Handy House Tip #7: Buttermilk

So the other day, I decided to make cornbread. At 10pm. On a friday. I’m cool like that. Also because of my whole making things from scratch kick, I decided cornbread would not come from a mix. Enter my dilemma: I had to buttermilk. I refused to let closed grocery stores stand in my way of yummy cornbread. So I did what every person  does these days: I googled it. Turns out there are two ways to substitute buttermilk-

1) Actually make it.

Pour heavy cream in a jar (or just mix it with a mixer, but where is the fun in that?). Screw on the lid, and shake it. And shake it. ANDDDDDDDD SHAKE IT. It takes about 10-20 minutes, but me and Lotti would switch places and you get BUTTER out of it too. So we had butter for our cornbread! You have to shake it past the whipped cream phase, until it becomes yellow and part of it hardens. Simply pour out the buttermilk, you get about 2/3-3/4 of a cup for every 1 cup heavy cream PLUS YOU GET BUTTER. ( P.S. you need to wash the butter after you pour so the buttermilk doesn’t make it go bad) Seriously, making butter was so cool. We were simply enamored with it the whole time.

2) Okay, not as cool but simply add lemon or white vinegar to regular milk.

Add 1 tablespoon lemon OR vinegar to one cup milk. Let stand for 5 minutes. Done. 

 

      The first method does take more work, but come on YOU GET BUTTER too! How is that not worth it? 

Christmas Bulb Headbands or THE GREATEST THING EVER

My mother is a third grade teacher, I think I need to say that to better explain why we are always doing arts and crafts projects. Or at least, it gives us an excuse. So when one of her fellow teachers received a Christmas bulb headband, my mother knew she had to have one too. I should also point out, I got my love of all things sparkly and glittery from her. This project was right up our alley over Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to make and the more ostentatious they look, the better. We went crazy with making them, and since showing her other teacher friends, we’ve got orders to make a few more! We have now expanded to make them for all holidays so come check us out on Etsy

Check out our etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrowninGlories

What do you think?

Weekly Wonderings: November 30th, 2011

      The holiday season is almost upon us, which means time to start hunting for gifts. In my love of all things homemade, like food or projects; this year I am embracing the idea of homemade gifts for my friends and professors. (Yes, I give professors  a little holiday gift, normally food of some sort, kindness never hurt anyone’s grades).  Here is what I am thinking of attempting this year:

1) Peppermint Bark!

2)Bath Fizzies

3) Book Plates

4) Candy Cane Marshmallows

5) Spiced Nuts (I made these last year and they were a hit!)

 

Extras might have to be made of everything so I can try it! All of these wonderful ideas and photos are from Martha Stewart, I love looking at all the great homemade gift ideas she has! You can find my compellation of gracious gifts here!

Handy House Tip #6: Onions

Lotti cries, a lot. Well okay, only when cutting onions but still, we eat onions often. I, on the other hand,  wear contacts, so it keeps the onion stuff from making me cry, phew! Anyways, having a crying roommate when trying to make dinner, isn’t always fun so we (okay, Lotti did) for a few ways to solve the problem. Here are our two favorite ways:

1) Place onions in the freezer for about 15 minutes before cutting them.

      - This one works, you just have to remember to do it 15 minutes before you want to cut them, which is always tricky in our house. We tend to have spur of the moment dinner ideas.

 

2) Burn a scented candle near you, while you work.

      - We love candles, so it doesn’t even matter if it works that well, but the two things together does tend to help keep tears at bay.

Do you have any tricks when it comings to cutting onions and not crying? Is anyone immune to it like me?

50 Dollar Fix: Buffet Tables

     

       So in the midst of planning for our lovely potluck, Lotti and I realized we need somewhere to set all the delicious food, like Hank. We wanted to use our normal dining table for people to sit at and our kitchen is too tiny for doing the buffet there. My first thought was to rent a table, because a 8ft table will normally only cost 6 dollars to rent, which isn’t too bad on the bottom line and normally you get to keep it for three days. I called a party rental store near us but they only had an 8ft by 30 inches, which was way too deep for a buffet. We wanted it to be tall and skinny (about 20 inches wide we estimated), like a traditional buffet. Quandary.  Well, as I was anxiously looking around the apartment for some piece of furniture that could double as a buffet (none found), I stumbled upon some relegated wood, Lily and I had bought two summers ago in the a Home Depot frenzy. Relegated wood, as we refer to it, is wood that is leftover from bigger pieces Home Depot cuts for people. And normally its SUPER CHEAP. It’s great for little projects, like these frames.They were just about the right depth, so now the question was how to make them a table. I went and sat in my living room to ponder while watching Martha Stewart. By the way, love the new layout of the show,  its seems so modern! While there, I saw my bookshelves I built this summer. PRESTO! Idea!

I could stack two of the crates on top of each other and form a tall structure for the wood to sit on! So now we had one 4ft table figured out, but we wanted a second one, hmmmmm… As I went into our third room (Lotti’s study, my craft room), I saw Lotti’s keyboard. ON A STAND.

The perfect sized stand to balance another piece of wood. Buffet table born! After craftily covering it with a table cloth, no one was the wiser.

All and all this buffet table cost me nothing, but I bet if you were to do it on your own it wouldn’t cost you more than 50 either. Most people have some odd furniture that could double as the base of a table so all you really need a piece of wood and just look at the reclaimed wood section at your home improvement store for that! Have you ever had to be ingenious with your furniture to get it to meet your needs?

Gracious Gift: Funeral Style

      I know normally I talk about cute housewarming gifts or the like but I just had to share this gift we received from some lovely people. Days before the service, we received this basket of goodies for the two kids. It was filled (though already eaten when this photo was taken) with candy and movies for each child. A girly movie for Aurora and a boy one for Brandon. Books for them to play with, and games for them to play by themselves with were in the box. It was the most thoughtful gift we received, yes the food was nice but this gift kept the kids entertained for hours which was so much better! I will definitely be using this idea for future.

So what am I thankful for in 2011…

I am thankful for many things in 2011, so excuse the pictures of people you don’t know but people I love dearly. This is my family, and I love them more than anything in the world, this year has been tough on us but I know we will survive. I am missing pictures of my two uncles but I love them just as much, we are such a tight knit group.

Clockwise from Left: A, Dad, Austin, B, Mimi, ME, Gramps, Mom

A & B on the first day of school! Don’t they look so happy? Look at B’s handcuffs (Don’t worry we took them away before school)

My boyfriend: This is the look he gives me pretty much all the time, I may take too many random photos without giving him notice….

I am also so thankful for the love and support of my friends this year (and yes, even those in the blogosphere), I always know there are people around me to turn to a support. I would post photos, but I don’t want to bore you guys with too many photos!