Yeah, we're still alive

I've totally gotten out of the groove of making posts.  Mostly because nobody reads this bad boy, and mostly because I haven't had time or money to cook creatively, or sew much.  But, I will share some of our summer activities.  It's been so crazy to have Carter moving and shaking soooo much more than last year.  It's opened doors that I never imagined we would be walking through.  Trips to the lake, trips to the store, spending time with family and friends have all been changed and rotate around what his schedule is and what his current bad boy getting into trouble activity is.  We started out the summer with a trip to a local organic strawberry farm.  I never pictured really caring about going to a strawberry farm that is purely organic until I saw Carter absolutely diggin' into the "bewies" (aka- berries) like he did.  He could have eaten every single berry in that place!  I never knew we had such a wonderful "you pick it" organic farm near us.  Isley Farms in Burlington, NC is just amazing.  The people working the farm are just awesome, and gave Carter a book about Strawberry picking and stickers.  Here are some pics:

We finally got home with our delicious strawberries and promptly decided to dig into the amazing ice-cream they manufactured with their yummy berries.  This was Carter's first go with ice-cream, and ..... well..... let's just say he was NOT so happy when I had to take it away from him.  I was going to put up a picture of the damage we did to that ice-cream but smartly decided against it :) 

Sweet little face dripping with ice-cream!

I've been reading throughout "blog world" for several summers now about how wonderful "freezer jam" is and how incredibly yummy it is.  I've always had this "southern girl" desire to learn how to make jams, jellies, and learn how to pickle, but never thought I could do it.  Boy was I wrong.  This was so easy and soooo yummy!!  I could not believe the beautiful red rubbies this recipe made.  I tried to take pictures of it to show how bright this jelly was, espcecially in comparison to store bought jelly, but the pictures do it no justice.  I've definitely decided that next year will be a year to furociously pick as many berries (of any kind!) as possible and to make this freezer jam as much as possible.  I looove opening my freezer and seeing these little beauties inside.  It makes me a very happy girl.  

 

 

Here is the recipe from the "Sure Jell" website (AND CAN I PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO STRESS AGAIN HOW EASY THIS WAS TO MAKE AND HOW FREAKIN' DELICIOUS IT WAS!!!):  

3-1/4 cups prepared fruit (buy about 2 qt. fully ripe strawberries)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 box MCP Pectin

1 cup corn syrup

4-1/2 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl

RINSE clean plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly.

CRUSH strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. Measure exactly 3-1/4 cups crushed strawberries into large bowl. Stir in lemon juice. Stir in pectin; let stand 30 min., stirring every 5 min. Stir in corn syrup. Gradually add sugar, stirring until well blended. Stir an additional 3 min. or until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

I had a wonderful reason to do a little bit of sewing again.  Not as much as I wanted to do, but a little more.  Another one of my friends was expecting a baby girl, the first in my group of friends- woooot!  So, I finally got to bust out the pinks and purples.  I wish I had known how to sew when Paisley came around.... well... maybe not, because that girl would have been spoiled 10 times more than she is now!! We had a beautiful lunch at "The Weathervane" in Chapel Hill.  The did a wonderful job setting up the area and having great helpers for me to decorate, and to serve.  We sat out on the patio next to a beautiful fountain.  I got to do a beautiful pink and orange themed shower.  I wish I had done it up a little more on the pink because I'm not sure if I'll ever get to do it again!  Here are some pics from the shower and the quilt and baby booties I made.  If you are a professional quilt maker you will probably cringe because it is far from perfect, but I loooooved the fabric and the colors together.  It made me cry when I saw baby Avery in a picture wrapped up in this little blanket.  It did

 

 

Here are the cupcakes, pre transit.  They were so pretty wrapped in that beautiful cupcake wrapper.  Then, they slid allllll over the place and got DESTROYED before I even made it to the venue.  

 

 

I found some really cute platters at Target and hot glued coordinating pink and orange ribbons to them to help tie in the color scheme.   I used the same ribbon on "sand buckets" that I also found at Target and put a little votive in.  You can see how the cupcakes were mooshed and destroyed.... so disappointing!!

Here is little momma in the middle with another one of our friends who is also expecting and

her sister-in-law.  

 

 A few present pictures (also with little momma's cutie patootie son):

 

 

 The beautiful letters for Miss Avery's room:

And a group shot of us girls:

Pre- Mother's Day hilarity

And again, another post about how I'm sorry I'm crazy busy these days and haven't been able to post anything.  I'm currently planning a baby shower for one of my best high school friends, Kristen.  We have a great restaurant and I'm going to be able to decorate a little more than I could at the Cheesecake Factory where we held Jaime's baby shower last month.  I'm looking forward to getting creative and being able to see my friends again. 
Mom has a yard sale this weekend at her house.  How funny is it that we are purging all of our teenager and kid's stuff that's still at her house so she can finally have 2 rooms free of her kids crap on the weekend of Mother's Day?!  A little ironic and funny don't you think ;) 

Anyway, here's a little song for you that made me cringe a little, but also made me laugh A LOT!!  Enjoy!

one extra little thing.....

OH!!!  I almost forgot to let you know.... if you cake decorating people haven't seen this yet, hold onto your toilet paper, because your about to pee yourself.........
My most covetted machine that I will never be able to get or afford has come out with a new product!!  The Cricut is now out for cakes!!!!  ..... take it in..... that's right.... it cuts fondant and gum paste...... I KNOW!!!!!  I'M.IN.LOOOOOOVE.!!!!!!!!

Here are some pics from the "Cricut Cake" website:

Ok.... that's enough stealing of their pictures.... GO TO THEIR WEBSITE!!!!  Also, check out this corny little video of the DIY girls demonstrating the machine.  Now, I'm going to go change my pants again.... excuse me......

Ganache Greatness

As I stated on my last post, I made my first "fancy" cake with ganache, and tried the Chocolate Cake from Whisk Kid's blog (my new favorite blog by the way).  It was soooo good.  I couldn't use her icing due to the whole "raw egg" factor and certain health issues some of my co-workers are having right now.  So, I used the "Quick Vanilla Buttercream" recipe that I found on the Food Network site and it turned out really well.  I also used Whisk Kid's Peanut Butter Ganache recipe, but added 1/2 cup more peanut butter because I wanted the PB taste to sing a little more.  Her picture of the cake was just gorgeous, but I'm still starting out and needing a little (as in a whole heck of a lot) more practice to get to her level.  Her ganache called for dark chocolate, so I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips.  I had some left over and didn't have time to make the chocolate curls so I threw those on top.... don't judge me!
The cake was insanely delicious and I will make it for all other chocolate cakes in the future.   I really enjoyed the ganache, too.  It got the wheels in my head turning about how to make it mocha flavored next time. 
Here's the pictures.... and yes.... the cake is a little lopsided and not iced perfectly but it was crazy late and "Biggie Smalls" was having a rough night so I didn't have time to purty' it up like I wanted to.  

 My co-workers are still fighting for this very last piece of cake.  I wont lie, it makes me feel good!  Heeh heeh!  I know the last 2 pics are a little gross, and not "blog beautiful" but I thought it was hilarious how these 7 women tore this cake up!  The last picture shows the ganache in the middle above the icing layer.  The recipe made A TON of ganache and I wished I had used more, but I was afraid of it squishing out and being gross. 
Check out Whisk Kid's blog for the recipes and also see her insanely gorgeous rainbow cake that is the next task on my list. 

cake trials

I made my first "fancy" cake last night.  It turned out pretty good.  It was supposed to look like this (from Whisk Kid's blog):

.... but suffice to say it did not.  But it still tasted delicious.  Little man is good, we are good, things are good.  I'm a little bit out of my mind with work and having to move my office since our satellite office is closing.  I thought I was originally going to have to work out of the Pittsboro office (an hour and a half commute) but I begged my boss and the agency has graciously allowed me to work out of the downtown Durham (insert gun shots, pepper spray, and scream sounds here) office, which will "only" be an hour commute.  I'll take it over not having a job at this point.  We're supposed to move tomorrow.  I have no boxes packed.... NONE.  It's my own person protest.  Needless to say it's not getting me far. 
I'll post pics and reviews of this cake when I get a little more settled.  Love you all.  Thanks for checking in!

OUTRAGEOUSLY Deeeelicioius Sugar Cookies

These are the cookies I used for the Valentine's Day cookies I made.  They were insanely delicious and buttery.  And again.... note to self.... THESE ARE NOT GOOD COOKIE CUTTER COOKIES!  They spread out too much for cutters.  Holy Hannah these are soooo good!  You can find them at All Recipes: 

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups margarine
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup white sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned at the edges. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Half Hour Chicken Gumbo

This is a little late, but I really got into the Mardi Gras spirit this year and made some REALLLLY yummy gumbo this year.  I found a "Half Hour Chicken Gumbo" recipe on Martha Stewart's website.  It used a roaster chicken from the grocery store, and it was quite simple and easy.  After it cooked it looked really gross and "grey" so I added a large can of crushed tomatoes to it.  I don't remember any gumbo I've ever eaten being the color it was before the extra tomatoes, and I was sooo glad I added them.  It was delicious!!  Here are my pictures from my meal:

  Here's the recipe and the picture from her website!

Half-Hour Chicken Gumbo

Serves 4

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 red bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen cut okra
• 8 ounces smoked (precooked) andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced 1 inch thick
• 1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds), skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups)
• Store-bought or homemade cornbread, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium. Add flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until pale golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in bell peppers, onion, garlic, and oregano; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add 4 cups water; stir in okra and sausage. Bring to a boil. Stir in shredded chicken, and warm through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; if desired, serve with cornbread.