Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

My beautiful and talented Godchild, Melody, has a passion for cooking and baking just like me! Today we came up with the idea to start blogging some of our favorite easy recipes for teens. This is the first in a series of recipes for young chef's with Melody and my daughter Audrey doing the cooking.

This is a picture of Mel...there is nothing better than starting out my blog with a picture of a really cute girl to get everyone's attention out on the net.

This Peanut Butter Fudge is super simple and delicious!

Recipe:
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk 14oz)
2 Cups ( 1 package) of White Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
cooking spray

Optional: Hershey's Chocolate Kisses

Equipment:
Can opener
Rubber Spatula
Large Microwave Safe Bowl
Square 9x9" pan or rectangular 12"x8" pan
Microwave oven

First get your pan ready. We like to line it with parchment or tin foil. In this case, Melody is using parchment cut to fit and folded over the sides of the pan.

Spray non-stick cooking spray onto the parchment paper liner. Later you will be glad you did because the fudge comes out easier and the pan is easier to wash!

Next get ready to mix. Make sure all of your ingredients are ready. You will have to use a can opener on the condensed milk can. DO NOT USE EVAPORATED MILK INSTEAD!
IT WON'T WORK. Pour all of it into the microwave safe bowl.

Add in the 1/c cup of Peanut Butter by filling up a half cup measuring cup and making sure to smooth it across the top so that it is full completely. The recipe turns out less firm if you do not use the correct amount.

Next add in the entire package of White Chocolate Chips. Not all brands are equal in this department. The Ghirardelli brand is superior to others available in the grocery store that still cost around $3.00 or less per package.

Your mixture does not need to be stirred at this point. You will next put it into the microwave just as it is without mixing! Set the microwave for 2 minutes on high and wait for it to finish.

I know it's hard to wait and kind of boring but 2 minutes is not that long. During this time, make sure you have room in the fridge for chilling your fudge after you are done.

Get the mixture out, it will look like this:

Mix it for about 2 minutes with your rubber spatula until it is smooth and resembles a light tan color like this photo.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan very carefully, it will be slightly hot still but you won't get burned because it has cooled enough while you were stirring it.

Using your rubber spatula, spread and smooth the mixture out to the edges of the pan. It is okay if it does not perfectly go into the corners because of the paper. You will trim these sides off later and probably be forced to eat them so you don't waste any! Its one of the horrible things you MUST do when creating candy confections...eat them first so you know if it's safe to let family and friends try them out later. (if not, you might have to eat all of it yourself)

Put the pan in to cool for at least 2 hours. Again, it's difficult to wait but the fudge needs to set up.

After you take it out, it will resemble a tan slab.

Using a butter knife, score lines on the fudge but dragging the knife about 1/4" down in a straight (ish) line to make the rows. Melody did four rows vertically and 8 rows horizontally. It is up to you how large you want the pieces of fudge.

We put the pieces of cut fudge into some cute mini-cupcake papers with stripes in brown and aqua on white and some plain brown papers. The colors looked good with the peanut butter's tan color. I find lots of cute cupcake papers at stores like Michael's Crafts. But my favorite source is an Etsy shop, Sweet Treat supplies.

Sweet Treats Supplies is super fast at shipping out my orders and have the best prices. It makes a huge difference with your finished confections to have them presented in these adorable little papers in my opinion. Its around $3-3.50 for 50 liners.

Plain or decorate! It's up to you. This fudge won't last for long.

Melody finished her treats and put them on a cute heart shaped plate. Since she has someone special in mind this Valentine's Day, she decided to make the candy extra festive and add a chocolate kiss on each piece. Either way, the results are sure to make that special guy feel really lucky on February 14th.

Seriously, isn't she adorable? And as beautiful inside as out.
If you like our recipes and blog ideas, please consider joining our blog, Stumble us with a Thumbs Up and adding us to your Tumblr. ( all things I learned about from Melody!)

Yummy!!!



Next posting will be the all Chocolate Version of the Fudge with a special twist by Audrey.

Going Green with the Laundry, DIY Washi Tape Clothespins

Last Fall I got an email from my darling Zoe* aka Jess.
Readers will remember her from the summer's sewing lesson features.She's the one that actually finished her skirt!(hint to Audrey!)

Zoe sent me a photo and asked me if I could make the item in this photo and how much would it cost.

Maybe it was just the small size of the photos in my email or that I was reading it late at night but I had no idea what this thing was supposed to be? I asked everyone in my family to look at it. Everyone had a guess at it. Was it a tiny baby dress? No, the shape was too strange...a doll dress...
Wait, they have two dogs so maybe it's a dog outfit. Zoe's family did not seem like the type to dress up the dogs but Halloween was coming. So, I decided it was a doggy apron. I wrote back to Zoe about making the "doggy apron" to get more details.

The laughs went round at her house, where the heck did Tracey get "doggy apron" out of a clothespin holder?? A what?? OH! I finally got it. It was an old calico clothespin holder that was torn beyond repair. I felt quite silly, especially since there were actually clothespins in the pocket!! Her mom had to ask for it back to hang up her laundry.

I would love to post the pattern that I made off of the old one but I have no clue how to make a PDF file for the pieces. Sorry and if I can figure it out ( I even asked Carl) at some point I will post it on this blog.

The results were quite cute and I listed it on my Etsy shop and accidentally sold one to another person before Zoe's mom could even see her custom listing. I think you will agree these are darn adorable.

One thing was missing though to make it special enough for a gift and that was some nice clothespins.

A visit to the Japanese Book Store in San Jose provided me with the solution. They had a display of Washi tape and along with it some clothespins decorated with this wonderful japanese tape. Washi tape comes in many patterns and colors and sticks well to everything but also can be pulled back up to reposition it.

I made up my own directions and felt they looked pretty good. I have seen a number of sellers on Etsy making a tidy profit off of these clothespins. I tried the Dollar Tree Clothespins first, 50 for $1 but they were pretty inferior to the Target Brand that cost $2 for 50 but are much sturdier.

You can find Washi Tape on Etsy from many different sellers. I like "Pretty Tape" for their excellent selection of full rolls. Don't get tricked into buying some from a person that sells you a yard rolled around a little cardboard tag for a few dollars. You should be paying about $3-4 per roll and it will be 15m in length.

First you will need a roll of Washi tape, clothespins, a cutting board and an Exacto Knife.

You want to cut off a piece of tape that is a bit longer on each end than your clothespin. Mine are 3 inches long so I cut off about 3 and a half inch piece.
You lay the edge along the side with the metal bar, not the side without it to make it easier to trim.

Now turn the clothespin upside down on the cutting board and trim off the edge that is hanging over with your Exacto knife very carefully. You will end up with a long skinny piece about 1/4" wide. I used it to seal some packages, decorate cards or add another color of trim on some of the clothespins.

Next, turn over your clothespin and fold down the tape on each end and press securely. That's it!

Voila, you have adorable clothespins. You can repeat this on the other side or some people I noticed whitewash one side. These also can become fridge magnets but gluing a nice strong magnet on the backside. Great gift for a school teachers or family and friends. I have even seen them used to clip closed a paper bag for a cute wrapping paper instead of using tape.

Have fun making these!

Now for that *

I call her Zoe instead of Jess because that is my pet name for her. She is quite a unique child and I have known her since she was a wee small third grader. Zoe has always reminded me a lot of myself! An avid reader and fantasy nut, she would visit me at the library for more books and walk out with a stack higher than herself.

Her natural ability at cooking and crafting and sewing was so much like me. As if she has always known how to do it all. Her love for young children and nurturing tendencies to everyone in need always touched me. Her temper that could flare out of no place ( however rarely either of us would let that happen !) and the sweetness that is there in her most of time, well it just hit me in the gut and I felt a kindred spirit in her. Audrey is lucky to have such a great friend.

Our joke between us and her mom is that I will steal her away from her parents, dye her hair jet black and name her Zoe. ( we even discussed the 'cutest' spelling) We will roam around the World like gypsies, selling our wares while wearing long and colorful swishy skirts, lots of bangles and scarves in our long flowing hair. We will come back periodically to visit the "folks" and show them our latest creative projects and back out we will go to Worlds Unknown, always singing in our perfect soprano voices.

Yep, Zoe has inspired several projects for my etsy shop even. I got some bunny charms just for her because she is also known as Zoe Bunny. She is a lovely young woman now, almost 16 and her awesome parents know just how lucky they are to have such a blessed daughter♥

new babies

Everyone is having a baby right now and I have been looking all over Etsy for great ideas for baby gifts. I must say, there are tons. I love this pair of baby ugg type boots in lavender from Funkyshapes at Etsy,

And these baby hats just kill me, they are so cute from For Stitches Sake.http://www.etsy.com/listing/90222690/on-sale-twin-set-lil-teddy-bear-ears?ref=sr__&sref=&ga_search_query=&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_listing_id=90222690&ga_async=1&ga_method=listing&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=handmade

I bought a pattern to make the baby kimono shoes , http://www.etsy.com/listing/90769922/cotton-kimono-baby-booties-baby-shoes?ref=sr__&sref=&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_listing_id=90769922&ga_async=1&ga_method=listing&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=handmade

I have got to find a source for affordable Japanese fabrics that I can buy first before I make these up. It has to be the authentic fabric. I just paid fifteen dollars a meter for some with owls and pandas but that is just way too much.

We have been selling some cute appliqued bibs in Sew4Munchkins, our children's shop. http://www.etsy.com/listing/85643748/star-baby-bib-for-boys-or-girls-brown
We just hit 100 sales this past week and the shop is almost 3 months old now. I love doing the shops with Audrey and Barrett. We work hard to get the photos and listings done weekly. Its so much work but rewarding.

I am hoping for more feedback on potential ideas for new blog posts besides writing about my students. Also, don't forget to fan us on Facebook at Jewels4Thought and Sew4Munchkins fan pages. We are hosting a give away each month.

The Next Coco or Vera?? I think so!

My newest sewing student is a 12 year old fashion designer...at least she wants to be. Monica already has a head for Fashion and sewing is a natural for her. She has a sketch book full of ideas and during our first two lessons, I listened as even more creative ideas came powering out of her. I could see her mind churning with even more and I knew she had a gift.

For her first project, instead of just making a simple tote bag like usual, we have taken a purse that she already owns and drafted a pattern off of it. Using brown paper bags, we made a pattern for a small messenger bag which is fully lined. Even adding an inside pocket.

Monica took to pattern drafting right away. Often, it is tough for me to explain to an adult how a sleeve fits into their garment or how replacing the zipper on their jeans would be difficult since that zipper was one of the first things sewn and not easily replaced. But Monica and I have connected seamstress to seamstress.

Here is a sample of one of her sketches for an outfit. She has a book full of them. Her next plan after this purse is to make a layered skirt from one of her old Halloween Costumes. I just have to teach her the building blocks to get to that point.

Making the purse is not a quick project since we have started literally from scratch. But her genius for picking up on the nuances of matching the pieces and taking each step of construction in order is really remarkable.

Its not all been easy for her. A decision to add a small 3" heart pocket on the outside proved frustrating. Sewing on the curve of the heart was too difficult at this point in lessons. Part of this is the older sewing machine model without a speed control. Even I find it hard to keep her machine sewing at an even pace as the foot just seems to not work until pushed to full throttle.

I often tell my students that sewing is kind of like driving a car. Learning to stick to your side of the road or fabric, following the lines and taking the curves a little slower. So the heart was set aside for now. She did some practicing on paper hearts and hopefully next week she will feel more comfortable or I will give in a bring my machine over so she can test drive it as the different speeds.

After this last lesson, the inside of the purse is done, including a contrasting pocket. Monica was happy with her work and quite frankly if her mom had not come back to take her to a school function...well we might have sewn much longer that day.

I told her when she becomes famous, I hope she will remember me as her first teacher. It is really so rewarding to see each of my students blossoming and pass on my craft to the next generation.

When I was a teenager, I used to go buy fabric on Saturday morning to make a new dress for my date that night. Sewing later for my children so they could be well dressed on a budget was just a natural thing to do. Now, Audrey and I are enjoying two successful Etsy Shops because of our love for sewing and crafts. Learning to do things for yourself like working on your car or baking your own cake and in Monica's case, making that fabulous layered skirt to wear to school knowing no one else can ever have one is...well AWESOME!

The many faces of Carl

My 50th birthday just past by me last week in kind of a blur in some ways. I was so stressed out to be 30 but being 50 feels great. I guess maybe because I think that 20 years later, I have something to show for it! At 30 I was just pregnant all the time and chasing my babies. I feel beautiful at 50 in a way I did not feel 20 years ago. More comfortable in my own skin.

One of my best accomplishments is my four children. Each time I look at them, even now as adults, I feel so much love for them that I can hardly contain it. I am so proud of each of them. They always got along well and often even did plays all together in the same cast. This is the four of them in 2000 for a play "Twelve Dancing Princesses"

They are each unique in their own way and very much their own individual people. The babies I adored and kissed to death are all grown up into such great adults.

My son Carl ( my oldest and picture above with his two younger sisters) is so sweet to me and such a tender man. He is brilliant at so many things: artistic, musical, speaks several languages, well read,talented actor and a fantastic older brother. On my birthday he did a concert for me and played his guitar to me in the living room. I did allow the rest of the family to listen. But Carl was singing for me. It was all I could do not to cry.

Sometimes I joined in a sang with him softly. When he was a baby, he told me I did not sing very well and it "hurt his ears". He was completely right and now that he is grown and has perfect pitch, I know why it hurt his tiny ears and laugh about it.

Carl and his brother Lane made me a nice birthday dinner. They have never looked too much alike even as children but right now they both have the same haircut so I had to snap this photo. Lane makes the most sarcastic expressions. But Carl was my first baby, the one that stole my heart and made me melt. I made more mistakes on him than I can count. I was so nervous as a new mom that I would screw things up and be the kind of parent that I had growing up. I boiled everything in site, followed him every place, never put him down for longer than it took to use the restroom and kissed him a billion times at least in the first month.

Carl has many moods and faces as well as being able to use all kinds of crazy accents. He has always been quite a character.

Carl at about 10 minutes old

Carl was our Christmas gift.

Carl being super cool and laid back as a toddler.

His first play at Manzanita Elementary School in Seaside, California. Age 8.

Graduation from Monterey High School in 2004 with Buck at his side.

On Stage in 2003 for Ariel Theatrial in Salinas, California.

Hanging out with Cole and his band members.

Carl might be playing the guitar on stage one evening, his saxaphone another or dressing up for a Cosplay Event as Char from the Gundam Series or hanging out with friends the next and each time he is always having a great time.

His recent hair cut was more painful for me than it was for him. He has grown his hair out to donate twice now. He just has such gorgeous hair.

Life can be full of regrets if we let it. I try not to have too many. My big one is probably not becoming a Pediatrician when I had some great scholarship offers. But girs in Utah just did not do that in the 80's. However, I have no regrets about having my children except that I would have liked even more!!

Being a mom is the best job ever and I am please that Carl is my son. He made my birthday really special for me this year. I won't ever forget it. Probably a good reason why I named him Carl "Bruce Springsteen" Salbacka! All that rock and roll rubbed off on him! I love you Carl!

New company for PDF Patterns

I just found a new company on Etsy for PDF Patterns, SewingWithMe1 and they have really cute patterns. The company is from Canada. This is the first pattern that I bought:

They also have a website called ithinksew.com and I found some free pattern downloads on it. I was pretty excited because one included was a child's apron pattern. My little girls on the Saturday class had decided to do aprons next so we are trying out their free pattern.

My lovely little ladies are been very Eco Friendly and green so they are using their daddy's old shirts for the aprons. It was quite funny to watch them cut up the old shirts and work on laying out patterns at the last class.

These girls are sharp and quick learners but cutting up their father's shirts just seemed a bit naughty and both giggled so much that I had to join in.

We will review how the pattern works out but I was pretty excited to pass on this site to everyone.