Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Raspberry mug cake

The other day Andy was wanting a dessert, and we didn't really have anything sweet in the house.  So I decided to try and make some mug cakes. It was so easy, and quite good.  Granted, we kind of overcooked it, so the bottom was burnt, but it was still very yummy!

When I first told him my idea, what he took from what I said is that if you put strawberries and strawberry yogurt in the microwave you get cake.  In reality there were a few more steps, but it was still very easy, and took about 5 minutes start to finish.

We thought we had strawberry yogurt, but we had raspberry instead, so this was our raspberry mug cake.

1 egg

2 tablespoons raspberry yogurt, well stirred

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup fresh raspberries and whipped cream for serving

1. First coat the inside of the mug lightly with cooking oil, and set aside.
2. Mix the egg, yogurt, vegetable oil, baking powder, extract, sugar and flour in a small bowl until completely smooth.

 















3. Fill the mug to halfway full and place it in the microwave. Bake it in the microwave for 2.5 to 4 minutes (start at the low end), or until a cake tester comes out clean. Top with raspberries and whipped cream and serve.



Sunday, December 11, 2011

My new artwork


The other night I was inspired by Pinterest yet again.  I pulled out the toilet paper rolls I had been saving up and went to work.
 I measured and cut half inch sections of the rolls.



Painted most of them red, and made a few black for contrast.

 After trying out multiple things, this is the pattern I ended up with.  And this is where I got overambitious. I decided they needed frames to hang on our ugly yellow-ish tan walls, (that unfortunately we can't paint due to apartment regulations).  But the problem was that frames to fit these canvases would be quite expensive.  So in my mind, the obvious solution was to just make them myself.  Great idea, but turned out a bigger project than I had anticipated.




To make the frames, we bought a few pieces of moulding, measured out the lengths and angles, and I had Andy help me with the cutting. But the saw battery died...on the first cut.  So the project was put on hold for the day.  The next day I was on my own (because Andy was at work), but I continued the cutting process, and eventually got all the pieces to approximately the correct length, and angle.  But in doing so I really learned the importance of having the correct tools.  As it turns out, cutting 45 degree angles while standing on a stool, leaning over a railing, lying on the piece you are cutting, while maneuvering a circular saw is easier said than done. Despite the rather obvious imperfections, I got the boards nailed and glued together, and just filled in the gaps with makeshift caulking. (Oh, and I found out it takes a really long time for spray paint to dry when kept at about freezing temperatures...)

Despite the trouble that these frames ended up being, I think they turned out alright.  One of my favorite parts of this is the versatility.  If I get tired of the design, I can easily peel off the rolls and instead paint something on the canvas, or just make a new design.  The frames can of course be reused.
Let me know what you think of my project!




Thursday, December 1, 2011

Tacky Sweaters

Our church young adult group has a monthly get together and lunch after church.  Usually we just eat, and hang out getting to know people we may not otherwise see.  This week it will be a bit different.  The theme is Tacky Sweaters.  The other day we went to the thrift store to find some tacky sweaters and weren't having a whole lot of luck.  Nothing was looking extraordinarily tacky.  So I proposed that we make some sweaters tacky.  We started out by finding matching sweaters, bought a bunch of rhinestones, bells and went to work.  This was our evening project the other night, assembling our "masterpieces".  Hahaha!




Update: we won the contest by the way :)