Rhubarb, Pineapple, Raspberry Pie

Recently my parents came to visit. While helping me with my gardens, my stepdad, Gary, mentioned my rhubarb was ready to be picked. I actually only have rhubarb because it was here when we moved into the house. Gary mentioned that rhubarb would make a great pie. A few days later, I was standing in front of the refrigerator, staring at it with the door open, like your mother always yells at you not to do, trying to figure out something to eat. Thats when I decided to make a pie.  I picked the rhubarb and got everything together.  But just rhubarb?  Nah! I grabbed a container of raspberries and a can of pineapple chunks too. Let me tell you, this was one delicious pie. I wanted to eat the whole thing by myself, but I saved a few slices for my boyfriend, David. Unfortunately, my parents had already gone back to Wisconsin....sorry Gary. 

Rhubarb, Pineapple, Raspberry Pie

Makes one 9.5 inch pie

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 quart raspberries

1/2 can pineapple chunks, drained (the big can, or 1 whole small can)

1 1/3 cup sugar

6 tbsp flour

1 tbsp butter

1 double pie crust (I made mine from scratch using this Martha Stewart recipe)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Roll your first pie crust over the pie plate.

3. Combine rhubarb, raspberries, pineaple, sugar, and flour in a bowl.  Mix well, coating all of the fruit.

4. Pour fruit mixture into pie and spread out evenly.

5. Cut butter into small chunks and place on top of fruit mixture.

6. Cover mixture with second pie crust.  I rolled my dough over the pie and cut the scraps and center pieces with a small cookie cutter.  I used the cut scraps to create a decorative edge.

7. Place pie on bottom rack in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

8. Reduce oven temperature to 350, and continue baking for 40-45 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. 

This pie is excellent warm or cold.

(PS, Im also in loooooove with instagram, here's a pic I took during the process!)

4th of July Nails

Tomorrow we celebrate Independence Day and I've coordinated my nails for the celebration!

For the ring finger, I started with a white base. Once dry I added two stripes of red. Once that was dry I polished the tip with blue. I used a toothpick and that silver polish pictured to make the stars.

I hope you have a fun and safe holiday!

Happy 4th of July!

Girl on Fire Nails

There are just too many good books to read this summer! I'm working my way through 50 Shades of Grey (obviously, who isn't?!) and The Hunger Games.  While other, more, shall we say serious, books like In Defense of Food and the Seven Secrets of Synchronicity sit sadly on my nightstand, gathering dust.

To jump on The Hunger Games band wagon I did my interpretation of Girl on Fire nails!

I started by using blue painters tape over my tips, except the ring finger. I then applied the black polish to my nails and removed the tape. I gave my now bare tips a quick coat of white, then topped with China Glaze Electrify. To create the the "flame" on my ring finger I followed this tutorial from Oh So Pretty.  I used white as a base and then layered on Electrify.  

If I did this manicure again, I would do a skinnier tip. The thick glitter tip actually drove me a little bit nuts.  The funny thing is, I have some kind of nail art, or at least plain black nails almost every day, however this particular manicure got tons, and I mean tons of attention...from men. I work with 100+ men, not to mention the countless others I see in the airport hangars, and everyone had a compliment on these nails.  It was insane. It actually made me a little self conscious that so many males were noticing my hands! Ha ha! So if you give this style a shot, be prepared for some attention!

With that said, I have the 3rd book of 50 Shades to finish....brace yourselves, there will be a future post about those books too!

Twin Baby Girl Cookies

Recently I did some cookies for baby shower of a woman who was having twin baby girls. She had wanted a pink and green color scheme and wanted them to pretty and girlie.  We settled on some cute onesies and a cookie version of these cupcakes.

Butterfly Wing Nail Art

I love butterflies. They are so graceful and delicate. I happen to have 2 butterfly tattoos.  Yep, Im that girl. What can I say, you love what you love right? So I decided to try this butterfly wing inspired nail art.  True to form, I just did my ring finger.

I didn't want to do a traditional French tip so I did sort of an ombre effect.  I layered yellow polish, orange polish and another orangey-yellow polish.  No special technique, I just kept swiping the polish on until I liked the color.

I did the same color technique on my ring finger, over the whole nail instead of just the tip.

Once that dried I used a toothpick and black polish to draw in the wing detail, and then a toothpick with white polish for the dots.

Next time, I'll try a nail art pen or a small brush to do the lines.  They came out a little thicker than I'd have liked with the toothpick.  

I do love the orange and yellow for summertime though!
What is your favorite polish color for summer?

Blood Orange Cake

A few years back my sister, friend Heather, and I traveled to Rome, Italy. We were travelers on a budget, so we stopped in a local market to pick up food to pack lunches during our daily sightseeing. We grabbed a bunch of fresh oranges and headed on our way.  We were quite surprised when we peeled the oranges to find them bright red in the center! We had never seen, let alone, eaten blood oranges before.  We were quickly hooked on them and ate them almost every day of our vacation!

 

Recently I was walking through the grocery store and saw blood oranges on sale.  I bought some and eating that first orange brought me right back to the first park we sat in when we realized what they were. It got me thinking......Do you remember this mouthwatering grapefruit cake I made last year? It is still one of my top favorite cakes, however this year I decided to try it again but with a twist, blood oranges!

This version of the cake was just as heavenly, but with a sweeter, more orange-y taste. I'm not sure which cake I like better they are both so good!

Click HERE to go to the recipe for the grapefruit cake.  All I did was substitute blood orange for all of the grapefruit ingredients. I also added a little orange food coloring to the batter to enhance the color.

Try it out! The original and the new cake are both great summer treats!
What's your favorite summertime dessert?

DIY Super Simple Backyard Teepee

So its my first post since my "true confessions" post. I'd like to just throw in a quick thank you to those of you who reached out and showed support! Thank you! It was so incredible to get such wonderful notes and comments. You'll never know how truly touched I am. 

Now, I may have considered giving up, but that doesn't mean I sat around and did nothing with my free time! Here is one of the projects I've been working on...a teepee!

My dog Caesar is, shall we say, special. He has had some strange challenges since we welcomed him into our family. Caesar is "blonde" which is basically the equivalent of being really fair skinned. He gets sunburned easily. I hope to eventually build a dog house for him but that isnt in the budget this season. So I needed to create a shady spot for him to hang out in. I found this great tutorial over at Sew Mama Sew on how to make a child's teepee.  I fully intended to make it exactly as the instructions were written but then I ended up at the Dollar Tree and Big Lots and changed my plans.  Here's how to quickly, cheaply and easily make a teepee!

Materials Needed:

6 Bamboo Sticks (approx 4 feet tall) *I picked these up at the Dollar Tree 

1 Lined Outdoor Tablecloth

2-3 Rubber Bands

Ribbon (fabric scraps will do too)

Embroidery Floss

Quilting Needle (a need with an eye large enough to thread the floss)

Clips or Clothespins

Directions:

Begin by tying the rubber bands around all 6 bamboo sticks. Roll the bands down about 4 inches from the ends. Then spread them out into a teepee shape.

Next, unfold your tablecloth.

This is the tablecloth I got at Big Lots for $3.25.  Its a plastic cloth, lined with felt. Its oblong shape and the dimensions are 52in x 70in

I do not recommend just a plain plastic tablecloth.  You want one that is lined with something so its a little heavier weight.

Wrap your tablecloth around the teepee structure, pulling tight at the top and clip into place.

Next, take your ribbon and cut into 4 lengths. I didn't really measure this. I'm not so good with exact measurements on stuff. I just eyeballed it.  The ribbons will be used to create loops for the bamboo sticks to go through. This is optional, but its helpful if you move the teepee around.  I quickly hand stitched these loops on with embroidery floss.  I actually just crawled into the teepee and stitched them on while it was standing.  Here is a close up of what it looks like.

Yeah, its not pretty but who will see it anyway?

You will put straps on 4 of the posts leaving the front 2 posts for the opening without straps.

Next you'll need to stitch together the top of the teepee.  Again, I just stitched it while it was on the frame. I used binder clips to hold it closed.  Starting at the top I stitched X's down the front.

Lastly, I folded in the edges at the opening. I took 2 more lengths of ribbon and stitched onto the folds so that I could tie back the flaps.  Again, totally optional step.

I laid down an old beach towel and let Caesar enjoy his new summer home!

Of course, Sookie had to get in on the fun too!

This entire project cost $10. $6 for the bamboo sticks and just over $3 for the tablecloth. The rest I had on hand. It also took me a total of 35 minutes to complete the project, probably would have taken less time if I hadn't had to run back in the house every five minutes because I forgot something!

Hope you enjoyed the post and perhaps are inspired to make a teepee for your kids! (The non-furry kind will like this too!)



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