Mom's Cobbler

My mother is the most amazing woman I know. I know what you're thinking, everyone says that about their mom. But REALLY. She's amazing. She has supported me unfailingly, dealt calmly with years of tearful indecision and anxiety, let me be and become who I am. She bakes, cooks, sews, knits and teaches! And lucky for you (and for my husband :P) she taught me! So here is her amazing cobbler recipe.

We typically make this with blueberries. Did I tell you she has three blueberry bushes?? So in the summer Mom has an abundance of blueberries. What do you do with lots of blueberries when you can't eat them all? Make cobbler! Well this time, I had blueberries and some peaches that were getting too ripe so I made peach and blueberry cobbler.

This recipe is so easy. It was not originally a gluten free recipe but since we try to avoid it as much as possible (see previous posts for why) I simply substituted gluten-free flour 1 for 1.

Here is the recipe my mom wrote in my recipe book. The first time I went to make it, I realized she didn't include fruit in the ingredient list or ever say how much to use! A quick phone call solved the problem. The original recipe calls for 4 cups of fruit but we are crust lovers so we usually do somewhere between 2 and 3. It doesn't matter how much you choose to use, you don't have to alter anything else in the recipe. 

Combine everything except the butter and fruit. Mix until combined.

Melt the butter in a 9x13 pan, then pour the mixture right on top. The butter will kind of ooze out the the sides. 

Combine the fruit and 1/4 c. sugar if you desire. If you want to cut down on the bad-for-you stuff, you can leave out the sugar. Usually fruit is sweet enough on it's own. 

Drop the fruit carefully onto the mixture in the pan. Do not stir it. 

Then put it in the oven and wait! 

I recommend adding a scoop of Cool Whip to your bowl :) A pan of cobbler usually lasts about 2 days. Dessert, breakfast and then dessert again. I mean, it is fruit... 

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Fruit Cobbler

1/4 cup butter or margarine - melted in a 9x13 pan 
1 c. sugar 
1 c. flour (sub gluten-free flour if necessary)
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk 

2-4 c. fruit of choice. The more fruit you use the less crust per bite you will have. 

Combine everything but the butter and fruit in a mixing bowl. Pour on top of the melted butter. Combine fruit and 1/4 c. sugar (optional). Spoon over the mixture in the pan. Do not stir. 

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy! 

Ugly Curtain Rings and Some Bows

When we moved into our old apartment several years ago, we needed a second shower curtain and rings. I bought a really cute curtain and then for some unknown reason, went with some really plain clear plastic rings. When we moved into our new house, those ugly rings followed me here...

I happened to see an article online about cheap updates to make your house look high end that had this idea in it. Now, I'm not sure if I would say it looks high end... but it certainly looks cuter :) and that's what matters, right?

I chose Navy Blue for two reasons: 1 - it goes really well with lime green. 2 - it would also work great in my other bathroom with my gray curtain. Why do one when you can do two??

See? Doesn't it look snazzier now? 

For the price of a roll of ribbon, I got a cheap, easy update. The ribbon was $4 at the craft store and I used a 40% off coupon. So grand total: $2.40! 

All the craft stores have 40% off one item coupons available online all the time. Just pull it up on your phone and they will scan it. 

T-shirt to Tank Top

I'm not a super experienced seamstress but I do have a machine and enjoy trying to make things. My latest adventure was shockingly easy. I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought why not? It literally took me like 20 minutes from start to finish. How awesome is that?

My husband has (or had...) way too many t-shirts from various conferences, youth retreats and video games (these aren't often allowed in public). Recently we were culling a few of them out to add to the pile of shirts that will eventually become a t-shirt quilt. I saw this project and remembered that I hadn't cut this particular shirt up yet so I grabbed it. 

All you need is an over-sized t-shirt (I wear a small, my husband's shirt was a medium), good scissors, a skewer or other similar tool, straight pins and a sewing machine. I guess you could sew it by hand, it would just take a little longer. 

I laid out the shirt like so: 

Then I cut off the sleeves at the seams. The seams should be on the sleeves after you cut them off. Cut straight across the top, right below the collar. Cut the ends off the sleeves. These will become the straps of your tank top. 

For some reason, it looks like a totally different shirt color-wise... 

At this point, you can discard the collar portion and the sleeves. Take one side of the top of the shirt and fold it over towards the inside about an inch. Pin it in place. This is going to create the pocket you run the straps through. Do the same thing for the other side. Then pin the two straps together on one end. 

This is when I went to my sewing machine. I sewed along the neck to create the space for the straps and then I sewed the straps together on one end where I had pinned them. Ideally, you would want to use thread the same color as your shirt but since this was a spur of the moment idea, I used what was on my machine already. 

Now comes the slightly tricky part - getting the straps through the shirt. I took the wooden skewer and taped one end of the strap around the end of the skewer. Then I threaded the skewer through the shirt carefully until it came out the other end. Repeat with the other side of the shirt. 

One step left!! I took the shirt back to my sewing machine and sewed the straps together so they became one complete circle. Shirt is finished! 

I apologize for no finished product picture. I tried to take a "selfie" and it didn't turn out so well. I'll just have to wait until I can make my husband take it :) but trust me, its cute. 

UPDATE!!! I managed to get a picture of me in it :) 

Fail...

So....I had this great project going that I was really excited about....

And then I finished it this afternoon.

And promptly pulled the entire thing apart.

I write this post, not to show you how to do it, but to admit my own failings. So often, things look easy when someone else does it and you think no one else has the problems that you do. I'm here to tell you, you're not alone! Anyway, I was making a rug out of old t-shirts using a hula hoop. It was so easy!

 But as it progressed, the middle started to bulge. I thought well I must have pulled the yarn too tight in the beginning, I can try to fix that from the middle when I finish. So I kept going, winding that yarn in and out, in and out. When it looked big enough (I was only making a small rug for the bathroom), I tied the yarn and began finishing it off. As I cut it off the hula hoop and tied the ends, it started curling. I expressed my frustration (that means I yelled at it) and my husband said, "What's the matter? Just put that part towards the back." Is there a 'back' to a bath mat?  So I kept going and it just kept curling. Until I had what vaguely resembled a sombrero.

 My husband's response? "It's fine, you're just going to stand on it..." How do you stand on a sombrero??? 

I had to pull out all that yarn and rewind it into balls. Talk about a little anger. This DIY is not forgotten... just postponed until I can forgive it for betraying me. I will conquer. 

Have you tried something lately that ended in an epic fail? I'd love to hear about it :) make me feel better and comment below. 

Peanut Butter Nutella Gluten-Free Brownies

I don't know about you, but I have a major sweet tooth. There isn't a chocolate dessert I've met that I haven't liked. That said, anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate gets a gold star from this teacher. If you like Reese's or Nutella, you need to pull out your measuring cups and get ready.

Now, any dessert I make has to be made gluten free or I will have a very unhappy husband. These brownies hit the jackpot because they don't use any flour or butter and besides the candy bar and bananas, it uses ingredients that I already had in my cabinets. They are also extremely easy to make because you literally throw everything into the same bowl and mix it up. What more can you ask for??

 Someone else loves peanut butter too....

Gather together the following: peanut butter, Nutella (or some other brand), 2 eggs, baking soda, vanilla extract, honey, 2 medium ripe bananas (if you do not have or do not like bananas, no problem), 3 oz. of any dark chocolate, sea salt or kosher salt. The amount of chocolate is arbitrary (in other words, use as much as you like!). You could also make it a lot easier on yourself and just get a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350. Then you are going to measure out 2 cups of peanut butter, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, half a teaspoon of salt and 1/3 cup of honey into a mixing bowl. I use a KitchenAid stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work just as well. If you have neither, just put some muscle into it :). Mash up your bananas and add to the bowl. If you aren't using bananas, increase the honey to 1/2 cup.  Mix on medium speed until well combined. 

   

Then, chop up your chocolate and fold about half of it into the batter with a spatula. 

Spread the batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Then drizzle Nutella by the teaspoon across the batter. I would estimate I used around 7 teaspoons but again, use as much or as little as you want. Take a knive and swirl the Nutella lightly. Sprinkle the rest of your chocolate on the top. Then, pop it in the oven for 17-20 minutes. I took mine out at 18 and they were slightly gooey in the middle. Yum. 

And there you have it. Simple as measure, mix and bake! Then eat of course. 

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Peanut Butter Nutella Gluten-Free Brownies

• 2 cups peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 medium ripe bananas (OPTIONAL)
• 1/3 cup honey (if not using bananas, increase to 1/2 cup)
• 3 oz. dark chocolate
• 7 teaspoons Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or any mixing bowl if not using a stand mixer), combine peanut butter, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, salt, bananas (mashed), and 1/2 cup honey. 
2. Mix on medium until well combined. 
3. Chop chocolate into small chunks then fold half of it into the batter. 
4. Spread batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Drizzle Nutella by the teaspoon full across the batter. Swirl with a knife. Sprinkle remaining chocolate on top. 
5. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the middle doesn't jiggle. 

A Name And A Lasagna

Who knew naming a blog could present such difficulties? Witty or descriptive? Alliteration or catchy phrase? You can decide for yourself which route I took. Then after spending all that time deciding on the perfect name, you type it into the bar only to be told that someone else thought so way before you. Back to the drawing board... Any way, here it is: Dinner and a DIY. Because that's what I feel like I can talk about. Cooking food and making stuff.

As a disclaimer, future posts will be better presented, more organized and with prettier pictures but I was just excited about actually getting this started. 

Today I'm starting with a dinner. And since Italian is my favorite type of food, we are going with lasagna. What you may not know however, is that my husband has a sensitivity to gluten. Now, we could have a whole different conversation about the gluten-free (GF) diet fad but we have found it to be very beneficial to him and his stomach (and hence to me and my bathroom :P) to avoid it as much as possible. So without going further into that, here is a GF Zucchini Lasagna recipe courtesy of Mique at 30 Handmade Days. To be honest, I didn't even miss the noodles. And this is guaranteed to get comments about how good it smells when people walk in.

30 Handmade Days' very professional-looking picture

My very UN-professional-looking phone picture of the finished product. I promise it'll get better. 

Now, if you are anything like me, the first time I thought about making lasagna, I just didn't because lasagna is one of those dishes that seems complicated and involved. I promise this will change your mind. There are five very basic steps to this recipe. 

1) gather ingredients 2) chop veggies 3) make sauce 4) layer 5) bake. Easy right?

I am rewriting the recipe here rather than just link you to 30 Handmade Days because I have altered the recipe slightly.  The first difference is that I chose to use ground turkey rather than beef simply for the health factor. The second is that her recipe calls for 1 lb of meat but if you haven't noticed lately, when you buy ground meat you buy 1.2 lbs in a package. Maybe you are one of those people who would take the time to separate out that .2 lb but I am most certainly not. Therefore, this required a few other alterations to have a good sauce to meat ratio. You are also welcome to alter the amount of green pepper and onion you use. 

STEP 1: Gather ingredients and heat oven to 325

1 package ground turkey (1.2 lbs)

1 green pepper, chopped 

1/4 large onion, chopped 

1 tsp. Italian seasoning (optional)

3 cloves minced garlic  (if you use a jar like me, about a Tbsp or so will do)

24 oz. jar of marinara sauce 

15 oz. can of tomato sauce (optional)

2-3 zucchini, depending on size

1 box mushrooms 

1 bag (2 cups) mozzarella cheese 

9x13 pan 

STEP 2: Chop veggies 

- Chop up your green pepper and onion into small pieces. 

- Slice zucchini lengthwise so that you have pieces like lasagna noodles. 

            I found that a cheese slicer worked the best for this. I tried with a knife. Let me save you the               trouble and say unless you want very uneven slices and a possible cut thumb, don't do it!

STEP 3: Make sauce 

- Brown the meat in a large saucepan. 

- Add your garlic, green pepper and onion to the pan, saute for about 5 minutes. 

- Add your can of marinara sauce and 3/4 of the can of tomato sauce if you need more sauce.

- Add Italian seasoning. 

- Bring to a light boil, then just take it off the burner. 

STEP 4: Layer

- Spread a light layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan. 

- Layer zucchini slices, mushrooms and cheese.

- Repeat these steps until you run out of either a layer ingredient or space in your dish. Make sure your top layer is cheese of course. 

STEP 5: BAKE

- Cover the dish in tin foil and bake for 15 minutes. 

- Take off the foil and bake for another 15. 

            Don't forget the foil or your cheese will burn. And let's be honest, no one but my husband likes             burnt cheese. 

Oh and don't forget step 6: ENJOY!

PLEASE feel free to give me feedback in the comments, good or constructive (notice I didn't say bad!).  If you make it, let me know how it went!