Weekend Kitchen Nightmares: Rubber Lemon Cake

So I got it in my head that I woud make lemon cake for Gus and be super awesome by using rice four and xantham gum as a replacement for all-purpose flour. I used a tried and true cake recipe and only subbed the flour ingredients.


Yeah.. should have done a little more research into gluten-free baking. What I ended up with is something I've never quite seen before. It is almost a dense, rubber-like consistency that has the appearance of a very deep dish pizza crust. The good news is that it's kind of tasty with buttercream frosting on top (what isn't though?) and Gus likes eating it with a cup of tea.

I'd post the recipe but I doubt any of you want to serve rubber lemon cake to anyone, ever.


For now, I'm sharing just to demonstrate that we all have our kitchen disasters. The last one I had were chocolate chip cookies that spread so much, I had to put them in muffin tins to bake them. 


Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Friday Fun with Spray Paint

So I finally got the nerve up to bust out the white spray paint I bought a year ago to transform my old clock/bookcase I got at the thrift store. I didn't anticipate the breeze yesterday and it turned out to be quite the adventure- ending with me inadvertently spraying my black shoes AND my cell phone!

Fortunately, both washed off relatively well and the clock turned out might fine too...

Here's the oddly yellow before -

The super white and lovely after...

Have a great weekend all! :)

Easy and Delicious Baked Ziti

Gus has been asking me to make baked ziti for ages - even before he developed a gluten allergy this past summer. Even though now he can't eat gluten, we finally managed to make a delicious baked ziti that's easy, gluten-free, and yummy for everyone!

Here's how to make your own amazingness tonight...

Ingredients:
- 1 lb of gluten-free ziti/penne noodles or regular wheat noodles (if you can eat 'em)
- 3 and 1/2 medium sized mild sausages, grilled then sliced
- 1/2 large white onion, chopped
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 26oz jar of spaghetti sauce (we used Classico Tomato and Basil)
- 1 8oz pkg of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup of sour cream
- 12 slices of Provolone
- 4 slices of Mozerella
- 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan
- Garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste


Directions:
- Grill sausages and slice into small discs. Set aside.
- Set water boiling in a large pot for the pasta. Saute onion and zucchini with a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder on medium heat until mostly cooked through.
- Add the sliced sausage to the mixture. Stir for a few minutes, then add your spaghetti sauce and turn heat to low.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Mix the sour cream and cream cheese together.
- When water boils, cook the pasta for a little more than half the normal cooking time then drain it. It'll cook the rest of the way in the pan with the sauce.
- Once your pasta is ready - here's how to assemble:
-- Use pam or olive oil to coat a 9 x 13 glass pan
-- Place half the ziti noodles on the bottom of the pan
-- Place 6 slices of provolone as a layer
-- Spread half the cream cheese mixture over the provolone slices
-- Top the cream cheese mixture with your sauce
-- Repeat once more (rest of ziti, provolone, cream cheese, remainder of sauce)
-- Top sauce with torn pieces of your mozerella slices and your shredded parmesan cheese
- Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool for 5-10 before eating. Mangia!

 My salt and pepper bird shakers are like... "Dude that looks nom, right?"

QuickFix: Living Room Makeover from a Pillow and Picture Frame Switch

Spring is here (and we're all a bit sleepy from losing that extra hour this weekend.) As much as I love my classic living room with it's black and white framed photos, it's not very welcoming and friendly. This weekend, I wanted to change my look but I gave myself an important rule: No buying more STUFF! I have plenty of it lying about this place.


In ten minutes, I was able to completely transform the room by subtracting and adding only a few items! (Note: not counting my lovely striped walls... these photos were how the bookcase and couch looked up until yesterday and the walls were painted in December).


Here's the quick makeover and how I did it...

BEFORE

a very soon after... AFTER

Here's what I did:

- Removed all the black and white frames (will be repurposed in my bedroom and bathroom shortly)

- Added the green pillow from my bedroom and a leaf pillow I got as a steal for $3.00 at a flea market

- Moved the lamp from my desk to the bookcase

- Brought in my three white Ikea Ribba shadowbox frames in place of the black and whites

- Added a champagne colored frame from Michael's leftover from my old apartment

And huzzah- a new place to Spring forward in!


How bout you guys? What can you accomplish in 10 minutes with things already in your home? Link up your quickfix makeovers below until March 18 at 11pm CST.

Rules for linking up below:

- Please link this post at LivingwithAnnie in a new post on your own blog and/or on the post you are linking to below

- Please only post Before/After home decorating posts (preferably ones you did easily with items on hand)

- Any posts not linking back or posting unrelated material will be removed. There will be more linky's in the future so hold on to unrelated stuff for then!

Thanks,

Annie

Fun free apps for writers and anyone who wants to organize their life

I stumbled upon this article yesterday from OnlineUniversities that shares a fantastic list of 100 free online apps for writers. As I flipped through, I found tons of great sites I'd never heard of that I think could help anyone.

Here are some of my favorites but the entire list can be found here.

Wridea (www.wridea.com)
I'm someone who's constantly having ideas for stories, movies, projects, etc. Usually I throw these ideas into my Gmail drafts where they live for all-time. Wridea has a great little free program on the web where I could be storing my Gmail draft-bound thoughts. Definitely a wonderful tool for anybody in the business of collecting inspiration.


HTML Book Maker (here)
This freeware will allow you to make your own e-book to share with friends and family. Could be potentially awesome for turning your own blog into something marketable and book-like. 

Emurse (www.emurse.com)
Emurse is an intuitive online resume creator. You can create a clean, streamlined resume then share it online with anyone- assured it will display properly on their computed since it's hosted online.


Elance (www.elance.com)
Interested in freelancing? This site will allow you to view jobs and bid on doing them. Lots of opportunities appear - everything from resume critiques to book writing. 



And one not on the list but I love it - 

Todoist (www.todoist.com)
I started using Todoist in college to organize an event I was planning. I love it's simplicity and recently installed the sidebar for Firefox so I can always keep my to-do list in easy reach. In sight, on mind. 

Update

(What's this pic from?)

Hi all,

Apologies for no regular updates this week. I'll be hoping to post something today and/or tomorrow but I've been majorly busy this past week job searching and going on interviews.

Thanks so much for your understanding and support. Here's to the crazy DIY's, lovely recipes, and more I've got cooking and hope to share with you all soon!

xo

Annie

All about Oscar

As most of you know by now, my foremost passion and profession (usually) is in the film industry. Last night, for the first time in many years, I actually sat down and watched an entire Oscars telecast AND was completely delighted with it overall. I wasn't even upset by who won which award. 


Fresh off the heels of last night's red carpet (upon which I someday hope to be), here's my rundown of the BEST and the WORST of Oscar Night 2010.

BEST FASHION

Anna Kendrick, Nominated Up in the Air

 

Sandra Bullock, Winner (!) The Blind Side

She looked like a lovely Oscar! Oh, heart Sandra Bullock.

 

WORST FASHION

Sarah Jessica Parker, Presenter

Don't get me wrong- I'm a big SJP fan but this dress just looked like a big bag on her (to me). Nice to see her on the red carpet with her hubby Ferris/Matthew Broderick.

 

Jennifer Lopez, Presenter (I was wondering what she was doing there...)

Was it me - or did this dress look like it was made of bubble wrap or something? Not my favorite.

 

BEST and WORST FASHION IN ONE DRESS

Zoe Saldana, Presenter/Na'vi Representative

So I fell in love with the top of her dress... and really couldn't stand the bottom. Best = the top, Worst = whatever is going on in this skirt. Oh and her hair and make-up were equisite.

  

THE HOSTS

I've loved Steve Martin pretty much since the beginning of time and Alec Baldwin's resurgence has endeared me to him. I really enjoyed them as hopes but wasn't quite sold on Neil Patrick Harris starting the show. I love NPH too, but Steve and Alec are my old school stars for the night.

THE BEST JOKE

Okay, maybe it's because I'm Jewish but I seriously lost it when Steve Martin told Christoph Waltz (the Jew Hunter in Inglorious Basterds) that he had found the motherload of Jewish people in the Kodak Theater. In stiches. Heart Steve Martin.

THE WORST JOKE

Whatever Sean Penn alluded to in his presentation of Best Actress that made absolutely no sense.

BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Without a doubt, Sandra Bullock topped my entire night. My favorite movie of all-time is While You Were Sleeping so it was definitely a Julia Roberts-finally-won moment for me. Everything from her going to thank Merryl Streep then turning away, to her heart-felt self-deprecating speech that ended with her calling Merryl her lover... it was amazing. Kudos to her. You can enjoy part of the speech here - Highlight's from Sandra's speech.

WORST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Sandy Powell, AKA the woman with the weird hat who won for best costuming. Literally the first words out of her mouth were, "Wow, I already have two of these..." She then proceeds to half-heartedly thank other costumer designers who don't win Oscars like she has. Maybe it was an attempt at dry humor but man, I wanted to rip the Oscar out of her hand.

BEST WIN

Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director and The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture. No better way to stick it to your ex-husband by beating him twice and having two gold men to show for it. I'm sorry, Avatar's prize is it's the highest grossing film of all time. Jim Cameron can have that victory but I'm so glad I didn't have to hear him give a speech last night.

Double awesome points for the first woman director to win an Oscar and Kathryn receiving it from fellow film director Barbara Streisand.  

WORST OSCAR SEGMENT

It's a tie! Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner speaking/doing anything at the Oscars - The Horror Movie Montage - The dance to original score segment! Really? Dancing to the score from The Hurt Locker? And not performing the original songs in favor of it? Craziness, sheer craziness.

IN CONCLUSION

Was it the best Oscar's ever? No, not really. Was it satisfying, were there beautiful dresses, were there ample close-ups of Clooney? Yes, yes, and yes. And for that, and Sandra Bullock getting a standing ovation and appreciation for what she's contributed to movies thus far, I say thank you to the Academy for Oscars 2010.

What did you think, my fellow film fans?