Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest began this Saturday in Germany

 

Source

Fully Quilted I-Spy Book

My I-Spy quilt craziness and obsession with quiet books has collided.

My husband and I had a double date approaching fast and I wanted something that might help keep my little girl appropriately occupied while we were out.

I have a couple other books partially put together that I'm hoping to have done very soon.

Make sure to leave a comment to let me know if you're interested in my posting a tutorial.

Plastic Wrap Alternative - DIY Cotton Beesewax Wraps

Plastic is everywhere and it's so daunting that most people seem to decide, "What's the use?" and not bother trying. For a lot of people plastic wrap is an item receiving every day use in their household. How can you kick the habit of using something that has become so integral? By using beesewax cotton wraps.

I learned about this source post from My Healthy Green Family for todays craft while I was perusing the My Plastic Free Life Facebook fan page.

Although I can happily say that we do not use much plastic wrap in our house I can't say that we don't have a regular use for it. How can that be? I've never really bought it so there's never any in the house, but my husband tends to be a lot of leftovers in the fridge completely uncovered. By creating a plastic wrap alternative to provide a man that I sometimes have a hard time getting to put things in our recycled plastic containers I stand a better chance of not finding a bowl of baby cereal/food all dried out on the top shelf of our refrigerator.

I started off with some fabrics that this seemed like a good job for.

The directions say to pre-heat your oven to 185F, but I had to cope with 200F.

Place pre cut fabric on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle evenly and lightly with grated beeswax.  You don’t need a lot!

Place in preheated oven.  Watch carefully!  This should take 5 minutes or less.

As soon as the beeswax is just melted, remove from oven.

Spread wax evenly with paintbrush to cover over any spots that are not yet coated.

The directions say to hang on makeshift clothes line with clothes pegs, to dry. That wasn't really much of an option for me so I laid them out dry on some foil.

They ended up pretty stiff. The author says that once cooled, you can use these wraps. I felt a bit compelled to wash mine before use to see if that loosened them up a bit.

The results after washing were not positive. The wax was piecy, uneven, and cracked. I actually considered throwing what I had left away! But that would go against my feelings about needless waste. I'll have to find another use for this fail.

Pintesting in the Kitchen - Cream Cheese Pancakes

Most nights I hit up Pintrest for diabetic-friendly recipes now. Planning ahead seems like the most likely way that I have a chance of eating anything.

If I wanted a bagel for breakfast I'd have to only 1/4 of it and my toppings would also end up limited. That's no fun for a girl who considers bagels a vehicle for cream cheese. I take cream cheese somewhat seriously - as a child I snacked on UTZ potato chips and cream cheese (much to the horror of my parents, especially my health conscious mother.)

I needed an actual breakfast food to enjoy in the morning instead of just some random recipe that would do the job.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the information found here.

Yield: Four 6-inch pancakes

Serving Size: 1 pancake

Ingredients

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 packet stevia (or any) sweetener
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

If you're uncertain of how to tell if you have 2 ounces of cream cheese, I refer you to the size of the packet where, as I'd never bothered to notice before, there are markers telling you each ounce.

I don't have any stevia so I used 1 tbsp of raw, organic honey.

Instructions

Put all ingredients in a blender or magic bullet.

 As it turns out my mother gave me hers on my last visit home and I hadn't used it yet

Blend until smooth. Let rest for 2 minutes so the bubbles can settle. 

Pour 1/4 of the batter into a hot pan greased with butter or pam spray. Cook for 2 minutes until golden, flip and cook 1 minute on the other side. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

 I took a bite of these with no syrup and they tasted a little like dirt.

Serve with sugar free syrup (or any syrup of your choice) and fresh berries. I didn't have free syrup but I was almost certain the night before I read that generally, a serving size of syrup was a tablespoon so I put about a tablespoon on.

Bingo! It was now edible.

Notes

Approx nutrition info per batch: 344 calories, 29g fat, 2.5g net carbs, 17g protein

Another great way to save on calories and sugar is to try to eat this in front of your toddler - you won't be eating the entire thing by yourself anymore.

Sunday Snack - Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps

I adore burgers. If you've followed me in the past when I was Pro-Portional Designs you may know a little bit about just how much I love burgers.

A friend of mine who spent her first pregnancy with gestational diabetes told me that I may need to steer clearer than I usually would. She told me I would probably need to skip the ketchup because of all of the sugar and I would be better off not eating the bun.

When creating my Dealing With Gestational Diabetes board on Pinterest I somehow came across this gem of a pin. Grilled cheeseburger wraps sounded so good that I decided they needed to be made that week.

1 lb ground beef

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

pepper and salt to taste

5 flour tortillas (the larger ones)

shredded cheddar cheese

sliced tomatoes

 yellow mustard

Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. 

Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, dried onion, and salt and pepper

to the beef

and simmer for 5 minutes. 

Sprinkle shredded cheese down center of each tortilla. 

I added a little green pepper and onion I had in the fridge.

Sliced up a beautiful organic tomato.

Then added that as well.

Mustard.

And finally ground beef.

My husband is a picky eater so his had a lot less.

Cheese.

Beef.

Roll up tortilla burrito-style and place wraps on preheated indoor grill (I used my George Foreman).

Grill wraps for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted. 

Mine was a bit more of a mess when it came time to grill.

But the taste was still really wonderful.

I plan to add this recipe to the list of things we somewhat regularly make.

 

Sunday Snack - Chia Seed Pudding

 Today's snack comes via this pin and the information found here.

You will need:
  
2 1/2 cups almond milk (or 1 1/2 cups almond milk + 1 cup Thai canned coconut milk for more coconut flavor) I used what you see underlined
1/3 cup chia seeds

2 tablespoons agave, honey, or liquid sweetener of choice (optional)
zest from 1 orange

1 cup chopped orange segments, from about 3 juicy oranges (can also use canned mandarin oranges)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh ripe pineapple
1/2 cup toasted large flake coconut, garnish
1/4 cup chopped pistachios, garnish
honey for garnish (optional)

Place almond milk (coconut milk if using), chia seeds, (liquid sweetener if using) and zest from one orange in a large glass jar or glass bowl.

If using a jar, fit it with a lid, shake to combine, then refrigerate.

If using a bowl, mix together with a spoon, cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Allow to chill for a few hours, shaking the jar or stirring occasionally, until chia seeds are plump and soft.

Mixture should not be too thick.

If you’re using it as a breakfast treat, mix orange and pineapple to combine then refrigerate again until you’re ready to eat.  Garnish with coconut and pistachios before serving.  If making dessert, fold coconut whipped cream into plumped chia seeds then add fruit.  This will last a day or two tightly covered and refrigerated.

I made enough that I was eating it longer than just two days. It ended up liking it a lot better without the pieces of fruit in it and was usually so hungry that I didn't bother with the pistachios. I might skip the orange zest if I were to make this again. This was pretty tasty, very light, and not overly sweet. The little lamb even seemed to really enjoy it the first few days.

Saturday Snack - Eggplant Involtini

Eggplant is another one of those foods I can't get enough of, yet somehow I always managed to forget how long they can take to prepare.

The second I saw this pin while searching for things I should be able to eat while "stuck" with gestational diabetes I knew it was for me. The link from the pin doesn't go directly where it should go but here is the page you should end up on.

 Looks completely mouthwatering doesn't it?

I had my head in the game just this side of early enough to make myself a late lunch out of this. You better bet I did all I could to motivate my pregnant booty to waddle into the kitchen and start prepping for it.

Involtini
1 eggplant
kosher salt
olive oil for frying
tomato sauce 
heavy cream
freshly grated Asiago cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano (I used the stuff in a shaker because it was all we had at the time)

Stuffing
bread crumbs, about 1/2 cup, made from about 3 slices day-old bread I used panko
1 cup whole milk ricotta
grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, minced
1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1. Trim the stem end of each eggplant. 

Put those end pieces in your composter, compost bag, or wherever it is you keep your food waste.

Using a mandoline, cut the eggplant lenthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices. You should have about 12 slices. I didn't use a mandoline, I used a large serrated knife.

Sprinkle the eggplant on both sides with kosher salt, layer them in a colander, and let stand for 1 hour. (I was impatient and only let them drain for about a half hour… worked out just fine.)

Press the moisture from the eggplant and blot them dry with paper towels. As you know, I try to avoid using virgin paper sources so I went ahead and used my UnPaper towels for this.

Pour olive (or canola) oil to a depth of 1 inch in a deep, heavy saucepan or large skillet and heat to 360ºF on a deep-frying thermometer. (I did not use a thermometer — just watched the oil and tested when I thought it was ready.) I didn't use a thermometer on the oil either.

Place 3 to 4 eggplant slices in the hot oil and cook until the slices take on some color, 3 to 4 minutes.

Using tongs, transfer the slices to a colander (or paper-towel lined plate) to drain. Repeat with remaining slices.

2. Meanwhile, make the stuffing. In a bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, ricotta, lemon zest, juice, thyme and salt.

3. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Spoon tomato sauce into a medium-sized baking dish till bottom of dish is covered in a thin layer.

Place a spoonful of filling at one end of each of the eggplant slices.

Roll the slice around the filling and place it seam-side down in the dish on top of the tomato sauce.

Spoon a tablespoon of cream (or less) over each roll to moisten. I just poured a bit of cream over all of the ends and as you can see it made a little mess.

Bake until the edges of sauce around the sides of the dish are dark and the rolls are nicely caramelized, 20 to 25 minutes.

Garnish with the Asiago (or parm) before serving.

So how was it? I thought it could use a little less lemon juice. It wasn't bad though. TEENSY bit bland in the stuffing department.