The infamous pancakes.

I make these pancakes every Sunday and freeze them individually for a quick, healthy breakfast during the week. I also make them for everyone I know and have had several people ask for the recipe. So ladies and gentlemen, I give you so-good-they-can't-be-healthy-but-really-are-not-that-bad pancakes (modified from Vegan with a Vengeance):

1-1/4 C whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T ground flax seeds (also called "flax meal")
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T olive oil
1/3 C water
1 C soymilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
handful of chopped walnuts

Sift dry ingredients together in large bowl. In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and stir until JUST mixed (leave lumps!). Set bowl aside in fridge for at least 10 minutes so the gluten will activate and give you nice fuffy pancakes and not hockey pucks.

Heat a medium size skillet over medium heat (4-5ish on my stove). I use a small chunk of Earth Balance margarine to grease the pan but I've also used a tiny bit of olive or canola oil or just plain old generic nonstick spray. Work with what you got. Pour about 1/3 C of batter in a circle and cook until bubbles spring up all over the top. Then flip and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Eat.

I've made these a zillion ways using different flavored milks (pumpkin spice, nog, chai tea concentrate). I've also used different extracts like rum, almond, black walnut etc and different nuts and seeds. Go wild and make the pancakes of your dreams.

Just when I thought spring was here.

DIY Metal Letters!

I've been lusting after these huge metal letters from Anthropologie (image from their site) for quite awhile, but I could never bring myself to pay $18 for one. Urban Outfitters also carries some in a smaller size for $10, but again my inner cheapskate said no way. So I lived my metal letter-less life admiring them from afar. Until now.


While browsing the internet for interesting DIY projects, I came across a blog by a fellow cheapskate who in fact had the same metal letter dream. Eureaka! Unfortunately, the link to that blog is long gone (as is the laptop that I found it on) and I had to recreate her steps from memory. I think I nailed it, though, because the letter turned out great!


What you need:
Any size letter or numbers from a craft store, made of wood or cardboard (the size I chose was $3.99)
Small foam paint brush ($1)
Black acrylic paint ($1.50)
Silver metallic acrylic paint ($1.50)

Paint the entire letter with a layer of black and let dry fully (one side was dry by the time I finished painting the other).

Once the black is dry, start layering on the silver. The blog failed to mention that you need about a million coats of silver to cover the black and my heart sank when the first few coats were virtually invisible. Fear not! Be patient and keep layering and this is what it will look like eventually.

Tada!

P.S.
I am now in the process of collecting sticks for next weekend's project:

So stay tuned.