Crafting and Cooking

I have been wanting to post this for awhile, but I had to wait until all the gifts I made were given out, so as not to spoil any surprises...

I've been trying to be a good crafty person and here are some of my recent projects.

I made a car seat blanket for my little Christmas-baby-to-be. I initially thought, "oh, great! I'm having another girl! I won't have to buy a thing!" And then I realized that all the new-born clothes I have are for summer time. And it will most definitely not be balmy outside when this baby comes. So this really cool blanket should help keep our little one warm and toasty.

Here's how it works...

weird shaped blanket with strange holes (I think it looks like a ghost)...

fits into the car seat and allows the straps to come through...

and then you can wrap up your baby nice and warm! (I had a doll in the seat to model, but Olivia took a sudden interest in it before I had the chance to take a picture...)
I also made a cute car seat cover for good measure.

I made these cute receiving blanket, burp cloth combos for my friend Katie who's twins were born yesterday!! And I made the same ones for my sisters Maria and Diana who are having a girl and a boy, respectively. Since Diana and her husband just moved to NYC where it definitely gets chilly, and they will spend a lot of time walking around outside, I made a matching car seat blanket and car seat cover out of the blue and brown hound's tooth fabric, but didn't get a picture. (I didn't think Maria, in California, would have much use for them...)


Finally, another recipe for your tastebuds' pleasure...

Chocolate Haupia Pie!

When we visited Hawaii a few years ago, after Maria served an LDS Mission there, she insisted we try the chocolate haupia pie from Ted's Bakery in Laie. We were very impressed. I liked it so much that I attempted to make one for Thanksgiving two years ago, but it was just so-so. Maria found this recipe (a copycat of the Ted's version) and raved about it, so I had to have it.

It was divine. And I wish I had a picture of an individual slice of the pie, because it looks even better.
Chocolate Haupia Pie

Ingredients:

1 9-in. unbaked pie crust
1 cup milk
1 can coconut milk (14 oz.)
1 tbsp. coconut extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
7/8 cup chocolate (Dutch chocolate, or any chocolate with high cocoa butter content)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Bake crust for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

3. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, coconut milk, coconut extract and 1 cup sugar.

4. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in water.

5. After bringing coconut milk mixture to a boil, reduce to simmer and slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue stirring over low heat until thickened—about three minutes. Divide evenly into two bowls.

6. In another bowl, microwave chocolate until melted.

7. Mix chocolate into one of the bowls of coconut pudding, then pour mixture into the pie crust, spread and let sit.

8. Pour the remaining bowl of coconut pudding on top of the chocolate-coconut pudding mixture and spread smooth being careful nut to mix the two layers. Refrigerate the pie for an hour or more.

9. Whip the heavy cream with 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff. Layer the whipped cream on the piechocolate shavings.
surface. Garnish with chocolate shavings. (I also added toasted coconut on top)

On second thought, I pulled this photo off google so you can see what the inside looks like...although I must admit that mine looked better. :) This pie is SO worth the effort (though it's really not that hard) and the calories! Mmmmmm...

Happy Birthday to my Honey

Jon's Birthday was on Sunday, and we decided to celebrate all weekend long. He took Friday off work, and went golfing with some friends, and then in the afternoon we took Olivia to see her first movie- Toy Story 3- in the cheap theatre. There were four other people there, so it didn't really matter that she wanted to run around the place the entire time. Jon and I enjoyed the movie, at least!

Saturday night we went out to our favorite Indian restaurant for a delicious celebration (Olivia is a big fan of naan), and then Sunday after church Olivia and I gave Jon his presents. We recently purchased new (awesome) phones, which we agreed would be our birthday presents, so I had to be creative to find something for him to unwrap!

We also had a fun birthday dinner with our neighbors and then more friends came over for dessert...a white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce...mmmmm...Jon requested it, and it's a recipe from my friend Amy who I believe got it from a friends' mother-in-law...

Here it is if you are in the mood for the best cheesecake you will ever have.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Triple-Berry Raspberry sauce

Prep:30 min Bake:45 min Cool:2 hours Chill:4-24 hours

Ingredients:

1 cup crushed shortbread cookies (about 3oz)

3 tbsp. finely chopped slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 8oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 6oz pkg. white chocolate baking squares (with cocoa butter) melted and cooled

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup dairy sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 Recipe Triple Raspberry sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust, in a small bowl combine crushed cookies and the almonds. Stir in melted butter. Pressed crushed cookie mixture onto the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan. Set aside.

2. For filling, in a large bowl, combine cream cheese and cooled white chocolate, bea† with an electric mixer on medium high speed until combined. Beat in sugar, sour cream, and vanilla until mixture is fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into the crust. Place on a shallow baking pan.

4. Bake about 45 min or until center is nearly set when you shake the cheesecake gently. Cool on a wire rack for 15 min. Loosen from side of pan. Cool completely. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

5. To serve, cut into wedges and drizzle some of the Triple Raspberry sauce. Serves 12

Triple Raspberry Sauce: In a saucepan, melt one 10oz jar seedless raspberry preserves over low heat. Add 1 cup fresh red raspberries or loose-pack frozen lightly sweetened red raspberries. Heat gently just until sauce simmers. Cool. If desired, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur. Cover and chill until serving. 1 2/3 cups.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to my Honey! Jon is the best thing that ever happened to me and I can't imagine life without him! Love you, babe!

Sunday at Central Park

Sunday we had a picnic in Central Park and then met up with my former roommate Kristi-Lynn. Olivia and Sadie enjoyed having another small person around and Kristi-Lynn and I had fun catching up.

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Olivia on the subway

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NYC

We are spending the weekend in New York City with my sister Diana and her husband Jon. It has been my favorite visit to NYC up to this point. Relaxed, gorgeous weather and fantastic company. I also got a new phone and am learning how to post to my blog from it. Hopefully this post will be more successful than my last (failed) experiment. I hope you are all having an equally fantastic labor day weekend!

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Experiment

This dress

Was crocheted by my great-grandmother for me when I was a baby. Apparently she had timeless taste, because we got tons of compliments on it at church on Sunday. So sweet!