Chicken Shawarma

When the Avengers came out on DVD, we bought it the first day without even having seen it before. And it was amazing! Well, at the end they all go have chicken shawarma after the big battle scene (sorry if I ruined the end for anyone, but a big battle seems pretty obvious right? :D) and I remembered that I had a recipe for chicken shawarma saved to my Pinterest.

I actually planned this meal totally believing my husband would hate it. He doesn't love bready things too much (and oh my goodness do I love bready things!) and he's not a fan of cold meats either...but he actually loved this meal and said we should have it again!

I used this recipe from The Kitchn for pitas, but I think I'd be willing to try a different recipe next time. Actually, now that I know how to properly rise yeast (sadly I made this dinner before Thanksgiving), I think this recipe would turn out great next time! My pitas didn't open enough for pockets, so they were difficult to roll up and eat.

The shawarma was amazing! I'd make this again in a heartbeat. I used this recipe from The Shiksa in the Kitchen and although I used all chicken breasts and she'd probably be mad at me, it was still delicious and I want to look through her other recipes as well.

I also made a tzatziki sauce  which I really loved. I'd like to make it just for vegetable dips too! The only thing was the garlic was quite strong (I used 2 cloves in a half batch) and next time I'll definitely opt for one or even half a clove. As I had it for leftovers, the garlic got even stronger as well, so I had to get rid of it because it was overpowering.

Basically, this was great. My husband could have the meat with lettuce and spicy peppers, and I had meat with cucumbers and tzatziki. We'll definitely have this again with pitas now that I can use yeast!

November Craft: Crocheted Infinity Scarf

November was supposed to be a busy month for crafting, but I just never got around to it. I wanted to make a centerpiece for the table, some 'Be Grateful' blocks to put above the cabinets, and maybe artwork for above the sink as well. We still have our 'Fall is Here' banner and the wreath, but those were our only Fall decorations. Hopefully I can at least get a few Christmas/winter decorations up for December!

I was worried I wouldn't do any crafting in November and would ruin my New Year's Resolution for 2012, but I did manage to crochet a scarf! Last winter I crocheted a ton, and it seems the perfect wintery hobby during these long, dark nights.

Last year I made an infinity scarf for my sister's Christmas present, but when I tried to view the tutorial I used, I couldn't access the site anymore. So this is a pattern-free, super easy, one skein scarf! I'd like it to be  wider and a bit longer than it is, but it's plenty warm and I was far too lazy to buy more yarn for just a tiny bit more width!

I just chained about 200 chains (until I felt it was long enough to wrap twice around me), then joined them and double crocheted until I ran out of yarn. Super simple, and I could even focus on other things because I didn't have to count or anything. I love the dusty blue color and I'm excited to have another scarf to dress up some plain outfits!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was a huge day of learning for me. This was the first year we had Thanksgiving dinner with just the two of us, and the main thing I learned was how grateful I am for my own parents and how they pull of Thanksgiving every year without a hitch! (not to mention pulling off every day of raising a large family! Thanks mom and dad, you're so great. :D) Here are some other things I learned:

1. Thanksgiving is not as fun without family. Well, it's fun in a different way. It was great relaxing all day, having a smaller meal with less prep time, and spending the maximum amount of time with my husband. But I do miss my family during these special holiday celebrations as well. I'm excited someday to have a family of our own so we can have crazy, wild Thanksgivings just like back home!

2. Yeast. is not that hard actually. Actually, what I really learned is that 100 degrees does not mean my finger should be burning off. Turns out, I've killed every yeast I've ever attempted! With plenty of research, I made these delicious rolls from Our Best Bites and for the first time ever, my rolls rose! It was a beautiful and delicious thing.

 3. I don't think I love Thanksgiving food. Maybe I wasn't in the mood this year, but really I just wanted turkey and rolls. The mashed potatoes and green bean casserole really didn't float my boat. I think that over the course of the next few years, I'll start finding out the things we really enjoy at Thanksgiving, and then adjust the recipes to make them our own traditional foods!

4. I love pecan pie...but again, it wasn't my favorite this year. I think I overbaked the pecan pie (or rather, our oven overbakes everything!) It's pretty good, but a little too hard on top and the crust is not as flaky as I'd like. And next year, I'd like to make a few more pies instead of just one!

5. Thanksgiving is mostly about gratitude. And I'm glad we had a smaller meal so I could not be in the kitchen so long- we spent time together, and it was great. I'm so grateful for Thanksgiving and a time to be extra thankful each year!

Pad Thai

I'm trying to plan more exciting dinners that I actually want to try, because lately I've been so unenthusiastic about dinner that we sometimes skip it altogether and have popcorn....I mean....okay, yes. So this pad thai has been a long time coming, but I finally found most of the ingredients (I'll find you someday, elusive bean sprouts!)

It turned out to be one of the fastest meals I've ever made, so I think I'll continue to make it from time to time and tweak it until I like it more. It's not that I didn't like it, but it was just so-so. Actually, I've never had pad thai anywhere, so this could have tasted like anything and I'd still like it! I used this recipe from Lauren's Latest, and I think it was the perfect recipe for me to make pad thai for the first time, but I'd like something a bit more flavorful next time.

Probably the wrong noodles...but they're still really good!

One of the main mistakes was I think the noodles were the wrong type. I've seen "easy" pad thai recipes that use linguine noodles, and these were nowhere near linguine, so I must have picked the wrong rice noodles. So next time I'd like to use different noodles, and have a more flavorful/spicy sauce. And bean sprouts! But pretty good. It's weird to write about a recipe that was just so-so and that really wasn't that difficult, but I was really excited to try pad thai, and I'll definitely make it again!

Pumpkin Cookies (but not like that!)

When I told my friends I made pumpkin cookies, they were surprised because I don't really like pumpkin. I didn't even think about it like that! These are pumpkin shaped cookies and they were so fun to make. We were planning to go to a ward Halloween party, but we ended up not going, so these were just fun to have around and share with friends.

Last year I made mini cupcakes for halloween and decorated them like mummies, pumpkins, and spider webs. So I already had the pumpkin idea in my mind, and they were super simple! I used this brownie roll-out cookies recipe from Smitten Kitchen because I don't like crispy sugar cookies, but I wanted them to still hold their shape- and these looked so rich and chewy!

We don't have any cookie cutters, so I used a cup and then squished the circle a bit to be an oval. For the stem, I just cut rectangles and stuck them onto the ovals. I was worried the two pieces wouldn't hold together after baking, but they were great!

I love doing pumpkin frosting because it just takes a knife to make the line marks. However, I don't love that you can see the ridges from the butter knife I used, so I'd change that if I did them again. Also, my husband doesn't think a regular buttercream frosting goes well with these brownie cookies (he's probably right- although, give me any kind of cookie and any frosting and I'll be happy!). This frosting would be great on a regular sugar cookie instead! I'd also like to try flooding the icing on the cookies, which would make a cool pumpkin lines design. Next year for sure!

Shoes: A Crafting Success!

I think I'll just keep saying it- I'm a huge fan of crafting as opposed to sewing these days! This is a pretty simple project, but I'm so happy with how they turned out. Basically I've had these black canvas shoes for a few years, and I always felt rather unfeminine while wearing them. I'm not sure why I didn't get grey or white shoes because I'm always wishing I had some light tennis shoes to wear, but that's okay because now I have blue ones!

I've been thinking about this project for a while and I did quite a bit of research. I learned that you can definitely paint shoes with regular paint, but you have to mix it with a "textile medium" so it becomes flexible since the shoes will crease when you walk. The textile medium was only about $2 and is sold right by the acrylic paint, and I already had the paint colors from my wall art, so this project cost almost nothing!

I did two coats of white to cover up the black and then a coat plus touchups with the blue. The shoes are a bit shiny, but from far away you can't tell at all. I'm just so thrilled to be successful and to have fun shoes I actually enjoy wearing!