food | salted caramel shortbread bars

Maybe you've heard of salted caramel.  It's only INCREDIBLE.  My first experience was with the salted caramel mocha at Starbucks and, well, I was a tad apprehensive.  Seriously, big chunks of salt floating around on the top of my drink?  But, when you have a coupon to try one for free, you just don't complain too much.

via

If you know what I'm talking about, then you have to try salted caramel shortbread bars. A few recommendations, put the pan in the freezer between each layer and again before you cut the bars. Keep in the fridge until immediately before serving, they get soft very quickly. The bars are pretty rich so cut them really small, even smaller then you think you should, and they'll be just the right size.

sew | halloween costumes

I am a big fan of homemade halloween costumes.  My mom always made our halloween costumes when we were little, and I took over making some of the costumes after I learned to sew when I was 7.  I haven't really had time to make costumes since before college so it was fun to get back into it this year.

I thought it would be fun for us to dress up as a shark/lifeguard combo, and since I would rather be warm and Isaac would rather be cold, I figured Isaac could be the one to wear his swim suit in October.

I found some shark-perfect gray fabric on sale for $1.00/yard at Walmart.  Total cost for the shark costume was $7 (4 yards of gray fabric and 2 yards of heavy interfacing, I already had thread and elastic for the bottom).  I painted Isaac's lifeguard t-shirt with red fabric paint and picked up a whistle for $1.99 from the hardware store.  Total Halloween cost = $8.99 for two costumes.

I didn't have a pattern so I penciled a basic shark shape on the length of fabric and sewed the tube shut with a pointed top. I cut a hole in the side of the head for the mouth and used extra stiff interfacing to make the teeth. I ran a length of elastic through the bottom of the shark to taper the body, and to finish him off, I used black and white circles of paper to make the eye. Voila, Fred the shark is ready to go and hungry.

food | homemade naan

Not long after we moved to Fort Wayne, we had the opportunity to try out a little hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant called Taj Mahal. All the food was fantastic but we especially loved their garlic naan. So you can imagine my joy when, while browsing Pinterest, I found a recipe to make naan at home.

This weekend I finally had the opportunity to try it out and let me tell you, it is well worth the extra effort. Amazingly soft, pillowy, and all around delicious. I made a simple beef curry in the crockpot to enjoy along with rice and the naan last night. However, you can also use naan for personal pizzas, flatbread sandwiches, etc. I used one to make a pizza for Isaac's lunch today and it worked perfectly -- soft but crispy around the edge and the most perfect garlic flavor.

I highly recommend trying these recipes, the curry was super easy and would be great for a quick weeknight crockpot meal--especially since you can make the naan ahead of time. The naan really doesn't require much hands on time but it does need to rise for about an hour, so don't start this one unless you have at least an hour and a half. You can't make naan without garlic butter, it's just wrong. And finally, if you don't have curry powder (like me), you can easily make your own using spices you probably already have in your kitchen.

Homemade Naan

Garlic Butter

Crockpot Beef Curry

Create your own curry powder