Recipe: Strawberry Basil Ice Pops

The weather has been so beautiful these past few weeks. I've been going to the Old Oakland Farmers Market every Friday and lugging a huge crate of strawberries on BART, in my car, and straight into the fridge. It's totally worth it. Lucas and Theo love them so much and get strawberry face every time they're done downing them. We've been making ice pops which I realize Lucas might love more than ice cream. Cool, because it's way easier for me to make and lot healthier. Here's a recipe for strawberry basil ice pops adapted from the Ice Pops cookbook. Enjoy!
 

Strawberry-Basil Ice Pops

1/3 cup organic sugar (or your sweetener of choice)

1/3 cup fresh organice basil leaves, roughly chopped

2 ½ cups organic strawberries, hulled

1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of salt

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and basil. Pour in 1/3 cup water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved and a syrup has formed. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the basil syrup into a blender or food processor, discarding the basil leaves. Add the strawberries, lemon juice, and salt. Process until very smooth or keep it a little chunky.

If using conventional ice pop molds, divide the mixture among the molds. Cover and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours or up to 3 days. If using sticks, insert them into the molds when the pops are partially frozen, after about 1 hour, then freeze until solid, at least 3 more hours.

My favorite ice pop molds are Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Molds.

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Recipe: Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

I used to think making buttermilk biscuits was all about popping open one of those scary Pillsbury dough tubes. Then I looked around online and found so many recipes for making them at home from scratch. What!? A few ingredients you probably already have on hand and about 20 minutes later, you can have steaming hot, crusty-on-the-outside-flaky-soft-on-the-inside biscuits. I love eating them with chili or soup or for breakfast with butter and jam. Just recently I made them with brunch alongside a delicious baked eggs with spinach and mushroom dish.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes about 12 biscuits

12 TBS (1 and a half sticks) unsalted butter (cold)

3 cups of all-purpose flour (I’ve made this with gluten free flour and it’s also pretty good)

1 TBS sugar

1 TBS baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 ¼ cups buttermilk (cold)

1. CHILL FAT:  Cut butter into 1/2 –inch pieces and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
 

2. MIX DOUGH:  Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (I use a Silpat). Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in food processor until combined.  Add chilled butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal  (I just whisk it all in a large bowl and use a pastry cutter. You could also use your hands quickly but make sure the butter stays nice and cold which is what makes those flaky layers).
 

3. KNEAD DOUGH:  Stir in buttermilk until combined. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly, 8-10 times, to form smooth, cohesive ball. Roll dough into 9-inch circle, about ¾ inch thick (I literally pat it down with my hands into something that looks like a circle).
 

4. CUT BISCUITS:  Using a 2 ½ -inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour (I use a cup dipped in flour), cut out rounds and arrange upside down on prepared baking sheet. Gather remaining dough and pat gently into circle. Cut rounds from dough and transfer to baking sheet.
 

5. BAKE BISCUITS:  Baking until biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate pan and reduce over temp to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes more. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes. Serve warm.

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APT CB2 - The first real apartment designed live on Pinterest

My friend Mark Aver, a creative director at Mother New York, just gave me a heads up about a seriously rad project he's been working on for CB2 called APT CB2. It's basically an experiment where an apartment in NYC would be designed entirely on Pinterest. Five popular designers (like one of my faves, Justina Blakeney) on Pinterest would help decorate each room with items from the store and then Pinterest users would vote or "like" their selections. The ones with the most "likes" would then be delivered to the apartment and built in real time. Seriously, how cool is that? Awesome, Mark!

From Wednesday, May 7th to Friday, May 11th help design the first real apartment live on Pinterest by liking your favorite Pins, and have a chance to win your dream room worth $5,000!  Check out the video here.

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Teacher Appreciation Packs - Exclusive Plum District deal

I've teamed up with Plum District to bring you a special Teacher Appreciation pack exclusive deal. For $10 you can get a voucher for this special pack that includes one note pad, one sticky note set, one little book, and one note card (tape and pens not included). Being a teacher is a super tough job and one that deserves extra love and appreciation.

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Food: Baking with a 6-year-old

Several weeks ago my good friend Lisa asked me if her 6-year-old daughter Zoya could come over and bake something with me sometime. She knows I love to bake and apparently Zoya loves it too (she actually reminds me of ME as a kid). I didn't hesitate for a second to say yes. I decided that I wanted to go all out and make this strawberry and chocolate layer cake with chocolate ganache (instead of the strawberry swiss meringue buttercream frosting we made a simple cream cheese frosting). A little ambitious for Zoya's first time, but seriously she was the perfect assistant -- she listened well, followed directions extra carefully, asked questions, and was a total cutie eager beaver to learn and do things right. Did I mention she's six? I mean, she basically made the entire thing herself with me handling the grown up safety stuff. The cake tasted amazing and most importantly, we had so much fun and we both want to do it again! And p.s. I took way too many photos of her Hello Kitty tattoo. So cute!

Thank you Zoya! I can't wait to bake with you again soon.

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Feria Urbana - Saturday, May 3rd from 12-5 p.m.

Come visit me at Feria Urbana on Saturday, May 3rd from 12-5 p.m. at the Linden Street Brewery in Oakland. I'll be selling my goods alongside other local, independent designers and artists like Allymoon and Tiny Atlas Quarterly. It's an outdoor family friendly event with a kids zone with fun activities and crafts. Come shop, eat, drink, and have fun. Mother's Day is just around the corner so pick up something for mom and for yourself. The Linden Street Brewery will be serving up beers, Campovida wine tasting room is open, Adesso Restaurant, Ippo Ramen, and Stroopie Gourmet will be selling yummy food. Free admission. Hope to see you there!

Recipe: Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes I crave a really good chocolate chip cookie. I have a great recipe for that which I will post in the near future. But sometimes I want a cookie that makes me feel slightly less guilty while I'm devouring three or four in a row. At night. Before bed. A coworker of mine shared this recipe with me and I've been whipping it up quickly and easily with Lucas. It's healthy (I mean, less bad for you) because it's packed with protein, gluten free, and best of all, it tastes pretty awesome.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients

• 1 cup organic creamy peanut butter (I used crunchy because that's what I had on hand)

• ¾  cup organic sugar

• 1 large organic egg

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

• Parchment paper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake at 350° for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.

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Favorites: Shed

A couple of weeks ago I went on a much needed girls trip (sans kids!) to Healdsburg, CA to celebrate the very belated birthday of my friend Meg. The funniest thing about this trip was that we all kept going back to this amazing store/cafe/restaurant/gardening shop called Shed. I've never seen anything like it -- from the tiles around the cafe bar to the perfect open kitchen (seriously, my dream kitchen) to the expertly curated finds around the shop, this place was a total dream. I couldn't stop taking pictures with my phone and I'm sharing many of them right here.

The weeks leading up to this day were pretty challenging in the parenting-of-an-almost-four-year-old department. Knowing full well that all the testing (of my patience) was developmentally appropriate, I was still at my wits end. So this trip was very much needed. I loved catching up with good friends Carrie, Jacinta, Nancy, and Meg and sharing stories over delicious savory and sweet treats, coffee, and ice cream. By the way, things are a thousand times better thanks in part to the best extra deep tissue massage I've ever had at Spa Dolce by Michelle, and a little refresher of The Happiest Toddler on the Block.

+ All photos by me via iPhone 5

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Jackson Family Photo Shoot

We had a fun photo session with friend Sarah Hebenstreit of Modern Kids Co. at our home and neighborhood late last year. She is a photography genius and is just so good at what she does. One of her smooth moves involves pretend barfing which instantly seems to catch the kids' attention or at least make them crack up. The boys were squirmy which was a challenge but I love all the shots.

I take a lot of pictures of the boys and have a bunch of the boys with Nick, but there aren't too many photos of me with the boys or our whole family together so this was a nice treat. I will cherish these forever.

// Photos by Sarah Hebenstreit of Modern Kids Co.

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My Work: Wedding Stationery on Style Me Pretty

Throughout the year I design numerous custom wedding invitations for various clients and many times I never get to see all the pretty details of the special day. So when I see a gallery of gorgeous images from a wedding where I was the stationery designer, I get super excited. Shot by the amazing Lisa Lefkowitz (of course!), designed and styled by the awesome Gloria Wong, and planned by the talented Jubilee Lau, no detail was spared. Check out the full gallery and all the sweet details on Style Me Pretty.

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