Cooking... Moroccan Curried Couscous

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup raisins
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can of chick peas
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 lemon grated
1.5 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Combine chicken broth, raisins, chick peas, curry powder and cumin in medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in couscous and green onions. Cover and let sit 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork; cool. In a small bowl combine lemon peel, lemon juice and olive oil; blend until thoroughly mixed. Toss cooled couscous with dressing to taste.

Adapted from this. 

Cooking... Minted Pea Purée

Inspired by a dish from our dinner at Pop's on Friday, we made minted pea puree.  It was a little like baby food - ok a lot like baby food - but had good flavor.  To lower the calories and fat I left out the butter and only put in enough milk/cream to make it tasty.

Minted Pea Purée
*three 10-ounce packages frozen peas, thawed (we only had 2 bags and used them frozen)
*1/3 cup fresh mint leaves
*3 tablespoons half-and-half, or to taste (a mix of milk and heavy cream to taste)
*3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits (didn't use)

In a large saucepan combine the peas with 1/4 cup water and the mint leaves and boil the mixture, covered, for 4 minutes, or until the peas are tender. Drain the mixture well and in a food processor purée it with the half-and-half, the butter, and salt and pepper to taste. The purée may be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheated.

$10 worth of fabric

On Sunday the Scrap Exchange was having their bi-annual fabric sale. Elizabeth and I went and picked up a big bag of fabric remnants for only ten dollars! I put them on our kitchen floor to remove the tags before washing them and snapped this picture with Pancake to give some perspective to how much we actually got! Some of the pieces are quite large and are really sweet designs like a few from Laura Ashley. I hope to make some outfits for Elizabeth. If I had more time or I didn't have a baby strapped to my front in the Bjorn, then I might have gotten a second bag. Oh well, there is always next spring - and I know that I will probably not get to all of this in the next 6 months (or ever!) anyways.

#3 Heart shaped sachet with cross-stitched bird

I decided I wanted to do a sampler for Elizabeth for her room, but first I wanted to do a quick craft to make sure I was up for cross-stitching a whole project.  After checking out several sampler books from the library, I was inspired to make this little pillow as a Christmas ornament. 

Baking... Chocolate Pate and Raspberry Coulis

For Nathan's birthday I made a chocolate pate with raspberry coulis.  It was so simple and extremely delicious if I do say so myself.  Imagine a dessert that is a mix between a fudge and a mousse.  It was super rich but still light.  And... it only took about 20 minutes (maybe less) from start to finish!!

Chocolate Pate

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Whipped cream

1. Line 8 x 4-inch baking pan with plastic wrap. 
2. Combine 1/4 cup whipping cream and egg yolk in small bowl.
3. Combine morsels, corn syrup and butter in heavy-duty medium saucepan. Melt over lowest possible heat. When morsels begin to melt, remove from heat; stir. Return to heat for a few seconds at a time, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Add cream mixture to saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Let cool to room temperature.
4. Beat remaining cream and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold chocolate mixture into the whipped cream. Pour into prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or freeze 3 hours.

Raspberry Coulis

• 1 bag of frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. Put ingredients into a sauce pan and boil until raspberries break-up and sugar melts ~10 min.
2. Press through a stainer to get rid of all the seeds.  It should look more liquid than a jelly, but not too watery.

I got my recipe from here:  http://allwomenstalk.com/15-ingredients-and-directions-of-chocolate-pate-with-cranberry-coulis-receipt/

#2 Happy Birthday Banner

While thinking about what I want to do for Elizabeth's 1 year birthday, I decided I wanted to make a banner to hang from the wall like these. I've seen a few other people do it, but I swear, I've been thinking about doing it for a while :)  I guess these are the new "in" things for birthday parties.

I had all the materials - my trusty box of fabric, Steam a Seem to fuse the letters onto the flags, and ribbon.  My sewing machine has been broken since early August, and this was a great inspiration to go get the part so I could start sewing again.  Twenty-five dollars later, I had a functioning sewing machine and starting cutting out the flags.  I ironed the ribbon in half and sewed the flags to it.  I cut out the letters and ironed them on.  I was trying to get it done yesterday, because today is Nathan's birthday and I hung it up last night after he went to bed to celebrate.  I'm a little disappointed at how the H and the Y flags look with the letters; I was hoping they would stand out more... oh well. You can still read it, and I think it looks cute.

These were two great projects to start out with.  They were very easy and quick which just inspires me to do more!  Any suggestions for my next "act of 30"?

#1 Fabric Wreath

I decided to get artsy yesterday and made 2 projects in under 24 hours.  Inspired by this wreath and my box of fabric squares that I haven't found a good project, I Googled "fabric wreath".  I stumbled upon several and followed instructions from this blog.  She said ~200 pieces, well it was more like 500 -   but it was still fun, easy, relatively quick (~3 hours and could tie on while watching Elizabeth), cheap (originally 2.99 but with a Joann fabric 50% off coupon only $1.61 for the wreath base and free fabric scraps)  and I think it looks shabby chic.   What do you think?

6 months until I turn 30!

October 9th marked 6 months until my 30th birthday.  I know that on April 9th, I will not feel any different than the day before, but the changing decade is somewhat a big deal.  I've been thinking about what I want to do to celebrate.

I'd brainstormed a couple of ideas.
Run a marathon - the plantar fasciitis that has been bugging me for the last two months has sorta sidelined that idea.
Read 30 books - I am such a slow reader that I would need to read either crap books, or do nothing but read. And I have a few other things on my plate so I will pass up that one.

However, with help from Nathan, I have come up with a goal that I think is obtainable and fun, but will help me feel like I've accomplished something [not that a B.S., PhD, and baby aren't something].  I am planning on doing 30 "artsy" things before April 9th.  The definition of "artsy" is a little liberal: making a craft, reading a book, going to a movie, and going to a show.  I may add to/modify this definition as I go.

I plan on posting each thing on the blog to keep track, and hope to do at least 5 a month so I am not doing them all in March.

10 month pictures

As you can see from our recent video, Elizabeth no longer likes to be stationary. This was also apparent in our recent attempt to try to get her 10 month block picture. Here are the first four pictures from that set and two others that illustrate the difficulty of capturing her cuteness (with blocks).

Nathan placing her in front of her blocks

He hasn't yet had the chance to even get out of the picture (see the green sock) before she starts reaching for them

Elizabeth looking at Nathan as he asks her not to grab all the blocks

Here you can see her total disregard to our attempt at trying to capture this month's photo.  Blocks right in the mouth and scattered about

Retreat!

A now somewhat common occurrence in our house - the temper tantrum.  She knows what she wants and would prefer to have it her way.

However we were still able to capture a few sweet moments.  Pay no attention to the shadow behind her.  Unfortunately, our house doesn't get a lot of natural light and we can only do so much.

This one makes her look like she has super long legs.