If you've never heard of Baklawa, it is a distinctively delicious Middle Eastern pastry. People of Greek descent call this same desert Baklava. Either way you pronounce it, it's amazing! It's labor intensive to build a really good baklawa, but it's a labor of love - so worth it! Happily, the recipe makes a lot of servings! Start by chopping the pecans (or the nut of your choosing!) fairly fine. Add cinnamon to the chopped nuts and stir until well combined. Melt 1 cup of butter and using a pastry brush, grease the inside of a standard 9 x 13 baking dish. Now comes the layering: Start by completely thawing the filo. Make sure to keep it in it's package … [Read more...]
Pretty Burlap Garland Tutorial
I was recently impressed by the most uniquely decorated holiday tree! So rustic and natural - it's limbs were hugged by a ruffled burlap garland! You know me - once I had it in my head, I couldn't rest until I'd figured out how to make this garland for my own tree! It's a WIP for now, a work in progress, but here's a little tutorial to show you how to make your own! I cut my burlap strips along the width of the fabric, and here's an awesome tutorial on how to cut burlap completely straight. I cut each strip 4 inches wide, but you can cut your strips any size you'd like to obtain that perfect width for your tree. I serged the strips … [Read more...]
DIY Christmas Advent Calendar Bunting
Remember those little cardboard advent calenders that you open a little door each day and take out a little piece of yummy chocolate candy? As a child it was such a fun way to count down days until Christmas. Since I admire those trendy buntings I see online so much, I decided to make a little bunting advent calendar for my girls to count down to the big day with. Each flag is a little pocket that will hold different flavors of chocolate kisses - you can place any little item you'd like in the pockets though - maybe activity slips to excite them, such as "Ice Skating Tonight!" The actual making of this calendar is a little bit time consuming, but it's simple and so … [Read more...]
Marinated Feta Cheese
In my younger years, I remember my dad regularly purchasing a jar with little cubes of cheese floating in an irresistibly seasoned marinated oil. I want to say that the cheese was blue cheese but I've always disliked the strong blue cheese flavor so either it became milder from sitting in the oil or it wasn't blue cheese at all. *shrug* What I do remember is that these little cubes of goodness were amazingly delicious spread upon a whole wheat cracker. In the many, (*ahhhem* twenty), years since I've left home, I haven't been able to find it in my local markets. On a recent visit to my local middle eastern grocer I had the idea of making my own marinated … [Read more...]
Preserving Garlic and DIY Seasoning!
You may remember my recent post, Easy Herb Preserving where I showed you how I preserve fresh basil and other herbs in olive oil. Having herbs from my garden year round is how I add big flavor to home-cooked meals and my family loves it. Preserving garlic takes a bit more preparation, since the individual cloves need to be peeled. I spent almost all day peeling cloves of garlic one by one. Normally, when I cook with them, I typically throw out the little cloves. Although I hate being wasteful, those tiny little cloves are not exactly worth my time peeling when I'm working to get several tablespoons of minced garlic into a pot quickly. But today I even peeled those little ones! … [Read more...]
Short Sleeves to Long!
Let's face it, Winter is raring and ready to go! Here in northern Utah, we went from temperatures in the high 80s to low 50's (F), in a matter of days! Sadly, I just went school clothes shopping and stocked up on warmer weather clothing. To solve this, I'm taking the frugal route - all of those brand new short sleeve t-shirts are going to be magically transformed into long sleeved ones. Okay, not magically but it's so easy to do, it might as well be magic! All that is needed is knit fabric. The amount varies depending on size but for each of Ivy's size 6 t-shirts, I used a piece of 20" x 16.5" knit for the sleeves and cuff. Start by measuring the sleeve … [Read more...]
Easy Herb Preservation
Every year I fuss over my herbs, feeding, pruning and generally loving them up until they're gorgeous and full, then I sigh when the first unexpected frost takes them all away. I mentally kick myself for not preserving all that aromatic bounty when I had the chance. Well, not this year! Did you know that herbs can be preserved in olive oil? And it's EASY? It's like having fresh herbs all winter long! I started with my gorgeous basil plant because it's the herb I cook with most. Wash and stack a small bunch of basil leaves. Then roll the stack so you can get nice even cuts. Slice to the size of your choice. You can always rough chop them a … [Read more...]
Cauliflower Salad Recipe
I'll bet you've heard about replacing regular pizza crust with the healthier cauliflower pizza crust. About a year ago I tried my first cauliflower pizza crust and have not had a gluten crust since. The cauliflower crust is so much better! Now I've went one step better in the healthier eating department - I've replaced the high glycemic potatoes in potato salad with the low glycemic vegetable, cauliflower! I know, it sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? But I think you'll be pleasantly surprised even if you aren't a huge cauliflower fan. I love it fried but I don't guess you'd ever see me eating it plain or even eating it raw with a … [Read more...]
Creamy Honey Strawberry Yogurt Pops
With the summer heat on full blast, it's the perfect time of year to try whipping up some homemade frozen yogurt treats. Testing our recipes, we happily licked our way through about a dozen fruit combinations. Raspberries, kiwi, watermelon, limeade, etc. Although they were all amazing, our favorite were our own creamy honey strawberry yogurt pops. Simply delicious! Sense a trend here? ;-) Blend yogurt, strawberries, honey, vanilla and milk together until fairly smooth. You'll want to break down large fruit pieces, but little chunks of fruit just add to the yumminess, so don't worry too much about getting it completely smooth. Pour into … [Read more...]
Sweet Potato Chips
For my family, homemade chips are a healthier choice for sure! Sweet potatoes are lower on the glycemic index than regular potatoes so they won't spike my daughter's blood sugar as much, and I can control the amount and type of oil used in their production. Start by cutting the sweet potatoes quite thin. As thin as you can without them being completely transparent - probably about 1/8" if possible. A mandolin makes this job a snap. I'd love to get one - then maybe I could make them as fast as my four girls eat them! Add the sweet potato slices to a large bowl and drizzle in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil - enough to lightly coat each slice. give the potato slices a good toss, while … [Read more...]
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