GF cooking- Cinnamon apple risotto

Trying to use my cookbooks and cook some different food! This is one of my cookbooks.

Today is all about the cinnamon apple risotto. It supposed to be for breakfast. It looked to die for!

 Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

4 apples (I used granny smith)- nicely sliced up

1.5 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice ( I didn't have ground up so I had to ground my own in my food processor- see #2)

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup brown sugar 

4 cups of apple juice

1 tsp vanilla

1. diced up my apples- this took the LONGEST!

2. Had to also grind up my all spice

3. combine apples with butter, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a pan. On Medium/High heat cook and stir to get the apples to start releasing juices. Takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Your house will smell amazing at this point.

4. In your slow cooker, coat with oil spray. Add rice and apple mix- mix it up all together. Then add apple juice, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix up and simply let it cook for 2 hours on high!

Done!! I added some sliced almonds and dried cherries to the bowl. And I had this wonderful dish to nosh on.

It was delightful. Warm. Delicious! Filling. This would be great if you had a lot of people (since it makes a lot) to feed for breakfast or brunch. Actually, I paired it with some bacon wrapped beef fillets for dinner that night. It was a really nice compliment to the beef. Will definitely do again when I have a lot of company!

Cheers,
Lauren

Reindeer Sweater Refashion, Refashion #7

I was probably the only one who got excited when I saw this sweater. I was giddy.it was soo lovely! And it is just so cold outside that I need warm winter clothes!

There were a few problems. The "buttons" (claws?) immediately started to fall off as soon as I put it on. The sweater was too long and didn't cover my hips at all. 

So we need to shorten it and fix the middle. 

basically what I did was
- fold up the bottom and sew off the excess. now the bottom band has just moved up. And now I don't have to worry about fraying
- then I removed the buttons
- lastly I converted it to v-neck top by overlapping the original middle band. I sewed down one side, across, and then up the other.

Done! A really easy refashion!

Love my new sweater! An easy fix! Perfect for these cold temperatures!

Cheers, (92 left!!)
Lauren

Iron Craft '14 #2: Get organized

This iron craft challenge is about getting organized. This was the perfect time for me to do a project I have been waiting to sew. I used Butterick's 5006 to make myself a knitting needle case. And to add some jazz to a holder- I made it with pink leopard print poly satin. Oh yeah. Super easy, I cranked this out really fast! The fabric was a bit challenging, it isn't my best sewing but it works. And now I have a sassy needle holder.

Cheers,
Lauren

Bellydance DVD Review: meaning of movent

I finally got inspired to move, well let me rephrase that.... I was really cold one day and decided I needed to move in order to not freeze over. I decided to try out a dancer I have not personally seen or really heard of. This DVD is called meaning in movement by Alimah. A cheeky girls production, which I tend to like their DVDs as the sound is good, there are good mirrors, no crazy up close shots, just the dancer in a mirror following along to what the teacher is saying. I love that. Listen up other bellydance DVD producers- we don't need bells and whistles we just want good solid dancers and teaching!

Ok off my rant. So the DVD is nicely divided into sections. The concepts part was really interesting. Same with flow. She then teaches combos you can put together to make a choreography.

Definitely has a different style and I have seen things that I have never seen put together so I enjoyed that. She is very descriptive. However there were times where I felt as if I was in a drama/musical theater class. Her intonations in her voice reminded me of a drama teacher. She brought her violin. However, she does explain great concepts to add depth and texture to your dance choreography. Her dance vocabulary is very different than what I have been taught. You won't hear arabic 2 or anything of that such, so that was a bit different. She also does not break down the specific moves. This is not a technique driven sort of DVD, it is definitely a bit more conceptual. Her combos do not have counts to the music.

Now, I am by no means bashing this DVD by any means. Actually, I felt this was a bit of a fresh air compared to the other DVDs out there. It makes you think of moves differently and how to dance differently based on descriptions. I would actually recommend this to an advanced intermediate/advanced dancer looking to really be a better dancer. I have always felt the difference between a good and a great dancer is the emotional connection you have with the music and with the audience. That is how you increase your ability as a dancer. You have to have emotion as you dance, the DVD addresses that. She has a very signature music and dance style. Though I will say that there were other performances on the DVD and I felt as if they all began to look the same as it seemed as if she did the same thing but maybe in different ways. And if you ever wanted to see a rainbow zebra costume (oh yeah) check out the performances section. I did like the choreography. I feel it has potential for the future for me to adapt to a group choreography. And BTW I loved the outtakes on the DVD.

So this DVD is a keeper, for the advanced dancer, who doesn't need counts and already knows proper technique and moves.

Cheers,
Lauren

Crazy striped pants, simplicity 1663

Oh these pants....

I have been seeing a lot of fun crazy pattern pants. I wanted to give it a try. I used this simplicity pattern with this fabric.

I selected the long pants. I liked how this seemed to fit and flare. And didn't look like a glorified PJ pant pattern. I cut my normal size. And after sewing it together they were MASSIVE. went and removed a lot of fabric, even from the center seams. I got it as best I could and realized my fantasy idea of pairing it with a lovely top I had from Ann Taylor

To what this was in reality- a pair of lounge pants. No way I would wear this to work. 

My baby... :) Yup so with a t-shirt. Hanging out at home with my cats. 

Yes. Lounge pants. 

I cut a 12 and this is after removing many inches. I could have easily cut a 10 or lower. I have an idea on how to modify this pattern. Plus this is a thicker cotton fabric so there is no drape. The crazy tribal fabric may be making another appearance. You have been warned. Stay tuned!!! I think with a thin knit fabric, coupled with some slice and dicing- I can make this work.

Cheers,
Lauren

Burgundy striped sweater, refashion #6

This too big burgundy striped sweater was nice but just too big. Bleh. It does nothing on me for my shape. Just too big.

This is a simple fix. I pinned it to the shape of my body. Sew. I then serged off the excess. 

Done!

Look excess gone and so is the excess in the sleeves. 

I have no idea what my camera decided to do this... but this was interesting. 

Here is the composite shot! Much nicer and I'll get wear out of it in this weather!

93 left to go!!!

Cheers,
Lauren

SNL skit Retro Striped Dress, refashion #5

#5 here we come! I found this long sleeved stripped dress and was just attracted to it. It had a feeling that it came off an snl sketch. But I loved it. 

snl skit....

Yes don't they go together? So as I took this snl skit worthy dress I realized I wanted to keep its retro feeling. I decided for now to keep the sleeves on (though I think it would make a fabulous sleeveless dress-it is just cold outside, I need sleeves) and take some of the bottom off. 

I marked where I wanted it to fall. Made a line. Cut off! Then simply serged the bottom. Folded it up and sew the hem down. It wasn't hard but it is a circle skirt so you just have to watch out. 

done!! LOVE!

Hey....

Popping my collar!!

Oh!! Didn't tell you! It has POCKETS!!! I laugh b/c I was watching an episode of Project Runway All Stars when Nick Cannon was a guest judge. He asked the others if pockets were the bomb for women's dress. All the ladies (including Isaac Mizrahi) unanimously said YES!!!!

Added a belt, and the dress works. (just now no ghost orb in the picture)

Side view complete with bluriness

In the end, something simple as a hem turned this dress into something I will wear!

Take one down sew it around, 94 left!!!

Cheers,
Lauren

V1259 Ruched skirt- crazy tribal print

I decided to go into a sewing project. I am desparately trying to get rid of this lightweight crazy tribal knit fabric. I thought I would try this Donna Karan pattern from Vogue. I liked the skirt. The top may be a bit too crazy (and running out of fabric thank goodness!)


This is the crazy fabric that I made a halter dress (which I love), read about it here. Which I promise you keeps multiplying.

I decided with this pattern I can't do any sort of matching, I don't care. I just ran with it- it was one piece of fabric that you gather and connect leaving the overlapping edges raw. It was slightly tricky to get the sewing done on the machine. I didn't add the elastic but after taking pictures with it I realized I need elastic. It is an easy fix. The line gives me a headache when wearing it and I have to fidget to get it right. Overall I like the skirt. It is easy to wear and this would be a great item to throw on with my bathing suit in the summer.

Trying it out with something else. I did not add a piece of elastic to the waist. Now I will. 

This skirt is definitely forgiving for curves. I mean man, I saw the pics and wow I look like I am in crazy shape. LOL. That middle/diagonal seam is a pain. And it takes a while to adjust the skirt to fit right. Unless you are in walking motion, or your legs are not close together. The bottom hem is not even. It sort of drapes. Will I make this skirt again? Probably not. It was not hard to sew. The middle overlapping seam is tricky but not bad. This would be nice in the summer time. Not right now too cold!

Cheers,
Lauren