Our FAVORITE cookies!

On vacation, but thought I would schedule a recipe or two to post while I am gone. I always have so many to share and stored in my draft section on my blog. Enjoy!


The other day while the boys were watching a movie I asked, "Who wants cookies?" Cheers came from all of them. Then I asked, "Who wants to help me make cookies?" Silence....
So I said,
"Ok, whoever makes the cookies gets to eat the cookies!".
3 very eager little children were in the kitchen a few seconds later :)

This is our FAVORITE recipe.

Chewy, moist, peanut buttery, chocolatey, and a little crunchy...the best of everything!


Make a double batch...it'll look like you are cooking for an army, but they go fast and they freeze well!
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until just combined. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Press down on each cookie dough drop with fork in a criss-cross pattern.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just light brown. Don't over-bake. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Adios!

It's time for a vacation....well, a trip...or a journey... I'm not sure how much relaxing we will do flying all the way to Alaska with 3 children, taking several 10 hour drives while up there, and the 6 hour drive to and from the Airport in Chicago (since AK Airlines doesn't fly to Columbus), but... seeing family and friends is worth it. I seem to be the only one in the family who doesn't like to travel. My kids inherited the road trip gene from Derrick's side for sure :) See ya!

Homemade Refrigerator Pickles!

The boys and I made pickles on Saturday. They were SO easy! We did refrigerator pickles. No canning involved. Between the garden and the produce co-op that we are participating in, we have an over abundance of veggies this season! We ended up with 15 pickling cucumbers and decided to put them to good use. The pickles were crisp, fresh and full of wonderful dill flavor.

I let the boys each have a jar and season it how they wanted. They loaded it up with twice as much dill and garlic as the recipe called for. Then we added red pepper flakes and the brine which is just vinegar and salt that had been boiled.

Here they are right before going into the refrigerator. Still looking like cucumbers.

24 hours later. Definitely looking like pickle spears.

The pickles were supposed to sit in the refrigerator 3 days to season, but we ate one jar after 24 hours and they were awesome! Each jar will last one month. We'll be making more!

There are lots of recipes online for refrigerator pickles. I based ours off of two that I found and then we changed them a bit. More garlic and dill, no sugar, less salt, etc.

 

After we made these I went out to check on the "little" pickling cucumbers that we had in our garden. I hadn't been out there in a long time and they weren't little anymore! Holy cow. I thought I bought miniature cucumber seeds. I guess not! For now, our neighbors will get to share in our bounty, but we'll have to can the rest of them this summer!

 

Our brine was adapted from these sites:

 

Refrigerator Pickles from Little Mac Shack

Refrigerator Pickels from allrecipes.com

Quick Warm Blueberry Pancake Sauce

I love when blueberries go on sale! I buy a ton of little cartons and freeze them. Here is my favorite blueberry recipe. So quick and easy, you don't have to make it ahead of time. Just put it together while you are cooking your pancakes! It would be delicious on pound cake as well.

We had breakfast for dinner tonight as requested by Aaron :)

Quick Warm Blueberry Pancake Sauce

from Family Fun

2 1/2 cups fresh or individually frozen blueberries (not in juice)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine the blueberries, sugar, and 1/4 cup of the orange juice in a medium-size saucepan. Warm the mixture over moderate heat, stirring it occasionally.
While the berries heat, blend the cornstarch into the remaining orange juice, using the back of a spoon to dissolve any lumps.

Increase the heat under the pan and bring the sauce to a boil. Stir the cornstarch mixture again and then stir it into the fruit. Cook the sauce at a low boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Cool the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes before serving (it will thicken as it cools). Makes about 2 cups.

Just Like Mommy

This little girl was obsessed with my purse. She was always digging through it, pulling out all of my lotions, candy, etc, and carrying it around.

I made her one of her own with some scraps (patterned after mine) and she LOVED it!

Did it help wean her from my purse?

No.

Now she is obsessed with both of them. She insists on carrying her purse on her shoulder like I do. She even has a little cell phone that she keeps in there as well. I think it's funny that she enjoys talking on her little phone so much because I HATE talking on the phone. My cell phone is a generic pre-paid one with no amenities and I like it that way. This little gal is worrying me already ;)

Tutorial for the little dress found here.

Sharing this project at Skip to My Lou, Blue Cricket Design, Life as Lori, Somewhat Simple, Finding Fabulous, Keeping It Simple , It's So Very Cheri , Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative, DIY Showoff, Tater Tots and Jello, Tip Junkie, Under the Table & Dreaming , I heart Naptime ,, Making the World Cuter, The Thrifty Home, We are THAT Family, Sew Much Ado, Fun to Craft, Tea Rose Home, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Remodelaholic, Sew and Tell, The Creative Itch, 733

90 Minute Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing

When I saw this recipe for ninety minute cinnamon rolls, I HAD to try them! I made the recipe with a caramel frosting (icing) recipe from Betty Crocker and the combination was amazing! Definitely a keeper.

The rolls were moist and I liked that the directions called for mixing the sugar/cinnamon and margarine/butter together vs. spreading the butter and sprinkling the cinnamon/sugar over the top.

And the caramel topping? Yum!

Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls

allrecipes.com

3/4 cup milk

1/4 c. margarine, softened

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 0z) package instant yeast

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine, softened

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, softened margarine.

Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place in lightly greased 12x9 pan/casserole dish. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Serve warm. 

Caramel Frosting

Betty Crocker

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar **see my note**

In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.

Gradually stir powdered sugar into brown sugar mixture. Place saucepan of frosting in bowl of cold water. Beat with spoon until smooth and spreadable. If frosting becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.

**My Note**

I wanted more of an icing texture vs. a frosting texture so I used 1 c. of powdered sugar. Just decide what you consistency you want, start with 1 c. of sugar and go from there. Drizzle across warm cinnamon rolls.

You definitely will not need the full recipe. You can make a half recipe of icing or just save the leftovers in the refrigerator and make them again...soon!

Summer 3-D Star Wreath

Aaron and I made this fun cardstock wreath for our front door. Nice and bright with summer colors and easy to customize for any season. How cute would it be in red, white and blue for the 4th of July, or made with fun Christmas paper?



Here is how to make your own!

Using your scissors/cutting tool/machine, cut out 12 {5"} stars. The number of stars you will need can vary, but for a 10" wreath, 12 stars is a nice amount to start with. You can layer it more or less from there.

{We use the Plantin Schoolbook cricut cartridge. We made them using the "roly poly" feature so that they would be wide. Sturdy cardstock works best for making these.}

Now we'll show you how to make your stars 3-D!
  Below is one all ready to be scored. The white cardstock is under the bright paper.



Score your star 5 times. Once for each point. Start at the point and score directly across to the center between the two bottom points. Rotate star and score again until each point has been scored.

Fold each scored line and crease firmly.

There is your 3-D star! Now finish up the rest of them and you'll be ready to assemble the wreath or use them for any number of fun little projects.

 Cut out a 10" ring for your wreath base using thin cardboard.

Hot glue the stars to the ring and eachother. Since they stick out, you can't glue them flat, so just apply a small amount of glue to the points where the stars overlap eachother. Don't skimp on the glue.

Attach a ribbon for hanging.

That's it! Perfect for summer. I just love free projects!