DIY Glass Etching!

 

Spoiler Alert: for all my family and friends who may be reading this post--this technique may just be my new favorite thing to do for gift-giving festivities.  If you don't want a gift with your name on it (literally), you better just say so now! ;)

My sister-in-law is getting married in a couple of weeks, and I recently went to her bridal shower. I wasn't exactly sure what to get her for the shower. You know the debate--do you buy straight off the registry, or do you try to personalize? Well, after wandering around Sears for nearly an hour contemplating the allure of cookie sheets versus spatula sets versus candle fragrances, I got an idea of how to win on both sides of the debate--buy off the registry AND personalize.

My sister-in-law (oh, and her soon-to-be husband, too) had sets of Pyrex glass storage containers on their registry, and I suddenly remembered this little gadget that my brother had gotten for me for Christmas, and I had still not given it a proper wearing-in. I (oh, and Casey, too) actually had this on our own wedding registry through Target (although they don't currently have it available now), and my brother somehow (how??) realized this was probably more for myself than Casey. He got it for me for Christmas when it was left on the registry after the wedding.

So, Casey and I picked up the Pyrex dishware along with a couple kitchen-y odds and ends, and headed home for the personalizing process to begin. I always thought it was kind of fun receiving gifts at my showers or for the wedding that included what would soon be my new name. It was a really nice reminder (and still is!) that Casey and I were coming together and starting a life together as one family. In fact, Casey's sister was one of the individuals who gave us a gift incorporating the Gries (my married) name. Because of this, I felt like Casey's sister would really enjoy having a gift that included her soon-to-be married name incorporated in the gift as well.

I have to tell you though, I was PRETTY nervous opening up the Pyrex box, and wielding an etching tool on them, but I had faith (and an extra couple days to go out and find a different gift if this was an utter failure). To practice, I used one of my own glass containers and etched my last name. I then worked on the shower gift ones, which was a set of 5. In the end, I really liked how the engraved glassware turned out, and I think everyone at the shower, including Casey's sister, enjoyed the final product as well.

So, at long last, here is how I did it, using one of my own glassware containers:

Supplies needed:
1. Inscriblio engraving tool (about $15-$25 depending on where you look w/ or w/o S&H)
2. Glass storage container (or whatever else you might want to engrave--you can engrave glass, plastic, wood, stone,  etc.)
3. Sharpie marker
4. Isopropyl alcohol
5. Cotton pad, napkin, or tissue

And that's it, folks! Oh, AND a steady hand!

To start, I first used the sharpie to write out what I was going to etch onto the glass container, to serve as an etching guide. If you don't like the way it looks the first time you write it out, simply apply some of the isopropyl alcohol to the cotton pad, wipe away the Sharpie, and start over. I did this many times when I was making my sister-in-law's etchings, trust me!

Draw/write out your design with Sharpie first, to use as a guide when you are etching. You can remove the ink with isopropyl alcohol if make a mistake.

Next, let the etching begin. I started at the first letter and just etched all the way through, but of course you can start wherever you want. Use a firm hand or the etcher can shake and get away from you. This part takes a lot of concentration, so go slow and steady, and you will be fine. The dust from the glass will settle on the surface, so feel free to stop and wipe the design to make sure you can follow your Sharpie guide.

When etching the design, go very slow and steady. This is not a race!

Finished with the overall design! 

When you are finished, simply use the alcohol pad to wipe away the dust and remaining Sharpie ink. At this point, you can look at your design and decide if there are any spots you want to fix up or smooth out. Once you've done so, then you are done!

Wipe away the remaining Sharpie ink and check the design for anywhere needing a final touch.

So what do you think? Will you also be giving everyone you know an etched gift now that you know how easy it is? Have you already broken into the etching world and have any tips or tricks to share? Let me know--I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time!

Tie-ing the knot: Men's Tie

Two of my favorite people in the world are getting married this September. You may remember me mentioning them in my wedding post as the amazing musicians that were kind enough to make our day so special with their talents (not to mention the additional Maid-of-Honoring, behind-the scenes-photographing, libation-procuring, and dog-coralling duties that they also performed for us on that day).  They are Under the Eaves, and you should really check them out!

Anyhow, these two lovely, wonderful people are getting married in less than 5 months, and I have been itching to help them in some way as they prepare for their Big Day. Finally, they gave me a job! I get to make the men's ties for the Groom's Party, and I am super jazzed for the challenge. I was a little nervous about making ties, as I'd heard (from I don't know who or where) that making a tie can be a little difficult. However, I was able to find a free Men's Tie pattern online, with many thanks to Puking Pastilles for providing the pattern and excellent directions.

After stopping into the local Hancock Fabrics this past Sunday, I was eager to make a start at the tie. I found a patterned cotton fabric that I loved at first sight. The girl's dresses for the wedding are navy in color, so the plan is to find a coordinating fabric for the ties. The blue in the patterned fabric is more of a turquoise, but with deep brown-blue-black accents. I'm not sure that the fabric itself is a home-run for the wedding, but it sure does look nice and gave me something to practice with. For the lining, I bought a navy blue fabric that directly matches the ladies' dresses.

In constructing the tie, I basically followed the pattern directions to a "T". Here is the end result, finished with some hastily sewn slip-stitches at 11pm at night (late for me--I'm a super oldie when it comes to going to bed early).

All in all, I have to say this is an excellent prototype for the ties-to-come. I really loved the ease of construction, and I am super happy to have found a sewing pattern that works well. The pattern suggested using cottons, but I do wonder how it would work with other fabric types. The pattern directions mention that the cotton fabric limits you from being able to make double (full?)-windsor knots, as they will become too bulky. That being said, this is tied in a full windsor and seems to be holding up just fine, although you might want to lengthen the tie for taller folks (the pattern gives you direction on how to do that as well). But, I don't know if there is any reason why I can't use silk or blended fabrics with the pattern to open up the possibilities a bit and help make the tie be a bit less bulky.

So What do you think? Any advice for a novice sewer such as myself regarding tie construction? Let me know what you think! Also, hopefully this will encourage others out there to branch out into the tie-making business. If I had known how straight forward this was, I think I would have done it for our wedding as well! 

Until next time!

Scrumptious Bleu Radish Toasts

I love radishes. There is something very nostalgic in their appeal to me, even stronger than their tart, spicy snap. My strongest memories of radishes lie in visiting my grandma in northern Wisconsin, who has always had a home garden where she grows all sorts of tasty veggies, from lettuce to beans to radishes. Every time I see a radish at the market, or bite into their crisp flesh, I am reminded of summertime visits to my grandparents' house as a kid. It's been a long time since I've had one of those home-grown radishes because we no longer make those summer trips, but I did get a sample of her own pickled cucumbers when Casey and I visited in December. I suppose I can't complain.

Either way, when I saw the bag of radishes in the market, coming out of hibernation after this long, forsaken winter, and I couldn't resist bringing them home.

Now, I am in no way opposed to giving these suckers a quick wash and biting right in, but I know that the sharp, peppery taste of a radish is not so high on everyone's list (Casey's list included). So, I decided to think of some ways to incorporate the radishes into our appetizers to increase their appeal. What I came up with are these incredibly good, multi-dimensional and flavorful Bleu Radish Toasts. Even better is that we procured this bleu cheese at a cheese factory while driving back home from visiting our grandparents. Funny how things circle around like that! Anyhow, when Casey specifically asked for me to make them again after only a few days after the first batch, I knew I'd done a good thing. And now, I'm sharing that good thing with you!

Bleu Radish Toasts
Ingredients:
Radishes (2-3 medium radishes for 6 toasts)
Bleu cheese
butter
sliced french bread or artisan garlic bread loaf

First, I used a vegetable peeler to thinly slice the radishes.

Next, I cut up enough bleu cheese from my block to cover my pieces of bread (6 slices of artisan garlic bread loaf, in my case, although regular french bread would also be good; the garlic bread that I used was on next-day bakery clearance at our market--Score!)

Finally (because that was a lot of work... wait, not really... Score again for an easy appetizer!), butter your pieces of bread, put a layer of radishes on the bread, layering slightly, and top with the bleu cheese.

Put these in your oven (or toaster oven, in my case) and allow to toast until the bleu cheese is bubbling and irresistibly fragrant. At that point, these delicious appetizers are ready to serve!

I tell you what, the peppery, spicy tang of the radish melds so wonderfully with the smokey tang of the bleu cheese. These two were meant to be together. I really like these on the garlic toast as well, which just adds another dimension. If I were to make these with a french loaf, I might try roasting garlic to spread on below the radishes (if I were feeling super motivated), but I don't think leaving out the garlic would take too much away from these toasts. Another bonus with these appetizers is that they are really pretty to look at! The colors from the radish skin and bleu cheese are striking, making these look much fancier than the few minutes it takes to put them together.

I know some folks out there are not huge fans of bleu cheese. To you, I would say try this anyway if you can find some reasonably-priced bleu cheese for experimenting. Otherwise, I imagine that parmesan cheese would be a reasonable substitute here (although just not quite the same in savory, smokiness--C'mon folks, give that bleu cheese a try!).

So what do you think? Ready to go out there and enjoy those radishes? I sure hope so! Also, if you have any other dishes that you really enjoy using radishes in, I'd love to hear about them!

Until next time!

A Dress for Elizabeth

Nothing warms your heart quite like holding an adorable sleeping baby in your arms... Especially if that adorable baby is your niece, and your brother is in charge of diaper changing! That's right, my brother and his wife recently became parents! Elizabeth is the first little one in our immediate family to bless us with her presence, and Casey and I are so excited to be Uncle and Aunt to this wonderful little girl. Way to go, big brother!

Since Casey and I live in Nebraska, we had to make a special trip to Virginia to see this beautiful girl. But, being the good Aunt that I am determined to be, I had to come bearing gifts, right?! Right. I decided to sew Elizabeth a summer dress, using the same fabric that I made her a bib out of several months ago in anticipation for her December arrival (I think my brother received it as part of his birthday gift... things like that just happen when you become a parent, ya know? You're welcome, Brother.). I used the Simplicity 1794 pattern that was on sale for $1 (Score!) at Hancock fabrics a couple months ago. I didn't deviate from the pattern at all, since I'm none-too-confident with my sewing skills as yet. I trimmed the dress with some left-over scraps from a sundress that I tried to make for myself. The sundress didn't make it, but I'm glad I could still make some use of the pretty green fabric!

Front of dress

Back of dress

So, things I have learned from sewing this sundress for lovely Elizabeth: 1) Baby clothes are the way to go for beginner sewers, because they are small and therefore relatively quick to put together. 2) Baby clothes are the way to go for people who are "frugal" and like to conserve fabric, because seriously a yard of fabric will go a LONG way for making cute baby things. And that brings me to 3) Baby clothes are the way to go for people who like to sew cute things, because this dress is SERIOUSLY cute! Can you tell I have become a fan of sewing baby clothes? ;)

Well, I am very happy with the way this little dress turned out, and I am even happier to have gotten to meet my adorable little niece, Elizabeth!

 I will be brainstorming as to what adorable pieces I can sew for her next... Any suggestions on patterns or otherwise from anyone out there? I'd love to hear what you think!

Until next time!

I-promise-this-is-easy homemade mozzarella cheese!

Who would have thought this could be so easy?!

Seriously, homemade mozzarella cheese at your fingertips!

Since Casey has been getting into home-brewing, we have been making semi-frequent trips to the home-brewing supply store in town. In addition to home-brewing supplies, they also carry wine-making supplies, cheese-making supplies, a large selection of beer, wine, and liquor, and wedding invitations. Yup, your true one-stop shop apparently. But I digress...

I had read several posts online that suggested any cheese lover should attempt to make mozzarella cheese at home, because of it's simplicity and deliciousness. I didn't believe it at first, but I finally took the plunge and bought some vegetarian rennet and citric acid at the home-brewing supply store to use in whipping up my first batch. I hear you can also buy these at regular grocery stores in the baking/canning aisles, but they don't seem to carry them at my local grocery.

Now for making the cheese...What can I say, except, this was so easy. For my first batch of mozzarella cheese, I used the directions from this blog, except I only did a 1/4 batch because I was nervous about how difficult it might be. I also didn't take photos during the process for the same reason. Thus, all photos here are from my second batch. For the second batch, I used a full gallon of milk to begin, and slightly modified my times based on some things I read through various other blogs about cheese making. Here is the recipe I ended up with:

1 cup water + 1 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
1/4 cup water + 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet
1 gallon of 2% milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1) Mix together (until dissolved) 1 cup water and 1 1/2 teaspoon citric acid. Set aside. Citric acid is what makes citrus fruits sour, and in this case is used to acidify the milk so that the rennet can work to coagulate the milk.

2) Combine 1/4 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet. Rennet is an enzyme (primarily chymosin) that causes the milk proteins to become insoluble and coagulate, forming curds.

3) Pour your milk into a large pot (non-reactive) and stir in your citric acid solution.

4) Slowly heat your milk over medium-high heat to 90 F, stirring gently throughout the heating process.

5) Remove from heat and add the rennet solution to the milk. Stir for 30 strokes.

6) Cover and let sit for 10 minutes completely undisturbed, or until you can see that the milk has started to solidify and separate from the whey.

7) Take a long knife and cut a hatched pattern to make uniformly shaped curds.

8) Allow to sit another 10 minutes. I added this step because I have read this helps increase your final cheese yield, presumably because the curds become firmer in this time and you have less bits breaking off during the next step. Or, that's my assumption, at least!

9) Heat curds slowly again on medium heat until they reach 105 F. Stir gently throughout the heating, but try not to disturb/break up the curds. As you do so, the curds will continue to separate further from the whey.

10) When the curds have reached 105 F, take them off the heat and continue to stir gently for 5 minutes.

11) Transfer the curds to a microwave-safe bowl, using a strainer or slotted spoon to transfer the curds while leaving the whey. You can save the whey to use in the place of water in sauces or  smoothies, or use it to make ricotta cheese. Although, I made ricotta cheese during my first batch and deemed it to be too much effort for the small amount (~2T for my 1/4 gallon milk) of product. To each their own, though.

12) Microwave the curds at 15-30 second intervals. After each interval, take out the curds, fold them over a few times, and drain the whey that has seeped out of the curds. Check the internal temperature of the curds after each interval; when they reach 135 F, they are ready to be stretched. In my hands, the curds have needed to be heated for about 1 minute 45 seconds total, but this will vary based on your microwave, so make sure to keep checking and lower your interval times as the curds get closer to 135 F.

13) To stretch your curds, sprinkle your cheese with kosher salt, then simply fold them over each other and stretch/knead lightly. Your cheese will become smooth, stiff, and glossy. Once this happens, shape your mozzarella into a ball (or several), and your mozzarella cheese is ready to use! Try not to over-do this process. When the cheese looks too delicious to resist any longer, then you're probably good to go!

And that's it, folks! The whole process takes about 45 minutes; or 30 minutes if you want to omit step 8, which is totally ok! And let me tell you, there's nothing quite like slicing up that still-warm, freshly-made mozzarella and popping a slice in your mouth. Simply delicious!  You can eat your mozzarella right away (no one is judging), or stick it in the fridge to eat in the next week or so. I used half of my second batch here to make a homemade pizza:

So what do you think? Are you going to give cheese-making a whirl? I highly recommend you do! Let me know what you think!

Until next time!

Awesome Breakfast Smoothies!

For a few months now, I have been making fruit and protein breakfast smoothies 3 or 4 days out of the week. They are so good and so easy! By "few months now," I mean ever since we got our KitchenAid handheld immersion blender as a wedding shower gift:

I love it so much! Has anyone noticed how affectionate I am with my new KitchenAid products? Does anyone think that KitchenAid should sponsor me and send me awesome, groovy appliances to test out? I DO!!!! (fingers crossed that someone at KitchenAid reads this and has pity on me!!). Seriously though, I wish I had purchased one of these way sooner. They aren't very expensive, and are so so useful. You won't regret investing in one of these, trust me!

Anyhow, the immersion blender has made the smoothie-making process a breeze. We do have a stand-up blender, but cleaning it is kind of a pain, which has always deterred me from using it on a regular basis. Cleaning the handheld blender is a breeze, especially because the blending stick/part detaches for easy rinsing. (KitchenAid, seriously....cool gadgets this way please...)

Now for the smoothies. There's really no specific recipe you need to follow, but this is what I tend to do:

5-6 cubes ice

1 scoop whey protein powder

3 tablespoons peanut butter

1 banana, or 1/2 banana + 1/3 cup berries, or 2/3 cup berries

1 1/2 - 2 cups combination of milk and/or water

All you do is add all the ingredients, from top of the list to the bottom into a large cup. The cup I use is the one that came with my immersion blender, which makes things easy. I add the milk/water last, filling the cup about 2/3 full. You don't want to fill the cup all the way up, or else you might have a splatter zone in your kitchen! I have a bag of frozen mixed berries that I use, and typically do the banana-berry combo, but feel free to mix it up! When I made the smoothie pictured in this tutorial, we were out of bananas so I just used a combination of fresh strawberries and frozen mixed berries:

Now, make sure the blender is fully submerged in the liquid and turn it on. Hold the blender steady as you blend--otherwise things can get a little topsy-turvy when you get to those ice cubes!

Once everything is blended well, feel free to add a bit more milk or water at the end to dilute the smoothie a bit, blending for another few seconds after the final addition.

All you have left to do is enjoy your delicious smoothie! We had ours with the apple-cinnamon bagels I recently made, topped with peanut butter and cinnamon sugar. Now THAT's an awesome breakfast!!

What are your favorite smoothie ingredients? What do you do to mix things up in the am? I'd love to hear what you think!

Until next time!

Homemade apple-cinnamon bagels!

Lately I have been experimenting with bagel recipes, and this weekend I came up with some pretty tasty results! I modified a bagel recipe that is in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (which is my #1 go-to cookbook, probably for nostalgic reasons; this is the book I remember my mom getting all her baking recipes from when I was growing up).

Here is the recipe with the changes that I made:

1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (125 F)
3 tablespoons honey

2 3/4 - 3 1/4 cups all purpose white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups chopped gala apple (1 medium apple)
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
6 cups water to boil + 1 tablespoon sugar

In my stand mixer bowl, I lightly mixed together the water, honey, and yeast. I covered this with a tea towel and let the yeast go to work for about 5 minutes to give them a quick start. You'll know they are going well when you see a nice foamy film on top of the water:

During the 5 minutes that the yeast was getting started, I chopped up a gala apple:

Next, I added the whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of the white flour (2 cups flour total). I mixed this together on a medium setting with my dough hook for about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl a couple times. I then added 2 cups white flour, stirred together (stir setting--low speed). I then added the apples and cinnamon (or this is what I should have done--I forgot the cinnamon until after I took the picture below, and had to add it in and stir a bit longer. Oops!) and slowly mixed in enough white flour to reach a moderately stiff dough that was stretchy, fairly smooth, and not very sticky (you should be able to touch it without your finger getting stuck) ;)   Here is what the dough will look like when it is good to go (pretend there is cinnamon in there!):

Next, I divided the dough into 8 sections by rolling the dough into a log, splitting it in half, splitting those pieces in half, and those 4 pieces in half again. This made for some nice ginormous bagels, which is how we like to roll around here. You could make this into 12 bagels to be more sensible.

Let these rise for about 1 hour on a greased cooking sheet, then knead them down, and form them into bagel "O" shapes by rolling the dough into a ball in your hands, then punching your thumb through the center, and pulling the dough around to widen the whole. Let these rise for about 20 minutes.

While the bagels are rising, start 6 cups of water + 1 tablespoon sugar to boil. When your bagels have risen, put them in your broiler set on high and broil each side of the bagels for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (3-4 minutes total). Try not to let them brown. When you bagels are broiled and your water is boiling, drop your bagels into the boiling water (I could fit about 3 at a time). Let them boil for 2 1/2 minutes on each side (5 minutes total).

Drain your bagels on a paper towel, put them on a well-greased cookie sheet, and bake them in the oven at 375 F for 25-30 minutes. When done, they should be lightly browned on top and smell AMAZING:

The result: Very delicious, moist, bagels! I have tried several recipes that have produced dry, tough, chewy bagels, but I love the consistency that this recipe produced. The bagels that I made are not overly sweet, which is what you might expect from an apple-cinnamon bagel. I might add in a bit of brown sugar with the cinnamon the next time I make these to up the sweetness factor. Although, if you spread these guys with some peanut butter and a bit of cinnamon-sugar, you definitely make up for the sweetness factor!

The idea of making bagels may seem a little overwhelming, but I say go for it. There are so many different combinations you can make, and you can decide on the size of the bagels, too. (Lenders, please make your bagels a little bigger--I'm hungry by 11 am on those meagerly portioned guys!) Now that I have a base recipe, I think I will try substituting in parmesan cheese for the cinnamon and apples. Just the thought of parmy-cheese bagels makes me drool.....

Anyone have any tips or tricks to making the perfect bagel? If so, please share; I'm always looking for optimization strategies!

Until next time!

Homemade Breakfast Bars!

Okay folks, I'm going to share with you how I made these snazzy breakfast bars. It all started back in November.... On the morning after our wedding, Casey and I held a Sunday Brunch for all of our out-of-town guests. At the brunch, we had cheesy eggs and sausage, toast, cereal, fruit, yogurt, and an assortment of  granola bars (Costco, anyone?!). For the cereal selections, we had honey bunches of oats, raisin bran, frosted flakes, and sugar smacks. Now, can I just make a point to say right now that out of the approximately 50 friends and family who attended, NO ONE opened the raisin bran. Seriously. This is both humorous and slightly surprising to me. Am I the only one?

But I digress. This blog isn't about raisin bran, it's about breakfast bars, right?! Well here's the deal, I really sort of over-estimated on the amount of food needed for this brunch (I blame my wonderful, southern hospitality, no-one-goes-home-hungry stepmom for this). At the end of the day, Casey and I were left with a  ginormous box (ya know, the ones with two bags of cereal) of raisin bran, 3/4 of the honey bunches and frosted flakes, and an almost untouched bag of sugar smacks. Ironically, the raisin bran was actually the first cereal we finished off. Weird how things go.

Again I digress! We are now down to frosted flakes and sugar smacks. Now, neither Casey nor I are big fans of super sweet cereal. We can eat the frosted flakes, but the sugar smacks have just come out to be a bit too much for us on their own. AH-HA you say, finally getting to the story. That's right, I decided that rather than try to eat my way through the sugar smacks, I would try making them into a more tasty breakfast treat! Enter these Breakfast Bars!

For these bars, I used the following:

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1/4 cup slivered almonds

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup dried cranberries

4 cups sugar smacks

On medium heat, I melted the butter in a large pot. I then added the peanuts and almonds and let them get toasted. This is all in the nose; when they smell roasty, you're good to go. I then added the peanut butter and honey and mixed everything together, letting the honey and peanut butter melt together.

To this I added the raisins and cranberries. Last but not least, I stirred in the cereal. I ended up adding a little extra PB and honey (I started with 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup, respectively), but I was just feeling out the consistency until it felt like everything would stick together ok.

If you use a different cereal than me (which I definitely encourage--mine will be frosted flakes next!) then you will probably need to do a bit of adjusting to get the texture right for you. Now, when everything is sticking together, just press it into a greased pan (mine is 8x8) and stick it in the fridge. When the bars are chilled, slice them up and enjoy!

Much like the peanut butter protein balls that I told you about before, I just used whatever I happened to have on hand to make these bars. Experimenting with what you have is definitely encouraged. Dark chocolate and cherries? banana chips, walnuts, and butterscotch? Oh yes, my friends, there are some delicious combinations out there, just waiting for you to make them. So don't be afraid! Go out and make these tasty breakfast cereal bars for yourself. If you find a winning recipe, make sure to come back here and tell me about it--I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time!