Month: November 2020

Pretty Gift Cards

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment
This is a “fomiron” wild rose, very large and yet delicate at the same time.
A little bling along the side, along with fabric lace to offset the small wild cherry flowers in the top corner.
The necklace was made from elements found at “Michaels”. The pocket is actually gusseted to allow room for the rest of the necklace chain inside the pocket. Not a very flat card, although I was hoping it would be, I will still not be too worried about mailing it. The cherry blossom won’t be totally ruined if they are a little smashed by our postal service.

Flourless Sugar-Free Chocolate Torte

On By celestelindIn RecipesLeave a comment

Living the Keto lifestyle here, just trying to be able to fit into my clothes, LOL. Found a recipe in The Cake Bible for a Flourless Chocolate Torte. It was a good start for those who are gluten free and going keto, but I decided to go one better and make it Super Keto friendly, and managed to remove almost all carbs, by substituting in sugar-free chocolate chips and Swerve. It turned out really well!

Since I am the cake decorator extraordinaire, I put some gumpaste roses on top to pretty it up for Thanksgiving.

It’s super easy! Just remember to take it out of the oven on time!

Flourless Sugar-Free Chocolate Torte

Cake

3 eggs
One bag sugar free chocolate chips (10 oz)
1/2 cup powdered cocoa
3/4 cup Lakantos Monk Fruit
One stick margarine or butter (with salt)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the butter in the microwave (30 secs. on high).
Add the chocolate chips and stir until completely incorporated with the butter. If needed, zap it another 20 seconds or so, and stir until very very smooth.
Mix up the eggs, Lakanto Monk Fruit and powdered cocoa, add in the chocolate-chip/butter mixture, and then stir in the vanilla. Pour into a well greased 9” round cake pan. (I like to make mine in a spring-form pan for easy release.)

Bake 25 minutes at 350° – remove and let cool.

Ganache

3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
One 10oz. bag sugar-free chocolate-chips

Heat in microwave one minute on high, and then gently stir well, until you have a lovely smooth syrup. Pour over the cooled Torte and serve!

You probably have about 8-10 carbs per slice, assuming you can eat 1/8th of this very rich Torte!

Enjoy!

Birds & Blooms cards

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I’m branching out….not very far, but a wee bit, to explore other decorative paper companies. This past week I received the Birds & Booms from Little Birdie Crafts, I had been wait listed for so long, I almost forgot about it!

This paper is thick, very thick. Think cover of a paperback book thick, and add some weight to it. It is also very glossy, on both sides, both the white & decorative side. That being said, I used a lighter weight paper for my card base, about 60#.

This first card measures 5”x7”. As you can see, I have used some hand made roses and blossom, and borrowed the sentiment from a different paper pack.
This is the inside, aren’t these little birds adorable!! The right side (white background) features a circular punch out from the collection, and a strip from the embellishment page. On the left (pink background) the sentiment was fussy cut from the collection, and the white lace piece is a die cut from, guess where? Heartfelt Creations.
This is actually the first card I made from the collection, measuring 6”x6”. I used a white die cut bird cage, and a hand colored butterfly for the upper corner, and an organza lavender ribbon with two handmade purple petunias, and a bright pink flower in the center.
The inside of this card has a pocket (right above the wood slats) which I tucked a little ephemera card in to. Perfect for a sweet message of friendship.

This entire card probably took a mere 90 minutes to put together, since I already had the flowers made, and in my stash for “emergencies “!

Pumpkin Bread – Lo Carb Style

On By celestelindIn RecipesLeave a comment

As per usual, the mainstays of my recipe include lots of eggs, Lakanto MonkFruit, and finely ground Almond flour. This recipe also requires Xanthen gum, which helps so much with our texture.

My favorite brands
This particular recipe has no nuts, no raisins or craisens. This is a LOW CARB Pumpkin bread. If you really want raisens in your bread, you will be seriously increasing the carb count. A cup of pecans or walnuts, chopped fine, would still be considered Keto, however, and increase your fiber intake.

For those of you who are just joining me, I am determined to lead a low carb lifestyle, without giving up my favorite foods. So I am modifying some of my favorite comfort foods (generally cookies, cake, sweet breads, lol) to be more Keto friendly.

These are fresh out of the oven,
I can almost smell it from here!!

The main caveat or takeaway is to remember that Keto Style baked goods need to be eaten quickly, as they will sink, and three days later, you won’t be interested in eating it any more.

See the texture on this slice, looks just like “normal” pumpkin bread, doesn’t it?! But for now, slather on the butter or cream cheese and enjoy!

Recipe:
6 eggs
2/3 cup butter flavored Crisco or coconut oil
1 cup Monk Fruit
1 cup Golden Monk Fruit
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 can (16 oz) packed pumpkin
1/2 cup water
2 tsps baking soda
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
One Tbsp Xanthen Gum,
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 cups almond flour
1-1/3cups all purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°. Grease pans (9×5”), mix shortening, sweeteners, leavening, salt and spices. Add in pumpkin. Blend until smooth. Add water, and flour, almond flour, one cup at a time, and mix until smooth. Pour evenly into two pans and bake for 70 minutes at 350°. You can cut it after 20-30 minutes.

Remember to share!
Each loaf has about 13 slices, and each slice has about 25gms carbs each.
So, low carb, but not NO carb.
Be careful, it’s delicious!!

Sharing the Love.

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

Once again, it is time to visit the ladies in the neighborhood, and see how they have been faring with the Pandemic/CoVid-19. I leave these on the doorstep with some homemade cookies or quick bread to let them know I’ve been thinking about them! (I haven’t had any complaints yet!)

These cards use the Sweet Peony paper from Heartfelt Creations, and some flowers (peonies) that I created out of vellum, and a rose out of paper, which was colored with Prisma water-color pencils.

This first card features the vellum flowers I made. It is important to select high quality vellum, ink and powder, or the powder will just flake off the paper and get everywhere!
It is a simple z-fold card, which basically means this: take a piece of paper (this one is 6″ x 12″), and place it long side against the edge of your score-pal, score at 3″ and 6″. Fold along the score lines, the two 3″ wide sections create the front.
This particular card has a paper rose that I made.
The center scene is only glued on the left side, and has a lace border to emphasize it.
The middle part is left alone, or sometimes I will put a pocket and insert a tag. Then select a pretty flower (mine are hand crafted, of course) and secure to the left lower edge of the decorative center panel. Also I shellac the flowers with “Glossy Accent” or something similar, when I make them out of paper, to give them that shine.