In the Kitchen with The {NewNew}

Members of The {NewNew} create some fantastic treats for your home.  Deck out your kitchen and dining table with handcrafted ceramics, light switches, magnets, coasters and more!  Our featured designers are just as creative when it comes to cooking too.  Each one has shared a favorite recipe

Kitschy Retro Light Switch Cover
by LuCrafts

Lu's Apple Crisp

Lu strives to add a "little lovely to every day."  Light switch covers and magnets in a range of patterns are available in her shop LuCrafts. The name of this recipe should really be Lu's Lovely Apple Crisp! It is baked just long enough so that the apples that get soft but not mushy and the topping gets crisp and wonderful. You can warm up leftovers in the microwave.  And don't forget the vanilla ice cream. 

Ingredients

6 large Granny Smith apples
2 tbls white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbls lemon juice

1/4 cup butter

3/4/cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Directions

Peel, core, and cut apples into quarters then cut each quarter into 3-4 slices. Place in buttered pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice, white sugar and cinnamon. With a fork, mix the brown sugar and flour. Using 2 knives or your hands, cut in butter until you have coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Bird on a Branch Wood Coasters
by Peppersprouts

Peppersprouts Peppered Up Margarita

A full time graphic designer who says she has too many ideas for things to make!  Visit her shop Peppersprouts to see the results of some of those ideas.  In the meantime, give this Peppered up Margarita a try and be sure to use a coaster.

Ingredients
1 chili pepper (pick based on you heat preference)

1/2 cup tequila

1/4 cup Cointreau or Grand Marnier

2 tbls fresh lime or Rose's Lime juice

Directions
Slice the pepper into thin strips and rub it around the rim of a chilled margarita glass.  Drop a pepper strip into the glass. Fill cocktail shaker half full with ice and add tequila, Cointreau or Grand Marnier and lime juice. Shake vigorously and strain into glass.

Linda's Jazzed-Up Curried Lentils

Linda is not only known for her adorable bright colored birds and decorative magnets, she is also famous for this Lentil recipe.  I'm so glad she shared it with us!  Visit her shop PurtyBird.

Birds and Blossoms Glass Tile Magnets
by PurtyBird

Ingredients

2 large onions

2 carrots

3-4 large stalks celery

2 Gala apples 

4 cloves garlic

1 pkg. dry red lentils

1 handful anise seed (more or less to taste)

3-4 handfuls raisins

3-4 tbls curry powder (more or less to taste)

6-8 cups water

Salt to taste

Directions

Saute onions, garlic and celery in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot until translucent. Add anise and let cook approx. 2 minutes. Add lentils and water, then apples, carrots and curry. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for approximately 1 hour or until lentils are cooked. Add raisins. Continue cooking over low heat for another hour or two. Salt to taste.  Can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated to allow the flavors intermingle and develop.

May Luk's Pineapple Pound Cake with Pineapple Rum Glaze

May's unique ceramics are both beautiful and functional.  Working with clay and glaze, May creates each of the items in her shop MayLuk by hand.   Try your hand with a different king of glaze, a delicious pineapple pound cake with pineapple rum glaze.

Eat Pink Platter
by MayLuk

Ingredients
Whole wheat pastry flour - 2.5 cups

Butter - 1 stick unsalted at room temperature

Sour Cream - 1 cup

Eggs - 3,  separated

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Vanilla - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1.5 tsp

Crushed Pineapple - 1 cup  drained

Directions
Whip egg white until stiff on high. About 3 minutes. Set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.  Whip butter for one minute. Then add in the sugar mix well. Add in the egg yokes and mix well. Then add the vanilla. Alternately add in the flour mixture and the sour cream and mix well. Add in pineapple and rum, mix well. By hand, slowly fold in the egg white. Do not over-mix

Pour the batter into a buttered bundt pan. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 deg F for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean and the edges are slightly golden brown.

Pineapple Rum Glaze

Cream Cheese - 4oz   (1/2 package) at room temperature

Butter - 1/4 stick at  room temperature

Powder Sugar - 3 tbsp

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Salt - pinch

Crushed Pineapple - 1 cup drained

Bermuda Gold Liqueur - 2 tbsp. Add more to taste.

Directions

Beat cream cheese and butter on high until well mixed. Add in the remaining ingredients and beat until it's nice and fluffy.  Mix in pineapple and rum. Serve with cake.

Hope you enjoy these recipes and hanging out in the kitchen with The{NewNew}.  For more kitchen and dining related items visit the In The Kitchen treasury on Etsy.

Holly
Ellis Design 

Don't toss that cap!

It really is hard to follow some of the amazing posts dedicated to Earth Day this month at The {NewNew} blog. I was thinking hard What could I contribute? Then it hit me....BOTTLE CAPS!!!

We see it all the time at bars and parties - bottle caps getting tossed to the side and forgotten about. Poor things, so much potential use gone to waste. Bottle caps can be used in so many different ways. From scrapbooks to self adornment, the humble bottle cap is ripe for reuse. Today I want to show the very easy process of creating bottle cap magnets.

What you'll need:

1 quarter

Picture

Bottle cap

Resin

Scissors

Pencil

Glue

Magnet

First, it's a great excuse to go out and buy some Stewart's Orange Creamsicle Pop

I like to use old desk calendars as my designs (saving some paper while we're at it!) but of course you can use anything (ie: old magazines are great too!).



The size of one quarter is a perfect fit for the inside of a bottle cap. This is what I use to measure the image I wish to cut out.



You see it's a perfect fit! Next comes probably the hardest part of the project (which isn't hard at all) and that's mixing the resin together.

Resin? Wait a minute, how are you helping the environment using that stuff?

I understand your concern, but there are earth-friendly resins available that are less petroleum and more water-based, even corn resin (also known as polylactic acid or PLA). Moving along, you follow the instructions provided on the box - usually it's just mixing one part resin, one part hardener. Slowly pour your resin into the cap, do not fill it to the top or it will get pretty messy.



I use a toothpick to try to pop any big air bubbles that may appear and to also keep the image flat on the bottom, it will want to push up to the surface so you must keep an eye on it for the first couple of minutes or else it will dry unevenly. Let the caps dry overnight. Once ready simply glue the magnet cap to the back and presto! Your own unique magnet!



Feel free to use other parts of the image in other new ways too...



Marilyn ~ pulpsushi.etsy.com

The {NewNew} Housewares Shops

For more Accessories from the Metro New York area - search: newnewteam, housewares on Etsy


Alexandra Ferguson - State your opinion - and your convictions about saving the earth - with this must-have home accessories collection for the eco-aware. alexandra ferguson's appliquéd felt pillows are standard-bearers of increasingly rare, one-of-a-kind uniqueness and quality, made in the USA from beginning to end. Each pillow cover is handmade, with letters and shapes cut out individually and stitched into decorative motifs. A machine finish ensures lasting durability, and zipper closures afford access to removable inserts.


blink on my nose - I love texture and deconstructing fabric. I like ripping apart old fabrics/clothes and transforming them into something new. All of my pillows are created using recycled materials and each design is unique.

Cant Afford Em Clocks - Can't Afford Em Clocks uses old items (records, books, comics, furniture, bowls, etc...) to create interesting and unique housewares. The majority of what I create are clocks out of old records and videogame cartridges, but I also make candy dishes, ash trays, bowls, light switch covers, and other similar items.

Elements for Inspired Living - One-off fashion accessories and unique decorative items for the home handcrafted in NYC from a variety of materials and unusual combination of techniques.


Lovely Day Designs - I have a lot of fun (addiction may be a better word) searching for fabric and paper. If you want a custom magnet set or switch plate, please ask.


Miniature Rhino - I'm inspired by all things old and aging, objects with a story, like things found within a personal collection, like the cabinets of curiosities. I want science with my art, because I'm happiest wondering through the halls of a natural history museum.

New York Clocks - I design fun clocks from found objects. Clocks are desktop sized, usually the size of a postcard, 4x6 photo, coaster, small tin, etc.