Mug Cakes

Yes, I'm a little late to the party, but I have just stumbled upon MUG CAKES!  I have a sweet tooth  (don't we all) but usually I'm a salty girl.  If you put a bag of chips or a doughnut in front of me, 99% of the time I'm going to pick the chips!    But every now and again I need a little sweet.  Something small.  I loathe baking because it's so finicky and I hate the idea of having whole batch of cookies or a cake sitting out in my kitchen tempting me.

MUG CAKES TO THE RESCUE! 

Start here if you're looking for some seriously scrumptious mug cake recipes.

I made the Flourless Peanut Butter mug cake.  I thought I was so smart to add chocolate chips, which only ended up totally melted on the bottom of the mug :)  PS I ate it so fast I didn't even have time to take a picture. 

Next I tried the Bailey's Mug Cake.  It's not surprise that I enjoy an adult beverage now and then :)  So to have an adult Mug Cake-bring it on!
As you can see I also added chocolate chips to this one.  This time they stayed on top and were a perfect addition.


Do you have a favourite mug cake recipe?  I'd love to try it out!

Feature

Check it out!  
I've been featured over on Dragonfly Designs.  

I thought Heather might like my Half Ribbed Headband (she's a crochet chick like me).  The other crafts she featured are totally cute too-you should head on over there and check 'em out!

A big THANK YOU to Heather for featuring my cute little headband!

Hostess Gift

This past weekend I was flying solo since Ty was out in Edmonton for a work conference.  A girlfriend of mine hosted an Oscar Party, which made me pretty excited because I love parties and making goodies for others.  For food I made my Mum's awesome Spinach Dip but I thought it would be sweet to make a hostess gift for Lindsay.

Here's my recipe for Sugar & Coconut Scrub

I melted a generous amount to coconut oil in a clean jar and added some brown sugar to it.
I mixed it together and added about 1 cup of white granulated sugar to the mix.

As you can see I tried to mix it in the jar.  

Don't be fooled-you can't! I moved it to a bowl which made life a lot easier.

In the bowl I added some glycerin, almond oil and vanilla extract.  I eyeballed it-there's not real recipe.  And it depends if you like really goopy soupy scrub or something a little more sandy.  The vanilla gives the scrub an amazing scent, along with the coconut oil.

With a spatula I transfered the scrub back into the jar. 

Then I gussied up the jar a little bit with some butcher paper and washi tape.

I even put some washi tape across the top like a seal to make it look official.

She really liked it.  We had a great time.

Here's some of the food we made :)

I was most pleased about Christophe Waltz winning for Best Supporting Actor!  That was the biggest award to me.  If you haven't seen Django Unchained, you really should.  I will admit that there are scenes that are difficult to watch, but so good!

In so far as fashion, I really think alot of people played it safe, which is kinda sad.  The worst dressed definitely goes to Jane Fonda, Halle Berry,  and Melissa McCarthy :(  I love Melissa and I'm so proud of her but this dress was all wrong!  And all I have to say about Jane and Halle's dresses is "1983 called, it wants it's clothes back".

Best dressed was tough because everyone looked OK.  There were a lot of dresses I liked (what was with the tails this year?  Jennifer Garner and Charlize Theron I'm looking at you!)  My best dressed are Jessica Chastain (again not a HUGE fan of all the uber pale/flesh coloured dresses but this one was lovely) Olivia Munn (who I usually do not like but this dress killed!),  and to round out the pack Mr Daniel Day-Lewis!  The man wore a navy suit! Class, class, class and handsome!

I'd love to hear your best and worst dresses.  Am I way off base?  Or do you think I got it right?

Oscar Night

Hello All!

Just wanted to give everyone a head's up that I will be live tweeting during the Oscars at my girlfriend Lindsay's Oscar Party.  Follow me @westcoastleslie if you care to know what I think about all things Oscar!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a full re-cap of what I made for the party including recipes and plenty of pics and gossip!

And in true Oscar fashion who am I wearing? Anthropologie and American Apparel tops with some Old Navy jeans!

Thai Inspired Meatloaf

I found this AMAZING blog!  Seriously, amazing! I got so inspired that I made one of Beth's recipes already!  Luckily I had everything on hand already, which always makes life easier.

Thai Turkey Meatloaf

1 lb ground turkey
1 clove garlic, minced

3 green onions

1 Tbls ginger, minced

1 egg

1 1/2 Tbls soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 cup cooked jasmine rice

1 Tbls ketchup

1 Tbls siracha hot sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 Tbls vinegar

Preheat your oven to 375*F

Mince the ginger and garlic and chop the green onion and mix in a bowl with the ground turkey.   

Add in the soy sauce and sesame oil.  Crack in the egg, and cooked jasmine rice.  

With your hands mix all that goodness together!  It's going to be quite wet FYI. That's ok!

As per Beth's instructions I molded the meat mixture into a loaf on a baking sheet.  I did however use parchment paper to protect the baking sheet.  

Bake for about 15 minutes. 

While the loaf is baking mix together the sugar, vinegar, ketchup and siracha sauce.

After 15 minutes spoon on about half of the glaze and make for another 20 minutes.  Pour the remaining glaze over the meatloaf and bake for another 15-ish minutes.

Unfortunately I found that I over baked my meatloaf (I have put the correct cooking times here on the blog so don't worry!) and added too much rice.  The meatloaf was pretty flavourless (even with the soy sauce and ginger) but the glaze was awesome.  IF I make it again, I will double the glaze, season the turkey with salt and pepper and add more ginger, garlic and maybe some other goodies.  It was one of those recipes that sounds ahmahzing when you read it, but when you finally got around to eating it, it kinda fell flat.  What changes would you make to pep up this meatloaf?

First Crochet Pattern

I can't believe this is my first crochet pattern!  I made it through trial and error, trying to find something a little more exciting than your average double crochet headband!

Half Ribbed Ear Warmer

Yarn used- Vanna's Choice Worsted Weight (4)

Hook used- G (4.0 mm)

Ear warmer is worked side to side until it is the desired length.  This pattern fits most average adult heads.

sts: stiches

SC: single crochet

DC: double crochet

FPDC: front post double crochet

BPDC: back post double crochet

DC2tog: Double crochet 2 together-this is a decrease stitch

Chain 11

Row 1: Single crochet in second ch from hook, continue with 9 sc across to end, (10 sts) chain 1, turn

Row 2-4: SC across row (10 sts), chain 1, turn

Row 5: 2 DC in first SC, DC across row, 2 DC in last SC, chain 3, turn (12 sts)

Row 6: Repeat Row 5 (14 sts)

Row 7: Repeat row 5 (16 sts)

Row 8: Double crochet across (16 sts), chain 3, turn

Row 9-17: Repeat row 8

Row 18: Alternate BPDC (8 sts ) & FPDC (8 sts) across row, chain 3, turn

Row 19: Double crochet across row (16 sts), chain 3, turn

Row 20: Repeat row 18

Row 21: Repeat row 19

Row 22: Repeat row 18

Row 23: Repeat row 19

Row 24: Repeat row 18

Row 25: Repeat row 19

Row 26: Repeat row 18

Row 27: Repeat row 19

Row 28: Repeat row 18

Row 29: Repeat row 19

Row 30: Repeat row 18

Row 31-39: Double crochet across (16 sts), chain 3, turn

Row 40: DC2tog, double crochet (12) across, DC2tog, chain 3, turn

Row 41: Repeat row 40 

Row 42: Repeat row 40

Finish off and sew ends together.  You will have one narrow end and one wide end.  Match the narrow end up with the middle of the wide end

Back View

Front View

Optional: Go around the top and bottom edges with single crochet to create an even edge

I like it because it's super wide and nice and stretchy to fit my giant head!  I also like that I don't need a bow or a flower, because it's cute all on it's own!  You can also find this project on Ravelry!  

And The Winner Is....

Congratulations to Kimberly!  

You have won my Birthday Giveaway!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I want to whole heartedly thank everyone who entered the contest.  I hope to have more giveaways as a special thank you later in the year!

I also want to give a big warm welcome to all my new blog, Facebook, and Twitter followers!  I hope you'll "Try To Keep Up" with me.  And remember if you ever want to drop me a line, you can email me westcoastleslie(at)gmail(dot)com.  

Have a wonderful President's Day (for my American readers) and a great Family Day for some of my Canadian readers! 

Craft Sale Newb

Yes it's true.  I am a craft sale newbie.  I am hoping to get involved in some holiday craft fairs this fall (I know, I'm crazy to be thinking about next Christmas already but you gotta plan ahead).  I've been starting to contact the some organizers, chatting with my sister about what works, what doesn't, what sells, etc.  So I'm turning to you-my lovely readers, to get your advice about how I can succeed.

Have you sold your lovely goods at a craft fair?  What time of year did you do it?  Summer?  Winter?  Holiday?  Which was more successful?  Do you have any great tips to make my booth stand out?  Anything at all.

I'm thinking about primarily selling my crochet creations like this

I'm also thinking about selling my amazing Nuts & Bolts in decorative Mason jars like this

I'd be ever so grateful for any advice or tips and tricks you can offer me.  I'm starting early, mostly because I need to work on my inventory and make sure I have enough!

Dont forget to enter my awesome Birthday Contest.  The contest closes on FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15th!  Thank you to everyone who has already entered and good luck to everyone!

Tissue Box Cover

I saw a fabric cover version of this somewhere on the inter web-can't remember where.  I looked around for some cool coral patterned fabric but I got a little too impatient and figured I could make one without fabric!  And I did!

I remember that the tutorial I saw, they used a foam board to create the form of the box.  I didn't have foam board, but I did have an empty Finish Dishwasher tab box!  So I roughly measured the cardboard to be a bit larger than the tissue box.  

I made mine to fit a wide, rectangle, Costco kleenex box.  My finished cover is 9.5" long by 5" deep by 5" high.  There's a little bit of space between the actual box and the cover so you can slip it on without struggling.

After I painted the cardboard white, I used green painters tape to create my chevron pattern.  Then I painted with a coral colour between the tape, and impatiently waited for it to dry.  I tried to keep my chevron pattern relatively consisted around the box and re-used my tape guidelines on each side.

Jill pointed out that I could have covered the edges of the box with masking tape or something so you don't see the corrugated cardboard.  Whatevs.  This was a fast, let's see if I can make it in one night-which I basically did.  The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry so I could pull off the tape.

Doesn't it look pretty with with coral towel!  I am loving how my powder room is turning out.  Just a few more finishing touches and I'll be done.  Stay tuned for the reveal!