Low-Fat Granola Bars & Poached Pears!

Here we are again!

Sadly I did not get around to doing the coffee shop review like I had planned this weekend. Instead I made granola bars and poached pears!

The granola bars were because my boyfriend and I seem to go through about 2 boxes of these a week and I'm looking for a healthy (and cheap!) alternative!

This recipe was taken from the Cookin' Canuck and her pics are awesome! I apologize for the 'ruggedness' of my pics but I kind of forgot I was planning to blog all this until I was almost finished!

My only complaint about these granola bars is that the texture came out kind of gummy, and I'm wondering if I did something wrong! Maybe I didn't bake them long enough? Or I should have toasted the granola longer? Does anyone have any recommendations to fix this??

The taste is also not very sweet, since it has no added sugar. All the sweetness comes from the banana, cranberries and the sugar-free apple sauce. I shouldn't really be surprised since I was looking for a healthy recipe, but the Cookn' Canuck recommends adding a couple tablespoons of maple syrup or honey, and I think this might be a good idea. I also substituted walnuts for the pecans, as that's what I had on hand. As it is, it kind of has the taste and consistency of bread. Not horrible, but kind of straaaange for a granola bar.
(*Note- these taste better the more I eat them! Maybe they're like one of those cakes that has to sit so that all the flavors meld into each other... definitely tastes better after a day. Also, my boyfriend likes them and he's very picky. And DON'T add to yogurt, tastes way better on their own.)

Low Fat Granola Bars with Bananas, Cranberries & Pecans

Yield: Makes approximately 24 bars.

From the kitchen of Cookin Canuck. www.cookincanuck.com

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cup oats
• 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
• 3 large, ripe bananas
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tbsp ground flax seed (or flax meal)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9- by 13-inch baking sheet with parchment paper, with about 1 inch of parchment paper overlapping the sides.
3. Spread out the oats and chopped pecans on a baking sheet. Place in the oven until they are lightly toasted, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a fork. Stir in applesauce until combined.
5. Transfer the oats and pecans to a large bowl and stir in dried cranberries, ground flax seed (flax meal), cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
6. Stir the banana mixture into the oat mixture until well combined and starting to clump together. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and press down evenly.
7. Bake until the bars are golden brown and starting to separate from sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
8. Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Let cool to room temperature, then cut into bars.



Before I put it in the oven!



9. Serve or store in an airtight container.

After I put it in the oven!

As for the Poached Pears, I made this for a movie night with my friends and it was a smash! This is a combination of two poached pear recipes I got from working as a pastry cook! It's very easy and relatively painless to do! After making the pears, I served them warm with a couple scoops of vanilla ice-cream and some caramel sauce! A-Maz-Ing! I have also tried this with Basil Ice-cream and Cardamom Ice cream and it's verrry lovely! The caramel really pulls everything together and if you want you could also add some crumbled Sandies (or Sable as we called them in the kitchen), graham crackers, or nuts for some added texture!

Poached Pears:

-4 Cinnamon Sticks

-4 Bay Leaves

-4-5 Boshc Pears (Anjou will also work)

-Equal parts sweet, white wine & water (I used Moscatto as that's what I had on hand, but I highly recommend Riesling!) I ended up using 3 cups of each, totalling 6 cups of liquid, but it should be enough liquid to cover your pears!

-3/4 cup of honey

-1/2 tsp of Vanilla or 1 Vanilla Bean

-Zest of 1 Lime

-Zest of 1 Lemon

Directions:

-Peel the pears and put everything in a large pot.

-Bring to a boil and then bring down to a simmer.

-Simmer until the pears are slightly translucent and a knife will go easily into the pear.

-When the pears are done (about 45mins), scoop out the pears and let them cool. They will continue to cook slightly due to residual heat in the pears so be sure to remove them from the liquid or the cooking process will continue even after you have turned off the heat!

-Strain out the spices and zest and continue to boil the liquid in a clean pot. Simmer this down until it resembles an amber, sticky syrup.

-After the pears have cooled you can split the pears down the center using a paring knife and scoop out the seeds with a spoon or melon-baller. I also like to carve out the stem, using a knife in a small 'V' incision.

-Store the pairs in the syrup and serve warm.

Alternate recipe for syrup:

-After you have made the syrup, you could also mix this into 2 pints of heavy cream.

-Put the Cream/Syrup mixture into the fridge to cool and once it has chilled whip the cream for soft, pear flavored whipped cream (aka Chantilly Cream)

-Serve chilled whipped cream with warm pears on a bed of crumbled Sable cookies.

Simmering Pears! Oh My!

Remove Pears & Let Cool.

Reduced Syrup and Pears

Pears with Seeds & Stems Removed.

Pears in Syrup- YUM!

Chinese New Year!

Yesterday, my office/day job had a Chinese New Years party! (Year of the Dragon- wootwoot!) Somehow I only found out about this the day before the party so I was scrambling to figure out a dessert to make that night! I finally settled on making a Thai dessert one of my old roommates introduced me to (sorry- I know it's not Chinese, but so easy and yummy!) called Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango. I was originally planning to make it all pretty by molding it into balls that I put into cupcake wrappers and then lay two tiny matchsticks of mango on top, buuuut I didn't have the time/energy to do all this, so I ended up serving it potluck style in a big bowl. I think people were afraid to try it because it looks like a savory dish but it's actually a dessert. I shudda stuck with my original plan and made it pretty... presentation is everything! Sigh. Personally, I think it's as addictive as crack! If you're brave enough to step outside your comfort zone and try this, I think you'll agree with me, but don't be fooled by it's wholesome and simple ingredients, this is practically diabetes on a spoon! So good, yet so bad! Just the way I like it!


I got the recipe from Food.com, by Sass Smith:

Notes:

-First, I quadrupled the recipe and I used Jasmine Rice instead of the more traditional Sticky Rice, but the recipe below should make about 3 servings. Follow the link above for all the nutritional info.
-Also, I think I undercooked the rice slightly, I recommend adding water if the rice dries out too soon.
-If you're wondering, it kind of tastes like rice pudding times AWESOME!!


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup basmati rice or 1/2 cup jasmine rice or 1/2 cup other sweet Asian rice
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (you can use the light kind if you want, it just makes it a little less rich)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 mango , sliced

Directions:

1. 1
   Rice: Cook rice according to package directions, but substitute coconut milk for half of the water, and add half the sugar.
2. 2
   It should be fairly dry when you finish cooking it, without any liquid visible in the pot.
3. 3
   Sauce: In a medium saucepan, boil the rest of the coconut milk with the second half of the sugar.
4. 4
   Keep this at a full boil until the rice is cooked, or until it reaches a thick, syrupy consistency.
5. 5
   Presentation: Arrange the cooked coconut rice in a bowl or plate with the mango slices in some kind of pretty formation and dribble a bit of the sauce over the whole thing

NomNomNomNom

A Review of Failure

Well, I've been feeling a little blegh lately. I think I've got a case of the Winter Blues. Not to mention, feeling a little discouraged by my lack of sales... is it the season, as so many of my friends suggest, just a slow time for retail everywhere? Is it my costs are too high or my lack of selling history? Is it my designs?? Part of me is afraid to fail (of course) but part of me is also afraid to succeed! I have to admit that there are things I could be doing to help my sales, but I just can't seem to make myself DO them! I have that restless feeling where I know I have things to do, but I have no desire to do them. Partly because I'm afraid of what would happen if it works... it would mean that my business will go from dream to reality (not usually a bad thing), but it also means added responsibilities, being held accountable to others, and  stepping into the unknown. I'm feeling a bit like a failure right now, disappointed in myself, and completely unmotivated.

I miss my other passions in life, mainly cooking and coffee. And I reaaaally miss Summer! I briefly had another blog once upon a time that was dedicated to adventures, getting out of debt, and reviewing NY coffee shops. But I have since abandoned it and I miss that too. Is it possible to have too many passions in life? At one point I was upset at having gained 20 pounds in 2 years! (I blame my boyfriend) and I was determined to loose it. I actually managed to loose about 19 before the holidays hit but I've gained 7 back! I've been trying to loose it again, but so far it's been a half-hearted effort where I see-saw between loosing and gaining the same 2 pounds. Just plain old UN-MOTIVATED!

The good news is I've been spending more time with my friends and I've started reading again! I've also started cooking again (not good for my weight loss lemme tell ya!). I feel like I've been doing good things for my soul. So why do I feel like such a failure?!

Well, they say it's not the failures that define you, but how you deal with them. Just pick yourself back up and keep going! And that's what I plan to do. With a few minor changes...

I've decided to incorporate my coffee shop reviews into the Defiant Designs blog and whatever else tickles my fancy! Stay tuned for a new review and in the meantime I've got some basil ice-cream at home begging to be spun! Look out world!

The Perfect Day

I have recently been given the task of describing my perfect day in every detail, in the hopes that it might one day come true... This is my happy place:

This is a photo by Petrina Tenslay that I took from one of my all time favoritist blogs, Desire to Inspire!

I live someplace where it's almost always warm and sunny. Someplace close to the beach, where I can see and feel patches of sand between the grass as soon as I step out my front door and huge trees spread their shade. I wake up early enough to see the sun rise and I bike down to the beach where I can have a morning run or swim. I own a midsize cafe/lounge on the boardwalk with the main eating area is outside with big wooden picnic tables in the sand for family style dining, a sheer silk tent blocks the worst of the wind & sun, and shoes are optional. I am the owner and the pastry chef. The cafe has a huge, shiny espresso machine and overalls are the standard uniform for myself and the employees. I serve down-south bar-b-que pulled pork sandwiches, super sweet iced-tea, and boutique pastries and ice cream. In front there's a do-it-yourself cotton candy machine with more custom flavors like champagne grapefruit, rose raspberry, and mint strawberry. There are no standard flavors, everything is unique and the milkshakes are to die for. Music plays full blast throughout the cafe. Inside there are books and games everywhere for people to enjoy. The walls are mostly windows which are usually open to the breeze and filled with boxes of herbs, tomatoes grow up the walls outside the building. There's an outside shower for people to rinse off sand from the beech and a water spigot for rinsing off feet or getting water for your dog. After spending the day baking and cooking, strings of tiny lights are hung up outside and turned on for people to use. The building is made from stucco but has a tin roof and wooden floors with huge Oriental rugs lie everywhere and big wicker fans slowly spinning on the ceiling. The outside will be painted bright blue, purple, green or whatever color happens to fit my mood at the time, but it will always be bright and outstanding. The inside of the cafe will open directly out to the beach and the outside dining area. There's also a huge fireplace for winter marshmallow roasting. Students come in to study, couples on dates, and families come in from the beach for a cool drink. My friends drop in throughout the day for a bite to eat or a chat. We have local live musicians or live poetry readings most nights and after enjoying a glass of wine and a board-game with my boyfriend, we walk my bike home and enjoy the stars. My customers are my friends, my staff is my family, and everyone knows each other. My children will grow up in this cafe. Learning the satisfaction that comes from making something with their hands. There may even be weekly classes on anything from painting, cooking, guitar, or how to make a play-list. Art from local artists will hang on the walls and I will have pumpkin carving contests and open mic nights.

This is my Cloud9...

New Years!

Ok- I think I'm officially addicted to Etsy.com.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step right??

I've loved Etsy ever since I discovered it 3 years ago but I forgot how freak'n addictive it can be! I can't stop looking through peoples treasury lists and all their favorites! I especially love to look through the favorites of people who's work I admire. It's like they curated a special collection just for me!

You can check out my own Favs Page Here!

I have to say it's intimidating and inspiring! I keep beating myself up thinking, "Why didn't think of that first!" to just being completely blown away by the sheer awesome skill involved with some of these pieces! (Oh, and I've discovered that I have a real obsession with geometric shapes and neon colors. Seriously! I'm hoping it's just a phase and not a permanent part of my creative programming.) At the same time, I look at other people's work and I feel so lucky to be alive in a world were people can express themselves so freely and we have this awesome platform were we can be heard and appreciated for our efforts!

It's a little anti-climactic though when you work like crazy for weeks and runrunrun and then, when you're all finished... nothing happens! Well, not nothing- I have made one sale so far! From what I've read online, it can take several months for sales to really pick up when you're a new shop, but it's soooo hard to stay motivated and enthusiastic when no one is buying your work! I've been lurking on my Etsy page, checking my stats every few hours, trying to see if there's a pattern to people's searches or viewing habits. I think my most exciting moments, other than my first purchase, are when a complete stranger 'likes' one of my pieces! I find it so thrilling that someone I don't even know would make the effort to tell me they like my work!

It's also very strange adjusting from working 7 days a week to having your weekends free. I still have two jobs mind you, but my online shop is very different from working in a formal 9-5 environment. It's so tempting to just lay around doing nothing, but I have to keep motivated and remember that working for myself is just a valid a job as working for someone else. I have the same responsibilities and I need to hold myself accountable to them!

I think part of the slow response to my shop is that the holidays are upon us and most people have finished their shopping and are ready to relax with their families, and part of it is that no one really knows who I am or what I do!  I need to really step up my marketing and get myself KNOWN if I'm going to be successful at this! And I FULLY intend to make Defiant Designs a smash!

Which brings me to my New Year's Goals & Resolutions!

• Create a marketing package that I can distribute to friends, families, blogs, magazines, etc.
• Create a marketing schedule for the year!
• Create MORE!! I need way more product on my site and now that the hard part is done (getting launched), I can focus on the fun part of creating!
• Get featured in an article of some kind: blog, magazine, etc.
• Sell 3 items a week!
• Sell to a boutique.
• Push myself creatively!!! One of the biggest things I admire about my fellow Etsians is how fearless they are & passionate in their creative pursuits! It's my goal to show my passion & to push my creative limits! I.E.- Let my freak flag fly and just go for it!

And on that note, I will leave you with some pics of the recent holiday festivities in NYC!

Just a pretty night shot I took walking about Manhattan!
Everyone was on their way home from the SantaCon Parade!

The Wish Wall at the Times Square Visitor's Center!
You write your wish on a piece of confetti and all the wishes get dropped from the Ball on New Years!!
(Mine is there on the far left! haha!)

SantaCon in Times Square!

That's A Wrap!

AT LAST!!

I have FINALLY posted everything on my shop and I am up and running! Sort of. More like, lumbering along really. But I'm there! I am seen and heard!

My shop name is Etsy.com/Shop/DefiantDAccessories
I also have a Friends & Family Discount code: FRIMFRAM, which will last until 1-12-12.
And, if you've been keeping up with my previous posts, you already know I'm offering a free gift with every purchase made in December!

What you may not know is that I'm also offering FREE Gift Wrapping!
Because I'm just awesome.

Below are some pics because I didn't have room to post them on my shop... :(

Behold!
My desk in it's usual chaos!

Large box with lace pattern spray-painted and stenciled by ME! The color is Ocean Blue. The Gold & Cream marbled paper in the center is also hand-made (though not by me). The triangle sequins are actually metal! How cool is that?!

This is the part where I fell in love with iron-on transfer paper... sigh!

Packaging!
The only thing missing here is the velvet bag that the jewelry comes in. You can see that in the first picture in this post- it's a gorgeous Wine color. And you can see the muslin bag that the Free Hand-warmers come in above.

Small & Large glossy White boxes with Ocean Blue lace print, spray-painted on. Jewelry is attached to White card-stock, also spray-painted with the same lace print. Hand-written note, written in Metallic-Gold, can be put on the back of the card-stock or on the front. Jewelry is then placed in Wine velvet bag. Defiant Designs tag is created with iron-on transfer paper on muslin fabric.

Expect The Unexpected...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That's pretty much my thought process for the last 3 weeks.
So much is happening I barely have time to think! I've got so much going on in my head, I have to double check that my shoes match!

I gave myself a week and a half to buy my supplies, make my jewelry, photograph it and get everything online by the beginning of December. Yep- definitely ambitious. It's taken me twice as long to do everything as I'd originally planned! On top of that, I've had to reassess my resources (ahem! moneysituation). I had ordered some supplies from an online vendor only to find that some of the pieces were not what I was expecting. So I returned the goods, but I've been unable to find replacements locally, so I've temporarily put that collection on hold. Turns out it was for the best since everything has cost about twice as much as I had originally planned anyways! It took me two days of slogging around the same 3 NYC block radius in the rain to find all my materials, but so help me I did it! Following that, I was holed up in my apt for about 4 days trying to make my doodles and sketches into a full-fledged reality! Not just a reality, but a quality product that people would admire and be proud to wear. It has been a scary ride that's re-defined my standard of 'heart-racing'. Nothing says fear like jumping out of that nest and trying to fly! But if there's one thing I've learned this year it's not how many times you fall down that matters, but how you pick yourself up and keep going. So, after every pitfall, mistake, and disappointment, I dust myself off and go forward, onward, and up! Below are some of my rough drafts, trials, and errors...

I was experimenting with wire wrapping for the Anomaly Collection. Don't these stones remind you of the Milky Way?! My inspiration for this collection was science, math and the constellations of the night sky. It satisfies my inner nerd! haha!

Draft 1- A set  of earrings for the Anomaly Collection. I didn't want to use the stones above in every piece , especially since they would be pretty heavy as earrings, so I tried to mimic the shape of the stones in the shape of the earrings and the color by using an ombre thread. However, the thread color didn't quite match up to the color of the fabric in the bracelet and this just ended up looking way too chunky anyways.

Draft 2- I decided to use this solid thread instead because it matches the bracelet better, but I wish I could figure out a way to make the thread stay in that shape! Maybe some spray starch or something? I love how simple and organic the thread looks! And those tiny loops going all around the edge of the earring are crocheted wire I did myself! Took forever!

Draft 3- Still trying to make this thread work, I like this pattern best for the weaving of the thread... and a sneak-peak of the bracelet in the upper right corner!

Silk Georgette through Brass tube. Love these colors!

1st Draft- Machinist Collection. My inspiration for this collections was, well... Machines! And all their intricate little moving parts!

I was playing with the shape of this necklace for my Mechanist Collection and ended up liking this the best! I think it has really interesting depth and movement going on. The center pieces are held in place by tension and gravity. I'm using a mixture of Copper, Brass, and Raw metal strung together with a beautiful Moss Green Silk Georgette and a wire wrapped Pink & Black dyed Agate stone for weight. I also added a pearl & seed bead woven charm to the front of the center stone. A few people have commented that I'm crazy for leaving my fabric edges raw on this piece, but I love how it contrasts with the clean lines of the tubes and I think it adds an old-world feel to it. As if it were an antique from generations long past.... (sigh- that's the romantic in me coming out- haha) But what do YOU think?

My workstation at the beginning of the week. 

My work station at the end of the week!

This is a project I have put on hold for the moment until I can find some stronger wire, but I ended up  making about 5 of these arm-band frames and even drafted up a pattern to try to solve the construction issues! It took me a whole day! I want this piece to have a very simple and clean shape and it's very important to me to make the wire structure look perfect! Unfortunately, I think I have the wrong materials for this right now. Must figure this out!!

Stuff!

How did I end up with this much embroidery thread?!

All in all, very little has gone how I expected. But they say that's pretty normal when you're starting a new business! You have to expect the unexpected! (NOT my forte) And I have to say, I've had quite a few 'happy accidents' along the way! Sometimes the solution to a problem has turned out even better than my original plan!

Stay tuned for the finished pieces and some pics from my live model shoot in Central Park!