17 Friday Jun 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
My newest invented recipe. Paleo (sugar free, dairy free, etc) jello. It’s so good!
Find the recipe here:
Coconut-Raspberry Swirl Jello (sugar free, dairy free, paleo)
14 Monday Dec 2015
Posted in Recipes
I made this last night, improvising between a handful of recipes I found online.
We’ve gotten tired of our old tomato soup recipe, so I’ve been on the lookout for a new one. Someone said at dinner: “This is good. It actually tastes like tomatoes, not like red water.”
Well, good. I’m sorry for all those past batches of soup you’ve had to endure.
(the main difference was that this recipe uses crushed tomatoes instead of equal parts tomato juice and broth)
I didn’t follow measurements or a recipe while I was making this, so I’m going to try to write it down the best I can.
serves about 7
1 onion
8 ounces canned diced tomatoes (any kind of canned tomato works)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried basil
7 leaves fresh basil (optional)
1 tsp dried or fresh parsley
3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
Milk or cream, optional
Dice the onion. In your soup pot, sautee the onion until it’s translucent, stirring periodically.
add your remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer until warm. Puree in a blender (I used my immersion blender) and serve with milk or cream.
To make a meal of it, we like popcorn and sliced cheese and apples with the tomato soup.
Like this recipe? Check out some of the other allergy-free deliciousness I’ve posted!
Gluten free banana bread
Gluten, dairy, grain free chocolate cake
Paleo Lemon Bars
10 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Gluten Free, Recipes
Tags
allergy, allergy free, Dairy free, egg free, Gluten free, Healthy, oatmeal, Recipes, Sugar free
I made these for dessert last night and they went over really well. I adjusted the original recipe to fit our family’s particular dietary restrictions, and they turned out perfectly! It’s like carrot cake and oatmeal cookies all rolled into one. Continue reading
03 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Gluten Free, Recipes
Tags
baking, christmas, cookies, dessert, DIY, family, food, fun, Gluten free, holiday, kids, sugar cookies, tradition, tutorial
Growing up, I always loved those little spritz cookies that you punched out and sprinkled with colored sugar. When we went gluten free seven years ago, I missed them a lot.
But then I decided to make sugar-cookies from a new recipe I found from a 2010 Taste of Home magazine. I tweaked them a little and made them gluten-free, and upon tasting them I realized that they reminded me so much of the spritz I loved growing up! Light and buttery and melt-in your mouth; crisp and yet soft; crumbly and yet chewy. Continue reading
03 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Creativity, Tutorials
≈ Comments Off on DIY: Book page wedding garland
30 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Guess what I’m doing!
Hearthside Studio: Custom illustrated portraits <click to read details
15 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted in Quotemeal
The 
internet is a lot like impulse buying.
You find yourself inundated with articles you didn’t know you needed to read, things you didn’t know you needed to look at, videos you didn’t know you needed to watch, and arguments you didn’t know it was important to dedicate three hours responding to.
Sometimes you just need to let it all slide by and live life.
It’s enough. Continue reading
27 Wednesday May 2015
Posted in My Art
Tags
I kinda forgot to announce this, but…. I’ve switched my blog over. This is now “The Songbird’s Pencil”, dedicated to my more thoughtful, non-business related writings. My art and studio stuff will go on Hearthside Studio…..and I’m excited. So, come see me!
06 Monday Apr 2015
Tags
Art, artist, beauty, boundaries, Chesterton, culture, distinction, limits, presuppositionalism, quotes, thinking, Thinking-out-loud
Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.
G.
K. Chesterton wrote that, and he was right. If we don’t have a standard by which we measure what we see and create, we have no right to call a masterfully executed painting ‘art’ and that overflowing trash can ‘not art’. If there is no limitation, you cannot call one thing beautiful and another ugly. You have no point of reference for discerning between the good and the evil. I read this article a while back, and it really stuck with me. The author, Zach Franzen (himself an illustrator), talks about many artists in our modern day– who set themselves up as the standard for beauty, and expect their audience to bow to their definition. Why is that garbage can, littering the sidewalk with noxious refuse, art? Because I said so. Because I decide my own limits, or lack thereof.
09 Tuesday Dec 2014
Tags
Art, artists, fine art, handlettering, illustration, prayer, project, Providence, testimony, thankful
{Artist: Ilya Galkin}
Time was running out yesterday afternoon. Schedules were packed, and yet this important project was getting nowhere. One more design was set forward for drafting.
I started praying over it as I bent over my paper once again. ‘Lord, please, please, guide my pencil and help us find the right one soon…’
Rejoice evermore.
Pray continually.
In all things, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.”
-1 Thessalonians 16-18
artist: Henriette Browne
I was about a third done with the concept draft when plans were changed again. Time had run out: we were just going to settle for a ‘meh’ design that no one was particularly excited about.
“O.K.,” I replied, laughing to ease the stressed nerves between everyone. “No worries.”
Just for the sake of it, I sent a photo of the design I had been working on. “I’ll stop this and work on the new one.”
“Wait. Hold on.”
Guess what? That prayed-over, last-resort design was EXACTLY what my friend had in mind originally.
