Friday, September 29, 2017

In Pursuit of Strawberry Cake (Vegan)

OLD post - but new to the blog - can't find it!

In Pursuit of Strawberry Cake (Vegan)

I've been looking for the past week and a half for a good strawberry cake that is vegan.  That means no jello mix.  The 2yo turns 3 in a week and a half and requested a strawberry cake.  I like to make the cakes vegan so that everyone in the family can enjoy without making two cakes :-/  So, the inventing began.  Couldn't find anything that I had all the ingredients to, so I adapted my chocolate cake recipe as a starter.  This is what I came up with:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 oil
2 tsp ground flax seed mixed with 1/4 warm water and whisked until thickened like eggs (binder) 
3/4 cup berry puree (I used mixed berries for starters because I have more of those)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1Tbsp vanilla 
1 cup cold water

Bake 350 in 9" round pan or in cupcakes (I did both for this experiment) for 20-30 mins.  The cake took 25, the cupcakes took 20.  I got 1 9" round and 10 cupcakes.  The cake is light and fluffy and dark purpley blue. (The mixed berries had blueberries, raspberries, and black berries.)  Tastes great, just sticks to the cupcake wrappers.  Not sure about how to get the cake version out of the pan as I forgot to grease and flour it... :-/  There's always tomorrow for another experiment and this time with flour and grease!


UPDATE:  Once the cake was tasted (she liked it, btw), she said, "Well, maybe chocolate..."  Ugh!  2yos! :-)  Also, the cake came out of the pan VERY easily!  Yay!!!

Monday, September 29, 2014

Web Page & Google+ Updates

Not a lot of work done on an individual blog post these last two weeks.  New navigation tools and web page work has been done.  Check out the new and updated pages:

www.lessonsbybeth.com
Google Plus Page
Google Plus Local Business Page

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Corn-dog Muffins

Corn-dog Muffins



Corn-dogs are wonderful, greasy fair food - but often better left to the deep fryers and the commercial makers.  I've made corn-dogs in the oven.  The batter falls off the hotdogs - no matter how thick you make it.  They're tasty, but a bit of a pain.  

Recently while perusing the online world of food I found the suggestion to make corn-dog muffins instead.  The corn batter doesn't fall off the hotdogs when they're in muffin tins.  The grease from the hotdogs doesn't leak out of the corn muffin batter coating.  And they're easily packable for kid lunches.

The original recipe said to use prepackaged cornbread muffin mix.  That's not something I stock at our house.  So I went to the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (you know, the one with the red and white checks) for their cornbread recipe.

Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book Cornbread Recipe:  DOUBLE IT!

1 cup AP flour
1 cup corn meal
1 Tbsp baking powder
2-3 Tbsp sugar (omitted for the corn-dog muffins)
2 eggs - beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil (down to 1/6 cup for corn-dog muffins)

ADD: 1 cup shredded cheese
6 hot dogs - quartered.


I doubled the original recipe and got 24 corn-dog muffins and 12 small plain corn muffins.  (or 30 corn-dog muffins and using 7.5 hotdogs)

Mix together all the dry ingredients, and make a well in the middle of them and add the eggs, milk & oil.  Mix the wet and dry together, fold in the shredded cheese.

Grease each muffin cup and fill about half full with cornbread batter - press in 1/4 of a hotdog all the way to the bottom of the cup.  It won't be completely covered but will be close when the batter rises in the oven.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 20-22 mins until golden brown and cooked through.

Eat hot or cold, dipped in ketchup, mustard, or plain.  Up to you!  Happy Munching!!






Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Home Made "Spaghetti O's"

Home Made "Spaghetti O's"

Or Alphabet Soup...


My kids had never had spaghetti O's before.  It was a thing from my past that I always liked when I got it as a "treat".  It was definitely not the normal fare at our house either.  I recently came across a recipe that was billed as tomato alphabet soup.  I decided to try it out - and it tasted really close to spaghetti O's.  Added a few of my own special touches and my kids loved it - and keep asking for it.  Time to share my tweaked recipe.

Ingredients:

Small Pasta Shapes (alphabet letters, O's, small shells, elbows, etc) - I usually use 1/2 lb of pasta, today I used a whole pound.
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp - to taste
Dried Minced Onion - 1 Tbsp - to taste
Basil - tsp or so - to taste
Oregano - tsp or so - to taste
Black Pepper - few turns of a grinder to taste
dash of salt
1 can Tomato Sauce (15oz)
4 - 6 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Shredded cheese for serving

Optional:
Make mini spoon-sized meat balls and cook in the soup until cooked through for an extra boost of protein.

Directions:
Get out a heavy bottomed sauce pan and heat on medium.  Add in the olive oil until it's shimmery and then add the dry pasta - yes, dry.  Toast it in the hot oil until it's nicely browned all over.

It's kind of like starting to make a rice pilaf.

Once the pasta is nice and toasted, add in the seasonings - garlic, onion, basil, oregano, pepper and salt and cook until the seasonings are fragrant.

7-8 cups of liquid with 1lb pasta
TURN DOWN THE HEAT and empty the can of tomato sauce and continue to cook until the pasta has soaked up a lot of the sauce and it's slightly reduced and darker red in color. (I forgot to get a picture of this step!  It was splattering all over on me and I got distracted.)

Pour in the chicken broth, stir, and bring up to a boil (add the meat balls now if using).

For the meatballs I put 1 chicken breast cut up in my food processor and ground it then pulsed in some garlic, basil, oregano, dried minced onion, and pepper.  Rolled it in small spoon-sized balls and put them in the soup while it was simmering.
Almost Done!

Simmer until the noodles are tender and the meat balls are finished cooking, if you added them. 

Let the pasta thicken the soup/sauce until it's nice and thick.  There will be very little liquid left when the soup is finished.

Time to eat!
Serve with shredded cheese on top and maybe a dollop of sour cream - yum!















To make this taste closer to spaghetti O's puree some cooked carrot into the sauce - gives it the flavor you maybe looking for from the commercial product ;-)

Recap of the recipe all together...

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
Small Pasta Shapes (alphabet letters, O's, small shells, elbows, etc)
garlic powder - 1 tsp - to taste
minced onion - 1 Tbsp - to taste
basil - tsp or so - to taste
black pepper - few turns of a grinder to taste
dash of salt
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
4 - 6 cups chicken broth (or bouillon and water)
Shredded cheese for serving

Optional:
Make mini spoon-sized meat balls and cook in the soup until cooked through for an extra boost of protein.

Directions:
Get out a heavy bottomed sauce pan and heat on medium.  Add in the olive oil until it's shimmery and then add the dry pasta - yes, dry.  Toast it in the hot oil until it's nicely browned all over.  It's kind of like starting to make a rice pilaf.

Once the pasta is nice and toasted, add in the seasonings - garlic, onion, basil, pepper and salt and cook until the seasonings are fragrant.

TURN DOWN THE HEAT and empty the can of tomato sauce and continue to cook until the pasta has soaked up a lot of the sauce and it's slightly reduced and darker red in color.

Pour in the chicken broth, stir, and bring up to a boil (add the meat balls now if using).  Simmer until the noodles are finished cooking through and the meat balls are finished, if you added them).

Serve with shredded cheese on top and maybe a dollop of sour cream - yum!



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New Fangled Foundation Rows: Single-Crochet Foundation/Double Chain Foundation Row

New Fangled Foundation Row:

 Double Chain Foundation Row & Single-Crochet Stitch Foundation Row


Usually when beginning a crochet project a single chain stitch is used - it's the most basic stitch of looping the yarn through the loops to create a, well, chain ;-).  It's slightly stretchy - until you work back into it, then it's sturdy - but when you don't want a sturdy edge and want a nice stretchy one, you need a different edge stitch.  

Two different stitches I use for a stretchier foundation row are the double chain stitch and the single-crochet stitch foundation row.

A double chain stitch creates what looks like a chain stitch with an open loop above for working the next row.  It's decorative, stretchy, the base looks neat and tidy, and it's easy to work back into.  I love using it as the base for hats - either knitted or crocheted or the bottom of a sweater, shirt or dress.



A single-crochet stitch foundation row is ultra stretchy - good for keeping lots of stretch in the base of the work - or for making sure the base isn't smaller than the top of the work once it is finished.  This also works very well for working in the round. The single-crochet stitch foundation looks just like a single crochet and a chain row but it is all worked at once.  


Best of all for both of these stitches, the work will look the same on both the top edge and bottom edge - no more loopy edge on the foundation row!


For the beginning of the double chain stitch first chain 2.  Then in the first chain that was made, go and pull up a loop.  Finish the single crochet (yarn over, pull through two loops).  For the next stitch, *insert the hook in the left part of the single crochet stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop.  Now there should be two loops on the hook.  Finish the single crochet by yarning over and pulling through these two loops.*  Continue working the directions that are between the *s to make the double chain stitch as long as needed.

To use it as the foundation row, simply work back into the top loops with your chosen stitch.

For the single-crochet stitch foundation row again, chain two.  Insert the hook in the first chain stitch (next to the knot) yarn over and pull up a loop.  Yarn over again and pull through just 1 loop.  Yarn over and pull through two to complete the first single-crochet foundation stitch.  For the next stitch, look on the left side of the work - there are what looks like 2 chain stitches here.  Go into the bottom of the two (again, closest to the knot) yarn over, and pull up a loop.  Yarn over again and pull through 1 loop.  Yarn over and pull through two loops to complete.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Pom-Poms











Fancy Pom-Poms


Have you ever seen fancy or decorative pom-poms?  The little balls of fluffy yarn that mysteriously have pictures or designs wrapped right in them... How do they do that?!?

With the help from a little online digging and lots of experimentation, I figured it out!

First of all, I made a quick trip to my craft store to pick up some pom pom makers - after doing some research on what looked best to buy.  I've had ones that are full complete circles and some that are partial circles - I didn't like either of them.  I made some that were heavy cardboard that worked pretty well, but I couldn't easily cut out small enough ones to use for making lots of poms without wasting too much yarn - yes I have tons of yarn, but you know, it's the principle of the thing.  Anyway, I picked up a pack of each of these:
   2 large pom pom makers   2 small pom pom makers

They work great and are very easy to use and to cut and tie when you are finished wrapping the pom pom.

Anyway, enough with the promotions of cool products (btw, I am an Amazon affiliate and I get a small donation to the blog if you make a purchase through a link posted here.)

Let's do an easy one and create a bulls-eye pom pom.  Start first by taking your pom pom maker and on just one half, only in the middle, wrap several wraps with your center color.  Wrap tightly to fit as many wraps as you can in only a small space.




Cover the center wraps with the 2nd color, then with the first color again.

Finishing with a layer of the 2nd color to finish off and fill the rest of that side of the loom.

Repeat with the other side of the loom, or wrap the other side in one solid color to keep the design on one half of the pom pom.

Now, get out some very sharp scissors and cut down the groove on each half of the ball.

Don't forget to tie it tightly through the center!  The groove is fairly easy to slip some yarn through - but remember to pull tight!

Once it's all tied up, the pom pom can be removed from the pom pom maker

You are left with an oddly shaped poofy pom pom - not to worry - there's one more step.  TRIMMING!!

Trim that pom pom until it's nice and round and even.  (see photo below) Ta Da!

Now go forth and make some fancy pom poms.  As I get some more fancy ones made I'll post some more pictures.

Finger Knitting - Bind Off

How to Bind Off Finger Knitting

Now that you've made your chain and created a big long bit of knitting, now you need to bind it off so that you can keep your work from unraveling.

Starting at one end or the other, knit one stitch as usual.  Then bring that loop from the finger it's on to the next finger.  Now there are two loops on finger two.  Knit both of these loops together pretending that they are just one loop.  Move this new loop on finger two to finger three.  Knit these two loops together as if they were one.  Move the loop to the last finger and repeat - knit the two loops together as if they were one.  Then knit this last stitch ONE MORE TIME.  Take it off your finger and pull it tight.

Clip the loop in half and remove the yarn.  You now have a finished chain of finger knitting neatly bound off on both ends.