bake

Get your Craft on (for free) with Craftsy Free Mini-Courses!

Abby H.

If you’re anything like me, you love to learn new stuff. When I found out that Craftsy is offering free mini-courses, I had to take advantage!

If you’re new to Craftsy, the mini-courses  feature student-led discussions and are shorter in length than regular courses. They are a perfect way to learn new skills and experience the Craftsy platform first-hand.

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Here are just a few of the free mini-courses available:

  • Know Your Wool: Do you wonder where your yarn comes from? Learn about different types of wool and the individual characteristics of each.
  • The Hand-Painted Cake: Elevate your cake with Erin Schaefgen’s freehand painting techniques. Create beautiful and edible works of art with Erin’s tips and tricks.
  • Creative Quilt Backs: Make the back of your quilt just as interesting as the front! Oh, Fransson! blog author Elizabeth Hartman walks you through everything you need to know to make beautiful quilt backs.
  • Modern Buttercream: Learn to use buttercream like a pro! Discover the tricks and tips to construct and create a beautifully finished buttercream cake.
  • Short Rows: Don’t fall short because you find short rows intimidating! Learn four different techniques to creating short rows, and discover how they can make shaping a knitted garment a snap.
  • Perfect Pizza at Home: Stretch your dough and your imagination as Peter guides you through each step of making a pizza. You’’ll make pizza sauces, consider cheese options and bake five types of dough in your conventional home oven. gImpress Italian purists with a slice of your Sicilian-style homemade pies, cook creative flavor combinations for more adventurous palates and even provide gluten-free pizza lovers with mouth-watering meals.
  • Complete Knife Skills:Become faster and more accurate with your knife work, and create dishes that cook evenly and look truly professional. Guided by chef Brendan McDermott, you’’ll explore proper hand placement and the four fundamental cuts. Learn to dice, mince and julienne a range of produce. Find out how to chop herbs without bruising them or losing flavor, and never again cry when cutting an onion. Uncover Brendan’’s favorite shortcuts for working with butternut squash, pineapple, chiles, citrus and more. Discover the four knives every chef needs in their kitchen, and enjoy a bonus lesson on honing and sharpening your knives at home!

I’m taking the Complete Knife Skills Class!

If the classes above aren’t your cup of tea,  Here’s the full list of Craftsy free mini classes to choose from

Which mini-course are you taking?

Cooking Tutorial: Spaghetti Squash!

Abby H.2 Comments

We eat a lot of veggies. That was one of the huge lifestyle changes we made a few years ago that has helped us maintain healthier weights.

One healthy swap we made was to spaghetti squash instead of pasta.  A lot of healthy/food swap websites like Hungry Girl tout Spaghetti Squash as a good substitute for carb-y noodles.

Here is a quick tutorial on making spaghetti squash.

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  1. Select a squash that is firm and unblemished. Not sure what they look like? Here is the wikipedia article all about the vegetable with a few pictures.
  2. Chop the end with the stem off. You’ll need a good sharp knife. I love our Henckels Meat Cleaver.
  3. Chop the squash in half. I do it length-wise, so it takes less time to cook in the oven.
  4. Take a spoon and scoop out the stringy guts and seeds.  Discard them.
  5. In a large glass baking dish, place the squash halves cut side down.  Pour a 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish.
  6. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until the squash are fork tender (about the same feeling as a baked potato).
  7. Remove baking dish from oven and set the squash halves on a cutting board.  Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, or until you can comfortable handle the vegetable.
  8. With a fork, “rake” the interior of the veggie.  The “meat” of the interior should flake off in long strings that resemble broken spaghetti.
  9. Once complete, discard the exterior of the squash.
  10. Toss the “spaghetti” with the sauce of your choice.

1 medium sized spaghetti squash serves 2-3 people, with a serving size of about 1 1/2 cups. It’s yummy with sauce (Spaghetti/red sauce, pesto, or even a cheesy sauce), or just a little butter and herbs. It’s a great way to get extra veggies into your diet, or if you’re Gluten Intolerant, it’s cheaper (and tastier) than GF pasta.

Later today, I’ll be posting a recipe that uses spaghetti squash as a main ingredient! With winter veggies starting to make an appearance in grocery stores and farmers markets, you’ll start seeing more and more squash!