a wishlist

I did some online window shopping over the weekend. And I'm going crazy for these! Especially the rompers. I've always had a thing for onesies (just ask my family) and these look especially comfortable for the atrocity that is summer in Georgia.

plus this amazing radio

These amazing linen heels

and this swim suit!

All items are from urban outfitters

Bake it pretty winner!

And the winner is Sarah! Comment #45

Hooray Sarah! I hope you finally get the magical forest sampler!


Thank you all for participating and to Bake it pretty for sponsoring this wonderful giveaway!

This was really fun and I will definitely be doing more in the near future.

The many uses of coffee filters

A few months ago my mom sent me an email with a bunch of great ways to use coffee filters. I got a french press for Christmas so I had over 100 coffee filters that have been sitting in a kitchen cabinet. I thought I'd post them here, along with some pictures. (Pictures make everything better, right?) They are really useful, and with each one I find myself saying "Why didn't I think of that??"

1. Cover bowls and dishes in the microwave. If you've ever had refried beans explode in your microwave, this will be the first thing you start using the coffee filters for.

2. Strain yogurt for making dip or frozen yogurt. Place filter in a wide-mouth jar and secure with a rubber band. Spoon yogurt and drain until desired consistency. This was perfect for me, I never have cheesecloth.

3. Protect china by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter in between each dish. (I don't own such china, so I demonstrated with my fiestaware)

4. Weigh food in a coffee filter on kitchen scale. This is genius! And so convenient.

5. Use coffee filter as a small disposable snack bowl.

6. Protect a cast iron skillet. Place a coffee filter inside skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

7. Clean windows, mirrors and chrome. Coffee filters are lint-free so it leaves them sparkling clean.

8. Use strips of coffee filters as waxing strips for your eye brows.

Here are a few more I didn't have the chance to photograph.

• Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
  
• Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes
• Keep your hands clean when eating a popsicle. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
• Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. It soaks out all the grease.
  
• As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.
• Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.
• Diffuse the flash on a camera. When you’re taking a close-up, soften the brightness by placing a coffee filter over the flash.
  
  

If you have these lying around I hope you find this helpful. And if you don't have them lying around, you can buy a few hundred for a $1.


Have a good weekend! I'll be painting some furniture, having a bon fire with friends and catching up on the ever growing stack of library books.

Oh and if you haven't entered to win the Bake it pretty gift card make sure you do so before Sunday night!

Cookie no-dough ice cream and bake it pretty giveaway

Bake it pretty giveaway after recipe!

Sugar. It's my weakness. For the past few months (read: years) I've been battling the addiction. I really love my sweets. I love ice cream, cookies, cakes, muffins, and candy. Even really cheap "gross" candy.

I don't want to be addicted to the stuff but I also don't want to give up something that I get so much enjoyment from. That is where balance comes in.

I'm sugar "fasting" for six days a week. No brown sugar on my steel-cut oats in the morning, no sweet and sour tofu, no spaghetti sauce (unless homemade without sugar), ect. But one day a week I'll bake and eat whatever sweet I desire.

As a result, I don't feel sluggish all day, everyday. But I still get to indulge once a week. It's been working out great.

This week I could not decide for the life of me what I wanted to make. I had about 1001 ideas but nothing was popping out at me. Until I remembered this recipe I had bookmarked. I guess I have a thing for chocolate chip cookie dough.

Cookie no-dough ice cream
(adapted from joythebaker)

Note #1 from Abi: I used whole milk instead of half and half. I understood this would result in a less creamy ice cream but I was okay with that. And it was still absolutely divine. But if you want super creamy ice cream, go with the half and half.

Note #2 from Abi: After you pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan, keep stirring the entire time! otherwise you might end up cooking some of the egg. If you do end up with some graininess (cooked egg), no worries. Just strain through a fine mesh strainer a few times until smooth.

1 cup chopped dark or semi-sweet chocolate

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

4 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups whole milk (or reduced fat, if you prefer)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

pinch of salt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter until it is a deep golden brown color. There will be charming little brown bits at the bottom of the pan. You don’t want it too burnt, otherwise it’ll taste, for lack of a better word, weird. Add the half and half and heat until scalding (not quite boiling).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Take the half and half mixture off the heat, and add a little to the egg mixture while mixing. This is called tempering the eggs: introducing hot liquid a little at a time to eggs while stirring, as to not cook the eggs with the hot liquid. Add a little more (just over half of the hot mixture total) and the healthy pinch of salt, then pour everything back into the sauce pan.

Heat, stirring very often or constantly, until about 170 degrees, or until it coats a metal spoon. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and chill. Once the mixture is chilled, whisk in the additional 1 1/2 cups of milk and add it to your ice cream machine. When it’s almost fully churned, add your chopped chocolate. Eat directly from the ice cream maker or freeze overnight. Enjoy!


Now for the best part of this post.

I am sure many of you already know and love bake it pretty. If you don't, click on that link and you'll see what I'm talking about.

It is the cutest store you'll ever see. I seriously want ten of EVERYTHING they sell.

On bake it pretty, you'll find tons of cute cupcake liners like these: (Pictures via bakeitpretty.com)

ever adorable cookie cutters like these:






and even cute cupcake toppers like these

Plus sprinkles, cupcake kits, and tons more


To enter:

Head on over to bake it pretty and have a peek, then come back and leave a comment to tell me which item/s you'd want. And be sure to leave an email address so we can contact you if you win.

If you want to double your chances, post a link on twitter or your blog and link it back here in an additional comment.

The giveaway will be open until Sunday (3/21) at 9pm EST. I'll select the winner randomly, and announce on Monday.

Kitchenaid White wheat bread

I'm on the hunt for a go-to wheat bread recipe. I've been testing out a new one each week and most of them have been okay, while only one has been flat out disgusting. By the way, few things are worse than spending 3 hours working on bread and it turning out nearly inedible.

I came across this one last week in a Williams sonoma cookbook. When I saw it made the kitchenaid do all the work I was sold. It came together easy and tastes great. Finally!

I'm keeping this one around, however I'm still working on the perfect 100% whole wheat bread. If you have one you love please let me know!







White wheat bread
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
pinch of brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 1/2 cups (375ml) tepid milk (90 degrees)
1/4 cup (75g) pure maple syrup, honey or light molasses
1/4 cup (60ml) canola oil
1 Tbsp salt
3 cups (470g) whole wheat flour
3 1/2 - 4 cups bread flour, or more if needed

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast andbrown sugar over the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine milk, maple syrup, oil, salt and 2 cups of the whole wheat flour. Beat on medium-low speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in the yeast mixture and the remaining whole wheat flour and beat for 1 minute. Beat in the bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed, adding bread flour 1 tbsp at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth but slightly sticky when pressed, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled deep bowl and turn the dough once to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Lightly grease two loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and divide it in half. Flatten into a rectangle that measures about 14"x9" with your hands, and roll like you would when making cinnamon rolls. And place into loaf pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35-40 minutes. Turn out onto racks and let cool completely.

this weekend

this weekend I ate these

drank this. (Oh kombucha, i love to hate you)

and made these.

I also saw alice in wonderland (which was so pretty, I loved it), organized my kitchen, and put a dent in the 30+ library books I currently have checked out.

about me

My name is Abi.

I live in Portland, OR with my husband and our two kitties. 

I run a photography business + and a clothing shop.

When I'm not doing those things I enjoy baking, running, crafting, and exploring new towns. 

Thanks for stopping by!

if you have a question or just want to say hello, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

vanillaandlace(at)gmail . com

Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles

I've been in a cooking rut for the past two weeks. It isn't that I can't find inspiration, my bookmarks folder is bursting at the seams with delicious recipes for goodness sakes. It has much to do with the fact that I'm still (after over two years!) getting used to juggling two dinners a night. You see, I am a long time vegetarian gone mostly vegan, and my husband is a carnivore who hates cheese and garlic, (however he does love every vegetable, which is more than I can say). So this leaves me with cooking two separate meals each night. Good thing I like to cook, right?

Well sort of.

Most days I plan our menu with all the same elements, subbing orange tofu with brown rice for his orange chicken with white rice. Lasagna means cheese-less, just meat sauce in between noodles for him. Cheese-less, meatless, add eggplant, spinach and pine-nut spread for myself.

But lately I haven't done so well at the planning and by the time I've prepped, started and finished his dinner I have absolutely no energy to make mine. Then I sit down with pretzels and a small dish of melted chocolate chips and call it a night.

And it was two of these cookie dough truffles that made up the majority of my dinner on valentines day. And for once I was quite okay with being tuckered out after fixing dinner for my husband.

It is exactly what you think it is. Chocolate chip cookie dough, dipped in chocolate. And they are egg-free for those who worry (and easily adapted to be vegan). My chocolate coating doesn't look perfect but that was okay with me cause once in my mouth they were nothing short of perfect, and cut me a break, as I was dipping them in the chocolate I was balancing the phone on my shoulder so I could chat with my mom about a future vacation. And that night I found chocolate in my hair.



Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles (a love and olive oil recipe)
makes 3-4 dozen, depending on size.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or small chocolate chunks.

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating, (i didnt have any so i used chocolate chips)

Directions
Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Or freeze for frozen treats.