Holland Designs

Ever heard of Holland Designs? If not, now you have! :-) A old, long time friend of mine has a very successful business headquartered out of Auckland, New Zealand. She is a popular crochet designer, has won awards, been published in several magazines, has her designs being sold in popular stores like Hobby Lobby and the list goes on. I'm VERY proud of her. She is American and use to live in the USA, but met a New Zealander and found herself marrying and relocating to Auckland, New Zealand. There she continues her success in crochet design and just yesterday finished a custom made design for me. She had designed this beanie design last week in pink, and I requested that she design one in chocolate brown and she did. To my surprise, she got it finished really fast and is posting it in the mail to me! Can't believe in one week or so I'll be wearing it myself. Here it is with Lisa modeling it herself! To see more of her designs her own personal store site is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollanddesigns?ref=seller_info

Boys Necktie

I just put this boys handmade necktie for sale in my CCoatsOfManyColours Etsy Shop. http://www.etsy.com/listing/86615269/boys-polka-dot-necktie?ref=pr_shop

New FASHION SEWING designs coming soon!

Since I've been heavy into food designing I have NOT had any time to fashion design, BUT this week, even if I loose sleep, I will design some new designs. This week is definitely dedicated to sewing. My sewing machine has taken a long vacation and now it's back to work!

Refried Organic Chicken

Started off with the basics...

coated organic chicken with rice flour and herbs and spices

the coated and seasoned organic shicken

frying in the skillet

on the plate and ready to be served

This is one of my recipes that I will put for sale in my culinary shop soon, so I can't disclose the entire recipe w/herb and spice combo, but here are photos. Yummy!

Raspberry Frozen Treat

Last weekend was strawberries, this weekend is Raspberries. Yes, Raspberries were on sale this past week...just going with the grocery store flow. You don't need a food processor or blender for this frozen treat. I mashed the raspberries UNFROZEN until they were completely mashed, then added 1 teaspoon of LIME JUICE this time.....then added 1/4 cup of organic rice milk......and a pinch of stevia to taste, mixed it all together thoroughly and then put it the freezer and until frozen almost solid, but not all the way, just in a slushie form, and then bon a petit. Made two servings. Delicious and again, all natural and healthy.

Stevia Update

On the stevia, I'm using PURE stevia extract powder from the health food store...there are other stevia's that aren't really pure stevia, though they are still healthier than sugar, but I'm making sure to use the pure powder form in cooking. If you use another form of stevia in cooking, the measurements will be different than the pure form fyi.....Here's another conversion chart

Granulated Sugar	Whole Stevia leaf powder	White Stevia Extract (powder)
1 teaspoon	1/8 teaspoon	Dust on spoon
1 Tablespoon	3/8 teaspoon	1/2 pinch
1/4 cup	1 1/2 teaspoon	Pinch
1/2 cup	1 Tablespoon	1/8 teaspoon
1 cup	2 Tablespoon	1/4 teaspoon

Sugar Free Frozen Treat!

If you all can't tell I have an abundance of fresh strawberries this week (they were on sale at the grocery store) so I'm having fun using them. I made a yummy SUGAR FREE and ALL NATURAL frozen treat which tasted DELICIOUS! It really did......once again, I couldn't tell the difference that no sugar was in, but instead the natural sweetner, Stevia was used.....(I use to make this treat using sugar, so I know it tastes just the same using stevia instead. Yeah!) Here's the recipe for this totally yummy guilt free Strawberry Frozen Treat! :-)

1 1/2 lbs Fresh Strawberries (Before use I put them in freezer until they were frozen)
2 Tablespoons Organic Lemon Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Stevia (this is a natural healthy replacement for sugar as a sweetener)
1/2 Cup Organic Rice Milk (I don't drink cow's milk from stores anymore..it's way too pumped with hormones)

Cut the stems off the of the strawberries, and put them in blender or food processor, then add all others ingredients on top of the strawberries in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings! Taste exactly the same as if sugar was in it, yet without the calories and most importantly, it's a all natural healthy treat! If you have guests over, I'd guess they won't know they are eating a healthy treat without sugar. Enjoy.

Healthy Dessert! Designing This Sunday

I started off cooking down the strawberries on my stovetop. I cut up three large strawberries, and added just a pinch of stevia as a natural sweetner instead of sugar, added a bit of water, mixed it all together, put the stove top on medium heat and covered it for about 2 or maybe 3 minutes.

Only after about 3 minutes or so, the strawberries had cooked down into what turned out to be a fabulous sauce. I was really surprised how yummy it tasted. I honestly thought it was going to be a disaster b/c of not measuring the stevia, but turns out I had put just the right amount of stevia in...wasn't too sweet or not sweet enough, but was just perfect. I think God just blessed me b/c he knew I was really trying hard to get it right. Afterall, one of the reasons I'm eating healthy is to honor God with my body, so I'm trying hard.


Then I tried my hands at making a sheet cake using brown rice flour and stevia among other ingredients. Here is the fnished result of the healthy sheet cake and the strawberry sauce...SUGAR FREE and made with all natural ingredients! If someone came and had a bite I don't think they would know it was sugar free and wheat flour free, it's tastes pretty much the same! I'm so excited to be successful at making an all healthy natural dessert! I mean it's bascially made of organic eggs, lemon juice, brown rice which is what the flour is made from, stevia, and strawberries....oh, and olive oil.......AMAZING!


The side view of the healthy dessert!!!

I tried my hands FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE to bake a dessert using Brown Rice Flour (replacing wheat flour) and Stevia (replacing sugar). I tried making a simple sheet cake as a starter and surprisingly, it turned out okay my first try. I think that was a miracle! I nice, healthy, that taste good glutten free dessert! Yeah!!! I'm so happy!

More Sunday Food Designing!

Tilapia Fish marinating in a bunch of organic veggies and juices

My own orgainc verde sauce to be used on the fish. Ummm, the picture makes it's look kind of not good, but it actually tasted really yummy...even used sea salt in it when whipping it up!


My homemade mustard that I used for the fish. (Used finely crushed mustard seed along with other healthy ingredients......will never ever buy store bought mustard again!) Yummy though I need to get an electric mixer, my arm was about to fall off from having to whip it so long to get the desired consistency that I wanted!

My final dish. It was delicious! Only thing, ummm I really liked my sauces b/c you can barely see the fish hidden under it. Ha, ha!

My attempt of making this totally from scratch, even the condiment ingredients were from scratch assuring this to be a healthy meal. Ha, ha, after looking at my final result I realize I'm a "saucy gal!" I really embarrassingly loaded on my sauces. :-)

Food Designing This Morning!

Dough made from Whole Grain Brown Rice Flour. It kneeding almost just like regular wheat flour only the brown rice flour is a little more "tender" I guess is a good word. (After seeing ingredients in store bought tortilla's I decided to make my own from scratch.)

The Brown Rice Flour in the bag....you have to keep it refrigerated unlike other flours. Things that have to be refrigerated is a good indication that the food is healthy, so it's a good thing!


My first attempt at a tortilla made from brown rice flour...not bad, but I didn't let it cook long enough in the skillet before I tried to flip it, and you can see in the picture where it broke/cracked a bit, but still not too bad. I was happy with it.

My second attempt at making a brown rice tortilla, this one was a keeping, didn't break or crack though I forgot about it and almost burnt it, but I caught it in time. Whew!

I woke up this morning before sunrise to begin a hopefully productive Sunday. On my agenda was as always, extra personal study, then I wanted to cook and bake experiementing with new healthy recipes using brown rice flour (I have ditched regualar wheat flour and now using brown rice flour) and also since I've ditched sugar I wanted to try baking my first dessert using stevia as a sweetner. Well, this morning I realized I had left my stevia at work at the office so I had to drive all of the way into the office and grab my stevia, and then ran to the grocery store while I was town, and picked up some olive oil and then returned home and "slaved over the hot stove" ha, ha, I've always wanted to say that, for half of the day! God blessed my efforts, almost everything came out and I used basically almost all organic foods. The tortilla's above and the next food blog entries were my Sunday adventures.....Here's my food story in pictures.....(the second half of my Sunday will be sewing a new fashion design. I don't think I'll get done with it, so pictures will probably be up of the new design later this week!)

My Little Earthquake Update

Was sound asleep Friday night when all of a sudden I was awakened by my house shaking, not violently, but enough to wake me up. Who knows how long it had been shaking before it jolted me awake. At first, I was confused since I was abruptly awakened from a deep sleep, and after about 5 seconds of total confusion I realized it was a small equake in OKLAHOMA! I looked at my bedside clock to log the time of the quake in my head...it was at exactly 2:14AM and I felt it for about 30 seconds. No damage done. This quake was factored in to be a 4.8 earthquake.

Saturday night! I was still awake, and all of a sudden at exactly 10:24PM my house started shaking again. This time it shook with a lot more intensity to the annoying point where I thought things might fall off of my wall and break. This "more intense annoyingly shaking my house quake" lasted for about 40 seconds to a minute before it finally stopped. This quake had really shaken my house so I went about my house checking to see if any thing had fallen. Nothing except one little trinket on top of my piano had shifted and fell over. This quake was factored in to be a 5.6 earthquake. We might as well be in California! The nations are definitely being shaken. What's coming next.......(the suspense)

GLUTEN FREE Delicious Fish Tacos!

Another delicious healthy recipe from the internet. Enjoy fish tacos WITHOUT the calories and all of the unhealthy ingredients! Notice that that traditional white flour tortillas are NOT used in this recipe, but instead the healthy corn or brown rice flour tortilla's are used!

Recipe for Fish Tacos

lately, since fish is an important element of a healthy diet. Fish is combined with other scrumptious ingredients and then wrapped in a warm corn tortilla. Just use any firm white fish, and add some other tasty taco ingredients to create the fish taco recipe of your dreams.

Fish Taco Recipe
Ingredients You Will Need:
1 pound fresh fish (any white fish)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 lime, squeezed
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
½ teaspoons lemon pepper
½ teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoons salt
12 corn or brown rice tortillas heated
½ cup red cabbage, shredded
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
8 ounces salsa
8 ounces mayonnaise

Combine the fish, ½ of the oil, lime juice, cilantro, lemon pepper, red pepper and salt in a plastic bag, and let marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Then, sauté the fish, using the rest of the oil, for about 5 minutes. Set fish aside, and flake it with a fork to separate.

Now, cover your tortillas with paper towels, and heat them in the microwave about 20 seconds until warm. Finally, take a tortilla and fill it with the fish, cabbage, avocado slices, salsa and mayonnaise.

Tip
Remember, always allow your guests to build their own tacos so that they get the perfect amount of ingredients. Also, this keeps the taco from getting soggy when it is made to order and eaten immediately.

From Sugar to Stevia!

Since I've TOTALLY ditched sugar and switched over to an ALL NATURAL sweetner, STEVIA!...I've had to convert my recipes....here's a simple conversion chart I copied and pasted from the internet. (I actually prefer stevia over sugar now. Just for a test, I had one small cup of tea with sugar after I had been using stevia for almost two months....and the sugar cup of tea didn't taste as good to me.....I quickly dumped it out and made myself a nice cup with stevia.) Stevia is way, way sweeter than sugar, so you have to be careful not to put too much in. When I first started using stevia I had to dump out several cups of tea b/c of me accidentally putting too much stevia in...it was ridiculous sweet, now I've got the balance!

The stevia powder referred to in this chart is the pure form, or the liquid made from the pure powder. The chart shows in the first column the sugar amount, then the second column is the powdered stevia amount and the third column is the liquid stevia amount

Sugar amount	Equivalent Stevia powdered extract	Equivalent Stevia liquid concentrate
1 cup	1 teaspoon	1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon	1/4 teaspoon	6 to 9 drops
1 teaspoon	A pinch to 1/16 teaspoon	2 to 4 drops