Easy Homemade 5 Ingredient Chocolate Chips - with honey!

UPDATE: I made a FAR better recipe here: Homemade (Two Ingredient) Chocolate Chips. They don't have to be kept in the freezer and they taste like the real thing...but they're sugar free!


I have yet to find decent chocolate chips that don't have sugar or artificial sweeteners in them, so I made up my own recipe that is both delicious and easy. These are freezer chips, meaning that they have to be stored in the freezer until use, but they hold up alright in baked goods.

For about 1-2 cups, I use this recipe:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1 TBS brewed coffee
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla.

1. I melt the coconut oil, honey, and coffee together in a sauce pan and then mix in the cocoa powder in until smooth.

2. Once I remove the pan from heat, I stir in the vanilla.

3. Taste test! If you think it needs to be more chocolatey, sweet, or more semi sweet, add cocoa, coffee, or honey accordingly. If you want to stop where you are and guzzle the whole thing, you're on the right track!

4. I grease a baking sheet with oil and then pour the sauce pan contents onto it and stick it on a flat surface in the freezer.

They should be ready in about an hour.

I have used butter before but they don't set as well as using coconut oil and they melt funny in your cookies. I don't have any pictures right now because the last batch I made I used butter and oil and they didn't set at all. :( Trial and error!

To get them off the pan, I just slice into little pieces with a sharp knife and then scrape them off with a scraper (while eating al least all of the "deformed" ones. :P)

DIY iPhone Engagement Ring Pictures

I had some free time on my hands this afternoon and decided to snap some pictures of my engagement ring! I absolutely love what I came up with and wanted to share how easy it is! So often I see blurry, out of focus pictures of engagement rings and it makes me sad that they aren't being displayed to the fullness of their beauty!!

Here are a few tips.

1. MACRO. If your camera has a macro setting, find it and use it. It is your new best friend. This setting allows you to get up close and personal with every detail of your gorgeous new ring. iPhones have this setting built in to their cameras (at least the 4s and 4Ss that I know of). It will also bring your ring into focus while blurring the background, which makes your ring pop!

2. Focusing the iPhone camera: Just point your phone at what you want to take a pic of and tap the screen over the part you want it focused on. You will see it adjust and all you have to do is push the camera button!

3. Don't get too close. The iPhone is still a phone, so it's macro isn't perfect. I have found that if I get TOO close, it won't focus, and I also have trouble getting clarity in direct, strong sunlight.


4. Background/setting: This is the fun part! Find some flowers, stumps, trees, ribbon, old books, anything that exemplifies who you are! If you love to read, maybe place your ring on a stack of or between the pages of your favorite books! If you're a nature girl like me, find some flowers to tuck it in to add some vibrancy and life to your photos and so your ring has something to be propped on other than your finger (as gorgeous as it may be!)

Have fun and experiment!! Mine were all edited with Snapseed. Love that app!!

-Rachel

The Proposal!

My darling and I have been together for over two years now and we recently decided to get hitched! We had all of these grand plans to wait until summer of 2013 so that we would have time to save up for the wedding, but realized that since we felt called by God that this is our time to get married (and because we're thrifty as all get out...aaand I'm a tad obsessive over things) we just decided to go for it!!

About a week or so into June, we decided that we were going to get married this year...in September. We skyped with my parents in California and called his parents on the phone and told them of our plans/asked for their blessings. We were blown away with the trust and support that we got from them and this solidified our decision to have a short engagement.

My mom had in her possession a white gold ring setting that had been my paternal grandmothers that my grandfather bought for her on a trip to Amsterdam in the 80s. I hadn't seen it or tried it on in the years since I last played in my mom's jewelry box, but I knew I would either absolutely adore it or abhor it. I knew it had diamonds on the side but I couldn't remember if they were nasty rectangle 80s diamonds or something better. My mom said it was mine if I wanted it and sent it up to me. It was perfect! We had looked for rings before at jewelers and I hated everything I saw. Too flashy, too boring, too pricey, too popular, just plain not me. This ring is classy, unique, (free), one of a kind (unless I go to Amsterdam! :P) and absolutely fitting to my personality. Sean bought a diamond for the middle (my mom has the original in her wedding ring) and we were set!

During this time, I had come down with an awful flu virus that was the sickest I could ever remember being. I went to the ER, urgent care, and my naturopath all in one week! We knew that Sean would have to propose relatively quickly if we were to begin planning a wedding in two months so we were so bummed when I got sick and couldn't ever seem to stay feeling better. I finally felt better on June 27, and he told me that we were going to go on a date and I should dress up. I knew what was coming but I was still excited because I didn't know how he was going to do it. While I was getting ready, I received a barrage of text messages that looked like this....

He's the sweetest and so thoughtful to surprise me with these!

I dressed up and put on a few pounds of makeup in an effort to not look like I'd been throwing up all week! :P

He drove me to Snoqualmie Ridge, one of our favorite date places with an awesome view of the mountains and we had a picnic with all of my favorite foods that he had picked out!

Neither of us quite remember what he said, but the part that stuck with me is that he asked me "to do me the honor of becoming my wife." I said, "absolutely!" and gave him a huge hug!

 We're sometimes a little silly...sometimes. 

The ring!!!

Happy, happy, happy!!! This is my favorite picture from the night. 

When I got home, I sent him this...

:)

Sea Glass Votives

I have found yet another way to display my sea glass. :P

I adore these adorable things! They make me smile every time I see them.

Also...I noticed while I was sorting through my glass that either my boyfriend or I found a veeeeery light lavender piece!!! It's one of the hardest colors to find!! I think I'm going to make that one into a necklace. :) 

Seattle Lines.

I'm sitting on my comfy couch with my kitty snuggled in my lap and crafting stuff strewn about the room. I've just started a new job where I get to make people silly coffee drinks every day and get to know them as people instead of customers. Because I get to turn off my mind while I make coffee and pretty much just clean and talk all day (my dream!) I have had such a surge in my creativity lately! I am actually thankful that I don't have a creatively draining job, because I get to use it as an outlet when I get home!

This drawing is something that I made for my boyfriend for his birthday last August, but it's been framed horribly so I never took pictures of it until now. I took this picture on our way to the Seafair parade in Seattle last summer and I loved it because of the strong lines. Also, the train, lights, old buildings and Space Needle poking up in the back ground are such Seattle things to me.

  

I took this picture, turned it grayscale and printed it out and traced it meticulously for a few days. 

I followed the structural lines and tried not to add any fluff that would distract from the linear qualities. I messed around with making a copy with some color and bolded lines, but it looked messy, so I went back to this one.

Here's the finished product. 

It's simple but was a lot of fun to make. I'd like to experiment with more in the future.

  

How to Brew Kombucha Like a Rock Star!

        One whole batch of Kombucha mixed with organic fruit juice and double fermented. 


I experimented over many months to find the perfect balance of brewing kombucha. I found a way to brew a delicious beverage that is sweet, fruity, and really bubbly once bottled, just how I like it!

These instructions may look daunting, but once you've done it for the first time, you'll have it down! It's easier than it looks!


What you need:


A SCOBY (A Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)
A little bit of Kombucha tea from the previous brew (I also got this from the lady who gave me the SCOBY) (or apple cider vinegar)
A one gallon glass jar (it must be glass, anything else can damage the SCOBY) I use the ones with a spout on the bottom, which makes it really easy to bottle the kombucha.
8 Tea bags (black, green, oolang, white tea, just not anything herbal or with oils in it. Different teas will make it taste differently, too.) per 4 quarts of water.
A non metal spoon (again...SCOBY's are sensitive - no metal)
Sugar
Apple Cider Vinegar
Cheesecloth
Rubberband


How to Brew:

Boil a little bit less than 4 quarts of water.

Add 8 tea bags

Steep tea 

Dissolve 2 cups of sugar while tea is still hot. (Sugar is what the culture eats. The more food, the faster it eats. During the summer, add less sugar unless you want kombucha batches coming out of your ears. In the winter, add more sugar to get it moving along faster.)

Let tea cool to room temperature (too hot or too cold will harm the scoby)

Pour tea into glass container with scoby and starter kombucha. 

Stir vigorously with a plastic or wooden spoon to distribute the culture.

Cover container with coffee filter or paper towel and rubber band.

Set in a relatively warm environment (~68 degrees. The warmer it is, the faster it will grow/brew. Room temperature is best. During the summer, place in a cool place, in the winter, place in a warm environment.)

Do not place in direct sunlight. 

How to know when it's done. 

It will take 5-7-9 days. I like mine milder so I usually do 6-7 days. The longer you brew, the more vinegar-y it tastes but also the less sugar there is and the more probiotics there are. We once left one for 2 weeks and it was gross but still drinkable...if you like that kind of thing.

Basically, after 6 days, if you like the way it tastes, you can stop there. That's what the spigot on a glass jar is handy for - tasting it from day to day. It's totally safe to just drink like this too. You can just pour a glass from this every day and never have to mess with bottles. You don't get bubbles or fruit flavor though, it's just raw. 

How to bottle it:

When you're done brewing, fill a large container or measuring cup full of the kombucha using the spigot on the glass jar. The spigot keeps the scoby from being handled and contaminated. It also keeps the culture fibers out of your drink.

Remember to leave a little bit of the kombucha in the brewing container to help out the next batch. I usually stop when I've drained to the spigot level.

How to double ferment with fruit juice - get carbonation BUBBLES!!:

Mix 50/50 fruit juice with kombucha and pour into bottles that can be air tight. Those latch-sealed brewing bottles work great, as do empty glass bottles with wine corks in them. Or wine bottles...whatever you want. 

Make sure to leave them at room temperature. 

Be SURE to release the gas every day so you don't get an explosion. One of my corks popped out in the middle of the night and ricocheted off the cabinet and scared the bejeezus out of me. Also, I forgot about one of the latch-sealed ones for about 2 weeks and almost went deaf when the air came whooshing out by my ear. 

The cultures in the kombucha will feed on the fruit juice sugar and in the absence of air, makes carbonation. If you don't want bubbles, you can just mix with juice and bottle them in a non air tight bottle in the fridge. Also, as long as you keep re corking the bottles, it will just keep fermenting as you drink it. It never DIES! Bwahahaha. 

You should be left with a smooth, bubbly, slightly tangy beverage similar to store bought 

If you have any questions at all, I would be MORE than willing to help you out! It takes a while to get things down but I've done most of that and put it here to make it easier for you to begin! 

Sea Glass Mobile

I have been planning to do this for quite some time with my bigger, less finished pieces of sea glass. It is, to date, my absolute favorite thing I have made and it brings me such joy every time I see it spinning in the sunshine. It was really easy to make, I just hot glued pieces of sea glass to fishing line and tied them to a piece of driftwood.

I love how bright the green ones are in the sun!