Sunday Mornings...

I love Sunday mornings.  We always celebrate being together by having a special breakfast, accompanied by fancy drinks.  It is a little known fact that you can pick up decadent syrups from coffeehouses like Starbucks inexpensively and then fix drinks for yourself at home.

Today we had Cinnamon Mochas.  Here is how we made them:

Ingredients:

• chocolate milk (or regular milk with chocolate syrup - 2% is best but anything will work)
• coffee
• slightly sweetened whipped cream
• Cinnamon Dolce syrup (but any flavor works!)
• ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Make coffee.
2. While coffee brews, steam the milk, stirring occassionally.  You can mix the chocolate milk with regular milk if you prefer a less chocolatey flavor.
3. Combine coffee and milk in the mug as desired.  (For kids, either omit the coffee or make decaf.)
4. Stir in syrup to taste.
5. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon to garnish.

Note:  This may or may not have been inspired by my new line of fabric for Robert Kaufman.  (I see a lot of decadent desserts in our future - hint, hint!)

There are legos on this blog...

I said that there would never be legos on this blog.

I patiently explained that, while legos are awesome toys and quite rightly deserve to be the center of our nine-year-old's existence, this is a blog for sewing enthusiasts and the interests of sewing enthusiasts and lego fans don't often overlap.

There are now legos on this blog. 

There are legos on this blog because it is my husband's and my anniversary and our kids made us this amazing three-dimensional lego sign.  We feel like we are visiting Hollywood.

Note the lego carriage that sits in front.  Having never been in a real carriage we are thrilled to have the opportunity to ride in a lego carriage!

And the surprises didn't end there.  The kids decorated our daughter's room as a surprise as well.  Why our daughter's room?  Silly question.  Because the bed is close enough to the fan that you can do this...

(We have been assured that these are tissue paper strips that they found with the wrapping paper rather than the alternative.) 

Dig this groovy Greg-Brady-attic-apartment tissue style entrance... and note the use of painters' tape so as not to marr the walls.

Because of our anniversary, there is also banana cream pie on this blog.  Like legos, tissue paper, and painters' tape, it never goes out of style.

One doesn't need a special occassion to make banana cream pie, though.
Here is the recipe:

Banana Cream Pie

• 1 baked pie crust
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• dash salt
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 ripe bananas, sliced
• 1 cup whipping cream

1. Whisk cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan.
2. Gradually whisk in half-and-half.
3. Whisk in milk.
4. Whisk in egg yolks.
5. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly.  (This will take about 6 minutes.)
6. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
7. Layer 1/3 of the custard mixture into the pie shell.  Top with 1/2 of the bananas.  Spread 1/3 more of the custard mixture on top.  Top with the rest of the bananas.  Cover with remaining custard.  Refrigerate until cold.
8. Whip whipping cream, adding a tablespoon of sugar if desired.  Spread over pie and serve.

Bon appetit!

Cooking Up/In a Storm

Snowboarders get hungry.
This weekend we also baked... and baked... and baked.

We've discovered that, especially when you are dealing with gluten-free recipes, it is better to bake in large quantities and freeze. We've tinkered around with lots of gluten-free recipes in this house, but for Christmas we got a cookbook called "Baby-Cakes", written by the owner, Erin McKenna, of a gluten-free bakery in NYC that goes by the same name. This book is AMAZING! For any family out there that might have members with dietary restrictions I would highly recommend it. No... wait... I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of dietary restrictions. All the recipes we've tried so far have been fabulous - just as good, if not better, than the real thing, without all the processed ingredients. This weekend we made Red Velvet Cupcakes and Apple Cinnamon Muffins. Mmmmm.
We also made homemade applesauce. (Our kids - and my brother - love this and it is SOOO easy.)

Here's how you make it:
INGREDIENTS
4 Granny Smith apples
4 Golden Delicious or Pink Lady Apples
1 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves

Peel and chop up apples into different sizes. Put into a Dutch oven with water. Cook over medium heat until the apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar. cinnamon, and cloves.

While everything was cooking, we made heart bookmarks.

We got the idea from marthastewart.com. It is a fun craft for any holiday.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!