morestomach

oatmeal creme pie cookies

Published on October 4, 2013October 31, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach19 Comments

{i’m interrupting the wedding related posts to talk about these cookies.}

i have the annoying ability of remembering
the most random things
the other day, while driving somewhere,
i recounted a childhood story to dw
(for the record, i do this often
as a result, at the wedding, he would
point at someone & say, “is that the one
who taught you …”)

anyway, the story goes:
i was at a fair with my cousin
we were playing musical chairs with
the other rugrats at the fair
in the first round
i sat in the chair the exact same time
as another girl
she nudged me and since i wasn’t the
most competitive person i conceded to her
as a result, i received an earful
about standing my ground
staking my claim
being a Victor
(seriously, The Hunger Games has nothing on my family)

i listened intently,
i was an intensely good listener back then,
and during the next round
i played for keeps
when i ended up in a chair
with someone else
before that kid could nudge me
i shoved her on the ground
~~and made her eat dirt~~
and won that game
like a Gladiator

i’m fairly certain i received
another earful about
good sportsmanship
but i don’t remember that part
i just recall feeling kinda
like Loser Winner
it wasn’t fun
it didn’t feel good
i’m certain i never played Musical Chairs again

these cookies are like
that childhood story
minus the dirt
and shitty taste in your mouth
instead, it was remembered
at the most random time,
thanks to this image
and dw’s massive enthusiasm

through an email exchange with
carey, who shared with me her
thought process
i came up with a plan
i have a favorite oatmeal cookie recipe already
and while i am not the biggest fan
of frosting/icing/filling
i think i can make do with something
in between these sweet things

and so, the week prior to
the wedding
when the heat was still lingering
and i had a business trip looming
and an abode to clean
and a wedding dress to fit into
i turned on the oven
and got to cranking

surviving all that:
that tasted good
but these oatmeal creme pie cookies?
man
this is what true victory tastes like

Oatmeal Creme Pie Cookies
cookie recipe adapted from food loves writing’s gma
marshmallow/meringue filling recipe – i’m sure some french person came up with it

**note: i doubled the cookie recipe and came up with about 24 cookies, making for 12 sandwiches. the filling amount was just enough for all the cookies.

cookies:
2 sticks of margarine, room temp (i use earth balance non-hydrogenated vegan butter sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 TBLS water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups spelt flower
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins

pre-heat the oven to 325F

in a bowl, mix the sugars with the margarine. add in the eggs, one by one. mix. add in the vanilla. next add in the dry ingredients, incorporating everything, but don’t overmix. last, fold in the chocolate chops and raisins.

using an ice cream scooper, place the cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (i did not do this, and as a result, spent some extra time 5 minutes after taking the cookies out of the oven make sure the cookies didn’t cool onto the sheets) press down a smidge, to help them be roughly the same size. these will spread but not too much.

bake for 12-15 minutes.
allow to cool completely before making sandwiches.
store in fridge.

eating them at room temp is fine, but when eaten right out of the fridge, the cold crispness really adds a lovely texture to whole thing.

marshmallow/meringue filling recipe
2 egg whites
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

in a clean metal bowl add in the the egg whites. over a pot of simmering water, whisk, with a hand mixer, the egg whites until soft peaks form. add in the sugar and vanilla. whisk some more until it’s firmer/stiffer.

wipe the bottom of the bowl and stash in fridge until ready to use.

PS. don’t look at the nutrition facts. for real.

other oatmeal related baked goods:
morestomach – chocolate wonderfuls
movita beaucoup – oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
reclaiming provincial – pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
tutti dolci – oatmeal toffee cookies

september | remember

Published on September 30, 2013October 16, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach14 Comments

can you believe?
it’s the end of september
i’m a Mrs!
(thank you so much for putting up with all the wedding
related stuff this month!)
(um. i might have a few more posts,
most likely vendor info, photographs of the actual Day,
and gift ideas for all parties)
~~(sorry about that)~~

oh but this month nearly did me in:

saw … twilight in the country. dw & i roadtripped to southern virginia, i had to work and since it was in the area of my alma mater, i brought him along to see what i saw all those moons ago when i fell in love with the mountains
heard … moos. really. it was enchanting. i could’ve stood in that field for hours watching them
smelled … lavender. rosemary. licorice. my bouquet smelled so beautiful
tasted … red wine. my cup really runneth over with the stuff this month
commenced … crocheting in earnest. this has been on my to-make list forever

and of course, a few pinterest treasures:

|| i’m dying to chop my locks but if can’t go full on pixie, i might have to do this
|| this might be my next arty farty project
|| gawd, this entire collection is gorgeous, i wish i could afford dvf
|| it’s cowl season!
|| excellent read: life divides into AMAZING ENJOYABLE TIMES and APPALLING EXPERIENCES THAT WILL MAKE FUTURE AMAZING ANECDOTES!

photo captions:
crocheted owl rattle – for a friend’s baby girl this autumn. i really did walk around for days after i completed this project, just shaking the shit out of it. i changed the pattern just a smidge, rather than doing the double crochet stitch, i used single crochet instead. also, i didn’t bother with the wings. i may have used a slightly bigger hook too. i purchased christmas-like bells so it’s not actually a rattler sound, and more like you know, reindeer on your rooftop type of sound.
blueberry citrus scones – i did bake this month, and fed dw breakfast. i swear. i adapted this recipe, from this recipe
sweet honey soda water – dw loves his soda water. i can’t remember what the exact ingredients were but this post has a couple of great options
gluten free blueberry donuts – i know. enough with the blueberries already. and i still have a bag in the freezer to use up. yeah. i don’t have a recipe for these gems. they were good though
soup dumplings (xiao long bao) – they weren’t perfect but i’m glad i tackled this project. now i know for sure to just hit up a dim sum joint for the real stuff. i adapted this recipe

and our unofficial song: love is all i am

wedding | diy envelopes

Published on September 23, 2013September 22, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach5 Comments

as simple as the wedding invites
turned out to be
i had to make them a shape
that normal envelopes don’t come in
oh you know, this girl likes challenges

supplies/how to:
watercolor paper – i didn’t want to use regular paper since the invites themselves were of thicker stock, and plus, i wanted the option of possibly painting on the envelopes
x-acto knife
ruler
deconstructed envelope of choice, this is your template
scotch tape
envelope glue
protective board

carefully unglue the envelope of choice that you want to mimic. tape it to the watercolor paper to keep in place. using the ruler to help you keep straight, very carefully cut the shape out.

once the envelope has been cut use the ruler to help with folding. glue along the edges to make the shape of the envelope. i used the remaining scrapes to catch the excess glue. allow to dry completely, a few hours before stuffing the envelopes. to keep it flat i would put a heavy book on top. address accordingly and if you’re feeling it, paint on them. i realize the post office is not the cleanest and the mail goes through various machines and is handled by many people before it reaches its final destination but it does make for a festive and pretty letter.

wedding | diy watercolor invitations

Published on September 19, 2013September 13, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach11 Comments

i don’t know what inspired me
to make the wedding invitations
when it’s just as easy to ~~shoot off an email~~
print them out on fancy schmancy paper
and call it a friggin day
but no
i took an online watercoloring class,
a class that i enjoyed
but ultimately did not use any
the techniques i learned
in the finished product
(dw says i like to sign up for things
and then kinda show up
halfheartedly,
and then deuce out)
maybe that’s why i went balls to the wall
with the diy stuff
to show him that i’m entering this
whole marriage thing
with all my heart

anyway,
i currently have an infatuation
with billy balls
lucky me they’re just fuzzy balls on a stem
which are easy enough to paint

supplies/how to (the last 4 items can be purchased at any arts/craft store:
inkjet printer
scissors or paper cutter
watercolor paper – i used Strathmore 400 series cold press watercolor paper
paintbrushes
watercolors

i decided early on that i’m not much for the bulky-tissue-paper-and-confetti-in wedding invitations. for some people it works, for me, that’s just the sound of trees weeping

so, i wanted to keep the information concise and to the point, on a square shaped paper. most important info: date, location and a website with all the other information

dw & i worked on the wording, the location of the wording on the paper, leaving enough room on the left side for me to paint. i think we managed two invites per sheet of paper

i think i chose to ignore what i learned from the online class because i didn’t want to have to worry about color blending. i went with the simple orange-yellow hue with grey stems. i kept it to just 2-3 balls. tip: stenciling might be a good alternative, using colored pencils instead

dry the invites overnight, on a flat surface

all in all, this project took just a weekend to do, 12 hours of which spent for drying

inspiration:
Bdesignsinvitations
BubbyAndBean
paper & ink

wedding | diy scratch off save the dates

Published on September 16, 2013September 13, 2013 by Lan | MoreStomach18 Comments

y’all
the time is drawing dangerously near
for the next few weeks
i will be posting some crafts,
specifically diy things that
i worked on for the last 6 months
believe me when i tell you that:
it’s easy
it’s affordable
and most importantly
it’s personal

for the photograph used –
a tripod
camera – we used my dslr, but honestly, a p/s would work fine

how-to:
we chose a sunny day to snap the shot,
it may have taken us 30 minutes
the cellphones were blank, although we
did snap pictures of each other on them

choose a background that is neutral,
in our case, we opted for the brick wall of the condo building next door
and we’re standing on the fire escape
between the two buildings
the sun is at around 2:30pm so it’s not too harsh and not behind us
i stood dw in front of the camera
and had him raise his arm with cell in hand
i focused on the cell
set the timer
ran to stand next to him
10 seconds later, snap
repeat about 10x, or until bored

editting:
dw used photoshop to add the pic
of each of us onto the cellphone screen
i decided to go black/white with the photo we used
i used a random postcard making company,
i won’t tell you who, cus i ended up
cussing them out for bad service
you can google it or use a vendor you trust

scratch off supplies/how-to:
adapted from soda pop design who got it from martha stewart

packing or clear tape
paint, color of choice
paint brush
dish soap
black felt pen, i used faber-castell PITT artist pen in BLACK, size XS

on the back of the postcard, write up what you want
in my case, i decided to get fancy & do it up in calligraphy
i searched on youtube for tutorials
and then proceeded to doodle all the long day
to practice
stick the tape over the doodles,
make it as smooth as possible,
cus you’re painting over it

to paint, mix the dish soap + paint
(1:2 ratio, dish soap:paint)
paint over the tape,
a few coats will do
make sure the writing is not visible
allow to dry between coats

for postcards it’s difficult
to convey to the receiver that it’s a scratch off
but it was fun to hear from people who
couldn’t figure it out
and those who knew instantly what to do
in a card, a penny or coin can be included
in the envelope and most will know what is up

either way, it was a fun crafty project