2015 1st Quarter Update

Have you been wondering how my New Year's resolutions have been going? Well, wonder no longer:

1. Lose Weight/Eat Healthier - This quarter, I stayed even with my weight and haven't gained or lost anything. I forgot to set a hard and fast goal, so I think it will be 40 pounds for the year - approximately 10 pounds per quarter. That seems reasonable, don't you think? I'll have to play catch up for this past quarter, but with it getting busier at the restaurant and band starting back up later this month, I'll be burning more calories.
2. Try 52 New Recipes - Since it's winter and the restaurant is slow this time of year, I have more free time, so I've been able to try 28 new recipes. With the rate I had initially proposed (one a week), I don't have to cook anything new for the rest of the next quarter, and I'll still be on track.
3. "Read" 42 Books - After participating in the Winter Reading Program at the library, I've only ended up "reading" 5 books so far. I've got a book on my bedside table that I'm working on, but I'm way behind. To stay on target, I need to read around 10 books a quarter, so I need to ramp it up!
4. Learn How to Knit - This is going much better than I had ever hoped! My initial goal was to learn how to knit in the first quarter, then finish one-third of the scarf in each subsequent quarter. Can you believe that I am only 17 rows away from finishing the second third of the scarf? I don't even have to look at the scarf for the next six months to stay on track! I did slow down considerably in March, but I've completed 331 rows so far, and the scarf looks great! I've only left one mistake in, and I'm sure I'll be able to finish it by Christmas.

Overall, I think I've been fairly successful at keeping up with some of my resolutions. Since I'm so far ahead on some of them, I can focus on the others this next quarter, but unfortunately, with my short attention span, three months is usually where I fizzle out completely. I will definitely be needing another kick in the pants, I can't wait to see what my next quarterly update has to tell you!

April Photo-a-Day

I've just finished sending out my items for the Sewing Swap, and I had the urge to check out Swap-Bot, and see what kind of ATC swaps they have available right now. Nohing jumped out at me, but after perusing the other categories of swaps that I might be interested in, I found this one:

I swap with Swap-bot!

One photo a day for thirty days, choose a different prompt for each photo. I think I'll be okay with this. Check out how this all turned out on my Photo Journal blog!

Sewing Swap

I am pround to say that I have sent out my package for the Sewing Swap!

I got the sewing-themed fabric from JoAnn's, and I think it's absolutely adorable. For the sewing-themed jewelry, I made earrings out of snaps. They come in two colors: silver and black. They are mounted on the business cards for our Etsy shop.

As for the sewing-themed ATC's, I finished them last night. I've been obsessing over them for a while, but I think they came together nicely. The background is an image of a vintage sewing pattern envelope, and I added fabric swatches, ribbon and a button for an inspiration board feel. I'm pleased with how everything turned out, and am glad that I sent out things that I'd be happy to receive.

Work? What's That?

I spent too much time tonight at work arranging flowers. This Sunday, the town is having a "Wedding Walk," and we're setting up the banquet room for show and tell. Mel brought in a couple of bouquets of flowers from the grocery store, and we started arranging.

These were my creations. My favorite is the yellow one, but the purple/orange is growing on me.

Maple Bacon Cupcake Bread Pudding with Irish Cream Butter Glaze

For today's breakfast, I do believe that this was the most popular dish I made, Bacon Maple Cupcake Bread Pudding.

Bacon Maple Cupcake Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of Bacon Maple Cupcakes, quartered and stale
• 1 cup 1/2 ‘n 1/2
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Maple Extract
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, ground
• 3 slices, bacon chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• butter to coat pan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Quarter unwrapped and stale cupcakes. Set aside. *note: if not stale enough from being left out over night, quarter and place in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes*
2. In large bowl whisk together milk, half and half, extracts, cinnamon, and eggs.
3. Fold in quartered cupcakes pieces until liquid is nearly all absorbed.
4. Pour into 9x9 inch baking pan and sprinkle with bacon pieces. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Serve warm, topping with Irish Cream Butter Sauce if desired.

Irish Cream Butter Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup Irish Cream

Directions:

1. In small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together all ingredients until they come to a low boil/simmer. Whisk constantly so that the eggs don’t curdle.
2. Serve over bread pudding or ice cream.

It was just plain delicious. And even though it sounded like the flavor combination shouldn't have worked, it did.

Corned Beef Breakfast

For the St. Patrick's Day breakfast, I had planned on making a bunch of different things, but they were all starchy, and I really wanted to make something that included corned beef. So, after an intensive Google search, I found a recipe for a Corned Beef Breakfast.

Corned Beef Breakfast

Ingredients

• 10 slices rye bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 lbs cooked corned beef
• 2 1/2 cups shredded swiss cheese
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Grease a 13x9 baking dish.
2. Arrange cubes on the bottom.
3. Coarsely slice the corned beef and arrange over the bread.
4. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
5. Beat eggs with milk and pepper.
6. Pour over all.
7. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnite.
8. Bake covered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
9. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes more.
10. Serve immediately.

It wasn't as eggy as I expected it to be, I guess I thought it would turn out more like a quiche, but the dish was pretty tasty, with the predominant flavor being from the rye bread.

Chocolate Donuts with Irish Cream Ganache

I got up early this morning to work on my final items for the St. Patrick's Day breakfast at Huber. I started out with Chocolate Donuts with Irish Cream Ganache.

Chocolate Donuts with Irish Cream Ganache

Ingredients
For the Donuts:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons oil

For the ganache

• approx. 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• approx. 1 1/4 cups Irish Cream Creamer

Instructions

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and cornstarch into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, vanilla, and oil and whisk together.
2. Scrape batter into a zip top bag. Snip off the end and pipe batter into wells greased (or nonstick) donut pans (fill about halfway).
3. Bake at 450C for 7-9 minutes, until donut springs back when pressed. Let cool.
4. Meanwhile, pour the chocolate chips into a small bowl. Pour creamer over the chocolate chips until just barely level (I like to use just a little less so that the ganache is thicker). Microwave for 1 minute, and then whisk until a smooth ganache forms.
5. Dip the tops of the donuts in the ganache while ganache is warm, or spread over top of the donuts with a spoon.

These turned out well, for the most part. I made a pan of regular sized donuts and a pan of mini-donuts, and the mini-donuts were a little overdone. Oh well, live and learn.