Dog Bed Made From A Vintage Suitcase

 I have been seeing these adorable dog beds made from vintage suite cases and have been wanting to make one.  I went to the local thrift store, but didn't see any vintage suitcases.  I asked around later that day if anyone had one, and found that my mom had the perfect one.  She had purchased it at a thrift store and was going to get rid of it.  

It had a musky smell, so I sprayed some fabric cleaner on the inside and set it outside for a couple of hours.  I then traced the suitcase on a on a piece of soft fleecy fabric and sewed it into a pillow.  I placed the new pillow in the bottom of the case, put Dorothy's favorite toys in the pouch, and put her inside.  She hasn't moved in over two hours.  She loves it, and so do I! 

Pineapple Bread (Vegan)

I had lots of leftover pineapple that needed to be used.  I brainstormed all morning and came up with the idea of pineapple bread.  

This is what you will need:

9 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons flax meal

1/3 cup apple sauce

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

1.5 cups crushed pineapple

3 cups flour (all purpose, and unbleached)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cups mixed nuts

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Whip the water and flax meal until it thickens (about 2 minutes).  This will act as the binding agent and is the substitution for eggs.  Next, add the apple sauce, oil, vanilla, sugar, and mix by hand.  Then stir in the pineapple.  I had a fresh pineapple that I had cut into large chunks.  I put the chunks in the food processor for about 30 seconds.  This crushed the pineapple, but keep some small chunks.  Mix in the rest of the ingredients, except the nuts.  Fold in the nuts after the wet and dry ingredients are well combined. 

Pour the batter into a greased pan.  

 I used small, medium, and large muffin pans and a small bread pan.  The small muffins cooked for about 12 minutes, and the large muffins and small loaf cooked for about 30 minutes. 

 Let cool and devour.  I sure did! 

The bread is perfectly sweet and delicious with the chunks of pineapple. 

Homemade Citrus House Cleaner continued...

It's been two weeks since I combined the vinegar and citrus peels. See my previous post to see how to make this cleaner. 

I'm now ready to use this to make my house sparkly clean.

 

For the final steps, you will need:

The citrus/vinegar mixture you put together two weeks ago

Bowl 

Sifter or colander 

Open the citrus/vinegar bottle and pour out the bottle into the sifter.  Make sure your bowl is there to catch the liquid cleaner.  You can throw out the peels. 

Store the cleaner in an airtight container, or a spray bottle.  

Now start cleaning. :)

This cleaner smells very clean and fresh.

Easy Homemade Hazelnut Cocoa Butter

Homemade Hazelnut Coco Butter

I've been wanting to make this recipe for a while now.  I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and purchased hazelnuts for this recipe.  They have very good prices on raw nuts and dried berries.  The store wasn't packed either.  It was a much better experience than last time I went.  I found the hazelnut coco butter recipe from ohsheglows.com.  I love her style of cooking and decorating. 

What you will need:

 Two cups hazelnuts

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons coco powder

1/2 teaspoon ground coffee 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

 

Bake the hazelnuts in a 300 F oven for about 10-15 minutes.  Make sure they don't burn. 

Take out of the oven and put in an old dish cloth.  

Fold up and rub the hazelnuts in the towel to get the skins to fall off.  

It took some work, and not all the skins came off.  That is okay.  Mine turned out fine with some skins left on.  

Now put the hazelnuts in the food processor for about seven minutes.  It's really loud, but worth it.  Process for about seven minutes or until the hazelnuts become creamy.

Now add 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil and process for another two minutes. 

 Add the rest of the ingredients (1/2 cup organic cane sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 1/2 tablespoons coco powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground coffee, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt) and process for the last two minutes. 

Put your delicious homemade hazelnut coco butter in a glass container with an airtight lid and place in the fridge.  It will thicken up once it has cooled. 

Spread your hazelnut coco butter on a piece of toast or whatever you want to use it for.  I love cinnamon, so I sprinkled some cinnamon over my hazelnut coco butter and toast.  This is so creamy and perfectly sweet.  Enjoy! 

DIY Citrus House Cleaner

Night Six of Bountiful Baskets

 Tonight I'm making Orange house cleaner.  I found the easy idea from SnapGuide.com.  I used up my Bountiful Basket Oranges, Grapefruit, one lemon, and one lime.

 This is what you need: 

Orange peels, and other citrus fruit peels

Vinegar

Glass airtight container

Peel your oranges and other citrus fruit. 

Fill up your jar with the citrus peels.

  Pour vinegar over the orange peels.

Cover the jar with an airtight lid.  

Date and store for two weeks.

 I will post this once again in two weeks with the results of my new house cleaner.  
I can't wait!  

Peeling the citrus fruit made my house smell so fresh and clean.  I didn't want to waste the peeled citrus fruit, so I stored them in a glass Tupperware and placed them in the fridge for later.  I may food process the oranges, grapefruit, limes and lemons with some agave nectar, and soy milk to freeze for a late night Popsicle treat.