In the Kitchen with The {NewNew}

Members of The {NewNew} create some fantastic treats for your home.  Deck out your kitchen and dining table with handcrafted ceramics, light switches, magnets, coasters and more!  Our featured designers are just as creative when it comes to cooking too.  Each one has shared a favorite recipe

Kitschy Retro Light Switch Cover
by LuCrafts
Lu's Apple Crisp
Lu strives to add a "little lovely to every day."  Light switch covers and magnets in a range of patterns are available in her shop LuCrafts. The name of this recipe should really be Lu's Lovely Apple Crisp! It is baked just long enough so that the apples that get soft but not mushy and the topping gets crisp and wonderful. You can warm up leftovers in the microwave.  And don't forget the vanilla ice cream. 


Ingredients
6 large Granny Smith apples
2 tbls white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbls lemon juice
1/4 cup butter
3/4/cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Directions
Peel, core, and cut apples into quarters then cut each quarter into 3-4 slices. Place in buttered pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice, white sugar and cinnamon. With a fork, mix the brown sugar and flour. Using 2 knives or your hands, cut in butter until you have coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Bird on a Branch Wood Coasters
by Peppersprouts
Peppersprouts Peppered Up Margarita
A full time graphic designer who says she has too many ideas for things to make!  Visit her shop Peppersprouts to see the results of some of those ideas.  In the meantime, give this Peppered up Margarita a try and be sure to use a coaster.





Ingredients
1 chili pepper (pick based on you heat preference)
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 tbls fresh lime or Rose's Lime juice
Directions
Slice the pepper into thin strips and rub it around the rim of a chilled margarita glass.  Drop a pepper strip into the glass. Fill cocktail shaker half full with ice and add tequila, Cointreau or Grand Marnier and lime juice. Shake vigorously and strain into glass.


Linda's Jazzed-Up Curried Lentils
Linda is not only known for her adorable bright colored birds and decorative magnets, she is also famous for this Lentil recipe.  I'm so glad she shared it with us!  Visit her shop PurtyBird.
Ingredients
2 large onions
2 carrots
3-4 large stalks celery
2 Gala apples 
4 cloves garlic
1 pkg. dry red lentils
1 handful anise seed (more or less to taste)
3-4 handfuls raisins
3-4 tbls curry powder (more or less to taste)
6-8 cups water
Salt to taste

Directions
Saute onions, garlic and celery in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot until translucent. Add anise and let cook approx. 2 minutes. Add lentils and water, then apples, carrots and curry. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for approximately 1 hour or until lentils are cooked. Add raisins. Continue cooking over low heat for another hour or two. Salt to taste.  Can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated to allow the flavors intermingle and develop.

May Luk's Pineapple Pound Cake with Pineapple Rum Glaze
May's unique ceramics are both beautiful and functional.  Working with clay and glaze, May creates each of the items in her shop MayLuk by hand.   Try your hand with a different king of glaze, a delicious pineapple pound cake with pineapple rum glaze.

Eat Pink Platter
by MayLuk
Ingredients
Whole wheat pastry flour - 2.5 cups
Butter - 1 stick unsalted at room temperature
Sour Cream - 1 cup
Eggs - 3,  separated
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1.5 tsp
Crushed Pineapple - 1 cup  drained

Directions
Whip egg white until stiff on high. About 3 minutes. Set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.  Whip butter for one minute. Then add in the sugar mix well. Add in the egg yokes and mix well. Then add the vanilla. Alternately add in the flour mixture and the sour cream and mix well. Add in pineapple and rum, mix well. By hand, slowly fold in the egg white. Do not over-mix
Pour the batter into a buttered bundt pan. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 deg F for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean and the edges are slightly golden brown.

Pineapple Rum Glaze
Cream Cheese - 4oz   (1/2 package) at room temperature
Butter - 1/4 stick at  room temperature
Powder Sugar - 3 tbsp
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Salt - pinch
Crushed Pineapple - 1 cup drained
Bermuda Gold Liqueur - 2 tbsp. Add more to taste.

Directions
Beat cream cheese and butter on high until well mixed. Add in the remaining ingredients and beat until it's nice and fluffy.  Mix in pineapple and rum. Serve with cake.

Hope you enjoy these recipes and hanging out in the kitchen with The{NewNew}.  For more kitchen and dining related items visit the In The Kitchen treasury on Etsy.

Holly
Ellis Design 

Something Very NewNew from the NewNew for March

March has come in like a lion, and The {NewNew} York Etsy Team is "roaring" to go! This month, The {NewNew} Blog will be offering fabulous giveaways TWICE A WEEK from many of its talented members. From unique ceramics to glamorous jewelry to incredible paintings...each post will bring you a chance to win a {NewNew} item from some of the best Etsy shops in New York! Please share these amazing contests with others, and please visit this blog often for updates!

We kick off this Month of Giveaway Madness by featuring well known {NewNew} member MAY LUK a Brooklyn based ceramic artist who creates a line called TAKE ME HOMEWARE.
May Luk's shop is full of handmade, curiously decorated, functional pottery items including attractive contemporary slipware, adorned with art inspired by antique advertising and illustrations.
May Luk has this to say about herself: "I started to get my hands into clay when living in London, I studied ceramics at Kensington & Chelsea College and Glasgow School of Art. I loved the medium, the combination of art and science, hours of experimentation mixing glaze and colors, each resulting piece a series of creative decisions and technical endeavors. I found it an ideal way to use my background in illustration, producing pieces that have an emphasis on image making and graphic decorations."
The wares are white stoneware or porcelain clay. They are fired to cone 8 - 1272°C [2320°F] in an electric kiln. The glazes are food and dishwasher safe and lead-free.
All the ceramics in May Luk's shop are artistic and unique. They are not mass-produced by automatic machines and big corporations. They will enhance your domestic environment, impress your friends and increase the deliciousness of your food.
May Luk sometimes collaborates with another {NewNew} member, Cakehouse.
who produces second hand textiles repurposed as hand printed home accessories.

What better way to set a fresh and exciting Spring table than with items from May Luk's shop? AND GUESS WHAT? YOU CAN WIN THESE TWO GREAT PIECES!
A pair of his and her ditsy bowls for holding all your precious things. These will make a beautiful addition to your home.

HERE'S HOW TO WIN
Make sure you are a current follower of this blog. Visit May Luk's shop and take a look at all of her beautiful work. Then come back here and post below in comments and let us know what your favorite item is. You may comment one time only, but if you tweet or blog about this giveaway you get an extra entry, so mention that in your comment! CONTEST ENDS MARCH 7. Sorry- US entries only.

Good Luck!