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    I am a dancer professionally but I am an amateur at most everything else, cooking, knitting, baking, blogging etc. I really like to love things like my husband, chocolate, used book stores,  second hand furniture, and hard to find places.  I don’t like to detest things like processed foods, inaccessible art, un-walkable cities, and malls, especially strip malls, but I do…detest them. Most of all I love to be inspired and hope that while you read you will be too.

public service announcement: Bake Bread

top reasons why you should bake bread:

If you want your house to smell like a Parisian boulangerie…

Bake Bread

boule

If your idea of a menu includes bread with every meal…

Bake Bread

cinnamon swirl bread

If you have a Kitchen Aid mixer you have no excuse…

Bake Bread

dough

If you love the satisfaction of the question “You MADE that?”…

Bake Bread

wheat loaf

If you think baking bread is really hard and time consuming…

Bake Bread {it is so much easier than you think ;) }

freshly baked

If you would glow with appreciation if you received homemade bread as a gift…

Bake Bread {then give it as a gift to a loved one}

gifting bread

If your stomach is growling reading this post…

Bake Bread

warm loaf

I think you understand what I am getting at. Now I have a warm loaf of French Bread and butter calling me

…..mmmmmm

By the way, no bread maker necessary just an oven and the desire for something warm and toasty to fill your belly. Happy Baking!

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by on January 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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Simple Squash Soup

I think many would agree that the winter weather has been strange and unconventional across the states this season. And although here in Columbus we haven’t had much snow, we have had plenty of chilly nights where all I want to do is snuggle up and slurp some soup. T and I have soup at least once a week if not more. And now that we have added an immersion blender to our appliance arsenal, pureed soups have been making a more frequent appearance on the menu.

slurping warm soup

This simple squash soup was inspired by an amazing bowl that my mom and I shared at a cafe in Plymouth, MA. We took one spoonful and our eyes widened, our mouths salivated and our bellies yearned for more. It was thick and whipped, sweet and salty and altogether incredibly satisfying. We s0 slyly asked the chef for the recipe and he indulged our inquiry with just the list of ingredients…butternut squash, onions, feta, salt and pepper. So simple but the flavors were rich and hearty and feta cheese was such an unlikely but absolutely perfect flavor! We seriously both ran home a recreated it ourselves. After a couple tries I came up with this successful system of assembling the ingredients. I served mine with homemade olive oil and rosemary bread but beware this soup is filling, most certainly your eyes will be bigger than your belly!

Simple Squash Soup

Simple Squash Soup (serves 2 with no leftovers)

1 large butternut squash

1 large onion

6-7 oz of good quality feta

salt and pepper to taste

PAM or olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash squash, slice down the center and clean out pulp and seeds.  Spray with butter/oil spray and season each side with salt and pepper and place flesh side down onto a baking sheet. Slice onion into inch pieces and place in a tin foil pouch, also season with salt. Roast both in the preheated oven for at least 40 mins until the flesh of the squash is very soft and the onions are tender and translucent. Allow to cool before handling. Scrape the flesh of the squash into a large saucepan and pour in the onions. The onions may have produced a lot of liquid while roasting so beware when opening the pouch. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes. If the onions and squash have not produce a lot of liquid you can add water 1/4 cup at a time as you want the soup to remain quite thick. When water is added, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Stir in the feta cheese and simmer for another five minutes. Now it is time to puree and an immersion blender is the easiest way to get the velvety whipped consistency. You could also scoop into a blender or use a hand mixer. After the soup is entirely pureed, taste and season with salt and pepper according to your taste. You can also choose to add more water at this time as well just bring back to a boil before serving.  Scoop into bowls and slurp. Bread highly recommend as an accompaniment.

yummy

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by on January 15, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on January 15, 2012

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Cookies and Cocoa

We had a sweet, and do I mean sweet, little holiday party with our cousins the other night. The theme was cookies and cocoa and it was a festive, casual and cozy get together. Our super rich hot cocoa wasn’t anything I prepared with effort, in fact it was just a combo of a number of nice hot cocoa’s that I have received as gifts or bought myself. I usually just pour them all into a glass mason jar for easy storage but to our delight they made an extra special hot cocoa.

Cookies and Cocoa

The cookies were prepared using a recipe from Paula Dean with some slight alterations ;) I starred the ingredients I changed. They came out sweet and spicy with a nice buttery chewiness. If you cook them longer they will crisp up more like a ginger snap but my guests were big fans of the slightly softer side. I sprinkled half the batch with a sparkly white sugar and a drizzled the other half with a clementine icing. They looked like they were covered in a Christmas snow so sparkly and white.

sparkly and white

Snowy Ginger Cookies, adapted from Paula Dean makes about 30-35 cookies

3/4 cup butter*
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom*
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with butter spray. Take out butter and egg to let warm to room temp. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt and add to the mixture. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Add the egg and molasses and beat until combined. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  Place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets, don’t pack too tightly because they spread. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingertips and sprinkle sugars on top of half the cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

spicy and buttery

Clementine Icing

1 cup of powdered sugar

juice from one juicy clementine

Mix together with a spoon. You don’t want the icing too stiff so if you need add more juice or a little milk. It should be light enough to to drizzle nicely from a spoon. Drizzle over cooled cookies that were not sprinkled with sugars.

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by on December 19, 2011  •  Permalink
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Memory ball ornaments

It seems like there may be a better name for these pretty ornaments but at the moment “memory balls” is stuck in my head and so it will be…

all 4 memory balls

Pinterest has inspired my creative side in so many ways and although many hours are  wasted sitting on my computer never actually creating anything, this nifty project I saw, I claimed and I conquered.

T and I received a  box full of letters and cards from my family when we were first engaged.  Clearly these thoughtful notes are very special and I would never think of getting rid of them, but in actuality they were just sitting in our closet collecting dust. Thanks to Pinterest however, they have been made into delightful memory ball glass ornaments destined to be fawned over every Christmas for years to come.

Before you get started turning your own art work, wedding invites, love letters, birthday cards into memory balls, you’ll need to buy some clear glass ornaments. I got my 4-pack at Jo-Anns for $4. As well as:

an exact-o knife/ razor blade

ruler

flat piece of cardboard (to protect your table top)

pair of scissors

1/4 inch strips

Lie the cardboard down on your work surface and place the paper you will be slicing securely over it. Use your ruler to guide your razor blade slicing 1/4 wide strips of paper. I got pretty specific about slicing each line of a letter when possible but with the kids art work I went for a more haphazard approach.

slicing into strips

Once you have sliced up all the paper you wish to use take your scissors, closed, and curl the paper as carefully as possible. Some paper is not so sturdy and can tear, fortunately I had plenty to work with.

 

curly-qs

When you are ready to fill the empty balls, carefully slide each curly-q one by one inside. It is difficult to arrange the paper once it is inside that is why I recommend doing it one at a time and it may take more than you think to get the desired effect.

from mom and dad

I decided to organize my strips of paper by who the letters were from. So all the strips from letters from my parents went in one ball and all the strips from my little cousins’ artwork went into another. One ball from my aunts and uncles and one from my brothers and my grandma. In the end I got four different looking balls bursting with thoughtful words of encouragement and love.

 

colorful

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by on December 15, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on December 15, 2011

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A Very Crafty Christmas

This Christmas season is the first in a long time that T and I are not bouncing around performing in multiple cities. We are staying put in our snug little apartment this year until Christmas Eve when we head east to visit our family. True it may not be as exciting as Christmas in Aspen, Santa Fe, Fayeteville or Omaha but it is proving to be more creative and festive. I have been knitting, gluing, cutting, wrapping, plugging, and glittering all to spread Christmas cheer. Thus our halls are decked with crafty decorations that I have been itching to share.

a knitter’s wreath

My yarn wrapped wreath is greeting visitors on what looks like a crooked door…I’ll have to have T check that out ;) It was so simple. All that was needed was a styrofoam circle from a craft store, glue gun, toothpicks to attach the balls and scrap yarn. Oh and one of those Command hooks to hang, yeah we fell for the commercial.

balls of yarn attached with toothpicks

My old windows have been used to frame a vintage purse collection and display chalkboards but this season my blue one is the perfect setting for a twinkling crocheted star garland.

twinkling star garland

 The crocheted star pattern I got from another blog and was very easy to follow. Make as many as your little hands can bare and string them all together for a twinkling garland or hang them individually as ornaments. Thanks Royal Sisters for the pattern!

crocheted grannie stars

Our tree is trimmed with ornaments that have been gifted to us over the years but this year we added a few handmade newbies. I think it is so nice to have an eclectic mix of new and old, artisan and funky, classic and handmade adorning the boughs.

memory ornaments

The idea for these glass balls I found on Pinterest, what I would I do without my boards! When we got engaged my parents gave us a box filled with cards and notes from our family. There were well wishes, words of advice and encouragement and loving memories. We loved the thoughtful gift but as years have passed haven’t had much opportunity to go back and read all the sweet words. I decided to create these beautiful glass ornaments to house and display the letters and cards. Now every time we glance at the tree we can read a line or two from our family and remember that special time. My little cousins even participated and their little art work made one of the most colorful and festive balls.

kids' art display ornament

Stay tuned for the complete how-to. It is such a great way to hang on to special mementos like wedding invites, cards, and kid’s art work.

mini-stocking ornament

This adorable little stocking may only fit one of Santa’s elves but it is so cute sitting on our tree and will be adorning the tops of our packages this year. Spoiler alert if you are on the receiving end of our Christmas list this year! I used my stand-by sock pattern and just shrunk it to suit ornament size. You can find a complete and simple pattern here to create your very own.

i-cord wreath ornament

This i-cord wreath was just another pattern that I improvised. But if you know how to make an i-cord you can make this. The green wreath is a 5 stitch i-cord with a worsted weight yarn on size 2 double pointed needles. The white bow is a 2 stitch i-cord with the same weight yarn and needles. On all my knitted ornaments I braided a loop and sewed it on to hang easily.

Handmade and heartfelt at home seems to be the theme this Christmas. Hopefully you will find some inspiration to create too and have yourself A Very Crafty Christmas!

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by on December 12, 2011  •  Permalink
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Foto Friday

photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg

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by on November 11, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on November 11, 2011

http://greenroommag.com/spoonful/?p=1283

Peek-a-boo Paint

I have always had this romantic vision of my parents just starting out in a new home without any real furniture. They would order take-out and have a Chinese food  picnic on cardboard boxes in an empty house. Instantly they would turn their new house into a home. Whether this really  happened or it is just a story I fabricated from a past comment or memory of theirs doesn’t seem to matter much. T has held onto this tradition ever since I first told him the story and even though we have probably done this more times with more moves than my parents ever did, it is always how we christen our new home.

HOME

When you move a lot like we do, you want your new house to become your home as soon as possible. After the Chinese food picnic, for us that means unpacking quickly, like as in 24hours later, and decorating simply with personal things.  And since we do move locations a lot we don’t want to invest a lot of time and money into our rental. We have become crafty, creative  and thrifty with our decorating.

Scouring design blogs and hours of HGTV, we have all heard over and over again that painting a room can be the easiest, most affordable and biggest design impact you can make on your home. But even for us renters, the idea of painting over the boring beige and then re-painting it back when moving day comes around again (because it will, it always does) still seems like more of an investment than we are willing to make. The boring beige of our walls was beginning to  close in on me when Martha Stewart came to my rescue (thanks Martha).

In her September issue of Living, she had a quick little blurb about painting doors and the impact a burst of color on a door can make. I heard her loud and clear, headed to the hardware store and bought myself a quart of bright teal semi-gloss paint, some painters tape and small brush. Clearly, you can see where this is headed…

Peek-a-boo

I painted the inside strip of six doors (see photos) with three coats on each but used only a quarter of the quart.I recommend sanding really well before you start painting as well as in between each coat because you don’t want sticky doors. It is also important to get a very straight line so unless you have an incredibly steady hand I would use the painters tape to line both corners of the front and back panels.

teal, beige and white

bedroom door

The result is a super fun peek-a-boo of bright teal beaming out from inside each door to closets and bedrooms. The teal added just the pop I needed to offset the boring beige and highlight our white glossy woodwork. Time commitment was minimal, it took an afternoon (while executing other chores while the coats dried) and financially, it cost peanuts! The best part is when we move painting over the colorful strips will take no time at all. If you are really ambitious you could even change the color seasonally. I am thinking a bright red or even a sparkly gold could really deck those halls this holiday!

living room coat closet

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by on November 4, 2011  •  Permalink
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http://greenroommag.com/spoonful/?p=1273

pumpkins, punkins and plumpkins

I really love everything pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, any traditional pumpkin baked good for that matter oh and of course pumpkin candles to make my home smell so good you just want to eat it. My parents even called me Pumpkin as a kid, actually it was more Punkin but I embraced it.

did I not mention the doughnuts?!

This weekend I discovered pumpkin foods I never knew existed (and some that really shouldn’t ;) ) at the Circleville Pumpkin Show. Our cousins live in Circleville and have been going to the festival for 25+ years so we got the insider experience and then got to crash at their house when the crowds and piles of pumpkins wore us out.

Now that's a Plumpkin!

The show featured everything from pumpkin pancakes to pizza, pumpkin tacos to burgers, even pumpkin soda and ice cream. I can’t say I tried or loved everything (we did our best though) but the inspiration to create my own pumpkin recipes has been itching at my insides and I am not alone. T has decided to take it upon himself and redeem pumpkin pizza’s reputation tonight. He was unsatisfied with the attempt made at the pumpkin show and exclaimed “You call this pumpkin pizza?!” and so tonight the quest begins…to be continued.

yup pumpkin waffles too

Our cousin D clearly felt the inspiration too and made us pumpkin chili that lived up to any and all expectation. She so lovingly made a meat version as well as a veggie version for the likes of me. So thoughtful!  And I am so glad she did because this chili may have changed the way I make my own vegetarian chili from now on. The addition of pumpkin puree made it so rich and creamy as well as a great way to squeeze another veggie into the mix. Don’t think traditional sweet and cinnamon-y pumpkin but the true vegetable in all its glory. I wish I had a picture to share with you but honestly I gobbled it up before I realized how deserving it was to preserve  in a picture. I will be adding pumpkin to my chili from now on and you should too. Don’t be scared, if you don’t tell them it is in it they will never even know! ;)

So what did I make with the pumpkin inspiration nagging at my insides…Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes. Yes…to all of you avid readers I have made them before in Aspen last year but felt like I needed to give it a go in my own kitchen (with an actual cupcake tin) and not at such a high altitude. The recipe I originally created was pretty good but I revised just a few things and made it exceptional. You will not want to miss out on these this fall, just like the Starbucks latte it should become a fall tradition to make these babies.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

(makes 12-15)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup of espresso  or coffee, room temperature (you could use 2 Tbs instant coffee too just add a 1/2 cup water)

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your tin. Cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Into the butter mixture add the 2 eggs and beat until combined then set aside. In another bowl combine all dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry mix to the butter mix about a 1/2 cup at a time alternating with a bit of the espresso. Lastly mix in the pureed pumpkin. Bake for 18-20 mins just until a toothpick comes out clean. Keep watch after 18mins that’s my technique.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Frosting

8 oz of cream cheese

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs corn starch

1 tsp cinnamon

Cream together cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla and cinnamon and whip together until fully combined. Slowly add the sugar and corn starch, you can add powder sugar a Tbs at a time as well if you prefer sweeter stiffer frosting but mine, I like really creamy. Frost cupcakes when cooled and top with a coffee bean or sprinkle with cinnamon, whatever floats your boat.

quickly becoming a fall tradition

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by on October 24, 2011  •  Permalink
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Mini-Gifting

Salt & Pepper Truffles

I love gifting and I love chocolate. So when I realized it was a friend’s birthday today I decided to combine these lovely ideas into a cute and tasty mini gift. I recently made a pink peppercorn ganache for some Salt & Pepper Chocolate Cupcakes that will be unveiled on the site soon. I had the left over ganache stored in the fridge just waiting to be enjoyed in a candy, goodie or let’s be honest… by the spoonful.

pink peppercorn ganache rolled in chocolate powder and sea salt

Truffles turned out to be this ganache’s destiny. I used Alton Brown’s recipe and instructionswhich I have made before. Asides from his obsession with perfection which I certainly do not share, it is pretty easy to follow and even if your chocolate coating is not kept at exactly 92 degrees, I still think they come out pretty killer. I rolled half of mine in cocoa powder sifted with powdered sugar and the other half I sprinkled with seas salt. My ganache was flavored with pink peppercorns so combined with the salty sprinkles they came out decadent, sweet, salty and spicy.

I am a sucker for packaging

Such fun flavors called for fun packaging so I whipped out my old origami technique (more like searched on line for a How-to, thanks About.com!) and made this adorable like box out of parchment paper. I made it personal with bright colored paper, ribbons and a gold pen. Who wouldn’t accept such a cute and tasty mini-gift?

Happy Birthday E!

Mini-Gifting

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by on September 22, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on September 22, 2011

http://greenroommag.com/spoonful/?p=1245

Spanakopita Cupcake Style

Spanakopita cupcake style

The other night our cousin N stopped by after she had a long night of teaching  dance and zumba in addition to auditions and rehearsals for herself. Yes she is a busy little bee and we hadn’t see her in awhile. So I was so glad she popped in and also very glad that I made these cute little individual spanakopita that I could heat up and feed to her as soon as she came in the door.

The hardest part about making spanakopita from scratch is handling the ever so delicate phyllo dough. But the best part of spanakopita is the ever so delicate, buttery phyllo dough. When you are making one large portion, you have to move quickly and carefully to prevent the long sheets from taring or drying out.  I decided to eliminate that problem entirely by baking individual little pouches in a cupcake tin. Like my cupcake tins don’t get enough use…

cupcake style

It was so great, I didn’t have to worry about taring the sheets of pastry because I in fact needed them torn. My only concern was that it took awhile to layer each sheet in each individual mold and the sheets were in danger of drying out. My saving grace was Pam “butter” spray, which is my mother-in-law’s phyllo dough secret tip. A good sloppy spray in between each sheet of dough kept everything buttery, flaky, and in tact. I used 1 package of phyllo dough (the box usually has two packages inside) for about 20 individual spanakopita cupcakes.

bottom sheets layered with Pam spray

The filling is to be made before you start unwrapping your phyllo dough. Believe me this is not something you want to try to prove your multi-tasking skills at. I combined about 2 lbs of sauteed spinach, a bunch of dill, one package of feta, lemon juice and one egg together in a large mixing bowl and set aside while I prepared my cups.

spinach and feta filling

I sprayed the cupcake tin all over, top, bottom, side to side before I got started layering. I did not want these babies sticking so better to be safe than sorry.  About 4-6 sheets on the bottom of each mold and then scoop the filling in to just above the rim of the mold, don’t pile too high as it will take too long to cook thoroughly. Then 2-4 sheets on top including folding the sides from the bottom layers over the entire pouch. Of course spraying the Pam in between each and every layer and over top once everything is securely packaged up.

filled and covered

It took about 20-25mins in 350 degrees for everything to get bubbly inside and the phyllo dough to become a lovely toasted brown color on the outside. All the Pam paid off too because they slipped right out and onto the plate, no convincing necessary.

flaky and bubbly

I first served my individual spinach pies for a ladies night dinner party with a beautiful hearty salad of tomatoes, peppers, almonds, and basil. They were adorable and tasty as a main course. When N came over I quickly heated them up for 10 mins in the oven again at 350 degrees and they were perfect for a late night snack.  Buttery, melty, salty, flaky, Greek goodness, it’s the cutest spanakopita you’ll ever eat!

your personal spanakopita pouch

Ingredients List

yummy

2 lbs spinach

1 6-8oz package feta

bunch of fresh dill

juice from 1 lemon

1 egg

1 package of phyllo dough, thawed

Pam buttery spray

 

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by on September 20, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by admin on September 20, 2011

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