DIY Burlap Wreath

You will need:
-1 16 inch wreath form, wire with greenery fronds to attach things (Hobby Lobby)
-1* Roll of burlap, 6 inch by 5 yards
-A scrap of fabric roughly 12x12 or similar amount, I used material leftover from my settee
-Embellishments, I used a rustic red poinsettia with jingle bells in the middle that I got from Hobby Lobby
-Extra wire, thin

If you want to make a super fluffy wreath, buy two things of burlap.  I had JUST enough.  You could buy two different shades if you like.  I saw extremely cute red burlap with snowflakes in the Christmas section of Hobby Lobby, but it was way pricier so I stuck with just plain since I already had scrap fabric I could mingle in.

Anyway take 3-4 inches of burlap and fold it to make a loop.  I used the fronds on the wreath to secure it down, as that is what the wreath and fronds are for according to the tag.

That's right, I read the tag for once.

Keep making these loops and securing them, altering the ring they are attached to and the direction they are oriented. If you have a big embellishment like this one, you can leave a gap at the end because it will cover it.  Just like the burlap, I attached the embellishment by wrapping a frond around it and onto the wire form. 

Since I only used one roll of burlap, I thought this looked awfully sparse when I was finished.  I decided that I had some scrap fabric in my bag that would be perfect for this.  I cut strips of fabric approximately 1.5 inch wide and about 6 inches long and made bows.

I held the two ends together, brought them to the middle of the fabric loop that it made, squeezed the middle together and wrapped it in wire to secure the bow form.  I used the tail of the wire to secure the bow to the wreath.

Others I just made smaller loops of my scrap fabric and secured them, that way it was not so apparent that I just stuck bows in this thing.

And then I hung it above the baking department, and it promptly made me want to make holiday treats.  Oh if I only had Christmas cookie cutters here, the mess I would make!

But thankfully (sadly) I don't so this area is clean for now until I make bread later or pretzels tomorrow.  This wreath goes great with my overall scheme of neutrals in my apartment.

I had left my shenanigans tree at home, which made me sad because it has all my crazy homemade ornaments on it, and I was ready to add the Stash Away All ornament that I made a few weeks ago to the mix.  Not having any holiday décor in the apartment prompted me to go to Hobby Lobby to correct it.  This wreath basically cost me $10, and I got lights and mini tree for right about $10 as well.  It has a burlap base, the tree does, and only cost $5 as everything is half off right now. 

This wreath is starkly different from the pristine white modern one I made last year for my studio at home, but I absolutely adore it.  I wanted something soft and rustic or vintage looking, and it is definitely a very warm and welcoming addition to my wall hangings. 

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Banana Nut Bread Pudding from Extra Muffins

 Ingredients:
-16 mini or about 4 normal sized banana nut muffins.  They need to be pretty hearty muffins, mine included oats and were from the recipe here.
-1/2 C golden raisins or raisin medley from Trader Joe's (the medley is my personal preference)
-2 slices (I used the heals) of a hearty bread like Meijer's Eurograin bread from the bakery
-2 eggs
-3/4 C milk
-1/2 TB cinnamon
-2 shakes nutmeg and 3 of ginger
-Brown sugar for sprinkling

Tear up the bread and the muffin bits and toss them with the raisins.  Turn this mixture out into a glass baking dish, mine was approximately 5 inches wide by 8 inches long perhaps.  I really am bad about knowing what my baking dishes are, but it is a rectangular Pyrex and those dimensions should be pretty reasonable.  It is smaller than the 8x10 photo hanging on my wall near my kitchen!

Anyway, mix the eggs with the milk and spices and blend well. Pour over the bread mix.  I like to press the bread stuff down after doing this with a fork to make sure it is absorbing the egg-milk.  If you want yours to still look fluffy you don't have to.  This was my first bread pudding, I am allowed to be paranoid.

Anyway let this sit while you preheat your oven to 350F.  When it comes to temperature, sprinkle brown sugar on top the bread pudding and bake 25-35 minutes or until set.  I did not put any sort of drizzle or icing over mine tonight, but I very well might whip one up in the morning from a little milk and powdered sugar or similar.  A caramel drizzle over this would be divine!

It is a funny, although rather frustrating at the time, story of how this idea came about.  When I baked those banana walnut muffins a few days ago I used Wilton mini liners that were paper and not foil.  May it was the fact the muffins were banana based or maybe the liners are different as I have not used them in a LONG time for minis, but the papers would not release from the bottom of my muffins.

I was super heartbroken as I wanted to take them in to work with me, but luckily I had enough big ones to take.  I did not want to throw the little guys away though because I hate wasting things, and I was really rolling through my brain trying to come up with a good idea.  These are the times I basically pretend I am on Chopped and try to come up with something from really random things.

Since I made the muffins so hearty instead of cupcake-y, I opted for bread pudding and I must say it worked out really well.  There are a lot of good textures going on since the bread has grains and the muffins have walnuts, and then the chewy raisins cut through with a different flavor.  I would also suggest considering blueberries or craisins if you are just not a big raisin fan.

And if you like chocolate covered bananas, maybe even chocolate covered raisins in this. I of course wanted to put bacon in it...but I held back.

Sometimes life has a way of really giving you what you need and not always what you want.  I originally planned on having a friend over this weekend, but some snow has come in and wiped those plans out.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because although I would really like to see my friend, I REALLY needed to do a deep clean this weekend on my apartment.  It is not dirty, but there is just clutter clutter everywhere, and I kind of want to rearrange things. 

Telltale to my personality, I really want to put my desk where my TV is to optimize the light I get and because I rarely turn my TV on...I really don't think it has earned the prime location.  That was on my list of things to do, but I opted to focus on my kitchen tonight instead.  It is a very long list of things to do...

But NOW I have some delicious bread pudding to reward myself with. 

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Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:
-1.5 TB melted butter
-Brown sugar
-1 can whole berry cranberry sauce with optional addition of some chunked up fresh cranberries
-Zest from 1/4 of an orange
-Favorite vanilla cake recipe

Grease an 8 inch cake pan well and put the melted butter in the bottom, covering it completely.  Pack a layer of brown sugar in about 1/8th inch thick or so (aka thin layer) and top with a layer of cranberry sauce mixed with fresh cranberries and orange zest.  The fresh cranberries cut through the sugar and give it a little pizzazz.

Next, pour in your favorite cake recipe and bake as directed.  We like to use the one on the back of the Swan's Down cake flour box, but you can use others and even experiment with flavors if you are feeling bold.

When the cake is done, remove and flip it out onto a cake plate, tapping the bottom as needed to release the cake.

This is a fun spin on pineapple upside down cake that is just in time for the holiday season.  You could also add things like pecans to the topping if you have a family that likes them.  Ours is not fans of such shenanigans (except me, but then again I would find a way to put bacon in this...oh what a good idea...a bacon pineapple upside down cake....)

Anyway, I highly suggest using a half cup or whatever you want to use of fresh cranberries, of which I would chop.  The sugar in the topping helps tone them down, but they work to cut through the sweetness.  It is a pretty good setup really.

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Crockpot Beef with Gravy Over Rice

Ingredients:
-Beef roast of desired variety (I had a chuck roast)
-Rice, enough to suit number of people or to account for leftovers
-Butter (2-3 TB total)
-flour
-1/3 of a small onion, diced
-1 tsp garlic powder
-Salt
-Water

Add the roast to your crockpot and put enough water in to cover it.  Add in 1 to 2 TB of butter, the garlic powder, some salt, and the onion.  Cook on low for at least 8 hours or until it is pull apart tender.

When it is ready, cook the rice according to directions.  In a medium skillet, add 1 TB butter and melt.  Add in a heaping tablespoon of flour and stir constantly until combined to start the gravy.  Dip out 1.25 C of beef broth and add it to the flour/butter.  Stir constantly until it starts to thicken and gets to desired consistency.  This makes enough for about 2 people, so adjust as needed.

Put a bed of rice down, top with beef, and pour a little gravy over.  Crack pepper over it if desired.

I would love to stay and chat, but I am nearly falling out of my chair.  This chick is sleepy!

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Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients (I made 17 large muffins and 24 minis with this one recipe):
-1 C AP flour
-1 C whole wheat flour
-1.25 C oats
-4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
-3 jumbo eggs
-1/2 C packed brown sugar
-1/2 C walnuts, roughly chopped
-1/3 C applesauce
-1/3 C milk
-1 TB chia seed (optional)
-1 tsp vanilla
-3 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1/2 TB cinnamon (less if yours is really strong)
-3 shakes ginger
-2 shakes nutmeg

Quite a list, no?  Quite a muffin.  Mash the bananas and mix with the egg, vanilla, spices, milk, applesauce, and brown sugar until incorporated.  Add in the dry ingredients next and mix until just combined.  You may find that you need to add a touch more flour depending on what types of things you use, e.g. I use very chunky applesauce and you may choose to use a very smooth applesauce.  This could change the texture and you may need to adjust on the fly.

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers (I highly suggest shelling out the extra money and getting the good foil ones) and put a large ice cream sized scoop in each tin.  These raise a bit but don't run.  They dome more than really spread. I topped mine with a mix of almond flour, oats, and brown sugar.  That step is completely optional and you could just use oats or nuts to give them a nice textured look.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden.  The minis I baked about 12 minutes, they might have been able to handle up to 15.  Remove to a cooling rack and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired.  I love this step.  For whatever reason, it seems impossible to get enough cinnamon in a recipe for me, so I always love to have some on the top of the muffin as well.  As I typically do not make overly sweet muffins, that added sweetness on top is also beneficial.

I get really excited when I walk into the grocery store and they have spotty clearance bananas, because I know it is always going to be a fun adventure.  Banana nut is one of my all time favorite muffins and bananas in general are just really versatile, which I love.  Plus, this recipe does not reduce my butter stash, and that is a big plus for me.  Butter is gold in this apartment!

Since I was not at work Monday and since I ate all the pretzels that were going to go to work with me Monday, I felt it only right to make up for it.  I did not want to make pretzels again, and who doesn't love a muffin to start the day.  It also is not as much cleanup as a pretzel, although I did manage to get flour all over my black tank top.

But that is sadly nothing new to me.

Happy crafting!
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Maple Bacon Wrapped Soft Pretzel Bites

When I started the 365 Day Craft Challenge, Round 2 I had multiple goals in mind.  Granted I cannot remember most of them which is the most ironic thing about when I set goals as I have absolutely no idea when I succeed if ever.  But no concern there, what I do remember is that I wanted to make the dish that brought my entire world to a halt. Something that when it hit my taste buds that even I would be left without something to say...which is a rarity- ask anyone who knows me.

And not to toot my own horn but beep beep! I delivered.

Meet the bite that you will never be able to make enough of, the Maple Bacon Pretzel Bite.

Ingredients, as follows:
-MIX 1 C warm water with 1/2 TB light brown sugar then add 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast.  Let this sit about 10 minutes or until foamy.
-1 C whole wheat flour
-1.5C* AP Flour
-Coarse sea salt
-Bacon, cooked but not to crispy, you need it to be flexible and it will cook up some more in the oven, I used half strips and cut those in half long ways to make thin strips. Adjust yours to whatever shape you are making the pretzels (balls versus sticks versus whatever)
-REAL dark amber maple syrup, get off my lawn if you have that pancake fake junk!
-toothpicks
-kettle of boiling water (I used my large soup kettle half full with 1/2C baking soda.  Trim the soda down if you are using a smaller pan)
-1 egg mixed with a little water to form an eggwash
-toothpicks

First you will make the dough.  To the foamy yeast water (sounds appetizing, no?) add the whole wheat flour and mix to combine.  Once nearly combined, add one cup of the AP flour and mix until incorporated.  This should help you determine how much if any of the rest of the flour you need.  Mix in just enough for it to come to a ball. Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead five to ten minutes until smooth and elastic.

Form into a ball and put into an oiled bowl, turning to coat.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.

When the dough is ready, get the baking soda water boiling and preheat your oven to 450F.  Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.  Tear off small hunks and form into balls or whatever shape and size suits you.  I like to roll out all the dough first, then plop them about 10 or so at a time into the kettle and boil for one minute.  I remove mine with a tea strainer or colander depending on size.

Drain them and transfer them to the baking sheet.  When they are all out of the bath, coat with the eggwash and sprinkle a little salt.  Yes bacon has salt but trust me on this one you still want that sea salt.  Wrap the bacon strip around and secure with a toothpick.  Once all of this is finished, brush the bites again, especially the bacon portion, with a generous layer of maple.  This WILL get very messy in the oven so again let me suggest silpat or parchment.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Mine took 8 minutes on a silpat in a gas oven with dark nonstick pans.  If you do the complete opposite of all that it could take a little longer so don't be alarmed.

I don't know about you but I always tend to get alarmed when my recipes bake excessively different than what it says they will.  And trust me, my gas oven bakes EVERYTHING extremely different.

I murdered some chess squares a week ago not knowing how my oven would bake them.  Quite a mess, a sad sad mess.

So I had spent a lot of time googling bacon pretzels and I was less than impressed with what the internet had to offer.  My original plan was to make sticks but I also thought I was going to take these in to work so I needed something that made a lot of them, and I picked bite sized.

BY the way, let me go ahead and suggest doubling the recipe.  You are going to want a lot of these.

As proof, a little story...

Once upon a time there was a hungry college kid who made the mistake of making pretzels.  The next morning she woke up with borderline strep throat and did not go in to work.  She and the pretzels sat 'round the little ole apartment all day...except she picked them off one by one and ate all 30 or more pretzel bites in LESS THAN 24 HOURS.

The moral of the story is these are dangerous and you need to be prepared because willpower is really not an option.

I am not even this bad with cupcakes...

You don't really have to use whole wheat flour you can use all AP, I just used part wheat the first time and I really enjoyed it.  I love the taste and texture but let's face it if you are going to eat the entire container of them it really doesn't much matter what you make them out of.

But oh my my they were delicious.  Every.  Last.  One.

And you can never go wrong with bacon!

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Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
-1 to 1.5 C leftover turkey, chopped or shredded
-4 C water
-2 TB butter
-1 tsp marjoram
-2 shakes thyme
-1 tsp sage
-Salt to taste
-Noodles (based on whether you want it heavy on noodles or more brothy)

So I just tossed all this into a pan, brought it up to boiling, and let it cook long enough to cook the noodles.  The herbs gave it a nice hearty taste that made it seem like it had been cooking away much longer.  If you happened to have turkey broth leftover you could absolutely sub that in for water, or even use chicken stock or similar to add another level of depth.  I knew I was making mine heavy on the turkey and noodles and low on the broth side, so I was not overly concerned.

This is a fun way to use up some of that turkey, or to use turkey that you store in the freezer after the holidays.  It is also perfect for cuddling up and relaxing after the holiday business.  I don't personally Black Friday shop very often, but just deleting all these emails that have overrun my inbox because of it was thoroughly exhausting and required soup ;).  Turkey and dumplings would also be a quality option.

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