KT Baked It: Pastries

Happy Friday! Hoping that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends that included delicious food!

This year Eric and I had Thanksgiving dinner with his family. The majority of the meal was made by my brother and sister-in-law, but everyone else in the family brought a dish to contribute. My sister-in-law asked Eric and I to bring a dessert to share. Thanksgiving dessert growing up was always my mom's famous pumpkin cheesecake and my grandmothers cherry cream cheese pie, both recipes I'm not ready to inherit because my mom get such joy from making those desserts for us. So, instead of making one of those desserts, I decided that I wanted to make some kind of pie especially since that is a pretty traditional Thanksgiving dessert. I don't like pumpkin pie, and my friend Sara and I recently made a pecan pie together (which I'm still waiting for her to post on her cooking blog!). That being the case, my mom suggested that I make a cherry cranberry pie. Fantastic!

As I was preparing to make my pie, I realized a couple of things. One, I don't have a ceramic pie dish. Two, I wanted to make a smaller dessert since I knew that there would likely be a bunch of other treats there. The answer was pretty obvious: individual pastries!

Here's how Eric and I (yes, this is a Katy & Hubby Did It) made our pastries:

First, you need to determine what type(s) of pie filling you want to make. We made two types of pies, with leftover filling to to spare. The cherry cranberry and cherry blueberry fillings would have been enough for 12 or more pies based on the size we made. Just a thought.

Cherry Cranberry Pie Filling
1cup canned cherry pie filling
1cup fresh cranberries, halved
1Tbl Tapioca flour (for thickening; you can also use corn starch)
1Tbl granulated sugar

Cherry Blueberry Pie Filling
1cup canned cherry pie filling
1cup frozen blueberries, thawed
1Tbl Tapioca flour
1Tbl granulated sugar

To make the filling, we added the cherry pie filling to the fruit.

 

Next, we added the tapioca flour and sugar, then mixed everything together.




To make our pastries, we used the container for our mini food processor to make impressions in the rolled-out pie dough just like using a cookie cutter. With that size circle, we were able to make 5 cut-outs on each rolled out pie dough. 5 x 4 = 20 with 2 parts for each pastry = 10 total pasties. Look at those remedial math skills.

After we cut out the individual pastry pieces, we decided to one two different shapes to identify which pastry was which. For the cherry blueberry pastries, we drew a heart on the top half using the tip of a knife. For the cherry cranberry pastries, we cut out 4 small petals to make it look like a traditional pie. To put the pies together, we put a spoonful of pie filling into the center of one of the pastry circles. Next, we put the top part on top and pinched the sides of the top and bottom together. We used the edges of a fork, and pressed the edges into the top of the dough around the edge of the pastry.

After we assembled the pastries, we brushed a whisked egg over the top and sprinkled sugar over the pastry. We baked them at 350 for about 12 minutes each, or until the edges were browning. 

Very cute, and easy to make!

KT Cooked It: Bean-Free Chili

I'm sure that many of you are thinking at least one of the following: (1) why chili three days before Thanksgiving? And (2) why "bean-free"?

Answers. First, my preceptor was telling me today about how she made chili over the weekend, which turned into a lively discussion about soups and such being one of the great parts about the cold weather. Second, I try not to eat grains or beans because I've found over years of searching for the ideal nutrition to fuel my strength, endurance and physique goals that following the general guidelines of the Paleo diet works best for me.

On that note, I decided to make my favorite chili for dinner! This is an original recipe that I've perfected over the past year, and now I'm going to share it with you!

What you need:

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped 

1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped

1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped

1 large orange pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 of a large red onion, chopped 

1lb lean ground beef

28oz can of diced, stewed tomatoes

1cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 Tbl chili powder

1/2 Tbl cumin

1/2 Tbl garlic salt

1/2 Tbl onion powder

1/2 Tbl cinnamon

1/2 Tbl cocoa powder

1 tsp paprika

First, pour the can of tomatoes into a large pot with the vegetable broth over medium-high heat. 

Next, chop your sweet potatoes into small pieces and add them to the pot with the simmering tomatoes. 

While the tomatoes and sweet potatoes are getting warm, chop up your remaining vegetables and sautee them with a little coconut oil over high heat in a skillet until they are tender. Once tender, add them to your pot. 

Then, brown the ground beef and then add the beef to the pot. I don't drain my meat; I add the meat with the oil from the meat that is in the skillet. 

After mixing everything together, I added my seasonings as above. Of course you can change the amount that you add. These are simply the measurements of spices that I've found to work for me. Also, I know that cocoa powder and cinnamon may seem odd, but they really give the chili a kick!

Once you've added the spices, mix your chili and let it sit on medium to medium-high heat for at least 30 minutes to allow the potatoes to get nice and tender while the seasonings blend together.

Mmmm, yummy! Of course you can add beans if you like beans, or you can take out the meat if you follow a vegetarian diet. Chili is versatile. And delicious :)

Enjoy!

KT Made It: Painted Margarita Glasses

Welcome back!

As many of you have probably picked up on, I like to use as much of my art/craft supplies as possible before venturing on a new project that requires a ton of supplies. Why? Because I am a grad student and I am cheap! Guilty. As. Charged.

Today I'm going to share with you my most recent project: painted margarita glasses. I know what you're thinking. Margarita glasses in November? Yes, a little unseasonal. However, I have a bunch of paint left from my confetti wine glasses and I'd like to have all of my glasses coordinating, thank you very much!

Here's what I did: First, I painted the bottom of the glass stem with the cream color.

While that was drying, I painted the bottom of the glass above the stem in turquoise. I didn't paint all of the way up the glass because I intended to make some confetti polka dots around the rim to keep up with the theme I started.

Once both the turquoise and cream portions were dry, I painted the stem in red.

Finally, I used the same process for making the polka dots above the turquoise painted portion as I used in my confetti wine glasses.

And then I looked on at my glasses that I can't wait to use next summer for frozen tropical fruit margaritas!

If you're interested in painting your own glasses, visit my instructions for making your own confetti wine glasses. There you will find more detailed instructions on painting on glass, what types of paint, and how to prepare your glasses.

Happy crafting!

KT Made It: DIY Modge Podge Picture Frames

Here is a quick and easy project that is great for gifts, such as birthday gifts for your awesome sister-in-law (Happy Birthday, Ashley!)

What you need:
Picture frame(s) with a flat surface
Scrapbook paper
Modge podge
Paint

I got a three piece wooden picture frame from Michael's craft store. They have great prices on wood products. You can also up-cycle any old picture frame as long as the surface is flat so that the paper lays on it easily. And, of course you can always paint the frame too.

First, I painted the sides and the back of the frame in blue. The reason I used blue was because I had paint left over from decorating my coffee table. Always got to use what you have!















Next, I measured the dimensions of the sides of the frame so that I could cut the exact size from my scrapbook paper.

Once you have cut your paper, apply modge podge to the frame and stick the paper on. Then, apply the modge podge evenly over the frame to tack it on and give it a glossy look.


































And then you're done!

KT Made It: Wine Cork Coasters

Here is a cute, quick project that I did a month or so ago.

What you need:
Wine corks - you need 19 slices for each coaster
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Knife to cut your wine corks

First, cut your wine corks into 7 equal slices. The template for putting together the corks is: row of 3 on the bottom, then a row of 4, then the middle row with five...four...three. Easy!

I applied the hot glue to the sides of the cork slices on the bottom row of three first. After these three were attached, I did the same to attach the above row of four slices. I put the rows together by applying glue to the top of the row of three slices, and then pressed the rows together. I did the same for the other rows - connecting the slices in the row, then gluing the rows together. I used a total of 19 slices for each coaster, and made 8 total.

KT Made It: Decorative Wine Bottles (Part I)

Hello again!

As promised, I'm back with my next craft using the left over materials from my up-cycled coffee table - e.g. scrapbook paper and paint. I'm excited to share this project because I have been collecting wine bottles for quite some time now, and I've finally managed to come up with a project for them! I'm calling this post Part I because I have several bottles left, which I already have an idea for decorating for Christmas (look for my ambitious 25 Days of Kraftmas starting December 1st)

For this project, I used three wine bottles that I soaked in warm water to remove the labels and adhesive - some scrubbing was involved. Each bottle was decorated differently, but with the same color scheme (orange and blue). I'm planning to use the bottles as vases, I think. But they also look nice without anything in them.

For the first bottle, I decided to continue with a similar pattern giving a quilted look similar to my coffee table. Luckily, I had quite a few left over scrapbook paper triangles. To make the triangles, I cut 2x2" squares and then cut the square diagonally to create the triangle. The pattern for the bottle was simple. I started off applying modge podge to the bottle itself as you can see below.

 
















Next, I applied the first column of triangles oriented with the point of the triangle toward the top of the bottle. I started from the bottom, overlapping the tip of the triangles. For the second row, I moved adjacent to the right and changed the orientation of the triangles so that the tip was pointed downward. I repeated the pattern for the next column, switching back to the original orientation ... then the next flipped again..etc. until the entire bottle was covered. Around the neck of the bottle I used a solid blue color.

After I finished applying all of the paper, I put a layer of modge podge over top. 

For the other two bottles, I decided to go with a solid background since the first bottle is pretty busy. First, I painted one bottle white using acrylic paint. I decided to use the blue paper for this bottle, and the orange for the other which I painted blue. The orange on the white background was a little too bright for me. Knowing I was going to do a more complicated design for the blue wine bottle, I decided to make a more simple design for this one. I simply used four overlapping stripes, one of each of the blue scrapbook papers left from my table. 

 

For the last bottle, I started off by painting the whole bottle blue using the same acrylic paint that I used for the table. I actually liked this paint much better than the brand used for the white. The white paint was a generic acrylic paint. The blue was Martha Stewart's Satin Acrylic Paint. It was much smoother on the glass than the other, so I'd definitely use this brand again with glass painting. The plan was to do a cascade of hearts in each of the four patterns of orange paper that I had. I started off by cutting a piece of each paper about 4" wide and the length of the paper. I then folded the paper length-wise and drew 1/2 of the heart shape along the fold so that when I got the paper I could open it up and the shape would be symmetric. I made various sizes, and also cut out the center of some of the hearts. After cutting out all of the shapes, I began applying them to the bottle using (what else?!) modge podge. I applied a final coat of modge podge over the hearts at the end to keep them on the bottle.

 

And here are my three decorative wine bottles, sitting in my increasingly fashionable living room!

KT Made It: Split Canvas US Map

Two posts in one day! Woo hoo! Helps when you have a whole afternoon/evening free of homework before starting the next rotation :)

The inspiration for this project comes from Project Nursery where I found an awesome post about a map of the United States made in fabric - super cute! Lucky for me I had lots of left over scrap book paper from my upgraded coffee table, modge podge and a pack of 8x11" art boards just waiting for a little inspiration.

What you need:
Four 8x11" art boards or canvases
Map of the U.S. for a template (see below)
Scrapbook paper of your choice, enough to get some variety
Scissors
Modge podge and applicator

First, I needed a template of the U.S. to cut and trace each State onto my patterned paper. I found just what I needed on Wikipedia. I copied the image into a Microsoft word document set on landscape so that I could enlarge the image, and I also extended the borders of the document to 0.25" all the way around to make it that much bigger. I enlarged the image and it turned out to be 10" long and 6" wide. I then copied the enlarged map onto 3 other blank documents, intending to split the image into four equal sections, one of each going onto an art canvas so that the map would be split. Next, I went about cropping each map into one of the four sections. Based on the original 6x10" dimensions, each section was 3x5" then enlarged to equal sizes so that the sections would fit together like a puzzle.

I printed 2 copies of each map - one was cut out and glued to the art board directly and the second was used as a template for each of the States.

Here are my art boards.

These are the maps that I cut out and glued to the boards using modge podge. This was the foundation to which I glued each of the individual States. Originally, I was cutting out each piece and trying to piece them together like a puzzle without the original map as a background but that proved to be insanely frustrating.

After cutting out the mainland of the first map and gluing each to one of the boards, I started cutting out each individual State, traced the template onto a piece of scrapbook paper, and then glued the paper to the correct spot on the map. I did not want to use my pen on the patterned side of the paper, so I flipped the paper over and traced the template on the "wrong" side. NOTE - if you try this, you also have to flip the template over, because otherwise you are only tracing the shape of the correct orientation of the piece on the backside of the scapbook paper.

Here you can see me building my map. Again, I used modge podge to attach my pieces to the background map and then I glossed over the pieces with a layer of modge podge for finish as well.

And here is more progress...

After I finished the entire map, I realized that I did not have a way to hang it! So, after rummaging through my arts & crafts box I found 1cm wide orange ribbon which turned out to be perfect for making little hooks by gluing the edges to corners of the board with my glue gun. I used 3" long pieces and made two hooks on each art board, one on each of the top edges about 0.5" from the end that I could hang on a thumb tack.

And here is my map, hanging above my couch!

Very tedious to make, but another awesome project complete!