Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Mini Guava Turnovers


I've been making my way through a tin of guava paste. First I made guava cake. Then it was guava puff pastries. Now, as the heat wave has ended here in the Portland area, I've turned the oven back on for guava turnovers. These are extra special because they're mini!

If I can stop eating them (I've already had 4 sitting here writing this post!) we might just top them with vanilla ice cream for dessert later.

Very simple to make, these babies come out so cute and tasty, you have to try them!

Ingredients:

Dough:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance
3- 4 tbsp cold water

Guava paste (approx. 3-4 oz), cut into 16 squares
(opt.) turbinado sugar for the top

Steps:
1. Mix the flour and salt. Add the EB, cutting and stirring with two knives until the mixture is lumpy. Add the water and knead with your hands a little. Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for half an hour.

2. Roll out dough onto a greased cookie sheet with a rolling pin until very thin.

3. Using a pizza cutter, cut the rolled dough into a square. It doesn't need to be perfect. (Set aside the remaining pieces to use for an ugly jumbo turnover.) Using the pizza cutter, cut a line through the middle of the dough horizontally, then vertically. Then divide those sections each in half again, so you end up with 16 squares.

4. Place a square of guava paste on each square so that it's closer to one end than the other. Fold the dough square in half to create a triangle. Pinch the sides together and use a fork to further seal the pastry. Repeat for the remaining 15 turnovers.

5. Sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar and bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until the turnovers are golden and some of the filling has spilled out.

Enjoy right out of the oven!

Update: Yes! Vanilla ice cream and mini guava turnovers (reheated slightly in a toaster oven) are a winning combination!

Monday, August 16, 2010

rescued loveseat gets another look

Anyone remember this love seat?

Before

After

After After

I grew tired of the bright orange and decided to subdue it a little with varying shades of green. You'll also notice I added another back cushion. The middle cushion cover came from Ikea a while ago. The other two I purchased on Etsy.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Waterfalls of Looooove

Photos of the many waterfalls we saw on our hike at Wahkeena Falls yesterday.

Marriage begins with a waterfall. The years pass swiftly over the rocks, love and passion transform like water to mist, to water again. There are obstacles. There are multitudes of paths. There are springs and streams before the fall and there are rivers and vast oceans after. Life's journey, navigated by love through trickles and torrents, sometimes sees a waterfall, that breathtakingly, achingly beautiful crescendo, that misty existence where love and beauty, heartache and understanding are experienced in the intertwining of life.
Okay, with two years of "official" partnership under my belt I'm hardly the authority on marriage. So, you know, ignore my ramblings. This week with family in town and Doc's and my two-year wedding anniversary, I've been thinking about happiness.
I am married to a wonderful person, who is very much my partner in every way, have great friends and family (several of whom have already visited us in Oregon since our move!), am so completely thrilled with our new community, and am all around pretty blissful. There are downsides, sure, but that's life and isn't life wonderful? If you think about it, how lucky each and every one of us are to have a life, have relationships, have flowers and art and rain- you can't help but realize our shared existence is something that should be appreciated and savored, not unlike a piece of good vegan cheesecake.
(It was a very long hike, especially the "up" part.)
Happy anniversary, my wonderful person. <3