Chocolate Avocado Pudding

I'm sure that when most of you see an avocado at the store, the first thing to pop into your head isn't chocolate pudding. However, I can assure you that this pudding is super rich, chocolatey, and not as bad for you as many other desserts (I'm not going to go so far as to say it's "healthy", it's dessert, go with it).

To make this pudding for yourself you will need:

2 ripe avocados
3-4 Tablespoons cocoa powder (depending on taste)
1/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped up and melted*
1/3 cup honey (you could substitute real maple syrup or agave nectar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
a food processor or blender


*Chocolate may be melted in a double boiler, or in the microwave at short intervals-stir well after each 20 second interval. I melt my chocolate first and set it aside.

Once you have melted your chocolate and have it sitting aside waiting for you, cut your avocados in half and remove the pits. Then scoop out the avocados and blend them up a little bit in your food processor or blender before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Add your remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides until everything is incorporated. Store in refrigerator in an air tight container for up to one week. Makes approx. 4 servings, 1/2 cup each. This is VERY rich, and I was surprised how creamy it was. I will definitely try it again :)

Mod Chevron Baby Quilt

Quilts are something that I don't usually attempt. They definitely take more time and effort than my average craft project, but the results generally garner many more "ooohs" "aaahs" and "wows" than something you can stitch together in an hour or two. As one of my super Besties from college announced she and her husband were expecting, I decided to go for the gusto and try this super cute quilt from Generation Q Magazine. Naturally I found the pattern on Pinterest, but modified it slightly to include fewer total fabrics. I ended up using 4 total fabrics:

1.5 yards of the grey/red elephant fabric for the backing
1.25 yards solid grey
3/4 yard off white with pandas
3/4 yard red with monkeys


If you are making one of these yourself you will also need a coordinating thread (or 2), batting, lots of pins, ruler and scissors or a rotary cutter and cutting mat. If you plan on trying out quilting, I highly recommend investing in a cutting mat and rotary cutter as well as several sizes of rulers, otherwise you up your chances of failure considerably.

I chose the colors based on Brook's registry (she chose lots of grey sheets, elephants and other zoo animals). So I wanted to find some zoo animal themed fabrics that tied in with the grey things she had picked out. This also shaped my decision to use fewer fabrics. I don't know if you've ever tried, but it is hard to find many coordinating fabrics for baby that use grey as the main colorway (also, I super loved the grey elephants with red ears and once you set your heart on that, the choices get even fewer).


This is the kind of project that I usually start and then half way through I get into something else and it never gets finished, but having the added motivation of making something really special for a great friend helped me to finish the whole thing in about 2 weeks! Unheard of for me considering I didn't take any vacation days from work to finish this up :)




This is only the 3rd quilt I have ever done start to finish, and I would highly recommend it for beginners. First, it is a baby quilt so the smaller scale keeps you from getting too overwhelmed. Mostly though, I think its a great, on trend pattern that isn't too complicated for pretty much anyone to follow.

Do any of you have a favorite quilt pattern you've seen or used lately? I'm thinking about tackling some quilts for my nieces/nephew for Christmas this year and I'd love to see some more ideas!

Springing Back!

Well, it's officially Spring! Along with many creatures of the wild, I have decided that it's time for me to stop hibernating and get back to work! These past few months have been very busy, and I think we can all agree that sometimes you just need a break. The easiest thing for me to take a break from is blogging. It isn't my main source of income (or even a GOOD source of extra income), it takes up lots of time and energy and the darker months make it hard to get decent photographs. I guess you could say Winter just puts a huge rut in my blogging schedule.

I would like to thank everyone who has been sticking with me these past months (despite the very few and far between posts! Also, as many of you probably know, Google Reader is going away soon, so if you follow The Craftinomicon via google reader you may want to switch over to following me via bloglovin'!


In the coming months there are going to be lots of things in the works including: great new tutorials, recipes, tips and tricks as well as some book reviews. Also, I noticed my favorite site of embroidery tutorials has gone away (I have been waiting to make sure it wasn't just a temporary bug!) so I will be bringing back slowly but surely some new Embroidery How-To's for everyone that liked my previous series so much! Also, I have been on a Spring Cleaning kick lately, so look for some posts on neat ways to tidy up your craft supplies stash!



Photos via my Instagram account. Follow @Craftinomicon