The Basics of Old-Fashioned Homemaking: Cooking and Sewing

Last week I was asked to do a large order and finish it by Thursday.  I got the email on the Monday right before that.  I gotta tell you, I don't think I have ever worked this hard.  I had to basically cram two weeks' worth of work into three tiny days.  Actually, two and a half days since I had to deliver them on Thursday.  I love a challenge!

Once again, thank God my mom was around to scoop the kids up and take them to her house.  I had the whole house to myself to yes, watch MORE on-demand movies and keep on truckin' with the order.  Thank GOD my husband was around to help me do the prep work of cutting, staging, die-cutting, etc etc etc.  We were a little workshop for those three days, tinkering away with our budding little business.

My Genevieve bridal cap seems to be a hit so far.  24 of them?  Coming right up!

I have this little process that I seem to go through when I do somewhat large projects like this.  The first two or three items always go ever so slowly, my hands can't seem to wrap themselves around getting the technique down.  I get a little clumsy.  Hence, I get frustrated.  But then, something happens after a few more tries, and it's almost like my hands and fingers mold themselves into the correct approach to getting the work done in less time.  Then my brain goes into skill mode and I become this little machine.  That's when I can start thinking about other things besides how to get a thread through a needle (yeah, it's that bad at first).  My mind is in this working trance that eventually takes me to the creative side of my headspace, so now I can do two things at once.  I can use one part of my brain to sew and assemble, and the another part to think about other things, like oh, cooking, going for a run, bike accessories, throwing out cleaning the kids' playroom, and the like.  Today, it was pumpkin muffins.

I am pretty sure I have ADD to go nicely with my OCD...

I tried to do the whole 'gluten-free' recipe, so I used the gluten-free flour I had in my pantry.  I also had some barley syrup, thinking that maybe it would be better than any brown or white sugar.  It is actually very sweet and has a nice nutty flavor to it.  I usually prefer brown rice syrup though.  That stuff is like honey, so sweet.  I gave some to my mom to try, and she had a very hard time believing that it was made only of brown rice and filtered water.  Too good to be true?

That barley syrup came out like caramel, it looked so yummy! 

I liked the way the muffins rose, and I let them cool for a while.  The only thing that I probably should have done differently was maybe add more of the flour.  I lined them with some cupcake liners, and they were a little difficult to take out;  very sticky, a good quarter of the muffin was still left in the liner.  If anyone out there reading this (is anyone reading my blog?) has any suggestions, please let me know!

They tasted very good though.  Maybe next time I will also sub out the eggs and use ground flax seed instead.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a go:

Gluten-free Pumpkin Muffins
1 egg (or a teaspoon of ground flax seed with one tsp water)
1 cup of barley syrup (or brown rice syrup)
12 oz of canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup gluten-free flour (or more?)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup quick cook oats

Mix together the egg (or flaxseed), pumpkin, syrup, applesauce, and vanilla. 
In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon.
Mix the two together, then fold in the oatmeal.
Pour into lined muffin tin at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or at least until you see them brown on top.
Cool them off completely.

See you next time!