Tuesday, November 30, 2010

BurdaStyle's annula giveaways!

Ooo, ooo, ooooo! Hurry over to BurdaStyle and enter in for the daily giveaways.

The lovelies over at BurdaStyle will host a giveaway daily through Jan. 3, 2011. Today's the first day so go comment and check out the prizes from here until the end of the year!

Today's giveaway is a Brother sewing machine. :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Uniform Project

Most of last year, I followed Sheena Matheiken and her Uniform Project as she created different looks using the same dress (her uniform, which she had 7 of the same dress) for 365 days. She used tights, socks, shoes, bracelets and necklaces and layers to create a new look every day.


The Uniform Project was a statement about creativity and sustainability. And while she did it, Sheena raised money for Akanksha Foundation, an organization that helps impoverished Indian youth pay for their education.

Sheena's creativity was so inspirational! I loved seeing what she'd come up with day to day. I especially loved her hats and colorful tights. Here's a few of my favorite shots (all images belong to Uniform Project, I'm only using for demonstration purposes):




This year, Sheena has selected different people (or pilots) throughout the year, each raising money for their own charity. We're into month three and I'm loving November pilot Angela's style! She's the creator of Norwegian Wood (you can also find her on Etsy here).

This photo belongs to Uniform Project.
Angela's raising funds for Free the Children.

Go check her out and, if you're so inspired, donate to her cause.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Gnocchi and Alfredo

I love gnocchi! And it's all Giada de Laurentiis' fault! :)

Last night I made a big match of mashed potatoes and pulled about 3 cups of potatoes to the side before adding butter, milk and salt and pepper to make traditional mashed potatoes. To make gnocchi, which is basically a pasta-like dish made out of potatoes, you add eggs and flour and roll it out.

The recipe I use is from Giada's book "Everyday Pasta."

For lunch today, I warmed up some alfredo sauce I had leftover from a fettuccine dish I made with kale, mushrooms and tomatoes several days ago. Oh, so wonderful! The alfredo recipe is from Easy Everyday Cooking, a recipe subscription service I used several years ago. I still use the recipe cards to this day.


If you tend to make a lot of mashed potatoes, how about giving this recipe a try. Below is the recipe from the book, but here's a similar Giada gnocchi recipe here. I've also included the alfredo sauce below, which is good but doesn't have garlic, which I thought every alfredo sauce had.

Gnocchi
3 cups of mashed potatoes (24 oz.) (maybe 2 medium or large potatoes)
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (optional)

After the potatoes are boiled and mashed, mix in the egg, salt and pepper. Then add in the flour and mix well.

Roll a palmful of potato out at a time into a snake-like log. Cut into bite-sized pieces. (Giada recommends running the cut pieces along the tines of a fork. I sometimes do this, but not always. This may help the gnocchi hold sauces after it's cooked.)

Next, plop the potato gnocchi by batches into boiling water. When they float to the top, they're done.

Top the gnocchi with parmesan cheese, if you'd like. Since I ate this with alfredo, extra cheese was not needed.

Other ideas: eat the gnocchi with tomato-based sauces or a browned butter sauce. I also wonder if this would be good as a pasta salad-type dish. Mmmmmm ...

Alfredo
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups grated parmesan cheese

Combine the butter, whipping cream and cheese in a bowl. And that's it! Throw it on some pasta, chicken, gnocchi or other dish.




Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Grosgrain's Embellish Knit Month

Just peaking peeking in quickly to say "hi." I've been busy working on Christmas projects, a fall sweater (need to get that done a.s.a.p.!) and Christmas shopping.

While this as been going on, I've also been enjoying Embellish Knit Month over at Grosgrain. I love seeing how Kathleen alters various sweaters and cardigans she find at thrifts stores. It's very interesting and inspiring.

I especially like Day 8's cardigan. Kathleen added a flowerdy chiffon on the inside and a woven trim around the edge. Gorgeous! (Yes, I said flowerdy. I'm from the South, yo!)

Go check it out:






I'm also anxiously waiting for the new CraftSanity magazine that Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood has been working on for a bit. She gave a quick update today and I can't wait to see the finished product!