52 Reasons I love you

It's hard to believe that in just two short weeks, it will already be Valentine's day! It feels like Christmas JUST ended!  There really is no denying it when you walk into any store and the shelves are exploding with candy, stuffed animals and cards in every shade of pink and red known to man.  I, for one, am and have always been a fan of  Valentine's day.  I don't know that I have ever really taken it very seriously, but I always enjoyed exchanging cards. And who doesn't love candy?? As a kid, I remember we would always make our Valentine's "mailboxes" in class and decorate them.  I remember my Mom taking us to pick out our box of cards themed to whatever cartoon character or children's TV show character we were into at the time.  I  remember the sheer panic of making sure that none of the boys in class were given a Valentine that expressed anything more than mere friendship. (EEEEK!)  But growing up, it was always a holiday that I looked forward to.

I have never bought into the necessity, as an adult, to make it a huge fancy date night, full of pressure to match yourself up with someone, ANYONE just for the sake of having a Valentine.  I do, however still enjoy the holiday and like to do something to acknowledge it.  Call me a hopeless romantic if you will, but how can you knock a holiday about love?  As the line from Love Actually says, "Love is all around us" and Valentine's day can be a day to celebrate all the kinds of Love we have in our lives.  For me, its a day to REMIND ourselves of the Love, not just a day where we ACT like we love someone.

Of course, I tell my boyfriend that I love him every day, but I like to do a little something special for Valentine's day.  Last year, I gave him this hilarious Chocolate fish wearing a tuxedo and a Family Guy fleece blanket I made for him. This year, I had my eye on a pinterest project I saw a while back. I have seen several pins and varieties of this project and decided, this year, to make one myself.  Basically, its a Valentine's card in the form of a deck of cards. This is a nice idea because it can be used for anyone you love. Mom, Dad, child etc:anyone with whom you would like to share 52 reasons that you love them. 

First step was to write down my 52 reasons, one for each of the cards in the deck. (No problem!) I wrote them down on a separate paper to be sure that I got my wording and spelling right before putting them permanently on my cards. Once those were done, I gathered up my supplies.

YOU WILL NEED

                   -a deck of cards ( I chose red for obvious Valentine's theme but any color will do)
                   -labels or stickers
                   -ribbon or string
                   -a single hole punch

Taking my fresh deck of cards, I first took out the joker cards as well as any extra advertising cards, leaving me with only the 52 cards of a standard deck.  Don't throw away your joker cards though, as they will eventually become your front and back cover to your deck.  I then placed a label in the center of each card and wrote one of my reasons on each card. I chose to leave my cards in suit order, but feel free to arrange yours any way you choose.

I next took one of my joker cards and prepared it to be the front cover of my deck. I had these "I love you" stickers that had just the right layout and space for me to write "52 reasons" on them.  I affixed one to the backside of my joker card.

Now that all of my cards were set, I took my hole punch (I had a rectangle one from a previous project but any kind will do) and punched my holes where I wanted them on my cover card.  I then used my cover card as a master and traced holes onto the rest of my cards to ensure that they would all match up.  Once each card had hole marks traced on, I lined up my hole punch on each marker and punched out all the holes.

I then cut about a foot long section of my ribbon and fed it through the top off my aligned stack of cards, putting one end through each hole.

Then, I pulled both ends through until the ribbon lay flat across my cards and the ends fell all the way through the bottom of my deck.

Next, I took the two ends from the back side and brought them back around to the top side, feeding them underneath the flat loop on the top.

Then, I tied the ends into a knot to secure my binding. Lastly, I tied the ends into a bow to complete my Valentine's day card.

I'm sure I will find him a nice gift to go with his super cute (and simple) card, but this is such a cute start! It doesn't take very long, its super cheap, and its a very thoughtful gift for anyone on your Valentine's list.

Mastering the art of French Macarons

About a year ago, my friend Kim and I got into a discussion at work about baking.  Kim is an absolutely fabulous baker and from time to time will share with us the fruits of her labors. Everything from home-made marshmallows to chocolate dipped coconut macaroons! I have never even been slightly disappointed in any of her wonderful treats! She is my go-to for baking questions and she is even the one who taught me to make cake pops. During our discussion, the topic came up of the illustrious French Macaron.  Neither of us had ever attempted them before but both thought they were so lovely and decided we needed to take the plunge and give them a whirl. After ordering a couple of cookbooks, and a year later, we finally set a date! Summoning our innermost Julia Child, and armed with tips and recipes, we dove in!

For those of you perhaps not familiar with French Macarons, they are virtually nothing like their distant cousin the coconut macaroon.  French Macarons (use your best french accent on that pronunciation) are a much more fickle beast made with Almond flour, egg whites (where the fickle part comes in) and confectioners sugar. My very first tip for ease in macaron making is to buy Almond flour!! We started with almonds and ground them our self, since almond flour was MIA in the grocery store. Its a lengthy process of blending and sifting and sifting some more, all the while trying NOT to accidentally make Almond butter. So do yourself a favor, and just hunt down some almond flour!

(See how much fun it is sifting home made almond flour...)

 



After grinding and sifting our Almond flour, we mixed in the confectioners sugar and then  sifted it all again. Then, setting that aside, we began prepping the eggs.  Kim taught me a wonderful trick to getting room temperature eggs (very important in Macaron making) Carefully submerge your eggs in very warm water for five minutes and they are ready to go. Brilliant! Kim also helped me separate (successfully) my first egg without using an actual separator!

Next, we whipped the eggs into stiff peaks (adding food coloring if desired)

 

 

Then, we carefully folded in the almond flour/sugar mixture.

 

 

Once fully integrated, we filled a pipping bag with the mixture and pipped 1-inch rounds onto a silpat lined cookie sheet. (Eventually we found that parchment paper works WAY better)

 

 

 

We thought at this point, that something might be wrong, as our circles were very puffy and didn't seem to "settle" and look like the pictures in the recipe book. But, having never made them before, we pressed on.  Our recipe told us to set them out for an hour to let a "crust" form before baking so that classic "feet" ("feet" are the sort of fluffy base that are indicative of the perfect french macaron) would form when they baked.  Once they were done forming their "crusts", we baked them.....they did not get feet.  :(

 

While these were baking, we made the most divine french butter cream, for the fillings, using the egg yolks we had discarded earlier. We made a simple syrup and then blended that into the whipped egg yolks and added our desired flavorings.

 

Our first attempt, did not exactly look like text book French Macarons....

 

 

 

Although, there were no problems in the flavor department. Our Chocolate Macaron with chocolate ganache filling was fantastic! Our Orange-Vanilla Macaron was quite pleasant and our Lemon-Lavender ones were so DIVINE they gave us chills....SERIOUSLY! None the less, we went home slightly disappointed in our macarons with less than amazing curb appeal.....

 

Later that evening, I got a text from Kim saying that she had found a YouTube video for "Foolproof Macarons" and had followed her advice/recipe and....VOILA! Bravo Kim!!

 

 



 

 

I was soooooooo excited!!! I was determined to try them myself again as well and myself some perfect Macarons as well. The next day, I watched the video and got started.  My first batch following her tips was not perfect, but I could see the beginings of feet and I had enough almond flour left for two more batches.

 

 

 

This lady's best tip was that when mixing the almond flour into your stiffened egg whites, fold them in until your mixture is a "molten" consistency (watch the video for a great visual measure) and it drips off your spatula as you would expect molten lava to flow.  I thought I had possibly over-folded the last batch so I was very careful on the next batch.  Once it had gotten to the molten consistency, I pipped my circles and waited her recommended 30 minutes.

 

 



After the 30 minutes was up, I popped them in the oven and waited with baited breath...I was almost afraid to check on them, but was elated when halfway through their bake time, THEY HAD FEET!!!

 

 

I was so excited that I didn't even care that a few of them had cracked on the top. They had feet and were mostly smooth, so I was thrilled! I went ahead and made the third batch and they turned out pretty good as well.

 

 

For those of you still reading (sorry, Mastering French Macarons took a while) I have come away from this adventure with a few thoughts....

#1-Macarons are finicky as heck so just go in with a "practice makes perfect" mentality.

#2-I really DO think that ANYONE can perfect these really classy cookies.

#3- Watch the YouTube link prior to making these! The video is SUPER helpful and her tips really do work!

And finally #4- Get almond flour! It's worth it!

 

Kim and I really did have a blast making these and having 2 baking brains working out the kinks together and separately really did help. Bottom line, these really are yummy and fancy little treats and I hope you will give them a try. The possibilities with colors and flavors really are endless and I can't wait to make more! And in closing, borrowing the sign off of my inspiration during this project.....BON APETITE!

Just like Mommy's!

It was Christmas in January for part of my family this week. We like to keep the holiday going as long as possible....Haha just kidding! Between people passing around the flu/colds during actual Christmas and trying to coordinate 3 people's work schedules with Doctor's appointments etc, we finally found a day that worked. I am sure my nieces did not mind another Christmas one bit from the looks on their faces as people showed up with bags filled with presents.

While planning for this years gifts, I thought I would try out a sort of prototype for an item I had been considering making for my Etsy shop.  My brother and sister-in-law love customized their mesh tote bag and use it as their "diaper bag" for their toddlers.

The thought occurred to me that my nieces might enjoy a tote bag as well, but perhaps one that was more size appropriate.  Thus began my scheming....

I took my regular sized tote bag pattern and brought all the measurements down a few inches.  I wanted it to still be big enough that they could carry toys or books in them, but not so big that it would be super hard to carry.  Once I was satisfied with my measurements, I set out to find the perfect fabrics. For Eva, I found these super cute coordinating Minnie Mouse fabrics!

Eva has been a Minnie Mouse fan from a very young age and I thought she would really like these on her very own bag.  For Audrey, I decided to make use of some adorable Riley Blake fabric I purchased from a fellow Etsy shop during a sale a while back.

I had no idea ,at the time I purchased it, what I would use it for. It was just so darn cute! I couldn't resist, and I was pretty confident that Audrey would enjoy a princess bag.

Our Christmas in January was quite a big day for my brother's family.  Their family dog had broken his leg the day before and the no one, I'm sure, got very much sleep the day before. Audrey fell asleep and had an inpromptu nap while we waited for some of the family to arrive.  Eva, therefore, got her own personal audience while she opened her presents.  She was all to eager to model her "Just my size" tote bag for the room.

 

 

She seemed pretty excited too when she told her Mom "I can fit my lunch in here!" Equally exciting was when she realized she could probably fit her Veterinarian doll set ,from my boyfriend, inside the bag!

 

 

 

My poor boyfriend got the wonderful privilege of opening up said doll set for her. MAN! That thing was packed more securely than Barbie dolls! I'm surprised he didn't have to bust out the pocket knife like my Dad used to have to with all the sewn on plastic and twist ties on those things! None the less, I think he was pretty happy she enjoyed the gift. 

 

Audrey finally awoke from her nap shortly after Eva was done with her unwrapping, only for Eva to fall asleep herself.  So Audrey got her own, somewhat groggy, Christmas present opening session.  She seemed somewhat interested in her tote bag and sleepily let me take just this one picture of her modelling her bag while still barely keeping the sleep from her sweet little eyes on Daddy's lap.

 





 

She was so cute and sweet opening all of her gifts and was sure to thank everyone after each gift. This kid has some amazing manners! All in all, it was a very nice Christmas.....even if it was in January. It was a little hard for me to tell, with all the sleepiness, if the "Just my size" tote bags had been a true hit or not.  That is until the next morning when my brother sent me these pictures....

 

 

Both of the girls had grabbed their totes for a trip to the park! I think they like them! Mission accomplished! 



B is for Banana bread

 

 

Bananas have always been among my very favorite of fruits.  However, I have always had a slight problem with them, in that they never seem to last long enough for my taste.  My ideal banana is one that has almost all of the green gone but just a little green still lingering.  To me, they taste the best at this point.  Not too sweet, and not too mushy.  I only generally buy bananas at the grocery store if they are fully green.  Even then, I swear they are yellow practically by the time I get home.  Once they get their first freckle, (nothing against freckles ha ha) I won't eat them.  I'm sure my Mom would tell you this strange preference of mine started as a child when I would devour practically the entire bushell before we got home.  I love my barely ripe bananas, what can I say?

 

That being said, I hate to see good food go to waste.  My Mom used this recipe to use up all her overripe bananas and it has been a favorite of mine my entire life.  I almost don't get upset when my bananas go "bad" because I can just wait a bit and they will be ready for this scrumptious recipe!

 

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3 large ripe bananas

1/3 cup "sour milk"- (1/3 cup milk mixed w/ 1tsp vinegar)

1tsp baking soda

1tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

 

 

To begin with, mix together your softened butter and your sugar in a mixer until fluffy.

 

 

Add your eggs one at a time and beat well.

 

 

In a separate mixing bowl, mash your 3 ripe bananas

 

 

In a small cup, mix together your "sour milk" and stir that mixture into your mushed bananas.

 

 

Add your mushed banana mixture into your sugar/butter mixture and begin adding the remainder of dry ingredients one at a time until fully mixed.

 

 

Grease a bread pan and pour your mixture into it.

 

 

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Place on a cooling rack after baking time is done and enjoy!

 

 

 

This bread is fantastic anytime! Its especially great warm with a little butter on it but is really quite good hot, cold or otherwise. I hope you enjoy one of my favorite childhood treats! My favorite part is the crust, believe it or not. For whatever reason, the crust stays at this wonderful combination of slightly crunchy yet chewy and its sweet and fantastic! I think I will go enjoy another slice right now. Have a great weekend everyone!