crafty

fool proof

by Lara on February 2, 2012

in crafty

This is a basic recipe for a roast – chicken, beef or pork- that never fails.

either 1 whole chicken cut up, 4 chicken breasts, a beef chuck roast, or a pork tenderloin/butt roast

Season your meat however you want (salt, pepper, dried herbs, Montreal seasoning, etc) and sear all sides in a pan w/ a touch of oil.

Preheat oven to 350 and put a small can of low-sodium veggie/chicken/beef broth in a roasting dish. (I just tried those concentrated Knorr things – seasoned gelatinous broth you mix in water. Not bad.)

Add a 1/2 – whole pack of fresh rosemary to the pan. Thyme and fresh or dry bay leaves are good too.
While your meat is searing, get your veggies ready. I always cut the top off a head of garlic and put it face down in the roasting pan. About an hour or so in, I take tongs and squeeze out the roasted garlic onto the vegetables.

via

Use whatever veggies you have – like cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potatoes, parsnips, mushrooms – asparagus, broccoli and sugar snap peas are good towards the last half hour of cooking. Salt and pepper your veggies after you dump them in the pan.

This serves 4 so, keep the amount of veggies in mind. (2 medium potatoes per person)

Add the meat on top of the veg.

You can deglaze the pan with more broth, water or wine (red for beef, white for chicken & pork), and sherry works great with beef too. Add this to the pan. About an inch of liquid in the pan should be good. the veg & meat will give off liquid as well.

Cover well and toss in the oven for about 2 hours. You don’t have to baste or really check anything except maybe your liquid level, which really should be fine.

NOTE: Roasting means the meat cooks in its own steam – not swimming in liquid – that’s braising. That’s why I set the meat on top of the veg. You can have the meat in the liquid, surrounded by veg if you want. That way, you can cut your cooking time by a half to a full hour and still have tender meat. You can also raise the oven temp to 400 to speed it up.

Since it’s just the two of us, this makes great leftovers for the next night and I think it’s even better once heated up again in the oven for about a half hour.

{ 0 comments }

last minute gifts

by Lara on December 6, 2011

in crafty

Here are some quick ideas for last minute gifts when you’re in a pinch. Great for hostess gifts, or that coworker or neighbor you weren’t expecting to get a gift from, but did.

Everything can be purchased at the grocery store! They’ll also have gift bags and small packs of tissue so you can throw it together in your car on the way!

 

Grab some fancy pasta, a jar of organic sauce and a bottle of wine.

You could also toss in some nice aged Parmesan and a cheese grater!

A few packs of sugar cookie mix, some cookie cutters, tube icing and colored sugar.

If your grocery store sells housewares, grab 2 cute mugs, their best hot chocolate mix and a bag of marshmallows.

I hope this saves your butt!

Do you have any other quick ideas?

{ 5 comments }

kitchen gifts

by Lara on November 27, 2011

in crafty

Here’s a collection of gifts for those who love spending time in the kitchen. Everything is $30 or less (not including shipping).

Babycakes Pie Maker $30 + shipping

A friend on Twitter was raving about this little gadget. How cute is this? You can do sweet and savory pies, topped or not, with store bought crust. They also make a mini cupcake maker, a whoopie pie maker, mini donut maker and a pie pop maker! (I found the best prices online.)

Great for families – Popsicle mold $13 and recipe book $6 (don’t forget sticks!)

For a baker -marble rolling pin $14

pie bird $5 – crust shield $5 – crust weights $7

For a couple – Insulated picnic basket $30 – in a bunch of colors

ceramic elephant creamer $9

herb scissors $9 & herb saver $8

reusable up to 300 times – pop up poultry timer $12

stainless steel pasta maker $29

Add a bag of nuts – Squirrel Nutcracker $15

kitchen timer $10

{ 6 comments }

salads

by Lara on November 22, 2011

in crafty

Perfect timing to talk about eating healthy with the Thanksgiving gorge-fest in a few days!

I’m still sticking to my plan and ended up buying a scale so I can keep track of my progress. The one at the store said I had lost 6 lbs. It’s more like 4. I’m not complaining!

Anyhoo… I was spending a small fortune at my local health food store’s salad bar so, I went ahead and got a bunch of produce to make my own mini bar for the week!

baby tomatoes and pre-sliced mushrooms, shredded carrot, sliced bell pepper, shredded beets, cucumber, radishes, red cabbage and broccoli

not pictured: a box of baby spinach, low-fat feta, candied pecans, balsamic vinaigrette, and I blackened and sliced up a bunch of chicken tenders.

I finally used my food processor for something other than hummus. Those attachments are so much fun! This all took about 1/2 hour and will make things so much easier and cheaper.

Still doing the two eggs in the morning and snacking on Lara Bars, low fat string cheese, bananas, apple slices with peanut butter and dried apricots during the day.

Sunday, we decided on keeping red meat to one day a week. I’d like to make it less than that. I celebrated my good behaviour and a shitty week by cooking huge steak dinner. It was delicious and I’m not going to feel bad about it!

Speaking of not feeling bad, here’s everything I’m cooking (all by myself) for Thanksgiving:

rolls, 2 turkey breasts, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar & pineapple, crispy potato roast, stuffing, gravy, deviled eggs, potato salad, 2 coconut pies

I don’t even like Thanksgiving dinner but I will enjoy every bite!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

{ 3 comments }

sewing the shirt

by Lara on October 8, 2011

in crafty

I finally sewed that damn top! Honestly, the whole thing was a friggin disaster that frustrated me like you would not believe!

I haven’t sewed clothing in a long time and have never made anything without a store-bought pattern so, this was a great refresher and a major learning experience.

This isn’t going to be a full-on tutorial because well, it’s not. I will give the basic steps though, dotted throughout a bunch of bitching. This was mainly a trouble-shooting process that drove me insane. Like lying in bed at night and thinking of ways to make this work insane because… uhm… it’s impossible to line a tank top like I wanted to. Seriously. Impossible.

I had to give up on the lining and do interfacing.

Oh yeah, here’s the Badgley Mischka top I was attempting to copy:

Soooo….

First off, I used a top that I already had for the pattern. It has a similar shape, the arm holes are perfect on me and I can pull it over my head. I was really hoping I could avoid a side zipper and I DID!

I pinned it taut to some pattern tracing cloth.

This pattern tracing cloth is great. I bought a few yards of this years ago and never used it. It’s semi-sheer so you can line up fabric designs and it won’t tear. It’s cat proof! This is important considering Ulti was hellbent on helping me every step of the way.  Regular craft paper is fine too, of course.

I cut around the top, making it longer and giving myself about a 1/2″ seam allowance all around and folded the pattern in half. Of course the 2 halves didn’t match so I trimmed up a bit and cut it down the middle, keeping the side I liked best. I was using the same piece for the front and the back (and lining and later just the top part for interfacing). A lower cut version may be in the works for the future.

 When I cut out the fabric, I folded it in half and laid the center line of the pattern on the fold. A lot of store-bought patterns work this way and half-patterns guarantee an even piece if you’re making your own.

I cut the lining fabric too but all that got tossed in the trash after I figured it wouldn’t work and then cut out long interfacing that addressed the armholes later… much later.

This is neck interfacing in case you have no idea what I’m talking about. When you flip it into the garment, you have a clean line at the neck with no top stitching. Those little notches cut into curves prevent bunching:

via

I pinned the top together and put it on (carefully) and I was really happy with the fit but gave up on the side ties because the fabric looked too drapey. Then disaster happened over 2 nights of sewing.

I began to sew and everything went to hell. There is not a single tutorial online to show you how to line a tank top like I wanted. I ripped out seams so many times! There was no order in which to sew the pieces to be able to turn things right side out and have the wrong sides facing the correct way with clean seams and zero top stitching showing. To the trash it all went.

I cut everything out again, going with the interfacing instead, sewed it together, hemmed by hand and tried it on. It was so boring without the side ties so I gave em a shot. Thankfully I still had some more fabric. (2 yards would do the trick.) I eyed out and cut long triangles and on the 4th night of working on this, I then ripped the side seams out again, sewed up the side ties, tucked them in, pinned in place, sewed this bastard up, ironed it and it’s done!

So over it.

 

Seriously though, I’m really happy that I stuck with this. I’ve had a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them so I’m trying to be better about that. I also have a great pattern and when I make another one, it won’t nearly be as awful as this whole mess was.

{ 11 comments }

when you give a cat a bow tie

by Lara on September 22, 2011

in crafty

… he will try to destroy it because he was so excited about you sewing, that you’re lucky you even got it made. He now has a thirst for plaid fabric and he’s hell bent on denying you a good picture.

Your boyfriend will try to help distract him so you can finally get a half-way decent shot.

Then you will promptly take it off so he doesn’t rip it to shreds. A half-hour of work for 2 pictures. This is my life.

{ 5 comments }

sewing again

by Lara on September 20, 2011

in crafty

I’ve had the sewing itch for a while now but I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to make. I have enough pillows and they’re kinda boring to sew. Then, a few days ago an old friend emailed me asking if I could make her Halloween costume. She wants to be Wilfred the dog:

How cute right?

I need to get her measurements and we’re going to pick out furry fabric in a couple weeks. The pattern I’m using, I’ve already made 2 costumes from. Here’s my friend Bobby and I from 2008. I was a hamster.

It’s soooo easy and you can customize it in a lot of ways!

purchase here

Soooo anyhow, this costume will be quick and I still have a desire to make something for myself. I’ve been checking out all the Spring 2012 shows coming in and I saw this top by Badgley Mischka. I am totally doing this.

I’ve never made my own pattern that required lining. I need to figure out how this puzzle is going to get put together. Brainstorming time.  Maybe a hidden side zip and sew the tie flaps into the side seams. A light synthetic blend linen? I think I’m actually going to have to sew a muslin/prototype first.

Wish me luck!

{ 14 comments }

Christmas in August

by Lara on August 3, 2011

in crafty

Well, right after I wrote about those yarn trees, I went ahead and carried my butt to Michael’s Crafts on Sunday afternoon and got what I needed. Those cones cost more than I thought they would – about $14 for 3 in different sizes. It’s freakin foam! This is where I get frustrated at DIY projects when you can find a lot of things already made, cheaper than the supplies at the store. I really wanted to do this though and it wasn’t that bad. There’s probably a cheaper source out there somewhere.

Anyhoo… here are the supplies:

3 cones, acrylic yarn, flat top pins, 2 multi-packs of pom poms.

Someone’s ready to get into those pom poms! (Don’t worry… he totally did.)

I was disappointed with the pom pom selection. I had a certain color scheme in mind but I wasn’t paying out the ass for felted wool balls in muted hues. So things turned out more bright and festive. Whatever, they’re cute. They came out kinda kitschy, like stuff my mom made in the 70s, and I’m totally okay with that!  Now I need to find some sweet deer figurines to hang with my trees and it’s good to go!

  • Start at the widest end with a small knot and pin the yarn every inch or so for the first wrap, so it doesn’t slip off.
  • Wrap an even layer of yarn over the entire cone (green cones are great so any small gaps aren’t obvious).
  • Then get silly wrapping yarn up and down in zigzags, filling in any gaps you may see in the process.
  • I made it back to the top and coiled the yarn on the tip, pinning it as much as I needed.
  • Push pins through pom poms (they sink into the fluff and don’t show) and pin them where you want.
  • I had some wooded stars and gold paint already, glued toothpicks to the backs and painted them. Stabbed em into the trees! Done!

That paint is awful to get out of brushes so I dabbed it on with q-tips!

You can pick any color scheme and I’m pretty stoked that this only cost about $20 and maybe 2 hours of my time on the sofa to have a cute little mantle decoration I’ll use for years.

So there you have it! One thing marked off my small list for this week AND I did something for Christmas! This heat is frying my brain, you guys.

{ 4 comments }

how to add pockets!

by Lara on June 16, 2011

in crafty

Hey all! The lovely Lindsay from Broke and Beautiful and I were chatting on Twitter about adding pockets to dresses and I agreed to make a little tutorial for her blog.

Check it out!

{ 1 comment }

easy zipper pillow cover

by Lara on June 11, 2011

in crafty

It’s been a week since I got that weird fabric from IKEA and I finally made the pillow I had planned. Here’s a little tutorial so you can make one of your own!

First, choose a size. Since this is a removable cover, size will be dictated by the insert you get. I bought a 20″ x 20″ insert so I made a paper pattern that was 22″ x 22″ – giving me 1/2″ – 1″  seam allowances all around + some shrink room for future washes.

Iron your fabric if you need to. Then take your pattern and pin it onto your fabric, lining it up just the way you want.

Here are my two pieces cut out.

Place one piece on top of the other, right side in with the orientation correct – basically as if those two pieces were an open book and I closed it.

Sew along the bottom seam only.This is where your zipper will go.

Now, open your two pieces up and flatten the seam down on either side (iron if the fabric won’t stay).

Pin your zipper face down on the center of the seam. I got a 9″ zipper but it was almost too small.

Now sew the bottom end of the zipper, securing it (never sew over pins) and turn the piece around (lifting the foot up with needle in fabric) and sew all the way around your zipper, removing pins as you go.

I didn’t use a zipper foot, which caused my stitches to be a little bit messy and uneven. You know what? I don’t care! I could’ve taken my time, but when have I ever done that?

Now, you take your seam ripper and remove the stitches down the center front of your zipper. Then, OPEN your zipper!

Next, match your pieces back up (pin if needed) and sew the rest of the way around. Turn right side out, stuff with your pillow insert, zip closed and you’re done!

1 yard of fabric was $8, insert was $2, zipper was $2. I made a pretty sweet pillow for $12 and an hour of my time!

{ 7 comments }

← Previous Entries