February Showers bring March Flowers...

I know I have been MIA two weeks, yes two weeks but I have a good reason - work.  I would much rather be blogging at night or on the weekends but when duty calls I have to abandoned the blog.  I apologize but I am now back and ready to go.  I also know April showers usually bring May flowers however due to this winter I think February is appropriate.  I am definitely not going to complain about the lack of snow in the Northeast, I will enjoy it and prepare myself for winter next year.   Now on to the real reason I am blogging...my latest project.  For this project I was inspired by a wreath I was given last year so today I decided to try and recreate the wreath.  After buying the essential materials I was ready to go:

18" grapevine wreath from AC Moore for $4.99 plus 40% off

Dark pink hydrangeas at $9.99 per stem on sale for $5.99 at AC Moore - total of 4 stems

Fake Granny Smith apples from HomeGoods at $1.65 each

You are all probably thinking these are odd materials but I promise it will all come together in the end.  First I hot glued the apples on the grapevine wreath:

Next I cut each hydrangea bunch from the stems - there were 5 hydrangea clusters per steam.  I then placed the clusters around the wreath to ensure I covered all of the wreath.

Halfway there!

It looks Hawaiian in these pictures but I promised the flowers are deep pink/mauve and not purple.  Once the wreath was completely covered in the flowers it was time to add a few bows and cover a naked door.

But before I show you the finished wreath I want to first show you the inspiration for the wreath or rather the wreath I planned on replicating:

  I saw this wreath last year at a neighborhood florist and was lucky enough to receive it as a gift a few weeks later!  The wreath was expensive so I couldn't rationalize buying it but I used it all spring and summer and will use it this year as well.  Now on to the final product:

I used only three apples on this one as I didn't think five would fit as I spaced these out a little more than the original wreath.  Again I promise this looks more pink/mauve in person.  By making this on my own it cost less than $35.  The wreaths I saw at AC Moore and Micheals were much more expensive and not really as nice/tasteful as this one, well at least in my opinion.

I hope you all enjoyed this spring wreath...the next project is already in stage 1!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

From the heart...

I woke up this morning, instantly picked up my iPad, and started looking at things I had pinned.  I came across red velvet pancakes and decided I would try them.  After looking at the ingredients I knew I had everything except buttermilk but have no fear there was a recipe to make your own buttermilk - in fact there were 5 recipes!  I used the one with lemon juice and started making the pancakes.  First I mixed all the dry ingredients and then wet ingredients separately.  There were a lot of ingredients but they were all stuff most people would have around their kitchen.

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Now it was time to mix the ingredients and add some butter!

I wanted to make them heart shape and was in luck because I had bought heart pancake molds a few years back and had only used them a few times.  They are not the easiest to use but they work pretty well and have a handle so it is easy to remove once the pancake starts to cook.

As you can see the molds are not perfect but they get the job done!  Once the pancakes cook you can remove the molds and cook the other side of the pancake.

Hearts!! Once the pancakes were done I topped them with a cream cheese, powder sugar, and vanilla topping (in place of maple syrup).  The recipe called for a more complex topping but based on the time and ingredients I had I stuck to an easier topping.  I forgot to take a picture of the final product but I would give them 2 thumbs up.

You can find the complete recipe at: http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/06/red-velvet-pancakes-with-sweet-cream-cheese-topping/

This is my busy time at work so I won't be posting very often as I am barely home but I will be back!

Until next time...Stay Creative!!

Lasagna...Soup?

First I need to share a picture of the cupcakes I made for the Super Bowl (tear for the Pats) on Sunday.  I made both Patriots and Giants cupcakes for the get together just to be fair to any Giants' fans.  I made marble cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorated them with fondant jersey's and footballs.

Now onto the soup I made last week.  I came across a recipe for lasagna soup on Pinterest (surprise, surprise) and decided to give it a shot.  I started with a pound and a half of sausage browned in the soup pot using olive oil.  I combined sweet Italian sausage, hot sausage, olive oil, garlic, and some spices.

Once the sausage was cooked I added diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, two bay leaves and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Next I added uncooked pasta and let it cook in the broth. 

I would caution that cooking the pasta in the broth will cause the pasta to to absorb some of the liquid.  The recipe suggests cooking the pasta beforehand to avoid this but I was being lazy and didn't want to dirty another pan :)  

The soup was very hearty and had a nice flavor to it.  We had enough leftover for the next night but I added more chicken broth because it did not seem too 'soupy' the next day.  Next time I cook this I will be sure to use 8 cups of broth and cook the pasta before adding it to the soup. 

You can find the recipe here: http://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/2011/03/24/lasagna-soup/

Until next time...Stay Creative!!