Soft and fuzzy= :)

Lately I've been making a lot of things...it's probably just a phase, but it is somewhat fulfilling. For my nursing classes I made a couple of mini baby blankets to give to moms in the hospital who had lost their baby. Not the best sewing job I've ever seen, but hopefully they will provide a little bit of comfort.




Also, in an attempt to comfort myself from the woes of school, I decided to learn how to crochet those cute flowers I see everywhere. Realizing I didn't have anything to wear it with, I attached it to a headband I made and donated it to Lucy (whom I rescued from DI), my study buddy. Isn't she cute?

Spiced squash bread

We had some squash (as far as we--meaning the people at the grocery story, myself, and my new cookbook--can figure, it was baby hubbard) for dinner the other night. Anticipating we (Tyler and I) couldn't eat the whole thing, I only cooked half. Well, that left another half that probably wasn't going to get eaten, so I devised a way to use the remaining squash. I have a banana bread recipe, and I know the spices that go in pumpkin pie, so I swapped the banana for the squash and added the spices--the result: spiced squash bread, nearly as tasty as pumpkin bread, probably would be SOOOO much better with some chocolate chips :)



Ingredients:
1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground ginger
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/3 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
half of a cooked winter squash or enough to make 2-3 cups when mashed

Destructions:
Cut desired winter squash in half, remove seeds, and place in/or a tin-foil lined pan and bake at 350 for about an hour and a half or until very soft. Remove skin (discard) and mash the fleshy part. Add a couple tablespoons of butter and couple tablespoons of brown sugar. Set aside. (May be refrigerated for later use)

Preheat over (if not already heated from cooking the squash) to 350, grease bread pan, and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in small/medium bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl beat sugar and softened butter together. Add eggs and mix. Add dry ingredients, mix partially, then add squash. Beat on low speed for 3 minutes, then medium for 1 more. If desired, fold chocolate chips (you put in however many you want, I won't judge, haha). Pour into pan and bake for one hour. Can check with toothpick for done-ness. Let cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and ENJOY!

PS-It is very moist. I recommend that if you do put it in a plastic bag or wrap it in foil to leave it open to the air so that it doesn't get really sticky.

Pumpkin bread and Macy's bags

For Relief Society, we made little gifts for the sisters we visit teach. Realizing it's not OK to give unwrapped presents, I tried to figure out what I was going to do. We have no wrapping paper, and I didn't really feel like going to the store to buy some. We have no curly ribbon either. Then, I spotted, sitting in the corner behind the table, old paper grocery bags. Brilliant! I always had a bit of an affinity for brown paper wrapping. But how would I decorate them? I have no paint to doodle with or ribbon long enough to tie around. Then, after digging through my button box, sorting through my ribbon scraps, and scrounging for some markers, I ended up with this:


Not bad for a scrounge job!

Also, I decided I needed to make something with the remaining pumpkin I had in the fridge. I decided to try to make Pumpkin Nutella Bread. It was tasty, but unfortunately it didn't come out of the pan very well. I made it half-intending to take it with the gifts, but decided I better just eat it...


Next time I'll spray the pan better :)

time is money, but it makes more work

Since probably the second week of the school year, not a single loaf of store-bought bread has entered our lovely little apartment. I've made homemade bread every week except for this week (because Tyler did it this time!). The sad part is, the loaves don't have as many slices so they don't go as far. Also, if I decide I want a sandwich and have no more bread, I have to find roughly 2 hours to be home so I can make it. Luckily, I can do homework while the dough is rising and it's cooking and whatnot. Unfortunately, it (multitasking) never seems to work as well as I hope. But the taste of warm homemade bread with butter and homemade raspberry jam is almost as good a cookie when I'm craving something tasty. It nearly (but not quite) allows me to give up the idea of going to Macey's at 7pm for 25 cent donuts. Work, yes. Cheaper, yes (I think...). Happy tummy, heck yes :D



PS-This isn't my picture, but mine looks (and probably is) way more delicious than this. Nobody like a blog post without a picture though...

Fine hats + cameos=wonderful

Ok, so anyone who knows me very well has probably heard my rant about how no one ever dresses up anymore, the class is gone, and everyone should wear fantastic hats. Well, when I got married, I decided I was going to fix those things. I wish I had pictures from the reception now, but soon enough :) For now, I have a few of my bridals I can show off, haha. My mom took the pictures as well as put together my hat. The actual hat part is from the 1940's, but the original decorations on it were stained pretty badly so she redid the back part, the bird-cage veil over the top and added the flowers. I put together and decorated my bouquet, and the cameo on it was my great-grandma's! Beautiful aren't they? Hope you enjoy!

feast or failure?

I used to joke with Tyler that he needed to get married so that he would have someone to help pack his suitcases when he went on trips because he tends to, let's just say, pack like a boy...a week long trip? Simple! Swimsuit, deodorant, some clean underwear, and socks...maybe. But really, who needs those things anyway right? Well, being a minimalist is far better than one who can't remember to do those things that are the foundation of the living in Provo...I think I needed to get married more than he did! If my head wasn't screwed on, I'd loose it!

Tyler and I are taking French Choir together. Week #1: Great. Learned part of a song, realized I can't read unfamiliar French words and unfamiliar alto parts at the same time, and learned if I sing quieter, people won't hear me mess up :) Week #2: Not so great. I feel asleep because I was up at 4:30am for nursing, and didn't wake up until at text came at 5:10pm (10 minutes after class started) from Tyler wondering if I was coming, and if I had fallen asleep. Yes, yes, and uggggghh! Week #3: Fail. Again, Tyler wasn't home to remind me of class. But this time, he was as work and couldn't send a reminder text. So what did I do instead of class? Baked. Food is always a good excuse right?

Well, I feel pretty good about my creation. This afternoon I managed to make a little over 5 dozen cookies, all in honor of the BYU-Utah game this weekend! GO COUGARS :) And hopefully next week will be a success as far as actually getting to class...

2 people, lot's of fun!

Well, we've been married for one month today, and it's been quite an adventure :) Several (quite humorous) mishaps later, we are finally moved in and almost have all of our stuff put away...almost. One of our earlier joint purchases, a "2-person" raft from Walmart, has practically paid for itself! We got to float the Provo River with Tyler's brother and sister-in-law, Leighton and Sharon, and a couple of their friends. Needless to say, the $20 raft was not quite built to withstand any rapids or banging against bridges...but it sure was fun! Good thing we took a water bottle though...we needed it to bail the water out when we gained an extra hole in the bottom and the water kept leaking in through the airvalve that wouldn't stay closed...wedding pictures coming soon!