Simple Crafts: Mother’s Day Card

I love my mother. She is so vital to me that I cannot imagine a world without her in it. She is not only a mom but a friend to me.

I don’t have a lot of money because I am a jobless college student. There are plenty of ways to demonstrate to my mother how much she means to me without breaking the bank. I prefer the tried a true method of children everywhere: the handmade mother’s day card. It is fun, it is personal, and she can show it off to her friends at work.

Mother’s Day Card

• Scrapbook paper (solids & prints)
• Paper cutter / scissors
• Pen
• Colored Pencils or crayons.
• Photo of the two of you together
• Heartfelt message

1) Use a solid-colored piece of scrap-booking paper for your card. Fold in half and glue, to make a thicker card paper. Trim into desired card shape and size, fold along center seam.

2) Cut two large squares of equal size: one in a contrasting solid color, the other in a pretty print.

3) Cut a smaller square of white paper. You may add whatever you like for the center square design. I chose to draw a couple of cute flowers, but there are plenty of other options:  a stamp, an image printed from the internet, or a small photo of her.

4) Shift around the squares as desired, then glue down.

5) On the outside of the card, put a greeting.

6) Take a piece of excess paper and write down a personal message to mom. Glue inside.

7) Print a photo of the two of you together and place inside the completed card.

8) Put completed card in an envelope, or fold a piece of scrapbook paper into an envelope.

9) Give to your mom for Mother’s day!

The photo is a really nice touch to a Mother’s day card and the extra time and effort over a store-bought card will make my mom especially happy. Tomorrow, I plan on giving my mom a day of pampering. I will cook her breakfast and bake her favorite cookies.  My sister made her a delicious breakfast today, so I will just have to try to beat it!

Sun-Dried Tomato and Mushroom Omelet

Unintentionally, I took an about 3 month-long hiatus. Sometimes, life and school can be large distractions, but I am made it right back on track. My posting was a bit sporadic before, but with my renewal I now intend to do 1 post a week, which will be much easier to maintain.

On that note, I would like to introduce, my sun-dried tomato omelet. I made this a couple of days ago when my hunger rolled in at about 2 pm. I didn’t have much food at home but I was able to make do at home with just a few simple ingredients: eggs, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and fresh basil.

The basil is homegrown from my cute little plant I have in my window sill and the sun-dried tomatoes were from my tomato crop last year.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 eggs beaten
• 1-2 small mushrooms
• 2-3 pieces of sun-dried tomato torn/cut up.
• some cheese
• fresh basil shredded
• bit of minced garlic

• salt and pepper
• butter
• olive oil

Prep:  In a small bowl beat 3-4 eggs, add a splash of milk if desired as well as salt and pepper to taste.  Slice mushroom(s) and grate cheese. Shred your fresh basil either by hand or by knife and tear up the sun-dried tomato into small pieces. If your sun-dried tomatoes are stored dry (not in oil) add a bit of olive oil to hydrate. Mince garlic or use pre-minced garlic.

1) Use butter to coat bottom of small/medium pan. Place garlic and mushrooms in pan and saute until desired.

2) Push Mushrooms to side of pan and pour egg mixture into the bottom of the pan to evenly coat.

3) Let egg cook, once it has started to solidify on bottom, mix in mushrooms as well as the tomatoes and basil. Spread evenly to 1/2.

3) As the egg cooks, using your spatula make “tears” in the bottom surface to let the gooey egg on top, reach and cook on the bottom.

4) Once the egg is cooked, sprinkle in cheese on 1/2. Use care to get the spatula under opposite egg half, and cover the cheese/insides.

5) Heat for 30 seconds more to allow cheese to melt. Swiftly, remove from pan and onto a plate and serve.

This was a very satisfying lunch, considering I only had a few things on hand to make it.I used sharp cheddar, but I would have preferred to use mozzarella. Even though I used garlic, the omelet didn’t taste like garlic at all, but I think it may have improved the overall flavor of the mushrooms.

I was really impressed and excited that my omelet skills must be improving because it came out whole, instead of as a mushy mess. My first real looking omelet! Practice and patience  makes progress.

Since first trying the recipe I made it once again this morning for my mother’s breakfast and she enjoyed it as well. The tomatoes have a bit of sweetness that are well-balanced by the mushrooms. As far as morning/ lunch recipes goes I will definitely use this recipe again when I am looking for something moderately easy and filling.

The first time I made it (pictured) I mixed the ingredients into the egg more, the second time I actually kept the ingredients mostly to 1/2 of the omelet. Either way is fine, they both tasted excellent, so it is more on the preference of the cook.

 

A Sweet Treat: Cinnamon Rolls

A few weeks ago I tried making cinnamon rolls for the first time. They were excellent, so recently I made them again. They are a sweet morning treat that are enjoyed for days and days!

Cinnamon rolls are a yeast bread, so they require a bit of prep. I start mine the night before then, pop them in the oven the next day. I used the recipe found in my BHG cookbook, I would link the online version, but the recipe found there differs from the one I used.

The recipe makes 24 rolls, making it a great for a bake sale or large family gathering

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:                                Makes 24

  Bread:

• 4  3/4 to 5  1/4 cups flour
• 1 package active dry yeast

• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 eggs

Filling:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter

1) Combine 2 cups of flour and package of yeast in a large bowl, set aside.

2) Combine milk, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over med. heat until butter is mostly melted (thermometer should be between 120-130 F).

3) Once milk mixture is warm (120- 130 F) , add to flour along with eggs. Mix until thoroughly blended, then add as much remaining flour as you can.

4) Place dough on floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball.

5) Place dough ball in greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour. (I put my breads in the unheated oven, with a bowl of hot water on the bottom rack to help the rise. Do not put it in a heated oven, or you will kill the yeast. ) To help with the rise, bread dough should be in a warm draft-free place.

6) Once bread dough has doubled, punch it down. Divide in half, cover and let rest 10 minutes.

7) Mix filling: add brown sugar, flour and cinnamon to small bowl. Cut in slightly softened butter with pastry blender or fork. Mixture should be like coarse crumbs, if it is too much like a spread add more dry ingredients and place in fridge to let butter in mixture firm up.

8) Take one dough half and roll into a rectangle (12 x 8 inch).

9) Sprinkle filling over dough. Roll up, lengthwise.  (You may also add raisins or pecans as desired to the filling before rolling up) Seal seams.

10) Make 11 cuts in your cinnamon log (11 cuts = 12 pieces). Place cut side down in greased baking pan. Repeat steps 8-10 for other dough half.

11) Position cinnamon dough rolls in greased pan with plenty of space for them to rise. I used 1 large sheet cake pan and 1 circle cake pan for my cinnamon rolls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 – 24 hours. I prep mine the night before, let them chill overnight, and bake the next morning.

12) Remove from fridge. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 F.

13) Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 375 F. ( The recipe recommends, brushing each roll with half & half before baking, then covering with foil for last 10 minutes of baking time. I forgot both the last time, and it turned out fine, so this is optional, but suggested for a softer roll)

14) Remove from oven (brush with half & half). Cool for 1 minute. Invert rolls onto wire cooling racks. After 5-10 minutes invert right-side up on serving plate. Drizzle with glaze and serve.

Vanilla Glaze for Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1  1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon light-colored corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 – 2 tablespoons half & half

1) Mix powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla.

2) Pour in half and half, and stir. Mix until glaze has a drizzling consistency, add more half and half if too stiff.

This glaze takes only a couple of minutes to whip up, I made mine as the cinnamon rolls baked in the oven.

Cover and store. To reheat, place in microwave for 10 seconds.

These cinnamon rolls are delicious. No more running out to the store in the morning for doughnuts when you can have this sweet treat from home. Next family gathering I plan to make these in the morning, because the large number of servings is sure to be enough to feed everyone. I am also whipping these up the next time I have a garage sale, as a sweet treat to my customers.

My First Time: Stuffed Bell Peppers

Last week while shopping, I bought squash and red bell peppers. I hate squash, but my mom likes it and it was discounted so I told her I would cook them for her. Fast forward a week and the squash and bell peppers still remained in their respective spots, while we managed to eat everything else.  Finally I put my foot down, and not wanting to see the squash and bell peppers go bad, decided to experiment.

I raided the shelves for ingredients and google search for ideas. Stuffed bell peppers immediately jumped out at me, after combing through a few recipes, I understood the basic method and chose to experiment with my own ingredients.

For the squash I decided to chop and steam it in my rice cooker and serve as a side with any meal.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

• bell peppers

• chopped onion
• diced squash
• minced garlic
• diced tomato
• fresh basil – shredded

• cooked rice
• ground beef

1) Chop ingredients for filling and set aside. Cut the tops off bell peppers and remove pith from inside peppers.

I steamed half of the squash and the rest I diced and used in the stuffed pepper filling

I also chopped up the usable part of the pepper top and added to the rest of the filling ingredients.

2) Cook bell peppers in boiling water for about 10 minutes in a covered pan.

3) Drain water, remove bell peppers, set aside.

4) Using the same pan, saute onions in olive oil for 3-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic, and squash. Add ground beef and brown, depending on how many bell peppers the amount may vary.

5) Add cooked rice, fresh basil and any seasonings. I dashed in a bit of Worcestershire sauce at this point. When filling is ready stuff bell peppers and serve.

 

Afterwards, I but the peppers in the fridge for my mother’s lunch the next day. She really enjoyed it, and the time in the fridge really help the flavor to develop.

I really loved trying this out and I loved the flexibility. I  could add as much of an ingredient as I preferred and customized to fit with what I had on hand.

This recipe will definitely be important in summer, when my garden starts producing its very own bell peppers!

In My Garden: Tomatoes

After a couple of weeks of weeding (and a week skipped) I have been feeling the push to plant. It is mid-February and in So. Cal that is almost a late planting.  I am committed to finishing my garden by the end of February with the exception of my 2nd round of tomatoes. The first thing I am planting are my tomatoes.

Let’s Grow Tomatoes

I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to grow tomatoes, they are super hearty: just remember to water and plant in a spot with lots of sun. Not to mention homegrown tomatoes are the best, very flavorful and much cheaper than what you can buy in the produce section.

1) Buy seeds.

I like to buy a pack of seeds from the store keeping in mind two things: heirloom tomatoes are great if you want to save the seeds and hybrid tomatoes can be really resistant to plant disease. I go hybrid, because I like a low maintenance garden and I don’t like to bother with saving seeds for the next year, but I do like the idea of heirloom. Size is also important. Do you like cherry tomatoes for salads? Or would you prefer larger tomatoes for sauces and for slicing? I love large tomatoes and buy the beefsteak variety.

2) Plant them in a pot.

Tomatoes should be started in a pot before being planted in a garden. Place seeds in a pot with soil, cover with more soil and water. Check pot daily and check soil moisture, water as necessary.

3) Watch them grow!

Keep your pot indoors and in very sunny window. South facing windows are usually the best. I use an east facing window, because it has a great ledge and opens up to the backyard, giving my plants unimpeded sunlight. This part is so much fun, to see the tiny stem grow larger and have leaves shooting out.

4) Place outside.

When your seedling reach at least 4″, transplant them into your garden. You may want to weather them to outside conditions, by placing them outdoors a couple of days in advance of planting them in the ground.

5) Gently remove from pot. Take all out together with the soil, this might take some wiggling, tapping, or turning upside down to shake the plants loose.

6) Separate your tomato plants. Be careful as their roots can get wound up and you don’t want to pull too hard and leave any plants rootless.

7) Pick a nice patch of dirt to plant your tomatoes in. Space holes 2 – 3  feet apart. Dig holes about 6 inches deep.

8) Stick your tomato plant in the hole. Tomatoes can sprout roots out of their buried stems, so feel free to place the stems in the hole and cover. Your plant will look shorter for now, but will have lots of surface area to sprout roots, and your plant will grow upwards soon enough.

9) Cover with dirt and protect from cut worm.

I don’t have any personal experience with cut worms, but I like to take simple precautionary measure after planting my tomatoes. I take a toilet paper roll and cut it so that it forms several rings. Then I slide each ring around each tomato plant. 

The cardboard provides a barrier from cutworms, and since it is a paper product it will eventually degrade.

10) Water!

I still need to place tomato cages over each plant, but am planning to do that in the next couple of weeks before the plants get too large. Planting is so exciting, it makes me hungry for some fresh tomatoes and for the joy of plucking them from my very own garden!

Now the waiting game begins, it should only take about 3 months before it starts to fruit!

Doggy Treats for My Love

Late last year, we started taking care of this brown pit, CJ,  for a friend who was moving to an apartment that didn’t allow dogs. CJ has very different in personality than my cat (who loves to preen and pretend he is indifferent as he climbs on the table and begs to be petted). My dog loves to play, is super friendly, but mostly he loves to be around people and to please them. He also has a sensitive digestive system and is on a special diet because  he cannot eat beef, chicken or pork. This is a huge problem, because most dog treats have chicken in them and I couldn’t  find treats that would not give him bad gas. In the end I went the homemade route and CJ is so happy I did.

I found this recipe on all recipes and modified it, based on the ingredients I have at home.

 

I love you!

 

Peanut Butter and Banana Doggie Treats

Ingredients:

• 1  mashed banana
• 1/3 – 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 egg

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats

• (optional) 1 egg white

1) Mash a ripe banana.

2) Add peanut butter, honey, and egg.

3) Mix in whole wheat flour, then stir in oats.

4) Shape dough into small pieces and place on a greased cookie sheet. (optional: brush egg white on top)

5) Bake at 300 F for 35 minute, or until treats dry out.

6) Place in a container and give them to your best friend when he is obedient.

My dog loves these and they don’t seem to give him any digestive trouble. I tried them myself, and while a bit bland they seem perfect for my loyal friend. Now, every time I open the tub and there is an audible pop, he comes running from his resting place.

I have made this recipe both with and without the egg brushed on top, and there didn’t seem to be any difference in my dog’s enjoyment. I sometimes add extra peanut butter or banana and the recipe always turns out.

 

My First Time: Cake Pops

I’ve been in love with Cake Pops for months now. For Valentine’s Day this year I decided to finally make my own. Trying a complex decoration project can be difficult, so I decided to keep it simple. I flipped through a few online recipes before settling on one.

I am a huge advocate for homemade, because I love putting individual ingredients together to make a great final product. However, I wanted to focus on the decoration for my first time, so I opted for cake mix. How fortuitous! I am so glad I went the ease route the first time so I could focus on the pop construction, rather than the cake part.

Cake Pops

Ingredients:

• A cake
• cake  frosting

• candy melts / chocolate pieces
• lollipop sticks

• sprinkles

• Styrofoam

I raided the pantry and happened to find a mix, a rarity in my house!

1) Start off with a fully baked cake. Since this was my first time, I went with a ready mix. Star with a recipe from scratch or follow the directions on a ready mix.

2) Let the cake cool. Then, take your completed cake and crumble it. Mix in frosting until cake crumbs form a solid. 

3) Form the cake into balls. REFRIGERATE! (I completely forgot this step and my cake balls fell apart when I tried to decorate them)

4) Place a lollipop stick in each cake ball, but do not poke all the way through. If you have trouble keeping your cake on the stick, dip stick in candy melt, then poke through the center.

5) For the candy melt coating. Place pieces in a microwavable dish. Cook for 30 seconds on 1/2 power. Stir, and repeat heat, until candy is melted.

6) Dip cake on a stick into the candy melt. Coat and remove. Let any extra drop off.

7) Stick cake pop in Styrofoam block. Cover in sprinkles. Let dry. If you want to add another color decoration of candy melt, wait until candy coating has melted.

This one has a heart decoration! I shaped the heart by dipping a spare pop stick into the candy melt mixture.

8) Let candy coating dry. Wrap in individual cellophane wrappers or place on dish and serve.

I purchase the candy melts and lollipop sticks from Michael’s craft store. The Styrofoam I picked up on the cheap from a dollar store.

If you haven’t had a cake pop, go to your kitchen and make some right now! These are super delicious, and a great alternative to cupcakes (you don’t have to worry about the frosting).

I was lucky I made them for Valentine’s Day and ended up eating them for my birthday this past week. My first try wasn’t the most attractive, but hopefully my decorating skills will improve with time. I also had a few hang-ups, i.e. forgetting to refrigerate the cake balls and then the cake pops falling apart. At least it was my first time and now that I know what I have done wrong, I can do better. I plan on using a cake recipe (from scratch) next time, instead of a purchased cake mix.

Banana Pecan Muffins

I love bananas and I had a half-open bag of pecans needing to be used up, so Banana Pecan Muffins seemed like the perfect breakfast treat. I found this recipe when looking through my 1000 classic recipes book that my family has had for years but never used.

I really like the simplicity of this recipe, I already had all the baking ingredients on hand, the only significant ingredients are the bananas and pecans.

Ingredients:                                           Oven Temp: 375 F

• 1  1/4 cups flour
• 1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped  (can substitute for walnuts)

• 5 tablespoons milk

Prep: Allow butter to soften, leave at room temperature for 30 min.

1) Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix flour and baking powder, set aside.

2) Cream  butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla.

cream butter and sugar.

Add egg & vanilla

3) Mix in banana. Then add pecans.

add banana

add pecans

4) Beat in flour and milk, alternating between the two.

5) Pour muffin batter into a cupcake or muffin pan.The original recipe makes 8 muffins, but I only have a cupcake pan so it made 16 muffins.

6) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from pan and place on cooling rack.

 For this recipe the more ripe the banana the better, as the riper bananas are easier to mash.

I love to eat a banana right at the peak of ripeness (loss of green , bright yellow,  firm not mushy) , so this will be a great recipe to use on the bananas that have gotten too ripe.

A nice warm muffin is a great snack in the morning, with or without a little butter. These have a nice strong banana taste and are a great start to my day!

February, My Favorite Month

February is my all time favorite month. It has always seemed to me that though the smallest month, February has the best holidays.

In a couple more days it will be my birthday and I cannot wait. Every year I get a delicious Marie Callender’s pie, as I am not the hugest fan of cake.

February is also synonymous with Valentine’s Day, and while I do not have a significant other, I always enjoy an excuse to bake and appreciate my friends and family. I loved making those little valentine’s cards and passing out candy in grade school and in high school I made heart-shaped cupcakes using cute little individual aluminum foil tins.

I haven’t decided what to make this year, but have been thinking along the lines of chocolate dipped strawberries / pretzel sticks or an attempt at cake pops.

When I was still in K-12, February also meant two entire days off of school. For a month that is normally only 28 days, two weekdays off of school is staggering. I love February.

Plus this year is a Leap Year! That means one extra day of February (29!).

My First Time: Quick Fudge

This recipe idea, I also received from my grandmother, she in turn got the recipe from a relief society hand-out and the  original can be found at all-recipes , Never-Never Ever-Ever Fail Fudge .

I was intrigued by the idea of fudge and this recipe is really quite simple. From what I glimpsed online, most fudges require high heat as a way to set the fudge (as part of the chemical process; yes baking/cooking is chemistry!), however this fudge uses marshmallows as a way to add structure. So, for this recipe you do not need to pull out your candy thermometer, the marshmallows do all the work for you!

Never-Never Ever-Ever Fail Fudge

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1  2/3  cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 16 large marshmallows
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• (optional) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1) Combine evaporated milk, sugar, and salt in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, remove from heat. 

2) Stir in marshmallows, chocolate chips, and vanilla until marshmallows are melted.

3) Pour into an 8 x 8″ dish.

4) Let cool completely, cut into squares.

 

I stuck mine in the fridge when it was done cooling on the counter. I didn’t have any problem with the fudge setting, it is firm but not hard. I didn’t even use the recommended 16 large marshmallows, I only used about 40 mini marshmallows. I was a bit taken aback by how much sugar went into the fudge (white sugar, chocolate pieces, and marshmallows!).

The resulting fudge was very sweet and pretty good. I focused making sure the marshmallows melted, but neglected to see if all the chocolate did. It didn’t. I decided that was okay though, because they were just little bits of chocolate and it is fudge!

Word of warning: this stuff is sweet. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I am the person who wipes frosting off of my cupcake (unless it is cream cheese), so just one bite of fudge lasts me a few days.

I appreciate how easy this recipe is, but think in the future I would like to try “real” fudge. It may be inevitable, now that I have a candy thermometer.