Monday, July 14, 2014
Bling and Pearls
I made these super cute cookies for a wedding shower that my sis-in-law helped host. I think they turned out great!
Take Me Out to the Ballgame - A Very Special First Birthday
My baby boy turned one, and I chose a baseball theme for his very small family party. It was really fun, because there was so much out there for baseball. And since our colors were red and blue, all the 4th of July party stuff worked too! I really enjoyed doing all the concession stand inspired food too.
Thank you to my mom who helped me with a lot of the party, and to my mother-in-law who made the precious party hat.
Here are pics of the decor and treats:
Thank you to my mom who helped me with a lot of the party, and to my mother-in-law who made the precious party hat.
Here are pics of the decor and treats:
Friday, June 13, 2014
Party Hats and Number Ones
I made these first birthday cookies for a dear friend's little girl. Due to an egg allergy, I used a new "royal icing" recipe, and I absolutely loved it! It's technically a glaze, but it will be my go-to icing from now on, unless I need to make something intricate or precise. I got the recipe from this website. You can make it thicker or thinner just by adding more sugar or more water. So easy!!
Friday, March 14, 2014
A New Family Favorite: Tortellini Soup
I found this recipe on Pinterest. It looked DELISH! I don't know about you, but I don't usually have 6 cups of leftover meaty spaghetti sauce. Nor am I an avid Crock Pot user.
If you are like me, here is the recipe I tweaked. My husband and I both adored this soup. It was great on a cold winter night. And, the next night, I took it to my neighbors' house and we ate the rest. My daughter even ate some! Gasp! My macaroni-hot-dog-and-peanut-butter-sandwich-only kid ate it! It's a big deal...
Anyways, here it is.
Creamy Tortellini Soup
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. italian sausage
red pepper flakes (to taste)
4 c. chicken broth
1 package of frozen spinach (or fresh)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. cream cheese, cut in smaller chunks
about 16 oz. tortellini (frozen or fresh)
Brown your sausage in a large dutch oven. Add red pepper flakes.
Once brown, add the spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, spinach, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add your tortellini right to the pot. Simmer for 15 more minutes.
Add your cream cheese. After it melts, it's ready!
Serve with a little parmesan on top and a simple salad on the side!
If you are like me, here is the recipe I tweaked. My husband and I both adored this soup. It was great on a cold winter night. And, the next night, I took it to my neighbors' house and we ate the rest. My daughter even ate some! Gasp! My macaroni-hot-dog-and-peanut-butter-sandwich-only kid ate it! It's a big deal...
Anyways, here it is.
Creamy Tortellini Soup
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. italian sausage
red pepper flakes (to taste)
4 c. chicken broth
1 package of frozen spinach (or fresh)
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. cream cheese, cut in smaller chunks
about 16 oz. tortellini (frozen or fresh)
Brown your sausage in a large dutch oven. Add red pepper flakes.
Once brown, add the spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, spinach, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add your tortellini right to the pot. Simmer for 15 more minutes.
Add your cream cheese. After it melts, it's ready!
Serve with a little parmesan on top and a simple salad on the side!
Monday, February 17, 2014
A Very Special Baptism
My niece, Rebecca, was baptized this Sunday. My husband and I were honored to be among the sponsors for her!
My sister-in-law married into a huge family, and with that comes huge gatherings. They had a very fun baptism reception at their house afterwards, and I offered to make cookies. I think the final count was 58 cookies- a new record for me.
My mother-in-law pinned some ideas on Pinterest of the beautiful crosses and dresses.
Here is how they turned out:
My sister-in-law married into a huge family, and with that comes huge gatherings. They had a very fun baptism reception at their house afterwards, and I offered to make cookies. I think the final count was 58 cookies- a new record for me.
My mother-in-law pinned some ideas on Pinterest of the beautiful crosses and dresses.
Here is how they turned out:
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
The sweetest 6 year old I know had her birthday party a few weeks ago. And since her momma (my BFF) is the best party thrower, it was a peanut butter and jelly themed party!
I offered my cookie services, and she sent me the link to a cookie that is so precious! I think they turned out cute, but I did have a few challenges this project. Biggest one- my flood icing never fully hardened! It could have been one or more of a few possibilities, but I think it was the fact that I put almond extract in the royal icing. I won't make that mistake again.
Okay, so I'm not going to post a tutorial for this one, because a. Sweet Sugarbelle already did that here and b. My cookies weren't quite as cute as hers.
This post is about how I made these cookies with very little time.
Start backwards from the "due date" and then you will know when to start. I have an infant who needs me to hold him- a lot. Which I love!!! But it's hard to get anything done. So, I've had to plan a little better this time. He sleeps very well in my baby carrier, so I can get things done in small increments of time.
Here is the schedule I used for this project (2 dozen cookies):
I offered my cookie services, and she sent me the link to a cookie that is so precious! I think they turned out cute, but I did have a few challenges this project. Biggest one- my flood icing never fully hardened! It could have been one or more of a few possibilities, but I think it was the fact that I put almond extract in the royal icing. I won't make that mistake again.
Okay, so I'm not going to post a tutorial for this one, because a. Sweet Sugarbelle already did that here and b. My cookies weren't quite as cute as hers.
This post is about how I made these cookies with very little time.
Start backwards from the "due date" and then you will know when to start. I have an infant who needs me to hold him- a lot. Which I love!!! But it's hard to get anything done. So, I've had to plan a little better this time. He sleeps very well in my baby carrier, so I can get things done in small increments of time.
Here is the schedule I used for this project (2 dozen cookies):
Saturday- make 2 batches of cookie dough, put in freezer
Tuesday- make 1 small batch of royal icing, put in fridge, put dough in fridge to thaw
Wednesday- make icing colors and put in piping bags and bottles, put in fridge
Thursday morning- roll, cut, and bake 2 dozen cookies, put leftover dough in freezer
Thursday mid morning- pipe the crust along the outside of the cookie
Thursday afternoon- phase one of icing (use 20 second icing to do the bread color)
Thursday night- phase two (use flood icing to make peanut butter or jelly)
Friday night- phase three (pipe the smiley face and pink cheeks)
Saturday- Party day!!
Here is how mine turned out:
Wednesday- make icing colors and put in piping bags and bottles, put in fridge
Thursday morning- roll, cut, and bake 2 dozen cookies, put leftover dough in freezer
Thursday mid morning- pipe the crust along the outside of the cookie
Thursday afternoon- phase one of icing (use 20 second icing to do the bread color)
Thursday night- phase two (use flood icing to make peanut butter or jelly)
Friday night- phase three (pipe the smiley face and pink cheeks)
Saturday- Party day!!
Here is how mine turned out:
I'm currently working on the baptism cookies. I hope my royal icing turns put better this time!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
My Man's Birthday
Happy 32nd birthday to the love of my life!
In the past, I've always made Justin a boxed yellow cake with a jar of chocolate frosting. He was perfectly happy with that. But, this year I set out to make a homemade version of his fave. I browsed the internet for the perfect recipe and came upon this one from Bakerella. And then to find a yummy chocolate buttercream- here from Lauren's Latest.
How to make it beautiful and personalized is up to you. I used more chocolate!
First of all, if you use this cake recipe, go ahead and try the spray bottle trick she suggests. My aversion to soggy cake of any kind made me leery of doing it, and my cake was, IMO, dry. I think I also overcooked it a tad. It went from wiggly and raw to overdone in such a small amount of time. I can only blame myself for that.
The buttercream turned out so delicious. I could have eaten it by the spoonful for sure. My almost-4-year-old taste tester liked it very much. It also ended up crusting very well, so next time I'll bust out my Viva paper towels and make it look nice and smooth.
So, after assembling my cake in two layers, I iced it generously. I then used the mini Reese's peanut butter cups that are already unwrapped, cut them in half, and arranged them on the cake. The original plan was to stick them all around the sides of the cake, but I felt they were too heavy to do that. This particular design used just a few more than one bag of them, so you could easily do two rings on top and just use one bag. (This is an 8" cake.)
You could, of course, put them in a bag and pound them with a mallet and place them on the sides for a more "rustic" look. I ended up alternating them up and down on the bottom. The 32 on top was an afterthought, but I thought it looked better than getting out my piping bag and scribbling "Happy Birthday" across my cake. That is definitely not my forte.
So easy! After posting a quick pic on Facebook, I was surprised (or not so surprised) that a picture of a chocolate cake gets more likes and comments than two really cute babies. Lol!
In the past, I've always made Justin a boxed yellow cake with a jar of chocolate frosting. He was perfectly happy with that. But, this year I set out to make a homemade version of his fave. I browsed the internet for the perfect recipe and came upon this one from Bakerella. And then to find a yummy chocolate buttercream- here from Lauren's Latest.
How to make it beautiful and personalized is up to you. I used more chocolate!
First of all, if you use this cake recipe, go ahead and try the spray bottle trick she suggests. My aversion to soggy cake of any kind made me leery of doing it, and my cake was, IMO, dry. I think I also overcooked it a tad. It went from wiggly and raw to overdone in such a small amount of time. I can only blame myself for that.
The buttercream turned out so delicious. I could have eaten it by the spoonful for sure. My almost-4-year-old taste tester liked it very much. It also ended up crusting very well, so next time I'll bust out my Viva paper towels and make it look nice and smooth.
So, after assembling my cake in two layers, I iced it generously. I then used the mini Reese's peanut butter cups that are already unwrapped, cut them in half, and arranged them on the cake. The original plan was to stick them all around the sides of the cake, but I felt they were too heavy to do that. This particular design used just a few more than one bag of them, so you could easily do two rings on top and just use one bag. (This is an 8" cake.)
You could, of course, put them in a bag and pound them with a mallet and place them on the sides for a more "rustic" look. I ended up alternating them up and down on the bottom. The 32 on top was an afterthought, but I thought it looked better than getting out my piping bag and scribbling "Happy Birthday" across my cake. That is definitely not my forte.
So easy! After posting a quick pic on Facebook, I was surprised (or not so surprised) that a picture of a chocolate cake gets more likes and comments than two really cute babies. Lol!
Here is the finished product:
Please excuse my lack of photography skills. I'm taking a photography class this Saturday as a a birthday present from my mom and dad. Yay!
I have three upcoming cookie projects in the next two months. I'm super excited- one birthday party, one baptism, and a wedding shower... Coming soon!
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