Day 117

Most delicious breakfast.   I made this strawberry-mulberry pie with the little mamas.  They even did the lattice :)

It's the same as the mulberry pie recipe but with 4 cups of mulberries and 2 cups strawberries and lemon instead of grape fruit.   I also reduced the sugar by a quarter cup and used light brown sugar. 

 This one was definitely on the sweeter side as far as pies go.

 

Sunglasses Strap DIY / tutorial

So a while back the fella got a pair of Costas and really wanted a strap/croakie.
He wanted something that could float (or at least take longer to sink) and he didn't want ones that had very long strings.
So, as a collaboration we made this sunglasses strap.

What's different about these is that they have aquarium tubing in the strap so that they float/sink more slowly.

Here's a short tutorial on how to make one for yourself. 

What you will need

~A pair of sunglasses (these have the pre-made holes in the stems)
~Smallest aquarium tubing you can find (I got mine at Petsmart)--note if you don't want to get in trouble, don't open the packing to see how flat you can get it *shrug*
~Sturdy fabric remnant - I used a camo twill let over from making a pillow
~A tube turner
~sewing machine

Let's begin

1. Cut a strip of fabric your desired length (~12-18 inches is good)
2. Cut your tubing to ~2/3 of the fabric strip length

3. Fold fabric right sides together with tubing inside. Like so...

If you would like a tighter fit, place the tubing underneath your foot, making sure that you leave some space because you need space for your seam allowance.  It's really awkward trying to squish the tubing and measure it so I found this an easier way to start off. Make sure that you leave the tubing outside of the fabric a few inches so that you can easily pull it out.  

4. Trim you fabric close to the stitched edge

5. Use your loop turner to pull your fabric right side out.  I would not recommend a quick turner for this unless you can find ones smaller than what Joanns carries.  

6. Now, insert your aquarium tubing into the fabric tube.  I recommend using a wooden skewer ( you know the ones you have on hand cause it's summertime, which means it's grillin time) to get the tubing in all the way.

7. GENTLY push the fabric ends through the holes in the stems of the sunglasses. 

8. Tie in a knot or use cobra stitching to secure.

9. Enjoy!

lasagna sans ricotta

So, I had this craving for lasagna but not the kind that I normally make; the kind that my mom used to make.
I called her up apparently the secret to her cheesy delicious gooeyness is..... (drumroll please)

White American cheese.  ---yeah, as in the singles that go on your sandwich and have way too much packaging.   Mind you my mom has lived in Rome and speaks Italian.  

And since Mozzeralla is not my favorite ---what it doesn't make your mild lactose intolerance-which you got from drinking a entire half gallon of milk in one setting- seem very severe.  No, just me.  Meh *shrug*


So, I fuzzed my taste with hers and here's what I came up with.

~~~Also, bump sliced bread, oven ready noodles are AMAZING.  Saves on space, 2nd degree hand burns, and more broken noodles than the (happy) beast can eat.  ~~~

What you'll need

1 or 2 jars of pasta sauce (with mushrooms)
Fresh spinach
1 bunch of green onions
package of white american singles
some Parmesan
1 package of provolone cheese
1 package of oven ready noodles
3 oz. (minimum of prosciutto)



1. slice the green onions ans sautée with the spinach.  Pour sauce into pan.

Layer the noodles and cover with some sauce

Cheese 1

Cheese 2

Prosciutto

Repeat this.

Top the noodles with sauce and then with Parmesan. 

It was delicious, cheezy goodness.  and fantastic leftovers :)

-Nique

Shave cream/oil

So awhile back, I found this recipe.
The original recipe calls for shea butter.  Shea butter is hard to find in town and I really wanted to make it so I used some Palmer's cocoa butter formula instead.  It made for more of an oil than anything. I did not need to use the stove since it was summer and leaving the coconut oil on the counter over night allowed it to turn into a liquid.  I used the same amount of almond, rosemary, and peppermint.
The fella really liked it and I really liked it.  It conditions so well.  However, with the Florida heat, storing it in a cool, dry place as recommend is not really a viable option; so after a few short months (yes months, you really do not need to use very much of this at a time) the batch went bad.  I had stored the batch in a small ball jar.
I will say the using the cocoa butter formula instead really made it like a shaving oil. Works really well, but not the tidiest way to shave one's face.  So this time I asked the fella what he thought, if he'd like the more solid way ( it is winter now so things hold somewhat) and what he thought of the fragrance.  His response:" what fragrance" so I know I needed more oils.
So I made a few tweaks to the original recipe :



1/3 cup shea butter (72.67 grams) or Palmer's cocoa butter formula (in a jar)
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil (72.05 grams)
1/4 cup jojoba or sweet almond oil (54.88 grams)
15 drops rosemary essential oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil

So gather your ingredients:

I got the shea butter off Amazon, the jar is from IKEA, the coconut oil from Trader Joe's, and the oils are from the local health nut store (sunflower health foods) but I'm sure you could just get everything off Amazon and simplify your life.    

(so excited to have a microwave now)

Anyways, on the stove combine the coconut oil and the shea butter in a saucepan.   Please just stand in front of the stove and wait for it to melt or just do it on low heat so you don't burn the oils.  ( I came dangerously close to doing that)

Put your melted mixture and the rest of the ingredients in a heat safe bowl. Your house will now smell amazing.  If you have a dog, they will try eating the air it smells insanely delicious.  

Let your mixture solidify.  If it's cold I'm sure you could just leave it out on the counter.  I decided to cover my bowl and place it in the fridge.  

So after a long day a thesis writing, I came home to this coolness/ weirdness

Take out your hand mixer and whip it on high.  If you are using the Palmer's you can just do it by hand.  Also you can skip the solidifying step as it will never happen.  It's so thin and oily that it's easy to stir.  It will however, never whip.  I found that in using the Palmer's getting the mixture to keep air is pretty much impossible.  However, if you use the pure shea butter, it'll whip up really nice like a whipped cream (smells delicious but I wouldn't recommend tasting it, lol)

Then spoon it into a jar.  I tried one that fastens this time to try and see if it would keep better.  

A nicely decorated jar is always fun. I did mine using glass paint and a Martha Stewart stencil for the border ( I free-handed the "Shave").


I think I will make some lavender-mint oil for myself next :)


-Nique