You Want Cookies, Not Cake?

What to do when visiting the boy and I want to make cookies but don't have all the ingredients and there is a box of chocolate cake mix in the pantry? Improvise. Today's discovery: cake mix can be transformed into cookies and those cookies can be transformed into kick-ass peanut butter filled pieces of heaven.
Now I'm a bit of a purist, but I appreciate a run-of-the-mill, store-bought, chocolate cake mix every now and then. It can easily create a low-fat cake, it's always squishy and moist and it's faster to make than a peanut butter sandwich. These cookies are just as fast as making a cake and are about 100 times better than a plain ole' cake.

Cake Cookies w/ Peanut Butter Filling
1 chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 t. vanilla
Mix the ingredients together until the batter is will incorporated. Form into about 20 1" balls and roll in powdered sugar (they will be quite sticky). Place on a cookie sheet about 2" apart. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Filling
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. extra chunky peanut butter
1-2T milk
Mix the sugar & peanut butter together, adding enough milk to form a smooth frosting-like filling.

Spread the filling equally across half of the cookies and top with the other half. Stick in the fridge until set. Enjoy!

Baby Hats & Books

On Friday after the bar exam I had a date at Borders with the entire fiction section. I took three hours to search for the three most mindless, girly books I could find. Anything that had a hint of substance or a depressing plot line went back on the shelf (and in some cases, onto the "read later" list).

Tuesday I sat down on the front porch and read "Something Borrowed" in its entirety. It was actually pretty good, I liked it a lot, particularly because it wasn't a legal text book. But, old habits die hard so I had to knit while I read. I present to you the bar baby hats for two law school colleagues who are expecting baby girls in the next couple of months.

W.W.M.S.D?

The bar exam starts tomorrow. What would Martha Stewart do? She'd bake a cake.

Crocheting Together Your Fish Blanket - A How-to Guide

This is a step-by-step how-to guide for those of us who created our own fish patterns or used one from the Internet and are now faced with the tedious task of creating a blanket out of those fish.

1. Arrange your fish

2. Start with the tail of one fish and the mouth of a second, using a crochet hook the same size as your fish knitting needle (I'm using a US8). Holding wrong sides together draw your seaming yarn through the edge loops of both fish. Yarn-over and create a single crochet (note that this photo does not show the yarn over sc step).
3. Insert hook again through both fish with wrong side together. Notice how I am inserting once between each "lump." Each fish should have an equal number of "lumps" so if you use the "lumps" as a guide your fish should match up perfectly.

4. Yarn-over and pull your seaming yarn through both fish - 2 loops on hook.

5. Yarn-over and pull through both loops

6. 1 loop remains on the hook

7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 until you reach the end of your fish AND CONTINUE without cutting your seaming yarn. This is how your fish rows will look.

When you reach the edge of the blanket cut the yarn & pull through the last loop to secure. Then go back to the beginning and add another fish to the row you have just completed (see photo #1). When all of your fish rows are together single crochet together the open vertical seams in a similar fashion on continuous chain for each vertical row. When you reach the horizontal center crochet seam you can either go over the seam, or under it, but be consistent.

Finally, single crochet around the entire blanket and then, if desired, do a row of double crochet. To allow for ease you may want to do a few extra single crochets at the four corners and the rounded edges of the fish. More pictures of this to follow.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions and I will get back to you!

oh, oh, O.R.E.O.

Holy stress case, this has to be some kind of torture. One by one each of my friends has called while having a panic/stress breakdown. I've had at least 25. How did I avoid one tonight? I baked these delicious homemade oreo cookies. Recipe from the Smitten Kitchen's website.

I'm panicking now while watching a criminal procedure video, but the baking worked for a short time.

"Ratatouille for Dinner" - a brief synopsis of my day

Oh smitten kitchen, how you inspired me today…

Mom: “I am not pleased with my vegetable intake”
Me: “You must see what the Smitten Kitchen made, hold on I’ll get my computer”
Mom: “that’s beautiful”

Six hours later Mom goes to grocery store, upon her return

Mom: “Can you make that ratatouille for me now?”
Me: “grrr, no, snap, study, snap, snap, ”

Thirty minutes later we have this for dinner:

recipe here.

Note that this lovely creation follows this morning's delicious carrot & banana bread. Eat that, bar examiners!

Seaming while reading? I think not

I cannot seam and read at the same time, I can only knit and read. Consequently I'm facing a boat-load of seaming after I finish the bar exam next week. I'm so excited for this nightmare to be over...I can't wait to stop studying! Here are a few of the projects waiting for me:

Pieces of an Elephant

Fish, lots and lots of Fish

And my cashmere shawl, which just needs more yarn

Spotty Rotty Banana = Carrot & Banana Bread

There's something about spotted bananas that calls for an immediate, drop-everything need to bake. There was a lone spotty banana staring me down on the counter this morning and even though I should be spending every waking moment with my head in a book I succumbed to it's calls and mashed it into a chunky mush. Unfortunately, it only yielded a measly half-cup. Not to fear, I have a supply of frozen shredded carrots on hand for dilemmas like this!

The loaves didn't rise as high as I would have liked, but the results were delicious. When I measured my carrots I packed the measuring cup tightly. I think if I measured the carrots "loosely" then the batter would not have been as heavy and the loaves would have risen higher.

Carrot & Banana Bread

• 1 large over-ripe banana mushed in a 2cup Pyrex measuring cup
• Shredded carrots with the moisture squeezed out added to the bananas to make 2 cups - see the note above about measuring "loosely"
• 3 cups flour
• 1t salt
• 1t baking powder
• 1/4t baking soda
• 2t cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2T oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (I use one snack-pack size container)
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Mix all the wet ingredients & sugar together. Add the bananas & carrots, mix well. Then add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 batches, mixing to incorporate after each. Finally add the chopped walnuts.

Pour into two greased 8 1/2 x 5 pans
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until a toothpick tester is dry

This is really good served with a little cream cheese on top. Yum!

Still Alive

I'm still alive. The bar exams are next week. I'll be back.

My 30th Birthday

I turned 30 this week. It was a rainy day but we managed to get a big group of friends together for lunch and an amazing chocolate mousse cake that was decorated with berries. Here's what was left of the cake for me to bring home:


I also brought home some balloons that were given to me by a friend.


And received these beautiful flowers from the boy, who tried to fly in for the weekend but couldn't because of thunderstorms. My gift from him should arrive next week...

Graduation Party & Subsequent Blog Hiatus

Now that graduation has come and gone I am studying for the July Bar exams for entrance in two states. I haven't had any spare time to blog at all. Study, study, study...

Here are a few photos from my excellent graduation party.

Lobsters & Grilled Prosciutto, Tomato & Mozzarella Sandwich

Mini Bundt Fruit Shortcakes & Key Lime Pie

Baking & Birds

This morning I baked a third trial-run of a dessert for my graduation party this weekend. I know I want a fruit salad and thought individual cakes with fresh whipped cream would go nicely. I bought a silicone mini-bunt pan and tried a disasterous sugar-free angel food cake recipe on Sunday. On Monday I bought a Nordic Ware individual bunt pan and tried a boxed angel food cake. It rose too far and made a mess of the oven. Oops. This morning I ran the Nordic Ware pan through the dishwasher because it was impossible to clean the angel food cake out by hand and tried a Bisquick shortcake recipe. I greased the pan well and they came out perfectly. So it's settled, dessert will be shortcakes with fruit & key lime pie.

While I was baking I saw a scarlet tanager and a male cardinal in the hawthorn tree vying for the suet. I was able to run upstairs and take this photo from a window.

Lobster Pot Cashmere Shawl

I started the lobster pot cashmere shawl last night. I'm using Fiber Trend's "Leaf Lace Shawl" pattern. It seems like this is going to be an easy pattern to follow once I get used to the repeats. And, the cashmere is so soft that I don't want to put it down!

I think I will switch a pair of Knit Picks Options needles because the addis I am using are too blunt and are slowing my pace.

Winding Cashmere

I'm excited to start my new cashmere lace shawl project using the Lobster Pot Cashmere from Purl Soho. Here's a photo of my ball-winding apparatus.

Fish Blanket Update

I've been knitting fish all week so I decided to lay out the pieces again tonight. Here's how it looks so far:

Right now it would be a nice sized baby blanket, which was my original intention. But, now I can't decide if I want to stop at this size or continue to make it larger into a throw size. I could either add dark brown fishes around the entire edge using yarn I bought to make a brown & pink fish blanket, or buy more blue and tan to continue in pattern. Thoughts?

Mother's Day Breakfast

I made these deeeelicious muli-berry pancakes for my mom for mother's day.

Multi-Berry Oatmeal Pancakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1 egg
2T melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup crasins

Baby Gifts

Here is Luca wearing the hat that my mother made for him and with the elephant that I made. He's so tiny and looks like he's smushed in my arm, poor little guy!

I think I need to knit another elephant for my own collection.


And here's a pic of Luca in his sling that I made (post about its creation below).

For the Love of Cashmere

It is a lovely spring day today,
which means that it's a perfect day to express my love to my cashmere sweaters. This morning I used three huge rubbermaid totes to wash lights, darks and white sweaters by hand and then spun them out in the washing machine on the gentle spin cycle. Here is a photo of one of the three drying "stations" I set up outside. The chairs are holding down towels and each sweater is clipped to a towel. I hope nothing blows into the pool!

Study Break Shopping Trip

I took a study break trip to the yarn store today. I went with a specific project in mind and bought only what I went for. Yay for me. Here's what I bought:

Two skeins of Organic Cotton for Baby Bobbi Bear, three Jo-Sharp for Elephants and one lace pattern for my lobster pot cashmere. I'm starting the elephant tonight.

When I arrived at the knitting shop the parking lot was chock full of cars. When I stepped in the door I almost stepped on a knitter - there were at least a dozen women at a knitting group. I had no idea there was a Thursday night group. I couldn't join them this week because my allocated study break was only one hour, but next week I think I'll check it out. I'm nervous to join though, perhaps I'll feign a problem with a pattern and go in seeking mock-advice...

Animal Mobile

I saw this mobile at a store recently and am going to try to design and make one of my own. Isn't it cool?!