My Blog Has Moved!

Hi Friends!

My blog has moved to byambershands.wordpress.com  Hope you like the new design!  See you there!

Porcupine Meatballs

Note: there are no porcupines used in these meatballs, so if you were excited that you finally found a use for that porcupine carcass in your garage, I'm sorry.

This is one of my grandma's recipes. Therefore, it is delicious. It's homey with a twist. Some good ol' comfort food.

by amber's left hand

For those of you who don't know,

I am left handed.

I've never thought of it as overly interesting.  At best, it was a random, mildly interesting fact about myself.



However, only a few generations ago, I would have likely been forced to use my right hand instead. I recently looked into the practice and mostly found several message boards of people who report mild to moderate psychological trauma over being forced to use their right hands through various methods such as having their left hand tied behind their back, or even corporal punishment by their teachers or parents. Many were left with crippling insecurities and some even developed speech problems such as stuttering.  Recent studies show that the natural way a lefty's brain works is changed when forced to write with his or her right hand.

My Recipe Box

I read the Pioneer Woman's blog religiously.  When I grow up I want to be the Pioneer Woman.  Well, except for the whole living-on-a-ranch thing.  And having 4 kids.  And being married to a cowboy.  But beyond that...

Anyway, one of the great things about the Pioneer Woman is that she created Tasty Kitchen.  It's a place where people can share recipes and find new ones.  Needless to say, I'm a member, and I have my own recipe box there.  I plan to put all my recipes I share on this blog on Tasty Kitchen so that you can all have printable versions if you like.  And to further spread my cooking influence.  heh.

Anyway, here's a permanent link to My Recipe Box. I don't have many recipes in there just yet, but I'll continue adding more and more.

Enjoy!

Mexican Hot Chocolate

 Over the weekend, we had another large winter storm.  I'm always so tired of winter by this time of year.  Sigh.

In any case, snow storms make me want hot chocolate.  And as far as hot chocolates go, this is one of my favorites.  Mexican hot chocolate.  It's like regular hot chocolate, but with attitude.  And spice.  I was first introduced to it by my friend Elizabeth at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market.  And since there's not much reason to go to the farmer's market in the dead of winter, I had to make my own.

My Grandma's Recipes

So my grandma likes to bake.  And make people eat.  She's a food-pusher extraordinaire.  It's a good thing she makes delicious food.

However, she has a terrible problem with her actual written recipes.  Her recipe box is large and filled to overflowing with recipes written on scraps of paper and ancient recipes now unreadable.

So, for her birthday, my sister and I took on the arduous task of coming up with a new system for her.

We started by scanning her recipes onto our computers.  We have hundreds of scans that look something like this:

Robot Parade

In a future time, 
Children will work together
To build a giant cyborg!

First person to name that tune & the band who sings it wins!*

(*Disclaimer: No prizes actually involved. Winning only good for gloating to friends who may or may not read this blog.)

I made a robot onesie.  Hee hee.  It makes me smile.  I actually started this onesie months ago, but then Christmas happened.  And since we've already established Christmas made me it's whipping-boy this year, you can guess how that went.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my very own recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  It is formulated for maximum chewiness, which is highly desirable in a cookie, in my book. You'll notice some... well... unusual ingredients for a cookie, but I promise it works.

I have had many a chocolate chip cookie that is incredibly tasty the day it was baked, but through a lot of trial and error, fiddling and... whatever else a person might do to get things just right...  I finally developed a recipe for a cookie that maintains its soft, chewy texture for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container.

Let's begin, shall we?

Snowflake Scarf

I made a scarf.

It was for my friend Elizabeth.  For Christmas.  So I gave it to her a couple weeks after Christmas.  Because Christmas was like that this year.

Anyway.  It was a snowflake scarf.

First, I started out by making a snowflake template.

Garlic Bread To Die For!

Oh my gosh, this garlic bread.  Seriously.

I've always been a big fan of garlic bread.  I used to buy the frozen kind you can take home and bake, until one day I looked at the ingredient list and got completely creeped out by the sheer number of (mostly unidentifiable) ingredients.

This one is simple.  Only 4 or 5 ingredients (depending on whether you like herbs in your garlic bread) and it tastes soooo much better than the stuff you buy in the store.

So here's what you'll need: garlic.  bread.  olive oil.  butter.  and rosemary if you want.

Hellooo 2011

Well, here we are again, with over a month in between my blog posts.  Geez.

I have several posts ready to be written, and a couple that were meant to be posted before Christmas, as they are Christmas related.  But Christmas kind of kicked my butt this year.  I'm still recovering.

So.

Baby Sling

Well, it's been about a month since I last posted.  I'm not able to blog as much as I had originally hoped, mostly due to The Small One who now runs my life.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

I also haven't been able to create much, craft, food or otherwise, especially on those days that my son won't sleep except if I'm holding him. So what's a mama to do except make a baby sling!

We have a Baby Bjorn, but he doesn't like it when he's sleepy, so I wanted to make one that was adjustable that felt more like he was being held.  I researched ring slings, and they seemed doable.

PB 'N B French Toast

That stands for Peanut Butter, Nutella & Banana French Toast.  Deliciousness!  This isn't so much a recipe as an idea.  I don't follow a recipe when I make french toast, so if you do the same or have a favorite recipe, you can easily use it when making this.

Because I'm an Overacheiver

... I do this for the trick-or-treaters that come to my house.  Yes, I make them treat bags, as though they were guests at some party I'm not having.  

Birfday Cards

So I finally had time to do something crafty.  Sort of out of necessity, because we're going to a birthday party tonight and I don't buy cards in the store anymore because a) they're lame, and b) they're so much cheaper to make yourself!

I'll admit these aren't my most creatively inspired cards ever.  My creative energy appears to expressed in my breast milk (which leaves me at an alarming rate thanks to The Small One who is constantly hungry.) Did I mention he's a month old today and wearing 3-month-old clothes already?

Wait, what was I talking about?  Oh, right.  Birthday cards.  Like I said, not the most inspired, but at least they're cute.

Kitchen Tools

Overall, I don't believe that one needs fancy tools to cook a decent meal.  Basic pots and pans and spatulas usually do the trick, although sometimes the cheap things are more trouble than they're worth.  But as I was looking through my kitchen, I realized that there are 2 tools that I can't live without.

First is my kitchen scale.

Cooking: My Philosophy

I love food.  I love eating food and cooking food and serving food to others.  It makes me sad when people say they can't cook, because I think a lot of people are overly intimidated by recipes.  Really, there are only a few types of foods that require a lot of precision and can be wrecked easily, but your average dinner shouldn't be one of those things.  Even if you don't do things exactly like the recipe says, most things are salvageable and will still end up tasting good.  There are so many easy and delicious recipes out there, there's no reason your average person shouldn't be able to make a healthy and tasty meal for themselves and their family.

In the cooking section of this blog, I hope to share simple and fantastic recipes that anyone can make, regardless of their culinary expertise.  And I'll post pictures of every step so there's no confusion.  I hope everyone who reads this can find something they can try and can be successful doing!

Basic Scones

I have a two-and-a-half week old Punkin, which makes for interesting mornings.  Primarily it makes it difficult to get breakfast.  He's kind of demanding. So I decided to make Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Bread from a recipe I found on Tasty Kitchen, since it would be something I could eat for breakfast with one hand.  But then I didn't have enough pumpkin.  So I made scones instead.

This is a recipe I've been using for a long time, actually since Home Ec class in high school.  It's basic and can be adapted in many different ways by throwing in some dried fruit, chocolate, citrus zest, or some combination of those.  They're very simple to make and taste delicous.  These scones have a lighter texture than the scones you would get at your local coffee shop, and if you'd like a denser scone you can add some additional flour to this recipe.

If not now, when?

So I realize that I'm about 10 years late in joining the blog scene, but I wanted a forum in which to share some of the stuff I make.  I'm hoping to include mostly food and crafts on this site, but also I'd love to share things that are meaningful to me.  This is sort of a strange time to start a blog as I'm awaiting the imminent birth of my first child, but if not now, when?


I hope to have some interesting things to post soon, but today my goal was just to start.  Now I don't have an excuse not to create and share!


I hope you all enjoy!