Mini Gift Set
Posted: April 27, 2010 Filed under: Sewing 9 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago I sewed up a matching tissue holder, zippered pouch, and drawstring pouch for a birthday gift. I paired linen fabric with a bright Robert Kaufman print, both from my stash. I tweaked the measurements from this great drawstring bag tutorial to create a bag in the desired size. I discovered that I really like making drawstring bags! The most time-consuming part for me? Sewing the drawstrings! I thought about buying them, but I really liked the idea of matching them with the fabric.
All packed up and ready to go!
Homemade Pizza
Posted: April 19, 2010 Filed under: Cooking, Entrées 6 Comments »As a baker, I shy away from making bread. I feel somewhat intimidated by yeast-based recipes and I’ve only ever used yeast a couple of times — once for no-knead bread, and once for classic cinnamon rolls. Then I saw Brooke’s post about her homemade pizza, and I was inspired to try my hand at making pizza from scratch.
I used Giada’s Pizza Dough recipe and followed Brooke’s example of throwing in some chopped fresh rosemary and cheese into the dough while mixing. I had some problems with the dough — it was much too wet, and in hindsight I should have added more flour before attempting to take it out of the food processor. Me struggling with removing the overly sticky dough was not a pretty sight. The recipe didn’t indicate how long or at what temperature the dough should be baked, so I experimented. I decided on 400 degrees for 4 minutes without toppings, and then an additional 15-20 minutes with toppings added (depends on whether you are making a wee 6-inch personal size pizza like the one shown above or a 12-inch). The dough tasted pretty good — the fresh rosemary in it certainly made a difference. A single batch yielded enough for one 6-inch and one 12-inch pizza.
For the sauce, I adapted the Exquisite Pizza Sauce from allrecipes.com based on user reviews. I omitted the honey, anchovy paste, and dried marjorom, and let the sauce sit overnight in the fridge instead of just thirty minutes. It was yummy! This recipe is a definitely keeper.
I kept the toppings simple. I think the key to avoiding soggy pizza is to go light on the toppings. I used a grated three-cheese blend (Romano, Parmesan, and Asiago), mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, and basil.
I had fun making the pizza and it was tasty, so I plan to do it again! Next time, I want to try Smitten Kitchen’s really simple pizza dough. Do you have a favorite pizza dough recipe to share?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Posted: April 12, 2010 Filed under: Baking, Cookies 5 Comments »
After my last post about peanut butter cookies, my friend Jennifer kindly gave me this amazing recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. These cookies are really delicious and have made it on my list of all-time favorites. Here is the recipe, with my notes in brackets.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
From the book Cooking for Your Dragon (Leslie Brumagin, Managing Editor, with stories and lore by Bonnie Davis, based on characters created by Randal Spangler)
1 cup butter [at room temperature]
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa [unsweetened]
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (12 oz) package peanut butter chips [I only found the 10 oz package]
Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until blended. [I whisked together the dry ingredients in separate bowl and then added to them to the creamed mixutre.] Drop in heaping tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes [12 minutes worked for me]. Makes about 3 dozen. [I must like my cookies smaller, because I got 2 dozen from a half batch.]
Make sure to have a glass of milk nearby!
On a related note, for those of you who love cookies but can’t finish your batch before they go stale — like yours truly — you can freeze half the dough and bake it later. I’ve done it successfully with these cookies and with regular chocolate chip ones as well. I use the King Arthur tablespoon cookie scoop and place the scoops of dough close together on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze the dough balls for at least a couple of hours (so that they aren’t sticky anymore). Place the now-frozen dough into a ziplock bag, and you’re all set! I bake them straight from the freezer for the same amount of time as the recipe calls for. A quick Google search showed recommendations for baking 1-2 minutes longer, but I haven’t needed to do that. The results taste great and I love having easy access to freshly-baked cookies made from scratch.
Happy baking!
Cajun Chicken Pasta
Posted: April 5, 2010 Filed under: Cooking, Entrées 4 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago we made The Pioneer Woman’s Cajun Chicken Pasta, and the flavors were really good! Next time, we might even try it without the chicken. The side of asparagus was inspired by this photo from Mintyfresh. Roasting it with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400 degrees for 9-10 minutes is now my favorite way of cooking asparagus.
