THE LAIN ARCHIVES

In case you haven't heard, I moved to THE LAIN ARCHIVES.

I no longer blog here, but you can find similar or even better quality content there.

NEW BLOG Name!

I have been struggling with renaming this blog for months and months! I started this weird hashtag thing on most of my Instagram pictures and twitter posts #TheLainArchives and I did it so that later on, when we want to look back we can look at what was going on in our lives just by searching the hashtag. I secretly kind of wanted to rename my blog so that played a part in the hashtag too.

Anyway. I have officially moved to TheLainArchives.com and I have asked some of my friends to collaborate with me and write about their areas of expertise. I am more than excited to be changing things. Usually I'm not a huge fan of change, but this one. Well, I have been waiting to make this one for a long while.

I am not only making this change because I want to or I'm excited. I also feel it's more appropriate for what all is on here and the different areas covered. Chosen was based primarily on the Word and then, I started putting DIY, Food, and just random ramblings from my mind. So, I decided to change the name to appropriately fit what all will be on here. It's called the The Lain Archives because it will still have all of those things, but mostly it will be DIY, Food, and just ramblings about what all goes on in the Lain household.

I hope you enjoy all the changes! If you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to comment or email me.

Autumn Banner Tutorial

Hello again!

I feel like it has been an entire year since I have blogged! For real! But I am so glad to be on here tonight. I'm just going to get right to the point. I have been crafting up a literal storm in our house. I have been making soap, this other product I can't even talk about yet, signs, banners, cards, letters for my walls, and all kinds of random home decor projects.

Tonight I want to talk about this "autumn" banner my co-worker, Nikki, and I made the other day. We made quite a few actually, but this one is our favorite because it's going up on Lacy Ln today, and I am so excited! I am actually excited because there are quite a few new things going up in Lacy Ln in the next couple of weeks and I could not be more ready and happy to share them all with you!

Back to the sign:

Here is a quick and [hopefully] easy tutorial:

Gather your supplies:

• Paper [background color(s) and BLACK CARD STOCK] Not construction paper, or computer paper, or anything else, card stock (trust me we tried the others)
• Hole Punch or Pen
• String, Yarn, or Twine, etc.
• Glue gun or stick glue
• Chalk
• White paint and tiny brush or a white paint pen [whichever you find easiest]
• White board eraser 

Directions:

• Cut out the shape that you desire [it doesn't have to be exactly like ours]
• Cut out a smaller version of that shape, 1 centimeter works great
• Use these as your template and trace on the colored paper your bigger shape and on the black paper the smaller shape
• Cut them out
• Paint your letters on each of the black ones
• Let them dry completely
• Use the chalk and smear it all over each of the black pieces 
• Erase [be careful not to completely get rid of the chalk, just gently erase it]
• Glue the smaller on top of the bigger shapes
• Let completely dry
• Punch Holes with your pen or hole punch about an inch inside the outer edges on each side
• Sting your string through the holes
• Loop it on each end 
• Hang
• Enjoy!

If you like it but don't have the 20 minutes to sit down and make this you can buy it by clicking here.

I hope this was helpful! Have a blessed day! 

Detox Water Recipe #2

Okay, some of you may have read my earlier post about Detox Water and since then, I have done some research and done some experimenting. Here are the results and I feel completely better since I have been drinking just an 8oz glass a day. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Lemon Packet (pure lemon)
• 2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
• 4 Cups of Pure Apple Juice
• 4 Green Tea bags
• Distilled Water

Directions:

1. Combine Lemond packet, Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar in 2 quart pitcher. 
2. Boil water for Green Tea.
3. Boil water to fill the rest of the pitcher (or use distilled water from the grocery store).
4. Mix together and let cool in the refrigerator before you drink. 

Enjoy! But only drink about 8oz per day. 

3- Step Black Bean Burgers

I started making Black Bean Burgers when I was 20. I was a "Vegetarian" for almost 2 years at that point for reasons I will not get into right now. I had researched and tried about a dozen recipes until I finally just decided to do my own thing. Then I tried about a dozen of "my own thing-recipes" and I'm sure you could guess how a few of those turned out. 

So, after a dozen and one tries here's my favorite recipe.

Step 1: 

Beans and Carrots

You can buy canned beans, but I prefer dried beans in a Crockpot all day to cans. Either will work and either will taste good. 

Carrots are the same way either buy a can of carrots or buy a bag for a whopping 94 cents and boils half of them. 

Cook both and mash together. Be careful not to mash all the beans completely (unless you like them that way).

Step 2: 

Oil, Eggs, Extras

If you are a Vegan you obviously can not use eggs. For the egg part you can simply use oil (that's what I did last time I made them) or you can make flax eggs or another alternative. 

For this step just add 3 Tbs of oil (without egg) or 1 Tbs (with 1 egg). 

Chop any veggies, other than carrots, that you want in the meat and add to your mixture. 

Onions, Green Bell Peppers, and Spinach are very common add-ins.

Step 3:

Patty-in! Patty-in! Patty-in! Yah!

Make your patties! Be sure not to make them too thick or thin. About 1/2 an inch should cook just fine. 

At this point you can either bake them in the oven at 350° for about 6 minutes, or you can fry them on medium-high temperature at about four minutes per side. 

If you use 1 can of black beans this should yield about 3-4 patties. I make large batches of black beans* in my Crockpot and use what I need until it runs out. Each batch of patties uses about 2 1/2 cups per batch. 

*Side Note: I bake my beans in beef broth to make it taste more like a burger or if I do navy beans I use chicken broth (for faux chicken sandwiches, of course). Soy sauce is good too! 

**Occasionally a Tbs of peanut butter baked in adds some protein and tastes really good with a raspberry vinegarette, and arugula.

Rolled Oat Loaf Homemade Bread Recipe

It got real up in our kitchen last night. Well, it also got real messy up in our kitchen last night. I opted not to take a picture of the crazy mess. I was a baking tornado going through our kitchen. I finally got it all cleaned up this morning. I made homemade pizza, which was pretty much a fail. Caleb said he liked it, but I think he was only saying that because he's my husband. I did however revert back to my Vegetarian days and make a few loaves of bread. I decided that since it still to this day turned out good, I would come share them here for all of you to try, and you should, if you love bread. 

Rolled Oat Loaf

Here are the ingredients for the first one:

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract (I also use imitation vanilla when we're on a tight budget)

2 Cups Flour (any flour will work here, I use regular, or wheat)

1 Cup Rolled Oats

1 Cup Sugar (I like brown or coconut sugar better in my rolled oat loaf)

2/3 Cup plain yogurt (substituting greek yogurt makes a much different texture when it is all said and done, I don't really like it but you may)

1 Tbs Baking Soda

2 eggs (2 will work, but honestly I usually use 3)

1/4 cup melted butter

Pinch of salt

1 Tbs Cinnamon and Sugar mixture

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all ingredients (but keep the cinnamon and sugar out for the end)

Spray your loaf pan

Pour into loaf pan

Bake for 45 mins. - 65mins. depending on how you like your bread, just make sure it's cooked all the way through

Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top right when you take it out of the oven

It's seriously that easy! And delicious, but don't take my word for it! Try it!