52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 2

First off, I would like to apologize for the extreme delay in posting this. I guess it was really supposed to be last week's recipe and, while I did actually make it last week, I was a little behind in the creative writing department. 

Don't judge. It's been a busy week. 

Anyway, Week 2 in my New Year's Self-Challenge was a particularly fun one! 

I've seen a huge upswing in people making their own marshmallows and I have always wanted to try it myself, but haven't been that excited about making a huge sticky mess in our teeny tiny kitchen. I did a lot of research on this one though and found out that it's much easier than it would seem. And everyone ensured there would be no sticky mess. So, I womaned up and dove in. 

I found this delicious recipe, courtesy of MyBakingAddiction.com. Now, bear in mind, hers are much prettier and probably taste better, but, so far, no one has complained about their looks. Or taste, for that matter. 

I think I used a little more vanilla than I was supposed to, but they turned out really great! I will admit that I still like the bag kind, but homemade marshmallows are definitely better. I have yet to try them in S'mores or for anything other than eating by the bagful, but I'm excited to see how they taste with chocolate and graham cracker goodness surrounding them! 

I've also decided that I need to attempt bourbon marshmallows next. Anyway, enjoy! 

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows

1/2 cup water
3 (.25 ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water (yes, I'm aware it's on here twice...go with it!)
2/3 cup corn syrup
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon (or however much you feel like...) vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar

First off, you'll want to take that 1/2 cup of water and put it in your stand mixer and sprinkle the gelatin on top so that it can soak. I don't know how long it's supposed to soak or what consistency it's supposed to be before you combine the other ingredients to it, but I do know that it looked really weird and I had to stir in the gelatin a little so that all of it got soaked properly. 

While that's turning into really plain jello, take your 1/4 cup of water (see, told you it was necessary), corn syrup and sugar and pour them into a large saucepan. You'll want to stir this while it reaches the boiling point. Once it gets going, let it boil for one whole minute. 

Pour the super hot mixture into your gelatin glob and, with the whisk attachment on your mixer, turn that sucker on high. You're gonna let this do its thing for about 12 minutes, so set that timer and let's prepare your pan.

The original recipe said to use a 9 x 9 pan, and you totally can; I did. However, if you would like thinner marshmallows, you may use a 13 x 9 pan, which is what I wish I had done. No matter, they turned out great, but I would have enjoyed thinner ones. Anywhoski, take your pan and line it with plastic wrap. I actually got the metal pan wet first so that the wrap would stick, but if you have a ceramic or glass dish, you should be fine. Then, spray the mess out of that plastic wrap with a non-stick spray. Here's a tip: don't use the butter flavored one. Your marshmallows will have a slight yellow tint to them. Oops. 

When your timer brings you back to reality and you have whipped the mess out of the marshmallow mixture, it's time to add your vanilla. If you would like to preserve the crisp white look of your marshmallows, use clear vanilla (in addition to avoiding the previously mentioned yellow spray crap). If you want to try different flavors, feel free to substitute. I'm gonna do that with the bourbon next time. 

Mix it in, periodically scraping the sides of your bowl with a well-oiled spatula; you want to make sure the vanilla is all mixed in and mine kept splashing up on the sides and chillin' there. 

Once you've mixed it enough so that it forms stiff peaks (much like whipped cream but WAY thicker), you can pour it into your pan. With the aforementioned spatula, still well-oiled, pat it down so that it is flat, much like you do with rice krispie treats, but a lot less hard. 

Take another sheet of plastic wrap that has also been sprayed to death, cover your pan completely, and use your hand to pat it onto the surface of your marshmallows so that a seal is formed. 

And now we wait. 

For 4 hours.

Or overnight, if you started this at 10:30 at night and have to get up for work the next day...not that I did that or anything.

Once it has congealed sufficiently, oil up your knife or scissors and get cutting. You can use cookie cutters to make them into shapes. You can do whatever you want at this point...go bananas! 

You'll notice that the edges are sticky. You don't want that. Here's where your cornstarch and powdered sugar come in handy! Combine them in a bowl and, when you've got a completed marshmallow, plop it in the bowl and coat it. You don't want to put too much on it, because then it'll taste like cornstarch and powdered sugar instead of delicious vanilla, but you do want enough so that it's no longer sticky. Oh, another tip, don't be a dummy and place finished marshmallows in a bowl that wasn't dried off completely. You know what happens to marshmallows when they get wet? They dissolve into a gooey, slimy mess. 

And now you're done. :) Not so bad, huh? Enjoy! Yum! 

New Year, New Me, New Blog

Oh...what a weird and wonderful year 2012 was. I got married to the most amazing man and we started our lives together as husband and wife. Our puppy turned 2 and finally (thank god) calmed down enough be left alone in the house for more than 30 minutes without pooping somewhere. My kitten found a new home where she is free to frolic about and hunt those pesky rodents. I did a lot of baking, although not nearly as much as I wished. I discovered the WONDERS of the Kitchenaid stand mixer. Evan and I celebrated several weddings of our dear friends and family members and were so touched to be a part of Randi and Kristina's celebration! We really and truly feel like our world is changing and growing in only the best of ways!

New Years 2012-13
Amazing dinner, good friends and way too much champagne!

As amazing as last year was, I can only hope that 2013 has even more exciting things in store for us. That said, I have a few resolutions that I would like to share with you all:

Who wouldn't want to spend time with this face?! 

1. I will make more time for my husband. Working on the weekends and working almost an hour to an hour and a half away from home puts a strain on our relationship. Often I have come home exhausted and just wanting to curl up on the couch and fall asleep or bring work home with me. This year, I will come home and really be present with Evan. He deserves it and so do I. Since I cannot make more hours in the day, I will, instead, make sure that the time we spend together will be quality time.

2. I will bake more. I really enjoy baking. The act of taking common, plain ingredients and combining them, tweaking them, making them into something delicious and sweet...it makes me happy. I like refining my technique. I like trying new things. One day, maybe I can make a living doing these things I enjoy, but for now, I do it for me.

3. I will stop eating so many processed foods. Evan and I have talked about doing a juice fast since we saw the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" over 2 years ago. We haven't done it. Obviously. But last night, when I could not find any crackers to go with our cheese, I decided to see if I could make my own. I did. They weren't perfect, but they did the job. The best part was that I knew exactly what went into them and I didn't spend any money on them. Water crackers are ridiculously expensive and I have no clue how many preservatives on them. I am making it my goal to find healthier, homemade alternatives to the costly, preservative-filled things you find on the grocery store shelves. If anyone has any tips, please send them my way.

4. I will get better at documenting my adventures, both in and out of the kitchen. I enjoy beautiful presentations and will start taking better pictures of the methods I use and the final products. Ideally, I would like a better camera, but the one I want isn't cheap. Before I get that camera, however, I will learn more about composition and editing. There is no reason to buy an expensive camera until you can use it properly, in my opinion.

5. I will focus myself. No more letting the laundry pile up or waiting until neither one of us has underwear left. No more starting projects until I know I have all the supplies I need. I have a tendency to get overzealous about things and peter out before they are completed. How many contraptions have I bought only to use them once? Countless...I have a screen printing machine, letterpress machine, needlefelting supplies and all this other crap that is junking up my life. I've enjoyed it all (ok, except the letterpress attempts..but they didn't work out the way I wanted them to) but didn't NEED to do it. The needlefelting, while my most recent hobby, has been the most fun. Perhaps I'll keep that. But the rest, I will cleanse our house of. Which brings me to...

6. I will cleanse our house of unnecessary clutter. If I ever hope to gain control over my guest room, I need to rid it of those things I never use. I will sell this crap on craigslist. And I will not buy any new supplies until I've gotten rid of those things I don't need. I will also do this with...SHOES. You don't know the pain it causes me to say this, but I have several pairs of shoes that I haven't worn in years or have only worn once. I have a shoe problem. An addiction, some would say. I'm like Imelda, Queen of shoes and everything. I will not buy another pair of shoes until I've gotten rid of every pair of shoes I haven't worn in over a year. Anyone who wears size 7-7.5...get ready for an exquisite ebay/craigslist shoe exodus. I might go through a minor depression once all is said and done, but I believe I'll feel much better, as well.

7. Lastly, I am challenging myself to try one new recipe a week! Be it baking, dinner, dog treats, etc...I will make it, bake it, blog it. Simple as that. Have a recipe you want me to try? Let me know. 52 recipes. 52 weeks. Bring it on!

That is all the resolutions I can make for now. They're not small ones, but they're ones I need to do for myself. Wish me luck. Keep me accountable. It's on the internet now. No escaping it, right? Unless, of course, the only people reading this are my mom and my husband...eh, they'll do their part!

I will start off this Make it, Bake it, Blog it challenge with an appropriate recipe, I believe!

Champagne Cupcakes with Candied Strawberries

I found this recipe on pinterest. Of course.

Again, I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail on this recipe because it was a really long process. I'll tell you want I did wrong, though. Never use egg scramblers when a recipe calls for egg whites. These cupcakes were much too dense and chewy for my taste, but that was my fault. I should never answer the phone in the grocery store. I get distracted too easily as it is. I just grabbed the wrong thing. Also, I had to use frozen strawberries rather than fresh. This was good and bad. Good because they were much easier to slice and candy than fresh ones. Bad because I have no idea how many strawberries are in a pint and didn't find it necessary to look it up. Therefore, I don't have a clue if I measured correctly for the puree. They tasted good though. End of story.

Merry Christmas, Darlings

I can honestly say that I've never had a better Christmas than this one. Evan and I spent so much time with family and got to see my wonderful nephews and little niece for so many days! 

You know me, though. It wouldn't be Christmas without me going a little overboard! 

Christmas presents remind me of bunnies...they seem to multiply when you're not looking!

First of all, if any of you have small children who just LOVE to help pass out packages, this is probably the best thing ever! Normally, we use tags and write people's names on their packages...but this year, I wanted to make it a little easier for the boys to pass things out. Since neither one of them can really read yet, I decided to use pictures! Also, since we had to transport all of our packages from Atlanta to Augusta with a nosy puppy in the back who LOVES eating ribbons, we needed something that was flat. Hence, the birth of my most brilliant idea so far: Face Labels! I printed out their faces on round labels and stuck them in the middle of our craft paper and washi tape packages. They were a huge hit with the boys (and my dad...he thought they were very cool. Thanks for thinking everything I do is awesome, dad!) as they sat there and said "Dat's ME! Oh Dat's Mama! Hey, Dat's BWODY!" 

A little dark, but they were having so much fun!

It was so much fun! :) 

Most of the presents I bought this year seemed to be alcohol-related...corksicles for my sister and aunt to keep their wine perfectly chilled, this gorgeous print of a photo-realistic Ketel One bottle watercolor for my dad, recycled wine bottle cheese plates for my cousins...and, for my brother-in-law, this:

Merry Booze-mas to Adam!

Yes, that's right. It's a Christmas tree made out of mini alcohol bottles. For the past few years, I've gotten Adam the newest Crown Royal flavors. This year, they came out with Crown Royal Maple. It's pretty damn good. But rather than just get him one bottle, I decided to make life hard on myself and make it into a Christmas tree! Yay! Great idea...

Seriously, go out and try this...it's good.

Basically, it's a styrafoam cone wrapped in washi tape stuck with mini bottles hot-glued onto skewers. I added the ornaments afterwards because I needed it to look a little more festive.  In retrospect, I would have gotten more minis...I was too tired to deal with it by the time I realized I needed more. 

I think he was ok with it though! :) 

For my last little art project, I decided to make the boys matching superhero capes! :) They turned out really well, I think. 

Want to know more on how I made these?
I'll post a how-to some other time!

I needle-felted the arm bands, masks and emblems before I heat bonded them to the satin fabric. My mom ended up going back over the velcro bits with the sewing machine because I had used iron-on velcro and, apparently, that is not strong enough to withstand these little guys. 

Brave Brody!

Loyal Luke!

I also made Cali a matching one so they could all play together! :) 

Courageous Cali!

And then I got bored on my day off and made this...

I really hate doing laundry...so I procrastinate. Sue me. 

All in all, this was an amazing Christmas! Evan and I feel as though we've been caught in a tornado (which we might actually be if this crazy weather doesn't clear up...tornadoes on Christmas...not cool, earth. Noooooot cool.) of family, friends, food and fun, but we wouldn't have it any other way! 

On behalf of our little family and our first married Christmas, we'd like to wish everyone we know (and those of you we don't) a safe and happy holiday season! 

Christmas Eve photos on the steps of the Old Cotton Mill in Augusta

May visions of sugarplums (or liver treats, if you're Cali) dance in your heads for many nights to come! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

What goes better with Christmas than Eggnog?

Answer: Nothing. 

Well, actually. Velvet Hammers go best with Christmas, but that's a post for later. 

For now, I want to tell you a little bit about these delicious eggnog cupcakes I made. 

They're not just eggnog cupcakes, though...they're Bourbon Eggnog Cupcakes with a Caramel Bourbon Eggnog Buttercream Frosting. 

They're decadent. They're moist. They're...AMAZING. 

I can't claim the creative rights to these heavenly delights. I found them on pinterest, courtesy of the Cupcake Bakeshop. 

Yeah...this batter rocked. Almost didn't make it to cupcake stage. 

But they did...eventually.

Oh...did I mention they were filled with a bourbon eggnog custard? Yep...they were!

I did make a slight change with the caramel...inadvertently. I didn't have any heavy whipping cream on hand (some silly husband didn't pick it up...but he did get everything else, so I guess I can give him a pass) so I just used eggnog in its place. Yummy! 

Just as a side note, I was inspired to create these eggnog tasties thanks to Mrs. Ruth, one of my wonderful residents. She may not be able to see very well or remember my name (ever), but that woman knows how to make some MEAN eggnog. She makes this stuff from scratch and she didn't tell me until 1/2 way through the glass that she poured me (at work, mind you) that there was 1 liter of bourbon and 1 liter of rum in it. 

I might have wanted to take a nap, but it was so worth it!

Merry Christmas, one and all!

I need a hobby...

That's totally a lie. I have so many hobbies that sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about which one I want to do. However, I did just pick up a new one: Needlefelting.

What is Needlefelting? It's basically stabbing a ball of wool with a little needle with barbs on the end until the wool fibers are interwoven into a hard-ish mass. What can you make in this fashion? Lots of things!

I started with tiny versions of my furry babies:

I didn't quite get the one of Mercedes finished before she went to her new home, but I'm glad I have it now. These will be going on our Christmas tree shortly!

Reunited and it feels so good!

I'm pretty happy with the detail I got into the back of Merce.
Her stripes were one of my favorite things about her!

I also created a pillow for my boss for her birthday. We had seen a pillow a while back that said "Tonight" on one side and "Not Tonight" on the other. 

She joked that she would buy it if it said "Not Tonight" on both sides. So that's what we gave her! :) 

Thanks to my lovely assistant, Lisa, at work. Here she is modeling our pillow...

And here's the second side!  

I did the sides all kinds of wrong, but they ended up pretty cool!

I cut out the letters from a wool felt sheet and
placed them on the other sheet before needling them together.

The sides of the pillow pre assembly.

Just so you have an idea, this is what I used to create everything: 

The green thing is the needle tool. It's spring-loaded.
Much easier than the single needle tool I used for Cali and Merce! 

Make sure you have a pad or foam block or brush of some sort. Otherwise you'll stab yourself repeatedly. Which I might have done. 

I literally put my blood, sweat and tears into each of these projects!