The House Elves heard that several ‘Puffs wanted some healthy recipes and they are glad to oblige us! Remember, if you have a recipe you want to share, PM Yarnvista and we’ll get the Elves right on it!
So, for the Sunday Special the House Elves have chosen…
Honey, Do You like Blueberries?
1 Honeydew melon, skinned, seeded and diced into 1” cubes
1 pint blueberries
Fresh mint
Fresh lime juice (optional)
This is the easiest fruit salad ever, but it is so good! In a medium to large bowl mix together the melon, berries and several whole mint leaves. Yum! If you want to make it a little more tangy you can also mix in some lime juice to taste.
Quick Pasta with Tomatoes and Beans
2 cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
8 cups fresh spinach chopped (approx. 1 pre-washed bag)
4 cups hot, cooked penne
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Mix all the ingredients in a large pan over medium heat- cook until spinach is just wilted.
Until next time, Enjoy! :-D
Sunday, May 2, 2010
House Elves Welcome back the Hufflepuffs!
The House Elves wanted to welcome all the Hufflepuffs to the shiny, new common room! This term the House Elves are sharing tasty recipes with us. There is still time to vote in the House Elf Poll if you haven’t yet.
Also, if you have a favorite recipe - of any kind! - please PM Yarnvista! The House Elves really want to be able to share beloved recipes - they don’t have to be fancy or even be totally homemade. The House Elves will credit you with the recipe and I bet they can convince the ratties to give you extra love and kisses, if you like :)
So, for the start of term the House Elves decided to share
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (tip: put the uwrapped cups in the fridge or freezer as you are prepping the rest of the cookies)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.
Enjoy!
Also, if you have a favorite recipe - of any kind! - please PM Yarnvista! The House Elves really want to be able to share beloved recipes - they don’t have to be fancy or even be totally homemade. The House Elves will credit you with the recipe and I bet they can convince the ratties to give you extra love and kisses, if you like :)
So, for the start of term the House Elves decided to share
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (tip: put the uwrapped cups in the fridge or freezer as you are prepping the rest of the cookies)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.
Enjoy!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
New Term: D minus 12 Hours!
Wheew...Break's almost over! I can't believe a month has passed!
Welcome to all Badgers, old and new. We have so much going on this term here at the Blog! Check out the links just above for prizes and the mentor program. We'll be updating daily with finished projects and keeping the whole team motivated.
I did want to post a few pre-term reminders for everyone as far as etiquette in the House Cup is concerned:
Welcome to all Badgers, old and new. We have so much going on this term here at the Blog! Check out the links just above for prizes and the mentor program. We'll be updating daily with finished projects and keeping the whole team motivated.
I did want to post a few pre-term reminders for everyone as far as etiquette in the House Cup is concerned:
- The professors prefer that you not earburn them (if necessary, send a PM) because they will lose their spot in their threads. This means that some people might accidentally get missed in grading (way not cool.)
- Please remember that all staff is totally voluntary and no one is getting paid. This means that sometimes people will be away from their computer for a day or two--including even the Headmistress--and give them some slack if stuff isn't done as quickly as you expect.
- Keep any conversation or photos in the common rooms and Great Hall relatively clean. (i.e. no naked Gerard Butler or any other given hottie.)
- Ignore the threads that aren't relevant to you (like common rooms you don't visit and old classes). You can always search for them and un-ignore them later.
- Have a special tag for favorites that are for the house cup and OWL's. You can use it in your queue and stash, as well.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Important OWL Changes
Important...but not life-altering...
The powers that be have made a few minor changes to the OWL's this term. The OWL thread is here. Read the whole thread before term starts to get a good foundation for your OWL!
Notable changes include a few additions to your OWL options, but the most important change is swatching. What's a swatch? It's a small piece of cloth knit or crochet in the pattern stitch, which you will then wash & treat as you would the finished garment. You will then see if the end result is what you're hoping the final project to look like. If not, swatch again with different needles and/or yarn.
So, say you're making a sweater or socks. You are permitted to knit only 2-3 inches (that's 5-7cm for you metric folks) of a sleeve or sock top as your swatch.
In addition, if you are going to propose an OWL, you must submit as many swatches as you will have different yarn/needle combos, up to 5 swatches. So if you're making a small herd of baby hats in various weights and needle sizes, you need to swatch 5 times. If you're making four pair of socks out of the same yarn, on the same needles, in the same pattern, you only need to make one swatch.
Please do not forget the importance of swatching! The OWL examiners want you to not only finish the project, but have the end result that you are hoping to achieve, and a swatch puts you a heck of a lot closer to that goal.
The powers that be have made a few minor changes to the OWL's this term. The OWL thread is here. Read the whole thread before term starts to get a good foundation for your OWL!
Notable changes include a few additions to your OWL options, but the most important change is swatching. What's a swatch? It's a small piece of cloth knit or crochet in the pattern stitch, which you will then wash & treat as you would the finished garment. You will then see if the end result is what you're hoping the final project to look like. If not, swatch again with different needles and/or yarn.
So, say you're making a sweater or socks. You are permitted to knit only 2-3 inches (that's 5-7cm for you metric folks) of a sleeve or sock top as your swatch.
In addition, if you are going to propose an OWL, you must submit as many swatches as you will have different yarn/needle combos, up to 5 swatches. So if you're making a small herd of baby hats in various weights and needle sizes, you need to swatch 5 times. If you're making four pair of socks out of the same yarn, on the same needles, in the same pattern, you only need to make one swatch.
Please do not forget the importance of swatching! The OWL examiners want you to not only finish the project, but have the end result that you are hoping to achieve, and a swatch puts you a heck of a lot closer to that goal.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Best Cornbread
Get those ovens hot!
House Elf Liaison, back from the kitchens…
The House Elves were so interested to learn that lots of you want to make desserts and baked goods! (Did you miss out on the House Elf poll? Make sure you vote!) As the term starts the House Elves will have certain types of recipes on certain days but our wonderful Liaison is still working out a schedule with them. For now, they wanted us to share this absolutely delicious cornbread recipe with you all!
This is our Dear Liaison's favorite cornbread ever! It’s better than those Jiffy packs and almost as easy. It’s a little bit cake 
and a little bit bread and it’s absolutely wonderful with a little butter and honey on top!
Best Cornbread
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 tablespoon oil
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400° F (204°C)
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a second bowl, beat egg then add milk and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry- mix, but don’t overmix, you want those happy bubbles to do their job!
Get out a square pan or a pie pan (approx 9” x 9”) and grease it with oil or butter. Add batter to the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Your finished cornbread should be a golden yellow on top and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Enjoy!
As the Blog Assistant to the House Elf Liaison, I have to say I'm stopping at the store for cornmeal today!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
House Elf Liasion Recipes
*tap tap tap* Is this thing on? *feedback skreeeeeeetch!*
*cringes* sorry....
As an enterprising Not Quite Hufflepuff, for my own amusement, I decided to collect the recipes that the House Elf Liaison brought to us straight from the kitchens, in a word document. Since I'm already
obsessively collecting
copying and pasting them, I've been asked by the powers that be to assist the Liaison by posting recipes here to the blog :-D And so, we have our first recipes!
First, a throwback from our own Bijou3owl: Five Minute Mug Brownie!
Combine dry ingredients in a mug. Add wet and mix well. Microwave aprox. 1 min. The middle should still be a bit liquidy, though you can microwave a little more (15s-30s, depending on your microwave) if you like. She likes to add chocolate chips after it’s done, and a splash of vanilla with the wet ingredients.
The house elves have developed Five Minute Strawberry Ice Cream to go with it!
Combine the frozen fruit and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. With the processor running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until fully mixed. Yum! If liquid nitrogen is in short supply, a quick stash in the freezer will help the ice cream to firm up.
Enjoy!
*cringes* sorry....
As an enterprising Not Quite Hufflepuff, for my own amusement, I decided to collect the recipes that the House Elf Liaison brought to us straight from the kitchens, in a word document. Since I'm already
obsessively collecting
copying and pasting them, I've been asked by the powers that be to assist the Liaison by posting recipes here to the blog :-D And so, we have our first recipes!
First, a throwback from our own Bijou3owl: Five Minute Mug Brownie!
- 4 Tbs Flour
- 2 Tbs Sugar
- 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
- 2 Tbs Veggie Oil
- 2 Tbs Water
- Dash of Salt
Combine dry ingredients in a mug. Add wet and mix well. Microwave aprox. 1 min. The middle should still be a bit liquidy, though you can microwave a little more (15s-30s, depending on your microwave) if you like. She likes to add chocolate chips after it’s done, and a splash of vanilla with the wet ingredients.
The house elves have developed Five Minute Strawberry Ice Cream to go with it!
- 10 ounce package frozen sliced strawberries (or frozen fruit of your choice)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (half and half, lowfat milk, or even soymilk work too, it just isn’t as creamy)
Combine the frozen fruit and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. With the processor running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until fully mixed. Yum! If liquid nitrogen is in short supply, a quick stash in the freezer will help the ice cream to firm up.
Enjoy!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Bonus prize
The winner of the March bonus points award is clementine1 with 17 points! The profs really pulled back on bonus points across the board this month, so I want all of you to know you did fabulously and please don't anyone be disappointed if you handed in something you were really proud of and then saw it not receive the same recognition it might have gotten other months; overall grading was scaled back a bit for everyone in every House, so just take great pride in what you made and what you shared.
But in a slightly related announcement, I want to publicly recognize 3 special 'Puffs, our super-achievers among super-achievers (which is all of you): curiouskate, pacasha and JMN each earned 600 points individually this Term! Way to go!
By Leesy
But in a slightly related announcement, I want to publicly recognize 3 special 'Puffs, our super-achievers among super-achievers (which is all of you): curiouskate, pacasha and JMN each earned 600 points individually this Term! Way to go!
By Leesy
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