Paint and Pour

This weekend was all about letting the creative juices flow. This was my frist time to paint on canvas and I loved it! It was so much fun. My friend, Kara, and I met at Paint and Pour/Paint Along and completed the above paintings in two hours. My painting is on the left and Kara's is on the right in the above photo. Below you can see us with our paintings and see some of the other paintings they have to choose from. There are several of these painting classes popping up in Nashville and they have some really fun paintings to choose from. It is a very relaxed atmosphere. I brought us some dessert treats and Kara brought us drinks.

We both were already thinking about doing another one. If anyone would like to do this with me, let me know!

Baby boy shower

This weekend I made a cake for a baby boy shower that my sister-in-law was hosting. She gave me a napkin they were using that had a train and stripes on it. So, this was the design we decided on. This was my first time to do stripes on the sides of a cake and found them to be challenging to get completely straight. However, I enjoy new challenges with each cake that I try.

In the Neighborhood

For weeks now, David and I have been wondering why there have been so many cars at an old factory down the street from us, espcially on weekends, since it was supposed to no longer be in use. We also kept seeing a former car lot filled with cars and signs saying, "Extras" and "Catering" and "Event Parking." Very mysterious!! Just the other day we learned that Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow were making a movie in in this old factory. I learned tonight that Gwyneth was seen at a restaurant in the neighborhood next to us. I keep hoping to see her walking down the street. Ha!
Picture above from here.

Homemade Valentine's

I was trying to come up with something crafty for the boys to make for Valentine's gifts for the grandparents (my mom and stepdad came into town Valentine's weekend and babysat so we could have a date night!!). So, we decided to do more painting on canvas with Valentine's colors. Asher painted the top two (with a brush and his fingers) and Jonas did the bottom two. Now, I am wishing I would have had them make me one!

Mini Desserts

I have been plotting a new business idea. I am always trying to come up with something for myself to do other than hanging out with the boys. I love being a stay-at-home mom but sometimes I need another outlet. So, my newest idea is making mini desserts. I made some this past weekend for my friend, Rebecca. She was having a nice dinner for her entire family and asked me to make three kinds of mini desserts to serve. We decided on these three desserts: mini raspberry apple pies, mini vanilla cakes with Nutella frosting, and mini tiramisu eclairs
Now I just need to come up with a buisness name...Sweet Bite Delights, Mini Bite Delights, Little Bite Delights, Tiny Bite Delights...hmmm? Maybe someone has a great suggestion for me.

Cloth Napkins

My friend Rebecca has started her own business making organic cotton blankets. The story behind the blankets is beautiful...you'll have to ask me about it sometime. So, I have been wanting to come up with an easy project for sewing since I am getting back into it. I decided cloth napkins would be an easy start. Rebecca had some leftover scraps from her blankets; a friend in the neighborhood wanted some napkins for her upcoming progressive dinner; I was asked to make them. Above is the finished project. My friend Carrie sent me a napkin tutorial that helped me get started. I might try and tackle a few of the other type of napkins for my next project.

Making us laugh

Asher's imagination has really kicked into gear over the past few months. It's been so fun to hear what he is thinking up. Today he was playing he was driving a tow truck and said he was going to visit Mary and Joseph (he has been learning about Jesus growing up in his Sunday school class). I asked him where do they live? He replied, "Thompson Station." This is where David's parents live. Hilarious!

Today he asked me if I was "a little bit cold?" I said, "yes, I am a little bit cold, are you?." To which he replied, "No, Asher big cold."

Chocolate desserts

I made two desserts over the weekend for a Super Bowl party. Of course, they were both with chocolate.

Two-Bite Chocolate Cream Pies (from myrecipes.com)

Ingredients
Cooking-oil spray
About 30 chocolate cookies, such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2 large eggs (1 separated)
1/2 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 teaspoons Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 2 mini-muffin trays (12 muffin cups each) with cooking spray. In a food processor, whirl cookies into fine crumbs. Measure; return 1 1/2 cups crumbs to food processor, along with 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar, the salt, and 1 egg white. Pulse to blend evenly.
2. Spoon 1 tbsp. crumb mixture into each muffin cup. Press crumbs over bottom and up sides of cups. Bake until set, 15 minutes.
3. Put chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe container and heat in 30-second intervals, stirring often, until melted.
4. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, the cornstarch, and 4 tsp. cocoa. Pour in a few tbsp. of the milk and whisk into a smooth paste; whisk in remaining milk. Transfer to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened and large bubbles appear, about 3 minutes.
5. Put reserved yolk and remaining egg into a medium bowl. Whisk in about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Scrape egg-milk mixture into milk mixture in pan and cook, whisking, until just starting to boil, about 30 seconds. Whisk in melted chocolate and butter.
6. Spoon hot filling into chocolate shells. Press plastic wrap over surface of mini pies to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until set, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
7. Remove pies from trays. Whisk cream with remaining 2 tbsp. sugar into soft peaks. Spoon a dollop of cream onto each mini pie. Dust pies with remaining cocoa.



This second dessert is a chocolate cupcake with Nutella frosting. I used the recipes from my previous post. Hope you enjoy!

World Nutella Day

Today is World Nutella Day...who knew?! What a great day for it to be when it is so rainy and gloomy out. There are so many ways to eat Nutella. Above is one quick way to use your Nutella. Simply cut out 2-inch rounds from refrigerated piecrust, press into minature muffin cups (prick bottom of circles) and bake at 425 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Then, simply pipe Nutella into the shells and top with whipped cream.

Here is another way that I am going to be trying Nutella. I let you know how it turns out!

Nutella Frosting
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons nutella
1 1/2 cups of sifted confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
Little sprinkling of salt
4 teaspoons milk
recipe from Ice Cream Before Dinner.

Let me know if you have any fun ways to use Nutella.

Painting on Canvas

Nothing is more fun than painting. But, it's even more fun when you get to paint on canvas! I have been wanting to add some artwork to the boys' rooms but have not found anything out there (that isn't ridiculously priced). So, I thought why not have them make it for me. The entire projet cost less than $5! I bought paint in colors that would match their rooms. Here is Jonas with his aqua blue and chocolate brown. He loved it! Maybe a little too much...I had to keep pulling it away from his mouth. :)

So, the color idea to match their rooms worked with Jonas, but Asher wanted to use the colors he wanted...not the ones that I had in mind. Oh well, I still love that I have artwork made by them.

The finished projects...