Whole Wheat Mini German Pancakes

Whew!  What a busy semester this has been!  Needless to say I haven't been posting as frequently as I would like.  I'm finishing up a couple of projects in my [infrequent] spare time and will be posting a bit about some things I've learned in my classes so far.  For now, here's a recipe for a fun breakfast food I made recently.

I first learned to make German pancakes in my cooking class in middle school. (Yay elective courses!)  I've made them regularly over the years and was delighted when one of the blogs I subscribe to posted a recipe for minis.  Perfect, my kids would love them, especially how they puff in the oven!  I altered the recipe slightly and we had a great breakfast... even if mine didn't turn out as perfectly intact as hers.  :)  I think I needed to grease the muffin pan a little more.  

Whole Wheat Mini German Pancakes

(adapted from Chef in Training)

makes 18-24 pancakes

6 eggs

1 c whole wheat pastry flour

1 c milk or equivalent

1/2 t sea salt

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 c butter, melted

Syrupy Raspberry Sauce

1 c water

1/4 c sugar or honey

1 t lemon juice

2 1/2 T cornstarch

1 1/2 c raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease two 12-count standard muffin tins, for a total of 24.  Blend together eggs, flour, milk, salt, vanilla, and butter until smooth.  Pour batter into prepared muffin tins until each cup is about half full.  Bake for 15-18 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.

For raspberry sauce: Cook water, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch* in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it thickens up. Stir in raspberries and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Fill each mini German pancake with sauce, sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional) and enjoy!

*To keep it from clumping, place the cornstarch in a measuring cup, add about 1/4 t of water and mix until evenly combined, add a few drops more and mix again, continue several times until the cornstarch is evenly blended and thin enough to pour.  Then add to the pan of other ingredients. 

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I'll be linking up to these fabulous link parties:

Monday -  Craft o Maniac Monday -- Craftastic Monday -- Tuesday -  Get Your Craft On -- Sew Cute Tuesday -- Tuesday Talent Show --  Wednesday -  Sugar and Dots -- Your Whims Wednesday -- Create and Share -- Whatever Goes Wednesday --  Linkin’ with Lil’ Luna -- Thursday -  Strut your Stuff Thursday -- Transformation Thursday -- Thrilling Thursday -- Make It Wear It -- The 36th Avenue Party Time -- Friday -  Flaunt it Friday -- Frugal Friday -- Weekend Wander -- Tickled Pink Fridays -- Weekend Wrap-up Party -- Catch as Catch Can -- Friday Flair -- Feature Yourself Friday -- Simply Link {Party} -- Pity Party -- Frugalicious Friday --  Saturday - Strut Your Stuff --  Lovely Crafty Weekend --  Sweet Saturday -- Sunday -  The DIY Showoff Project  Parade --  Sunday Showcase Party -- Creative Bloggers Party -- I Heart Naptime -- Think Pink Sundays

YouTube Video Sewing Course and Sewing with Tigers

Source

I've been thoroughly enjoying my classes this semester. One of the classes I'm taking is "Apparel Construction". I love it because it's helping me get familiar with commercial production methods and industrial machines.  Most of what we have been doing so far is learning about and practicing with lockstitch machines and sergers.  While explaining about lockstitch machines my teacher said home machines and industrial machines are very similar in their functionality, although a home machine is like a house cat and an industrial machine is like a tiger.  I love that analogy and can definitely attest to its validity -- they are so powerful and SO fast.  It's somewhat difficult to get used to and my first sewing samples were laughable at best.  But I'm determined to wrangle that machine!  I love the idea of sewing with tigers.

I also learned that my school produced a series of videos on DVD to go along with the course.  Apparently these videos have been used by educators around the world and my school is frequently asked to produce more.  These videos also happen to be available on YouTube!  So if you're interested in getting more detail feel free to check out the series.  Here's the first video, all about tools used in sewing:


I hope you enjoy!

Order Glasses Online with GlassesUSA.com

Has anyone ever purchased eye glasses online? For the longest time I didn’t even know that was an option. Then last year my kids broke my glasses (for the second time), I happened to come across an ad online, and decided to give it a shot.

I went to an optometrist to obtain a current prescription and took that information online to order my glasses.

This is where GlassesUSA.com comes in. They offer great prices on frames and lenses, including prescription sunglasses. They also have designer frames at a discount. The prices listed actually include basic lenses. That’s a huge savings over regular stores! Also important is the 100% satisfaction guarantee. (Definitely a must when shopping online.)

At first I was somewhat hesitant to purchase glasses online since I couldn’t see what they would look like on me, but GlassesUSA.com has a solution for that. You can upload a photo of yourself and “try on” the glasses frames! For me that’s even better than trying on glasses in the store since my eyesight is so bad, I can’t see what I look like in a mirror without the prescription lenses!

Right now they’re offering 15% off plus free shipping (on orders over $50 – Just enter code FS15 at checkout) or 10% off any order of prescription eyeglasses (enter code Blog10 at checkout).

I love the glasses I got and of course loved the huge savings, especially during a time when we didn't have insurance. Has anyone else had experience purchasing glasses online?

(This is a sponsored post but the opinions are truly my own.)

Back to School with Fashion Design

Monday marks the start of a new semester of my schooling.  This time I decided to put aside accounting (at least for the semester) and take a couple of courses in the fashion design program at my college.  I will be taking "History of Fashion" and "Apparel Construction" (it will be focused on industrial construction methods, which I'm excited to learn, and I'm hoping it will help me in my home sewing as well).

Since those topics are along the same lines as my blog, some of my posts between now and the end of May will be devoted to them.  I will try to do an update every week on what we covered in class, if it seems interesting enough to share.  Anyone care to follow along?  If you're interested, here are the books I'm using:



I can't wait to get started!

Necklace Alteration -- Two from One

Has anyone else discovered the Styled by Tori Spelling line of jewelry?  I really like a lot of the designs, but I've found that using the system as-is makes necklaces that end up being an awkward length, or I would like it to be just a little bit different.  Whenever something like that happens I usually just end up doing what it takes to make it the way I want it.

Take this necklace, for instance.

I loved the open metal flowers, but personally, I felt like the Y style didn't quite work here. So I decided to take off the dangling part in the middle and make two different necklaces.

I attached the middle portion of the original necklace to a long-ish chain using jump rings and made a closure and extension (like in this post).

I created it in such a way that the flowers would hang to one side of the necklace instead of in the center.

While wearing it I noticed the flowers would twist and turn a lot, so I added another jump ring between the flowers, which helped it stay flat.

For the second necklace I attached a pre-made "necklace top" from the Styled collection, which I shortened to make the center of the necklace lay just below my collar bone.

Using jewelry wire cutters I clipped the extra loop off of the center flower.

As you can see it left a couple of barbs sticking out. I used a small rotary tool (kind of like a Dremel, but way cheapy, although it still did the job) and ground them down until it was smooth.

Which gave me my second necklace.

Two for the price of one... gotta love that! Has anyone else had projects where you were able to get two from one?

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I'll be linking up to these fabulous link parties:

Monday -  Craft o Maniac Monday -- Craftastic Monday --nbsp; Tuesday -  Get Your Craft On -- Sew Cute Tuesday -- Tuesday Talent Show --  Wednesday -  Sugar and Dots -- Your Whims Wednesday -- Create and Share -- Whatever Goes Wednesday --  Linkin’ with Lil’ Luna -- Thursday -  Strut your Stuff Thursday -- Transformation Thursday -- Thrilling Thursday -- Make It Wear It -- The 36th Avenue Party Time -- Friday -  Flaunt it Friday -- Frugal Friday -- Weekend Wander -- Tickled Pink Fridays -- Weekend Wrap-up Party -- Catch as Catch Can -- Friday Flair -- Feature Yourself Friday -- Simply Link {Party} -- Pity Party -- Frugalicious Friday --  Saturday - Strut Your Stuff --  Lovely Crafty Weekend --  Sweet Saturday -- Sunday -  The DIY Showoff Project  Parade --  Sunday Showcase Party -- Creative Bloggers Party -- I Heart Naptime -- Think Pink Sundays