Orange Panna Cotta

Dip Dyeing and Orange Panna Cotta

A girls night of sorts. Some friends and I got together to eat and create. We knew we wanted a dessert and couldn't resist trying something different! It took 4 hours minimum of set time. So be prepared to wait a while for this delicious dessert. We used two seperate recipes for ours. Here's the panna cotta recipe we used as the base and we went with an orange sauce, instead of the earl grey.

Orange Panna Cotta with Orange Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 C heavy cream
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C fresh orange juice
• zest of 2 oranges
• 1 1/4 C plain yogurt
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• scant 1/4 tsp vanilla
• salt, to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp gelatin
• 2 Tb cold water
• 2 oranges for orange segment garnish

Directions:

1. Combine the heavy cream, sugar, and orange juice in a saucepan. Zest two oranges into the cream mixture. Heat slowly until the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and steep for a half hour.
2. Strain the cream into a bowl and add the yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla. Whisk thoroughly. Add a small pinch of salt, to taste.

       3.  Sprinkle the gelatin into the water and let bloom for 5 minutes. Melt the gelatin by placing          the bottom of the dish in a pan of simmering water.

        4. Whisk into the panna cotta. Pour into six 4 oz ramekins. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Orange Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 C squeezed orange juice
• 3 Tb sugar
• 1 Tb butter
• Julienne orange peel, 1 orange.

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat. Stir ocassionally, until thick/syrupy. Around 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool, pop in fridge till ready to use.

This dessert has the most amazing consistancy. The orange flavor makes it very refreshing. I will definitely make this again when I'm willing to wait for it!

The dip dyeing project was a lot of fun. We all had a blast and of course ended up tye dyeing a few things too! We got the basics from Martha Stewarts site. This can get messy but you really just have to be careful and I promise you won't end up dyeing your whole house.

These are officially my favorite beach shorts.



Mother's Day

This Mother's Day I made sure to include a hand made item as part of the gift. I feel bad buying my mother the same types of things every year for Mother's Day. It feels like the holiday is all about the same themed candy and cards instead of making the thought count.

My mother has been slowly decorating her new place and it's looking pretty nice. I found this idea, on where else, Pinterest.

I'm not even sure who is responsible for this one, it was listed on etsy and was already bought, so the link is completely gone and only lists items like it. Whoever was the creator of this, I would have loved to had the link to their store! So, going by the picture, I created a similar piece.

I bought a wooden frame from the store that was thick enough. It was only around 5 dollars. My problem was that the wood it was made out of was incredibly thick and sturdy and I couldn't screw the hooks into it. I own very few tools so I had to improvise and I used the stick on plastic hooks.

I painted it all and framed a cursive initial on scrapbook paper. My mother loved it.

Mr. P's grandmother is a plant/garden type of lady. I've made the yarn covered jars/cans a few months ago and decided to try a coffee can this time for a planter. I trimed it with a nice thick yarn, the base is a very pretty speckled scrap paper I got at the craft store. I also painted the top of the can in a neutral shade to match. I also "sealed" the yarn by covering extra layers of modge podge. This won't make it water proof but will make it hold up better. I decided initials were a nice touch to the gifts.

Happy Mother's Day!