Homemaker: A Woman Worthy of Praise

Well first things first, did you all totally love Jennie’s guest post? I cannot WAIT to make that amazing recipe! She’s such a doll. Be sure you follow her on twitter and subscribe to her blog. She is always cooking up yummy treats.

One big thing I want to advocate with my blog is family. I was talking to Adam last night about Martha Stewart (who I LOVE, so don’t hate). I learned so much of what I know about homemaking from her. She is the world’s most famous homemaker but she is unfortunately also known for being harsh, snobby, and rude. She has no husband, and a single daughter who she does not appear to be particularly close with. Though she often had family members like her mom, siblings and nephews, on the show there was always a certain warmth missing.

For me, the reason homemaking is so important is because it brings families together. The homemaking woman is always thinking about how she can better serve those around her, and she is loved because of it. She should be charming and kind and thoughtful. She should never be so worried about all the duties of running a home that she forget to love and nurture those around her.

I never want this blog to just be about the content. When I’m not writing I’m lovingly creating meals for my husband, planning parties for my family, cleaning and decorating my home, studying and learning so I can one day educate my children, dreaming of the day when I will have a bunch of babies to teach and care for. I want this blog to encourage women everywhere to not just cook, sew, craft, bake, clean, decorate, and plan. I want you ladies to be sweet and lovely, and worthy of praise.

People often use the words “housewife” and “homemaker” interchangeably. I don’t care for the term housewife because it gives the connotation that she is sitting around the house doing nothing.

A homemaker is very busy!!

Consider this passage from the bible. It talks about a woman who sounds a whole lot like a homemaker to me. She sews, cooks, runs a business (AND makes profit!), she is fashionable, wise and takes care of everyone in her household. If this were written today I’m pretty certain there would be an added verse that said, “She diligently searches Pinterest and reads blog for new ideas for the home.”

I hope this describes me, that is what I strive for. Does it describe you?

Proverbs 31:10-31 (New Living Translation)

¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
She is more precious than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband can trust her,
and she will greatly enrich his life.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

¹³ She finds wool and flax
and busily spins it.
¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,
bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

¹⁶ She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She is energetic and strong,
a hard worker.
¹⁸ She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
her lamp burns late into the night.

¹⁹ Her hands are busy spinning thread,
her fingers twisting fiber.
²⁰ She extends a helping hand to the poor
and opens her arms to the needy.
²¹ She has no fear of winter for her household,
for everyone has warm clothes.

²² She makes her own bedspreads.
She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. (<- She is homemaker CHIC!)
²³ Her husband is well known at the city gates,
where he sits with the other civic leaders.
²⁴ She makes belted linen garments
and sashes to sell to the merchants.

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness.
²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness.

²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.
Her husband praises her:
²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but you surpass them all!”

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

How to Make Cocktail Sauce

Many years ago when I was a waitress I had to learn how to make cocktail sauce. I worked at a restaurant where we made cocktail sauce to order. At the time it was a nuisance having to stop during a busy shift between running food and refilling drinks to hand-make condiments, but I perfected the skill and learned to make it quickly with just the right ratio of ingredients. I have since become the token cocktail sauce maker in my family and now I will share the tricks of the trade with you fine folks. It is ridiculously easy to make and way cheaper than ready made. Here is the recipe:

You will need ketchup, a lemon, worcestershire sauce and horseradish.

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Start by squeezing about half of a fresh lemon into a bowl.

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Add about half a cup of ketchup, about 5-6 shakes of worcestershire, several tablespoons of horseradish (more or less depending on how spicy you like it.) Stir well and serve. Its so easy right? Now you never have an excuse to buy store-bought cocktail sauce again!

It tastes way better, and you will feel accomplished knowing there are no preservatives.

Tasty Meatloaf Basics

I was not one of those kids who grew up eating meatloaf. In fact, I was 21 the first time I ever tasted it. I always thought it would be horrible, but my mother gave me this recipe and after my first bite I was hooked. Though my recipe varies each time depending on what veggies I have on hand, the basic foundation of this dish remains the same. It is my handy-dandy Meatloaf Basics that create a moist and delicious family meal.

The first thing you need to know about Meatloaf is how to make it moist. Here’s how…

This recipe serves 4 (or two with leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow :D)

In a large mixing bowl combine:

2 eggs

1/4 c Ketchup (or more if you want)

1/4 c Milk

Several shakes of Worcestershire sauce

About 1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning

About 1 Tbsp Whole Grain Mustard

Garlic Salt and Pepper to Taste

About 1 Tbsp Garlic Paste or Crushed Garlic

Next tear the crusts off 2 slices of fresh bread (white or wheat doesn’t matter). Then tear into piece and mix into the bowl. The fresh bread instead of breadcrumbs will make a nice moist meatloaf.

You will end up with a really disgusting looking mush. This is perfect!

Fold in about a pound of beef. If you like to use a pork/beef combo that works well too. Usually just a good wooden spoon is enough to combine the mixture, but if you (or the kiddies) are so inclined, do get your hands in there to get everything nice and mixed.

At this point you can add whatever veggies you like. This is a great opportunity to sneak in vegetables for kids who will only eat meat, so the more vegetables the merrier. (This is how I trick my nephews… works like a charm. The best part is after they’ve gobbled it down, I tell them all the veggies they just ate and then I laugh as they run screaming to the bathroom to hurl. That didn’t really happen of course, I’m just saying.)

I often add about 1/4-1/2 cup each of grated carrots, tomatoes, multi-colored bell peppers (looks lovely in the finished loaf!), and onions. You could even throw in some greens if you like. I once made an italian Meatloaf with spinach and zucchini, topped with Marinara instead of ketchup but it tasted too much like a giant meatball.

This time I added the secret ingredient of 1/4 cup of Stovetop stuffing. I don’t personally eat cooked stovetop, but I love using the dry mix in lieu of breadcrumbs. Just a little bit helps hold the loaf together, and the bigger crumb pieces soften up and don’t dry out your meatloaf.

Bake the meatloaf for about 30-40 minutes in a 350 oven.

The second thing you need to know is how to make a good glaze. Sure just plain ketchup works fine but a glorious glaze will ensure lots of “oohs” and “ahhs.”

In a small saucepan combine:

about 1/4 c Ketchup

Several shakes of Worcestershire

1 Tbsp Whole grain mustard (do NOT under any circumstances use yellow mustard. Why? Because nothing so unnaturally neon yellow should be consumed by a human, that’s why!)

2-3 Tbsp Honey

2-3 Tbsp Whiskey (Jack Daniel’s is preferred)

Simmer until the alcohol is cooked out then pour over the hot Meatloaf when it has about 10 minutes left in the oven.

You will end up with a gorgeous looking glaze that will really add some delicious flavour to your already amazing Meatloaf. When its ready, slice and serve. Garnish with a drizzle of ketchup. Mmmm.

Whipped Coconut Milk Chocolate Mousse (or Pudding)

This is the story of how I mucked up yet another marvel Pinterest recipe. I am now in recovery.

Adam has a wee problem with ice cream. He eats ice cream or frozen yogurt at least five times a week. Pinterest strikes again! I’ve been trying to get him on a healthier alternative with less dairy and sugar, so when I found this Coconut Milk Chocolate Mousse recipe I thought it would be a great solution, plus I’ve been way into coconut milk lately.

I suppose it derives from the famous Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery who offers “frosting shots” made from this magical coconut mousse. The blog made it look super easy.

The main gist is that you open the can of coconut milk, let it chill in the fridge overnight so the milk part solidifies, then you whip it with a bit of sweetener and cocoa powder. Easy enough right?

Well the first attempt bombed big time. I wanted to make it for dinner guests, but I only let the cans chill for about 2 hours so it didn’t solidify enough. Also the original blog implied that you could include the coconut water that settles on the bottom, but I found this is not the case. When I tried to whip it up I ended up with a chocolate coconut soup. It ended up down the drain and our guests had frozen yogurt for dinner.

So I decided to give it another attempt. I read a few other recipes which all said do NOT use the water that separates on the bottom.

This time I did a clever little thing. I opened the can upside down so I could pour the coconut water off off, which worked perfectly.

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I then let the cans cool overnight and I ended up with nice thick white coconut solids.

I poured them into a bowl, add a little powdered sugar and began to whip.

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I wanted to make just plain coconut first before I added the cocoa. I whipped. I whipped and I whipped. For a good 20 minutes I whipped. It did thicken a bit, but looked more like a vanilla milkshake than anything.

So I started adding cocoa. It did thicken more, and finally after more whipping I got it to the thickness of a thin pudding. This was supposed to be a frosting alternative so I’m thinking it should have been MUCH thicker. Plus in the photos it was this glorious piped mouse.

This was nothing that I could pipe, no peaks at all. I figured this was another one of those Pinterest hoaxes that doesn’t really work. It did look like a great pudding and it tasted amazing, so I served it to Adam with chocolate chips and he devoured it! If I was trying to make a healthy coconut milk chocolate pudding this would have been a major success. So let’s just pretend that’s what I was doing. Tada! I give you healthy chocolate pudding!

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I still wanted to figure out this mousse business though. I kept thinking, I must be doing something wrong!

Okay so I admit, I may or may not have an aversion to actually reading directions. I normally just look at a picture, glance at the ingredients and decide I can make it better.

Well when I looked at the ingredients I realized that she used more than 1/4 cup of cocoa per can, and I used two cans! So where I used about 3-4 tablespoons, I was supposed to use more than a half a cup. Doh!

So I added a lot more cocoa and what do you know, that stuff thickened right the heck up! Now, I will say it did not taste as good as its puddingly cousin. It was very rich and much too chocolatey for me (I’m not a huge chocolate fan anyway. Don’t hate.) Definitely add more sugar if you go this route because it gets more bitter with more cocoa.

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I preferred the taste of the first batch, but esthetically this version was much more pleasing, and the texture was nice and moussey. I can see why they serve it as little shots, a little goes a long way.

So the moral of the story is read the directions.

(unless you wanted pudding in the first place.)

The end.

Downtown Tampa Market and The Alligator Pear

One of my favourite things to do in the world is to visit festivals and outdoor markets. A few years ago I went to the Tampa Downtown Market and remembered the large selection of treats, wares, and farm fresh produce. Last Friday was their last open day for the season so I slapped on some SPF and headed downtown. I have to say I was ill-impressed. It’s really not like me to dog local events, because I love my city. I mean I totally put on for my city. I will allow that since it was the last day of the season, perhaps I was picking up on the dregs of a busy spring but, Tampa, we can do better. It was extremely hot (even for Floridians) and the location had moved from the park where I had attended before, to a blocked off Twiggs Street with no shade cover and plenty of brick to magnify the heat. Downtown markets are tough in the heat because the buildings block any would-be breeze.

Florida weather aside there was a small selection, too much jewelry, not enough food, and no produce at all. The few product booths they had were lame and over-prized, with the exception of a few choice vendors.

I stopped and chatted with the ladies from a cork jewelry booth. They were out of cards otherwise I would have mentioned them by name. Their stuff was really cool and they were super friendly! It looked expensive so I didn’t ask for prices since I only had about $20 on me, but if I were into that sort of thing I totally would have bought something.

The other booth worth mentioning was a Wine Slushie Booth. I know, I know. Listen, wine snobs, it wasn’t THAT bad. Okay, it was pretty bad. But a fun idea, and the guy was very nice! I’m sure people who drink white zinfandel would be big fans. (I keed!) At a price of $9 per unit, I skipped on the slushie mix (which was basically koolaid powder that you mix with wine and then freeze), but he did have a seasoning mix that smelled pretty good so I picked up a pack for four bucks which I plan to use for grilled chicken soon.

As far as food goes, nothing really jumped out at me until I noticed a large line forming in front of one lone stand. The Alligator Pear. I had no idea what sort of food it was or what they were serving but everyone seemed like they knew what they were doing so, for a brief moment..

I became a follower.

I watched husband and wife team Greg and Amanda Williams as they worked and sweated side by side serving customers quickly in a ballet that was efficient and cool. Though it was about a million degrees (maybe a million point two) and the line behind me had doubled in size, the Williams duo was in sync and never in the weeds. As I got closer I realized that 1- Alligator Pear is a clever entendre on an Avocado (cute! and also duh.) and 2- they serve a sort of asian fusion taco et cetera.

When I got up to the counter I asked her to serve me whatever the best was. What I received Half Thai Chicken and Half Korean Beef over rice both topped with a colorful crisp “raw-slaw” of cabbage and carrots. She topped the chicken with an avocado-cilantro sauce extra cilantro and crunchy peanuts and the beef with red onions a spicy and delicious sauce of je n’sais quoi.

What resulted was a surprising combination of obscure asian flavours, the perfect amount of heat, cooled by the crisp freshness of the slaw. It was DIVINE! I tasted a sample of the blueberry lemonade (out of a darling punch dispenser). It was sweet and tasty, but I was too hot for sugar so I opted for a water instead. This totally made my day and completely apologized for what would have otherwise been a waste of my $2.25 parking fee.

The Alligator Pear makes the rounds at various farmer’s markets around Florida and I cannot WAIT until they come back to town. I plan to visit them at the Hyde Park Fresh Market. I’m dying to try the Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Taco!

DIY Cloth Napkin Pillow

I’ve mentioned before that I live dangerously close to Target (properly pronounced Tar-jay). The intoxicating blend of slightly ambient lighting and bright colors draw me in like a moth to a flame. The prices are excellent and the quality is quite good. Their newer lines of home decor are lovely, and lucky for me, easily hacked! The newest line Privet House is charming but a bit higher priced so my creative juices immediately started scheming on how I could make a good fake.

I’ve been looking lately for some additional throw pillows for my sofa and Privet had a lovely coral damask that would match perfectly with the Amy Butler Pattern I already had. At a price point of $25 each for throw pillows I decided to pass.

As I wandered a bit further down the aisle I came across these lovely cloth napkins which were double sided and looked like the perfect cover for the pillows I was imagining in my mind.

At the super affordable price of $3.99 each I said “yes please!” A quick stop by michaels for some polyester batting ($3.oo after my 40% off coupon) and I was ready to go!

Start by ironing the napkins flat, then unstitch about 6-7 inches of the seam starting at the tag.

Be sure to remove any little bits of thread after you unstitch.

Stuff your pillow with about 10-12 ounces of batting (depending on how firm you want your pillow to be.

Stitch the opening as close to the edge as you can, making sure to lock with a backstitch.

The final result will be a lovely little double side pillow and it only took about 5 minutes, and they only cost about $5.50 each. Aren’t they cute?

Cheeses, Mary, and Joseph!

I once told you that I would share the bizarre and glorious love affair I have with cheese. The suspense ends here. I have a serious attachment to that which was formerly milk. It just makes me feel good. Sometimes, I confess, if I’m feeling blue I eat a cube of cheese and my woes just melt away. I won’t even get started on the intoxicating ecstasy that occurs when you add wine to the mix, we wouldn’t want things to get R-rated now would we?

So recently when was looking for a good cheese counter in the Tampa Bay area, I couldn’t settle for anything less than excellent. Whole Foods is pretty good, as is Fresh Market, and Publix Greenwise.

But, when I stumbled upon Nature’s Food Patch on Cleveland and was very pleasantly surprised. They had a great selection and a wonderful Fromager who was a total Cheese-head and was even more obsessed yours truly!

She turned me on to a couple really yummy treats, a cheese magazine called Culture (ha!) and this amazing Fig Jam. It was divine paired with the Guinness Cheddar I picked up.

Now I’ll get to the true purpose of this post. Whenever I have a wine and cheese party, or sometimes a good tuesdaynight cheese plate, I like to make these adorable little markers.

 Here is what you’ll need:

 Hot Glue Gun

Some little wooden squares from your local craft store.

Wooden Skewers from the craft store, dollar store or supermarket.

Sharpie.

Add a little glue to the skewer…

Then glue the wooden piece on and hold for about 5 seconds.

The results are simple and whimsical.

Super Easy Individual Flatbread Pizzas

On occasion when I’m too tired to cook I relinquish my kitchen to my dear husband Adam. He’s been known to whip up some tasty treats and this is one of them. I have a feeling our would-be children will one day love this dish!

Start with the little flat-breads you can buy at any grocery store. Sometimes you can get them bogo which makes me very happy!

Brush them lightly with butter and sprinkle with a little garlic powder. For a crispier crust, toast them briefly in the oven or toaster oven before topping.

Add a little pizza sauce, mozzerella, and whatever toppings you like. We like pepperoni.

Bake for 5-6 minutes or until desired crispness.

Et Voila! Dinner is ready, and I got to relax on the couch the whole time. 🙂

Cake Pops Are Not Easy!

Who ever said making caking pops was easy? (Ahem… bakerella). It most certainly is not. It is a ton of work and takes a lot of practice and finesse. There, I said it. I’m so tired of these DIYers out there making it look like everything they do is just the easiest thing they’ve ever done.

            Its time someone spoke out, and I’m willing to be the someone.

This is the true story of how I tried and failed, and tried again, until finally I made the (almost) perfect Cake Pop! This post is dedicated to all of you who, like me, had a dream of being a baking goddess… only to be faced with the ugly truth, “I am NOT Martha Stewart.”

I picked up a Bakerella book at William’s Sonoma the other day and read through the whole thing right there in the store. Don’t judge me, but I snapped a couple pictures of the recipes. Armed with the ease of the illustrations and the gorgeous ideas, I was ready to go! I popped into Michael’s with my 40% off coupons in hand, and stocked up on lollipop sticks, Wilton candy coating, candy food colors, and styrofoam blocks. I picked up some box cakes and vanilla frosting as well.

First of all, the Bakerella recipe is WRONG. I’m not trying to disparage her because I think she’s an innovator, but whoever the test chef was who wrote this recipe obviously did not test it out first. There’s just no way.

The recipe calls for one boxed cake to one 16 oz cannister of frosting. This made for extremely mushy dough. A whole canister of frosting is WAY too much. Even after freezing the balls they were much too soft to hold up on the stick. It was even worse once I tried to coat them with the candy.

Several fell off the sticks into the candy and crumbs got all in my velvety candy coating.

The ones that made it through the coating process fell off while cooling on the sticks.

<– These are the ones that bit the dust. 😦

Ugh, the whole thing was very frustrating. But alas I am a champ.

I did not give up! I gave it another try. This time I am very happy to say I was successful! Yay!

Here’s how I did it…

I started with a chocolate cake this time, the kind with the pudding mixed in.

After it cooled completely I cut the crust off the edge, so I didn’t have any crunchy pieces in my dough. Adam gobbled the crusts up in seconds!

I crumbled up the cake into evenly broken up crumbs. If you roll the cake between your palms it will really help for a nice smooth crumb. It was lots of fun getting my hands in there! This would be a great part to let the kids help with.

This time I only added about 1/3 of the frosting. About 5/8 of a cup if you’re making your own frosting.

The result was a nice firm dough. —>

Using a 1 oz scoop made perfectly portioned balls.

Though the portion was perfect, the shape wasn’t- so I rolled them between my palms to make nice smooth round balls. Then I popped them into the freezer to firm up.

Now comes the fun part! I made a handy little double boiler to melt the Wilton candy using two pyrex measuring cups. I just kept my electric kettle near by with freshly boiled water to change it out so the candy stayed smooth. I also added a few teaspoons of shortening to thin out the candy a bit so it wasn’t too thick of a coating on the cake balls. It only takes a few minutes to melt and it gets really smooth.

Start by dipping the sticks into the candy and then gently push them only half way into the balls.

Then stick them into a styrofoam block and chill in the fridge for a few minutes.

On my first attempt I tried dipping them into the candy but this made the balls fall off the sticks. So I like holding them over the dish and spooning the melted candy over them.

Then gently twist & tap the cake pops on on the edge of the dish until no more “blops” of candy drip off.

Now all that I had to do was set them in the block, and let them cool. Then they were ready for embellishments!

I melted some white candy and poured it into a squeeze bottle.

I kept a glass with boiling water nearby in case the bottle started to cool. Then I just drizzled it over the pops.

And here is the final product!

They were a hit at my mom’s dinner party!

And finally… always be sure to buckle up for safety when transporting your little pops.