Upper Level Dressage Rider

    I mentioned recently that I have made quite a few upper level dressage dolls this year. I am not really sure why they are so popular all of a sudden, but they are fun to make. One of the ones I sold earlier this year was to Christine Böhm from Germany. Thank you to Wendy Coady for teaching me how to put the accent in Christine's name. 

    A few days ago Christine sent me these photos and has given permission for me to share some. She painted all the horses herself. I especially love these first two photos of the chestnut in the sun. Gorgeous horse!

   I love getting customer photos and will be happy to share them here (always with permission) when I get more. I know I have some from years ago but I don't know what I have already shared and what I have not.

      Thank you again Christine for the photos of your beautiful horses and allowing me to share them.

    I should have a new low carb recipe to share soon. We're also getting close to my birthday so I really need to hurry up and settle on what cake to make. Though I do think I have that basically decided and worked out. I just need to sift through all the Pinterest recipes again to find the exact one and the frosting one. I also need to make sure I have the ingredients. I am really looking forward to cake!

Bread and English Muffins

    I have a deep love of bread. In my non-low-carb-life I could just sit and each bread. Bread with butter. Bread with peanut butter. Bread with nutella (ooh, or nutella and peanut butter). Or just plain bread. I was not a bread snob either. It didn't need to be fancy bread. It just needed to be bread. Though some bread was of course better than others. I wonder if I can find a recipe for a low carb Portuguese roll...
    Anyway, I have been making bread or pancakes for Travis to eat with his breakfast. He likes the pork rind pancakes and the vanilla pancakes. I like them both too, though as a regular pancake the vanilla ones are better I think. I made a cinnamon bread last week (I know, the post only went up yesterday), I've made coconut wraps (so tasty!) and 90 second microwave bread. This morning I was out of bread for Travis so I tried another microwave bread recipe.
     Microwave bread is a strange thing. You spray a mug or ramekin with some non-stick spray, mix up an egg and a couple of tablespoons of some type of flour and a bit of baking powder or soda and in 60-90 seconds you have something that is sort of like bread. It just doesn't really look that way. 

   This is actually two different versions of the same 1 minute muffin recipe. It had the fewest ingredients and looked super fast to whip together at 5:30 this morning. And it was. However I apparently can't read at 5:30 in the morning. I saw 2 TBLs of coconut flour. When I found the recipe again this afternoon (so I could try it myself and share it) I read it again and it said 2 tsps of coconut flour. That is a bit different. So Travis's may have been very dry. Or honestly it may have been better. I am still doing intermittent fasting so I can't eat at 5:30 in the morning. Anyway, the above photo is the one I made for myself this afternoon and the 2 below are Travis's from this morning. 

   So now that I tried the coconut muffin I can say that it's tasty. It's definitely got a bit of a salty flavor, but I put salt in it and used salted butter. I kind of wish I had fried mine. I actually toasted and fried Travis's. He scarfed it up quickly so I am assuming he liked it. The 1 minute English muffins are super easy to make, super fast and I imagine with a couple of additions they could be varied as well. I am thinking a bit of cinnamon and sweetener might be really good!

    Even though I finally learned how to read the mug muffin recipe I decided I would stop being lazy and I would make a loaf of bread. I have a bunch of new recipes I have found lately and I really need to start trying them out. But I'm sort of burnt out lately and I went with easy. This bread was billed as The Best Keto Bread, no eggy taste. I don't really agree with that. To me, it did have a bit of eggy flavor to it. But maybe I needed a couple more drops of the liquid Stevia. Which is in there to cut down on that flavor. 

    So this keto bread is super easy to make. You beat the eggs with a hand mixer for 2-3 minutes (I have no idea why) and then add melted coconut oil and beat for one minute, then the melted butter and then the dry ingredients. If you have 3 hands or a stand mixer you could even just keep the mixer running and set timers, dump ingredients and take photos. I guess if you has someone else take the pictures that would work too...

    When everything is mixed up this pours very easily, very much a quick bread type batter and not a dough at all. But it bakes up really pretty, is fairly low calorie, though the slices are quite thin to get it that way, has a decent amount of fat but not much protein, which is good for me because I have sometimes run into trouble lately trying to balance my macros and keep ending up with too much protein. 

     My overall impression of this bread is it holds together well. It is neither too dense or too soft. It does have a bit of a spongy texture, especially when it is still warm and it cuts extremely well. It does have a bit of an eggy flavor too it, but not overpowering and a bit more Stevia might knock that right out. The flavor is mild enough that it would probably be great with any sort of topping; peanut butter, butter, jam, nutella, meats, etc. It is a bit greasy, but I find that a lot of things that are made with almond flour are a bit greasy. While it was still cooling off Travs asked for some bread. I think he misses bread almost as much as I do. 

    I am on the hunt still for what I consider to be the perfect low carb bread. I want to get it as bread-like as possible. I want to find some that are just made with coconut flour, I have friends with nut allergies and they need good low carb bread too. I have a flatbread recipe I want to try that is made with no flours and uses pork rinds. It's sort of like a fathead dough. The photos look good and I want to try it it. There are a few other things I have stumbled upon recently through my Pinterest obsession. I will post about them as I try them. 

    I seem to be a bit burnt out on dolls at the moment. I meant to do some doll work yesterday and that just didn't happen. Today I was supposed to go to the eye doctor but he had to cancel because he's sick. So I had an unexpected afternoon I could have worked and I just didn't want to. So I made bread. I am considering not working on dolls until at least Monday. I wonder how many low carb recipes I could try out with that much extra time. 

Donuts and Cinnamon Bread

    The other day I tried a couple new low carb recipes. One of them was a cinnamon swirl bread. I am not sure if I missed an ingredient, though I did double check everything as I worked, or if something was missing from the printed recipe. Or should have been added. The instructions said to pour half the batter into the bread pan and then put on the layer on cinnamon. Then to pour in the rest of the batter. There was no pouring. There was putting a blob of sticky dough in and spreading it to the edges. I sprinkled more cinnamon and erythritol on top because I like that sort of thing. 

    This is a very dense bread. It holds together extremely well so it is not spongy like a lot of low carb breads. It does have a bit of a cinnamon flavor but it is really not sweet. I imagine this would be good with butter (what isn't good with butter?) But I didn't try it that way. I thought it was OK but not great. I think Travis will enjoy it fried up with his eggs in the morning. But that kid loves to eat.  And I did also just remember, there is a recipe with this bread for sweet cinnamon butter. Maybe I will make some of that and try this bread again. 

     I think I mentioned at some point that my friend Angelique really wants a French Cruller. And if I didn't I am mentioning it now. She needs them to be gluten free and the majority of low carb recipes are gluten free by default. So I went looking for a recipe that might work out. 

   These are not actually French crullers, they are supposed to be a Krispy Kreme knock off. I don't think I have ever had a Krispy Kreme, but they seem to be the right thing. So I tried them out.

     The bottom of the donuts came out nicely browned and wonderful, though I couldn't get the tops to brown like they were supposed to. I had that same issue recently with the hot dog rolls.  Anyway, I made the glaze, made the donuts and let everything cool as instructed. 

    The glaze is AMAZING! At least one it's own. I may or may not have eaten a spoonful or two that was left after the donuts were finished. So I don't think they are a win as a French Cruller replacement, but they are pretty good. They had a slightly buttery flavor and the glaze makes them just a bit sweet. I might make these again some day, they are decent. While you are making the glaze you are supposed to cook the melted butter and the erythritol until the erythritol is melted. I thought mine was but maybe not, it is still a little crunchy. 

    I'm not sure what I might make next. I still have a couple of recipes I want to try on my list. I also have a ton of stuff on Pinterest. I think I'll go read some more recipes and calculate some macros. I found a hamburger and mushroom casserole that looks really promising. 

SNEWRU part 8. Detail shots

    I love miniatures. I always have. Not just model horses, but anything that is tiny and detailed and looks realistic, just in a smaller scale. I have taken lots and lots of horse show photos over the years but have never tried to hard to get the details. Sue Bensema Young asked for more detail pictures. And I thought that was a fantastic idea!

    This first one is my Parade set made by Wendy Ward. I sold my parade doll and forgot to make another one so I used one of my western pleasure dolls in the entry. I actually made this doll in 2014 I think. Maybe earlier. She was done on the original Yvonne doll and is still one of my favorite dolls. 

    Next we had a closer look at my vaulting doll. Technically I could show this entry without the doll, but what would be the fun in that? So I really did make this doll just for this one entry. But when you are a doll maker you can do things like that sometimes. When I first made her I spent probably an hour looking at reference pics of vaulting and trying out different ways to put the doll on the horse. This was the position I found that allowed her to stay put and people around her could breathe without her falling over. So that was the reference photo I used on her documentation. Which has the added bonus of reminding me how to put her on the horse. 

    Here's a closer look at her bridle As with all of Jennifer's tack this is lovely.

     The tiny crates from Enterprise props are just so cute and detailed. They are also perfect to hold the little toys for the therapeutic riding test entry.

     I have bought or traded for a lot of my props and most of my tack, but I did make my rose jump. My friend Joan and I actually started these as a project together. She had the garden arches and so did I. Then we went in totally different directions with them.

    Once at a show I forgot my jump flags and my friend Marisa, who was judging, threatened me (jokingly) so I would never forget my jump flags again. I have not forgotten my flags ever again, lol! I have them sticky waxed to the jump but I do also always check for them. So I decorated the arches with vines and roses, made the stone wall parts on the bases, and I painted and filled all the flower pots. I do love this jump. 

Bring the Mayhem in the housewife scurry. I made the vegetables for this entry. 

   My Elecktra doll holding some chaps. They are actually cutting chaps that I folded to look more like pleasure chaps. 

    Cowboy curtain.

 I made nearly everything in this scene. I built the picnic table,

sculpted all the miniature food,

I printed out food wrappers and candy wrappers and made all the trash.

    And I definitely added details. And the dolls, I made those too. 

I forgot to open the donut box, but there are donuts in there. 

    Another look at my vaulting doll. 

And the little crate and toys. 

A fun view of the therapeutic riding entry. I actually really like this photo. 

And another. 

I made all the little candy that I use for the candy race. I might make more one of these days. 

   A nice, close view of a lovely bridle by Jennifer Buxton. 

And awesome pink flame bell boots by Darleen Stoddard. 

And the last, a very nicely put together western entry with plenty of pink.

Well that's it for the SNEWRU show reports. I hope you enjoyed them! I have some food posts and interesting doll things coming up. I have a very interesting doll project in the works, though I can't share the details just yet. I promise when I can, I will, and it will be awesome!

Little Leggs

    Since NaMoPaiMo this year I have had a small obsession with buying mini models (lol, small...) In the last several weeks I have bought four micros and three stablemate scale models. I can't help it, I was super proud of myself for finishing Hugh and doing a nice job and I want to do more. So when I saw this Little Leggs by Liesl Dalpe I knew I had to get one of those as well. I nearly ordered two...

    I got the original walking Leggs model when Liesl first came out with her. Caramel Latte has been an amazing performance horse. When I had the option to buy Mocha Latte, who is actually artist proof #1 of Liesl's Loping Leggs, I jumped on that as well. Those two models have been two of my favorite performance horses. 

    Little Leggs is similar to Loping Leggs in some ways but different in many others. Little Leggs is a he and has been made more muscular and masculine. He has a new mane and tail as well. Plus of course he's a mini. I can't wait to get this little guy in hand and paint him!

    I think the preorder period for Little Leggs has passed but check back for when he is available again. He's am amazing looking little horse and I'm sure he'll be great for halter and mini performance as well. My big Loping Leggs has been a great performance horse after all.

    So now I have four micros, four stablemate scale resins and an OF fixing project that will also be for painting, maybe I should start getting some prepping done and get some paint on some of these models...
    In other news, I finished the side saddle doll. She sits very nicely on a regular English saddle on a saddle stand. I imagine she will be great in a side saddle. On a horse. Hopefully I will get to see some pics, or better yet, see her in action in person!

Tack Room and Mexican skillet

    I got an order for a side saddle doll during the SNEWRU weekend. The deadline for this doll is short since it is needed for the weekend of the 23rd. Next weekend. Though I was also told that if it's not done by then it's not a problem. Still, I like to try to get things finished as quickly as possible. Which meant a bit of Sunday working.

    The body is prepped and the clothes are sewn so that is some progress at least. 

   Another project I needed to get to was putting away my tack. It was in a box for over a week and I finally decided it needed to go back into the tack room. So all the halters and bridles got separated by type and hung back up. 

   And the same with the saddles. I love my little tack room, it's a great way to display my tack collection when I am not using it. So I get to enjoy the tiny tack as well as the horses.

     And doesn't everything just look better when it's neat and organized? 

    I managed to get one thing crossed off my list of things I need to do to prep for the next shows. I fixed the edging on my vaulting pad. It was coming loose in a couple of places. So that is taken care of. Several of the items on the list are doll related and will require partial rebuilds (Halestorm's dolls) and an alteration to a neck (also one of Halestorm's dolls). I also need to make a working cowboy for myself with the Christian Bale head I painted. And rehair my Elecktra doll. I should maybe get started on those things soon. 
     For supper last night I tried another Pinterest recipe. This one is a cheesy Mexican chicken skillet. It's quick to make, only takes about 30 minutes, and it's spicy and good.

    It definitely is cheesy. We had it with some sour cream, which was an excellent addition, and I think this one would also be good with black olives. Mmmmm...

    This recipe doesn't require a ton of ingredients or a lot of attention during the prep. This may become a repeat during track season when I have so much less time to do anything. I think I'll go poke around Pinterest some more and see what else I want to try. And maybe finally settle on a birthday cake recipe.