Cook The Collection {New Feature}
I’m a cookbook junkie. I love to look through them, I love to get them for gifts, and I can’t pass a thrift store or yard sale without checking out their cookbook selection. I’ve got a bookcase overflowing with books. What I don’t seem to do much of, however, is cook from them. I’m a competent cook and I really enjoy cooking, but I rarely cook from a recipe and when I do I usually turn to either the same few tried and true books or else the Internet.
I’ve got tons of books that I haven’t looked at in years, and another bunch I enjoy looking through but have never cooked from. I’ve got a hoarder mentality though when it comes to cookbooks so I can’t seem to give any away, even as I part easily with other books.
This Cook The Collection feature is born from my desire to get some use out of all these cookbooks, find some new favorites and hopefully break the bonds with some old duds. I’ve counted up and listed out all of the cookbooks, compilations of essays, food science books and foodie memoirs in my collection and the magic number is 152 (I counted anything that contained a recipe). What I propose is to cook one recipe from each book and get through the entire collection. Of course, if I make one recipe a week it’ll take me just under three years, so maybe that’s a bit ambitious!
Here are some ground-rules I’ve established for myself:
1) one blog post per book / recipe. I may prepare a meal using three separate recipes but I will post each one alone.
2) I am not reviewing cookbooks per se. I will blog my impressions of each recipe and book but only as they pertain to me – I’m not going to judge whether others will or won’t like the cookbook or recipe.
3) I might modify the recipes to reflect my own cooking style, ingredients on hand, and family tastes. I’m not using these recipes as cooking lessons but as guides to prepare a certain dish. I also will not be publishing the recipes in each post in order to protect the authors copyrights- I’ll talk about the dish and include my own photographs but the reader will have to seek out the cookbook on their own in order to try out the recipe.
4) Any new books that come into my collection will be added to the project total.
5) The link to each cookbook leads to Amazon, where I have an affiliate agreement. If a reader does decide to purchase the cookbook via the link, this site will receive a modest commission from the sale.
What do you think of this idea? I’d love to hear your comments! Also, what is the one cookbook you can’t live without?
Homemade Puzzles For An Easter Egg Hunt: An Inexpensive Easter Craft
Each year on Easter Sunday our extended family gathers and one of the highlights of the day is the Easter Egg hunt. We do one egg hunt for everyone and one just for the little kids and of course its loads of fun. The only downside is that the kids end up with too much Easter candy, so I’m always looking for ways to stuff the mounds of plastic Easter eggs with something else. A few weeks ago I came across a post on Make the Best of Everything that got the wheels turning in my mind – a puzzle divided up into plastic eggs that the kids would assemble together. She used one large puzzle for all the children, but since we’ve got young kids who are still learning about collaborating I decided individual puzzles would be better – plus then they’ll each go home with a whole puzzle. I’m going to mix up the pieces between eggs so that they’ll need to figure out which pieces go to their puzzle and trade between cousins.
Now here’s the step-by-step guide to creating your own homemade Easter puzzle for your Easter egg hunt!
Step 1. Find a puzzle to use. I bought these wood puzzles at Dollar Tree – they’re 25 piece puzzles so they’re not so daunting for young kids. You could also recycle a puzzle you already have, or look for blank puzzles at a craft store. If you decide to use blank puzzles you can obviously skip the next step.
Step 2. Paint the puzzles white (or whichever background color you’d like to use). I used acrylic craft paint and a brush, but spray paint would be super quick and easy as well. Let the paint dry before moving on to the next step.
Step 3. Paint your background images – I used a variety of stripes and dots so that each puzzle piece had more than one color. Again, let the paint dry.
Step 4. Paint your foreground images – I copied some Easter bunny and bird silhouettes freehand with pencil onto the puzzle and then filled them in with white – you could easily use a stencil as well. I added each child’s name for more detail during this step too.
Step 5. Separate the puzzle pieces. The puzzles were pretty stuck together from all the paint between the pieces so I broke them very carefully and also needed to use a craft knife in some places to cut through the paint layer. Just be careful if you use a sharp knife – it was sometimes hard to stay exactly in the grooves between the puzzle pieces.
Step 6. I used extra fine sandpaper (320 grit) to sand the edges of the pieces so that they would fit together more easily. Since the puzzles I used were cheap they didn’t fit together that well in the first place and the paint made it worse (You could skip this step but I was trying to eliminate the possibility of frustrated puzzle builders on Easter).
Step 7. Divide up the pieces into plastic Easter eggs. Make sure that you buy the large size eggs so the pieces fit – I bought these Easter eggs at Dollar Tree and I put three pieces in each egg. Of course you could put 2 or 1 piece in each egg instead, but even with 3 its 25 eggs for us (plus some candy-filled eggs of course).
If you make Easter puzzles, leave me a comment with a link to your site – I’d love to see them! Also, do you have any other non-candy ideas for Easter morning?
I’ve shared this post at these great link parties – check ’em out! Skip To My Lou, Tumbleweed Contessa, Salt Tree, Nap Time Creations, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Coastal Charm, Sweet Little Gals, Today’s Creative Blog, Ladybug Blessings, Inside BruCrew Life, Sugar Bee Crafts, New Nostalgia, Not Just A Housewife, JAQS Studio, Lil’ Luna, Creations By Kara, Lady Behind The Curtain, My Girlish Whims, The Trendy Treehouse, Ginger Snap Crafts, Ducks ‘N A Row, Ivy and Elephants, {Primp}, Savvy Southern Style, The NY Melrose Family, Polkadots on Parade, My World – Made by Hand, Someday Crafts, Busy Bees, Yesterday on Tuesday, Momnivore’s Dilemma, Chocolate Chocolate and More, The Crafty Blog Stalker, House of Hepworths, Seven Thirty-Three, Consider Me Inspired, The Style Sisters, The 36th Avenue, Bear Rabbit Bear, Seven-Alive, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Becoming Martha, The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Simply Sweet Home, Ladybird Ln, 504 Main, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Liz Marie Blog, Petals to Picots, Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons, See Vanessa Craft, Diana Rambles, Happy and Blessed Home, A Vision to Remember, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Serenity Now, The Gingerbread Blog,Tatertots and Jello, One Artsy Mama, Its Overflowing, Too Much Time, Or So She Says, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Three Mango Seeds, Project Inspire,
Thrift Store Thursday
Today was a special day for me. My 3-year old let me leave him at school without any fuss! He goes to a co-op preschool where parents participate in the program one day per week but up until now he hasn’t been comfortable with me leaving the classroom. This morning he was completely indifferent to me leaving so as I walked out the door with two free hours in front of me I didn’t even know quite what to do with myself.
I didn’t want to just go home. I wanted to do something that would be difficult to enjoy with the kids in tow so I set off to check out a few of the nearby thrift stores – there’s no way to successfully browse a thrift store with kids along. One store was a total bust, but the second stop yielded a few nice finds: a glass cake plate and an assortment of wood kitchen utensils. The cake plate’s a bit wonky – one side is a touch higher than the other – but I’ve been looking for another one and I liked the height and pattern on this one. The utensils will be used in a project sometime down the road – stay tuned for that!
Oh, and my little guy did GREAT at school without me today, so hopefully I have more two hour breaks in my future – keep your fingers crossed.
Food Blogging Vs. Real Life
Sometimes this happens: I’m cooking dinner, working on something interesting and delicious and thinking about what I’ll write about later on the blog, maybe even imagining what sort of picture I’ll take for the post to illustrate this dinner. Meanwhile the entire family is circling the kitchen like sharks or maybe underfed wolves, asking what’s for dinner, when it’ll be ready, can they have something to eat right this minute right now, when is dinner when is dinner when is dinner. Then suddenly the food is done, its plated up, on the table and then we’re all practically inhaling the yummy food.
Of course in the aftermath of dinner I realized that this is the only evidence of the chow mein we all devoured:
Especially for my blogging friends – has this ever happened to you? What did you do – improvise a picture, remake the dinner, scrap the blog post or something else?
Easy Beaded Bracelet Tutorial
I was in the mood for bracelets this week. I wanted to make a few that I could stack up my arm for fun so I dug around in my crafting stash to see what I had on hand. I came up with some simple (cheap!) metal bangles, some glass seed beads and some clear stretchy jewelery cord.
The process is super simple – just cut a length of jewelery cord about 5 times the circumference of the bangle bracelet you’re using for your base and knot one end of the cord. String beads along the entire length of the cord and knot the other end tightly against the last bead. Next use a hot glue gun to attach one end of the bead string to the metal bangle and wait a minute for the glue to set. Make one loop around the bangle and add another daub of glue to really secure the end of the string, then continue wrapping the beads around the bangle until you reach the beginning again. Secure the beads to the bangle with more hot glue. You should have an extra length of beads and cord at this point, so cut the knot at the end, slide the extra beads off and then re-knot the cord tightly against the last bead on the bracelet. I also used a bit of glue on each knot to make sure it was secure.
This method allows a lot of room for creativity – I used a mix of beads and just grabbed them randomly from the bag, but you could string the beads in a repeating pattern. I also made another bracelet which I didn’t wrap the beads as tightly around the bangle so that you can see the metal underneath.
I’ve shared this post at these great link parties – check ’em out! Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Homemaker on a Dime, Project Inspire, Making the World Cuter, I Am Priiincesss, Tumbleweed Contessa, Craft-o-Maniac, Today’s Creative Blog, Salt Tree, Sugar Bee Crafts, New Nostalgia, Nap Time Creations, Lil’ Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations By Kara, Lady Behind The Curtain, My Girlish Whims, The Trendy Treehouse, Ginger Snap Crafts, JAQS Studio, Polkadots on Parade, My World Made By Hand, Someday Crafts, 733 Blog, Yesterday on Tuesday, Chocolate Chocolate and More, The Style Sisters, The Busy Bee’s, Momnivore’s Dilemma, The Crafty Blog Stalker, House of Hepworths, A Creative Princess, The 36th Avenue, Bear Rabbit Bear, Seven Alive, Artsy-fartsy Mama, Create Craft Love, Fireflies and Jellybeans, My Romantic Home, The Shabby Nest, Ladybird Ln, 504 Main, Diana Rambles,
Salchipapas
Every Friday night is Movie Night at our house. We rotate who’s turn it is to pick the movie and the rules are that the person choosing the movie gets to choose dinner too. Right now that means that we’re eating french fries at least two Fridays a month and we’re lucky if its not Dino chicken nuggets twice a month as well.
This past Friday night was our little guy’s turn to pick, and my husband steered him in the direction of Salchipapas. Salchi-whatas you might say? They’re hotdogs (salchichas in Spanish) and french fries (papas fritas) mixed on a plate together – the ultimate low-brow Peruvian street food. We should have been eating them out of a little cardboard boat but plates worked much better for our living-room picnic.
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| Thinking of salchipapas and movies reminds me of a sign I saw on the door of a movie theater in Trujillo, Peru years ago. It admonished the patrons No esta permitida la entrada con comida ni salchipaps – No entrance permitted with food or salchipapas. I guess it was a popular contraband item at that theater. |
The recipe couldn’t be simpler – bake french fries in the oven following the directions on the package (or cut up potatoes and deep fry your own – but I think that might defeat the purpose of this simple dish). Meanwhile slice hotdogs into rounds about 1/2-inch think and saute them in a skillet over medium high heat until they’re warmed through and toasty brown on the edges. Mix the fries and dogs together on a plate or in a small bowl and serve with ketchup and mustard for dipping (if you want the real authentic experience eat them with a toothpick).
This post has been shared at this great link party – check it out! Miz Helen’s Country Cottage,
Easter Bunny Flower Pot with Direction Signs
Easter’s coming up and I’m starting to think about how I’ll decorate this year. Its still a bit early to hang up our Easter eggs in the trees outside, but I came up with a cute little scene in a flower pot to put on our bookcase that’s whimsical and fun. Here’s a tutorial for an Easter Bunny planter with little signs pointing out the way for cute bunnies.
Here’s what you’ll need: A flower pot, moss (real or artificial), something to fill the pot with (dirt or styrofoam/filler), a branch or dowel, craft sticks, acrylic craft paint, a craft knife or small saw, a paintbrush or two, a hot-glue gun and some little bunny or Easter egg figures.
First measure your branch against the size of your pot and trim it so that its not too tall – it should be about double the size of the pot. Next, trim your craft sticks so that they’ve got a pointed end and a flat end – they don’t have to be perfect, it will look better if its rustic.
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| I trimmed my craft sticks using a craft knife and I had to score the wood and then break it off – the knife wasn’t quite strong enough to cut cleanly through. |
Next paint the sticks in whichever colors you’d like – paint both sides of the sticks and the edges too.
Once you’ve painted the sticks you’ll need to paint the destinations on them – I used rabbit literary references for ours. I painted the words on both sides of the sticks so I could decide afterwards which side looked better and still be able to alternate the arrows.
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| The Briar Patch = Br’er Rabbit, Mr. McGregor’s Garden = Peter Rabbit, Toon Town = Roger Rabbit, Bunny Hill = where the Easter Bunny skis. |
Next, you’ll need to use a hot-glue gun to glue the signs to the branch or dowel. Once the glue’s dried you can put the branch in the pot and then fill it with your fill material. I used real moss from my garden so I filled my pot with soil, but if you’re using artificial moss you could fill the pot with anything under the moss. You will want a bit of weight though to balance out the weight of the branch and keep the pot and branch upright.
Finally you can add whatever little figure you’d like to the pot – I used these sisal bunnies but tiny easter eggs would be cute too, or little birds, tulips or daffodils, or . . ? The possibilities are endless.
This post was linked up to these great link parties – check ’em out! Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, LambAround, Twigg Studios, Sunny Simple Life, Cuddlebug Cuties , I Heart Naptime, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Homemaker on a Dime, Keeping It Simple, C.R.A.F.T., Lil’ Luna, Sew Much Ado, Creations by Kara, Gingersnap Crafts, Lady Behind the Curtain, My Girlish Whims, Not Just a Housewife, Osie Moats, Clean & Scentsible, My World Made By Hand, Someday Crafts, The Busy Bees, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Chocolate Chocolate and More, House of Hepworths, 733 Blog, Momnivore’s Dilemma, Katie’s Nesting Spot, One Creative Procrastinating Gal, Seven Alive, Madcap Frenzy, Beyond the Picket Fence, Create Craft Love, The Shabby Nest, Romantic Home, Finding Fabuous, Simply Sweet Home, Ladybird Ln, Diana Rambles, A Vision To Remember, Funky Junk Interiors, Six Sisters’ Stuff, Angels Homestead, Serenity Now, Today’s Creative Blog., Bear Rabbit Bear, Artsy-Fartsy Mama, Fireflies and Jellybeans, 504 Main,
Spaghetti With Vegetables and Meatballs
As part of my ongoing effort to save money on groceries plus feed my family good real food, we ate spaghetti with vegetables and meatballs for dinner. The vegetables were again courtesy of my grocery-gleaning neighbor, the pasta was from the pantry and the meatballs were Trader Joe’s turkey version.
I sauteed the chopped onions, green and yellow peppers, zucchini and tomatoes in olive oil until they started to soften; added salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried basil and waited until the tomatoes gave up some of their juice, and added the meatballs to heat through. Then served the sauce and meatballs over cooked pasta and topped it off with fresh grated Parmesan This was a fun dinner because the kids helped me chop the veggies using butter knives – I think they eat better at dinner when they’ve helped make it.
Amish Friendship Bread Original Recipe
Do not use a metal spoon (using metal with your starter will cause an acidic reaction that will ruin it) and do not refrigerate the starter. Let air out of the plastic bag occasionally or it could explode.
Day 1: You received fermented batter (starter) in a one-gallon bag. Do nothing but place the bag on the kitchen counter. If you didn’t receive the starter on Day 1, go by the date on the bag.
Day 2: Squeeze the bag.
Day 3: Squeeze the bag.
Day 4: Squeeze the bag.
Day 5: Squeeze the bag.
Day 6: Add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk to the bag and squeeze several times.
Day 7: Squeeze the bag and let some air out.
Day 8: Squeeze the bag and let some air out.
Day 9: Squeeze the bag and let some air out.
Day 10: Today is the day to make the bread and divide the starter for your friends. In a large non-metallic bowl combine the starter with 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters (don’t use a metal measuring cup!) into 4 one-gallon Ziplock bags. Write the Day 1 date on the bag (today’s date) and the Day 6 and Day 10 dates as well. Pass out to your friends with a copy of these instructions.
Ingredients
the remaining starter
1 cup oil (or 2 cups applesauce)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 small or 1 large box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
optional: 1 cup chopped nuts or 1/2 cup raisins, chocolate chips or blueberries.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 3 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the bottom of the two pans.
2. Add all of the ingredients to the remaining batter in the bowl and mix well.
3. Pour the batter into the loaf pans and bake in the oven for 1 hour. The bread is done when a skewer or cake tester comes out clean from the middle.
I’ve shared this post at these great link parties – check ’em out! Sew Much Ado, Creations By Kara, My World – Made By Hand, Sugar and Dots, Buns In My Oven, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Yesterday on Tuesday, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen, Momnivore’s Dilemma, The Busy Bee’s, Chocolate Chocolate and More, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Rattlebridge Farm, A Little Knick Knack, Addicted to Recipes, Jam Hands, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms,
Amish Friendship Bread Starter
Just in case you wanted to make up a batch of Amish Friendship Bread but none of your friends has any starter handy, here is the recipe to make up the starter from scratch. Now you can start the chain bread amongst your group!
Amish Friendship Bread Starter
Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup warm milk (110 F)
Directions
Important: Do not use metal at all for this recipe – no metal bowls, spoons or measuring cups.
1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
2. Stir the flour and sugar together in a bowl.
3. Add the milk and yeast/water mixture into the flour and sugar and stir well to dissolve the lumps.
4. Transfer the starter into a ziplock bag, do not refrigerate it, and follow the recipe for Amish Friendship Bread, starting at Day 1.
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