Craft Project: Changing Pad Clutch

So I've decided to add yet another feature to my blog: craft projects.  In addition to cooking, I LOVE to make things and I thought blogging about them would be fun!  I also plan to do my best to put together tutorials for anyone who wants to try these projects themselves.

My friend Taryn (blogger over at Mr. Jones and Me) recently had a baby shower, and I decided I wanted to make her a present myself!  I've always thought baby crafts looked like so much fun to make, but I've never attempted one.  Until now! :)

I found a number of tutorials online for portable changing pads that rolled up to look kind of like an over-sized clutch.  I thought they were pretty cute, and definitely something a new mom could use.  Most importantly, the instructions looked easy enough that even a novice seamstress like me probably couldn't screw it up too badly.  So I decided to give it a try!

I basically followed this tutorial from Small Fry and Co., except that I only rounded the corners on one end, and instead added a pocket at the other end like in this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. 

I used a patterned cotton for the outside, and a nice soft flannel for the inside, with organic cotton batting in between.  I'm sure the tutorials I linked to above do a much better job explaining how this is done, with nicer pictures than my camera is capable of, so I'll just give a quick run through of what I did.

The first step is to lay your fabrics out, right sides together, with the batting on top.  Trim to your desired size, round the corners if desired, and pin everything in place.

Sew around the edges, except leave one section unstitched (a little wider than your hand).  If you decided to round your edges, clip the corners.  Then turn it right side out and press the edges flat.

Make sure the edges on your unstitched section are folded in.

Fold the pocket up, pin in place, then top stitch around the entire edge (this will help keep the batting in place).

The final step is to add the velcro closure.  If I was going to make this again, I'd use a bigger piece of velcro as my little piece didn't seem super secure.  But anyway, in order to decide where to place the velcro, you need some idea of where the flap will hit when the pocket if full of diapers and things.  I don't have any diapers, so I just used some wash clothes and estimated how big it would be.

I pinned the velcro in place, sewed it down, and that's it!  Pretty cute, no? :)

Mango Glazed Salmon

I've been a bad blogger this past month. :(  I got a nasty cold just as spring arrived, and then for awhile after that I just didn't feel like much like cooking.  But I am excited to be back with this fantastic recipe!  I actually got this recipe from a cookbook that my sister Katie got me for Christmas called Cook Yourself Thin.  I guess there is a Cook Yourself Thin show on Lifetime, although I must admit I've never watched it.  But this book is very cool!  Lots of delicious looking, low calorie, most importantly - fast and easy - recipes.  I'm sure I'll be using it a lot this summer!  I especially like all the big, color photographs.  Pictures are must-have for cookbooks, in my opinion.

This recipe jumped out at me right away when I first flipped through the book.  Plus I needed a healthy fish entree for Fridays in Lent - something other than the old box of frozen fish sticks, you know?  I made just a couple small changes based on personal preference (and trial and error), but I think this is a FANTASTIC recipe!  I've made it three times already. :)

INGREDIENTS

5 ounces mango nectar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced ginger [I easily doubled this]
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick [I just used a couple sprinkles of ground cinnamon instead]
1 teaspoon rice vinegar [I didn't have rice vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar instead]

2 6-ounce salmon fillets, about 1 inch thick 

DIRECTIONS

So here's what the book said to do...

1. Stir together the first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until reduced by half. Pour mango mixture through a wire-mesh strainer; discard solids. Return mango mixture to saucepan; keep warm.

2. Place salmon on a rack in a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat 5 minutes. Brush fish with half of mango mixture. Broil 3 more minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Spoon remaining mango glaze evenly over fish.

And here's what I actually did...

I'm not sure why, but every time I try to broil something in my oven, I end up setting off the smoke detector.  Not sure if it's just my oven, or I'm doing something wrong, but that is exactly what happened the first time I made this and tried to follow the instructions as written.  Plus all that delicious mango sauce just gets burnt, and the fish wasn't even done!  

So the next time, I just baked the salmon at 450 for about 12-15 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork.  Worked like a charm!  Then I just added the mango mixture at the table.  Plus this way, you can bake your fish while you're making the sauce, and be done in half the time!  

The recipe suggested serving the salmon with a spinach and pear salad.  I'm not even going to bother writing out that recipe, because I hardly followed it at all.  They have a home-made dressing recipe, but I just used a light raspberry vinaigrette that I had in the fridge.  They also said to add bean sprouts and shredded carrots, but that sounded gross to me.  I instead just topped the spinach with the pear pieces, sliced walnuts, and a little feta cheese (which probably doubles the calories, but I don't care - I love feta!).  It was really, really good!  Even my husband, who was a bit skeptical about putting pears in a salad, loved it and asked me to make it again.