cups of raisins
3 tablespoons of flax seeds

Preheat oven 350 and line muffin cups with liners
In medium bowl, sift flours, baking soda, salt and spices
In large bowl whisk oil,b. sugar, and eggs until mixed together
Whisk in applesauce, vanilla and carrots
Add dry ingredients to wet and stir in walnuts, raisins and flax seeds
Divide batter between muffin cups, bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
At this point you would start making frosting...
I did not put frosting because I wanted to use this as more of a breakfast item.

WHAT?

So my company that I love and admire went thru some restructuring last week. As a result 4 positions including mine were eliminated. I was completely shocked and thrown a curve ball by this announcement. Over the weekend I did not know how to react, I could not even sew, knit or bake! I was stunned! If anyone has a suggestion on how to cope with my lose please I invite you to let me know! 

DishTowel


On Friday was my friend's birthday. Santa was very good to her this year, she received a Kitchen Aid Mixer! I thought it would be cute if I could make her a dishtowel with a mixer on it! I had a pattern from "Sublime Stitching" and some really cute fabric that I thought she would like. I basically used the dimensions of a kitchen dishtowel that I had and sewed in the sides. Really easy and in about 1 hour you have a cute little gift! I can't wait to make more!

A mustard container turns into a bud vase!



A few weeks ago I discovered this fun blog and found some really cute ideas. All I needed was a empty glass container and I was in business! I had nothing that I could use at home so I forgot about the idea. When I was in San Diego I was making dinner at Courtney's house and we used all the mustard in this perfect little glass jar! I used some scraps of a fabric that I love. I can't remember the fabric name but here are a few reason why I love it. It's green, has skulls, and ladybugs! I also found this really pretty flower outside of my deck. It's amazing that plants are still growing in this cold!

Sticky Caramel Pinwheel Cake



One of my goals for 2009 is to try new things. I have always wanted to make cinnamon buns. I have always been so intimidated by baking with yeast and having to wait! I decided to give it a go! I used a recipe from a book by Lou Seibert Pappas called, "Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory"
It was surprisingly easy to make, just waiting for the dough to rise was the hard part! It worked out because I had all the ingredients all ready and did not have to go to the grocery store. 

News Years Eve


On New Years Eve night I was in San Diego. My friend Courtney and her husband, Tye were hosting a New Year's Eve party. Courtney had an idea to give away cookies and little bottles of champagne as a thank you for coming over and celebrating 2009. Here is what Courtney and I made. It was such fun making cookies with her!