Recipe of the Week

A kind, little stomach flu bug decided to come and interrupt our fun for last week. So, rather than write about how our week went (be glad I'm sparing you the details...) I decided to celebrate the return of our appetites by sharing one of our current favorite recipes.

It's not very often a side dish is good enough for me to actually put the effort into making it when I've already spent time preparing a main dish. Knowing that, the fact that I make these ALL them time should let you know how much we like them!

Baked Onion Rings
-1 1/2 c cornflakes
-1/2 c plain dried breadcrumbs (if you don't have breadcrumbs just throw in some extra cornflakes, still tastes good!)
-1 large egg
-1/2 c low-fat buttermilk (you can make your own with 1/2 c milk and 1/2 t vinegar or lemon juice.. because who keeps buttermilk on hand?)
-1/4 flour
-1/8 t cayenne pepper (this isn't enough to make them spicy, don't worry! You can't even taste the spice, just adds to the flavor)
-salt and pepper
-one medium sweet onion quartered crosswise and broken into rings (discard small center rings)
-2 T olive oil (they're still really good with just 1 tablespoon)

Preheat oven to 450. In a food processor (I use our blender), pulse cornflakes and breadcrumbs until fine crumbs form, then transfer to a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, flour, and cayenne and season with salt and pepper.

Dip onion rings in egg mixture (letting excess drip off) and dredge in cornflake mixture. Place on a large plate. Pour oil onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven and heat for 2 minutes to heat up the oil. (This makes them crispy!) Remove sheet from oven and tilt to coat evenly with oil. Arrange onion rings on sheet. Bake, turning once until onion rings are golden brown- about 16 minutes. Season with salt.

For your 'gluten free'ers out there, tonight I made these with just corn flakes (no breadcrumbs) and substituted the flour with coconut flour. (we're not going gluten free or anything, I just sometimes like to give myself a challenge while I cook)The breading didn't stick to the onions quite as well, but it was still delicious! Next time I'd probably try a little less coconut flour (instead of the full 1/4 c I'd probably start with about 1/8 and just add as needed so it doesn't get so thick)

Busy Week!

We've had quite the busy week, and yesterday was the perfect way to end it!

My Aunt Lolli works for L3 in Salt Lake and yesterday was their 'Family Day'. It was so fun! All the different departments planned a hands on activity to explain what they do. We got to freeze Otter Pops in liquid Nitrogen, watch people solder electrical stuff.. (hmmm this part would be a lot more detailed if Doug was writing it...) into pennies and then take on of the pennies home, send our name to Mars (and get a certificate to prove it), make charm bracelets with the different colors of wire Cabling Department etc etc. It was a lot of fun. I love watching people in their chosen environment, so my favorite part was just seeing all the scientist and engineers get so excited to explain what they've spent their lives working on.

After that Doug and I went on over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a wedding reception for Mike Anderson, one of my good design friends. We had a little mini reunion there and it was so great to see the guys I literally spent all of my waking hours with for my three years of BYU before my mission. It's still kinda sad to me that we're all so spread apart now. It's amazing how close you get to people when you see them ALL day every single day. I'm glad I got to see them for a couple of hours at least. I'm looking forward to the next wedding when we get to do it again!

Shabby Apple Design Contest

I have approximated 35 thousand projects on my 'To Do' list right now. So what do I do? Add another of course!

My cousin recently sent me the link to the Shabby Apple 'Dare to Design' contest. It looked like a fun idea (you get to design a dress and if you win they'll make it and you get a kick back from every one that sells) but I'm usually not one for contests. I'm always just so disappointed when I lose! But this time I gave in. Shabby Apple makes all modest dresses, and I've actually been thinking lately about how the world of modest wedding dresses needs to take a little advice from the past. There are so many beautiful designs from back when modesty was fashionable. Shabby Apple doesn't make wedding dresses, but the ideas I've picked up translated well into everyday dresses as well.

It was a lot of fun to pull out (and dust off... and hope they hadn't dried out...turns out wedding invitation design doesn't require much marker use...) my good old Prisma Color Markers and try my hand at fashion design. Here's what I came up with-

My dress designs for Shabby Apple dresses:

Dress #1
Historical Inspiration: Jane Austen



Ok, so Jane Austen isn't exactly a 'historical period' but I just keep thinking- what girl HASN'T thought about how much she'd love to wear one of the dresses from these classic films? Obviously the full on dresses would be a bit much for today's fashions, but I think they could be modernized really easily.

I just LOVE the red dress in the photo above. My first dress is designed to allow the owner to feel as though she was walking right along with Liz Bennett, but still fit into the world of 2010. I'd add a beautiful lace into the neckline for modesty and shorten the sleeves and skirt length. My favorite feature would be the flowing 'train' of the dress. It would be slightly longer than the front and would include a few gathers (or maybe a big inverted box pleat) up on the empire waistline. This would allow the dress to be fitted along the front but still flow like these classic, old dresses. I'm envisioning this dress in dupioni silk in classic colors- like black or deep red.


Dress #2
Historical Inspiration: Jane Austen (..again...)Same idea as above. This dress is a modern day version of the ball gown worn by Jane Bennett in the latest Pride and Prejudice Movie.. Less gathering in the front doesn't pack on the visual pounds, but a bit more gathering in the back still allows the dress to flow like the old fashioned ones. The neck line would have a large band, giving the visual appearance of the old, large scoop necks but still keeping the dress modest. I'd love to see this one made up with a few layers of thin, flowing white cotton.

Dress #3
Historical Inspiration: 1830s Gown



I just love the neckline on this old dress! Take it and add a slightly puffy skirt (maybe some lining edged with lace that peaked out from under the skirt when you sat down) and I'd say you've got the perfect summer party dress. I think this one would look great in any spring fabric: white linen, a light knit with a fun floral print etc.