Baby Shower Cupcakes

Hello again! As a follow up to last week’s entry, the crochet owls were a big hit!
For the shower, I also made some cupcakes in the same colour theme as the invitation.
The cupcakes are from a box mix, and the icing is just a simple buttercream with a little lemon zest for flavour. So without further ado…

The shower was lovely, and there is one more thing I would like to share with you..
Everyone at the shower recieved a favor, a bag of loose leaf tea along with some disposable tea bags. I thought this was a great idea for a shower, and the way it was packaged was just adorable. (note the little label that matches the invite!)

Tags: baby shower, cupcakes, theme

Crochet Owl Rattles

My lovely cousin, Lisa, is with child, and with her baby shower fast approaching, I had to get down to business and decide what to make. She doesn’t know whether it will be a boy or girl or have a theme for the nursery, so with not much else to go on, I drew my inspiration from the shower invitation (shown below).

 The colours may be a wee bit off, but you get the idea…
Knowing Lisa’s fondness for owls, I decided to go with the crochet owl rattles.
I found this wonderful pattern and went to work right away. I free handed the eyes and wings, and stitched on the beak.
Here’s how the little guys turned out:

 I was quite happy with the result. Since they are for a baby, I double checked to make sure everything was stitched on securely.

Tags: baby, crochet, crochet owl, crochet pattern, owl, rattle, toy

The Scallion Experiment

Scallions (or green onions) for me are one of those ingredients that I love to use, but rarely buy. I find that at 99¢ per bunch, they are a bit on the pricey side for my meager budget.  …until now!

Last week I came across something on the internet explaining that if you simply put the bulbs/roots back into water, the scallions would regrow. Of course, I had to try this for myself, so I rushed out and bought a bunch, made an amazing salad full of scallions and shoved the bulbs into water.

The first couple of days I didn’t see much progress, and so forgot to check up on them. About a week later they were impossible to ignore! Here is the before and after shot, with just a one week time lapse:

Pork Loin Roast

I had a pork tenderloin and some apricot jam that I wanted to use, so I was very happy when I found this recipe:

1 pound red potatoes
2 pints brussels sprouts
2 tablespoon olive oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons apricot jam
1 pork tenderloin (1-1 1/2 pounds)

I didn’t measure anything, I just sort of followed the steps. I added a step and pan seared the pork before putting it in the oven. I was very happy with the results. Would definitely use this recipe again.

Linzer Cookies

Still low in energy recovering from the flu, this proved
to be a rather uneventful week for me.
Decided to do some baking, and made Linzer Torte Cookies.

I used this recipe here:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup blanched slivered almonds, ground
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup raspberry jam

I did run into an issue with the dough consistancy.
Since I liked the flavour and texture, I might
try this recipe again, however I wouldn’t add
all the flour.

I used half the dough to make a tray and the other
half for cutout cookies.

For the Bar cookies I used blackcurrant jam and
apricot for the cookies.

All in all I was quite happy with the results.
Happy with the jam choices also, not too sweet.

I found the blackcurrant especially nice with the
bit of tartness. Next time I think I will try
sour cherry, or rosehip jam (my favourites!).

Happy Baking!

First Wedding Veil

I didn’t get much done this past week due to coming down with the flu. Ick.
So I’ve been trying to rest up and pump myself full of soup, OJ, and peppermint tea!

Still, I must blog! So here is one that I should have put up a little while back of a wedding veil that I made.
This was my very first one, and I must say, I was quite pleased with the end result. And so was the bride!

Two tiers. White satin trim. Swarovski bead accents.

Nathan’s Birthday Cake

Wow. I am a terrible blogger.

My springtime resolution (yes spring, I am officially over this winter) is to commit to blogging every monday.
..Tuesday on holiday weekends.

This past weekend we celebrated my nephew’s 9th birthday.
I make his cake every year, and this year he requested a chocolate caramel beyblade cake.

I want to start posting recipes up along with my baking, however, I am not 100% committed to the chocolate cake or caramel recipes that I used this time around, so I will save that for another time.

For now, here are some photos of the end result:

Tags: beyblade cake, birthday, birthday cake, cake