Burp Cloths: In color!

I mentioned that I made several things for my mom two weekends ago.  I will share the second set of things I made.

Along with the taggie blanket she wanted burp cloths too.  I was going to pick up a pack of the plain ones so that any ribbon could be used.  Instead she wanted the colorful pack.  We went and picked out cutie ribbons to match the two pinks, green, and purple cloths.

This is what I ended up with.

This is the light pink cloth

This is one of the ribbons we chose.

First one all pinned up

We chose the purple ribbon with flowers for the green and purple cloths

Purple all pinned

All of them together!!

Just like I said last week.  It was really nice to sew again.  My mom said she liked the burp cloths with the ribbon rather than the ric rac I had used before.  I must say the ribbon was much easier to pin and sew.  Especially the corners!

I hope you enjoyed!!

What I'm Reading Monday - Chime and Cryer's Cross

I feel minorly accomplished this week as far as reading goes.  I was listening to the Chime audiobook and was able to finish it on Saturday.

I must say that it did take until about half way into the book before I was hooked.  I kept trying to think of reasons to drive my car just so that I could listen to 5, 10, or 15 more minutes.  Just like What I Saw and How I Lied the main character, Briony, was unable to identify some information about herself until long after a careful listener already got it.  I even was okay with the ending.  I hate when books end completely open ended without a firm description of where the story could potentially go next.  This book had a open ended but firm ending.  You knew where the characters would be and what they might do.  I also decided that I loved the readers voice.  To the point where I would be willing to listen to almost any book read by her. :)

I am still reading Anna and the French Kiss.

I have gotten just past half way and I am really enjoying it.  I must devote some time this week to reading it as I know that I will like it more and more as I get towards the end.  I do have a trip out of town planned so that should give me some time to read.  It also means that I will be able to listen to a whole audiobook in one day. :)  But more on that when the time comes.

The new audiobook that I have started is Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann.

[Source]

I am not far enough in it to really have an opinion (I seriously have listened to a chapter and a half).  Although it is sad that the reader is not the same as Chime... lol.  I should be about an hour and a half into it by the time I get home from work this afternoon.  Maybe I will have a chance to form an opinion then.

Happy reading!!!

Pinterest Pick - Bibs!

I really don't think I have posted this before but even if I have I am doing it again :)

I think this is the cutest thing ever!!!  I found in on Pinterest here.

If all goes well I will be posting about one I made soon!

Food Friday - Angel Food Cake Fail!

Today's Food Friday is brought to you by my mother and my dumbness at the store.

We had to locate all of the ingredients listed for the recipe below:

Yield: 8 servings
12 egg whites (about 2 cups of liquid egg whites)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon guar gum
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
8 packets stevia sweetener
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup vanilla egg- or whey-based protein powder
1/4 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons powdered egg whites

Next make sure to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and generously coat the fluted center and bottom only.

 

Crack and seperate all of the egg whites from the yokes.

My mom was the lucky one who got to do that.

So the comedy of errors that was this angel food cake started with me forgetting if I put the baking powder in the mix of cream of tartar, xanthan gum, guar gum, baking powder, stevia, vanilla and almond extracts.  Causing me to have to dump the whole thing and start over.  The second time I got it right... except for after the fact we realized I put to much baking powder.  But I get ahead of myself.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, guar gum, baking powder, stevia, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat on low for 30 seconds, then increase mixer to high and beat until very stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. The mixture will be airy, voluminous and quite thick.  Well, my moms beaters don't do slow.  Our solution to mix with a spatula thing.  We didn't have airy, voluminous and thick... we had eggly and clumpy and yellowy.  When we finally decided that the mixing wasn't doing anything we did use a beater... but it didn't help much.  We realized this was error number 2 (or 3 if you could having to start all over again). 

 

Into a small bowl, sift together protein powder, almond flour and powdered egg whites. Sprinkle half of the dry ingredients over the egg whites. Run the mixer at medium for 5 seconds, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Sprinkle the remaining dry ingredients over the egg whites and mix again just to incorporate. Increase mixer speed to high and run for 5 seconds.  When we were at the store we bought what we thought was the correct protein powder... oh man, were we ever wrong.  It was green and it smelt disgusting.  My mom remembered reading a part that said that if you wanted to make it chocolate sub in chocolate powder for the powdered egg whites.  We did that... but it didn't help much.  The batter was still green.

 

Use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and gently fold the mixture together once or twice. Transfer half of the mixture to the prepared pan, then use the spatula to smooth the top. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Firmly tap the pan on the counter to help eliminate air bubbles.  We still aren't sure why they tell you to put 1/2 and then 1/2 again but we did it.  Not much was going to save this as our friend tried the batter on the egg beater and proclaimed it was gross.  I held out hope.  My mom had made me cookies once that tasted horrid until they were cooked.  This was going to be like that I exclaimed.

 

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and overturn the pan and cool upside down. When cool, to release the cake, run a paring knife between the side of the pan and the cake.  It can out of the oven and smelt yucky.  We placed it upside down on a bowl as it had not risen very high.

We tasted it once it cooled.  Awful.  What a terrible birthday cake.

We tried again the next day to much better results.  I'll share that one later.  I can still imagine that taste in my mouth.  Bleh.

 

P.S. Just in cause you are curious: Per serving: 80 calories; 2g fat; no saturated fat; no cholesterol; 14g protein; 4g carbohydrate; 1g fiber; 220mg sodium.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/low-carb-gluten-free-angel-food-cake/article_33a2cee2-36cc-505a-99d4-4000674959a8.html#ixzz1vG6OH57D

Movie Night Tonight!

This will be the second time this week I am able to go to the movies. :)  I even have $2 off coupons too!

I will be seeing Chimpanzee!

[Source]

Isn't that the cutest face?!?!

Get ready for the Angel Food cake fail that is happening tomorrow!

Jumping back into Taggies

As I mentioned yesterday, I actually was able to sew this weekend!  My parents friends daughter is pregnant with a little girl.  Since I have been making things my mom thought it was a great idea to just buy the material and things for me and have me make what she wanted.

What I will show today is the taggie blanket.  But some back story first.  My mom didn't want to go to JoAnn's but I pretty much made her go.  I wanted to be sure I picked something she would like.  Well, we were there forever!  At first she didn't like any of the fabrics.  She finally found one she liked but couldn't find any ribbons.  That meant a trip back to the fabrics to find something else.  This is what she finally decided on.

She liked that it was girly and didn't have any brown in it.  She apprently does not agree with me that pink and brown is very cute together.

Obviously I had to cut the fabric.  I however was a big dummy because I used the nice thick line to measure the fabric... well that starts at 1 inch so I cut the fabric shorter than I meant too.  Boo.

 All cut and right sides together!

 My mom wanted the white ribbon to break up the pink and green.  I think it was a good choice.  I lined them all up with approximations of the spacing.  I don't measure anymore, it is a pain in the butt.  Eye-balling it works just as well.

I pinned them all.  You must have the ribbon with wrong sides together so that it will be facing the right way when the fabric is turned.  The ribbon really needs to be pinned as straight as possible because they will sew crooked and that just looks weird.

All pinned and ready to sew.  I paid careful attention to which corner I wanted to leave open and sewed accordingly.

 Every time I get this far in turning my pieces I get worried the hole I left is not big enough or it will end up ripping.  This time was no different.

It worked!  As you can see the white taggies on the bottom right and left are wonky.  Not much I can do about it now but I will have to be more careful in pinning next time.

What I must learn is how to sew the opening better.  It is not as crisp and cornery like the other ones.

It was so nice to get back into sewing.  I realized how much I missed it.  And now I have enough left over fabric to make 4 more of these!!  I may have to buy more ribbon though...

Today is My Birthday!

I have been having a fabulous birthday.  As I mentioned I went home over the weekend in part to celebrate Mother's Day but also my birthday.  I will be sharing sewing I was able to accomplish later this week along with my mom and I's failure in baking too.  But today I want to share some of the lovely things people have already done for me... and my day is only half over!  I promise I am not bragging, I am just excited to receive such thoughtful things and I like to share.

I received my first gifts from my parents and grandmother which included: new shoes!, a cute tshirt, a gift card to Publix, and some fun money.  I will have to take pictures of the shoes later as they are super cute!

From Jon's parents I received a new sewing machine!!!  They work estate sales in the area and one of the most recent ones happened to have a pretty much brand new (PINK) Juliet machine.  I think they ended up buying a case for me (which means they probably spend too much on me).  She also bought a little purse for me from one of her clients.  I even have the chance to detail it with what I want!  (I forgot to take pictures of that this morning... I will be sure to do that when I get home).

I told you it was pink!

The thread and everything is contained within it not on top!

I just have to show you all of the stitches it will do!  I haven't gone through the manual yet but I can't wait to use them all!

So many stitches!!

Today I have received a bunch of stuff!  My officemate at work brought me in several items to add to my collection saying that she saw them and couldn't resist getting them.  I have to say I agree with her :)

I am a bit of a collector of ducks... and just about everyone knows it... :)  I love the easter themed ones that are as if they are chocolate bunnies.  Especially with an ear bit off.  I had been talking about these since I saw them in the Oriental Training issue.  I should take a picture of all of my ducks so you can bask in their cuteness.

Another lovely friend I have at work bought me a note pad.  In what I do for work I make a lot of little notes that I always seem to scatter around my desk.  Hopefully this will help me keep them altogether.

But I have to say the best of all was having my sister surprise me at lunch (we went to Greens & Grill) today, which my boss graciously paid for.  Staci even had flowers and a yummy gluten-free cupcake from Sweet! for me!!

The cupcake was devoured quite quickly.

Things yet to happen are my dinner and a movie date with Jon!  And whatever Jon decided to get for me.  :)

Tomorrow I will have for you the baking failure my mom and I experienced when we tried to make me a birthday cake on Saturday night.  It might induce laughing, so be prepared.

Much thanks to those that have showered me with love today (via in person, facebook, text messages, and phone calls).