This is my little place for my creativity.

UPDATE: THE SITE IS MOVING AS OF FEBRUARY 10, 2014 TO:

http://www.emilylikestomakestuff.com
http://www.emilylikestomakestuff.com
http://www.emilylikestomakestuff.com
http://www.emilylikestomakestuff.com
http://www.emilylikestomakestuff.com


It's time to move on to a place that is more DIY for this DIY-er. Please come on over to see what is up, comment, make suggestions, stalk, or just say hello.
The links are all the same--I have trouble clicking on tiny stuff on my phone so I thought that having it over a few lines of text might make it easier for folks like me.

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This is more or less a record of my crafty pursuits. I'll use this space to keep track of promising ideas and my own successes or "learning opportunities" for future reference.

Comments are welcome, but will be removed if they don't actually contribute to the content. In other words, comments should have all meat and no time-sucking fillers.

As I complete the projects/ideas on the right, I'll move them to the left so you can see how well it worked out.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

It's been a busy morning.


Today, I made:
Oatmeal pies (really just oatmeal cookies with leftover icing)
Mexicanish sandwiches
Apple-pecan pancakes

I have some dear friends who are battling an anti-health monster right now and have offered to bring them dinner each Thursday evening.  We can visit/chat for a bit and they can get something nutritious that is out off their typical home-cooking menu but still qualified as home-cooking. Tonight they are getting my new specialty - Mexicanish sandwiches, some pancakes for breakfast, and some cookie sandwiches that are designed only to help him put some weight back on. (There is fiber, iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients in them, but really, they are little fat-creators!)

Here's the Mexicanish Sandwiches tutorial.  These are really delicious.  I don't know if these exist outside my home anywhere, but it is simple and delicious and sort of like a pupusa.

Mexicanish Sandwiches

1 cup of masa (corn flour for tamales/tortillas)
1 cup water
2 or 3 tablespoons of oil 
1 teaspoon chili powder (more or less as you like it)
1/2 teaspoon salt (more or less as you like it)
clove of crushed garlic (if you want--not necessary though.  Add in whatever else you like, too--cumin/comino, lime, magical-mystery-ingredient-du-jour)
Stir these together.
Put it off to the side  to "rest" while you chop:
1 jalapeno
1 tiny onion (I bought some that are about the size of big jalapenos)
Mix these into the masa.   You'll prolly need to use your hands for this. Again, you have the option of adding in whatever you want or have leftover in the fridge.
Smashed beans (I made pintos last night--did the boil-cool-rinse routine 3 times to de-gas them and then simmered them overnight.  After they had cooled enough, I drained the liquid off--be sure to save some--and used the mixer to "drill" them up.  Add the liquid back in as needed. This dish is easier if they are not very runny.)
Cheese (I used American slices because that is what I had.)

Heat up a skillet to scorching hot. If sprinkled water dances on it, you're probably ready. Wet your hands (the water on your hands reduces the amount of stickiness of the masa mixture). Grab a golfball sized amount and flatten it out with your hands.  It should be pretty flat but not so flat that you can't get it off without tearing it.  This may take some experimentation. (The disasters are still pretty delicious.)

With my electric stove set to 8, it takes one minute for this to be ready to flip.  I use my stove timer and just flip it over.  The underside (that is now looking up at you) should appear dry with a few scorch marks on it to indicate that it is actually cooked.  You can cook these to the amount of your liking.
When both sides are equally cooked, put that one a plate and plop in your next one.  I took a half slice of cheese, spread some smashed beans over it, and then topped it with another one.  These are pretty and pretty delicious.

I might experiment with topping them with enchilada sauce and salad next time.
As it is, I now have several of these wrapped in foil and then put in a gallon bag in the freezer for my lunches at work.  I might even pack up a few to take with me to Peru to prove to my family there that I really can cook (when I am not in their kitchen where they don't have the same tools and I can't read the labels on any of the ingredients).
:)
If you want to vary the amounts or make only enough for one, then use equal parts masa and water.  Everything else is just a throw-in.
If you are wondering about how I came up with this, it is really just a Prayer-Meal.  This is when you stand in the middle of your kitchen and pray, "Please, Lord, help me create something that is delicious and nutritious at the same time."  When you are low on supplies, it's always a prayer-meal to the rescue.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

COOKIES!!!!! Sugar cookies. With royal icing. Yeah.

This was a lot of work.  But the result is spectacular.  Even if I could not figure out how to end oeach of the "writings" without a twisted stringy-ness or a mess in general.  I added some Tru-lime to the mix of both the cookies and the icing and it really makes a nice accent.  I ate 4.  I think  I need another.  Now.

Click here for Sugar Cookies 101


For the icing, I didn't have any Karo so I used cream. (Whipping cream).  I also skipped the lemon.  I bet this would be great with peppermint.




Note:  When naming your kids, pick a short name that will fit when written on a cookie--4 or 5 letters max.

Friday, September 2, 2011

White cake with lime

Now THIS was a yummy cake.  I was mixing up the white cake, determined to have something really delicious made when I thought about adding some lime to the mix.  I searched and found two petrified limes in the door of the fridge and juiced them.  I got maybe 4 table spoons of juice out of them and just went ahead with the baking as usual.  I then made a glaze.  I elected to not stack the cakes this time since I was just experimenting.  I poked holes all over the first pan and spooned 1/2 cup of glaze over it to sink into the holes.
Glaze
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
juice of 4-5 limes.
Normally I'd add some zest, too because it is delicious and super pretty
Boil it. Cool it. Spoon it over the cake.
Very easy and no precision needed.

Cake recipe


After finishing messing with the 2nd layer, I IMMEDIATELY cut it up and put it in the freezer because it was too tempting to eat it all.  I would have if I'd been able to. Very yummy.  I think that I'll try this again with oranges when winter comes and fresh picked oranges without chemicals are in season here.  MMmmm.....

Dang it.  I forgot to take a picture.  I think this means that I'll just have to make another one!

Carrot cake made with baby food

This carrot cake was not too moist and not too great but it was the first time I ever made cream cheese frosting and it was worth it just for that.  I packed up the remainder of the cake to give away and there it went.
Carrot cake made with baby food instead of fresh carrots

This recipe also called for nuts in the frosting.  That was a bit disastrous.  I normally like nuts in a cake but not this time.  The total cost for the cake was 5$.  It would have cost me 3$ if I had not wasted the nuts in it.  Live and learn.

The price for a similarly sized carrot cake in the grocery store was 9$.  I am guessing the quality would be about the same.  Very ho-hum.



 I can't imagine not having actual carrots in a carrot cake so I stirred some in.  

Sew-Pencil bags

I'll be in South America again in 4 weeks and 4 days .  While school supplies are on the crazy cheap discounts, I have been buying x4 of each useful item that was under a dollar.  I've got pencils, folders, glue sticks, scissors, crayons, erasers, rulers, spirals, paper, toothbrushes, socks, and super el-cheapo backpacks to hold the stuff together.  I was thinking that I would put the small stuff together into a ziploc but after I saw this, I thought it would be better and certainly longer lasting.  I made 4 different ones.
Pathwork fancy zipper pouch
or
Simple zipper pouch

The first link had a tip of sewing a tab to the end of the zipper.  I quickly remembered (after screwing up, of course) the value of this when I was testing one of the zippers and zipped the key right off the teeth. Sigh.

I made the first one lined and it is cute, but definitely weighs more and right now, everything I pack is about the weight.  No packaging of anything is going and what I can reduce, I will.  The lined one was also a PITA because I forgot to UNZIP the thing when I was closing the final seam.  Yeah.  I'm a rebel and rebels always have troubles. Sigh again.

On the other three, I couldn't see any reason to line the pouches.  They are for kids and like kids everywhere, I am guessing these will take a beating in general so I am not too worried about them lasting longer than a year or two for those kiddos if the items all get used up and/or abused up.  All part of learning, IMHO!

Each backpack contains about 8-9 dollars of actual cost and probably about 20$ value because of my frugality.  There are 4 kids that are the right age to receive these in Carlos' family in the home village so I hope they can enjoy these very much.  There are also 2 little kids that I will see if I can make a toy or two for them also.  I've gotta find out their ages first.


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Update:  I found this tutorial and I think it explains the stitching better and the pattern is darling.
 "Pencil" bag
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Another Update:
Here's a couple of pictures of a young shepherd with his backpack of goodies.  All the other kids in town were at a soccer match that was exciting enough that the church was even closed for the day.  The town was EMPTY as we wandered around and ran into this young gentleman working.