DIY Cake Stand It seems as though all sorts of cute party decorating items are “all the rage” these days–cake stands, tiered plates, apothecary jars, hurricane lamps, etc. I love these items, but there is often one big problem! The price tag. Well, thanks to one of the crafty moms in my MOPS group, I now can make my own cake stands for less than $3! Now that is a price that I like. And, not only is the price fantastic, but this might just be the easiest DIY project on the planet. A candle holder, a plate, and some glue! To construct your stand, glue around the rim of the candle holder. You can add a little circle of glue on the underneath side of the plate for good measure. Stick the two together and let dry. Then, voila, an adorable cake stand for next to nothing! How great would these be for a Mother’s Day luncheon/tea?! In addition to the fantastic price & ease of construction, I love that the possibilities are nearly endless! This post may contain a link to an affiliate.
Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter So… you want to know what kind of peanut butter was in that peanut butter and jelly snack cake ? It would be these peanuts. Churned into this. Then swirled into this. Oh… with a little bit of this throw in. And changing this beauty… …into this. Yes. Please. I think we all know my deep obsession with white chocolate wonderful peanut butter . Our bank account knows. My jeans know. Something had to be done. So last weekend I snapped out of my peanut butter addiction denial and whipped up a batch. Don’t mind me. Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter makes about 3/4 cup 1 1/2 cups dry, roasted peanuts (I used salted) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil 1/3 cup white chocolate chips/chunks/bars, melted Add peanuts to a food processor and blend until a thick nut butter forms. I kept mine at room temperature for a week, but I do recommend refrigerating the butter if you want to keep it for a few weeks. This jar was gone by yesterday.
Rose and Feather Hair Clip Tutorial I love this hair pin, so sweet. Fit for tea time, no? Or maybe stopping to smell the flowers… or the blue spruces…whatever suits your fancy. One things for sure, it will surely upgrade any ponytail. You have no doubt seen these everywhere, they are so easy to make. Supplies: fabric at least 25 inches long and 1½ inches wide for one flowerfeathershair clip,hot glue gun The bigger flowers I made were made with 32″ x 1½” pieces of silk, but for the smaller flower that my little one is using I used a 24 inch long piece. Start by folding the strip of fabric in half. Now run a thin strip of glue around one side. Working fast, twist the strip and pull around the hot glue. Now we have a rose. From a piece of scrap fabric cut a circle just smaller than the flower then drizzle hot glue on the back… And press the piece on. Depending on what hair clip you decide to use, you may need to add a little fabric. Using hot glue, open the clip and glue the fabric to the inside… It should look like this. And so cute!
3 Ingredient Beer Bread May 3rd, 2010 by katie I have been a bit under the weather, which means soup for dinner and a shorter post on the website. I’ll show you the soup next but what goes better with soup than a nice hunk of bread? This bread is soft on the inside and crusty and sweet on the outside. If you buy self-rising flour, it only calls for three ingredients and is so easy and quick to put together that you can even make it even when you’re not feeling so hot. The beer will impart some flavor to the batter so be sure to use one that compliments what you’re serving it with. 3 cups self rising flour 1/2 cup sugar 12 oz beer Preheat oven to 350°F. If you don’t buy self-rising flour you can use the following as a substitute: 3 scant cups all-purpose flour 4 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt
How to wrap a gift: Use tissue paper for a... Photo by Roberto Caruso I’m giving away trade secrets here. You know those beautiful floral looking decorations you sometimes see in magazines hovering over a festive table? Or in a kid’s room, re-invented as a mobile? They’re little more than a few sheets of tissue paper and take about ten minutes of your time to create. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create your own pretty decoration: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. At this point, you can either tie it onto the top of a gift for a big impression. Or try hanging it from a ribbon over a Mother’s Day brunch table.
Cranberry Bliss Bars Cranberry Bliss Bars I love to bake. And if I’ve been baking, then you should know that it’s because of one of these 5 reasons: 1. I’ve developed or discovered a recipe that I have to try ASAP. 2. Lucky for me, 98.9% of the time it’s #1. The past week has been a roller coaster of emotions. I hate being emotional. This is a bar that is sort of the ultimate in comfort. These bars are topped with a white-chocolate-cream cheese frosting. The first layer is blondie-like- so sweet, soft-ish, but firm- and a great base for this bar. Triangles seemed like the obvious shape to cut these into. I must say that these bars might cheer up even the gloomiest of people. Print Recipe Save Recipe Cranberry Bliss Bars Yield: 2 1/2 dozen barsPrep Time: 35 min Cook Time: 20 min + cooling time A white- chocolate cranberry blondies recipe that is very reminiscent of Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars.
Red Velvet Rice Krispies Treats Hearts for Valentine’s Day You may have noticed I share a lot of Rice Krispies Treats, especially around the holiday. Can you blame me though? They’re sweet, gooey and oh-so-good! And these red velvet treats are to die for! If you’re making these to just eat, no need to get fancy but if you’re making them for a special occasion like Valentine’s Day, you’ll want to check out Wilton’s selection of cookie cutters. In a small jelly roll pan you can press the treats thin enough to cut with the heart shaped cutters. With a piping bag (or plastic sandwich bag) you can frost these with pretty designs in a cream cheese frosting that makes them even sweeter. Share ‘em, eat ‘em, whatever you do, don’t leave them unattended and expect to find anything left but crumbs left over. Red Velvet Rice Krispies Treats Hearts Author: Cat Davis Type: Dessert Serves: 8 Ingredients Instructions As a Wilton Mom Brand Ambassador I was provided with the cookie cutters featured in this recipe.
Once Upon a Plate: Savory Filled Hand Pies ~ or Appetizers y A heartfelt thank-you to my sweet friend Debbie for showing us how to make these easy-to-make savory appetizers. Debbie made them last month, using an Autumn theme. In keeping with the season I made them using a winter theme; evergreen trees and bells. Debbie made them for her Thanksgiving celebration this year in the shapes of pumpkins, acorns and fall leaves. Hers came out so well that I just had to try them. You simply use cookie cutters to cut pie pastry (storebought, or homemade) into the shapes you desire then lay your filling (in this case thinly sliced ham and cheese with some Dijon mustard), then place the top layer of pastry over. Here is a link to Debbie's wonderful blog; Mountain Breaths where you can see the ones she made and the recipe. Here is a cross-section so you can see the inside, after they are baked: Thanks so much for sharing the recipe Debbie, these are delicious and I'll certainly make them again.
Kodachrome Curtains - Updated! Now with lampy goodness! So, it's been a while since I've made anything Craftster-worthy, but my husband and I busted out the Dremel tool a few days ago and we made this: It's a pair of curtains made out of old Kodachrome slides! I'm really interested in photography, and will buy old cameras in antique and thrift stores in order to develop film that's inside of it. From time to time, I'll find collections of old slides and will buy those, too. Last fall, driving back from vacation, we stopped at an antique store outside of Kansas City and I found a box of a ton of old slides, mostly Kodachrome, from the 50s and 60s. I hate the idea that these pictures would just be resigned to the garbage or something, and wanted to display them (besides just scanning them in and putting them on Flickr - here's a link to my old found negative/slide collection, though, if you want to check that out: ). Then I connected them all together with chainmail rings.
Crunchy Granola Bars Cookbook Recipe Yesterday we reviewed Emily Franklin's Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes, a great book full of improvisational cooking and healthy, practical, delicious recipes. We promised to share one more recipe, and here it is — a tried and tested, easy, terrifically yummy recipe for homemade crunchy granola bars. I realize that we already shared one granola recipe from Emily with you; she made homemade granola during the tour of her kitchen. But at the risk of making you think she only cooks granola (she most emphatically does not; every other recipe in the book is non-granola, I promise), I just had to share this one. Homemade granola and protein bars are perhaps the single biggest recipe request we get from our readers. If you keep these ingredients around already then these are very cheap to put together. Because, you see, there will definitely be a second batch. So, all of you who have emailed and asked for granola bar recipes — this is the one!
Watermelon Lime Sorbet Slices A sweet and tangy watermelon lime sorbet is a great way to cool off in the summer. As a bonus, this recipe is frozen back in the watermelon rind and cut off into slices. It’s hot. The type of heat where when you step outside the door and your skin is wet before the door swings shut behind you. It’s a hot that hangs in the air, letting you breathe it in, that is cured only by two things: being completely immersed in water or hiding indoors, the air conditioning cranked as far as it will go.I find that the heat makes me very unmotivated to do things like take a walk, water and weed the garden (though I have forced that one on myself) and prepare food and eat it. However, when the promise of cooking provides ice cold watermelon sorbet, I just may be convinced. When your simple syrup is cool and watermelon chunked, blend them together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Cool the liquid completely in the refrigerator for a few hours. This then goes into the freezer. Truly, nothing.
Gotta Have Sesame Balls My daughter Christina is absolutely addicted to sesame balls, the king of the dim sum sweets cart. She can go sesame ball-free for awhile and then she goes on a bender. For a spate of Sundays (the day when a local Chinese place serves dim sum for part of the day), it's "Can we go for dim sum?" The sesame-encrusted crunchy outside, the soft white curves of sweet and smooth glutinous rice, and then that heart-melting pearl of sweet bean paste in the middle...it's heaven. Can you tell her mother is addicted to them too? I referenced sesame ball recipes on two great blogs, Dessert First and Flavor Explosions . The next time I make these, I am going to try white sugar as I missed the white color of the sesame balls that we get at the local dim sum place, and the brown sugar was a little too assertive for me. Below is the recipe from Dessert First, mentioned above. There is also another great recipe on Epicurious, which gives important advice on how to fry the balls and help them expand:
Honey Mustard Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms “This is probably my favorite way to eat chicken.” That’s a quote from my husband the last time I made Honey Mustard Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms for dinner. Marinate some chicken breasts in honey, mustard, and lemon, then top with bacon, mushrooms and cheese… How could that go wrong? I love to serve this dish with a side of oven fries and a crisp lettuce salad. Begin by making the marinade for the chicken. Here’s what you’ll need for the toppings: sliced fresh mushrooms, mostly cooked bacon (it will cook more when baked in the oven), grated cheddar, and fresh parsley. After the chicken has marinated, heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet. Scrape out the pan, and toss in the mushrooms. Assemble the chicken in a large baking dish. After baking for about 20 minutes, chop up some fresh parsley and sprinkle atop before serving! Honey Mustard Chicken with Bacon and Mushrooms 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 1/4 cup honey 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Oreo Cookies Made From Scratch – Just Like the Ones From the Box, Only Better Oreo cookies seem to be pervasive in this country. Oreo cookies showed up at every party while I was growing up, and they are still used in countless desserts. My personal favorite is Oreo cheesecake (not to slight my Oreo cupcakes). Oreo cheesecake was in the dessert cycle in our cafeteria on Semester at Sea and I just couldn’t resist it! I’ve always liked the Oreo, but since I could read and understand product labels, I’ve never been a fan of their ingredients. For this month’s Taste & Create, I was again paired with Heaven is Chocolate, Cheese, and Carbs. How Were the Homemade Oreo Cookies? The homemade Oreo cookies were just like the ones from the store – they even had that same, familiar smell. The Oreo Cookie Recipe Clearly, this recipe is a slut. Oreo Cookies Made From Scratch – Just Like the Ones From the Box, Only Better Ingredients The Oreo Cookie Ingredients The Filling Ingredients Instructions The Oreo Cookie Instructions The Filling Instructions Making the Oreo Cookie The Filling