Sunday, May 3, 2009
Easy and Frugal Cherry Clafouti Recipe
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Cake-Frosting Stepping Stones & Fat Free Carrot Cake!!!
These unique garden stones are a piece of cake!
Make just one of these "cake-frosting" stepping-stones and you'll be hooked. Success is guaranteed when you follow these simple (pardon the pun) step-by-step instructions. Best of all, you'll recapture the mud-pie-making joy of childhood.The items you can use to make these one-of-a-kind disks are limited only by your imagination—or by whatever you stumble across around your house. There are those leftover tiles, the seashells you collect on your winter vacations, even that can of old keys. So take a creative leap: Make one stepping-stone, and you may have so much fun you'll fill your yard and garden with them.
Lay Out Your Design
Anything can make a cool mosaic pattern—tiles, glass beads, wood letters, polished rocks, found objects, buttons, and yes, even those old tools, nuts and bolts you bought at a garage sale. Whatever you're using, arrange it first on a dry stepping-stone alongside the stone you're covering. Then you can simply transfer and position items without guesswork.
Get in Step - Create a Stone!
One big advantage of using this moldless system is that you can make lots of stepping-stones without multiple forms or having to wait for the concrete to harden so you can reuse one form.
For step by step instructions and shopping list simply click on
Cake-Frosting Stepping Stones:
What a wonderful Mother's day gift this would make...I know I would like one...
Fat-Free Carrot Cake
Ingredients:2 cups - packed finely grated carrots
1 1/2 cups - Florida Crystals® Demerara Sugar
1 3/4 cups - water
1 cup - raisins or other chopped dried fruit
1 Teaspoon - pure vanilla extract
3 cups - unbleached flour
1 Teaspoon - ground cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon - ground cloves
1/2 Teaspoon - ground ginger
1 Teaspoon - sea salt
1 Teaspoon - baking soda
2 Teaspoons - baking powder
Preparation:
In a saucepan, combine the carrots, Florida Crystals® Demerara Sugar, water, raisins or dried fruit, and vanilla. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for at least an hour. In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk or stir to combine thoroughly and set aside.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees about 15 minutes before you are ready to mix the batter. Generously add oil and flour to a bundt pan.
Stir the cooled carrot mixture into the dry ingredients until no trace of flour is left. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake until cake feels firm (about 1 hour). cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a rack, then invert onto a serving plate.
Serving Quantity: 9 to 10
Have a lovely Sunday & God bless you & yours!
Friday, May 1, 2009
TGIF!! Wool Dryer Balls & Mustard Roasted Potatoes!!!
Be sure to check tomorrow for a great Tutorial for a gift for Mother's Day!!!!
THE BRICK
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street,
going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar.
He was watching for kids darting out from between parked
cars and slowed down when he thought he saw
something. As his car passed, no children appeared.
Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag's side door!
He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to
the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry
driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up
against a parked car shouting, 'What was that all about and who are you? Just what
the heck are you doing? That's a new car and that
brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why
did you do it?' The young boy was apologetic.
'Please, mister.....please, I'm sorry but I didn't
know what else to do,' He pleaded. 'I threw the
brick because no one else would stop....' With tears
dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth
pointed to a spot just around a parked car.. 'It's my
brother, 'he said 'He rolled off the curb and fell
out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him
up.'
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, 'Would you please help
me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and
he's too heavy for me..'
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling
lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the
handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took
out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh
scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything
was going to be okay. 'Thank you and may God bless
you,' the grateful child told the stranger. Too
shook up for words, the man simply watch ed the boy!
push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk
toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very
noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair
the dented side door. He kept the dent there to
remind him of this message: 'Don't go through life
so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to
get your attention!' God whispers in our souls and
speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don't have
time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It's
our choice to listen or not.
WOOL DRYER BALLS
Have you priced these already made?...Well it is a lot cheaper to make your own...
Here is the instructions for making your own wool dryer balls.
Materials:
Wool yarn
Scissors
Crochet hook
Old pantyhose
piece of string
Instructions:
1.Wind your wool into a nice, tight ball to the size of your preference. Use the crochet hook to tuck the end under the yarn.
2.Stick the yarn ball in an old pantyhose leg and tie the string around the opening so it doesn’t get out and fly around your washing machine. Throw them in with a load of clothing you are washing in hot water. They will felt quicker this way.
3.When they are done washing, you can throw them in the dryer with the clothes and take them out when the clothes are done.
4.Let them dry overnight and then wrap another layer of yarn over the felted wool dryer ball. This helps keep the wool dryer ball tighter. Repeat steps 2 & 3
Tips For Wool Dryer Balls
If the yarn is machine washable, don’t use it for this project.
Use a crochet hook to tuck in the ends of the yarn so the ball stays tight and doesn’t loosen up through use.
Wind the balls about 10-10.5 inches in circumference prior to felting, they will shrink as they felt.
When first making the balls and felting them, you can toss them in with loads of laundry to save water and time. Be aware there may be some dye bleeding though if it’s not colorfast yarn–throw them in with a load of towels in similar colors.
When ready to use, start with a couple balls in the dryer then work your way up to the amount of balls that give you the best results.
The wool balls may get pills on them with use, just give them a shave with a sweater shaver as needed (if you want–otherwise ignore!).
Mustard Roasted Potatoes
INGREDIENTS:Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons regular Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick or 1/2 ounce) butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes - cut into 3/4-inch-wide wedges
DIRECTIONS:
Position 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Spray 1 large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Whisk mustards, olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, lemon peel, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add potatoes; sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and toss to coat. Put potatoes on prepared baking sheet, leaving any excess mustard mixture behind in bowl. Spread potatoes in single layer. Roast potatoes 20 minutes. Turn baking sheets and roast until potatoes are crusty outside and tender inside, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes longer.
Transfer potatoes to serving bowl.
Do ahead: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheets at room temperature. Re-warm potatoes in 425°F oven 10 minutes.
