kim, Author at Lovin' From the Oven

DIY Handkerchief Save The Dates

June 25, 2014 by kim 14 Comments

I’ve been slacking on the wedding posts. I sent my save the dates out months ago and I still haven’t shared them on my blog with you guys!

Generally, you send out save the dates if you’re having a lot of people come from far away or if you’re having a destination wedding. This was not the case for us since most of our family are local and we’re getting married a short drive away from our hometown. I chose to send them out anyways because A: I love sending and receiving snail mail, B: We’re getting married on a holiday weekend, and C: It’s a great excuse for an arts and crafts project!

They turned out to be exactly what I was envisioning in my head. That’s a huge accomplishment because that never happens! I’ll show you exactly how I made mine.

First, you have to start and get your handkerchiefs. You can go to estate sales and find them one by one (which is a pain in the butt, but some people love the hunt), buy new ones in the store (places like Dollar Tree or the 99 Cent Store even have them! Of course, they’re very limited in the design), or buy them online. Since I wanted a more vintage feel, I bought mine online from eBay (don’t worry, they’re still brand new!). You can also find some on Amazon.

Once I received them in the mail, I washed, dried, and ironed each one.

Ah, is there a better sight than a pile of freshly pressed hankies? Probably.

Now for the stamp… I worked with an Etsy seller, TheRUBBERPress, to design a stamp that I loved since nothing that I found jumped out to me. After a couple of revisions, I had my stamp. In fact, we both loved it so much that TheRUBBERPress made it a staple in the store! You’re welcome, guys. 🙂

Etsy truly has some amazing, creative people on there. Now for the stamp pad. I took a lot of time researching the best stamp pads for fabric. I needed a stamp pad that wouldn’t bleed or fade, had a strong pigment, and must be great with fine lines.

I ended up getting Tsukineko’s unique pigment called Versafine in Onyx Black. Yes, just yes. This stamp pad made my life so much easier. It’s a miracle worker.

I laid my stamp down with the rubber facing up and gently patted the ink pad across the surface.

Cover every centimeter!

Carefully place the stamp where you want it to be.

Apply pressure.

Make sure to press down on all the edges! You don’t want any missed spots or illegible writing.

Voi-la! That’s one done. Now you have 150 more to go.

Think you’re done? Not even close. After letting them dry overnight (you definitely didn’t need to, the ink was dry almost instantaneously, but I just wanted to be safe and I was tired!), it’s time to assemble them to fit nicely into an envelope.

Get out your twine. I have this pack and I love it! So many colors to choose from.

It’s nicer to buy in bulk if you have a lot of hankies to wrap. Here are some other great twine buys:

one.
two.
three – as pictured.
four – I own this twine too and it’s never ending! Great for wrapping gifts and cookies.

I bought 5″x7″ cardstock online as well from Paper and More. I found that they had the best price for the quantity that I needed. If you don’t need that many, it’s probably better to walk into your local crafts store with their 40% off coupon and get it there.

Here’s how I chose to wrap mine with a centered stamp:

Easy peasy! Some of my hankies had designs in the middle, so I stamped them in one corner. I couldn’t fold them the same way, so they ended up looking like the ones on the left:

It was a wonderful project and I’d highly recommend making your own save the dates at home! With some smart shopping, these didn’t break the bank and didn’t go over the weight for a regular postage when mailing. Score!

Oh, I used these envelopes for mailing. They safely packaged my precious hankies all the way to the recipient!

As for the groom’s tasks during this project? He cut twine for me. I love that man.

Easy Pad Thai

June 20, 2014 by kim Leave a Comment

It always takes time getting used to a new kitchen, right? Not in this case! Having a gas stove and oven is way better than an electric stove. My first apartment in Berkeley had an electric stovetop… a coil one! It was the biggest pain in the butt to clean and cook on since it took so long to heat up. Don’t even get me started on the little scraps that would fall through the cracks. They’d be stuck there for eternity.

My second Berkeley apartment still had an electric stovetop, but it was flesh. There were no coils to battle with. Cleaning was a cinch. After three years of living with an electric stovetop, I’d practically forgotten what gas stoves were like.

Holy cow! Everything cooks so evenly! There is no burning of the cookies on the edges. Every cookie on the sheet bakes evenly. Not only that, but water boils faster, the oil warms up in seconds, and I can roast marshmallows for s’mores in a matter of seconds!

So even though it’s a small kitchen, I’m so grateful for that little gas oven of mine. You bet your bottom dollar I’ll be using it every day!

This pad thai isn’t exactly authentic tasting.. it’s more of a quick fix recipe for a dish that tastes similar to pad thai. It’s a solid dish, but don’t make it expecting the best homemade pad thai because you’ll be disappointed. I’d make this recipe again.

Recipe from Brownies for Dinner.

Easy Pad Thai

Ingredients

8 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 squirt Sriracha (optional)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 green onions, white and green parts, separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts (optional)

Directions

Soak noodles according to package instructions. Drain.
In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, and Sriracha.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add eggs and cook, scraping skillet with spatula until eggs are almost set (about 30 seconds). Transfer eggs to a plate.
Add noodles, scallion greens, and sauce to skillet. Cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are soft (about 1 minute). Add egg mixture and toss to coat, breaking eggs up gently.
Serve noodles with lime wedges, topped with cilantro and peanuts (if using).

https://lovintheoven.com/easy-pad-thai/

Sweet and Savory Bites

June 16, 2014 by kim 6 Comments

Some days, I can’t decide if I want something sweet or savory. To be honest, I usually eat something savory and then something sweet, making sure to repeat the process at least two more times. It’s a viscous cycle. With these little snack sized bites, you won’t be forced to choose one or another. You can have both in one bite! I’m going to be sharing two recipes with you that couldn’t be any more simple. Heck, they don’t even have official recipes since they’re so easy.

I used Farmer’s Garden® by Vlasic® pickles for my first snack. Have you ever tried having pickles and peanut butter? It might sound a little strange, but it works. It’s kind of like eating french fries with a milkshake (In-N-Out, anyone?). I used the Bread and Butter Chips since they are slightly sweet and have a wonderful crunch to them. They’re hand packed and made with honest ingredients without any artificial flavors.

The cute mason jars that they’re canned in may also be used after you’ve finished the product for crafts, weddings, or storage. I’ve never seen a mason jar that I didn’t like. If Bread and Butter Chips aren’t your thing, don’t fret, there’s also Zesty Garlic Chips, Kosher Dill Spears, Kosher Dill Halves and Dill Chips.

Pickles and peanut butter are similar to one another since I never what to categorize them. Would you say peanut butter is sweet or savory? What about sweet pickles? In this case, I’d definitely say that the pickle is the savory and the peanut butter is the sweet. I used honey roasted peanut butter for these snacks and it muted the tanginess from the pickles.

These bread and butter chips are much thicker than regular pickle chips. There’s no skimping here.

It’d be silly for me to write a recipe for these. All you do is take a cracker (I used whole wheat Ritz crackers), smother it with your choice of peanut butter, and top it off with a pickle chip. Repeat twenty five times and you’ve got yourself an appetizer for your summer party.

Now for my second snack, Ritz cracker s’mores! Usually s’mores are made with sweet ingredients– graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. In this case, I subbed out the graham cracker for something a little more salty.

I melted some dark chocolate, spread about a teaspoon on each cracker, and then laid them chocolate side down on wax paper. I left them while I went to go do laundry. When I came back, the chocolate was hardened, smooth, and ready to work with.

Kraft made my life a lot easier when they created StackerMallows. They’re flatter, rectangle shaped marshmallows that are perfect for s’more making.

I toasted each marshmallow over some fire before sandwiching them in between two chocolate dipped crackers.

A torched marshmallow is a beautiful thing.

I LOVED the buttery, salted crackers with the sweet inside. I might just replace graham crackers in s’mores for forever.

Be careful, each bite will tend to get a little messy! Now you can’t say that you were never warned.

Farmer’s Garden is now celebrating their authentic, flavorful foods by throwing a Savor Simplicity Sweepstakes from May 7th to July 31st, 2014. You can enter online for a chance to win a weekend cooking adventure or summer entertaining package, each worth $1,500. One winner will be chosen each month. A $1 off coupon will also be given to all entrants immediately following entry.

Want to win a free jar of Farmer’s Garden by Vlasic Pickles and a Farmer’s Garden tote bag? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post using the hashtag #FarmToJar and share your own simple moments that you savor in life. You can also use that hashtag to follow the conversation on Twitter.

This is a sponsored post, but the opinions expressed are my own.

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