My Daily Camera

I don't know about you, but I don't always have time to pull out my camera and fix all the settings to capture my daily activities (I know...photographer faux pas), nor do I necessarily want to lug my camera around with me everywhere. This is partly because I don't necessarily want to become the photographer of the evening, just because I pull my camera out to take a picture. It is also because I honestly love my iPhone and all of the cool apps that can make daily photography fun!

So.....

...here are some of my app recommendations to make photo documentation of your life super fun!

HIPSTAMATIC - Read super fun "lenses" and "films" that you can use to become the ultimate hipster (if you like) of your friends. Only $1.99 to purchase and well worth it! You can buy different paks too!

INSTAGRAM - I love this app! First...it is FREEEEE. Score. 

Also, it reminds me of Tumblr meets Facebook, but less time wasted. There are a variety of different effects you can use and one in particular that I like is the bokeh(ish) effect you can do to your pictures. Once you finish a picture it goes into a feed where your Instagram friends can comment or like or be amazed at your camera phone abilities and decide to buy you a soy latte. Boom.

CAMERA + - This is my latest purchase and it is so fun! Whereas in Hipstamatic you have to change the settings to take the picture you want, Camera + allows you to apply the effects after you take or upload a picture (like Instagram). I love all of the choices! I especially love that the borders allow you to write text on them. There is a polaroid-looking one that I really like to use.

DIPTIC - Ever wonder how people do the photo collages with their phones? This is the app! I love using this! There are some days where I take a million pictures and want to condense them for FB or blogging purposes and this is the tool to do that. Only $.99!






I am sure you may have heard of some or all of these apps, but if not, you are welcome! Have fun!

Love,
Shoot

~Weekending~

I was so excited for this weekend to start!

It just feels like the last three (3!) weeks have been sooooooooo long and the weekends soooooooo short. Not that this one should or will feel any different... but excited about this two day span of time none the less.

I've been meaning to capture a "weekending" post down in words for awhile now... as a way to preserve some of the short moments in each day that one gets to linger. It may only be for a second, or it may be for thirty minutes. The emphasis being on lingering part. Here is what we've been enjoying as of late.
    

~popcorn fridays
~story time for two (and three when that man of mine is home... story time for three is my very favorite)
~sunny weather!
~knitting in the wild
~messy art projects
~flowers from my love
~dinner with good friends and the kids running, running, running like mad...

Hope your weekend was filled with moments to linger and luxuriate in as well.
Love,
Cut

Pondering's from a week gone by to fast

It's been cold around here.  Snowing.  In March.

People have been lamenting the weather, saying they've never known it to snow in the early spring like this but I've noticed a little pattern over the past few years since I've started gardening.
We always have an early spring snow. Always.

So to combat mother nature so to speak, we've been eating a lot of belly filling soups around these parts

and knitting up scarves to keep ourselves warm.

And while it's true these newest hand knits may spend more time a drawer then draped around our necks, I'm knitting them up just the same... Because I have an inkling they'll be put to good use when we put in the garden this year. Me, the boy and our hand knits to keep us warm.

Despite the blustery, snow filled weekend... it seems spring has definitely sprung. My garden is starting to show signs of the ground warming up and all of my early spring plants have started to peek their heads above ground. And I have a whole army of "volunteer plant life" that has reared up as well.

It was such a busy weekend and now here it is Wednesday night already and I feel like my to do list has only gotten longer.

There is so much I've wanted to accomplish this week, some of it time sensitive. I've been thinking a lot about planting a sustainable vegetable garden this year. One that I can harvest a substantial amount from. Then preserve/can whatever is possible in order to supplement our food budget into next winter. I think this is truly one of the only ways we can eat for a low low cost and still eat well. For instance, I can freeze pesto for a fraction of the price it costs to buy it... and those are the little ingredients that make sharing a meal so special. Leif and I have been talking about it for a few weeks now... does anyone do this already? I'd love to hear what your growing, how your preserving... and likewise how it works for you and your family's food budget.

So still to do: plot garden and order seed. I also have wanted to finish up my March's sewing basket challenge, knit a few inches into this beautiful herringbone cowl, and of course there is still the lovely Tova pattern calling to me from across the room on my sewing table. Whew.

What has your week been like?

Nature at its' Washingtonist

Rainy days make the beauty all around us even brighter! I took just a moment tonight when I got home from work to capture my surroundings.

Love,

Shoot

Vegan Delights - SW Tofu Scramble

As a recent convert to mostly veganism and a person who enjoys a savory breakfast that does not include oatmeal (no thanks), I missed having eggs in the morning. There are a lot of awesome tofu scramble recipes out there, but none that I found that I loved. So, I decided to try my own tofu scramble. It is incredibly good and satisfying!

Finished Product

Southwest Tofu Scramble
1/4 bell pepper, diced (red, yellow, orange, or green - I like green best)
1/4 cup of black beans
1/4 cup of corn
1/4 of a package of extra firm tofu
1 tablespoon cumin
1/4 cup of salsa (love Trader Joe's Salsa Especial)
salt and pepper to taste


Rinse Tofu and press out water. Crumble into frying pan (non-stick), so that it looks like scramble eggs. Add diced bell pepper, corn, black beans, cumin, salsa, salt, and pepper and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until all moisture is gone and tofu is slightly browned. Put in bowl and say "YUM"!

"Souped Up" Broccoli/Cheddar Soup

I was putting together this week's menu plan for my family this weekend when I came up with a revelation. This is not necessarily going to be a revelation to all of you... but to me, lightbulbs came on.

Anyways, I had this revelation that I should make a double batch of two meals during the week... and instead of freezing them (because I freeze with good intentions, but rarely use it) I would make a new meal out of the leftovers. I searched around the internet to see if there was any ideas other people have had concerning this leftover business but I didn't come across a whole lot. SO, I think I'm going to make this a ongoing subject here in this space.



I should also mention the reason I found this idea so ground breaking is because I am a horrible coupon shopper and tend to cook what I'm craving... so that makes it harder for me to grab great deals at the supermarket. By adding a slight spin to yesterdays dinner I'm hoping to cut down on our families grocery bill, still be able to make what I want to for dinner... and eat up the leftovers that tend to get no love the next day. Revelation.

This soup is a perfect way to start the week off because I made a big ol' batch of it and will now be able to eat it for lunch a few times this week.



I was looking for a way to up the vegetable content in a soup that I adore but is normally pretty heavy and unhealthy. When I'm planning the menu for the week I tend to flip through my cookbook's for idea's so as I was doing this and I came across a golden cheddar soup in the Moosewood Collective: Moosewood Restaurant Cook's at Home that blended potatoes, squash and carrots into the soup. Bingo! My Broccoli/ Cheddar soup has been saved.

I wouldn't call this healthy.... it's still got that yummy whole milk and cheddar cheese broth. But it is a lot more nutritious, and that is good enough for me. This recipe should feed you for a week of lunches + one family dinner. I would halve it if you are needing just a little less leftovers.

"Souped up" Broccoli/Cheddar Soup
Adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Cook's at Home Golden Cheddar Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
1 small yellow summer squash, grated
2 carrots, grated
2 small potatoes, grated
1 tablespoon dried thyme
4 cups of water
2 cups of whole milk
1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
3-4 heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
salt and pepper to taste

In a large heavy pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. When oil is warm add the diced onion and turn heat down to medium-low. Cook until onions are soft but not colored, about 5 minutes. Add in the grated squash, carrots, potatoes and thyme. Cook for one more minute and then add 4 cups of water and simmer for 20-25 minutes with the lid off.

After vegetables are cooked through either use your immersion blender and blend ingredients together or pour batches of the soup into your blender and blend until smooth. If you used a blender, return soup to pot and wait a few minutes for the soup to reheat.

Add in the whole milk and cook for one more minute (allowing soup to heat back up). If the soup seems too thick at this point for your taste add a little more water. Once the soup is hot again, fold in both the cheddar and sharp cheddar cheeses.  Finally add the broccoli to the soup and give it a good stir.

Cover the pot with a lid and cook until broccoli is finished to your liking (I like mine a little crunchy so I only cooked it an additional 2-3 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste and ladle into bowls.

I served mine up with some crusty sourdough bread and called it good.

For future endeavors with this recipe I might try adding a hit of cayenne for some heat. I also might swap out the potatoes for parsnips because I really like the fresh flavor they add to soups. Finally, I would definitely look into adding maybe an aged cheddar cheese to this recipe. I found that you really couldn't taste the cheese in a 2 cup ratio as much as I desired in this recipe. I think a stronger tasting cheese would solve this problem.

Hope you enjoy and I hope you all have as much help with the dishes as I did afterwards! Thanks!

New Years Resolution: The Sewing Basket Challenge

I've never been much of a resolution maker. I do an alright job evaluating from time to time what projects I want to finish up and what new things I want to try. However looking back, I find that as I've grown older I'm totally inspiration driven, which means~ not so great for the long haul when that inspiration wanes. 

Therefore I've decided this will be the year I finish up all those unfinished projects I have laying around, and boy do I have a lot of them! I am totally guilty of working on a project until I run into a problem... and then I just lay it to the side... maybe to sew a zipper in 6 months later... and then lay aside again. It’s a habit I'm a little ashamed of and I have decided this year will be the year I clear up my slate! 


Which is why The Sewing Basket Challenge was born. I thought the easiest schedule for me to follow would be a monthly one where I take a few projects and try to finish them up within that month. I figured this just might work for a couple of reasons: A) There's a looming deadline and B) One month includes at least 4 weekends. Besides all that I would be rewarded at the end of the month by a finished project and a "change of pace" so to speak when I started my next project. Completely doable. Which is why it's March and I am still working on January's two projects I have these great projects for March to share with you. Ahem. 
Here’s a break down of March's Sewing Basket:

The Anthropologie inspired pillow

Full post to follow about how after making this pillow I now know why it's $88.00 at your local Anthropologie store! This thing took forever......... and ever.

Zebra Chair Cushions

I'll be showing how I developed a cushion pattern since there was no existing cushion to go off of and how I sewed a basic box cushion for this goodwill find. If your wondering why this was shot outside, besides the light being better there, it's because this was also happening: 

This is Ezekiel. He is my main project.. and one that fills me with pride and joy. In April he will be 2! I'm hoping to have the "household projects" wrapped up this month and start work on some super secret birthday inspired sewing for him soon. Wish me luck!