My Finished Ripple Blanket

So, I finished my ripple blanket; my first crochet project.  It looks pretty good except I totally messed up on the dimensions. The stripes should run horizontally on my bed, but since I made it too wide, I have to use it vertically, lol!. A rookie mistake. Oh well, now I know what not to do if I ever make this again.

Make Your Own: Granola

Everything in the grocery store is getting more and more expensive. Especially cereals; 4-5 bucks for a box?! No thank you! Granolas are even more expensive, so why not make your own? It's super easy, cost effective, and healthier for you with no added preservatives. Plus, you can customize it any way you want with your favorite dried fruits and nuts. Here's the basic recipe:

My Granola

Granola

• 1 1/2 C. rolled oats
• 1 C of chopped nuts 
• 1/2 C. shredded coconuts
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 T. vegetable oil
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 3 T. honey/maple syrup/agave syrup
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 C. dried fruits

Preheat oven to 250 F

In a bowl, mix together rolled oats, nuts, shredded coconuts, cinnamon, and salt.

In another bowl, mix together vegetable oil, brown sugar, syrup, and vanilla extract. Zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the brown sugar. 

Pour the sugar mixture over the rolled oats mixture and mix until well incorporated. Pour the granola onto a cookie sheet and spread it out evenly. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let it cool

Once it's cooled, put it in a bowl and add the dried fruits and mix. Store in an air tight container.

I made mine with 1/2 C. of chopped almonds, 1/2 C. of chopped pecans, and dried cherries.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I get excited when diner restaurants start serving pumpkin pancakes. They taste exactly like pumpkin bread, flavored with cinnamon and spices. They are denser than regular pancakes, moist, and delicious! Since I had some pumpkin puree left from the cupcakes I made previously, I decided to make them for dinner. Dinner for breakfast is the best; people should do it more often.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes

Yields 3 servings

• 1 C. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 C. milk
• 1 T. vinegar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C. pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 2 T melted butter
• oil

Add 1 T. of vinegar to the milk and set aside for it to curdle.

In a bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ground ginger, and nutmeg.

In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, egg, melted butter, vanilla, brown sugar, and the curdled milk.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, scoop the batter onto a heated and oiled skillet over medium heat. Spread the batter out a little since it's thicker than regular pancake batter. When the batter forms bubbles and the edges are puffy, flip it to cook the other side.

Serve with butter and syrup. This recipe should make 9 pancakes.

Enjoy!

My Ripple Blanket in Progress

My Ripple Blanket 

Finally getting the hang of crocheting without messing up. This is my progress so far. Maybe about more than half way done?? I'm excited and I can't wait until I'm done so I can start on a new project.

'Tis the Season

I'm sad that summer is over, but happy that fall has arrived. I love fall flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; it reminds me of the holidays. Also, fall means pumpkin season! I love when stores start selling pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin beer, and etc. I'm also excited to bake with pumpkin! So, to start off the season, I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for my Love's birthday.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from joyofbaking.com

For the cake:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C butter at room temp
• 1 C. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 C. pumpkin puree
• Chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

For the Frosting

• 4 oz. cream cheese at room temp
• 2 T. butter at room temp
• 1 1/2 C. confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine and whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat in the eggs one at a time.

Alternately add the pumpkin puree and the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions on low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl.

Using 1/4 measuring cup, scoop the batter into a lined muffin pan. You should be able to fill all 12 cups. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until combined, add the vanilla and the confectioner's sugar. Frost the cupcakes and top them with chopped nuts when they are completely cooled.

Enjoy and happy baking!

Fluffy Pancakes

I made these pancakes inspired by the ones I had at Chapter One: the modern local's apple pancakes from their brunch menu: very light, fluffy pancakes made with some beaten egg whites topped with apple relish. YUM! My version didn't turn out as light as their's but it was still fluffy and delicious. Make these for your next sunday brunch!

Fluffy Pancakes!

Fluffy Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 C. Flour
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 3/4 C. milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 C. of melted butter 
• vegetable oil

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together milk, egg yolks, vanilla extract, butter, and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter.


Heat a little bit of vegetable oil onto a large skillet over medium heat. Scoop the batter using 1/4 measuring cup onto the heated skillet. When the batter starts forming bubbles and the edges are dry, flip it to cook the other side.


Serve with butter and syrup

I added some chocolate chips to some of my pancakes :-)

Try my oatmeal pancakes if you want heartier pancakes!

Amy: 0 vs Crochet: 1

I know how to knit, so I thought learning how to crochet would be easy, but I was wrong. I tried to learn on a youtube video tutorial, which kinda helped, but it wasn't enough for me to fully understand it.  So instead, I got myself a crochet guidebook. After many hours of practicing, I managed to learn how to do several different crochet stitches.

RIP to this pile of yarn.

Using the skills I learned, I decided to crochet a blanket using a pattern from Attic24: Neat Ripple Pattern. The blog explains the pattern very well with step by step photos, but not all the details a rookie wouldn't know. So being a rookie myself, I suffered a lot...I don't have the basics, so I kept messing up and having to start over and over and over. After some research and trial and error, I've learned my lesson:

• Check your work very often as you go (be paranoid of messing up). 
• It is wise to use a crochet needle that is a size bigger than the suggested size for the first few rows (or the first color), so it doesn't get too tight and start curling.

After all that and a lot of cussing, this is how far I got and I'm damn proud of it:

I love the colors!

I still have long ways to go. Wish me luck on the rest of it. I will post my progress.

Hello Kitties

...Some day I want to be able to crochet dolls like these...