Partners in Crime
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Whole Wheat Cranberry Walnut Muffins with Buttermilk
I decided to start making these because I was becoming addicted to the O's Campus Cafe cranberry walnut muffins and would spend $1.50 everyday for breakfast. I wanted to save money, but also make a healthier version, as the cafe ones were no doubt filled with sugar, white flour, and fat.
After searching the internet for a starter recipe and several versions, this is the recipe I finally came up with:
Whole Wheat Cranberry Walnut Muffins with Buttermilk
(Makes 12 muffins, about 200 calories each)
Dry ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
¾ teaspoon baking soda, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup vegetable oil (can also use olive oil or melted butter)
¾ cup pure maple syrup or honey or molasses
1 ½ cups buttermilk (can use yogurt, but I wouldn't recommend it)
2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (thawed, drained, and rinsed)
½ cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients in separate container, making sure that they are completely blended. (If using butter instead of oil, mix other wet ingredients first, then add butter.) Stir wet into dry until dry just disappears.
Stir in cranberries and walnuts.
Pour batter into greased muffin tins, filling to the top of the line (don't be afraid... they'll rise a bit, but it won't be overwhelming).
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Serve with butter. Muffins freeze well and also thaw overnight at room temperature. If reheating, microwave for 15 seconds, then toast lightly in a toaster oven. Enjoy!
Thoughts on most recent muffin experience:
This time I used olive oil and honey, which made for an excellent texture and taste. This was the first thing I ever made in my oven at my new place. It's a gas oven like my old place, but as far as I can tell, there is no convection on it. I believe this led to the muffins in the middle not cooking all the way, so they disintegrated when I tried to remove them.
I baked them for 15 minutes on the top rack, 5 minutes on the lowest rack, and then 3 minutes on the top rack. Before baking, I hadn't bothered to move the racks, so next time, I will move one to the middle and see how that goes. If that doesn't work, I might try baking the muffins in two separate tins.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Updates Soon!
I will be updating this blog soon with posts about my Steampunk Vest, Vintage Dress Alteration #1, Tent Dress Gone Horribly Wrong, Schoolgirl Top, Audrey Hepburn LBD, Vintage Shift Dress Pattern Alteration, and Purple Satin 60s Princess Line Dress from Hell.
Also, if my sister sends me a photo, I will blog about the 60s Shift I made for her.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Steampunk Vest - Simplicity 4079, View B
On New Years Eve 2008, Siobhan very excitedly told me about the upcoming Steampunk Ball at Elysium (the local goth club). I had absolutely no idea what Steampunk was. The simple explanation is Futuristic Victorian society (somewhat like the old TV show and horrible movie remake Wild Wild West). For more info, check out Brass Goggles. Moving on… Siobhan got the whole gang jazzed about the idea of making costumes and dressing up (we’ll take any opportunity to dress up). So I thought about what I might do…
Just before New Years, I had been in
At home I sorted through the random fabrics and found that I had picked a few brown ones. I then decided to make a vest, because it was the closest thing to a corset (common Steampunk female garment) that I could make myself.
I settled on two upholstery fabrics (one tan, one brown), a brown woven cotton, an ivory silk that was nice and sturdy (if I ever find that type of fabric again, I’ll be the happiest girl in the world), and silver lining fabric (acetate or polyester) that there happened to be plenty of.
While I had never made a vest before this, I had made a dress with princess seams that had a lined bodice. I wanted to relearn princess seams as I felt that I hadn’t really mastered them the first time around. Also, I would be learning to buttonholes with this project, but I wanted to try something a little more difficult…
…like exposed zipper seams!
Because I already had all fabric I needed, the notions I needed to buy were buttons, a zipper, thread, and a buckle. Greg and I purchased a grab bag of buttons from Hobby Lobby and I opted for a 36” zipper (leaving me with 72” to work with).
Cutting the pieces out was easy in that I was confined to the size of the scraps I was using. I almost used the tan fabric for the inside convex pieces on the front
Now… it is really hard for me to start projects because I’m a procrastinator and I’m lazy (something I’m working on changing). For instance, I am writing this blog two months after I actually completed the project. So I enlisted Siobhan’s help with getting me to work on my vest. We laid out an entire Saturday two weeks before the ball to work on our outfits. During that day, I went from cut out pieces to a vest with exposed lining and no buttons. Quite an accomplishment for this little lady…
I started off by sewing together the princess seams in the lining because they, of course, would not be seen while I am wearing it. I incorporated my mother’s teachings of how to pin princess seams as I felt the sewing instructor I originally had show me didn’t do a great job, especially when dealing with slippery fabric. This worked out really well, and princess seams are now my bitch. After that, I sewed the outside back fabrics, inserting the tabs in the back with the buckle.
And now for the fun part… zipper seams in the front!
I attached the zipper onto the convex side of the princess seam, pinning the inside of the zipper teeth 5/8” away from the edge, and using a zipper foot to baste it in. To sew the concave side of the princess seam to the convex side, I tried using the zipper foot again, but it didn’t get quite as close to the teeth as I wanted. The next time, I tried using a 3-groove pintucking foot (which works for piping and invisible zippers) and yielded much better results.
I decided to also put zippers on the flaps which ended up being more difficult that the princess seams were (sharp corners and all).
My poor construction led to the deterioration of the flaps after I wore it:
And as you might have noticed, I also put zippers along the bottom of the vest front,which worked out pretty well.
Between the zipper seams and the buttons, I had to attach the outside fabric to the lining, which wasn’t so bad. However, when I flipped it out, the vest was super balloony, and wasn’t entirely helped by ironing. I then realized that I probably should have trimmed the seam allowances to allow the fabric to lay flat. The last part before the buttons was sewing the inside lining together which was insanely frustrating and difficult. I ended up sewing the remaining lining together by folding the seams allowances over each other and stitching-in-the-ditch on the outside. I later showed my mom (a master seamstress) my work, ashamed that the lining looked so tacky, and she said, “Oh sweetie, all lining looks like that.” Phew!
Last, but not least… buttons! I had been using my mom’s Bernina 1130 to sew all my garments (I now have my own… thanks, eBay!), and it comes with an awesome automatic buttonholer. Not much to tell on this part except I required my mom’s assistance on button placement after sewing the holes (I recommend getting help on this from others). The vest was finished just hours before the ball.
To complete the outfit, I had a $40 anthropologie Victorian style blouse (went on clearance a few weeks later for $20), a $20 anthropologie skirt, a $26 floor length green velvet coat from eBay, my yellow leather utility belt, a vintage ladybug clock necklace, and my favorite Fluevog Bond Girl Boots, wrapped in grommet leather strips. To top it off, I had some goggles purchased on eBay that I further steampunked up with some clock parts, gears, and the remaining 10” of zipper I had left (yes, the vest required 62” of zipper total).
And that’s about the size of it. I got a few compliments on my coat at the ball, but it was too dark for anyone to really notice the vest. However, my friends appreciated the work I put into it and I was proud of it, so that’s really all that matters.
What I would do differently:
I’m planning on doing a different view of the vest pattern with some other scraps I have; some formerly Leanne’s, some mine. I’m going to need to adjust the front and back of the top middle parts of the vest to make it smaller as I am shorter between the shoulders and bust than normal patterns and store bought clothes. Also, I will need to redraw the armholes after adjusting. Other than that, I might go a size larger as the vest was pretty tight or I might make the buttonholes looser. We’ll see…
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Peach Pie
Like my last pie, I decided to use the ingredients available to me in my kitchen and make a peach pie. This time, I was going to make the ENTIRE crust from scratch, using the same dough recipe and I would also roll out the dough with a rolling pin. I also took inspiration from Pie Therapy again, making a few changes, like using less sugar.
Peach Pie
Dough Recipe (make more if necessary... I had some leftover from the last recipe):
Cut 1 stick of butter into 1.5 cups of flour. Add 1/2 t. salt if butter is unsalted. Slowly work in 3-5 T. of ice water until desired consistency is reached. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and place in greased pie dish. Cut off extra dough to use for top crust. You may either make a woven top or a decorative one (pictured above).
Filling:
Blanche, peel, and slice (removing pits and red centers of) 10-12 small peaches (should yield about 5 cups). Pour on 1/8 t. almond extract and squeeze on half of a key lime.
Mix with:
1/2 cup sugar (the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup, which I think is excessive)
3 T. flour (I might've accidentally used 4... I got distracted and lost count)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
Pour into crust and top with dough styling of your choice. Bake for 40 minutes or until crust is brown on the edges.
What I would do differently:
-Try using ginger to give it an extra kick (however, the flavor of the peaches was already amazing).
-The original recipe says to "Dot with 2 T. butter", which I didn't really understand, but now I know it's to give the crust a more golden-brown/toasted look and texture.
I think the next pie will be a chocolate pie of some sorts. I also have a lot of winter squash in my house, so I might try that...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Strawberry Blackberry Pie
The other day, I watched the movie "Waitress", and enjoyed it immensely. There are several times in the movie where it could've taken a very cheesy turn, but the plot, the characters, and the humor are all done very well.
The best part?
PIE! Lots and lots of pie!
It was a lazy Sunday evening, we had two frozen Whole Foods pie crusts and a ton of strawberries and blackberries that were starting to turn. I determined that pie-making was in order. I Googled "strawberry blackberry pie" and came across the blog "Pie Therapy". The recipe was very simple, but I was a bit daunted by the fact that I'd have to make a top crust. I've never made pastry dough before. I also went to the grocery store looking for tapioca and couldn't find it anywhere (frankly, I didn't know what I was looking for and when I asked one of the HEB employees where it was, he pointed me to the water aisle... asshole!). When I got home, I found out that tapioca is used as a substitute for cornstarch, of which we had plenty. I also didn't feel like busting out the rolling pin, so I spread out the dough for the top crust with my hands across a large plate. It worked out pretty well. Check it out:
Strawberry Blackberry Pie
Preheat oven to 375*F.
Crust:
1 store bought crust (I like the Whole Foods frozen crusts; you can also double the crust recipe below to have a fully homemade crust on the top and bottom)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup of ice water in a pouring cup (NOT ALL OF IT WILL BE USED!)
Mix together flour and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly. Pour in ice water a tiny amount at a time, working the mixture into a dough with your hand. When enough water has been put in (1/4 cup will probably be all you need) to reach dough-like consistency, roll the dough out on a flat surface.
Filling:
3 cups strawberries, rinsed and sliced
1 cup blackberries, rinsed and drained on paper towels
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch or tapioca
(for kicks, I threw in a tablespoon of Ficoco, a chocolate fig spread; fun, but unnecessary)
Place strawberries and blackberries in a large bowl. In a separate container, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Mix in with berries until sugar and starch become gel-like. Pour filling into pie crust and cover with dough for top crust. If dough is leftover (which there will be, trust me), use it to make a fun shape for the top of your pie.
Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot. Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat with toaster oven or microwave.
What I'll do differently next time:
-Use less sugar. It's very sweet and not very tart, so less sugar would be helpful.
-Use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough. Also, make a double recipe of the dough for a homemade top and bottom crust.