Ok, so I’ve been a little busy and haven’t put much effort into cooking these days. I’ve seen this on Pinterest and Amie was home this weekend so we decided to give it a try. Just preheat your waffle iron and cook rolls 2 min. – I think next time I’ll try 1.5 min. They were good, crunchy and took no time to cook, I just like them a bit softer.
One of my besties, Sherry in Cali, told me about this product by Epiphany. I just love them and thought it would be fun to make them for my daughter-in-law and the Grammy’s as a gift for the baby shower. You purchase the punch, the clear bubbles and the charm settings. I think they are adorable on ball chain so I bought a roll of it from Hobby Lobby. You can use any scrapbook paper or photo. I printed the verbiage on scrapbook paper using my regular printer at home. That green thing is the punch which will punch out the exact size circles for the size bubbles you have – either Size 14 for the small charms or Size 25 for the large charms. You’re suppose to be able to apply your paper circle to the clear bubble with the punch, but Sherry recommended that I do it by hand & rub out any air bubbles. Then I used craft glue to adhere the bubble to the charm -just use a very small amount so it doesn’t soak through your paper. They turned out so cute and I will probably add a picture of my granddaughter later on. You can purchase them at Archivers.com or Amazon.com.
I’m interrupting the flow of the Baby Shower pics for “Wow Me Wednesday”. I’ll post the last bunch of pics tomorrow but I thought you might like to try some of these EASY treats – they’d be super cute for Easter Sunday! I bought the pre-made Rice Crispy Treats (40 to a box) and used the vanilla dipping wafers, yellow & white (Joanne’s/Hobby Lobby or Michael’s). For the cupcakes I just bought the boxed cake mix (which is seasonal) and found the baking cups on Amazon.com – love them!!! Just fill the cups 1/2 way and place on a cookie sheet to bake – eat with a spoon – I want them in all colors!!! I bought this Cake Pop machine by “Babycakes” at Kohls a couple years ago. It comes with everything you need & a recipe book which I used for these Red Velvet Cake Balls. After baking, refrigerate the cake balls, then dip them in vanilla dipping wafers & sprinkle with Pink Sanding Sugar. Everything was really good but the guest’s favorite were the cupcakes!! 😉
I thought I’d post about the Monster Cookies I made for Owen’s Party. I started doing “take-away” cookies for the party guests when he was 3 years old, those were Fireman Hats, 4th birthday were Putting Green Cookies, 5th birthday were Astronauts and this year they were Monster Cookies for his 6th “Monster Bash” party.
I always use the sugar cookie recipe below from Sandra Lee. They are easy to make and are not super sweet. One tip . . . when I roll out the cookie dough I use a mixture of flour & powdered sugar on the counter – adds just a bit of sweet to them. For the icing, I always use disposable bags (Joanne’s or Hobby Lobby w/40% off coupon) and normally use a #2 tip to outline the shape, a #4 to fill it in and a #1 for any detail.
Cookies
17.5 oz. Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix (comes in a bag)
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teas. vanilla
1 c. all-purpose flour
(variation: may add 1/4 c. cocoa & 3/4 c. flour)
Combine cookie mix w/cream cheese until crumbly. Mix in the eggs & vanilla until well combined. Add flour to make a firm dough. Refrigerate for 15 min. Lightly flour/powder sugar board and roll out dough to 1/4 in. Bake cookies for 8 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.
Royal Icing
1 cup powdered sugar/1 Tablespoon meringue powder/water for consistency. Start with 3 teaspoons of water & 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Note: if you want a true “white” icing you’ll need to use clear vanilla & add white icing color. Also if you use liquid food coloring it will thin out your icing consistency: start with 2 teas water, then 1 teas vanilla, then add food coloring and more water if necessary (1/2 teaspoon at a time).
Soooooo, I haven’t forgotten about my “Kitchen Re-do. These random “re-do” pics are just because I’ve been stuck on finding the light fixture I want for this wall. This picture shows my cute chicken (thanks Sherry), my lanterns and you can kinda see the current light fixture on the wall that I’m wanting to replace. I want one of those exterior wall lights that you might find on a barn but I can’t find one big enough. I do have one in mind that I just bought from Lowe’s so hopefully it will be “it”. Hope your Monday is going well!! 😉
I went crazy simple this time because I knew I’d be busy this past weekend with the surprise party. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe that a friend of mine emailed me. It’s “Honey Cinnamon” butter and it’s very much like the butter at Texas Roadhouse! I made it Friday night and took it to the party – we used it on cornbread muffins . . . YUMMMM!!
Honey Cinnamon Butter
This week it’s “Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Alfredo”. Very easy & very good, next time I think I’ll add some chicken, maybe some asparagus too. And can I tell you how excited I was when I realized I got to use my immersion blender again!! Oh and I used shaved parmesan – I just couldn’t spend the $10+ for the Parmigiano Reggiano! Anddddd for those of you in Colorado . . . . yes that is a slice of sourdough bread!!!! I found that “Sprouts” makes their own San Francisco Sourdough Bread and it is VERY GOOD!!!! The link below has step by step instructions to make this very yummy dish . . .
2 whole red bell peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup fat free half & half
4 oz. garlic & herb goat cheese
2/3 cup grated parigiano reggiano cheese
1/2 lb. linguine, cooked to al dente
salt & pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place red peppers on baking sheet and bake 20-30 minutes until peppers are charred. Remove from oven and cover with foil 10 minutes. In the mean time, saute onions and garlic in olive oil 7 minutes or until tender. Pour in half & half, goat cheese, salt & pepper. Stir to melt goat cheese into sauce and keep warm over low heat.
Uncover peppers, peel off skin and remove stem and seeds. Chop into large pieces and place into sauce along with parmesan cheese. Stir to melt cheese and remove from heat. Pour sauce into food processor and puree, or use an immersion blender. Place back into hot pan and toss with cooked pasta. Taste and adjust seasonings. Top with more parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and parsley, if desired. http://www.laurenslatest.com/roasted-red-pepper-goat-cheese-alfredo/
Our weekends have been cold & a bit snowy so a Crock-Pot Roast was a perfect choice for dinner. My most favorite home-cooked meal is roast & mashed potatoes!! I had bought a 2-3lb beef roast a few days before & I already had a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup & luckily, an envelope of Lipton Onion Soup Mix . . . but I thought I should add some kind of liquid? So onto Pinterest I went when I found this recipe . . . I had a can of Coke!! Yessss!!! But I didn’t have carrots so I just made the roast. Don’t ask me what kind of roast it was . . . it was beef and it was just a hunk of meat without the string on it – lol. I mixed the coke with the two soup mixes, poured it over the roast and put the crock pot on low for about 8 hours or so. I like it when it falls apart so 8-9 hours on low works . . . the gravy it made was delicious. I’m attaching the link to the original recipe – Enjoy!!
Winter has not left us yet. The weekend was a bit snowy and very cold. Perfect weather to try out a new recipe and any excuse to use my KitchenAid Immersion Blender!! Love that thing!!
I found this recipe on “The Pioneer Woman”. I just cut it in half – didn’t want to eat it for a week, her recipe serves 10. Ree also uses whole milk & half/half but I usually only buy 1%milk, however I did buy some heavy cream so that’s what I used. I’m giving you my recipe but wanted to include her link for step by step instructions. Again . . . super simple and super yummy!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/11/broccoli-cheese-soup/
I got a little caught up yesterday with my brother being on TV, lol. So I’m doing “Wow Me Wednesday” today and it is delicious!! I never said these recipes would be non-fattening . . . but I’m telling you this is sooooo good (room temp or cold) and so easy!!! I only made half of this and it fit perfectly in an 8×8 glass dish. Enjoy!!
Country Girl 