Make A Carrot Cake!

by Scoops on August 27, 2010 · 0 comments


3 Little Carrots from my garden
My intent was to actually cook a lot this summer with the food that I grew in my tiny little garden, including a whole bunch of carrots I planted. But I adopted a ginormous tomato plant at the beginning of the spring and since then it has taken over a whole corner of my garden, stunting the growth of all the carrots with it. In desperation I yanked the few remaining out of the ground to see if these babies yielded any root that I could cook with. To my disappointment I only found these three little gems and decided to make the most of their little lives and incorporate them into a delicious carrot cake.

Carrot Cake For Breakfast
To whoever else out there growing carrots, please don’t forget to bake your carrots in a carrot cake. It is way more delicious than just eating them raw. You can’t go wrong with a cup of coffee, a slice of cake and a porch in the morning during the end days of summer..

Cream Cheese Frosting
And of course you can’t make a carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. Duh. I used a recipe from a book called “The Bride & Groom First & Forever Cookbook (I know what a name right?). Jeff and I got this cookbook seven-plus years ago as a wedding present. I actually reference this book quite often it’s full of tons of good recipes and beautiful photographs.

So here’s the goods:

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups corn oil
1 1/2 cups grated raw carrots (1-2 large carrots)
2 4oz jars pureed baby food
4 eggs

Frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter
3 cups confectioners sugar sifted

Preperation

Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2-9 inch round cake pans.
2. Sift the flour together with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In another bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and oil and mix thoroughly.
4. Put dry ingredients in stand mixer with paddle on, add sugar, egg, and oil mix slowly making sure to mix in all ingredients. Lastly add the shredded carrots and the jars of pureed carrot.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack before frosting.

Frosting:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese at room temperature in mixer with paddle on.
2. Slowly add confectioners sugar until all ingredients are incorporated.

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Eats, gardening

My Basement Studio

by Scoops on August 19, 2010 · 2 comments


A room in the basement next to the furnace
I wanted to take a minute and show you what I’ve been working on. I always appreciate seeing other peoples creative places, and now that I’ve gotten settled in my new house, I’d like to share mine with you.

Of course, my studio is located in the basement next to the furnace and near the cat box, but whatever. Jeff has his music studio upstairs in a light and airy room, (which he hardly uses), but I guess it comes down to who really wants to pay a piano mover to get a piano in the basement. All in all, I’m starting to enjoy my little space.

I am proud of the transformation I’ve made in this dank little room and I actually think it’s somewhat convenient, it’s located right next to the beer fridge and a bathroom. Who could ask for more?

Scoops and Colz Spots
I set the desk up in an “L” shaped arrangement. I also included a space for my friend Colz for when she comes over to cluck it up with me henhouse stylez. The good thing about a basement is the open ceilings. It’s easy to weave cords in and out of the cross beams, I was able to hang $10 Ikea lights to illuminate our workspaces.

THHP Shipping Department
For inspiration I hung a piece of yarn across two hooks on the wall and hung our most recent work. I also painted this one wall blue (leftover paint from Elsa’s room, which I adore) to try and make it feel like a real room and not a basement.

This is currently used as The Henhouse Press’ shipping department. Inventory, packing and mailers all in one tidy spot.

Our latest and Greatest: Displayed on a piece of yarn
Here’s a close up of my yarn card hanger. I heart this.

Envelopes and Stationery
I try and keep bringing in cut flowers from the garden in to make this studio feel less baementy. It most def works. Here I have a small vase of Zinnia’s that me and Finn have grown from seed.

Organization is the Key
I’ve had this book shelf for about 6 years now. It was first purchased to serve as a room divider in our first house, a 1000 sq foot one-room loft. It used to hold all of our records and books, and then last year when we moved to our rental house it served as a toy/book shelf in Finn’s room, and now, it finally makes it’s home in my basement organizing all of my supplies.

Jars full of good stuff
Here’s a photo of my baby jar collection. All my jars are full of the best little things, buttons, sequence, doo-dad’s and other odd’s and end.

This is where I Gocco lives
And lastly here is where our Gocco sleeps. All snug as a bug.

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Around the House, Furniture, My House, The Henhouse Press

Mmmm Twine

by Scoops on August 13, 2010 · 1 comment


My Sample Pack
I just received the sweetest little package in the mail today…

I ordered some baker’s twine about a week ago from a place called The Twinery. Colz and I had been brainstorming ways to package our new wares. We set our focus on giving our customers the experience of opening the perfect little parcel complete with vintagesque kraft paper and baker’s twine. The perfect compliment to our handmade stationery.

I have to say, I was excited about the purchase but was smitten with the lovliness of the twine when I opened up the package to see eight candy colored shades with names like “peapod”, and “pink sorbet.” I couldn’t resist modeling them on some of the notecards, there’s no doubt, this twine makes it.

Shot Gun Card with Orange & White Baker's Twine
Our “Hell Yeah (it’s your birthday) !!!” cards featuring “tangerine” twine

Poppy Card with Brown and White Baker's Twine
The Grey and Red Poppy Cards are looking good in “cappuccino.”

Happy Birthday Whale with Red and White Baker's Twine
“HBD Whale” is always looking awesome, but looks better with this “maraschino” shade.

A Perfect Parcel
And lastly our perfect parcel, all wrapped up and ready to go. Kraft paper wrapped in “caribbean” teal twine.

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Crafts, Inspiration, The Henhouse Press

We’re in Business

by Scoops on August 9, 2010 · 0 comments


Hey Everybody!

We are so excited we can’t even stand it anymore!!!!

We just wanted to take a second to let everyone know why we haven’t been blogging for the last few weeks. We are proud to announce the opening of our new business “The Henhouse Press,” specializing in charming screen-printed stationery and custom wedding invitations. Please take a second to take a peek at our new website or stop by our new etsy store.

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The Henhouse Press, Wedding Invitations


Elsa is ONE!
Elsa turned 1 on 7/16. It is truly amazing what can happen in a year! In a mere 365 days, my Girl Elsa has gone from a tiny little helpless bundle to a walking, babbling, curiously independent little girl. This blows my mind!

HBD Cards
We had a Birthday cookout for her, complete with brats, potato salad, fruit salad, baked beans and CAKE!!! We invited our Family and Friends and made a great afternoon of it.

helping
Elsa was a good helper during the preparations. Here we are making potato salad.

naked cake
I found this cake over at Wisk Kid WAY back when Elsa was just a brand new girl. I decided the second that I saw it that it was the perfect cake to commemorate the first year of my Girls life. This cake is delicious. You should make it.

dressed cake
Here is the cake, all dolled up and ready for the party. My frosting didn’t come together as well as I would have liked it to, but it tasted pretty dang good!

Tissue Paper
My homie, M. Stewart helped me make these tissue paper pom-poms. Big shout out to my other Lady, K. Johnson for her help putting these things together as well. Doing crafty crafts with your friends is always a “good thing”.

HBD penant flags
I fashioned this Birthday Banner out of some fabric that I had left over from Elsa’s bird mobile. You can learn more about that little project here.

Red Cabbage Slaw
To accompany our brats, I soaked some red cabbage in some apple cider vinegar and salt overnight. It is a perfect alternative to sour kraut and adds a beautiful pop of color to any table.

jelly sandwitch cake
Elsa loves raspberry jelly sandwiches. I thought it appropriate that they be part of our spread. They were a big hit!

What Do I Do?!
We had been practicing how to blow out birthday candles in the days leading up to the party. Unfortunately, we never practiced on a real cake with a real candle. Elsa wasn’t exactly sure what she needed to do at this stage in the game. I helped her out and we got though it unscathed!

Inside of Elsa's Birthday Cake
Here is an inside look at that 6 layer birthday cake.

unicorn
So that is it! One year down, many, many, many more to look forward to!

Thank you to ALL of our Family and Friends for being so generous with your time and love during Elsa’s first year!


We are a lucky, lucky bunch to have you all in our lives!

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Eats, Elsa, Parties