More Baking

I know this doesn't look like much. That is because I had almost devoured it before I realized I should probably take a picture. They are from the most recent Family Fun magazine... and you should just go make them right now. The hardest part? Waiting for them to cool off!

Last fall, Trader Joe's had this beer bread mix in their stores. It was yummy... all you added to the mix was a bottle of beer, dumped some melted butter over the top, and baked it for an hour. I haven't been to Trader Joe's in quite a while (it makes me sad - the closest one is in MA, and we were supposed to go down there this weekend, but Ben and I were sick. :( ), and I don't think they have the mix anymore, but I figured I could find a similar recipe online, and I was right! It is so delicious, and we had it with chili for dinner tonight. Now that I know how easy it is to make even without the mix, I will certainly make it more often... I think it would be good with stuff in it too, like cheese, or hot peppers.

Cupcakes!

I made a watermelon cake and ant cupcakes for Ben's birthday cookout.

The ant cupcakes were inspired by a book my Mom and Dad got me, called What's New, Cupcake?

Banana Cupcakes, with Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Frosting, which I made and brought to my new job... They were devoured.

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting... I cheated and made the cupcakes from a mix, since making them from scratch intimidates me. It's actually not the making that scares me, it's not being certain that I picked the right or most delicious kind of chocolate to make them with.

More Hummingbird Cupcakes... these and the chocolate ones were made for the Girl Scout's Bake Sale. I made a lot of cupcakes. :)

Tie-Dye!

T-shirts... and cupcakes!

Living off the Land.

One of my favorite things to do when we are in Maine is to eat the stuff that grows on and lives around the island. All sorts of seafood, plus berries, wild peas, rose hips (which sadly, were not ripe yet when we left)... Euell Gibbons would be proud.

Gabe and I harvested a bunch of mussels and cooked them up with some wine, tomatoes and scallions one day for lunch. They were very yummy, and the only thing that was missing was some crusty bread to sop up all the broth with.

I also managed to pick enough blueberries (without Ben eating them first) to make some blueberry muffins.

Also very delicious, they didn't last too long. And the recipe used came from this cook book:

The 1950 edition! It's had a home on a shelf in that kitchen for 60 years. :)

I'm back!

Another project I did with my neighbor's daughters was custom brownie cupcakes! We used a brownie mixed, and I scooped the batter into cupcake liners. Then we got out a whole bunch of yummy treats (cherries, marshmallows, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, sprinkles, coconut, pecans, etc.), and customized them all!

Mine, before baking:

I didn't take any after baking pictures, oops, but rest assured, they were yummy! And a great activity for the kids , too. It kept them both entertained for about an hour. :)

We were in Maine for the last 2 weeks, so not a whole lot of crafting got done (though I did do a lot of my other love, reading!), however I did work on these embroidery hangings while I was there. They are Jenny Hart designs, and I think they look very sweet hanging up in the kitchen.

I did finish one thing before we left which was the first of three valances for our kitchen windows:

It helps to conceal the ugly blinds lurking beneath. 

Organization! And a garden update.

What lurks behind these bright red doors? Pandemonium and chaos?

No longer! This is my baking cabinet, and this level of organization has been a long time coming.

While I'm missing a couple things, like a large flour container for my bread flour, I am pretty pleased. It gives me a great sense of calm to open it now. 

Ahh, organization. If Gabe and I ever get around to getting married (next fall, I believe) I very well may register at the Container Store or something, that it just how much I love organizing things. :)

And now, the garden update you've all been waiting for.

Sadly, it failed. Well, it's my fault, really. I re-potted everything, and then stuck it all outdoors. But since this is Vermont, we have late frosts. And my poor little plants didn't make it. Well...

A tiny little pea plant did! I dumped everything into a compost pile, and the guy who mows our lawn mentioned to me the other day that there was a pea growing in it! So it was harvested, and Ben and I ate one pea each. Very yummy! I'm not too sad however, as we have been enjoying the CSA share that we purchased this summer. 

New Pajamas

The top two sets were a special order for my friend Ashley (gifts for kids she babysits for) and the bottom one was a birthday gift for a family friend's newly 3 year old!