snapshots of 2010

A lot of eating, loving, livin' and saying goodbye.

Happy Fun Time Cookies

They are called 'Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies' and you can find the recipe under the lid of a carton of Quaker Oats. You can also find the recipe on their website under the same name, however on the interweb some of the proportions as well as the baking time differ. This being said, I wish I had checked online first and had used that recipe instead... BUT i didn't. I used the one under the lid and made some slight "modifications":

Ingredients
1 cup green butter*, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup of Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend (golden raisins, cherries, cranberries & blueberries)

Heat oven to 350°F.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.

Add oats and raisins; mix well.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto Silpat lined cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. (the website version of the recipe suggested baking time: 8-10 minutes )

Yields 4 Dozen

*3 sticks of unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cups of shake&leaves heated over very low heat for 4-5 hours, strained and cooled. The best recipe I found regarding the infusion process suggested using a 50/50 ratio of shake to butter in a crock-pot on low heat. I don't own one so I used very low stove heat and residual oven heat for the extraction. At all cost avoid cooking the shake OR bringing the butter to a boil. Doing so would ruin the finished product.

For the record calling these cookies 'vanishing' is not just clever marketing on the part of Quaker. They are incredibly satisfying. I had 3 and wanted more BUT had to stop myself because of the green butter. This is why I mention earlier maybe using the online version of the recipe that calls for less butter. That way you can enjoy more than 3 of these tasty cookies at a time without passing out.

Rolled Magazine Trash Basket

The idea for this basket came from Mark Montano's "Big ASS book of crafts" (pgs. 280-281). You can also find a thread on crafters.org with pictures and some vague instructions on a variation of Montano's idea. One major problem I find with some of these crafting blogs is HOW reticent people are to divulge the details of how they made the craft. If you don't want people to be inspired by your idea, then why the hell post it on the InterWeb in the first place?

What you will need:

• ~3 magazines
• a hot glue gun & glue
• Scissors
• a pencil and 1 large marker
• Mod Podge:hard coat
• Elmer's glue
• Krylon Color Creations Crystal Clear Top Coat
• A LOT OF FREE TIME

After tearing the pages out of the magazines; I found the glossy pages of old fashion magazines worked best, I folded them length wise in half and cut. Note: monochrome pages yield best uniform results. The lengthwise halves (roughly 11x4) are either folded OR rolled around a pencil depending on what part of the project you are working on.

FOR THE BASE:

Half pages are folded evenly lengthwise into strips about half inch by ~11 inches then coiled and glued together.

*Mark recommends you roll all the strips of paper, even the ones used for the base. I find that the process saves time, but it's not as uniform and neat looking.

FOR THE BASKET:

Roll the strip of paper diagonally starting at one corner around a pencil so they look like a straw. Secure the straw with a drop of glue. Flatten and roll around a pencil, marker, your finger or whatever cylindrical item to achieve the desired circumference. Secure the finshed roll with another drop of glue. I used hot glue. Make hundreds of them.
(< it's Molly! That Ham.)

Heat up your trusty glue gun and start gluing the rings onto the base. Mark Montano suggests to use a bowl/container as a guide and to glue the rings to each other first, THEN attach the base at the end. I opted to start gluing the rounds to the base from the beginning. I do recommend using a trash can or container as a guide to keep the dimensions in check. If you are free handing the construction you may find the bowl extending outwards too much. Once done, Mark recommends using Elmer's glue to reinforce the connection points through-out the basket. It is a timely process but a very wise step. Mod Podge will work great to harden the basket, but it will only minimally reinforce the meeting points. After letting the Elmer's glue dry, I brushed on a coat of the Mod Podge:hard coat, which made the basket firm and sturdy but left it with a matte finish. I am waiting for the Mod Podge to fully cure [4 weeks] before brushing on the clear top coat. This is an extremely time consuming project. It took me about a month to get it all done.