The Nifty Foodie

Amy

Scrap Overhaul

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I absolutely cannot believe how my scraps I’ve accumulated over the year. So many fun projects, and when I look at these scraps, I can remember what I made with each piece of fabric. Ah, memories…I’m a sentimental junkie.

Scraps

I thought about what to do with these scraps. Should I just trash them? I mean, they’re scraps, right?

However, The most difficult thing about throwing them away is that these scraps represent my first year of sewing. Uh, majorly sentimental, no?

So, I ::have:: to make something with these to remember my year with my Singer.

::enter Go! Baby machine::

I spent a better part of my evening cutting ALL of my 2010 (cotton) scraps into these itty bitty 2.5″ triangles. This picture is only half of the scraps, actually.

Scraps

I’m making a 2010 quilt. A quilt is a great way to cuddle up and remember the year, right? I’m not sure about how I’m going to sew all of these baby triangles together yet, but that’s what grid paper is for!

And yes, I know this quilt is going to take quite some time, but I think the finished product will be definitely worth it. 🙂

Are you a sentimental junkie like me? Or do you think I’m insane to even go for this? 😛

Blogiversary Giveaway #3

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I hope everyone has had an awesome week!  I’ve had a blast reading your comments for giveaway #1 and giveaway #2 (both of which you can still enter). Giveaway #2, especially, because y’all are giving me handmade ideas for future giveaways. 🙂

This last giveaway is actually a request from a couple of you. Last year, I held a similar giveaway, because I know that some of y’all aren’t able to find some ingredients that I consider staples in our Louisiana kitchen. It was probably the most comments I’ve ever received from a giveaway, which to me, shows that y’all want some Louisiana staples in your kitchen, for sure! (Can’t say I don’t blame you!)

New Orleans Giveaway Redux

So, here it is folks. Quite a few of these are things we use in our home regularly. The crawfish boil makes for some AMAZING mashed potatoes (and of course, boiled seafood). Tony Chachere’s seasoning is like the salt & pepper in the house, especially for my husband, who loves things WAY spicier than I do. Community Coffee with Chicory is a CRAZY strong coffee. While we don’t make coffee in our house regularly, I do get this stuff at the local coffee shop. This is NOT your typical Starbucks-like coffee. 🙂 Gumbo File is an ingredient that is a must-have for making gumbo. My friend in NYC said this stuff was no where to be found, so here it is..up for grabs. And of course, Zatarain’s Jambalaya, Gumbo and Pastalaya mixes for easy peasy weeknight dinners. 🙂

Here’s the deets:

All you have to do to enter is comment telling me, what would you like to see more of on The Nifty Foodie?

For an additional giveaway entry, post this on your Twitter and comment back with the Twitter link: “I just entered @niftyfoodie’s Blogiversary Giveaway: Louisiana Staples for the Kitchen. Enter here! http://bit.ly/eyaKt3“

You have until Monday, January, 24th at 11:59pm to comment.

Just a note: Only continental US readers can enter this giveaway.

FTC Disclosure: These prizes are provided by The Nifty Foodie.

Thanks so much for reading this blog for the past three years. I’ve had so much fun sharing my kitchen adventures with you, and best of luck with the giveaways!

Blogiversary Giveaway #2

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I absolutely love reading your comments from the CSN store giveaway! Some of y’all are making me think I actually may ::need:: more kitchen gadgets. 😉

Speaking of gadgets, giveaway #2 is ALL about gadgets. A book written by my favorite Food Network chef: Alton Brown!

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My friend actually introduced me to this particular book, and after skimming it at the bookstore, I was hooked! I knew I had to offer it to y’all as a giveaway!

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If you watch Alton’s show, you’ll love this book. He shows you the essentials in your kitchen, and also tells you what you don’t really need. I kind of wish I had this book back in the engaged days (when we made our registry). I really think y’all would enjoy it!

Also, as an added surprise, this giveaway includes a kitchen related surprise from my craft room. The winner is going to get something handmade from me that you will LOVE having in your kitchen, but shh….that prize is a secret! 😉

All you have to do to enter is comment telling me, what do you think the handmade surprise will be? 🙂

For an additional giveaway entry, post this on your Twitter and comment back with the Twitter link: “I just entered @niftyfoodie’s Blogiversary Giveaway: a book by Alton Brown & a handmade kitchen surprise. Enter here! http://bit.ly/gqfvSE“

You have until Saturday, January, 22nd at 11:59pm to comment.

Just a note: Only continental US readers can enter this giveaway.

FTC Disclosure: These prizes are provided by The Nifty Foodie. 🙂

I can’t wait to read what your guesses will be! 😉 Stay tuned for tomorrow’s final giveaway….it will definitely make you hungry!

Blogiversary Giveaway #1!

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I hope y’all had a great weekend! For us, it was a pretty long, 3-day weekend that resulted in getting a good bit of housework done. I’m ashamed to admit that the kitchen was basically closed most of the weekend (we ate out…a lot.), but hey, it’s ok to take a cooking/baking break every once in a while!

I’m sure you want me to stop rambling and get to the good stuff. 😉

The first of the blogiversary giveaways is for a $20 credit to CSN stores! I actually really never knew about them until a few blogger friends held giveaways, and after winning one myself, I was able to see if they are a good online store or not. I ended up not buying anything food related, since I have WAY too many kitchen gadgets as it is!

I was actually first looking at their luggage stores for a few upcoming trips I’m taking, but I ended up purchasing something for crafting (typical). I’m happy to say that I got my order within a week, which is pretty awesome since I didn’t pay extra for shipping.

So, when CSN reached out to have a giveaway at The Nifty Foodie, I knew I couldn’t say no! Free moolah? Why not go for this?!

All you have to do to enter is comment telling me, what you would buy from CSN stores with the credit. 🙂

For an additional giveaway entry, post this on your Twitter and comment back with the Twitter link: “I just entered @niftyfoodie’s Blogiversary Giveaway: $20 credit to @csnstores. Enter here! http://bit.ly/hRWZB2“

You have until Friday, January, 21st at 11:59pm to comment.

Just a note: only US/Canada readers can enter this giveaway. (Just as an FYI to Canadian readers, CSN’s shipping may cost more due to international shipping charges.)

FTC Disclosure: This prize is provided by CSN Stores. 🙂

Best of luck! Oh, and stay tuned….tomorrow’s giveaway is going to feature my FAVORITE guy from Food Network! 🙂 

 

 

Three years ago..

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Three years ago, I sat in my parents’ kitchen trying to figure out a way to surprise them with dinner. My skills were limited to scrambled eggs, boiling hot dogs and reheating Chef Boyardee. I was feeling ambitious, so I went to the store and bought the ingredients to make Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs.

I can’t tell you how intimidating it was to cook a real meal, but after fleeing from the kitchen fighting onion tears, washing my hands multiple times because raw meat scares me, making sure to take pictures of something (since I wanted to start a blog) and meticulously measuring each individual ingredient, the meatballs were in the oven. It was all up to the oven to make sure that my meatballs actually came out….and they did. Oh, and they were YUMMY!

I love to look back on my old posts. This was my very first blog post. Unorganized, full of small, awkward pictures, but I love it. Those were my first real kitchen successes, and they were all delicious!

In fact, one of those recipes from my first post is actually now a family tradition during the holidays: the white chocolate cranberry pistachio biscotti.

Biscotti

So, here I am 3 years later. An identity crisis solved since, well, I’m not the perfect dieter. I’m still learning how to cook/bake, and I’m loving it. I love sharing my cooking adventures with y’all too! As lame as this may sound, I still get butterflies in my stomach when y’all leave comments. I love it!

Since you guys have been super awesome, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for every year that you’ve been around. So, there will be 3 giveaways next week! That’s right…3! I hope y’all don’t mind. 🙂

Thanks again for reading! Here’s to another yummy year! 🙂

Some big-time help…

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Ever since I quit my Etsy shop, I’ve been itching to get back into quilting. One of my weaknesses with quilting, however, is cutting straight lines. I always mess up on a few pieces after getting in a groove and there’s nothing more aggravating than re-cutting fabric!

Enter Accuquilt Go! Baby…

I’ve been lusting over this since I heard about the Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter. Unfortunately, at about $300, there was no way I was going to spend that much on a fabric cutter. After a while though, the Go! Baby came out, which retailed for HALF the amount of the Go! 🙂

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So, I used up some Christmas money and finally purchased it! I’m so excited to dig into my fabrics and make quilts again, now that cutting should be quicker and just overall, more efficient! I ended up buying this value pack as far as die cuts go.

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This cartridge cuts two 2 1/2″ triangles, one 2 1/2″ square, and one 4 1/2″ square. I have a big project in mind for those triangles involving this huge stash of scraps from 2010!

Scraps

While you can’t really see the size of this, I will say the fabric fills up one drawer in this cabinet. Seriously…all scraps!

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By the way, this file cabinet is PERFECT for sewing. I store a good bit of fabrics (and scraps, obviously), notions, manuals and patterns in this thing. It doesn’t take up that much room either. It’s smaller than you think, and for $40, it’s quite a bargain for organizing!

I can’t wait to get my Go! Baby and get to cutting. 🙂 I’m itching to make this quilt that I have in my head.

What kind of crafty things did you get for Christmas?

King Cake

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King Cake

As of January 6th, it’s now the Carnival season! Of course, this means king cakes are back in stores. I absolutely love king cake. It’s a sweet, yeast bread with cinnamon and topped with icing and colored sugars (I made mine in black/gold for the Saints game on Saturday.). They make king cakes with so many fillings too, from cream cheese to apple to bavarian cream! This time, I made a plain king cake, since people are pretty particular about what fillings they like with king cake. 🙂

I’ve made king cake before, and it turned out tasting like bread. It was NOT king cake. This recipe, however, is MUCH better. This recipe actually comes from Haydel’s Bakery, which is where we had our wedding cake and groom’s cake (which was a tiered king cake) made. I found it fairly easy to make too, however, I think their recipe would be much better if you ice and sugar after baking, which is different than what their recipe suggested. When I made it their way (bake with sugar already sprinkled on), most of us just pulled the chunks of sugar off of the king cake while eating it.

King Cake
Source: adapted from WWLTV via Haydel’s Bakery

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup all purpose shortening
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 lg. eggs
  • 1 cup milk (room temperature)
  • 2 sm. packs active dry yeast
  • 1/4 tsp lemon zest
  • 1/4 tsp orange zest
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp butter extract
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

For the icing:

  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp. water

For the colored sugars:

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar for each color that you want to make
  • assorted food coloring

Directions:

  1. In a mixer at first speed combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, salt, and shortening until well creamed. Add eggs and continue to cream.
  2. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the flavors. Once dissolved add to creamed mixture and continue to mix.
  3. Add flour a cup at a time and mix until dough tightens.
  4. Remove from mixer and knead into a ball. At this point sprinkle some flour on top and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rest for 1½ hours.
  5. While the dough is resting mix your colored sugars and icing. Mix the 1/2 cup of sugar with a few drops of food coloring until the color you reach is desired.
  6. For the icing, whisk the confectioners sugar with the water and vanilla.
  7. When dough has rested roll out into an oblong piece. Brush on canola oil covering the entire piece. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar liberally over the whole piece.
  8. Once the dough is covered with the cinnamon sugar and oil, fold it in half lengthwise. Cut into 3 strips and braid the dough. Gently roll the dough by starting at one end and working all the way down to the other end. This will make the dough a nice long piece that can then be shaped into a circle. Once shaped place on a baking pan covered with piece of parchment.
  9. Allow the dough to rest again until it doubles in size. Bake at 370 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until dough is golden brown.
  10. Let the cake cool and spread the icing on top. Then, sprinkle with your colored sugars. Enjoy!

Eggnog Cranberry Bread

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Eggnog Cranberry Bread

Words cannot begin to describe how much I love eggnog. The holiday season hasn’t begun until I chug a glass of the stuff. I know it’s super bad for you, but hey, Christmas only comes once a year, right?

I’ve been looking for a recipe involving eggnog to bake. I made cookies a while back, but those were pretty darn cakey. Almost whoopie pie like. Then, I heard about this recipe from Jessica Lynn of  The Tale of Two Kitchens. I knew I had to make it happen. Instead of muffins, though, I wanted to make mini loaves to include in the coworker’s gift baskets.

I ended up over filling a bread pan and some of the batter spilled out onto the cookie sheet. It was fate since I made just enough for coworkers. So, of course, I sampled the baked on spillage. 🙂 It was PERFECT!

Now, I know eggnog is hard to come by nowadays, but for next year, definitely give this recipe a try. The eggnog flavor isn’t very prominent, but it gave the mini loaves a wonderful, spicy note reminiscent of the holiday season. I also found that when making this recipe into mini loaves, I only really needed half of the streusel topping, so the recipe I’m posting has different measurements for the streusel topping.

Eggnog Cranberry Bread
Source: Slightly adapted from Recipe Girl, found on Tale of Two Kitchens

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup eggnog
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped frozen cranberries
2 Tbs granulated sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. butter, slightly softened
1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 4 mini loaf pans.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, eggnog, butter and almond extract. Mix in dry ingredients just until combined. Toss cranberries with 2 T. sugar and then stir into batter.

4. Prepare streusel topping: Combine topping ingredients using a pastry cutter (or two knives) until crumbly.

5. Fill prepared loaf pans until about 1/2 – 2/3 of the way full (this batter rises a lot!). Top with streusel topping. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until the breads test done with a toothpick inserted in the center coming out clean.

Some Goals for 2011…

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Christmas Aftermath

I can’t believe it’s a new year AND a new decade! Super exciting stuff, y’all! Of course, that means time to make some goals happen, too. In case you don’t read my life blog, a while back, I made a 101 goals in 1001 days list. This list of goals ends in May of this year! There are a good chunk that aren’t done yet, and some of those involve food and this blog! Check out some of these…YUM!

63. cook 4 times/week for 20 weeks (0/20)
68. successfully bake a loaf of crawfish bread
69. learn to make Memaw’s spaghetti and meatballs
72. make fresh pasta
75. update food blog 20 times in one month
76. make fruit roll-ups
77. make beef jerky
78. go to a Pampered Chef party
80. make a cookie bouquet
81. smoke and BBQ a piece of meat

It’s quite a list, but I’m looking forward to making these happen. I have a feeling a couple of these won’t get done on time, but hey, even if I miss a couple of goals out of 101, I think I’m doing pretty well!

What are your foodie goals for 2011?

Twenty Eleven…Two Thousand Eleven..

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…however you name it, it’s another New Year. It’s also another new decade. Does that mean that my resolutions need to be 10x more awesome? I guess so!

Since I have my 101 in 1001 list almost done in May, I’m focusing my 2011 on those. As of 1/4/11, here’s my stats:

43 done
23 in progress
31.5 not done
3.5 can’t be done

So, I do have a good bit to go here, and the categories that need the most attention are:

Health/Fitness
Cooking/Baking

I mentioned yesterday that I’m redoing my priorities. Etsy isn’t my priority right now, so that got nixed. Obviously, I need to devote my energy mainly to my health. Cooking/baking will probably get done as well, but in my mind, I need to really ensure that I check some of those things off on the health/fitness category.

Stereotypical, I know. We ALL want to get healthier and better ourselves. I’ve made this a resolution for years, and the only time I got some success was pre-wedding. I showed myself that I can do it, so I need to just do it.

I rejoined Weight Watchers before Christmas. I’m hopeful that this will be my last time I’ll ever join again!  (I am the person who joins W/W for a month, then quits…then rejoins again.)

How many of you are on healthier resolution bandwagon this year? What are you doing to make it happen?