Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Bread

Sweet potato bread, gluten freeThis isn’t your fluffy, white, B- student bread. Oh no. This is his cousin… twice removed. If this bread had a name, his name would be Barry and he would give you a beat down on the playground– behind the slide where no one can rescue you. Barry is dense. He’s a little chewy. Some may call him hefty. He’s got meat on his ribs, but underneath his tough exterior, he’s more akin to a fruitcake, not the rack of ribs he pretends to be.

gluten-free sweet potato breadIf you’re looking for a prissy, pretty bread, this isn’t your jam. But if you need a little more heft to your breakfast bread (or lunch, or dinner, I don’t judge), Barry, I mean this sweet potato bread is it.

Ingredients

  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp of baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potato until tender. Keep oven on!
  2. Remove the skin and puree in a blender or food processor with 1/4 cup of the milk.
  3.  Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat again.
  4. Mix together dry ingredients (minus the pecans and chocolate chips) in a separate bowl.
  5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet about 1/4 of a cup at a time. After each scoop of dry, add a bit of the remaining 1/2 cup of milk.
  6. Fold in the pecans and the chocolate chips.
  7. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. And add dough.
  8. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.
  9. Check to see if dough is cooked by pricking with a toothpick or a fork. The toothpick or fork should come out clean. Make sure press the toothpick all the way to the bottom. This bread can look done on top and be completely raw on the bottom.

Make friends with Barry. He’s dense, but filling.

love,
melanie

 

 

Itty Bitty Ring

Gold RingsThroughout this photo shoot, George kept reminding me that my hands looked like claws. I have no future as a hand model. I clamp everything with a death grip and getting just one ladylike photo out of this shoot was painful. I also never get manicures because I pick off all my nail polish. One chip and it’s over. My hands will be polish free in an hour. Death grips and compulsive polish picking. I am a gem.

Ok, so I’m not really a gem, but this ring is! I created this ring with my second For The Makers kit. For the Makers is a DIY subscription service that sends small (girly) projects to your door each month. You can read about my past experiences with For the Makers here.

Handmade ringIt definitely wasn’t the easiest excursion into jewelry making. Tying the elastic for this ring was down right difficult. Almost as difficult as making my hands look elegant.

The kit can be bought here and the directions are free on their website.

What subscription services of you love? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

The Gardener’s Reading List

Is it too early to call myself a gardener? Probably. But I’ve been researching like it’s my job. Well, really, research is my job. It’s my day job… or my night job. I’m technically the evening librarian. Whatever works.

I recently took the Myers-Briggs personality test for work and it said that I’m a sensor which can mean that I like to give too much details and ramble. I need to control that. So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been reading in preparation for warm weather!

Growing Veggies

514EATQNkWL._SX258_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible
The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible gets great reviews on Amazon and was written with beginning gardeners as the intended audience. That’s me. And it claims to be the bible for vegetable gardener’s so I’m relying on this one heavily for a beginner’s reference guide.

 

 

 

The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast51E7ayNJ7IL._SX258_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_
I’m still very much the novice gardener, but I know that growing veggies in the Southeast will be very different than growing veggies elsewhere. This guide should help me with regionally specific information based on weather and climate.

 

 

 

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening51Me-evQWIL
What interested me about this book is how plants can naturally benefit from each other. Symbiosis is so exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening including 50 recipes, plus harvesting and storage tips 51YcjpN6V4L._SX258_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_

Grow Cook Eat has an ambitious scope; it covers gardening, recipes and storage of vegetables. I love ambition and I love that this book takes readers through the entire process of growing and eating your own food.

 

 

 

Preserving Veggies
I’m just as excited about growing veggies as I am about preserving them!

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving A17ENc0DoGL._SY450_
Many of my beautiful readers recommended this book as the go-to guide to canning staples. As much as I love my library books, I think I’ll end up purchasing this one for reference.

 

 

 

 

51JZjm2LTsL._SX258_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_

Canning For a New Generation
Canning for a New Generation is an absolutely gorgeous book. The pictures alone make my mouth water! Something that isn’t always the case with canned food. The Ball book is more for classic canning recipes and I’m hoping this one provides something a little more exotic!

 

 

 

Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round51nywEGQJoL._SY344_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_
I would love to can 20 pounds of pickles, but that just won’t work with my small space. I also love that this book emphasizes year-round canning. The author even explains how to can nut butters! I hope this book will carry my enthusiasm for canning through even the winter months!

 

 

 

 

 

I want to thank everyone for their kind gardening tips and book recommendations. I’m off to read and dream about spring!

love,
melanie

Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup

slow cooker mexican chicken soupThere are days when even simple meals seem like a chore. I’ve had a rough day, there are still blog posts to write and the sink is already full of dirty dishes. On those days I rely on the easiest slow cooker recipe on the planet. Ok, I admit it, all slow cooker recipes are easy. But this one, my friends is extra easy because you only need 5 ingredients.

slow cooker chicken soup, mexican style!Ingredients
2 chicken breasts (frozen or fresh)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 bag of frozen, diced peppers or 3 large multicolored peppers, diced
2 tbsp. of taco seasoning

Throw all ingredients into the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. If your chicken is frozen, throw it in first. I turn on the slow cooker and then go to sleep, when I awake the magical slow cooker has produced a delicious, filling soup. By the morn’ the chicken is falling apart, just shred it a bit with a fork and add a few toppings– my favorite are sour cream, cheese and avocado. A complete and easy meal that used only a handful brain cells.

Do you have any easy, slow cooker recipes? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

Chunky Knit Scarf and Tips for Working with Homespun Yarn

lion brand homespun yarn scarf foldedLast time I was at home, my mom was admiring my knit capelet. Ok, so maybe she wasn’t admiring it so much as I was making her model it for me. I mean, she’s my mom, she has to be proud of my work, right? I was being an extremely annoying daughter that day and after I made her model for me, I drug her away from her J.C. Penny couponing to go to Hobby Lobby. It’s right across the street! She picked out some yarn so I could make something for her and man, oh man, my mom paid me back for annoying her. She somehow managed to pick out the most difficult yarn in the store to work with– this Lion Homespun Yarn.

lion brand homespun yarn scarfIt’s a really pretty, textured yarn, but man, was it a pain in my tuchas. I found very few tips for working with this yarn online, so I’m sharing with you all what helped me to actually create something with the Lion Brand Homespun Yarn.

1. Work with needles larger than the ones recommended on the package. I ended up using size 19 needles after knitting a giant twisted ball of nothing on smaller needles.

2. Knit with two strands of yarn at the same time. The yarn is naturally twisty, so it twisted onto the other strand of yarn instead of onto itself. This will also make a chunkier knit.

3. Keep going. I abandoned this project several times because after I cast on it looked like a big ol’ mess. Only after I knitted the first few rows, could I see the scarf come together.

homespun yarn scarfI cast on 13 times for this scarf and in the end it turned out to be the perfect size for a chunky knit scarf.

Man, I wish I had this advice weeks ago! Have you ever had adventures with Lion Brand Homespun Yarn? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

12 Ways to Eat More Meals at Home and Save Some Dough!

eat more at homeThe old me used to eat out every couple of days and think nothing of it. “Oh piddle dee dee, I thought, I spend a lot of money on dining out. But it’s just a fact of life, I suppose!” In my head, I’m apparently an old British woman. But then I moved to a tiny town and the dining options were few and far between. We ate out less because there were less choices. I unintentionally saved money on food, I unintentionally learned how to cook more meals, and I unintentionally got into the habit of eating at home. It was an unintentional blessing.

Here’s how I’ve learned how to eat more meals at home.

1. Cut back on your eating out gradually
If you are eating out every day, you won’t go from being besties with the cashier at Chipotle to becoming Julia Child. You have to work your way up to it. Set a realistic goal for the week and work towards it. Your goal could be to learn one new dish or only eat out every other day. Set a reachable goal and give yourself a small treat when you reach your goal. Giving yourself small rewards creates habits.

2. If you are a beginner, learn the basics
One of the hardest parts of just starting out in the kitchen is starting out. Learn how to do simple things like sautéing vegetables, scrambling an egg and boiling rice. Once you learn those things, you’ll have the base for all kinds of meals!

3. If you are an intermediate cook, expand your repertoire
Cooking can get tiresome. Cooking is a project with no end because we need to eat every day. The way I fight the cooking drudgery is expanding my repertoire. I love perusing Pinterest recipes that make me excited to cook again. Just check out my recipe board for proof!

4. Make meals in advance
We are all stupid-busy. We don’t always have time to cook up a four course meal. Let’s be honest, I never have time to cook up a four course meal. I make most of my meals in advance. I’ll cook up a big batch of crustless quiche on Sunday night and crank up my slow cooker.

5. Automate your meals
I’d love all my food to be interesting and beautiful, but that’s just not a priority. Getting something warm and filling in my belly is a priority. My weekday meals are on auto-pilot. For breakfast I have eggs, my lunch is leftovers and dinner is usually something from the crock pot. Not always super exciting, but I can live up my culinary fantasies on the weekend when I have more time.

6. Put your slow cooker to work!
I love my slow cooker. I don’t know how I ever cooked without her. Her name is Sue, btw. Slow cooking is so easy. You can crank it on low, throw just about any meat and veggie in there with a little salt and pepper and you have a meal when you get home from work or when you wake up in the morning!

7. Leftovers are your friend
If you are going go through all the effort to cook, you might as well make enough for yourself and a small army. There’s so many ways to use up leftovers. For tips on reusing leftovers click here!

8. Cook with a buddy
Cooking all alone can be a lonely job. Enlist your husband or wife and kids to help out in the kitchen. Or at least sit with you and keep you company in the kitchen. You could also invite friends over for a freezer meal cooking spree. Sounds like a good time to me.

9. Make it enjoyable
Cooking can be stressful. Turn on some tunes, pour yourself a glass of wine and slow down. Dinner isn’t a life or death experience. It’s just dinner. Enjoy it.

10. Use paper plates
One of the worst parts of cooking is the clean up. Sometimes I’d go out to eat just so I wouldn’t have to do the dishes. To curtail this thinking, I mostly use paper plates and minimize my clean up. Worried about the environmental impact? Me too. That’s why I use compostable plates.

11. Host a dinner party
Hate cooking for one? Need to spice things up a bit? Dying for the company of a restaurant? Host a dinner party! Dinner parties don’t have to be a one woman (or man) show. Ask your friends to bring a dish and serve it up family style!

12. Keep frozen foods on hand
And if all else fails, keep food in the freezer for those times when you are too tired or hungry or just plain don’t want to cook. Frozen leftovers are culinary gold. But a couple of chicken breasts, a bag of frozen veggies and some soy sauce will do just fine in a pinch. Instant stir fry. Instant dinner.

What tricks do you have for eating more meals at home? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

 

7 Painless Ways to Save Money

Picture c/o Wikimedia Commons

Picture c/o Wikimedia Commons

Saving money doesn’t have to be all about hitting you where it hurts, pulling teeth and giving you a one-two punch right to the baby maker. Saving money can be easy and painless when you use a few quick tricks.

1. Call your service providers and ask for a lower rate
A simple phone call to your service providers could help you to save money on all kinds of bills– cable, Internet, maybe even rent! And don’t forget to call your bank to get overdraft fees and other outrageous bank fees leveraged too. Just make sure you always have a plan for the conversations, so they go your way. Above all, remain calm and prepare to walk away, if necessary. You don’t really need cable anyway. (Ramit Sethi from I will Teach You To be Rich has some great scripts for those phone calls.) This is a once a year trick that can save you thousands over your lifetime.

2. Only spend cash and save your change
By using cash you’ll get a better grip on how much you are spending. And by never spending change, you’ll easily save a bit of money each night. It’s money that you’ll never miss and you can easily save for a rainy day or a sunny one!

3. Reward your saving
I know it sounds counterintuitive, but to create a habit we need to reward ourselves, at least at first. To make a habit stick we have to give ourselves that reward. Lately I’ve ben reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Duhigg references a study where participants were asked to workout. One group was asked to reward themselves with a bit of chocolate after each workout. The group that rewarded themselves stuck with the workouts and after 6 weeks (or so) didn’t even need the chocolate anymore. They had made working out into a habit. The group without the reward wasn’t so successful. Now you don’t have to reward every little bit of savings, but make a small goal and once you hit that goal, reward yourself with something small that you enjoy. And don’t feel guilty about it! It won’t work if it’s a reward covered in guilt!

4. Set an alarm or calendar reminder to check your bank account everyday
Checking your bank account every day can help you get a grip on your spending and savings. By setting a daily alarm or calendar reminder to check your account, you’ve automated your reminder and you have no excuse to delay checking your account.

5. Take care of yourself
When we’re tired, stressed out or have case of the blahs, we don’t make good decisions. We have decision fatigue and eating that sleeve of Oreos or buying those designer shoes seems like a really good idea. Stop and recognize your feelings before you make a purchase. If you’re feeling tired or stressed out, meditate or take a nap, then come back to your potential purchase.

6. Automate savings
Automating savings is one of my favorite tricks. Once a month, my bank automatically draws out of my checking account and puts it into another bank as savings. I don’t even miss the money and it happens automatically so I don’t have a chance to back out!

7. Unsubscribe to junk mail and email
Unsubscribe to retailer emails through Unroll Me and junk snail mail through Catalog Choice. The junk mail will never even make it to your mailbox or inbox, taking away the temptation before it happens! It’s also a great tip to keep down clutter.

What are your favorite painless ways to save money? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie

Twine Knit Kitchen Scrubbie

twine scrubbieI use S.O.S. scrubbies like they are going out of style. I love how they get all the gunk off my cast iron pans, but I don’t love that I use them once or twice and they’re done. It’s such a waste of money and so not environmentally-friendly. I’ve seen people knit with twine and I knew that the roughness of twine would make the perfect DIY scrubbie.

Airstream SinkTo make the twine scrubbie all you need is some knitting needles and twine. I used size 15 needles, but you could go with smaller needles if you want a tighter knit. I cast on 5 times and created 6 rows. The scrubbie will end up the size of a kitchen sponge.

I love the way the knit scrubbie looks and it’s a nice little money saver. It almost makes me want to do dishes. Almost.

love,
melanie

How to Make a Rustic Photo Backdrop

backdrop boxBlogs are mostly smoke and mirrors.  You’ll see this gorgeous shot of a houseplant or a DIY project, but what you won’t see is the 10 pounds of clutter hiding in the corner– just outside the shot.

Today I’m going to show you how to make a rustic photo backdrop and to hide your 10 pounds of clutter– for a photo, at least.  A backdrop could be simply made from a white sheet, but I wanted something that had a little more texture. Old barn wood did just the trick. If you don’t have old wood lying around, that’s ok. You could make this from new wood, or you could prematurely age the wood.

Supplies
6, 1×6 pieces of barnwood approximately 2 feet long
1, 8 ft. 1×4
16, 1 1/4 inch drywall screws
Circular Saw
Drill
Paint Brush
Flat White Latex Interior Paint

1. Take the 1×4 and cut it into 4, 18 inch pieces.
2. Lay two 1x4s flat on the ground in an “L” shape allowing them to lay on top of each other in the corner of the “L”. (See the below photo of the box in the photo for reference.) Use the electric drill and two screws to attach them together.

backdropbox1
3. Repeat step 2 with the two remaining 1×4’s.
4. Hold one of the “L” frames vertically and place three of the barn wood pieces on top of the bottom of the “L” to check for fitment of the pieces. make sure the “L” frame is square to the end of the barn wood. Drill one screw through each piece of the barn wood and into the base of the “L” frame. It helps to have a partner hold the “L” while drilling.
5. Repeat step 4 on the opposite end of the base using one screw to attach each barn wood board to the bottom of the other “L”.

backdropbox36. Once the “L’s” are attached to the three barn wood boards that make the base of the box tip the box on it’s back and attach the last three barn wood pieces in the same way as done on the base. This will create the back of the box.

backdropbox4
7. Now that the structure of the box is complete, use flat white latex paint and your brush to paint the surfaces that will be visible in the photographs. I did some test painting on the back of the box with a couple different washes of white and a light gray but decided to go with two coats of the flat white for my final finish.
8. Allow the paint to dry. Once dry, you have a beautiful, rustic backdrop to photograph.

You can see the backdrop in action below!

Canned Biscuit Doughnuts with Powdered Sugar

Special thanks to my husband. He is a constant behind the scenes helper and I love him for it.

love,
melanie

How to Make Doughnuts from Canned Biscuits!

Canned Biscuit Doughnuts with Powdered SugarShopping with my mom is always an adventure. She’s a couponer, so the excursion always involves a lot of math and ends in exhaustion. By the end of the trip, I’m a certified shopping sherpa. Last time we went shopping with my mom, George spotted a doughnut maker that with a coupon was a whopping $5. It was a steal, but we have no room for a doughnut maker the size of a George Foreman Grill. To pry George away from the doughnut maker, I had to promise to make real, glutenous doughnuts.

Biscuit DoughnutsI could have baked up the doughnuts from scratch, but sometimes you just need to take the easy way out. And believe it or not, this is the way my grandma used to make doughnuts, homemade, straight from the can.

Canned Biscuit DoughnutsIngredients:
1 can of pop and bake biscuits
Vegetable oil or the oil of your choice
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of milk

Heat approximately 1/2 inch of oil on medium-low in a cast iron pan. Pop the can of biscuits. Separate the biscuits from each other and each biscuit top from the bottom. This creates a thinner doughnut that will fry easier. At this point you can cut a hole in the middle of the doughnut or leave it au natural. George insisted that they weren’t real doughnuts without the hole.

Once the oil is bubbling slightly around the edges, drop the doughnuts gently into the oil. When they puff up and start turning golden brown, flip them over and cook the other side.

When both sides are cooked, remove from the oil and place on a paper towel. While the doughnuts are cooling, mix up the glaze. Simply add the milk and vanilla to the powdered sugar and mix! Then dip the doughnuts in the glaze. If you really want to guild the lily, finish with more powdered sugar.

What are your favorite recipe hacks? Let me know in the comments!

love,
melanie