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March 24, 2013

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How our garden grows

We made it a priority this year to get raised garden beds installed in our new back yard. And by “we” I mean that I planted a few plants, raked a bit of dirt around, moved two wheel barrows of dirt and mulched said plants. Someone else did the heavy lifting.

My husband constructed us three 4′ x 8′ raised garden beds out of cedar planks. They are about 12″ tall. Cedar is supposed to resist decay better than other types of wood. He then dug out the existing grass, leveled the ground a bit, placed cardboard in the bottom and filled them with dirt. Well, I helped with the cardboard too. Do you see how much work I did here?

We planted:

  • Eight tomato varieties
  • Two basil varieties
  • Two chards (one red, one yellow)
  • Five pepper varieties (jalapeño, bell, serrano, etc)
  • Three mounds of cucumbers
  • A row of okra seeds
  • A row of beans from seed
  • Marigolds from seed, to hopefully help keep the bugs away
Constructed garden beds, lined with cardboard

Constructed garden beds, lined with cardboard

Do you see the two wheel barrows of dirt I moved? And how I raked some of the dirt around?

Do you see the two wheel barrows of dirt I moved? And how I raked some of the dirt around?

The first bed has eight tomato plants in it, all different varieties.

The first bed has eight tomato plants in it, all different varieties.

The second bed has two basil plants, two chard plants, and five pepper plants, all of different varieties.

The second bed has two basil plants, two chard plants, and five pepper plants, all of different varieties.

The third bed has some tiny little cucumber plants and we're hoping to soon see some okra and beans sprouting.

The third bed has some tiny little cucumber plants and we’re hoping to soon see some okra and beans sprouting.

One of the peppers is already blooming!

One of the peppers is already blooming!

Molly guards the raised beds. Hopefully she scares away the birds, although it's more likely that the birds will scare her.

Molly guards the raised beds. Hopefully she scares away the birds, although it’s more likely that the birds will scare her.

Little tiny figs started to grow as soon as the fig tree got leaves.

Little tiny figs started to grow as soon as the fig tree got leaves.

Just a few days ago the figs were much larger!

Just a few days ago the figs were much larger!

 

 

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March 13, 2013

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Our birthday dessert spread

Birthday desserts, ready to be eaten!

Birthday desserts, ready to be eaten!

A few weeks ago, it was that time again. Time for the husband and I to jointly celebrate our birthdays by inviting people over and providing waaaaaayyyyy more desserts than the group could possibly consume. Last year’s selections were a hit and this year was no exception.

The menu:

We had left overs of everything. Luckily I hid some of the extra banana cream pie that wouldn’t fit in the pie pan, because that pie pan was clean by the end of the night!

 

Blueberry crumble cake (bottom left), banana cream pie (top), chocolate crazy cake (bottom right)

Blueberry crumble cake (bottom left), banana cream pie (top), chocolate crazy cake (bottom right)

Chai cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Chai cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Fat free ginger cookies

Fat free ginger cookies

First time using this nice pie pan. Definitely need to make banana cream pie again.

First time using this nice pie pan. Definitely need to make banana cream pie again.

 

Crumbled graham crackers, sugar and mashed bananas made up the crust.

Crumbled graham crackers, sugar and mashed bananas made up the crust.

Crust ingredients mixed together

Crust ingredients mixed together

Crust pressed into pan and baked. The small white crocks were for the left over crust. The recipe made way too much for my pie pan.

Crust pressed into pan and baked. The small white crocks were for the left over crust. The recipe made way too much for my pie pan.

Cooking the cream filling.

Cooking the cream filling.

First layer of cream filling and first layer of bananas.

First layer of cream filling and first layer of bananas.

Second layer of cream filling and the final layer of banana slices. The pie then just had to set for hours in the fridge, so make this early if you decide to make it!

Second layer of cream filling and the final layer of banana slices. The pie then just had to set for hours in the fridge, so make this early if you decide to make it!

 

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March 5, 2013

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Baking orange ginger cupcakes

Cupcakes for my birthday!

Cupcakes for my birthday!

I recently came across a recipe for these orange ginger cupcakes on Instructables that I just had to try. Conveniently, my birthday gave me a good excuse to bake something I wanted to eat, and then force my co-workers and softball teammates to eat it for me.

I edited the recipe a bit, to cut down on the butter of course. My next updates to this recipe will include using more orange zest and adding some chopped candied ginger to the batter. However, here’s the recipe I used for the pictured cupcakes. They were pretty good after all.

Ingredients – Orange ginger cupcakes

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 sticks (4oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/8 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients –  Buttercream frosting

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted softened butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar (you may end up adding more)
  • 1 tablespoon milk (you may need more)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

 

Steps – Cupcakes

  1. Cream the butter, sugar and applesauce together in a large bowl until fluffy.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and ginger together in a smaller bowl and set aside.
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well between each.
  4. Add the orange zest and vanilla.
  5. Add the milk and dry ingredients mixture, alternating and mixing between the two until the batter is smooth.
  6. Since I didn’t have cupcake liners, I greased my cupcake pan well. Definitely grease the pan well if you do this and use a knife to loosen up the cupcakes when you try to remove them!
  7. Fill the cupcake holes 2/3 of the way full. You should get 22 – 24 cupcakes.
  8. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 – 22 minutes. The cupcakes are done when golden and they spring back when touched. Use the toothpick test if you’re not sure.
  9. Allow the cupcakes to cool for a few minutes before removing and putting on a cooling rack.

Steps – Frosting

  1. Once the cupcakes are cool, you’re ready to frost them!
  3. Cream the butter until nice and smooth.
  4. Add in half the powdered sugar.  Mix until well combined.
  5. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, the milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  6. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk. If it’s too thin, add more sugar.
  7. Frost your cupcakes! I like just a thin layer of frosting. If you like more, you may want to double this recipe.
Butter, applesauce and sugar mixed until fluffy.

Butter, applesauce and sugar mixed until fluffy.

Orange for the zest. I really like this little zester - it catches the zest and is easy to hold.

Orange for the zest. I really like this little zester – it catches the zest and is easy to hold.

Batter after mixing in the eggs, and adding the zest.

Batter after mixing in the eggs, and adding the zest.

Mixing in the dry ingredients.

Mixing in the dry ingredients.

Finished batter.

Finished batter.

Cupcakes, pre-baking.

Cupcakes, pre-baking.

Cupcakes on the cooling rack.

Cupcakes on the cooling rack.

Frosting in the mixer.

Frosting in the mixer.

Yum!

Yum!

 

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February 26, 2013

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A few delicious sandwiches

So I know the Superbowl was like a month ago now, but I have some pictures from our party preparation ready to share. Because the Superbowl was played in New Orleans, we decided to make muffuletta sandwiches for our party guests. If you’re not familiar, a full size muffuletta sandwich will feed multiple people because it’s prepared on a very large round bun. I’ve never actually seen a muffuletta sandwich bun for sale anywhere, and I’ve been on a bread baking kick lately, so I decided to make two muffuletta buns for our sandwiches.

A giant muffuletta bun that takes up a whole plate.

A giant muffuletta bun that takes up a whole plate.

Cut muffuletta bun

Cut muffuletta bun

I used a recipe from about.com for the muffuletta buns that worked perfectly. We made both a vegetarian and a meat muffuletta for our party, as well as an italian sub and a portobello spinach sandwich. Among the sides, we made this very tasty marinated vegetable salad.

For the muffuletta, we created a very large amount of olive salad (recipe from Nola Cuisine) to top the sandwiches. It was delicious and we ate the left overs on salads for a few days after the party. The vegetarian muffuletta was vaguely based on this recipe, but I used the olive salad that we made. My husband used this recipe to make the meat muffuletta.

Veggie muffuletta

Veggie muffuletta

Start of the meat muffuletta. In the end, it had waaaaay more olive salad on top.

Start of the meat muffuletta. In the end, it had waaaaay more olive salad on top.

While baking beer sugar cookies for the party, I also roasted some garlic that I then used on the portobello and spinach sandwiches. The recipe for those sandwiches was loosely based on this recipe from Vegetarian Times, but I didn’t make the tofu spread. they were my favorite of the night actually.

Portobello, spinach, shallot, roasted garlic and cotija cheese sandwiches.

Portobello, spinach, shallot, roasted garlic and cotija cheese sandwiches.

I’m still experimenting with bread baking, but I’ll have an update soon. Stay tuned!

 

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February 14, 2013

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Surprise sugar cookies

Can you guess the surprise ingredient?

Can you guess the surprise ingredient?

Now that you see the cookies, can you guess the surprise? Actually, they’ve got two surprises. One is that they were made with beer and the second is that I tried a butter substitution to make them healthier. I know that applesauce can be substituted for butter in many baking recipes, but applesauce makes cookies have a more cake-like texture. After reading suggestions, I settled on using mashed avocado to replace half of the butter in the recipe. That’s right, those cookies have avocado! You can almost make out a very faint green tint in the picture. I even served these beauties at our superbowl party and no one caught on to the fact that they had avocado in them. They disappeared like hot cakes. The cookies were pleasingly soft and delicious. Avocado are fruits after all, so their sweetness is a nice addition to baked goods. Even if they add a green tint.

Recipe: Beer Sugar Cookies

Adapted from Bella Online

Ingredients:

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup mashed avocado
  • 1 ½ cups white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 bottle malty, fruity style of beer
  • Parchment paper
  • Some sugar and cinnamon mixture to sprinkle on top

Method:

Reduce beer of your choice by simmering on the stove top until consistency resembles syrup. This can take a while. Be careful not to let it boil over (from experience).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream together sugar, butter, and mashed avocado until smooth and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix together. Gradually mix in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

After all ingredients are combined, add beer syrup and stir it in by hand, the batter will look marbled.

Drop tablespoon sized scoops of cookie dough onto the baking sheets. Flatten down a bit (they don’t flatten out on their own much) and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 10 minutes, or until a bit golden and set in the middle. Place on racks to cool.

I used Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing, a winter warmer style.

I used Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing, a winter warmer style.

Reducing the beer to syrup.

Reducing the beer to syrup.

 

Getting ready to beat the butter, sugar, and avocado.

Getting ready to beat the butter, sugar, and avocado.

Wet ingredients all mixed up. Notice the slightly green batter.

Wet ingredients all mixed up. Notice the slightly green batter.

After mixing in the dry ingredients.

After mixing in the dry ingredients.

Adding the beer syrup.

Adding the beer syrup.

Marbled batter after mixing in the beer syrup.

Marbled batter after mixing in the beer syrup.

Mmmm... the final, slightly healthier cookie.

Mmmm… the final, slightly healthier cookie.

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February 7, 2013

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Making fig crumble cake

The end product, amazing fig crumble cake.

The end product, amazing fig crumble cake.

Recently I realized that I had figs from last summer’s huge fig harvest in the freezer. Thank you me, for freezing those figs. I also recently purchased the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and have been enamored with the recipes. A recipe for blueberry cornmeal butter cake caught my eye. I decided to adapt that recipe, using figs and less butter. I really love the simple flavor of the cake, the cornmeal and lemon zest combine with the figs to create pure deliciousness that’s hard to stop eating.

Fig crumble cake, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients – cake:

  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (1/2 stick)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups thawed, chopped figs (or other fruit)

Ingredients – crumble topping:

  • Reserved liquid from thawed figs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornmeal
  • 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Process:

Butter and flour a cake pan, I used a 9″ round springform. (Edit: I’ve also found that a tube cake pan works well for making sure you get the middle cooked through) Whisk together the dry cake ingredients. Beat together the butter, sugar and applesauce until fluffy, which should take a few minutes. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Add a third of the flour mixture and all of the sour cream. Beat until blended. Add another third of the flour and beat until blended. Mix the remaining flour with the figs (or other fruit) and fold by hand into the batter until the flour mixture is combined into the batter.

Add the batter to the cake pan. Combine the crumble toppings and spread over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees until the top is brown and a toothpick comes out clean. The original recipe calls for 35 minutes, but for me it was more like 45 minutes.

Combining the applesauce, butter and sugar.

Combining the applesauce, butter and sugar.

Adding the eggs.

Adding the eggs.

Adding the dry mixture.

Adding the dry mixture.

Adding the figs.

Adding the figs.

Batter in the pan.

Batter in the pan.

Topped with crumble.

Topped with crumble.

Yum!

Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

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January 31, 2013

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Fixing our peeling bathroom cabinets

Cabinets

When we moved in to our new house last April, the trim, windowsills and bathroom cabinets had all been freshly painted. After just a few months, we realized that all of this fresh paint was peeling right off those surfaces. Ugh. The master bathroom cabinets were by far the worst offenders since we’ve been touching them every day. It finally got to the point where I needed to do something about it. After talking to the Home Depot paint department, I learned that the previous owners painted latex paint over oil-based paint, causing the surfaces to peel. The fix is to remove the peeling layer, use a primer that lets you switch from oil-based paint to latex paint, and then paint with latex paint.

The entire process took me a weekend and a few days to get all of the prep work and painting done. First, I used plastic drop cloth to seal off the inside of the cabinets so paint dust didn’t get in there.

Prepping the work area

Prepping the work area

Close up of the peeling paint.

Close up of the peeling paint.

To start the paint removal process I peeled off as much paint as I could. It was much easier to peel than it was to sand.

Then I sanded it as much as I could, wearing a dust mast to avoid breathing in the paint dust. On the narrow parts where I couldn’t really sand the paint, I used Soy Gel paint remover. You brush on the Soy Gel and let it sit for a while, the longer it sits, the more layers of paint it will take off. After it set for a while, I gently used a paint scraper to remove the gel.

Close up of part of the cabinets where I used Soy Gel, a paint scraper and sand paper to remove the paint.

Close up of part of the cabinets where I used Soy Gel, a paint scraper and sand paper to remove the paint.

Before moving onto the primer step, I made sure to get all of the remaining loose paint off using sand paper. I used a wet rag to wipe the cabinets down to remove the paint dust and let the surface dry for a few hours.

I used a gray tinted Kilz primer and then two coats of Behr plus self-priming semi gloss enamel in color graphic charcoal. Where I could, I used a small foam roller specifically made for cabinets to get a nice smooth paint finish. For the other areas I used a nice angled paint brush. You have to be careful to not get paint drips when using the brush.

The contrast in the bathroom is so much nicer than the completely cream colored original version.

Finished cabinets

Finished cabinets

Now, I just need to keep my fingers crossed that this new paint doesn’t start to peel…

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January 20, 2013

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Another video made

I finally came back to the rest of the video I took with my GoPro Hero3 while mountain biking a few weeks back and edited down the footage from the BMX Loop at Walnut Creek Park. While this trail has a couple of technical spots, it also has super fast sections where you get to go over small ramps and zoom around switch backs. Towards the end of the mountain biking trail is where you find the BMX park. On the day that I took this video, there were some people out doing maintenance on the BMX ramps. Whenever I come across people riding their BMX bikes in the park area, I like to stop and observe them for a while. It looks super fun!

Once again, I need to learn how to make these videos less grainy, although this one does appear slightly better than the previous two. I think it looks best if you go to YouTube to watch it, rather than watching it in the embedded size.

Previous videos: First try at making a video

Today’s video:

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January 17, 2013

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Homemade lotion bars, great for dry skin!

I decided to venture into making body care gifts for my family this year. I wanted to try something they (and I) would actually use. I came across a few tutorials for making your own lotion bars, along with claims about how great lotion bars were for dry skin. After inspecting tutorials from One Good Thing and Being Frugal by Choice, along with a few others I’ve forgotten, I realized that they all used a ratio close to one part beeswax, one part shea / coconut butter, and one part oil. You can change the ratios and types of oils and butters as long as you keep it close to 1:1:1. If I make these again, I’ll probably grab some essential oil to give the lotion bars a light scent. Mine ended up smelling vaguely of coconut, which reminds me of suntan lotion.

The good news is that I’ve been using one of the bars for about a month and really like it. When you first hold it, it melts slightly in your hand, allowing you to rub it on dry skin. When you first rub it on it feels a bit oily but just few seconds later, it all absorbed and you’ve got moisturized skin.

My ingredients:

  • White refined beeswax from Dadant & Sons (Holds the oil and butter together, promotes absorption into the skin)
  • Shea butter from Whole Foods (Repairs dry skin)
  • Almond oil from Whole Foods (Nourishes, revives and promotes clear, soft, healthy skin)
  • Avocado oil from Whole Foods (Supports skin elasticity)
  • Coconut oil (or butter if you can find it) from Sprouts (Restores skin, combats damaging effects)

Tools needed:

  • Scale (you need to measure by weight, not volume)
  • Double boiler
  • Mini silicon mold
Ingredients for my lotion bars

Ingredients for my lotion bars

 

I had to guess about how much of the ingredients I needed to fill the silicon molds, so I started with 3 ounces of each ingredient set.

In the double boiler, I melted 3 ounces beeswax until completely melted, added the butter (2 ounces of shea butter plus 1 ounce of coconut) and once that was melted I added the oils (2 ounces coconut and 1 ounce avocado).

Melting the beeswax, adding the butter

Melting the beeswax, adding the butter

After everything was melted, I poured the mixture directly from the double boiler into my silicon mold because if you try to pour it into something with a spout to make this part easier, the mixture just hardens.

Lotion bars starting to cool in the silicon mold.

Lotion bars starting to cool in the silicon mold.

The bars harden completely in just a few hours, you can even put them in the fridge if you need it to happen quicker. Make sure your mold is clean and dry before pouring in the liquid lotion.

Lotion bars out of the mold

Lotion bars out of the mold

I didn’t have anything handy to package up the lotion bars, so I made little boxes out of card stock and wrote the ingredients and instructions on the bottom of the boxes.

Lotion bars in home made boxes, ready for gifting

Lotion bars in home made boxes, ready for gifting

 

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January 12, 2013

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Split pea soup, my new favorite

 

Yellow split pea soup, ready to be eaten.

Yellow split pea soup, ready to be eaten.

 

This fall I realized that I love split pea soup, whether from a can of Amy’s or from the cafe in Whole Foods. Christmas leftovers gave me just what I needed to try making it at home. After reviewing a few recipes, I decided on this Cooking Light recipe. I used yellow split peas instead of green, leftover ham from our Whole Foods spiral sliced him, added some green onions because I had them, and omitted the lemon juice. I think this soup could easily be made without ham. The only item I had to get at the store was the split peas. A delicious way to use up leftovers.

First step - simmer water, broth, ham, split peas and onion for an hour

First step – simmer water, broth, ham, split peas and onion for an hour.

After an hour, adding the carrots and celery and then simmering for another 40 minutes.

After an hour, adding the carrots and celery and then simmering for another 40 minutes.

Completed soup.

Completed soup.

 

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