Sunday, January 25, 2015

It's a Blizzard - Lets Eat Some Muffins!

Haha, I know my titles are terrible...but they are accurate! A few weeks ago I was on Pinterest and occassionally I see some really delicious things show up in my main feed. I just so happened to see some pastry dishes which got me thinking: Can you make muffins with strawberries? I'm no chef, so I don't know these things. But I was curious so did a Pinterest search. And lo'! You can! I found one for coffee cake strawberry muffins. Seeing as how I'd frozen some strawberries from a farmer's market outting earlier this month I decided to give it a go. :)

 This was my batter. I used my mom's KitchenAid stand mixer for the first time. Let me just say it made things go faster! (It took me 3 hours to make these darn muffins though...ugh). I am a VERY slow baker. Actual prep time is something like 10 minutes with 30 minutes being the total time for these muffins. I doubled the recipe and altered some of the ingredients so this could be why my time was much longer. If you're more experienced it will probably go faster.

 Next came chopping up the strawberries. Mine were thawed but still very cold from the freezer. I used A LOT more than what you see here. (About 2 cups worth I think).
I spooned approximately 1 tablespoon worth of batter into each cup. The recipe said it made 18, but that would never last in my house! I actually ended up having extra batter so I had to spoon what was left into loose cups to bake after the first large batch was done. I had 4 extras, plus the 30 I did first. I did go back and spoon extra mix into some of the cups. My muffins never come out evenly...


 And here are my finished muffins! They actually look quite close to the photos from the recipe I'd found. And I am told by my brother they're very good too. I'm holding out until after dinner before I try one. But they do smell amazing so that was a hard temptation to fight. :)

I had a few susbtitutions for the recipe. it originally calls for milk and large eggs, but we only had jumbo eggs and I always use soy milk (organic) instead. I think because of that it caused the cook time for these to go from the estimated 18- 20  and spike to be around a half hour.

If you'd like to give the recipe a try you can find it here.

And if you want to see more delicious recipe ideas check out my Pinterest Board: Yummy Snacks. I put more than just sweets there!

I pin lots of nifty things I find, lots of handmade but on occasion when I see other things that catch my fancy I pin them too! So be sure to follow all my boards. :)

Last little thing I wanted to share with you all was the gorgeous snow "storm" we had on Saturday starting in the very early morning. I was still up around 3:30am so I snuck out to bask in the glory of it. I just love how super quiet it is during and just after a fresh snow.

 My front yard looked so serene! There weren't any animal tracks to be seen yet and aside from the neighbors front lights being on there was no sign of anyone around. It was truly amazing. :)

I also couldn't help but to snap some photos of the two prominent trees in our yard. There was at least 4 to 6 inches of cover by the time I got outside. And it was still snowing and coming down harder while I was out there. :)

Anyway that's all I wanted to share. We are also expecting more snow this Monday through Tuesday. We may get something like 2 feet worth. I honestly can't wait! It just hasn't felt like winter until the snow came.

If you're going to get hit by the blizzard stay safe and maybe make some muffins while it snows outside.

Have a great week. :)

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Happy New Year + Share Your Shop/Craft!

Hey all! Wow, can't believe it's been several months since my last entry. I missed this place and you guys! 2015 is already here and it's nearly halfway through January. 2014 flew by so quickly it's hard to believe. I do hope you all had a wonderful new year and a lovely holiday regardless of what you celebrate. :)

I have been super hard at work these last few weeks. As winter has officially set in some time ago (and it's just so dang cold out) I'm no longer able to pop outdoors and take pictures. I've also come to see my old spot inside I used to try and take photos in wasn't doing my work any favors. So I've been making all these wonderful things and have had no way to share them. Only people who have seen me at my last few shows of 2014 ever got to see these new works! Recently I began to change all that.

I got together with my mom and she helped me whip up a nice big light box complete with 4 clamp lights. It's nothing fancy, but I have been so stoked to finally see that little glimmer of progress appearing on my horizon. Sadly it wasn't as easy as just point and click with my camera. It's been about 2 going on 3 weeks now I am just recently seeing results.

Below are a few little previews of what is to come.


I will be working to revamp my shop as time goes on and I look forward to using some of my new techniques come spring when I get to go outside again. :)


I would love to see what you have to share too~ Please post in the comments a little something about your craft and include a link to your shop. Be sure to check out other's posts as well and spread the love a bit. :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, I look forward to seeing what you have to share! :)