The Pomegranate Chronicles

I’ve been obsessing over Pinterest the last few weeks. It’s another online obsession I could really do without. I do have to admit, it has lit an inspirational flame under my butt and I have been a crafting/organizing/knitting monster. There are lots of beautiful images on Pinterest. Most are a bit out of my reach (financially and physically). Then, I stumbled across this pantry post, and wanted it. I got to work right away. I went to the basement to find the old can of chalkboard paint I used in my hallway makeover, pulled out all the glass jars I could find, and spent the whole night painting squares on all the containers. That’s how it started…

I cleaned out everything in the cabinet. This cabinet had previously been used for my spices only. I realized I have over 50. I not only wanted my spices in here, but my cooking/baking items as well. I wasn’t quite sure how they were all going to fit back in this pantry, but I was gonna make it work. The following day, I went over to my favorite Junque store and grabbed an assortment of wire baskets. They are something I can put spices in three deep, freeing up lots of shelf space. I also grabbed a few decorative baskets to hold some of the other items and add some character. The wooden box at the bottom is something I had been eyeing in the shop for weeks. I just wasn’t sure where I could use it…well I found the spot!

It was fun to see it all come together.  I did find that now I can see everything, I need to trade out/change out some of my food choices. But that will come with time.

The finished project is almost perfect. I am finding the tea the hardest to find a spot for right now. I plan on keeping my eyes out for some old tea tins that I can stack neatly in the door. But overall, I am so excited with this space. I was able to add so much more storage to it, and open up another whole cabinet in my kitchen. I love using space to efficiently.

Altogether, it took me about 3 days. I worked on it a little bit each night. I love it. What do you think?

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

It will always amaze me that a pile of fabric and parts like this:

Can be made into this:

I made this large bag for my Tae Kwon Do sparring gear. I wanted a special bag that was original. I found this pattern by The Green Pepper. It was available at my local JoAnn Fabrics store. I looked for some thick fabric and stumbled across this, what I think is, Asian inspired quilted fabric. Then I was even lucky enough to find this iron-on dragon patch in the same colors as the quilted fabric. I thought it would add a nice touch.

This project was more of a sewing challenge than I anticipated. I learned lots of new skills. The zipper the pattern calls for was not readily available at my JoAnn’s, so I had to make do with a parka zipper. I reinforced it a lot and I think it will work fine.

I even added the loops to make a longer arm strap. But I am very satisfied with the length of the two handles the pattern calls for. So I didn’t feel I needed to make the extra strap, although I have the extra webbing and parts if I change my mind.

My favorite part of the bag is the pocket. I actually got the pattern to line up, that never happens for me!

All of my gear comfortably fits in this bag. It was a really great project. My son is already asking when I am going to make him one! Do you have any sewing projects?

Happy Sewing!

A very productive weekend in deed. It started with a bit of snow.

Organization was on my list.  Any free chance I got, I worked on little projects. In the kitchen, we have a few cupboards that have pull out draws. This one next to the sink had two- but it wasn’t that functional and was a little bit of wasted space. After looking at the old sliding system, I found I could take one out and move one to the bottom of the cabinet. It’s perfect for our trash and recycling containers. This frees up a ton of room under the sink for more storage. It is a good change.

I finished up my sewing project from last week. I have the perfect bag for my sparring gear (you’ll see more about this later this week!)

Sunday we enjoyed spinach and feta omelettes.  My omelettes never come out pretty, I am really bad at flipping them just right, but they always taste good.

And we played in the snow.

I also got a chance to knit, met up with family for lunch and also met one of my best friend’s newborn. Such a great weekend. How was yours?

In my research for healthier eating, I found these menus for low carb eating by Laura Dolson. Although, I am not using the menus, I am taking tips and tricks from them. They do include some great recipes that I have altered to fit our tastes. On menu #2, there is a Apple Flax Muffin recipe. In the menu, she uses this muffin for quick snacks and to eat with breakfast. Here’s the recipe with my changes.

Apple Cinnamon Flax Muffins
(yields 12 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup flax seed meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Splenda
4 large eggs, beaten
1/8 cup veggie oil
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 medium apple, chopped small

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 12-muffin tin very well.
1. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the rest of them.
2. Let batter stand 10 minutes, then put into the muffin pan and bake for about 18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and muffins just barely start to pull away from the sides of the tin.

There are still a few changes I’d like to make to these. In my next batch, I’d like to use honey in lieu of Splenda and I’d like to do away with the oil all together. But for now, I know this recipe is really really good.

Do you have a flax seed muffin recipe? I’d love to see a link.

Happy Baking!

I recently took a workshop on how to make terrariums at my local garden store. It was a quick crash course, which was all that was needed. It was so simple. The hardest part about it was finding a container that worked best. I found this old lemonade container at (yes, you guessed it) my favorite junque store and for $15, I thought it would work perfectly.

I meant to take pictures of the whole process. I even brought my camera. But when I went to take the first picture, I realized the memory card was in my computer! DOH! So I can describe what we did step by step here. First, I didn’t realize you need to sanitize the inside of the container. I used windex (it’s all they had), it seemed to work well enough.

The bottom is lined with about an inch of pebbles. Then a 1/4 inch of activated charcoal is added on top.

Then on top of the activated charcoal is a covering of spaghnum moss to keep the soil from falling down into the charcoal and rocks. Then, of course, the soil. Not too much at first, just enough to plant your plants. They recommended an odd number of plants. I used an odd number of larger plants, then lined the bottom with a ground cover plant. Once you have the plants in, use a little more soil to be sure all the roots are covered.

I wish I had written down the names of all the plants I added (maybe you can help?) I am never good at that part! On a fun side note, I also had enough plants left to add a little fun to a small pewter sugar bowl I had on the shelf.

It was a fun little workshop. I am glad I did it. Do you have any terrariums? Any tips for me?