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Crescent Roll Redo

I had a package of crescent rolls in the fridge and had to use them within a week.  Here, I just unspiralled each roll since they were an untidy mess once the tube was opened.  So, since I had to reroll each one, I decided to add some herbs to give them a kick.  They went nicely with the made from scratch stew.

I sprinkled each roll liberally with garlic, a little oregano and then rolled them up and topped each with a little brushing of olive oil followed by more garlic and parsley.  These were baked on parchment paper, to protect the cookie sheet from the olive oil.

I find that the powdered garlics are very weak, especially the new imports, since we have lost the main garlic farming industry here in the USA.

A tip about parchment paper:  you can reuse it.  When I bake cookies I wipe down the parchment paper, fold it, keep it somewhere clean in a bag or elsewhere and then reuse it.  You can use both sides of the parchment paper, too.  (With these rolls, I discarded the paper.)

Another use for these crescent rolls, as a pseudo chocolate croissant or sweet rolls.  Unroll, fill with brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted chocolate or Nutella, chopped nuts, then reroll sprinkle again with cinnamon, then bake.  These are delicious with your favorite hot drink.  They are a light and decadent snack that you can make to suit your tastebuds.

Personalize Your Pound Cake

Sandra Lee makes it to the big time on The Food Network by taking packaged food items and adding this or that to them to make it to suit her style.  Ah hem... I've been doing that long before Sandra Lee became a millionaire by tweaking a box of cake mix and other works.  Haven't you made a little change here or there and made it to suit your own tastes?

Here's one I tweak, and I don't make it the same way each time, either.  I chose Pound Cake because to make a Pound Cake from scratch requires more eggs than I want to use.


I'm adding French Vanilla Extract, Ginger, and Honey to the mix.  Ginger and Chocolate go well together.  I'm forgoing the chocolate chips in this cake today, since the holidays were extra chocolately here with Cadbury's, Hershey's, Terry's, etc.  and all those other sweets and treats...oh, yes.


I've taken about 3/4 cup of batter to a second bowl, added about 1 1/2 Heaping Teaspoons of Cocoa (not measuring teaspoons, just an ordinary silverware teaspoon) and stirred to blend.  Too much cocoa will make this too stiff, if that happens, add more plain batter.

   Plop the cocoa batter on top of the plain batter and then stir through with a fork to blend.  Bake. 



I didn't swirl the cocoa batter quite enough, but you get the idea.  This cake is moister than dry because of the honey, which doesn't affect the taste very much.  You can substitute food coloring if you'd rather not have a Marble Pound Cake, then you can have various colors.  This also works with layer cake mixes,  too.  I like the added French Vanilla Extract and also the Ginger combination.   If you try this, I hope you like it...Enjoy!  It's teatime again.

Passing the Torch



I've had fun travelling through blogland to come up with this list of bloggers to pass the award to.  Not sorted in any particular order, here is the list, all suffixes are blogspot.com except for the last two listed:

chinamommy04
nuancesinthesky
tigerfoodpress
piecesofd
theseasonalcottage
katrinshine
pookieandpierre
deedsandpetunia
upsidedownbee
highwood-studio
fidosfunkfashion
anastasiac
tealandtea
jdavissquared
revolvingstyles
ponderandstitch
drummbellina.typepad.com
colorofdawncreations.com


Here is what you need to do to claim the award for your blog:

1)  Put the Stylish Blogger Award photo in the blog post announcement and elsewhere on your blog if you wish.

2)  Thank and link back to this blog, New End Studio, in your post.
    
3)  Share 7 things about yourself in your blog post.

4)  Pay it Forward:  Find 10 - 15 blogs to give the award to and let them know in a post on your blog and contact them directly to let them know to visit your blog to find themselves as an award recipient.  I have listed 18 blogs, since I found it hard to limit the list.  There are so many good blogs, it's difficult to stop!

   
 Seven Things To Share With You

1.  I don't know how to swim, but I love being on or near water (beach, ocean, aquarium, etc.)  I feel peaceful and renewed with water as a companion.

2.  I'm the middle child of 5, all girls.

3.  I prefer driving a car with a manual transmission, 3, 4, and 5 speeds. 

4.  My dream is to relocate to Wales.

5.  Recipes are guidelines, meant to be altered- that's my style of cooking.

6.  Maps are useful, but exploring is a lot more fun, that's how I drive on vacation. 

7.  I am a Christian.  I hope I demonstrate my faith, mindset, and behavior by my choices and lifestyle and not by shouting it in anyone's face.


Here's the link to the post about winning the Stylish Blogger Award:
http://newendstudio.blogspot.com/2011/01/3princessesengravingstylish-blogger.html

Thanks to 3princesses Engraving for the award and hope that all of you will claim yours and have fun with it!

Something Warm This Way Comes

It's a still and harsh winter here.  The temps are way down in the single digits.  Sunday morning was only 8F and the forecast is for snow for six of the next seven days.  I don't know about you, but I've had enough of winter for, oh, the next six or seven years.  Winter started back in October and except for one mild day in the past two months, it's been dark, cold, and bleak in this area.

A few years ago I was blessed to find some extraordinarily colorful blogs.  It's a wonderful thing that I stumbled across those blogs, they saved me from an interminable winter, they gave me hope that Spring would return.

I had a similar feeling just recently, it's been snowing here for a few days, not a lot of accumulation, but it's bitterly cold, dark, and still outside.  It feels as if the town is imprisoned by an unending and empty, languid weakness, stuck in a fog of frozen vapor and with time, it's growing colder, and winter is getting even larger, deeper, and stronger. 

The tree branches are bare, the icicles are getting fatter and longer, and only a hungry squirrel or two are scavenging, scratching through the snow for something to eat.  The birds have disappeared, no melodies, no chirping back and forth, no cawing sounds.  Just silence except for the cars driving past.

Then something arrived in the mail.  A package with a customs form was in the pile of useless mail and a magazine touting Valentine's Day.  A total surprise.  It warmed my heart.  It made me acknowledge an act of kindness within the dark winter day, which gave me a new outlook.  It came from across the cold Atlantic Ocean all the way to me. 

It arrived on a day of being unsettled, not discontented.  I have to admit it made me cry a tiny bit to receive this little gift.  This was a kind gesture from someone I do not know apart from purchasing items from her Etsy shop to give as gifts.  The winter wears me out and this unexpected present helped lift and brighten my spirit.  Ali went to the trouble of packaging and mailing at her expense when she was not obligated to do this, not at all.



Ali Dufty sent me this beautiful collection of gift tags.  I have an affinity to the dandelion, and yes, I know it's only a weed, but do you remember blowing on them or waving them until the tiny seeds were scattered ensuring your wishes went out to be fulfilled?  They symbolize warm weather, childhood, mowing lawns and the great smell of new mown grass.   And then there is, "Chocolate."  Oh, yes, chocolate in all forms, yes, that's for me.  These dessert tags, are, well, just scrumptious.  Not an original perception on my part, but oh, so true.  Delicious.

You never know how or when something you do or say will affect someone.  The mail service was slow in delivering these, yet they arrived on just the right day.  Thank you, Ali Dufty. 
Thank you very much. 

3PrincessesEngraving:Stylish Blogger Award-The fab 15

I woke up this morning and found an email about this:


3Princesses Engraving: Stylish Blogger Award - The fab 15

I'm happy to know that 3Princesses Engraving thinks this blog is well written and sent me this award.  This blog is a little labor of love.  I am not tech savvy so I don't use all of the bells and whistles that get lots of readers and followers. 

I have delayed and procrastinated about opening an Etsy shop, so I think I'm in an between place where I create some (a little) and buy (when budget or holiday demands,) but I don't have a shop which probably puts people off from reading and following the blog.  Such is life.

I have slowly picked up info here and there and try to make the blog less dull in appearance.  But, writing is sometimes slow and tedious, this, coming from a used-to-be voracious reader with an English Literature degree.  Ha!

Anyway, Congratulations to all of the Winners of the award.  I will be fulfilling the award requirements later and hope that all who read this blog and this post will find something interesting to read within our blogs.

Thanks to the people who have added this blog to their blog following list.  I love to read all of your updates and hope you have time to read mine, too.    Happy cold and snowy Sunday from here.  

If you have some time, check out 3Princesses Engraving's Etsy shop, she has some unique items, especially if you are looking for something personal and one of a kind:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/3princessesengraving

Wowee, Tiger Food Press Goody Bag Has Arrived!

In a previous post I told you about winning a Goody Bag from Tiger Food Press, a Letterpress artist and book creator. 
She has two Etsy shops, here's a link:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/tigerfoodpress

Without delay, here are some photos of what the outstanding artist, Clare, sent to me:





Clare was so generous with this selection of items from her shop.  She sent bookmarks with trailer image on one side and words on the other side, a lovely embossed Gift Tag with envelope,  the fabulous quote card and envelope, the Pine Bough and Pine Cone card with envelope (which by coincidence I had selected for my, "Green is the Theme" Etsy treasury), the Eagle card, the Chicken and Fox card, and the lighthearted Love Struck card-  all with envelopes.   She wrote a note to me on the Retro Spaceship card, which I also find to be fabulous (her message as well as the image.)

Let me speak about the envelopes for a second, I really like the metallic and rich colors of her envelopes.  Really, yes, that's why I tried to photograph them for you, but my camera doesn't pick up the true colors:  silver, bronzy-copper, rich brown, forest green, true red, and pale blue sky color.

The cards are beautiful, the paper is quality, the colors and sentiment are right-on, and the packaging is high caliber, too.  When you write to someone using these cards, it'll be a keepsake.  If these were framed, you would smile to have these as company around you.

Thank you, Clare of Tiger Food Press, you brought me a lot of pleasure with this very generous giveaway gift.  I hope you are always happy in your work, it shines through.  Continued success with your Etsy shops...

Memory Makers

It was time to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations, which makes the house seem toned down, colorwise. 


So, I took a look at these two brooches I made years ago, on a lonely, wintry January day when I was missing out on an overseas trip because I was very sick. 


I don't know how I made these through the fever, watery eyes, and sneezing that took over my days and nights.  I do remember the horizontal snow at  minus 40F windchill walking my dog who refused to do his business if he couldn't pick the perfect spot with just the right fragrance for him.  A beagle with a nose that ruled his walkies, that's for sure. 



I suppose thinking of butterflies during the winter was wishful thinking.  It was a distraction from the snow and wind.  We were alone in the house, my dog and I.  I felt sorry for him as he was missing my husband who took him for longer walks than I could manage at the time. 

                                                                                                                                                
He's always in my heart and never far from my thoughts.  Sweet and Best Dog.


An Easy Make and Bake Currant and Cinnamon Sugar Cake

currant tea cake New End Studio
Here's the finished cake in a waxpaper lined tin. 
Baked with raisins and cinnamon sugar on the top.



Ingredients

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Currants or other Dried Fruit
1 Cup Milk and 1 Egg Yolk OR 1/2 Cup Milk and 1 Whole Egg


Rehydrate the currants or dried fruit. Soak them in a little warm water, or plain warm tea for about 30 minutes give or take.  Drain them well. Use a strainer/colander or pour off the water/tea and shake until liquid is gone.

Mix the Flour, Baking Powder, and Sugar together in a bowl.  If you want to add a tiny pinch of salt, do this now.

Cut in the Butter until ingredients are the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.  I use a  manual pastry blender, two forks is harder to manage, but maybe you are good with them.

Stir in the drained currants until well blended.

In a separate container, blend the milk and egg together.  I use a large measuring cup to measure the milk then add the egg, then blend with a fork in the same cup, this saves washing another bowl.

Add the blended liquids to the dry ingredients and stir until all is blended.

I bake this in a greased (Pammed) cake tin.  You can bake on a cookie sheet or in cupcake or muffin tins, I have done all of these ways.  I like the cake tin, the smaller one I have, because the baked cake will fit in a tin. 

Keeping the cake in a tin keeps it fresher, if it will last long, about 5 days, depends on weather and success of baking. 

Ovens vary, so you need to know your own oven's temperamentalities.

I sometimes sprinkle plain sugar on the top and sometimes Cinnamon Sugar on the top, before putting it in the oven.

Bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350F Preheated Oven.  This bakes faster when it is not in a cake tin, closer to the 20 minutes.  The last one I baked took about 33 minutes.

We eat this with butter or jams and also plain.  It goes nicely with tea.  It's an easy recipe and not overly sweet, as the sugar is only 1/4 cup.  I have another recipe for a similar teatime cake and that one uses nearly 1 cup of sugar for the same size cake.

Hope you like this,  if you try it, let me know how it worked out for you.  Enjoy!
easy pineapple angel food cake New End Studio
Check out other Recipes by clicking the label in the sidebar or typing into the Search Bar.

Happy New Year!



Because this is one of my favorite songs, here it is again, Louis Armstrong's, "What a Wonderful World."  This video has some stunning photographs to accompany the song.  Enjoy this to kick off 2011 in a satisfying visual and musical tableaux- how's that for fancy talk?  Just enjoy a brand new day and hope your 2011 is superb, healthy, and peaceful...