Picture wall: hang it in less than an hour!

I wanted a fun, new arrangement for pictures at the house, and found lots of inspiration on Pinterest (follow me!).I found what would be the perfect arrangement behind the couch, displaying all of the pictures of our family our kid. (Definitely made me realize I need more photos of the husband and myself...)

I set up my arrangement on the floor, took a photo so I would remember the arrangement...then piled all the pictures by the end table for about a month. I just didn't know HOW to do it! And do it right! And make it straight! And not put a dozen extra holes in the wall!

But recently, while the husband was destroying our basement (that's another post altogether), I decided I was going to be handy as well. I laid my pictures out again, and picked up some tools including:

Hammer
Painter's tape
Tape measure
Pencil
Nails
Ruler
Small and large level



And got to work. I marked 60" from the floor, since that's about standard for where you want the center of the picture to hang for eye-level. I held a picture up, centered on the 60" mark, and marked the bottom edge of that frame. That's about where I wanted the bottom line. From there, I ran painter's tape level along that line.

I also measured the length of the entire picture span, including 2" gaps between each picture. I centered that behind the couch, and marked my end points. This is where the line of frames would begin, and end.

Start hanging! I always hated hanging pictures because I always found it so hard to mark the spot where the nail should go, and actually get it right. And if there are TWO hangers?? Come on! But I found this little trick on Pinterest and it changed my world:

I'm sorry I don't have in-action pics, it was just me hanging these!

I placed the frame facedown, held painters tape sticky side out against the back, where the hanger is. I used a nail to poke a hole exactly where the hanger is in the tape.

Carefully holding the tape in place with the frame, I held the frame up, level against the bottom line, and pressed the tape to the wall. It wasn't always pretty, but it did the trick. I nailed through the tape in the place I marked, peeled the tape, and hung my frame. Perfect!

Making progress! 

I marked a 2"gap, did it again, and hung the next one. Took me about an hour start to finish with seven frames. Check it out!

Banana Bread (aka Thank you, Facebook!)

I recently posed a question to my Facebook friends: How the heck do you get banana bread out of the pan without falling apart? I felt like I'd tried everything, but I still lost half of the bread to crumbs. What was I doing wrong?

I got lots of answers, the pan material, pan shape, recipe, lining of the pan or coating, etc. This week, I decided to try them all.

And guess what? It worked. Yes, the angels sang and the heavens shined upon me as this beautiful banana bread loaf slid out of the pan. Glory be.

To recap, I had been using:

•  an old Food Network Magazine recipe
• a glass pan with round corners
• butter
• waiting either really long, or really short to remove from the pan

 When I tried it this time, I used:

• Alton Brown's banana bread recipe (below)
• a metal, non-stick pan with straight sides and crisp corners
• PAM with flour
• wait exactly 10 minutes

It was just amazing, after so many wasted loafs and frustrating baking times, it worked! I'd made a beautiful bread, that didn't sink, that didn't crumble and that tasted fabulous. I was so pleased. I'll be using this recipe from here on out, for sure!

Banana Bread (Alton Brown for Food Network)

1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan with PAM and flour.

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Washi Tape

First, you might be wondering "what exactly is washi tape?" Washi tape originated in Japan. Washi is actually a type of paper that is made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree. The tape reminds me of a combination of masking and painters tape. It comes in fantastic colors and designs and is easily removable.

Our apartment has some less than attractive features. Today we're highlighting the light switch covers. They're old and ugly. That about sums it up. I'm going to use washi tape to add some pizzazz.

Here is what we are working with:

Use the side of the plate or any markings on the plate to line up your tape.

 When you get to a corner, cut the the corners of the tape with a scissors (above) so it can fold over neatly as shown below:

You'll be taping right over the switch openings. Very carefully, cut an "X" in the opening to create four flaps that you can fold inwards.

Mount your plate and enjoy!

(Of course this pattern has cats on it... did you expect anything different?)

Smores Mini-Cups

These just turned out so cute! I love all things chocolate-graham cracker-marshmallow. The ooey gooey fire-roasted sweetness is certainly the key to my heart. And mini-sized means I can eat more than one! These are great for parties, too, I brought them to work recently.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 package of graham crackers (just one of the "sleeves" in a box)
1/3 cup powdered sugar (optional)
Milk chocolate chips
1 package of mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crush graham crackers. I either put them in a plastic zipper bag and run a rolling pin over them, or toss them in the magic bullet and let it do its...err...magic. Both work well to get the fine pieces that you need, one just requires more work.
Mix graham crackers with melted butter and powdered sugar. I leave this optional because I keep on scaling back the sugar, but don't really think it's necessary unless you really like the sweet flavor. Try it with your first batch, but know it works well without.
Press into cups of a mini muffin pan. No liners, no grease, just smoosh that in there. Be sure to leave the shape of the cup, this involves a lot of cute little mini muffin cup work.
Bake 4-5 minutes, just long enough to toughen those babies up, they might look like the butter in them is bubbling.
As soon as they are out of the oven, sprinkle your preferred combination of chips and marshmallows into each cup. I like to mix them up, you could layer chips, then marshmallows, then chips. I just like to make sure there's a little marshmallow and a little chip on top.
Put back in the oven on the top rack for another minute or so, just long enough to melt some chocolate and brown the top of the marshmallows.
These are fabulous warm, but good anytime! Enjoy! 

Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip

I have long lost the original source for this ah-mazing Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip, and there are a bunch of sites that host it or something similar. And it is fabulous. When a friend passed the now-lost link on to me, I was hesitant when I saw the jalepeno. I'm Minnesotan! I don't do spice! But she assured me that when seeded, it's not very spicy at all. And she's right, it's the perfect amount of zip, adding very little heat.

I brought this to a potluck at work and it was an absolute hit! It's very festive around the holidays, especially when the cranberries are fresh, but if you freeze your cranberries, you could bring this year-round. I bet it would be delicious at a summer picnic! Can you tell I'm thinking of warm weather?

1 12-ounce bag cranberries
1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
pinch salt
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

Dice cranberries and jalapenos to your preference. I like to run it in a food processor or bullet-type appliance. This gets it really thin and juicy. If you do this, you'll want to strain some of the liquid out right before you spread onto the cream cheese. If you like it a bit thicker, you can do this by hand. 

Add sugar, lime juice, cumin and salt and stir to combine. Cover and let sit either for 4 hours, or overnight. I recommend overnight, it's really lets everything soak up the sugar.

Spread softened cream cheese onto a large platter or dish and spread the cranberry mixture over. 

I served with Wheat Thins, but any yummy party cracker would be great. Shoot, cardboard would be great, this stuff is fab. 

Sweet Potato and Aduki Bean Borritos

These burritos are not only delicious, but they are filling and packed with nutrients. Sweet potatoes are source of potassium, fiber, beta carotene, calcium, protein and vitamin A. The beans are a good source of minerals such as folic acid, magnesium, zinc and iron. Good belly filler, indeed!

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 1 can (15 oz.) aduki beans (I used no salt added variety. You could use black beans instead)
• 2 large (orange fleshed)sweet potatoes, diced in 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup vegetable stock or canned vegetable broth
• 2 T fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 c shredded Monterrey jack cheese, queso fresco or whatever you have in the house (I had sharp cheddar so that is what I used today)

Tortillas (Based on Deborah Madison's recipe)

• 2 c flour (can use white or whole wheat)
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• ¾ milk (water can be used also)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt or other seasoning like garlic powder or cumin or both
• I sometimes through in a tbsp or two of flaxseed meal

To make the tortillas: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle the oil throughout the dry ingredients and work it into the mixture with a fork or your fingers. Pour in the milk and combined until you have a shaggy dough. Turn this out onto a floured surface and kneed until combined. Be careful not to over-knead.  Place a damp towel over the dough and let rest for 20 minutes. Heat a cast iron pan on th stove on med-high. Cut the dough into eighths. Roll out an eighth onto a floured surface. Place the tortilla in the hot pan. When air pockets start to appear (40 seconds or so), flip your tortilla.

To make the filling: Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot on medium. Add sweet potatoes. Cook for a half hour or until they start to get pretty soft. Add vegetable stock and deglaze. Add the beans and spices. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add lime. Simmer for another couple minutes. Spoon the filling onto a tortilla. Top with cheese and enjoy!

Marshmallow bark

1 bag high quality bittersweet choc, milk choc, white choc, etc

1 bag of marshmallows

2 Tbsp butter

Any fun extras like mini M&Ms, sprinkles, nuts, caramel drizzle, sea salt, etc

Melt chocolate and butter. This can be done either in a double broiler or microwave at 50% power (defrost). I prefer the microwave version, just be sure to use in a microwave safe bowl, as the chocolate gets pretty hot. Be sure to stir often. These pictures were taken every minute or so. 

Special note: be sure not a drop of water gets in your mixture. I learned this lesson the hard way when I was making chocolate peacocks for Hannah's wedding in 2010. Water and the heated chocolate reacts somehow and clumplifies (technical term) the chocolate. It looks and tastes awful. So your bowl, and mixing utensils, everything should be DRY. In my case, the handle of the spoon I was using had water in it, and dropped into the mixture and messed it all up. That chocolate went to the garbage, rather than into the peacock mold...

Add marshmallows and mix gently to coat

Here's where you can go classy or not. The original directions call to spread in a 9x9 pan and refrigerate. When it hardens, you cut into cute little squares and they look fab. Or you can do this: 

I was inspired to skip the cutting step and make little marshmallow bark cookies of sort. But let's not split hairs: they look like deer poop. I swear they taste fabulous, despite their scat-like appearance. 

BUT! I got creative and thought sprinkles would make them festive and less waste-ful (get it?). 

Eh. Not so much. Looks like Rudolph poop. This might be fun for kids or something. Next time, I'll stick to the pan!