2 Pounds of Butter in 2 Days

I can go days, weeks, without baking.  All of a sudden something will come up and I am baking like a crazy lady.  This week:  Easter; my mother's birthday; my father's birthday; and an 'early' Easter at my in-laws (really, a 'look what the Easter Bunny brought for Moira' dinner...too cute).  What I did the past two days is absolutely crazy, considering I am 32 weeks pregnant. (I am feeling the aftermath of my craziness today...ouch!)  Besides my aching back and feet, the end result was 4 wonderful treats, ready for the celebrations and lots of butter.  Mmmmm, treats.  Mmmmm, butter.

I saw these Raspberry Lemonade Bars from Handle the Heat over at Pinterest and could not resist the urge to try them out. It just sounded like summer, and God knows we could use some summer in Buffalo, NY right now.  They are super-tangy and sweet, and chewy.  Different...but I can't stop sneaking a bite or crumb here and there, so we will say addicting in their own little way.

 

My father's birthday was earlier this week.  I made him peanut butter cookies, to be delivered during our visit.Nothing fancy, just classic, wonderful peanut butter crisscross cookies.  I used the recipe from a Chow Life which is pretty much the recipe I remember from my youth...lots of peanut butter, lots of butter, lots of sugar!  Who doesn't love dozens of cookies, all to themselves?


My mother is celebrating a big one this year (I won't disclose that information Mom, I promise).  I really wanted to make something wonderfully special but to my mother's taste.  She asked for something with fruit in it.  (PERFECT!!!  I have been craving fresh berries lately!)  I love reading Joy the Baker's blog and found her recipe for a Big Berry Birthday Cake with Vanilla Whipped Buttercream Frosting with Rose Water.    OH MY GOD!!!  The crumb of the cake I have tasted so far is amazing.  I am waiting to frost the cake until celebration day tomorrow, so I will have to share the fabulousness of the dessert after that.  Stay tuned!

Moira and I made the sugar cookie cut-outs for Easter.  She loves baking cookies and is super proud when she gets to tell people that she made the treats they are eating.  This sugar cookie is THE sugar cookie recipe I have been using for all of my holidays, specifically Christmas, for years.  I love it!  However, I have been on the search for a frosting that satisfies me.  I have settled for the past couple of years on a sugar frosting with just confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and milk....until yesterday when I decided for a change to try a plain old buttercream recipe.  The verdict?  This is it for us!

Here is our favorite Sugar-Cookie Cut-Out recipe.  I added some lemon zest and lemon extract for the spring occasion.

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour

Beat butter and shortening in a medium mixing bowl on medium speed until creamed.  Add sugar, baking powder and a dash of salt.  Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined (I added 1 teaspoon lemon extract and 1 tablespoon lemon zest here).  Add the flour and mix until fully combined, using a wooden spoon if needed.  Cover dough and chill at least one hour until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375.  Roll one portion of the dough out at a time on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out your shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until edges are firm.  Cool on the cookie sheet for 1 minute then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Buttercream Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
(I also used 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract)
4 Tablespoons milk

Beat butter in a medium bowl with hand mixer until creamed.  Add sugar and mix.  Add vanilla (and lemon).  Gradually add milk until desired consistency is reached.

Frost your cookies and let them set for a couple of hours before stacking.  And, although it is tempting, try not to eat the frosting out of the bowl!

:)
Anne

Bunny Pretzel Pops

Happy Monday.  It finally feels like Spring these past couple of days and even though I am exhausted, it puts a little bit of pep into my step.  It is a windy day today (I am reminded of "Pooh's Blustery Day"...we have seen that movie quite often), but we still went outside, walked a couple of blocks, and played on the slide.  It was just good to be out of the house.  

Also made these today with Moira.  Salty & sweet...mmmm

And they are covered in coconut...double mmmm

Here is what you need:

We used mini chocolate chips, white chips, pretzel rods, 'regular-sized' marshmallows, and flaked coconut.  Most of it probably looks self-explanatory, but here is what to do:

Get your little work station set up...white chocolate chips melted; mini-chips ready; coconut in a shallow dish; marshmallow ears (by the way, the marshmallows were cut down the long way, then each 'slice' was cut in the middle to make 2 half-circles); pretzel rods; and wax paper for the finished product.

Dip the pretzel rod in the melted white chocolate chips.

Immediately roll it in the coconut.

Put the mini-chip eyes and nose on.  Use some of the melted chocolate as glue if needed.

(Moira is in the, "NO, I do it" phase so things got a little messy.)

 

Use some of the melted chocolate to put on the bunny ears.

Sneak a pretzel rod, and when someone asks you what you are doing, tell them "I'm eating a pretzel!" in your best matter-of-fact voice.

Enjoy your treat (after you eat your dinner, of course!)

And if you have left-over marshmallows and melted chocolate, make these little fellas...roll your marshmallow in melted white chocolate chips, roll it in coconut, and add some bunny, eyes, and nose (using some of that melted stuff for your glue).

:)
Anne

Easter Hand-Print Painting

If I had to pick one of Moira's MOST favorite things to do, it would be painting.  I say, "We are going to paint a picture" and she practically starts spinning in circles with excitement.

Today we made a hand-print painting of an Easter egg hunt.

With a little bit of green paint, a blank sheet of paper, and...wait, it gets better...glitter egg stickers...we have a real masterpiece.

Moira's hand-prints made the grass.

We have done finger paints before, but...

we are still a little unsure about the feeling of cold, slimy, green paint on the hands at first...

Oh boy.

Now we're getting it...

Oooo, green paint on the hands...

Of course we did a couple of extra pages of fun!

Once dry, we added the stickers.

And the SLP mommy could not resist the urge to enter some concept instruction in there.

On top of the grass, on the bottom of the grass...

Big egg, little egg...

Blue, pink, yellow...you get the idea.

And the best part...showing Daddy her art when he got home.  If only I had the camera ready to capture the pride on this little girl's face at that very moment.  Priceless.

:)
Anne

     

Recovery Week and Silly Hat Day

Being sick is the pits.  After weeks of thinking I was safe from the stomach flu Moira had over a month ago, it hit me...early Sunday morning.  What a bummer.  I missed my dear friend's bridal shower, my hubby left for business on Monday leaving me the only caregiver (and he got the bug Monday afternoon while away for work...double bummer), and something-that-feels-like-morning-sickness has resurfaced.  I am hoping that last part is just the recovery from the nastiness I experienced Sunday and doesn't actually last the next 10 weeks!

Needless to say, I did not do NEARLY as much as I wanted to do this week.  But funny how a visit from an appraiser to your home will whip your sick butt into gear (thank goodness I didn't have too much cleaning/tidying to do).  And funny how being sick will make you open all of your windows in your house everyday to "get the sickness out", even when it is 34 degrees outside.  I love fresh air!

Here are some other things I DID do:

Had a dinner-date at Panera with Moira.  She was such a good girl...

Started some refashioning of old clothes that were slotted for Goodwill.  Stay tuned to see what I do with THIS...

Made (or I could say assembled) a silly hat for Silly Hat Day today at daycare.  She is so proud of this hat (although, it was like pulling teeth to let me get a picture of her in the hat).

Now, my house is (mostly) clean and my day is open.  I don't even know where to begin...

:)
Anne

Eggs

I dedicate this blog post to Eggs

Right around the time I started my Easter Wreath a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I have plenty of fall decor; I have plenty of Christmas decor (of course); but poor Spring and Easter...I have a bin full of plastic eggs, a couple of baskets, and a cute ceramic bunny I made in a ceramics class with my mother when I was about six or so. I decided to add some more to my collection using what I had, and ended up with my cheap and easy Easter egg vase filler. Once I got started, I loved it so much I had to make a half-a-dozen more. Here is what I did:

I started with my plastic eggs and some twine from the Dollar Tree I had on hand. Starting at one end, I wrapped, glued, wrapped glued the twine around the egg. (I found that using a little hot glue at a time--say, one row--and starting at the skinny end of the egg was easiest and less

messy.)

Then I used some acrylic paint to color my eggs. (Again, I found it best to dab the paint on rather than brush it, but that is just personal preference.) That's it!

In the spirit of the honoring the incredible, edible egg (and after craving them at 3:00 am when I could not fall back asleep after settling a crying 2-year-old), this is what Moira and I had for breakfast.

I have made something like this before, equally as tasty. It is a great way to get some veggies and to use up some of the bunches and bunches of greens I get from our weekly crop share in the summer. Today I used swiss cheese. Other times I have used ricotta cheese. I brushed slices of wheat sourdough with olive oil, grilled them in a pan, topped it with cheese, the greens, and over easy eggs. That's it. So yummy! Now I need to make a sourdough starter so we can begin making our own sourdough bread.

And finally, the last egg-related item. Egg timers.

I would love to think that my two-year-old is a perfect angel, and that she does everything I ask when I ask it of her. But the reality is that she is two, testing, learning, testing, learning, etc. We have been using time-outs as the consequence for not listening to Mommy and Daddy (after about 3 times asking). In an effort to let Moira know when her sentence is up, we are implementing the egg timer. Finally went out and got one today! Now I just need to keep telling myself, "She is two, she is testing and learning, testing and learning."

:)

Anne

Easter Wreath--DONE!

So, I have gone back and forth about how to decorate my Easter wreath. I really loved the fabric flowers I have seen on across the web, but I had these really great little eggs in my Easter decor stash from JoAnn's (purchased years ago). On the other hand, I really didn't want a WHOLE wreath done up in eggs...hmmm. Well, it did not come to me in a wacky pregnancy dream, but more or less an all-to-frequent sleepless night of staring at the window blinds. Eggs and fabric! Well, sort of...

I used some green tulle remnants I had on hand that I 'just had to have'. I cut strips, gathered (stitching by hand), and made little flowers. After hot gluing them onto the bottom of the wreath, I decided I needed some bright contrast.

I took some green grosgrain ribbon I had and made some little flowers just by making loops and gluing the center. These were added on in some random spots.

Ahhh....now I was ready for the eggs. I hot glued some eggs here, some there (Moira was a great helper during this, handing me a green egg, a blue egg, etc...We are practicing colors).

And here is the finished product.

I knew where I wanted it to go all along...compliments my 'egg tree' nicely, I would say! Easter wreath done!

:)

Anne