zefrank

how have I not seen zefrank before now??  it's an excellent time kill... which I don't really have time for!  I started with True Facts and have been watching other stuff he does once in a while.  I really liked this one from ashow that I watched yesterday :)

fresh shaken

I've been making my own whipped cream for a while because it tastes so much better than what ya buy at the store, but I would end up with leftover heavy cream that would just spoil in the fridge if I forgot to use it all up before we ate all our dessert.  felt like such a waste.  even more so when I found out I could make butter from soured heavy cream...  gah!  who knows how much potential butter I've tossed throughout the holidays :(

anyway, so I tried it on half of a quart of cream that got lost in the back of the fridge and was about a month out of date... it was the best butter I've ever had!  also, the best arm workout.  win win win :)

I used the mixer the first time which gets the job done much faster, but I think if I'm going to be eating more butter I should get a good work out first and just shake it in a jar ;)

I got 2 cups of butter from 1 quart of heavy whipping cream, with about 2 cups whey leftover, which is apparently what "traditional" buttermilk is. makes me think I could use the whey in place of water with powdered buttermilk for a richer buttermilk pie.  I'm so excited for holiday baking!

"traditional" buttermilk

my arms are incredibly sore after an hour+ of shaking, and it's not really cheaper for me to make the butter and buttermilk (unless I get a good deal on cream), but it's so much better when it's homemade so I'll be making it for the holidays and special stuff... or maybe when I need a good workout :)

scalloped washcloth pattern

I saw some dishcloths online and wanted to make my own as washcloths for Mother's Day with some cotton twine I had.  I studied the picture and came up with how to do it.  while writing my pattern it seemed a little difficult to follow, but this is really an easy one to do - I just don't know how to write it out so it's not confusing!

a cotton yarn like Sugar and Cream with a size 5.5mm hook works well with this pattern.

ch = chain

dc = double crochet

sc = single crochet

sk = skip

sl st = slip stitch

st = stitch

round 1:

make a magic loop

12 sc into loop, pull tail tight, sl st into 1st st to join round

round 2:

ch 5 (counts as 1 dc and ch 2 corner)

*1 dc in next 3 sts, ch 2 to make corner, repeat from * 3 times

sl st in top of the first dc (the ch 3) to join round, and sl st into ch 2 corner space

total of 12 dc sts (including beginning ch 3)

rounds 3-8:

ch 3 (counts as first dc)

1 dc, ch 2, 2 dc into corner space

*1 dc in between each dc from previous row

2 dc into the ch 2 corner space, ch 2, 2 dc into same ch 2 corner space

repeat from * 2 more times

1 dc in between each dc on the last side

sl st to join into first dc (the ch 3 from beginning of row), and sl st into ch 2 corner space

total of 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84 dc sts (including beginning ch 3)

round 9:

ch 3 (counts as first dc)

8 dc into ch 2 corner space

side: (sk 2 dc sts and sc in between dc sts, sk 2 dc sts and do 7 dc in between dc sts) - repeat 3 times

corner: (sk 2 dc sts and sc in between dc sts, 9 dc into ch 2 corner space - you'll be skipping 3 dc sts this time)

repeat side and corner for the next 2 sides

repeat side once more, then sl st into the top of the ch 3 of the 1st corner to join round

weave in ends

total of 168 sts (including beginning ch 3)

optional:

if you want to add a loop to hang the washcloth from, when you get to the 4th corner, between the 4th and 5th dc, make a ch 10 and sl st to the first chain, then continue in the pattern.

once you get the hang of these, they whip up in no time.  this one is sort of a mindless project for me, but I think a video might work better to see that than my written pattern.  I will try to work on that.

laundry detergent

I've been seeing ways to make laundry detergent for a long time, and just never got around to making any.  I finally accumulated the last few ingredients I needed for this recipe from How Does She? (minus the scent crystals) and then sat on it all for a few more days before mixing it all up!  some days I'm just not up for extra projects.

I had baked the baking soda to make washing soda back when I made pretzels, so grating the Zote was the next most time consuming part.  great arm workout, though.  I can't imagine if I'd made the full recipe with two bars of Zote!  this would have been a 2 day project so I could rest up after the first bar was grated ;)

the Zote smells pretty good, kinda lemon-y, but I can't really tell that there's a scent after the clothes have been washed, which is fine.  I couldn't find the white bar so I went with pink, and after I got the pink I found the white.  way it goes!  so next batch I'll use the white in case the pink tints our clothes, as was suggested by someone else online.  I haven't noticed anything turning pink, but I'd rather be safe than sorry with a house of non-pink-wearers.

it made quite a lot more detergent than I was expecting (this is a 8QT mixing bowl!), so halving the recipe worked out fine, but I had to go find a larger container to hold it all so I didn't have a bunch of smaller containers full of detergent on top of the washer.

what I really like is I hardly have to use any at all so it should last a while before I need to make more.

soft beer pretzels!

on Hilah's Texas Kitchen she shows how to make soft beer pretzels.  I wasn't sure they'd be all that great because I've never had luck with homemade stuff like this in the past, but I was surprised!

I used Honey Brown Lager in mine.  I don't know how much the brand impacts the flavor because I couldn't taste it after they were baked, but I'd like to think it made them extra awesome.  Leo and Jack liked them as well.

they're best when they're fresh out of the oven, so we ate them smothered in caramel and nuts and powdered sugar the next day when they lost a little something while sitting all night and had that pruned look to them.  the salt absorbed up the moisture from the bread and they were a little soggy, but when they had sugary goodness all over them ya didn't notice!

these will be added to our backyard movie night recurring menu for sure - yay!

drawstring pouch

earlier in the year we spent a lot of time watching TV when Matt came home at night and on the weekends.  we thought we should cut back and not watch TV during the week, so we've been playing cards and dominoes or working the occasional puzzle in the evening after the kids go to bed.  I looked online to see what new games I could find and I came across rules for a simple domino game called Matador.  it's played with double sixes and it's pretty easy.  I think the boys will like playing this one when they're older.

inspired by a little pouch a friend gave me a long time ago, I crocheted a little drawstring pouch to hold the mini dominoes, then made another to give away.

I used a size 3.25mm hook and embroidery floss.
round 1: 12 SC into a magic loop, pull tight (do not sl st to join the round - this is worked in a continuous spiral)
round 2: 1 inc. (2 SC into 1 st) in each st around (24 sts)
round 3: 2 SC, 1 inc. repeat around (32 sts)
round 4: 3 SC, 1 inc. repeat around (40 sts)
round 5-30: 1 SC into each st around (40 sts), sl st to last st to even out the top of the round, and weave in the ends.  use crocheted or braided embroidery floss for the drawstring.

fold the pouch flat,

start on one side and weave between the stitches until you reach the side you started on.

repeat for the opposite side

and tie the ends in knots so they don't come out.

I wasn't sold on crocheting in a spiral because the uneven break in the stripe kinda bugged me on the ombre-ish bag and I tried to hide the color change step on the side, but the black and white stripes made it look cool, so I positioned it for the front (or back) of the bag.

chocolate butterflies and pistachio cream cheese pie

I watched a video from How To Cook That showing how to make chocolate butterflies, and I thought it would be perfect to decorate a pie I made for Nana.

I did the butterflies with candy melts because I didn't want to mess with tempering chocolate.  a few of them didn't work out because they were too thin and it's HOT right now, so if they didn't crack while I was trying to peel them from the wax paper they melted when I touched them, but I made them a little thicker they did just fine.

I thought I came up with the pie recipe myself, but after a quick search I found it on cooks.com and it was exactly how I thought about doing it, so I went with just the addition of cream cheese to the pudding like it was written.  I would double the cream cheese next time, use less milk as if for a pie (1 3/4 cup instead of 2 cups), and maybe use heavy cream or evaporated milk instead of regular whole milk.  it was still good as it was - just a little mild for my taste! O:)

little orange bunny

I wanted to crochet a jackalope for Jack, so I watched some videos on the basics of Amigurumi and made up this little test bunny.  I'll definitely need to go up to a larger size when I do the next one, but this is just too cute :)  I like his big feet and head, but the little tail is my favorite part, and it helps him sit upright.

as soon as Leo saw this guy with just one ear on he wanted it, so I tried to hurry and finish it up so he could have it.  it's funny the things he gets excited about.

he followed me outside to get some pics of it before I handed it over and he roughed it up, but he was actually very gentle with it... at first.  then he started hitting the plants with it.  boys!

lemon blueberry bread

I was up late last night and saw this recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen on Facebook for lemon blueberry bread.  it looked so good, and I was going to the grocery store in the morning anyway, so I whipped it up today after we got home from Jack's 6 month checkup.

when I tasted the batter it reminded me of some bread a friend of mine gave me last summer.  possibly the same recipe, I dunno.  the thing I did different from the recipe was melted butter instead of oil... because I didn't have any, but it came out alright as far as I can tell.  took over an hour to bake, which might be the difference, also not sure my pan was the right size, so I'll try it with oil next time to see how it does and maybe divide the batter in two smaller loaf pans.

Matt doesn't like lemon so this might be all for me and Leo, and that's totally fine with me!  this is definitely one for my recipe book.

the weekend

we took the boys to Holly Lake Ranch over the weekend for some time away.

the drive wasn't bad - the boys slept for the first part and did well the rest of the way.

we planned to stop at a place called Leo's Chicken for a bite in Emory, but they were closed!  we ended up eating at a BBQ place instead, then did a little geocaching along the way.

at the resort, Leo loved swimming, the activity center, the playground, and pushing Jack in the stroller.

 

Jack ate his first pancake - not sure how much actually made it in his tummy but he had fun munching on it and getting it everywhere.

we came back sooner than we planned because the boys just didn't adjust well at night being away from home.  when one wasn't crying the other started up, so we were pretty tired and left a day early.

that was alright because I like having my last day of vacation at home to get back to normal, anyway.  we spent the day geocaching at some parks near the house until Leo had a meltdown and we came home for a nap.

 

Matt and I get some alone time in a couple of weekends so maybe we'll get some rest then! ;)