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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Cake Truffles

In honor of my birthday in a of couple days (and my husbands birthday the day after), I thought I would share this fantastic recipe :)

The word FUNFETTI makes me happy! If I am having a box cake I like funfetti cake but I am not really a huge cake person. I would much prefer cheesecake, brownies, pie, etc. Cake truffles however don't seem to be so cake-like... you know what I mean... big globs of frosting on top of dry cake is just not my thing.

I found the recipe here and this is what I did.

Cake Truffles
-1 box cake mix
-1 jar icing
-2 bags Dark Cocoa Wilton's Melts for coating (or use chips or baking squares)

Bake the cake just like the box says and during cooling when it is only slightly warm tear it up with a fork (or your hands) and mix it around in a large bowl. Pull out any harder corner pieces that didn't tear well.

Add icing and mix together. It will look like it is not enough icing for all that cake, but it is so just keep mixing.

Form into balls. I made 55 with still a tiny bit of mixture left in the bowl because it got harder to form them near the end and 55 seemed like plenty. Your hands will get very sticky. Make sure to lick the cake icing mixture off of them when you are done :) Freeze for a couple hours or overnight.

Melt your chocolate coating. I used a combo of chocolate chips and Wilton's melts because that is what I had on hand. Dip the truffles in using two forks and put on a rack to cool. You can add toppings/sprinkles at this point if you desire before they cool. I went with colorful sprinkles... they weren't the ones that came with the icing.

Store leftovers in refrigerator. I stored some in the freezer and pulled them out when I needed them and put them in the fridge - it worked like a charm and they tasted just the same. These were so yummy and moist! You could definitely adapt these for any occasion using different cake or different colored melts. And how cute would these be at a birthday party! I served them on my DIY free dessert stand :)

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Homemade Baby Gift

My friend Brooke H. had a sweet baby girl in December and I knew I wanted to give her a personalized baby gift. I decided to make a decorative thing for her nursery and 3 onesies. I wanted the decorative thing to have her monogram on it because who doesn't love monograms and I knew none of her previous gifts would be anything with her name.

I made a little flower garden of sorts:

I had Eric cut a wood block similar to the size of the big wood block used in the Name Blocks and then had him drill 3 evenly spaced holes. I painted it and 3 pieces of dowel with white craft paint. I used my Silhouette software to create the monogram and followed the instructions for it to cut the design with baby pink colored vinyl and attached it to the block.

I used wood glue to secure the dowels into the holes.

I made the rosettes using this technique. Then I attached them to the dowels using hot glue and placed a round piece of felt over the back to cover up the dowel and to act as the back of the flower. I had previously seen the nursery which was painted a melon green color with pink accents so I knew this would fit right in! And polka dots are so in :)

For the onesies, now that I had figured out freezer paper stenciling, I made 2 onesies using that technique and 1 onesie using the Silhouette t-shirt vinyl technique since there was a really intricate design I had in mind.

The Grow one and the Clemson onesie were made using freezer paper stenciling. I had honestly been thinking about doing the Clemson one since I found out Brooke was pregnant since they are huge Clemson fans too! I love that it is even more personal than the ones that say baby tiger or future tiger since it has her graduation date calculated. I found the paw image online and imported it into the software for the design. It is definitely one of my favorite onesies I've made.

The tiny dancer idea came from here so thank you Jamielyn. Her's was a pink onesie with white vinyl and I decided to do a white onesie with pink vinyl. The color is called Light Pink by Silhouette. Doing Silhouette t-shirt vinyl was incredibly simple with their instructions. I made the designs in the software the same way I did for freezer paper stenciling but then to cut it out I didn't need the cutting mat. And after you peal away the negative space, it is ready to iron on.... no waiting for paint to dry and doing more coats etc. Of course the vinyl is more expensive than paint and you can't make any color you want but I love the quick results and the feel of it!

I looked through every font on the Silhouette and could not seem to figure out the one that Jaimelyn used for "tiny" but the one I used came close.

These onesies were 12 month onesies. Since I was sending the gift a little after she was born, I figured she probably already had many clothes for now but would be nice to have some things to put away for when she is a little bigger. I am very happy with how this homemade baby girl gift turned out! Welcome to the world Taylor Louise!!

Can't wait to get my hands on some more t-shirt vinyl!!

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thrifty Valentines Decor

I know a lot of people don't even decorate for Valentine's Day since it is not as big of a holiday as say Halloween or Christmas and I never had any V-day decor before this year. Then my mom mailed me a sweet care package... I never get tired of receiving those! Inside were two homemade Valentine's items - a pillow and a frame.

This pillow is made from a canvas type bag found at the dollar store. She basically just stuffed it and sewed it shut... genius!

The frame was painted red and the words inside are stickers on the background paper. Very similar to the one she did for Halloween.

I am now on my way to collecting some Valentine's items and hope to make some homemade ones for next year to add to these. I'm thinking some blocks and a table centerpiece that has some red fillers in it perhaps. These are perfect for V-day but also simple and subtle. You would hate for your decor to end up looking like this, right? Yikes! A tad overdone for me.

image

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Eating Local in 2010

One of my goals for 2010 was to go to 5 local restaurants in Charlotte that we had not eaten at before. You may be thinking "Only 5? I could do that in a week or 2!" But we usually eat out only once a week and I knew these new places would be spread out among visits to our already favorite local places... my 2 favorites being Cantina 1511 and Crepe Cellar :) This goal became a joint goal of ours since we go out to eat together (whether with other friends or just the 2 of us).

I am happy to report that this goal was completed! I believe supporting local restaurants and local farms is important and Charlotte has a lot of really great local restaurants that use these local farms! I just LOVE this city! This was a great goal that gave us a reason to try new places and get out of the comfort zone of usual places we go.

So this is where we went:
Remember that these are just my opinions of the restaurants

1. Sonoma

image

Charlotte does something called "Restaurant Week" 2 times a year where participating restaurants charge a fixed $30 per person for 3 courses (you get to choose your food from several options of each course) and some places include a glass of wine. There are local restaurants as well as some chains but most are upscale type places where you couldn't normally get that great of a deal. Anyway, we went to Sonoma and my friend Brooke came too. It is right in the center of uptown and the food was fantastic! Each person got an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. I had scallops as my main course and they were delish!

2. Old Stone Steakhouse

This is actually in Belmont (barely outside of Charlotte) which is a quaint old fashioned looking town. It has a general store and a good number of antique shops. Our friends Jeremy and Holly picked this place when we went out to eat with them and their adorable daughter Haven. We sat on the back patio which was nice in the Spring. They have a big variety of options and range of prices (tend toward the slightly pricier side) on their menu even though they are called a Steakhouse. I got a pasta dish that was very good and big enough for leftovers the next night. I think everyone else at the table got steak since they had many different ones to pick from. The spinach artichoke dip and their house side salad were good as well.

3. The Icehouse

This is in the South End neighborhood of Charlotte very close to our friends Katie and Kyles apartment which is who we went with. This building used to be a brewery and has a warehouse-ish and modern type look inside with ginormous flatscreens everywhere you look. Many might consider this to just be a bar since their claim to fame is serving over 200 different beers but there is something for everyone on their extensive reasonably priced menu AND it's not your typical bar-ish food. The wraps are great and so is the bbq sandwich. Eric loved the meatloaf (he is a big meatloaf person). We actually went back a few months later for lunch when my friend Shannon and her husband were in town. It would be great for watching a game. I'm sure we will go back more times- I want to try out their patio when the weather is nice!

4. Carpe Diem

happy 1st anniversary!

Eric and I went here to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. It's in the Elizabeth neighborhood fairly close to uptown and was recommended to me by several coworkers. The food was fresh, colorful and wonderful! Perfect for a special occasion since it is on the pricier side and they take reservations. I got the Eggplant Roulade: eggplant stuffed with zucchini, arugula, and Chapel Hill Creamery fresh mozzarella served in a smoked tomato marinara with fresh grated Parmesan. YUM! We also had a salad with marinated grilled grapes on it... I know that sounds strange but it was was fantastic! I guess you just never know until you try something new :)

5. Dish

This low key small restaurant in the Plaza Midwood neighboorhood was featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives for its southern comfort food. My friend Brooke told us about this place as well and so we knew it would be the perfect outing when Eric's friend Will was in town for a Southern History Conference. The prices are true to the type of place it is so definitely budget friendly. I had the chicken and dumplings with mac and cheese, Eric got cajun meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and Will ordered shrimp and grits. Every dish comes with a biscuit and a deviled egg. Portions were plenty big and we all had nothing but good things to say about our meals! Certainly not the healthiest (as most comfort food isn't) so I wouldn't go there on a regular basis but I would definitely go again.

(all restaurant images are from the restaurants' websites unless otherwise noted)

We are going to carry on with this goal in 2011 and aim to visit 5 more local restaurants we haven't been to before. Have you ever had a goal like this in your town? If you have been to any of these places or have any to recommend for 2011, I would love to know!

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Cake Truffles

Monday, January 24, 2011

Homemade Baby Gift

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Thrifty Valentines Decor

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Eating Local in 2010