My Small Business 102: STRATEGIES AND INSPIRATION FOR THE CREATIVELY INCLINED

For all my crafting friends trying to make it in the business world, check out Clarkson University's Center for Entrepreneurship.  I am currently attending the My Small Business 102, which is for the creative artist and crafter.  It is being taught by a very successful north country creator, Sandy Maine, owner of Sunfeather Soap.  Last nights class was about setting goals for yourself, as well as tips and tricks to help the creative person.  I enjoyed this class and will definitely be suggesting it to others.

image from clarkson.edu/entrepreneur

With this I would also like to announce that Springs n' Things will be going through a change in the next week or so since I feel my recycling has gone way past just springs!  

I didn't get home until around 8:30 last night and wanted a snack.  The BF had made a grilled peanut butter and fluff sandwich for lunch that day and suggested I try it.  It is the same as making a grilled cheese just with peanut butter and fluff and it was delicious!  Definately not healthy, but great comfort food (at least I used wheat bread).  

Yummy Health Breakfast - Crepes with Strawberries, Bananas and Nutella

This weekend I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but there is always next weekend!  I did get to go snowmobiling which may be the last time this year since it is raining today, which I'm not sure if I am happy or sad about the rain.  Anyways, sunday morning I had the BF's mom and grandma over for breakfast since he was working and decided to make crepes.  Crepes are actually very easy to make and can be a healthy alternative to pancakes. Check out the recipe below from Prevention.

 

PREP TIME: 25 MINUTES + 1 HOUR RESTING /COOK TIME: 35 MINUTES / MAKES 4 SERVINGS

The key to successful crêpes is a pan that allows the crêpes to release easily without sticking.
Crêpes can be made ahead of time, separated with foil, parchment, or waxed paper, then
wrapped and refrigerated until ready to use.

CRÊPES

1/2 c all-purpose flour  (I used King Arthur Whole Wheat White Flour)
1 Tbsp sugar (I used Splenda)
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 c fat-free milk

FILLING

2 c strawberries, sliced
1 banana, sliced
2 tsp sugar (I used Splenda)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella, warmed  (I used less, only lightly coated each crepe)

 1. TO MAKE THE CRÊPES: Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together the eggs and milk in a separate bowl. Whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture until well combined. Cover and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight. (I didn't let mine rest and they came out fine)

2. PREHEAT the oven to 275°F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

3. COAT a nonstick crêpe pan or 8" skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.Pour 3 tablespoons of crêpe batter into the pan, tipping to coat the bottom evenly.Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side, until lightly browned. Repeat 7 more times with the remaining batter. Stack the crêpes as you work and cover to keep warm.

4. TO MAKE THE FILLING: Combine the strawberries,banana, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl.

5. ARRANGE the crêpes on a work surface. Spread each with 1 1/2 teaspoons chocolate-hazelnut spread in a straight line across the center. Top the spread with 6 tablespoons of the strawberry mixture, then roll up jellyroll style. Transfer the crêpes to the baking sheet, seamside up. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until the filling is warm.

Nutritional Info Per Serving: (1 serving = 2 filled crêpes)
280 cal, 9 g fat, 2.5 g sat fat, 135 mg sodium, 44 g carb, 3 g fiber, 9 g pro, 10% calcium

In my version by using Splenda, I came out to about 220 calories and I had a small glass of juice, so my breakfast totaled about 300 calories and for Sunday breakfast that is not bad at all, and boy were they tasty!

Cookbook Review: Eat What You Love - More than 300 Incredible Recipes Low in Sugar, Fat, and Calories

I normally don't use cookbooks, most of my recipes come from the internet.  It's just that I never think to look at them when I'm at home, but this cookbook changed it all.  The recipes are all delicious and most of the dinner's are under 300 calories, but they still taste good!  I received this as a Christmas present from my BF's mom, she already had it and I had looked at it and really like it!  

A few of my favorites: 

1.  Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Sauce

2.  Coffeehouse Chai Latte (Only 70 Calories)

3.  Spicy Kung Pao Shrimp

4.  Slow Cooker Rootbeer Chicken

5.  Better than Take-Out Orange Chicken

And so many more!  Find it on Amazon!

Be Extra Cheerful this Christmas with Disaronno & Eggnog :)

Last night I bought some eggnog and decided I needed a little bit of a drink with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  I was going through our liquor cabinet and found a full bottle of Disaronno and I figured amaretto and eggnog would be a good combo and it was delicious!

There are several variations, you can make a martini buy adding Disaronno, Vodka to Eggnog as well.  Basically in an "on the rocks" size glass, but 1 shot of Disaronno, fill the rest with Eggnog (or an eggnog and milk combo) and then stir together.  I will definitely be making a pitcher of this for Christmas Eve!

Sweet Potato Dog Bones - Bubba loves them!

I am fed up with buying rawhide, I am not sure why it costs $10 dollars or more for bones and now with 2 dogs it has gotten quite expensive and really isn't good for them, so I found a different option.  I was reading an article about how much dogs like sweet potatoes so I cut a whole sweet potato in half and then sliced it about 1/4 inch thick, placed the slices in one layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them for 3 hours a 250 degrees and shut off the oven and left them in there over night.  The end result was a drier chewy slices.

Bubba went nuts for them and I didn't get to give one to Annie, but I will tonight.  They need to be refrigerated.  I bought 3 sweet potatoes for $2.47 and will probably get at least 30 treats from them, so much cheaper and healthier than rawhide!  Enjoy!

Martha Stewart's Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

If you tried my previous post on Martha Stewart's Homemade Marshmallows, these are even better.  They have a slight, not strong peppermint flavor that makes them delicious in hot chocolate.

These are becoming a Christmas tradition, I made these for the first time last year and gave them out to friends and family with packs of specialty hot chocolate and they were a hit.  A word of caution though last year I used peppermint flavoring for candy making not peppermint extract and they were very strong. So make sure you are using pure peppermint extract.  They are very easy to make, but can become a sticky mess as well so be careful.  

Recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peppermint-marshmallows

There is also another great recipe I may try for chocolate covered marshmallows if I have a chance before Christmas! Enjoy!

Taste of Home: Chicken & Broccoli Braid

Since I can't really share any of the projects I am working on since most of them are Christmas presents for people, I will share another of my favorite recipes.

The Chicken & Broccoli Braid is actually a heart healthy recipe but still tastes delicious.  This is in our regular rotation of dinner meals, it tastes too good not to be bad for you!  I know using the yogurt in place of half of the mayo may seam a little odd, but you don't even taste it.  Give it a try! 

Check back tomorrow for Ice Bucket Luminaries!  They are outside freezing now as I type!

Laughing Cow Chicken Cordon Bleu

Just had to share this recipe, b/c it is healthy and still tastes delicious even the BF likes it and requests it. I believe I was first told about it by my boss and it is really easy and really delicious.

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
2. Beat 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
3. Spread 1 (2 for the BF haha) wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss on the flattened chicken
4. Add 1 - 3 pieces of ham
5. Roll up and hold with a toothpick if necessary
6. Place on foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with Italian style breadcrumbs (or plain work too)
7. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes at 400 degrees

I serve it with a little bit of homemade raspberry jam it just makes the flavor come out wonderfully.  All and all if you make it with a 4 oz chicken breast, 2 pieces of ham (I use Sara Lee Low Sodium) and 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light it is about 200 calories, but so delicious.

Now I know I am probably preaching to a few already fans of laughing cow already, but if you have never had it, you definately need to try it.  It is good on apples and grapes and any other kind of fruit.  All kinds of it are delicious.  My favorite 100 calorie snack is 6 reduced fat wheat thins and one wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow.  Best healthy sandwich a 100 calorie Everything Wheat Bagel Thin, tomato slices and a wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow.  So if you haven't tried it, you definitely should!

Happy Thanksgiving! Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cheesecake

For Thanksgiving this year I wanted to get away from traditional pumpkin pie. Not that we don't love pumpkin pie, like I've said before we love anything pumpkin, but I want to combine it with something else we really love cheesecake! What better day to indulge than Thanksiving! This year we are not having a traditional turkey and stuffing. We are having lasagna, I am making from scratch using spaghetti sauce I canned from roma tomato's I grew over the summer, and cheesy garlic bread. After that meal I'm not sure anyone will have room for cheesecake but we'll see.

So for the cheesecake, I followed Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe with only one modification. Instead of using regular graham crackers for the crust, Honey Maid has gingerbread graham crackers which I thought would give this a little more flair. Also I didn't use pumpkin pie spice, I used cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and a little nutmeg.

Freezing Apples Whole - Believe it or not It works!

Before I went to Virginia, I had purchased a 1/2 bushel of apples (I think its the right measurement, anyways it was a lot of apples).  Being busy with my projects as I always am, they sat in the fridge for quite awhile and then I realized that I needed to do something with them before my trip.  I didn't have time to peel and cut them up so after a little Google research I decided to freeze them whole. I washed them and then placed them on a cookie sheet and set them in the freezer overnight.  Once they were frozen I moved them to gallon freezer bags and but them back in the freezer.

I decided Monday night that I wanted applesauce and I figured it would be a good test run for the frozen apples b/c if they came out mushy it wouldn't really matter.  I filled the sink with hot water and took the apples out of the bag and floated them individually for about a minute.  Just enough to soften up the skin.  Then I peeled them which worked wonderfully and only requires your fingers, the skin peels right off leaving all of the apple behind.  The only small struggle was cutting and de-coring the apple b/c the middle was still a little frozen.  I would say all in all it balanced out b/c they took half the time to peel but a little longer to cut up.  I used my favorite Betty Crocker Applesauce recipe, very simple just add some brown sugar a little cinnamon and some nutmeg.   It was just as good as using fresh apples.  The apples stayed a little chunky and weren't just mush.  I will totally use them to make pies, crisp and cake, as well as anything else that requires apples.  At least this way you don't have to worry about the apples turning brown while freezing!

Check back tomorrow, I will be making, hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning, Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Cheesecake for Thanksgiving!

Ooops I had a long weekend :) - Homemade Marshmallows

Sorry for missing yesterday's post.  I took Monday off to take my dogs to the vet and spend some time with the BF.  Over the weekend I worked on a lot of great projects, that I will share this week.  For all of you who have not had a homemade marshmallow before you will never go back to store bought ones again.  Last year for Christmas I made peppermint marshmallows and gave them as gifts to people with hot chocolate, they were delicious.  This year for my first batch I wanted to try the traditional vanilla recipe and of course they were just as wonderful.

Homemade Marshmallows (Courtesy of Martha Stewart)

The recipe is used is from Martha Stewart.  The recipe is very simple, the only word of caution I have is to be careful it gets very hot and that it is best to use a stand-up mixer like a Kitchen Aid b/c it will take require a lot of mixing.  I hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkin Pancakes make me smile :)

After returning from Charlottesville, VA I really just wanted comfort food. The BF and I totally love anything pumpkin, so on recommendation from a friend we made Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Pancakes.  The only addition I made to them was adding chocolate chips.  Butter and maple syrup to top them off and they were delicious.  Nothing better to make you feel at home than pancakes!

Image from marthastewart.com

Give it a try! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!  I am going to make them again this Sunday for Breakfast.   Happy Veterans Day!

My Weekend Recap

So I hope everyone had a good Halloween, I know I did.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures once I had my costume on and makeup, but I took a picture of the finished jacket, hat and teapot purse.  This was by far probably the most fun I have ever had in a costume, except for maybe when I went as Rainbow Bright.

So on Saturday, I started to refinish the door and the little dresser.  I used Formby's Paint and Poly Remover,  It actually worked very well considering the door had 3 coats of paint on it.  

After removing the first layer of varnish from the dresser drawers, they were actually very nice (see top drawer in picture below), but it was impossible to get all three to look the same, so I kept going.

After some sanding on Sunday.....

The drawers are only going to need a little more sanding and they will be ready for stain.  The door is going to need another coat of Formby's as well as the rest of the dresser.  So its back to Lowe's for me today!  

Now everyone needs a break from crafting every now and again so I made Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies , they are delicious and I suggest you try them!