Simple White & Gold Christmas Sugar Cookies

21 Dec 2014

Every Christmas I love to make sugar cookies for my friends, family, and kids school classes! I calculated that I needed to make 160 this year, so I started making and freezing them right after thanksgiving to avoid the “last minute hustle” I always seem to very-stressfully get myself into, days before Christmas! Well, I got 30 made, and then was hit by a horrible sickness that set me back a couple of weeks! Long story short– that stressful hustle I wanted SO badly to avoid this year, got me again! And I now had a day and a half to get 130 sugar cookies made. I needed a design that was really simple if I was going to pull this off, so I decided to stick with a “White Christmas” theme, and make them a little extra beautiful and fancy with some gold embellishments. I am really glad I kept to this sweet and simple theme. I didn’t need to make several different colored icings, or sprinkles, or mess with fondant. Just one big batch of white icing and some sprinkles, and I was good to go!! I hope this inspires other busy momma’s out there, who are as last minute as I am!
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Mango & Sticky Rice with Lime and Rainier Cherries

10 Jun 2014

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One of the BEST parts of country living is having access to so much delicious FRESH produce! Some good friends of ours just started growing Rainier cherries here in Mattawa, and they ended up with so much extra, they delivered crateful’s to all their friends and neighbors! We are so lucky!! We have been eating them like crazy, but since there’s so many, and there’s only 4 of us… I have been thinking of some delicious, creative ways to use them. Tonight I was making a traditional thai mango and sticky rice dessert, and thought i’d change things up a bit by adding some of the Rainier cherries, and a little lime! The dish not only turned out way more beautiful than usual… but the flavors worked so well together, it was delicious, and summery, and my little family loved it! We hope you do too! P.S. I wish I could share out some of these cherries!
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Graduation Themed Funfetti Cupcakes

3 Jun 2014

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My little guy graduated from preschool last week, and a few of the mums got together to throw a fun little party at the park to celebrate the end of the kids first school year, and the beginning of their first ever summer holiday! We brought bubbles, water guns and water balloons, and they had fun running around like CRAZY as most 5 year olds do. I volunteered to bring all the kids a treat–and in asking Braden what he wanted, he didn’t hesitate to tell me “funfetti cupcakes” which are his favorite. After decorating them with sprinkles, they were so boring, I decided to make these little scrolls and caps to go on them, at the very last minute. I KNOW!! I am one of those annoying “pinterest mums” that over-does everything and makes other mums feel bad! I didn’t want to be that cliche, but I did want the kids to LOVE their cupcakes, and they really did, so it was all worth it. They were fun to make, and were the hit of the party… not just with our little graduates, but with the Mum’s {I just didn’t dare tell them how much butter was in them!} I used the Cake Boss’ vanilla frosting recipe, which is my all time fave. And I thought I would post the recipe/idea along for all you other overachieving, pinterest mums out there, that live to put a smile on their kiddos faces!

The BEST “Edible” Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

19 May 2014

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Late on saturday night as I was preparing an object lesson for my primary kids at church, I realized I had kinda run out of time to bake the 60 cookies that I wanted to give to them for a handout! Instead, I decided to make some cookie-dough balls — if my primary kids were anything like my own kids, I knew they would much prefer these anyway! I substituted the egg in my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for milk, to make them “edible” and quadrupled the batch. We had SO many left-over, that the adults got to eat some too–and they were a HUGE hit. I don’t think as many people have asked me for one of my recipes as much as this one! So, I told everyone i’d post it on the Blog! I was going to halve, and maybe even halve again, the recipe–but the batch turned out SO spot-on perfect, that I didn’t want to mess it up. They are soft and creamy, with the perfect balance of salt, and sugar and vanilla! I know this recipe makes a lot, but you can freeze any left over cookie dough balls, or make cookie dough ice-cream, or just hand them out to everyone you know to make them love you!

Coconut Panna Cotta with Nutella Sauce & Strawberries

27 Apr 2014

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I fell in love with panna cotta when I tried it for the first time in Greece last summer. I came home and recreated a couple of different recipes–both of which were full fat and full of cream, but this week I decided to make a slightly lighter, healthier version. Lately I have been obsessing over coconut, so I decided to make a version with low-fat coconut milk, and top it with nutella and strawberries– just because that’s one of the most delicious combinations I could think of! The coconut panna cotta was smooth, creamy, sweet and subtle, and the rich chocolate and strawberries were just so divine with it! I love recipes like this, that are so delicious, pretty and elegant, but are SO quick and easy to make! I hope you guys love these as much as we do!
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