What's for dinner?

I made one of my favorite recipes last night, and I wanted to share it with you! It is modified from a recipe from On the Road to Vegetarian Cooking by Anne Lukin, a great recipe book for the dedicated vegetarian, or just the veggie curious.


When I was 11 years old, I decided to become a vegetarian, and my dear grandma bought me a few vegetarian cookbooks so that I would eat properly. Now, many moons later, this book still sees a lot of action. The recipes are all very tasty, and not too *out there*. Other favorites of our family are the Macaroni Moussaka, Crisp Vegetable Salad, and Parmesan Tomoatoes. I hope you enjoy this one!




Zesty Sesame Medley:

1/4 cup sesame oil
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 cup onion crescents (1 onion)
1 1/2 cups julienned carrots (3 - 4 carrots)
1 1/2 cups trimmed green beans
2 cups chopped tomatoes (2 large tomatoes)
5 cloves garlic

Heat oil in a heavy skillet. Add sesame oil and above ingredients. Saute for 5 minutes.

1 cup julienned zucchini (1 small zucchini)
splash of worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup salsa
3 T soy sauce
black pepper to taste
1 cup stock (I use chicken) or tomato juice

Add zucchini and seasonings and saute for additional 5 minutes. Add stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

2 cups chopped fresh spinach leaves, trimmed
1 cup of plain yogurt mixed with 2 T flour

Add above ingredients and simmer for final 5 minutes.
Serve over pasta or rice.


And...here's a sneak of a fall dress design I have been working on that should be listed later today. I've spent hours drafting this pattern, and am really proud of the final result! Hope you like it, too!

I'm Tee'd OFF!

Well, in this, my first fall design, I am!! The Boutique Jaynes are having a Tee'd Off Launch, where all designs use either tanks or tees, and this is my contribution. I don't usually "do" appliques, so this was a bit of a challenge for me, but I am really happy with how it came out.

I've been thinking of appliqueing an 'Ambrosia" flower (like in my logo) for quite awhile, and this launch gave me a push to do it. I'll admit it took longer than I expected, but that should get shorter with time, right??

Click here to see the auction for this outfit.

The vegetables of our labour

Man, the time is just getting away from me this summer! We have had the best weather lately, and I seem to be outside all day, waterparks, lakes, and on the hottest days a few hours at the mall (hey, a girl needs to shop). By the time the girls are in bed, all I want is to watch a few hours of mindless TV and pack it in. We're also off camping every weekend we can - so there's loads of sand-filled laundry, and many trips to the grocery store.

But that's what summer's about, right?

For us, this summer is also about gardening! If you knew my husband or I, you would be laughing out loud right now! Every year we try to garden, and every year we end up with brown flowers that are either drowning in water or crispy and dead of thirst!



This summer, our first in this house (remind me to tell you more about our little house with huge gardens!), we decided to cultivate some veggies in the beds in the backyard. Believe it or not, we are actually having some success!

We have been munching on butter lettuce for awhile now, and every day I get a handful of sugar peas all to myself! Last night we enjoyed broccoli and cauliflower that we grew all by ourselves!! I accidentally cooked up a cabbage worm, too but no one who ate at my dinner table last night knows about that tasty extra!

On the design front, I am nearly caught up on orders and brainstorming fall designs! Tomorrow, keep your eyes open for a fab one of a kind fall transition set.

Email me to join my mailing list, and not only will you get an email from me when each new design is listed, but you'll get free shipping, too!

So...how have you been?

Me, you ask? I've been busy - but am starting to relax now. This past weekend was a holiday weekend in Canada (Happy Canada Day!) and, more importantly, my younger sister's wedding weekend extravaganza!




Nicole and her newly minted husband Jake celebrated all weekend at his family's beach house in Qualicum Beach, BC. Friday night was the rehearsal and luau, Saturday was the wedding, and Sunday was the brunch and gift opening. The wedding was so lovely, Nicole was just gorgeous, all in all a perfect (if uber-busy) weekend. My girls were the flower girls, and I was a bridesmaid (that's me on the far left over there) and a cake mistress.





I made an almond-lemon cake with cream cheese frosting, and no I won't make you one :) There is no joy in making wedding cakes for me, I only do it for those I truly love, so if I've made one for you, then my feelings are clear!



Enjoy the pictures, and look forward to lots more posting now that my time is my own again!

Summer Sale!

Sadly, my summer design season is coming to an end. I have the most fun working with bright airy summer fabrics, and designing airy clothes. The thing is, I still have a studio full of summer fabrics, and my mind is racing with designs...


So I've decided to have a summer sale on customs!

I'm offering custom pieces at $40 a piece for sleevless tops, capris, and skirts; and, custom dresses at $70. You can take a look at my portfolio for design examples, although I likely don't have enough of those specific fabrics to recreate past designs exactly. What I do have is an overflowing fabric shelf, and these pictures are only a fraction of what I have available.



I'm guaranteeing a 2 week turnaround time on the first 5 orders I get, so please email me if you're interested!



It does feel weird to be having a summer sale, when summer's start is in 2 days - but here it is! Hope to hear from you soon!

Breaking fashion rules - and channeling Sister Mary Katherine

The new set I teased about last week is up now! The Jaynes are having a Miss Primm launch - the idea is to break a rule that would be in place at Miss Primm's school, and mine is a pretty old school fashion rule about mixing plaids and polka dots.

Sydney really broke out the supermodel poses for this one. My favorites are the shots where she has her fingers right up her armpits, as far as they can go. Now, I swear the kids has never seen an episode of SNL, but almost the whole shoot, I was thinking, "Sometimes, when I get nervous, I stick my fingers under my arm, and I smell them like that." It would have put me over the edge if she had busted out a "Superstar!" pose, too.

Anyhow, enough reminiscing about when Saturday Night Live was still good...you can see the whole auction by clicking on the photos above, or by clicking here. Thanks!

Two things

Firstly, and funniest, check out this video of Fiona. She is telling the "Interrupting Cow" joke, but when she says interrupting, it sounds like something COMPLETELY different. I swear we are not teaching our child to swear!! So be warned, there is unintentional swearing in the video below:

And secondly, and not nearly as funny - I worked on a one of a kind design last night until the wee hours. I'm really excited about this one, and I will probably have it listed in the next day or two. Here's a teeny peak!