Baby Sabrina

My friend has a beautiful grand-baby, Sabrina. Sabrina is special needs, and the sunshine in their life. This beautiful little girl is very sick, and currently in the PICU. They have known since her daughters pregnancy that Sabrina was going to be special, but things have been difficult since her birth.

If you can find it in your heart to help them, it would be greatly appreciated. If you can't afford to help financially, support and kind words are wonderful as well. You can donate via WePay, or leave words of encouragement on their facebook page.

From their page:

Sabrina Jean Marie Herrera began having medical problems even before she was born. When her 17 year old mother Bethany was 20 weeks pregnant an ultrasound told us that Sabrina was a girl, but it also told us that she had a stroke.

By the time Bethany was ready to deliver, Sabrina’s doctors had lost count of the amount of strokes she had and had little hope for her. She was born September 08 of 2010. She was born screaming. Shortly after her birth we found out that she had a rare genetic disorder called MTHFR and something called lipoprotein alpha deficiency.

We knew she was going to be special to everyone. Since that day 20 short months ago, her list of challenges has grown. She has Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Failure to thrive, respiratory issues, hydrocephalus and she is blind.

Recently she has become gravely ill with pneumonia and an additional infection. She requires a lot of support, her grandparents and mother work very hard to take care of her. Unfortunately there are things that Medicaid does not cover. Sabrina has always been a fighter. We are asking for you to help us fight.

For updates, please visit Sabrina's facebook page.

Cinnamon Roll Fail (and a yummy filling)

Sometimes, what seems like a good idea turns out badly.

I made cinnamon rolls. It's not like I've never made cinnamon rolls before, in fact I made some less than a week ago that were a-maz-ing. This time, things didn't go so well.

The bread recipe I use for the cinnamon rolls is the one I use for everything- hoagie rolls, loaves, bread sticks, etc. I made a double batch. Not a bad idea, as I also wanted to make some yum hoagie rolls for sammiches. The problem I had was taking too much of the giant lump of doughy goodness. The area I roll things out in is small. Too small for the amount of dough I had. It ended up being about ½ an inch, if not a little more, thick. WAY too thick for cinnamon rolls. They didn't want to bake evenly.

My biggest fail? Well, you know those tiny half containers of spices? I only have 2. A ton of the regular sized ones, but only two itty bitty ones. I grabbed the wrong one. Instead of nutmeg, I dumped in Allspice. *gag* I did try to get it out of the mix before it sank in. I wasn't fully successful sadly. Did I toss out the mixture and start again? No. It'll be FINE, I thought. Not so much. Of course I didn't want to toss out half a cup of butter, but still.

Correct cinnamon roll mixture:

½ cup butter. You want it to be melty.

A bunch of cinnamon (3 tbsp-ish? Not sure, I just dump more and more in until it seems cinnamon-y enough)

1 tsp nutmeg

¼ cup honey (trust me, yum)

Mix everything together and spread on the inside of the dough, then roll up. Put leftover mix (if there is any) in the bottom of your pan, and dribble a little on the top of your rolls.

Live and learn.

Kyle Cake

O hai! I finally gave the cake to him, so I can post it now. Yay! He loved it.

I made my brother Kyle a Kyle from South Park cake. I'm pleased at how it turned out. Next time I will do a few things differently, but for the most part I am quite happy.

The fondant on the side isn't that great, because I don't have a fondant smoother. I think for my first real fondant cake I did well.

I had to cut it out by hand, as I didn't have a pattern (or a cake pan that matched!). It's a double layer chocolate cake, with cream cheese frosting and a buttercream crumb coat.

All of the fondant pieces are hand cut, with the exception of the mittens, which I used my Wilton round cutters.

Beginnings of this years garden!

I have begun my garden for this year. By saying I've started, I mean that I have planted seeds that are now (mostly) little seedlings for plants that need a little more time going inside. Some I just sowed a couple of days ago so I have no sprouts yet.

If you want to follow the progress of my garden, check out my "social" garden here: Herbal & Heirloom I will be posting there about what I am doing in the garden and what all I am growing.

So far I have started peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, beans, a few different herbs, and I have planted my potatoes in their permanent containers and will keep adding soil as needed. I also started an apple tree from seed, so we will see how that goes. At this point it is doing quite well.

My sage is doing well in it's little spot out on the porch. I planted it last year, and it seems quite content. Other than adding a little coffee grounds and egg shells every now and then, and light watering, it has been thriving with pretty minimal help.

I am going to try to container grow a few things to see how well it goes. What exactly those plants will be I haven't determined yet. I might try to grow a few tomato plants in the large containers I have, but I want to companion plant them with some basil. I am not using any chemicals/pesticides and my garden will be all organic.

Wilton Decorating Classes

I just finished the Wilton Method Course 1: Decorating Basics as well as course 2 at one of my local craft stores. I'm taking the classes with my mom, and it is quite fun. If you want to see if they offer classes near you, do a search on their site.

Now, what did I think? Our instructor was quite helpful and very nice. She made sure that any questions we had were answered. I didn't really know the first thing about how to decorate when I started, and I feel much more comfortable now. We have just started class 3 and it is so much fun!

If there is anything I would complain about, it's the class prices. I don't think they're high (especially with the coupons!), but the sheer amount of STUFF you have to buy is a little daunting. You have to get your class kit, your instruction book, and some other things like a cake turntable if you don't already have one. You can do without the turntable probably, but it would make things much more difficult.

Plan on spending at least what you paid for your class on materials. So with a $45 class fee, it's about an additional $45. Not bad for 4 weeks of classes at 2 hours a pop, but if you're not expecting and budgeting for it, it can be a little much.

Watch for buy one get one deals on classes. If you want to take the classes with a friend then it works out perfectly for the first class if you're not quite sure that you are interested in taking all 4 classes.

My first cake. I got lazy with the border.

My final cake from the second class:

Sorry the pictures are crummy, they were taken with a cell phone camera.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Decided to make cupcakes. Didn't feel like looking up a recipe for pudding cupcakes, so I made one. They are very yummy. Sorry about the picture, I don't have my camera battery so it's a cell phone pic.

I put strawberry frosting (from a can... I know, I know!) and it was fantastic.

Preheat oven to 350

2 1/2 cups Flour
1 package Vanilla (I used French Vanilla) pudding mix.
1/2 cup melted Unsalted Butter
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
2 (large) Eggs
2 tsp Baking Soda

Mix dry ingredients. Add in liquid ingredients until combined. Don't over mix! If you add beaten eggs there will be less mixing. I did everything in my stand mixer.

Lightly spray/coat muffin or cupcake tin. I used muffin tins, and got about 9. Fill each cup about half full. If using muffin tin (jumbo tin) at 350 it will take about 20-25 minutes. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool, then frost.

They are *super* moist!

Enjoy!

Cheesy, Creamy and Delicious White Sauce

Ok, I'm a huge slacker. I'm awful, truly awful. Who has neglected blogging? *This Gal*

It's not that I haven't been cooking or baking... I'm just selfish and bad at sharing. Or something.

I made this sauce for dinner tonight and put it on top of some shell pasta. It was ready before the pasta, so obviously it's simple. Simple AND delicious, and the ingredients are so basic you should have them on hand!

Cheesy White Sauce:

2 TBSP sweet cream Butter (or regular, I won't judge you on your butter choices!)
1 TBSP Flour
1/4 tsp Salt (I use sea salt for nearly everything)
1 1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Coriander- ground. I used my mortar and pestal to smash them up.
1/4 tsp Crushed Mint (yes, mint)
1 tsp Parsley
1 to 1 1/2 tsp Chives
2oz white cheese (I used mozzarella)

On medium-high in a saucepan melt the butter. Once it's all melty, add in the flour- whisking to keep it from getting lumpy and weird.

Add salt, then milk all at once. Add the other spices. Stir every now and again until it's bubbly. Reduce heat to medium and add the cheese.

If it's not quite as thick as you want it, cook it down just a little. It will thicken up some upon standing.

Toss in some pasta, and YUM. Nosh away.

Buying in Bulk to Save Money

With gas prices rising, it seems that even people that weren't buying in bulk before are considering it and will now buy bulk products. If you're going to buy bulk and haven't before, you might want to start out small unless you are working on getting a years supply of food like LDS families do. (For more information on that, check out the LDS Food Storage Calculator).

If you are looking for organic or locally sourced ingredients, you can usually find a co-op type farm that delivers on a route on a specific delivery time line. For the North West, check out Azure Standard. You will have to order a minimum amount if you are not a part of a preexisting drop, so call to see if there is one in your area. If you're not in the NW, a Google search should be able to find you a co-op that delivers in your area, or ask around in your local organic food store.

Buying bulk food online is going to cost you a pretty penny in shipping, and if not in shipping, then in packaging. A lot of it will be packaged as "emergency food". If you want it to be as long lasting as the "emergency food" that is selling on the websites, there are a few things you can do, but you will need to package it well. Most of the "emergency food" is in 5 gallon buckets or "super pails" (which I think are 6 gallon buckets) with the actual food in a Mylar bag and an oxygen absorber. So all you need to do to keep your bulk food you buy from the store as fresh is put it is buckets with Mylar bags with and oxygen absorber. NEVER put an oxygen absorber in with sugar unless you want it to be a brick. When you seal the bags, you need to make sure that as much oxygen is out as possible. Google around for more information, I am not an expert on this stuff.

If you are going to use your food in a reasonable amount of time you can just put it in buckets for storage. You can either buy buckets, which are a little pricey (you need FOOD GRADE plastic, DO NOT use anything that held anything toxic such as paint, primer, paint thinner, chemicals, etc) or you can go to your local bakery and ask them if they have any extra buckets. They will usually have extra frosting buckets laying around. It helps to call ahead and have them save them for you. Sometimes they will charge you $1-2 for each bucket, but at the store buckets go for about $5-7 so you're still saving money. If you don't want to pay, try calling a different bakery. If the lids they don't provide you with don't work, you can buy lids. Lids are cheaper than buckets.

You WILL have to clean out the buckets. It's what you get for getting cheap/free buckets. Even if they look clean, you want to clean them out well, with soap. Hopefully you have a utility sink, because, well, they're buckets. Othewise try to set up a station outside near your hose and use a non-toxic soap that won't kill outside plants.

What to Buy
Buy what you eat. Packages have been shrinking. I have noticed it. I don't know if you have noticed it, but cereal boxes are getting smaller, cans are getting smaller, and I am getting less for the same amount of money. There is one thing that doesn't change. A 25lb bag is a 25lb bag. A 50lb bag is a 50lb bag. 25lbs of oatmeal is nutritious, will make great cookies, breakfasts, and won't shrink, and is great on the budget. A 25lb bag of rice cost less than a 5lb bag of rice if you do the math. I paid $11 for our 25lb bag of rice. How much did you last pay for rice? Oatmeal? My 25lb bag of oatmeal was $15. You can even buy Sea Salt in bulk if you are so inclined! Granted, it will last you for a bajillion years, but for $8, I just couldn't pass it up. I got all of my bulk foods from WinCo. They also have a ton of different kinds of beans.

So buying in bulk is great. I love it, you can find a lot of different products, and it can save you a lot of money. Find what works for your family. If you buy something they're not going to eat, it's not really saving money. If you buy products you regularly use and are in regular rotation, you will be doing yourself and your wallet a huge favor.

Book Review- Essentials Of Baking

I thought I would review a book I have. All of the books that are in my library have either been bought by me, given as gifts by family or friends, or I have got them for free at yard sales or other places. I have not gotten any of the books from the publisher, and if I ever do, I will let you guys know.

First up is Williams-Sonoma Essentials Of Baking- Recipes and Techniques For Successful Home Baking (Oxmoor House $34.95US)

The recipes I've made from this book are: Traditional Sourdough, Challah, Classic Dinner Rolls, Cinnamon Rolls, Focaccia, Double Crust Apple Pie, Classic Chocolate Cake, and Flowerless Chocolate Cake. There are numerous other recipes.

I've noticed a few errors in the book that they have hopefully fixed, but I am not sure if they have. One thing was that the sourdough starter "recipe" was flour + milk. I've always known it to be flour and water. Maybe it was correct, but I don't want to use spoiled milk in my bread, and commercial milk spoils, it doesn't sour.

 Other than the few errors, the book is a wonderful resource. It has very detailed instructions, and each recipe has information for doing the mixing either by hand or with an electric mixer.

If you are new to baking, there is a section in the beginning of the book detailing equipment to use, what it is used for, and how to use it. Each section also has a trouble shooting section as well as a primer telling you the basics of what you will be doing in the following section. For breads, it explains the basic process of kneading, raising, and the second raise, and how to bake your bread for the best results.

Another thing I love about this book are the pictures. They are absolutely beautiful. Each recipe has a picture. If it's a complicated recipe, or has complicated steps, like the braiding of Challah, there will be multiple pictures. They aren't just quick snapshots either. They are very nicely done. You could really use this as a coffee table book, the pictures are so nice.

I like the binding. I like that it's hardback. It stays open well when I'm baking. I've spilled flour and liquids on it (wouldn't recommend it of course, I'm just a clutz). The pages have a nice gloss to them but it's not hard on the eyes.

All in all, I think it's a great book. It has a few flaws, but nothing is ever perfect. I recommend it for everyone's baking library.

Couponing- That's not junk mail!

I'm pretty sure that the cashier at my local Safeway is not a big fan of me, because every time I go grocery shopping (which is about every two weeks) I use a lot of coupons. Yet I frequently get mailings from the store itself for discounts of $10 or more. Frequent shoppers FTW!

It started out innocent enough. A coupon here, a coupon there, a register reward that was something I would actually use. I tried the grocery game, but to be honest, I'm too scatterbrained to pay attention for long periods of time, and I couldn't justify the expense. It's a good program for some, but it wasn't for me- but it was enough to jump start me into hardcore couponing and turn me into a monster.

Do I have an obsession with coupons? Yes. Will I change brands if I have a coupon for something? You bet your hiney I will, if I know that quality won't be compromised.

People ask me where I get my coupons from. You know that junk mail that's in your mailbox? Have you ever looked through the papers in there? Actually looked through them? You'll find a coupon insert usually about once a week. That's free money in your mail box that you've been throwing in the recycling! What kind of coupons you get varies depending on your market (where you live), which is why coupon exchanges have become popular. I get a lot of coupons for hair dye. Not useful to me. I also get a lot of coupons for very useful food items that we eat on a regular basis.

One of the best places to get coupons is from the Sunday newspaper. You'll get at least one, if not two or three different inserts, unless it's a weird week. If you're in an area where you have two papers, they will probably have slightly different coupons in them. You can check the insert schedule here.You can usually subscribe to just your Sunday paper if you don't feel like going out and buying one all the time. I save more money from a single paper than spend on it for sure, but if you discover that couponing isn't for you then you probably don't want a subscription.

You can also print coupons off the internet. I haven't yet done this. Some people swear by it. To be honest, I'm a little scared of it because I've heard of some people having problems, but don't let that scare you! Try one or two, see how your store accepts them. And remember- if a coupon seems way too good to be true, it probably is. Only print coupons from reliable sources. Most will only allow you to print between one to three of a coupon. If you're not sure of your stores couponing policy, look it up online.

Another way to get coupons off the internet is from the manufacturers website. Usually you can't print them- they will send you a coupon book with some pretty valuable coupons. I got one from P&G a couple weeks ago with coupons ranging from .50 to $5 off, so it was well worth it. Remember to always be careful with your information! If the site looks sketchy, don't give them your information, and if it asks for a phone number I would recommend making a number with Google Voice to avoid telemarketing calls.

How much do I save couponing? It really depends on the trip, how much I plan it out, and what we're buying. Since I shop at Safeway, I use their store coupons too, which unfortunately show up as "club card discounts" and not coupons (at least I'm pretty sure). My last shopping trip breakdown was this:
We spent $121 total on groceries with $46 in savings. The savings is broken down to $15.05 in manufacturer coupons and $31.61 in "club card" savings.

I think that's pretty significant, as that's $15 we wouldn't have had before, I forgot my $10 off coupon, and our trip was pretty last minute. So in my humble opinion, coupons are your friends.