Head and Heart

I've been slowly working on a lino block print. It's entitled "Head and Heart." It took me a while to figure out the hand drawing, and then I did the carving in stages. At one point I was worried I had made a "mistake" that couldn't be undone, but I slept on it, and the next morning I played around and felt satisfied. I've been experimenting with different Speedball block paint colors, like blue and turquoise. I also have painted the heart red with watercolor paint on some of them. The paper I use is masa paper and I like to print on the glossy side, but the textured side works well too, you just have to put more pressure on the block to get an even stamp.

Chocolate-glazed Donuts

This week Frankie and I are covering the letter "O" for homeschool. Donuts happen to have the perfect shape. So, we made chocolate-glazed donuts. I need to start running again, or all of these sweets are going to expand me in multiple places!

Catching up on my scrapbook

Scrapbooking was once my most beloved craft hobby. I often would pull out all of my goodies and get working on my books as soon as I ordered pictures. But, this year I have really had a hard time keeping up, and making time, for my scrapbooking. And the odd thing is that I have this craft space where most of my stuff is out and handy, yet I am not taking the time. I think there are a couple of reasons though. One being that my craft space, while working well, is not refined (which is why I have yet to post pictures of the space). I have some plans for organization that I think will make it even easier to work. Another reason I don't get around to my scrapbook is because I am often working on other projects, and when I have limited time, I tend to choose to play my guitar instead, which is not a bad thing. A third reason I don't work on my scrapbook is because I am so behind that all of the photos are becoming overwhelming (and I love to take photos of everything). OK, and the last reason is that I want to create these beautifully elaborate page designs, and then one page takes 30 minutes and then I'm pooped.

Anyway, here are some of my pages I've been working on for the past 2 1/2 months (I am just now getting to my pictures from Vegas in April). I wish I had a scanner to show these pages better, so I apologize for the fuzzy pics. Let me know what you think. If you want to know about something I used on a page I'd be happy to share with you.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

We've had a number of holiday catering events and for dessert I made a number of takes on the Chocolate Beetroot Cake. Beets in a cake you ask? Ah well, it makes the cake moist, richly dark, and chocolaty (I think it draws out the chocolate flavor), and you only taste a light hint of beets, even less when using golden beets.


Since many of our events cater to gluten-free or vegan diets, I experimented with various forms of this cake. In one recipe I made a straight up cake with organic pastry flour and pureed beets. This cake was by far the richest, airiest, and sweetest of the cakes. But, I was pleasantly surprised by both by gluten-free vegan cake (more dense and chewy, but nicely sweet), and my gluten-free, non-vegan version (most like a standard cake in texture). So, here's my take on a gluten-free, vegan chocolate beetroot cake.

Note: My gluten-free flour blend is courtesy of Chef Coppedge from the Culinary Institute of America. I made his "Flour Blend # 2" which is 10 oz white rice flour, 7 oz brown rice flour, 3 oz potato starch and 4 oz tapioca starch. You can also use a pre-mixed flour blend, like Bob's Gluten Free Flour.


Christina's Vegan, Gluten-Free Chocolate Beetroot Cake
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
1 cup cold water (or you can use coffee if you want that flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded raw beets (or you can cook and puree the beets for more moisture in the cake)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a round cake pan, or a muffin tin for mini cakes.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add sugar and stir.
3. In another bowl, mix oil, water and vanilla.
4. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Add shredded or pureed beets and combine.
6. Add vinegar and stir briefly. Pour batter into prepared pan or muffin tin (filling muffin tin or pan no more than 3/4 full).
7. Bake for 30 minutes, and be sure to place a pan underneath in case batter overflows. The baking soda and vinegar make this a somewhat reactive cake.
8. Check with cake tester for readiness. Remove from oven. Let cakes cool about 10 minutes in the pan before flipping onto a wire rack.
9. Drizzle with ganache (recipe follows).

Chocolate Ganache
4 oz vegan chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and let cool.
2. Add water slowly, one tablespoon at a time and whisk. Add as much water as you would like liquid consistency for your ganache.
3. Whisk in vanilla extract.
4. Add confectioner's sugar and stir until smooth.
5. Drizzle over your cake(s).
6. Garnish cake(s) with raw shredded golden and red beets.

M is for Monkeybread

Every week Frankie and I work on a letter of the alphabet as part of homeschool. Usually, we make letter shapes with the bread, but last Friday we weren't in the mood to make letters, so instead we made this yummy monkeybread.

Really, I got the idea from Amy Karol's "Angry Chicken" blog. So this is a completely unoriginal blog post that is really more to spread the word about her blog (and her books, "Bend the Rules Sewing" and "Bend the Rules with Fabric"). So, check out her blog, and make some cinnamon-y monkeybread. It's delicious warm out of the oven.

Hip Little Wristbands

In the beginning of December I got this crazy notion that I would make a bunch of stuff to sell at Olivia's school holiday faire. We were very tight on cash and so I was trying to think of any way to help us out. Of course, I wasn't considering the amount of time it takes to create a stock of items even for a little booth at a craft fair. I had decided I was going to make lavender eye pillows, seed-bead jewelry, hand-beaded postcards, felt ornaments, and quilt/scrap-sewn wristbands. Now, I signed up to have a booth one week before the event. I told myself that each night I would make one of these items until I had enough to sell, even if I got very little sleep. The unrealistic part about this: This week I had to work late shifts at Macy's, I was planning Olivia's birthday party, there were school events to attend to, like holiday concerts, and I also did some a.m. freelance editing. So, on night one, I started sewing wristbands. I threw all my fabric scraps onto the floor, got out various fun-colored thread, sifted through unique buttons, and learned how to use my snap tool (a rather frustrating experience as I bought it at a thrift store without instructions). To no surprise, after spending hours making only FIVE wristbands, cursing the freakin' snap tool (and cracking some of the pretty mother-of-pearl snaps), and feeling like an insomniac (knowing I had to wake up to do editing work at 5 a.m.), I decided that this was a VERY BAD IDEA.


Well, the next morning I called the organizer of the craft sale and canceled my booth. She tried to talk me into keeping it, saying how lovely my items would be (she's never seen what I make), but I knew I would make a fool of myself and end up making 50 cents per hour, which really makes zero contribution to our piling up bills in the thousands of dollars realm. So, now I have five wristbands that are cute, but I don't know what to do with them. Maybe I'll save them and make more throughout the next year so that by the time holiday faire comes around next December, I'll actually have an inventory of items to sell.

Felt Bear for Baby Eva

Here's another felt bear I made last month for a friend of mine's new baby, Eva. Usually I make these before a baby is born, and so I don't embroider their name, but I made this afterward, and so was able to personalize it. Now, if only I could meet all of these babies I make presents for. I have only met one of the dozen this year!