Frosted Butter Cookies {for Valentine's Day}

This past week Bradley was gone on a skiing trip with some good friends, so the girls and I were alone.  We took an impromptu trip to visit my parents {for my dad's birthday} Saturday - Monday, and then we were home for the rest of the week.  Thankfully, the girls were great while he was gone, and the week went by pretty quickly.   I had a great list of projects to accomplish and didn't even touch any of them!  Sometimes naps are just more important, especially when 29 weeks pregnant.

I had planned to post this recipe yesterday, but we were gone for most of the day picking Bradley up, and then just enjoyed having him home, so I didn't get on the computer.

These cookies are delicious!  I am a sucker for sugar cookies, particularly the ones my mom makes at Christmas time.  These are a bit different, as they are a little thicker, which makes them perfect for icing and decorating.  Add in a few little girls' hands, and you have a great time of cookie decorating {and eating}.

She mostly enjoyed the eating part.

Pretty focused.

Fun activity with friends!

The little chefs' creations

Frosted Butter Cookies

Cookies
1 1/ cups butter {3 sticks}, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup {1 stick} butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-5 tablespoons half-and-half
food coloring

For cookies:
Cream butter and granulated sugar in a large  bowl.  Add egg yolks; beat until light and fluffy.  Add flour, baking powder, and vanilla; beat until well mixed.  Cover.  Refrigerate 2-3 hours, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Roll out dough, half at a time to 1/4-inch thickness on well-floured surface.  Cut out with cookie cutters.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake 6-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting:
Beat powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and half-and-half in bowl until fluffy.  If desired, divide frosting into small bowls and tint with food coloring.

*For the darker pink I used 30 drops of red food coloring.  For the lighter one, I used 5.  Wilton brand food coloring, made specifically for cake decorating would probably not require as many drops.


source: Old Fashioned Cookies, by Debbie Mumm

Cranberry White Chocolate Scone Mix

Are you still looking for a perfect Valentine's treat to give someone?  Maybe a teacher, or a co-worker, or even just a friend that you'd like to send a bit of love?  Well, this is perfect for them!  Mix together a batch of this scone mix, add a recipe card, and you're all set.  You can even go here for some great ideas on how to wrap up this little treat.

You can find the original recipe on my sister's blog.  I've made a printable for you so just print these out and attach it to your gift so your recipient knows how to finish making these amazing scones!  And, just for a teaser, I made some this morning so you can have a picture of the finished product.

 To make the scone mix:

In a small bowl, combine:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place this in a bag or container of choice and seal.

In a smaller bag, place:
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Place this smaller bag on top of the dry ingredients.  Attach the recipe card below.

*I have never made a printable before, so this is sort of a trial run.  Please, let me know if you trouble with it, as I'm not really sure what I'm doing!*

Scone Mix Printable

Fabric Options for the Nursery

Last week I spent many hours looking at fabrics online, and exhausting almost every fabric store in our town.  I finally found some fabrics that I like, but I'm having a hard time choosing one to use in the nursery.  So, I thought I would go to you, my readers, for some help!  Now, let me preface this by saying that just because one fabric gets a lot of votes on here, doesn't mean I will necessarily choose that one.  However, it is helpful to take a poll and have others' opinions on the matter.

If you need some help before choosing, be sure to look at my nursery mood board that I put together a few weeks ago; that will help you to know what I'm thinking.  In a nutshell, though, I'm looking at blue/white fabrics with orange accents.  This can go for either gender, and I like that color combo.  

Okay, so here are the three fabrics that I think I like best, in no particular order:

Fabric 1

source

Fabric 2

source

Fabric 3

source

Now, for the fun part!  You get to choose!  I've never done this before, so I'm hoping that this poll will actually work {please, let me know if it doesn't!!} and then I can see what everyone likes best.

Thanks for your help!

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

This post is entirely credited to my wonderful husband!  My birthday is later this month {it's a big one} and Bradley is trying to make it really special for me.  He knows I love Caesar salad, so he scoured the internet for an amazing recipe, headed to the store for the needed supplies, and whipped up this awesome dressing.  We're going to keep tweaking it a bit here and there, but it really is delicious.  Some Caesar dressings have a really fishy taste, but this one contained the right balance {we thought}.

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing {and Caesar Salad}

1 1/2 anchovy filets
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Romaine lettuce
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
croutons

In a food processor, chop the anchovy filets and garlic.  Add in the remaining ingredients until well combined.  Add more half and half, if desired, to thin out the dressing.  Store it in the fridge for about 3 hours before using, as this helps the flavors to blend.

*This dressing made enough for 6 individual salads. 

The Chef

We used this kind of anchovy filets.  They were less than $2.

This is what they look like, and don't fear, because they just smell a tad like tuna fish, not bad at all.

To finish off your salad, make some croutons!

In a small skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Place a piece of bread on top and grill until golden.

Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan, and place bread in once more to toast the other side.

Cut into little squares to place on top of salad.

Break lettuce into bite-size pieces onto salad plate, top with croutons, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and dollops of Caesar dressing.

source: Food.com, Kittencal's Famous Caesar Salad

7 Fun Ways to Package Valentine's Treats

My favorite holiday candy to make.  

Giving little gifts of treats on Valentine's Day is a fun way to share a little bit of love.  Follow this recipe {just substitute Valentine's M&M's instead of Easter ones} to make some delicious Valentine's candies, and then choose one of these great ideas below to wrap them up and send.

Make your own mini gift bags following some simple directions.

Source: marthastewart.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Embellish plastic cups with tissue paper and ribbon for some beautiful and simple treat cups.

Source: marthastewart.com via Lauren on Pinterest

A cone-shaped goody bag makes an elegant looking gift.

Source: marthastewart.com via Lauren on Pinterest

You can't go wrong with a plain old brown paper bag! These would be perfect to send to your kids' classroom or even for co-workers. Just add a little something on the front to give it a little dose of pretty.

Source: bhg.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Dress up a box with some pretty paper and other crafting supplies. The recipient could even re-use this.

Source: bhg.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Make a simple muslin bag, stamp or paint something on the front, and fill with candy.

Source: bhg.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Clear bags like these can be found at most craft stores for very little money. Add some card stock and ribbon to the top to add some color.

Source: bhg.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Mixed Greens and Fruit Salad with Sweet Fruity Salad Dressing

One of my cooking goals this year is to make various kinds of salad dressing.  I love a good deal in the grocery store, and certainly bottled salad dressing is one of the things that you can buy very inexpensively, with sales and coupons.  However, I've noticed that most of the kinds on sale expire within a couple of months, so stocking up proves to be rather pointless.  And, I'm not always fond of the ingredients listed on the back of the bottle.  With just a few basic ingredients, you can make a ton of different kinds of dressings that taste wonderful, are fresh, and are satisfying because you made them with your own two hands!

As I go a bit further into my salad dressing making process, I'll share a post with you on some of the basic ingredients to have on hand if you're looking to make mostly your own dressings.

The first dressing I'm sharing is one that I've used countless times, changing it up a bit each time.  The main ingredient in this one is:  Jam.  And, this dressing works best on a salad that mixes greens with fruit, perfect for any time of year, even in the winter when you can combine some fresh fruits with canned or dried ones.  I recommend making this salad on individual plates, but you could also mix it together in a large serving bowl.  When I've tried it this way, sometimes the fruit tends to drop to the bottom of the bowl, but that may be solved by mixing the dressing in with the salad in the bowl.  

Mixed Greens & Fruit Salad with Sweet Fruity Salad Dressing 

Printable Version

Dressing:

1/4 cup jam {I have used strawberry, raspberry and peach--all homemade, but store bought would work fine too}

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil {or olive oil.  I prefer the vegetable simply because it holds up better once refrigerated}

salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, or jar with a tight fitting lid, combine all ingredients except for the oil.  Whisk together, or shake in the jar until well combined.  

Add oil and shake again.  

Save olive oil jars and other glass jars for mixing and storing dressing.

Refrigerate until needed.  Pour over salad.

Salad

Mixed Greens, torn into bite sized pieces

A mixture of any of the following:

Craisins

Mandarin Oranges, from a can {you can also use segments of fresh oranges}

Blueberries

Strawberries, sliced

Toasted almonds

caramelized pecans

Place greens onto individual salad plates.  Top with fruits and nuts of choice.  Drizzle salad dressing over top.

How to Make Fabric Poofs

I shared with you my Valentine's Day Mantel the other day, and mentioned that I would be giving a tutorial on how to make the fabric poofs that are in the buckets on my mantel.  I'm not really sure how to title these little guys, but poof is just gonna have to work right now.  If you think of something more creative, by all means, share!

Here's the step-by-step on how to make these:

Supplies:
-fabric

-scissors {or rotary circle cutter}

-circle shape to use as a stencil

-pins

-stryrofoam ball

1. Take your fabric and either trace out circles using a stencil of your choice.  OR, using a rotary circle cutter. For a short time while living in CA, I made and sold hairbows to a children's boutique.  In order to help with my little business, my husband found and purchased this tool for me and it saved me a TON of time!  Now, I'm glad to have it for projects like this when I need to cut out multiple circles.  This is what it looks like:

It's very similar to a compass, like used in math class, but this one has a blade on it.  You simply measure out the diameter of your circle, place the point on the fabric, and turn it around to cut out a perfect circle.

2. Once your circles are cut out, fold it in half, and then in half again, so that it looks like this:

3. At the bottom point of the circle {where all the folds meet} place a small straight pin and then insert it into the stryrofoam ball.

4. Continue inserting the fabric circles in this manner until you have enough of the ball covered for your liking.  For my purposes, I only needed half of it covered, because the bottom portion would be resting in a bucket, but you could continue all the way around the ball to make a complete sphere.

 At some point I had purchased this little bucket from the dollar bin at Target, and it was the perfect spot to rest my little poof of fabric.

This method is great for all kinds of crafts!  The original tutorial I saw using this method was for a heart wreath:

Felt Heart Tutorial