Scrumptious Success and a Total Pinterest Fail June 17, 2013

I’ve been doing a lot of one of my favorite things lately…baking!  There have been a few occasions to bake for, and I was entertaining some kiddos this week who needed some fun projects, so I made baking one of those too!  As y’all know, I’m a tad baking obsessed.  However, if I’m going to turn on the oven in the summer’s heat, I may as well get a bit adventurous and try a few new ideas.  If you’re looking for a tasty dessert for a summer party, hanging out on the deck with friends, or just to have when your sweet tooth strikes, try one of these…

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Encrusted Oreos

You will need:

2 sticks of softened butter

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp. salt

3 1/2 c. flour (I used an even 4 cups to make my cookies more successful in higher altitude)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 pack Oreos

1 bag milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar in your mixer.  Add the eggs and vanilla.  Combine your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Slowly add your dry ingredients to your mixer, making sure all clumps are blended out.  Stir in your chocolate chips.

Now comes the really fun part!  Put a ball of dough on the top and bottom of an Oreo, forming it around the Oreo cookie.  My advice on this part is use just enough dough to cover the Oreo but not smother it (the kiddos and I learned this the hard way, as some of our Oreos ended up drowning in cookie dough when they emerged from the oven!).

Bake 12 minutes on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (my favorite way to keep all my cookies from browning too dark on their cute little bottoms!).

These babies ended up delish….I mean honestly, one of the most delicious and indulgent bites of homemade dessert I’ve had in a long time.  I highly recommend them!

Cake Batter Dessert Dip

This dessert is such a great one for summer, as you don’t even need to turn on your oven!  Also, this would be a good go-to for entertaining outside, as you don’t have to worry about anything getting gooey and melty and your guests can just dip as they please, no need to serve anything up.

You will need:

2 c. lowfat plain yogurt

1 c. lite whipped topping (CoolWhip is good, or your grocery store’s generic twin)

1 box Funfetti cake mix

1 bag animal crackers, for dipping!  (or if you are feeling frisky and want to bake with this dip, a simple drop-sized sugar cookie should do the trick…a good soft sugar cookie like this will do just fine)

Mix all of your ingredients together in your mixer, 3-4 minutes or until completely smooth and mixed.  Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

*Recipe amendment: If you want it more fluffy & sweet instead of cake battery and a tad sour from the yogurt, try going half and half with your wet ingredients and do 1 1/2 c. each of the yogurt and whipped topping.

And, as I promised…my first complete and total Pinterest FLOP…

On the left you can see how adorable these cupcake cones are supposed to turn out…and on the right, my flop.  The batter totally overflowed and didn’t puff up the way I thought it should (my own fault, I should have added more flour to my cake mix but forgot).  The worst part, which you can see evidence of on the right side is that they got top heavy and literally fell over overnight.  Hmm….if I attack this project again with more successful results, I will certainly share so y’all don’t run into the same horrendous mess of soggy cones and frosting!

Weekend of Kanban June 12, 2013

Of course we got a beer while waiting for our parents to show up

Friday night Matt and I took both of our parents to Two Brothers Roundhouse for dinner. We wanted to treat them for all their help with the wedding plus neither set of parents had been to the Roundhouse before. The evening couldn’t have gone better. Weather was perfect, great beer on tap and fabulous food. There was even a wedding going on! The real funny story came into play when I found out the following day that I went to high school with the bride! It’s such a small world.

That same night riding on our high of excitement, we consolidated spreadsheets. Don’t get me wrong, the spreadsheets have been great but I needed even more of a visual. As we approach our date my biggest fear is forgetting something. Enter Kanban. It’s an organizing system that is pretty darn basic. For our version, you just need note cards, painter’s tape and a wall. We started by reviewing what was left to do on the spreadsheets and writing each item on a note card. We also indicated on the card when the item is due (month) and whose responsibility it is to complete. About 75 note cards later we were done. Hopefully next week I’ll have a picture to show you of the completed wall!

We’ve even completed a few tasks without the project wall. One is that we secured a musician for the ceremony. The guy is awesome and was totally on par with the type of music Matt and I were looking for. I really can’t wait to see what he comes up with!

Food & Beer, the perfect pairing

The second item was our reception tasting. Yep, we’ve been hanging out in Aurora a lot lately. Monday afternoon we headed out to meet with our coordinator, who we both love! She’s absolutely hilarious and offers wonderful suggestions and ideas. We started the appointment be finalizing a few details like our linens, decor, set-up and our other vendor information. Then we got to the fun stuff – the food! And we even got our choice of beer with the meal. Not only were Matt and I impressed with the food but we both left stuffed! It only made us more excited for the big day.

So that’s the update for now, stay tuned for what we come up with next!

Lazy Cake Cookies June 11, 2013

June is a very busy month, something every weekend and just a lot going on.  So when I found a pin for ‘Lazy Cake Cookies’ on Pinterest it sounded perfect for me.  When I clicked on the pin it brought me to a website called I’m a Lazy Mom, which I’m not {a mom I mean}.  Lazy is another question altogether.  Below is the recipe.  I swear to you, I am the worst baker and it was still easy for me to do!

Ingredients:
1 box yellow or white cake mix- I used Funfetti
2 eggs beaten
5 Tbs melted butter
2 Cups M&M’s or mini chocolate chips- I used mini chocolate chips {because that is what was in the pantry}

Mix together:

Put in a greased 9×13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 min!

Then cut them up and enjoy!  I made these on Sunday and already about half the pan is gone.  I had a little help, but I need to be careful.  These are so easy to make it’s dangerous.  Next time I’ll make sure I have somewhere to take them!

First Northwoods Fix June 5, 2013

This past weekend Matt and I took a long weekend to head up to the Northwoods. We had four items to accomplish during our stay:

1. Stop at New Glarus Brewery for a six order pick-up (they really need to start distributing in Illinois)
2. Cut down a tree (for our wedding centerpieces)
3. Purchase and prep replacement deck boards for installation on our pier
4. Fish

Luckily we got #1 taken care of on the first day. It’s become a tradition to stop at New Glarus, Wisconsin on the ride up. We hit the brewery first. Grab our sample beer, take the self-guided tour to see what’s changed since last year, check out the gift store and then pick up our to-go beer. Once that’s done we head into town for lunch at Swiss restaurant for some German style food just like mom makes. It’s a fun way to break up the drive and see a little of small town America.

#2 I was a little nervous about, mostly because of the weather. The forecast all weekend called for a 50-50 chance of storms. Not exactly ideal weather for getting your lumberjack on. Fortunately on Saturday, it didn’t rain until the very end of the day! We even received lumberjack training from my neighbor who cut down the tree for us.  Then Matt and I disassembled the tree, removing branches and and splitting the tree into smaller sections. Next step was to apply anchor seal to lock in the tree’s moisture to help preserve it.

#3 Matt’s first trip to Pukhall lumber was on Sunday. He was like a kid in a candy store. Granted, I was too, but we managed to contain ourselves. We came for 40 four-foot sections of deck board and left still with plenty of room in Derek. We headed back to the house and set-up shop in the garage. In order to help my cousin with the installation, we drilled in some pilot holes. Oh, shucks, we got to use power tools. I was able to use the drill press and Matt used a hand drill, together we had the boards complete in a few hours.

Playing with power tools!

 

#4 The first day we arrived we went fishing right off the dock in between a few thunderstorms. Matt had a few nibbles on his line but nothing bit. Luckily for me, a small mouth bass decided to chomp on my hook. Not wanting to settle on a score of 0-1, Matt wanted to go fishing our last night up at the lake. We headed out on the paddle boat for close to 2 hours and caught no fish. But I guess that’s why we’re going back up in July so he can even the score

Fishing off the dock

Summer Cruisin’ June 4, 2013

‘Purchase a bicycle and ride it as much as possible’ was on my first list of aspirations I did back in 2011 (#20).  I carried it through on my 2012 (#20) and 2013 (#17) lists as well.  I am both excited and a bit embarrassed to finally announce that I have purchased the thing!  Maybe it was the fact I moved it up the list a bit?  Actually the main reason is that my new company provides a Wellness benefit of 250 dollars each calendar year that we can use towards participating in healthy and stress reducing activities.  Riding a bike provides very good exercise and it’s perfect for me with my still recovering surgery foot because there is almost no impact while riding a bike like there would be with running.  I never liked running anyways, but that is beside the point.  This benefit really gave me the push to go ahead and buy the thing.  I mean after all what better price is there than free?

I had the bike shipped to my dad’s house since big boxes really aren’t deliverable to my apartment.  Then last Friday I went over there and my dad put it together for me.  What a sweetheart!

 

I did a lot of research {ahm, two or so years worth} before choosing the bike I did.  After looking around, I decided I wanted a cruiser bike which means there are no gears and the brake is not on the handle- you press the pedals backward in order to brake.  Just like little kid’s bikes work.  I realized I just wanted something simple I could use to exercise.  I personally didn’t want gears to figure out.  It’s not like I’m going to use the thing on mountain trails or something.  That decision opened the door for me to choose a bike based on customer reviews and looks.  I found this particular one on Amazon by Victory and it had good reviews and was a pretty good price, not to mention it is adorable!  Here is a picture of it all put together:

I just love the white wall tires and the pretty blue color.  I also picked up a carrier that attaches to my trunk so I can transport the bike to different locals and not have to ride the same places.  Now I have no excuse not to exercise- got to get my butt in gear to prepare for Karla’s wedding!

Last Wedding Before the Big Wedding May 29, 2013

The Knot kindly reminded me this week that there are less than 120 days until I get hitched. However, it wasn’t the Knot reminder email that made it seem like the big day is getting closer. Instead it was another wedding! The last wedding that I’ll stand up in 2013 until my own.

The weekend was a blast. Friday night kicked off the wedding weekend with a manicure and pedicure date at Hannah’s Nail Salon. They were very friendly and allowed us to bring in a few beverages to enjoy. The bride gave us our first present too, the nail color for the wedding. It’s a beautiful magenta color that matched the wedding accent color perfectly. Saturday included the run-down at the church followed by the rehearsal dinner at Giordanos. Once again we had a great time getting to meet the rest of the bridal party and swap bride and groom stories. Plus the bride gave the bridesmaids more goodies (as did the groom to the groomsmen). But we received earrings for the wedding that were hand-made by the bride’s aunt, a wooden hanger for our dresses, a freezable wine glass and a lunch bag with our name embroidered. Oh, and a sweet hand-written letter from the bride. So now we were all set for the main event on Sunday.

The girls were up early to be at the hotel for hair and make up by 9:30AM. Luckily, I made a Starbucks run which gave the perfect pick-me up to all the bridesmaids. It was a lot of fun to watch the hair and make-up transformations in the morning. From lots of teasing to troll hair to smooth and sleek and ready for the dance floor. Our timing throughout the day was perfect as well as the vendors. We were all dressed and ready to go by our assigned time with our flowers.

Bridesmaid Flowers

We made it to the church in an awesome party bus for the ceremony to start right on time. The ceremony was beautiful. It was a little longer than the typical Protestant wedding I’m used to, but I made it through the full Catholic mass without a problem. Luckily for the bridesmaids, we got to sit down in between the long parts!

After the ceremony we were off for pictures. We stayed in the church for a few formal pictures but then we were off to a local park. We took a ton of fun pictures that I cannot wait to see. We even managed to beat the rain and make it to cocktail hour with plenty of time for a drink and appetizers.

The reception couldn’t have gone better. Every detail was accounted for – from the favors, the table centerpieces of a single rose and the up lighting around the room. Plus the food was amazing.  I mean, any wedding that has two desserts gets an A+ in my book. And the DJ, he just kept rockin’ it so you felt bad when you left the dance floor to get water.

The bride and groom definitely set the bar high for Matt and I to follow. Matt even commented a day later that he would “totally do-over that wedding and go back in time and do it all again”. Guess we gotta get to work because we’re not competitive or anything

Vintage Soft Tees May 28, 2013

I’ve wanted to try a pin I saw on Pinterest forever but I always forgot to buy salt at the store!  Finally I remembered two weekends ago and last week I made a concoction that will soften your tees and make them feel vintage soft.  Concoction is a big word because this is seriously the simplest recipe you’ll ever put together.

The only two ingredients are:
1 quart of water
½ cup salt

You’ll also need these materials:
selection of tees
bucket
foil
3 days time/patience
washer & dryer

So simple!  But you must pay attention and read the whole post because there is a variation which I will explain later.  I picked out two tees that needed some softening so I doubled the above recipe and mixed it until the salt was dissolved.  Then I submerged the tees in the water, covered the bucket with foil {to protect it from mischievous kitties} and wrote myself a note so I could remember when the soaking was done:

Once the time was up I wrung out the tees and threw them in the washing machine with a bit of detergent and then dried them in the dryer on high heat.  I never ran to the dryer so fast once I heard the buzzer –am I the only one who dreads folding clothes?  I would bet not.  Anyway, I took the tees out and they were softer, but not what I would call vintage soft.  I was a bit upset, but after thinking about it a bit, I decided I should have soaked in boiling water and washed in hot water.  I also tripled the recipe even though I still was only working with 2 tshirts.  Here is my modified recipe for 2 vintage tees:

3 quarts boiling water
1½ cup salt

You’ll also need these materials again:
selection of tees
bucket
foil
3 days time/patience
washer & dryer (wash in HOT water)

To be honest with you, the tees are still soaking.  I had the epiphany to use boiling water on Saturday and didn’t carry out my new plan until Sunday so the tees are still doing their thing in the bucket.  I will need to report back to you and let you know if they end up any softer.  I really believe they will be.  Even if the temperature doesn’t make a huge difference, I think by putting the tees through the process twice the softeness will  be increased.  Only time {and another post} will tell!