Friday 22 May 2015

Michele's DIY Realm: Healthy Dessert Out Of Ice Cream Waffle Bowls!!!!

Hey, everyone! I never knew that I've come up with this new DIY, but this time it's a type of dessert I've created two days ago!
I went grocery shopping with my family last Sunday afternoon and I found this new President's Choice waffle bowl set on one of the shelves. I was like "I've got to have this!" And as I looked at the calorie chart on the box, I was surprised to see that the waffle bowls only contain 40 calories. So since ice cream is not a healthy food. I've decided to use an alternative (two alternatives actually) to replace ice cream!

A) Yogurt
All you need:
- A waffle bowl
-Yogurt
-A couple of strawberries (or a strawberry and a banana, whatever fruit/berry you desire to put in your yogurt)
-Raisins
-Chia Seeds
-Spoon, knife...


Let's start with the strawberries. Cut your strawberries into small slices.
Fill the bottom of your waffle bowl with a small pool of yogurt.
Layer the yogurt up with half of your sliced strawberries.
Fill it up with some more yogurt to the brim of your waffle bowl. Kind of looks like a cupcake, doesn't it? XD
Decorate the top with the rest of your strawberries and add in raisins and Chia seeds to finish it up!
And there you have it! (Sorry the photo above is upside down). I've made another one for my youngest sister. But anyway, this is super easy to make and it's a great dessert especially in a hot sunny day. You can left them in the fridge for a few minutes to make them cooler before you can enjoy them. And trust me, if you eat the waffle bowl with smudges of the leftover yogurt after you have finished the contents, it's like eating an ice cream sandwich. XD

B) Blogilates' Banana Ice Cream (Check out her healthy ice cream from her Cheap Clean Eats series on Youtube!)


Before I get started, I would recommend you guys to check out this video on how to make the banana ice cream!

All you need:
-Blender
- Chopped frozen banana (I use two bananas because I'm making two)
-Strawberries (Two strawberries for one waffle bowl, four for two)
-Almond butter/ peanut butter
- Waffle bowl
-Raisins
-Chia seeds
-Any other toppings (I use dark chocolate instead of raisins)

Before you start making the ice cream, you should cut the banana into coins and store them in the freezer for two hours or so. So first, blend the banana coins and one or two spoonful of almond butter/peanut butter into the blender.

Blend them well till you see a light creamy mixture.
Before

After


Looks like soft serve ice cream, doesn't it? :D

Now it's time to fill up your waffle bowl with the ice cream. Fill a little pool at the bottom.
Before you fill up your bowl with the rest of the ice cream, don't forget to add in your strawberries! Cut them up in slices or whatever shape you desire. For me, I would separate the cutting into two groups: one with just the faces and another one with thin rectangular slices.
Layer half of your strawberries on the ice cream.
Fill up the rest to the brim of your waffle bowl.
Finally, decorate your dessert with your toppings! I first use the strawberries to decorate the center and then create a ring of raisins/ chopped dark chocolate around the brim of the bowl (plus a pinch of Chia Seeds for my dark chocolate one).
Place your waffle bowl into a bowl so that it won't topple over when you put it into the freezer for an hour or so. And there you have it!
I can't believe it looks like one of those mouth-watering pastries in a bakery! And it tastes awesome! P.S. The frozen strawberries on top after leaving the dessert in the freezer for an hour is a bonus!

The ice cream also actually makes a surprisingly good frosting! I've tried it onto my homemade butter cake and it blows my mind! XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this DIY! I'll see you in my next post! Take care! :) <3










Sunday 10 May 2015

Michele's DIY Realm (Glass Jar Platform)

Hey, all! If you haven't checked out my new DIY (Stars in a Jar), you can read my blog post right here: http://thetruemichelehii.blogspot.ca/2015/05/stars-in-jar-micheles-diy-realm.html


So I've come up with this idea of putting my three glass jars of decorations onto one flat surface, kind of like a cardboard platform. So the materials to make this DIY are a rectangular-shaped cardboard, old magazines or wrapping paper, duct tape, glue, some small papers to cut out patterns or figures, colouring tools such as colour pencils, scissors, and glass jars of goodies. But before you get started, you have to make sure that your glass jars fits onto your cardboard and leave space between the glass jars so that they won't clutter.
First, wrap your cardboard with old magazine paper or wrapping paper. Cut out the extra sides of the paper and seal them up with duct tape till you won't see any dull colour of the cardboard.

Take one of your jars and seal a piece of duct tape onto the bottom of the jar. Make sure you leave a sticky side of the tape out so that you can stick your jar onto your board. Arrange your jars according to your preference and line them up!
One of my favourite things to do in a DIY arts and crafts is making these cute pop-ups! All you have to do it trace some patterns on your pieces of white papers and cut them out. Then, colour them up. Do the same with your rectangular stands (rectangular strips). Glue a pattern onto one end of your pop-up stand. Fold your stand into three squares and let your fingers off the folds; your pattern will look like it jumped out of a jack-in-a-box. Glue your pop-ups onto your board.

And voila! You've made your own glass jar platform with pop-ups! You can actually do whatever you want with your platform. You just have to create what you want your platform to look like. I might make another Maple Leaf Platter someday this summer or fall but I don't think I'll make another DIY after this because starting tomorrow I might be busy with getting a real job, catching up with my driving, chasing after new ideas for new poetry and stories, and volunteering to teach English to transfer students from Japan! I'm really nervous but also excited! I don't know if I'm gonna come back with a new blog post but I promise I won't abandon this blog for too long! XD Anyway, I hope you'll have a great summer and I'll see you in the next post! :)

Saturday 9 May 2015

Stars In A Jar (Michele's DIY Realm)

Hey!!!!!! It's been a while! How's it going? Finally, I've finished this new DIY and I've promised myself to finish it up before Mothers' Day which is tomorrow (May 10 2015). So here it is guys! Thanks to my younger sister Megan who bought this small set of star stripes from Toronto, I've came up with this idea to fill up an empty glass jar!

All you need...
- Paper star stripes (you can also cut stripes from old magazines)
- An empty glass jar
- A ribbon
-Old pendants or key chains
-Anything small and cute you want to put on top of the stars!



Let's start with the stars! Take one paper star stripe and carefully tie one end into a knot as shown above. Don't pull the end too tight or else you'll make the pentagon on top flat and tight. You have to make sure the pentagon is a little loose so that there's space in between when you keep on folding the stripe.
Once you're done with your pentagon and you have the end sticking out, slit it into the pentagon.

Fold the other end of the stripe over as shown above, Make sure the stripe fits onto one side of the pentagon.
Do the same on the opposite side as you flip the pentagon .
Once you almost reached the end of the stripe, insert the end into the pentagon. If the end if a little long as shown above, fold one quarter of it and slit in into the pentagon to fit it in.
Now the hardest part! Hold two edges of the pentagon with your thumbs and index fingers. Then, pinch inwards to form the edges of s star. Do the same at the bottom of the pentagon. Don't worry if you don't get a bulky star! Practice makes perfect! If you keep doing it, you'll eventually master the pinching part!

Now gather your materials to decorate your jar!
While you fill up your jar with your stars, be as creative as possible when you arrange the stars from bottom to top! I start with purple which the last colour of a rainbow and then blue in a ring first, then I fill the gap with more purple and blue before moving on with a ring of green, yellow, orange, red, and pink.



Now let's do the ribbon chain! Slit the pendants or key chains through the ribbon and line them up at the middle of the ribbon.


Tie your ribbon chain around your jar.
And finally, fill up the top of your jar with the rest of your little decorations (If you don't have enough paper stars)
The bear is a little too big so the cap squished its head. >.< Oh well XD....


And there you have it! I hope you enjoy this post and I have another DIY coming up tomorrow so stay tuned! It involved this glass jar with something to hold with, kind of like an organizer! Happy Mothers' Day to all moms and I'll see you in the next post! :)