Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Lemon Cheesecake Yogurt w/ Ginger Graham Cracker Crust

Ugh - Let's try this again. I had this whole recipe post finished and I tried to push a post back but it was eaten by the internet gods... Sighhhh.

First things first, I want to throw out a few qualifiers for this post. These would be a really great and pretty easy treat for a bridal shower (or baby shower). They're cute and single serving size and they're also pretty healthy so you don't have to feel bad about eating 2 in one sitting... not that I know this from experience, I'm just, you know, guessing... Anyway, so I made these last Monday when it was almost 100 degrees out. I was a woman possessed and really wanted some cheesecake. It was really hot out and then I thought it was a good idea to turn on the oven. That said, if you make this recipe, take the 30 seconds I didn't to wipe down the sides of the ramekins once you've filled them, and before you pop them in the often. I was too hot and humid, and I just wanted to throw them in the oven and leave the kitchen asap. I also may have been slightly delirious by that point.

I should also mention that I'm kind of a, well, I'm a cheesecake snob. It's not really my fault though. See, when I was a kid we had a family friend who would make the most amazing out-of-your-mind cheesecake. It was lite and smooth and had a subtle lemon flavor and it was pretty much glorious. This cheesecake spoiled me to the point that I never order cheesecake in restaurants and generally really only eat it if it's homemade (there are obviously occasional exceptions).

I knew when I came across this recipe I needed to give it a try. Plus, I've kind of been on a huge Greek yogurt kick lately so that made the recipe even more appealing. The filling for this recipe is adapted from the Lemon Cheesecake Yogurt Cups by Skinny Taste. I mostly adjusted to my tastes and also to take into consideration the ingredients I had in my house at the time. I changed up the crust completely though because I wanted to use graham crackers in the pantry and also because I love ginger and lemon together.


Ingredients:
  • 7 ½ graham crackers (if they come in sheets of 4 rectangles, mine come in 2 rectangle pieces which is different & awesome)
  • 2 Tbsp Butter, melted
  • 1 ½ Tbsp minced crystallized ginger
  • 8 oz fat free cream cheese, softened (If it's not softened it won't mix well into the rest of the cheesecake.)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 6 oz fat-free Greek yogurt
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 3 Tbsp lemon juice, with pulp (pulp optional, but I love lemon flavor)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
  • Strawberries (optional)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350°.


You can make these in little cupcake liners (12) or small ramekins (8), I used the later. First things first though, start by making the crust. In a food processor toss in the graham crackers and ginger and pulse until the crackers are pulverized. Next, mix in the butter and pulse to mix. (You could also make this in a gallon bag and bash the crackers with a rolling pin or meat hammer.) The mixture should look slightly moist.


Spoon a heaping table spoon into each ramekin – if you use cupcake liners you might want to use a little less. Tap the crust down and up on the sides a little if you’re using ramekins.


Gently place the cups on a baking sheet and bake the crusts for 10-15 minutes until they change color slightly. You’ll also most likely start to smell them as they get close to being done. This basically sets the crust before you fill them and bake them again.

While you’re baking your crusts you can get started on the filling. Skinny Taste warns to mix the ingredients together gently and not to over mix so keep that in mind as you mix the ingredients together.

Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth using an electric mixer.  Slowly mix in the yogurt, egg whites, lemon juice and zest, and the flour.  Once it is all incorporated stop mixing – you don’t want to over mix.


Distribute the filling evenly into your cups and then bake for about 20 minutes until the center is almost set. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature before you put them in the fridge to chill.

When they're done they'll look like this:

You can serve with fresh fruit on top.  I choose strawberries because I love strawberries.  The creamy cheesecake goodness is light and slightly lemony and when paired with the ginger graham cracker crust it's a super.mega yummy flavor explosion in your mouth.  Don't take my word for it - you should make this - stat!


Lemon Cheesecake Yogurt Cups w/ Ginger Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:
  • 7 ½ graham crackers (if they come in sheets of 4 rectangles)
  • 2 Tbsp Butter, melted
  • 1 ½ Tbsp minced crystallized ginger
  • 8 oz fat free cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 6 oz fat-free Greek yogurt
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 3 Tbsp lemon juice, with pulp (optional, but I love lemon flavor)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
  • Strawberries (optional)
Directions:

Heat oven to 350°.
You can make these in little cupcake liners (12) or small ramekins (8), I used the later.  First things first though, start by making the crust.  In a food processor toss in the graham crackers and ginger and pulse until the crackers are pulverized.  Next, mix in the butter and pulse to mix.  (You could also make this in a gallon bag and bash the crackers with a rolling pin or meat hammer.)  The mixture should look slightly moist.  Spoon a heaping table spoon into each ramekin – if you use cupcake liners you might want to use a little less.  Tap the crust down and up on the sides a little if you’re using ramekins.  Gently place the cups on a baking sheet and bake the crusts for 10-15 minutes until they change color slightly.  You’ll also most likely start to smell them as they get close to being done.  This basically sets the crust before you fill them and bake them again.

While you’re baking your crusts you can get started on the filling.  Skinny Taste warns to mix the ingredients together gently and not to over mix so keep that in mind as you mix the ingredients together.  Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth using an electric mixer.  Slowly mix in the yogurt, egg whites, lemon juice and zest, and the flour.  Once it is all incorporated stop mixing – you don’t want to over mix.  Distribute the filling evenly into your cups and then bake for about 20 minutes until the center is almost set.  Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature before you put them in the fridge to chill.  You can serve with fresh fruit on top.  

Friday, July 27, 2012

DIY: Dye Your Crinoline!

Hey guys - Did you check out this tutorial on Monday over at Bridesmaids and Weddings yet??!!  If not, I've got you covered below.  However, if you're in the midst of wedding planning you should definitely add Bridesmaids and Weddings to your blog reader as they site is a great source for inspiration, and resources for things like vendors!! I thought I'd post the tutorial here today, just so it's in my blog too.


This is a tutorial for dying a crinoline or petticoat.  Now, not all wedding dresses require you to wear a crinoline, but for some dresses they really help to give the overall skirts portion of your dress definition and extra puff...plus, they're kind of fun.  Think late 1800s ladies fashion, or the gimongo ball gown skirts from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding... Okay, well mine wasn't that puffy, but if you can work that look, go for it!!

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia


Since we're talking about My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, while their over the top wedding dresses are admittedly not my style, I would JUMP at the chance to try one of those bad boys on. I just think it would be fun, even if I couldn't really walk and or do much of anything other than stand all day.  The ladies who wear the huge dresses on that show certainly evoke the old saying "beauty is pain," as some of the dresses weigh up to 200+ lbs and the weight of the dresses sometimes scar their hips!!

Okay, back to the tutorial...

Basics of coloring your crinoline:  There are two basic ways of going about dying your crinoline. Version one is to dye the whole ENTIRE skirt.  This includes the crinoline's outer skirts as well as the tulle underneath.  Admittedly, dying the whole thing is the easier way of going about coloring a crinoline. If you want to dye the whole thing, skirts and all, merely follow the directions on the package of dye, starch and steam the heck out of the tulle section of the skirt, and you’re done.  Off Beat Bride has a great DIY tutorial on how to do this: HERE.  I found that dying the whole thing tends to give the crinoline a much darker color overall which wasn't what I was going for.  Since my wedding shoes were so bright (see awesome photo below), I wanted my crinoline to be more subtle in color.  Thus we have version two of dying a crinoline...  This version is a little bit more work, but I like that it's more subtle - go figure!


My shoes are by Miss L. Fire. They're amazing shoes, and FANTASTIC BRAND from over in the U.K.!! They were really soft leather and were a dream to wear all day!  *They also have incredible customer service.

Supplies: 
  • Crinoline – I bought mine from Angels Bridal on Ebay - $20 with shipping.
  • 1 Box RIT Dye, powder - $3.  You can use an additional box, or liquid if you want a darker color. I was going for a subtle pop of color.  Here is a really useful guide to mixing their colors. 
  • Clothing Starch - $3.  I read online that liquid can be more effective, but I used Faultless Premium Professional Starch and had no problems.
  • Scissors
  • Needle and Thread
  • Sewing Pins
  • Iron, with steamer function
  • Lace - $1 at Hobby Lobby (optional)


Step 1: Use a pair of scissors and turn the skirt inside out.  On the inside of the innermost skirt (this should now be on the outside) carefully snip away the seam that attaches the tulle or netting to the inner skirt.  To save yourself time when reattaching the netting, be really careful not to snip the thread that makes the gathering in the skirt.  You may have more than one layer of tulle/netting to your skirt.  Be sure to remove all layers.

 

Step 2: Set the skirts aside - you’re going to be dying just the tulle/netting at this point.  You’ll need to thoroughly rinse the tulle before starting the dying process. This helps to remove the starch that is already in the skirt, it will help the tulle to take the color, and is an important step that should not be skipped.  Next, follow the directions on your RIT dye box.  I used a big rubbermaid container to dye my skirt. I didn't want to take any chances and accidentially dye my bath tub or my washing machine (I'm a renter).  Once you’re done dying the tulle, and have rinsed it until it the water runs clear, hang your tulle up to dry.  I rinsed out my tulle in the bathtub so I rigged a hanging fancy set up in my bathroom.... Clearly, it's very fancy. 


Step 3: When the tulle is completely dry, start to spray spray spray that sucker with starch.  This step will take a while so be patient. Once the tulle is completely dry (again) steam the tulle, being careful not to touch the tulle with the hot iron.  These steps help to give the tulle back the shape you washed out before dying.  Your completed crinoline won’t look terrible if you skip this step, but it will be significantly less puffy.  Repeat the starching, drying, and steaming process several times. *I probably did this 4 – 5 times.  The more you do, the puffier your skirt will be - which is a good thing!  On the day of my wedding one of my bridesmaids steamed and fluffed the skirt up one last time since it had to travel from Ohio to Massachusetts in a bag. (Thanks Melinda!!)

Step 4: Reattaching the tulle: When your tulle has dried completely lay out the pieces and pin them in to the skirt. I attached one layer at a time and pined and sewed it back into place, by hand, before starting the next layer.  This will take some time, unless you use a sewing machine. Either way works, I had an evening of bad tv to watch and thought it would be easier (but slower) to hand sew the tulle back onto the crinoline skirt.


Step 5: Optional – Add a layer of lace to the inside of the outermost skirt for a bonus pop of color.  I picked up a roll of lace at Hobby Lobby while it was on sale (mine was 9 yards long and just enough).  It was a $1 addition that I think finished off the crinoline nicely.  Pin the lace in place and run it through a sewing machine or attach by hand. 

Photo Credit: Metzger Studios
Bride's shoes: Miss L. Fire
Groom's socks: Express Men


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

BLARRRGGGGG....


Some technical difficulties this morning... including erasing what was a recipe... UGH!

Stay tuned... I'll update later this week!

/blogging fail. 

Friday, July 20, 2012

Flowers in Action: Congratulations M & E!!

Warning: This post is a bit photo heavy...with awesomeness, of course.  I wanted to share a bit of the development process in how I go about making custom pieces. 

My sister-in-law, Meghan got married two weekends ago to her now hubs Eric M.  Their big day was really lovely from start to finish and it felt extra special because they asked both my husband (Meghan's brother) and me to be in their bridal party, so we got to be involved in all of the action!

Earlier this year Meghan emailed me to ask if I'd make a hair piece for her big day - of course I was super flattered and, moreso, really excited to get to create something she'd wear on such an important day. Her dress was top secret - as in she swore me to secrecy about the dress!!  I was not to show it to anyone.  I took this seriously and didn't even show it to her brother!! Since her wedding has now passed I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind me sharing the process and the details now...

The way that my brain works is really visual.  When I'm making a custom piece for a specific event it really helps me to see the dress (or outfit) to start to develop designs in my head.  I like to see the material, texture, color, and style and design of the dress so I can try and do my best to evoke that in the hair piece.  The designer for Meghan's wedding dress was Sottero and Midgley (sidebar: I LOVE Maggie dresses, I wore one myself!) and the style is called Sidney.  The dress is made of ivory chiffon so I used that as a starting point for the fabric I was going to use for the hair piece.  It was also a material I'd never used before so it was a great new challenge... Plus, let's be real - this was for my SISTER-IN-LAW'S WEDDING - it was kind of a super big deal.

Here's a close up on the detail on her lovely dress:


Photo credit: Probably by my MIL

The details are great, right? And that's not even the whole dress (which you can check out here)!!

I spent a lot of time tracking down a rhinestone button center that closely resembled the rhinestones on her dress.  I needed to find something similar so it looked like it flowed with the dress and didn't stick out by being too different aesthetically.

The hair piece is actually quite time intensive as it involved cutting and then molding each individual petal layer. This piece has about 15 layers all together.  When I was getting done with fiddling with all of the petal layers I played around with the shape and volume and sent Meghan photos so she could see the designs I came up with.  She gave me a lot of free reign on the design, so I also wanted to make sure I met the vision she had in mind. This is always the scariest part of making custom pieces for me.  Just because something gets translated in my brain a certain way doesn't mean it will speak to the person I'm making it for in the same way.  In the photo below you can see the different layers stacked up.  The flower with the rhinestone was a less full version I fiddled with.  We ended up going with a much fuller version which I think worked better anyway!!

I also got to get a little creative with the supplies I used to shape the petals themselves.  When poking around my kitchen for the perfect shapes I ended up pulling out an antique champagne glass to help me get the smaller center petal layers just the shape I was looking for!


This is the finished product:

I have a similar piece in my shop right now in my shop on Etsy

And this is the final product on my SIL after she got her hair done on her wedding day.  Thankfully her MOH remembered to snap a photo of the flower in action because I was running around and it totally slipped my mind!!
Photo used with permission from MOH


<3

Congratulations Meghan & Eric!!
First dance as husband and wife! Just look how cute they are!! 
Photo borrowed with permission from David L.

---

I have another DIY tutorial coming up next week. It's going to be hosted over at Bridesmaids and Weddings first so be sure to check back for more info!!

Other wedding craft:

I made these for my SIL's bridal shower and they ended up using them for their wedding day, too! I think they look super cute on the back of the new couple's chairs!!  If anyone is interested ordering these I can make them via custom order in my Etsy shop.



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Birthday Dance

Today is my birthday so I'm taking the day off from blogging.  Don't worry though, I'll be back later in the week with a post about the hair piece I made for my sister-in-law for her wedding day!!

Just so I don't leave you totally hangin'... this is a photo of a lime ice cream cone mini-cupcake I made for a cupcake party a few years ago.  They were pretty much two bite cupcakes of goodness.


Friday, July 13, 2012

Heart Shaped Flowers...

Today I wanted to share with you some facinators I recently added to my shop.  I made a similar style of fascinator for some of my bridesmaids in my own wedding. The only real difference is that theirs were blush (apparently I couldn't find white at the time...).   

I like the subtle shape of the petals of these flowers.  Maybe it's just me, but they remind me of little heart tops.  The flower has been layered with soft tulle and is finished off with your choice of rhinestone color either clear, sky blue or navy blue.  The last two rhinestone colors give a fun and subtle "something blue" aspect to the hair piece!

*This same style is available in blush in my shop upon request.



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Go Bold or Go Home!

Well, okay, this hair piece has a gigantic soft tulle bow - so you already know why I love it.  But beyond the bow, I think that this is a really elegant as well as bold hair piece that is perfect for a bride who wants to make a statement on her wedding day.  And let's be real, it's also super fun!! When I came up with the design for this hair piece I was inspired by some of the big beautiful hair pieces I'd been seeing in wedding blogs at the time.  I really admired the women who wore big beautiful veil inspired hair pieces on their wedding day, because even though the tulle and flower makes a big statement, it it still fancy enough to not detract from the bride! 

The blush magnolia combined with the beautiful rhinestone really ties this fascinator together.

Do you plan to incorporate any bold elements into your wedding day ensemble? I'd love to hear about them!!  Sometimes we incorporate these elements in hair pieces, shoes, heck, even the dress!!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Congratulations:



Congrats to my Sister-in-Law and now Brother-in-Law Meghan & Eric who are getting married today!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Congratulations:

Congrats to my beautiful cousin Kristi and her new hubs Billy!! These crazy kids are getting married today!!