Wedding Gift: Family Established Sign

Guess what I made today?

Nope, not a wood-carved eye test. It's a wedding gift for a friend! For those who've followed me on my last blog, you may remember I made these "family established" signs for some of family one Christmas based upon one we got as a wedding gift.

A good friend is getting married soon, so I decided to make one for her as well, though I took a different take on it this time.

I bought a framed board from Michael's and Dremmeled the giant E and established date portion into the wood. The wood claimed it was good for carving, but I had some issues making good lines. My bit might also be near the end of its life, but it felt more so like the wood was just harder than I expected.

I printed out my letters, but forgot to print them backwards, so as to easily rub them onto the wood. So instead I used two methods to stencil the letters onto the board: 1) newspaper between the print out and wood and then tracing the letters, and 2) rubbing the back of the paper with pencil before tracing the letters directly onto the wood.

I used this latter method when I did their name, and rather than retrace the letters afterwards to make sure I got each letter completely, I decided to go straight for the paint. I like the imperfections to the letters that resulted, and I think it gives it more character than if a machine had just cut something out of vinyl for it.

The colors are neutral so that it could go in any room of their house. I also wanted it to be fairly manly (or at least not overly feminine) so that the groom would be happy to have it around, too. (Am I the only one who thinks such things when creating wedding gifts?)

It took me less than 3 hours total, including waiting for paint to dry and touch-ups, so it's a completely easy, yet personal craft one can do for a wedding or house-warming gift.

Cooking Fun: Scones, Breads, and Macaroons

I recently began dealing with some food allergies. The good news is that my doctor believes most can be reversed. The bad news is that I have to stay away from pretty much everything for a few months while my body readjusts and can learn to distinguish food from non-food. Pretty much just certain meats and low-carb, low-glycemic veggies for me for a while.

One thing that makes this hard is that I get paid to cook. I'm not chef or anything, but part of my job involved preparing food for hundreds of folks every week. Add to that the fact that my community loves to get together and fellowship over food, and it makes it hard to stay on my limited food regiment.

Take the below items, for instance. One of my good friends is getting married, and I helped organize a surprise tea party for her. I made some cranberry scones and lemon blueberry bread-neither of which I could eat. But don't they look so tasty?

Cranberry scones recipe from Fine and Feathered

Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe from A Muse in My Kitchen

For myself for the party, I found this coconut and chia seed macaroon recipe from Meet the Shannons, and I gave it my own twists based upon my dietary needs. The first time I made it, I replaced the powdered sugar with agave nectar and used half the amount of shredded coconut. It turned out well, but slightly crumbly, like they said.

I decided to try it again, but with a few additional changes. Here's my recipe, which makes 7 macaroons. (I don't like to make large batches because that just means more being left around for me to eat.)

1/2 can coconut milk
1 Tbsp ground chia mixed with 2 Tbsp water for 5 minutes
1/2 tsp Stevia
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut flakes (I eyeball this)

Mixe the milk, chia seeds, Stevia, and flour together until well blended. Then stir in the coconut flakes. On a parchment lined baking sheet, place the loosely formed*, golf-ball sized coconut balls.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Once golden, move them to a cooling rack still on the parchment paper. They will get more firm after cooling.

*I personally like tightly formed balls, but pretty much every recipe will tell you to make them loosely. Part of this reason is so that coconut flakes peak out and get toasted. But I find mine get toasted enough for me my way.

Like the original post pointed out, these are not as firm as store-bought macaroons, but this second batch actually held together better than the first. And since these are the first macaroons I actually like, I'm okay with that.

It was my first time working with Stevia, too. I've read online about others claiming a bad aftertaste with it. I didn't experience that, though maybe it's because I used such a small amount. This second batch is not as sweet as the first, but I need to be careful of my sugar/sweetness cravings anyway, so that's probably a good thing.

Now the question is, which dessert should I try next?