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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Pretty Darn Good Blueberry Buckle

Blue Berry Buckle 

I wanted to share this recipe with you all and this is definitely for the blueberry lover’s. If you love blueberry muffins you will love this.

Recipe:

I changed up some things :D

(9 – 12 servings)

Cake

  • 2 3/4 cups ”JIFFY” Baking Mix
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (Preferably fresh blueberries but frozen work just as well)
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp. lemon Juice
  • 3/4 cup cold/hard, not room temp margarine or butter ( why cold because it gives it a crunchier texture, I always go with butter)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  •  3/4 cup of Sour Cream
  •  4 tsp Fine graduated sugar

Topping

  • 1/2 cup ”JIFFY” Baking Mix
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp. Room temp margarine or butter ( for the topping you want this Margarine or butter to be room temp “soft” so that is mixes well for a good topping)
  • 1 cup nuts, chopped any kind you prefer
  •  two dashes of nutmeg (  just 1 dash or two do not use more than 1 tsp use good judgement)

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Grease a 9” pan.

For cake, combine blueberries,egg, milk and lemon juice,Sugar and sour cream in a mixing bowl mix together by hand or with an egg beater.  In separate bowl, cut margarine or butter into baking mix until crumbly.  Stir in blueberry mixture. Dont worry about if the butter or margarine is in chunks after mixing you want that :) Spread into pan.  For topping, combine baking mix and brown sugar.  Cut in margarine or butter until crumbly.  Add nuts and the dash of nutmeg.  Sprinkle over blueberry mixture.  Bake on 325 Degrees F, for about 60 – 65 minutes or until lightly browned. Check it out after 35 mins, poke the center with a butter knife, if the knife is wet or runny it needs to stay in longer.  Serve warm/ or cold with whipped cream or ice cream (optional). Be prepared to have a glass of milk/dessert wine on the side be prepared lol milk goes great with this or a good dessert wine :)
Dietary Photo of ingredients of the Jiffy Corn Mix

52 Reasons Why I love You

52 Reasons Why I love You

This is a little something that I originally saw on a site, when I was trying to think of something creative to do. A little something to show the man who I love how much I love him. It is so cute and again this also works for the ladies too, If you're a man and want to show a little love to your lady then this is a subtle way that can bring a tear to her eye. 
52 Reason Why I Love You


Crafts Materials Needed: Including many different pictures

A Deck of Cards
Glue or Paste(tape can even be used)
Jump Rings/Ribbon/String/Zip Ties/Old Necklace/Shoe String/Ect..... any of these are acceptable use you imagination
Paper / Printer (or you can write out by hand)
Hole Puncher
Again you can add so many different things to these cards to personalize them
First get yourself a deck of cards (it looks even better if they are old cards that you already have). You can be creative in so many different ways with these cards. Do it in so many different ways its awesome. I made mine in reflection to the things he loved to do like work on cars and race them. You can make your's any way you want too.   I used Zip ties to hold the cards together, you could use pipe cleaners, yarn, shoe strings,ribbon,chain links.old necklaces, old bracelets, ect..the possibilities are limitless go crazy and get personal. I used stickers for mine to do the lettering. You could use, stamps,markers,white out,cut outs,stencils, etc..also the possibilities are limitless as well. This is a way to do it if you want to use the computer and are computer savvy. You can download templates or create your own templates either way you will need 4 of them of the same character make up.  I would preferable go plain and then type in the numbers it's easier that way . On the plain templates you will want to enter in the numbers 1-16. On the second template you will want to add the numbers 17-28. On the third you will want to add the numbers 29-40. On the four template add the numbers 41-52. Now with these numbers you can make them any font you desire but do not make them so huge or else they will not fit all on to the template. I went with Font size 24 but you could go a little smaller than that if you like. Keep in mind you want the numbers visible but not so big that they do not fit the cards. Now you can do this two ways you can print out the templates and then write in the words or you can type in the words underneath each typed in number. Here are few examples so that you get an idea of what I am talking about.
Eighth set cards
Example of full typed card
( above are a few different examples of  created templates with the numbers and the words typed in ready to be printed) of course you can use any color and or font when making these it does not have to be black and red or brown and pink any kind of colors you want. Once you created it you can then print out the templates and then paste them on the back of each individual card. Easy right, well if you do feel like doing all of that typing then you can go with another option which is to print out all the numbered template with no words on them and then handwrite each individual card in your own handwriting underneath your printed out numbers. Either way it looks great :) below is a picture example of the printed out numbers with no letters typed in and then personally handwriting into each card.
A template with the number printed out and then later on handwriting in words
You can also opt out of using the computer all together and get really funky creative and handwrite everything. One example would be to use post its. Another example would be to use white out and then write in the numbers and words either way it comes out looking awesome. Below are a few picture example of the hand writing numbers and words concept. Again use you imagination the possibilities are endless.
Another example using post its
Hand written
Example of using plain white paper such as computer paper
Get creative
You get the picture so to speak :). Many other people also went all out and made the cards into a collage which looks super awesome but very time-consuming. Here are a few photos of the cards in collage form. I really wanted to do this but unfortunately at the time I did not have enough time to do so. If you have the time then by all means get funky with it. Below are some picture examples of the collage cards.
example of the cards in a collage form
another example of card collage
Get funky creative
So once you figure out exactly how you want to do the cards. After you have them numbered and typed/or hand written you will then want to print and cut the paper to fit the inside of the individual cards so that the deck of cards numbers are not covered up and paste them on. If you are just  hand writing the cards out then printing and cutting will not apply all you have to do is write on each individual card which cuts out pasting and printing,cutting. If you are doing a collage then you can go all out just do not cover up the numbers that already exist on each of the individual cards this you will need paste and or tape to do its more complex and trickier than the other styles. Once its all done you will need to hole punch each individual card but make sure that the holes line up so that it and be either tied together or do something creative like bracelets, necklaces or the ideas are limitless. Once the cards are together and are numbered from 1-52 its time to complete the deck by doing the front of the very first card before the number 1 card. I used the joker card for that by put 52 reasons why I love you on the colored side of the card and leaving the joker card blank. Again you can add a heart or some type of drawling to that just do not cover up the joker. You do not have to use the joker card for that card, you can use another like the playing instructions card that comes in the pack or one of those cards you don't need to use while playing cards. Once finished with that card Punch a hole or holes depending on of you wanted one or two holes throughout your deck and add it to the top of the deck by that meaning the first card. If you tied the deck you will then need to untie the deck, and then add the 52 reasons card to the rest of your deck  then tie it back together. If you used rings do the same, ect. I used that card for last because I used stickers and I just wanted to see what the others looked like together before adding it on top. You do not have to do it the way I did but you can get the gist of how its done. Her are a few more photos before I go. Trust me you Husband/Wife or Girlfriend/Boyfriend will be emotional over these and definitely love the fact that it was made by you one of a kind just like the love you have for each other :)
Please If you decided to do this project please feel free to share with me your ideas and even a picture of how your deck came out by commenting below :)
Till next time friends thanks for reading,
sincerely,
The sleepless Mommie

Friday, January 3, 2014

 Hello Friends,

Just wanted to share this with you I borrowed this recipe from 12 tomatoes and it is delicious for sure. I just bought a loaf of crostini bread to go with it and put it on the side of my dish. I baked it sliced it up and used it to dip as I ate. Yummy and it smell fantastic too. 


12 TOMATOES


Soup Recipe: Perfect French Onion Soup

Winter isn't just the perfect time to try new soups, it's also the season to perfect classics. That's exactly the mindset we had when looking for a great french onion soup recipe. The broth should be filled with the flavor of caramelized onions, the bread on top should be toasted to perfection without being a soggy mess, and of course the cheese should be melted just right. Most importantly, we had to find a way to simplify the recipe for the soup.
Normally, a good french onion soup could require hours of glazing than deglazing the pan as you caramelize the onions, but today's recipe cuts that down. Instead of dozens of times, you only need to deglaze the pot three or four times. For the broth, a mixture of water, chicken broth, and beef broth ended up being perfect. For the topping, we toasted a baguette to prevent sogginess, and just ever to slightly sprinkled the soup with Gruyere cheese to compliment the flavors while not overpowering. Keep reading below for our favorite recipe...
french onion soup recipe

French Onion Soup

Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided evenly into 3 pieces
  • 6 large yellow onions, halfed and cut root to stem into 1/4" thick slices
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • salt
  • 2 cups water, plus extra
  • 1/2 cup dry sherry
  • 1/3 cup dry red wine
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with twine
  • 1 bay leaf
  • black pepper
  • baguette slices cut 1/2" thick (1 per bowl).
  • 8oz shredded Gruyere cheese
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400F
  2. Generously grease the inside of a large Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Place the butter into the Dutch oven, then add the onions with 1 teaspoon salt.
  4. Cook covered for 1 hour, then remove from the oven and stir onions, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot.
  5. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown (about 1 1/2 hours). Make sure to stir the onions and scrape the sides of the pot after 1 hour.
  6. Remove the pot from the oven and place over medium-high heat.
  7. Cook the onions, stirring frequently and scraping the sides of the pot until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown (use oven mitts to handle the pot), or for about 15 to 20 minutes.
  8. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the bottom of the pot is coated with a dark crust (another 6 or 7 minutes).
  9. Once the onions are a very dark brown, add the garlic and continue to stir for another 30 seconds to a minute, or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
  10. Stir in the sherry and red wine, and cook, stirring frequently until the liquid evaporates (another 7 to 10 minutes).
  11. Stir in the broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as you do to loosen everything up.
  12. Increase the heat to high until simmering, then reduce the head to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
  13. Meanwhile, arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes in the oven.
  14. Remove and discard the herbs from the soup, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
  15. To serve, adjust oven to boiling.
  16. Ladle soup into the bowls, then top with 1 or 2 baguette slices. Sprinkle with Gruyere cheese, then broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges (3 to 5 minutes).
  17. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
  18. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

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