Paperplay Challenges - Anything but a card

Hi everyone! I'm back from my week with my family which went WAY too quickly. I miss everyone already. We brought JJ (our grandson) back with us to spend the next four weeks. So needless to say my hands will be full for a while. He's getting so big and growing up way too quickly, which they all do. But it seems so much more apparant when you don't get to see them all the time.  Anyway, it's time for a new challenge from Paperplay Challenges. They have a brand new sponsor, La-La Land Crafts! They generously offered the DT some images to play with, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get one done since I've been out of town. 

For my "anything but a card" challenge, I created a tag using one of the hAnglar & stAnglar images. She's colored with Copic markers and then popped up from the tag.  The papers are from Nitwit Collections, the flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the ribbon is May Arts Silk from Stamp and Create. That's it for me today! Please be sure and pop over to Paperplay Challenges and we'd love it if you'd play along with us! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

You might be a baking enthusiast if. . .

...if upon seeing this store, you jump out of the car before it comes to a complete stop.


...if reading this sign at the entrance causes you to reach for the shopping cart instead of the little basket.


...if a wall of silicone spatulas in every color makes your heart go pitter-patter.


...if you are so enthralled with the store that you forget to check your camera settings and your hand is shaking just a bit so that all of your pictures are blurry and off-color.


...if this mixer at a discount price makes you go weak in the knees.

Yep, you must be a baking enthusiast.   

Don't worry...I couldn't make a trip to the Williams-Sonoma Outlet without thinking of you guys!

Who wants some cupcake and cookie decorating goodies?

Here's what you'll get:

• sanding sugar: pink, yellow, white, and blue
• silver shimmering sugar
• set of gel paste food colorings
• vanilla bean paste
• and, a cute, little, yellow WS apron

 
To enter, leave a comment telling me...

your favorite dessert!

{Drawing to be held Saturday, July 2nd and 8pm CST.  Good Luck!}

giveaway closed. :)  Congrats, Jewel!

4th of July Ice Cream Sundaes . . . (with cookies!)

 
It all started with a cookie cutter.  A sweet little cookie cutter sent to me by my friend, Cindy, over at Sweet.


It's a star with a little cut-out to rest on the edge of a glass. How cute is that?!?

Now, my mind immediately went to martinis, but Mr. E thought of dessert in a glass....duh.  {He's good to have around.}


So, what we have here is homemade strawberry ice cream, topped with a sweet strawberry-blueberry "sauce," whipped cream (ok...it's Cool Whip), and a cookie!  Perfect little dessert for the 4th of July.

First, make the cookies.  These are just vanilla-almond sugar cookies decorated really simply with royal icing.

The ice cream...
...let me tell you, I NEVER order strawberry ice cream at the ice cream shop.  I mean, it's right.next.to.the.chocolate.  Chocolate wins every time.

BUT...this homemade ice cream has me rethinking my priorities.


Here's how you *know* it's going to be good...the melted ice cream makes a ♥-shaped drip on your ice cream maker.  Yep, it's a sign.

Strawberry Ice Cream
{modified from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream & Dessert Book}

2 cups sliced & hulled strawberries
1/3 c. sugar
juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
2 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. milk

Stir together the strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar and lemon juice.  Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Mash with a potato masher or a pastry blender.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs for 1-2 minutes until light and fluffy. (Use pasteurized eggs if raw eggs make you nervous.)  Gradually whisk in the 3/4 cup sugar, whisk for an additional minute once all has been added.

Stir in the cream and milk.  Add the strawberry puree.  Pour into a chilled ice cream canister and process according to manufacturer's directions.  Place the ice cream in a freezer-safe container to harden for several hours.

Twenty minutes before assembling the sundaes, make the sauce.  Combine more sliced and hulled strawberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Stir in some frozen blueberries.  Let sit for 10 minutes more.

Scoop  ice cream into glasses.  Top with the strawberries and blueberries along with the sauce from the bowl.  Dollop on whipped cream (OR Cool Whip)
...don't forget the cookie!

{psst...this is the link to the cutter from Sweet.}

Gluten-Free Cherry Clafoutis

Gluten-free dessert is solved. A luscious cherry clafoutis, no sugar.

My cherry clafoutis has a little secret. Well. Two secrets. Wait. Actually, three. At least. It's a clafoutis bursting with secrets. But first, I must mention something.

Are you listening, Darling?

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Summer Vacation

I know many of you have already guessed that I am taking some vacation time.  I will be back next Monday, July 4th, with a patriotic project to share.  In the meantime, I am spending time with Ian - who is still home from college, and visititing family in Chattanooga. 

Desserts for Dudes : Caramel Banana Shortcakes

 
Is it just the men in my family, or do the men in your family love desserts with fruit?

These caramel banana shortcakes are easy, delicious...and a little less "girly" than a strawberry shortcake. Plus there's no line of dolls called "Caramel Banana Shortcake."

There's a cinnamon-buttermilk shortcake, split in two, filled with warm banana-studded caramel sauce, and topped with a brown sugar whipped cream. Yeah, it's good.

Wanna make 'em for your dude?

Caramel Banana Shortcakes
{adapted from an ancient edition of the Dallas Morning News, makes 6}

shortcakes:

2 and 1/3 c. buttermilk baking mix
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. milk (plus more if needed)
1/2 c. mashed banana
1 TBSP melted butter

filling:
16 ounces caramel sauce/topping
2-3 medium bananas, sliced

brown sugar whipped cream:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 425.

Place a mixer bowl and attachment in the freezer. 

Stir together the baking mix, cinnamon, milk, bananas and melted butter.  Add more milk a tablespoon at a time, if needed, until the dough comes together.  (The dough will be sticky.)

Turn the dough out on a surface coated with baking mix.  Knead 10 times and pat into a 1/2 thick disc.  Cut with a 3-inch circle cookie cutter, pull away the excess dough to make picking the biscuits up off the counter easier. (Dip the cookie cutter in baking mix to prevent sticking.) Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until done.  Remove to a cooling rack and let cool 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the caramel sauce over low heat.  A few minutes before assembling the shortcakes, gently stir in the sliced bananas.

Make the whipped cream by beating the cream and brown sugar in the chilled bowl.  Beat on high just until stiff peaks form.


Split the shortcake in half.  Place the bottom half on a plate, cover with the banana-caramel sauce.  Top with the second shortcake half and dollop on the whipped cream.  Drizzle on a bit of caramel sauce.  Enjoy!

 
What desserts do your dudes love?

Gluten-Free Frittata with Brown Rice Penne

Gluten-free pasta frittata made with brown rice penne.

Summer is officially upon us- allegedly. And by us I mean those of us calling the Northern hemisphere our home. See? I didn't forget you lovely readers from the topsy-turvy land Down Under, strapped to snowboards or skiing the snowy slopes of Victoria in need of steaming mugs of soup and plates of comfort food. I know it's winter for you. I get it. I do. I'm chilly, too. I've got Popsicle toes. And just so you know I'm not pulling your leg, Mate, I'll let you in on a little secret.

I'm not sporting a bikini these days, either.


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Tasty Kitchen . . . Works for Me Wednesday

{Oh, you must try this Greek Pizza!}

Tasty Kitchen...have you been there?

Tasty Kitchen is the brain-child of Ree, The Pioneer Woman (y'all know Ree, right?).  It's a "happy cooking community" where real people like you and me share recipes.  Real recipes. Delicious recipes.

Every member has a recipe box...and the site is also searchable by type of dish.  Want chicken main dish? It's there.  A pizza? Yep.  Brownies?!?  Of course!

This is my recipe box.  Although there are sweet recipes, I started adding some of our savory favorites here, too.  (Including my latest obsession, Rosemary Cayenne Sweet Potato Fries...)


What I love most about Tasty Kitchen (well, besides the recipes) is that once your recipe is entered...it's printable!!!  You can print as 3x5 cards, 4x6 cards or a full page!  It's a great way to share recipes with friends...or your sister. (Hi Molly!)

Here are some I'm printing...and trying SOON!

Oregano and Lemon Chicken Souvlaki from Wenderly.  I can almost taste it now.


Creamy Caprese Pasta from How Sweet Eats.  Pretty sure my waist is expanding just from looking at the picture.


And Frozen Strawberry Squares from She Wears Many Hats.  How perfect is this for a hot summer day?

Are YOU a member of Tasty Kitchen?  Leave your member name in the comments so we can all be TK friends and share recipes!

Paertake Weekly - Here comes the sun!!

Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday! I'm excited cause I get on the plane tomorow to go see my sister and brothers! It's been a couple years so it's way overdue! I'm ready for some rest, relaxation, and lots of fun catching up with everyone! It's time for a new challenge from Papertake Weekly, and this week the challenge is "here comes the sun". We're being sponsored by The Ribbon Girl! For my card, I used Strawberry Girl from Mo Manning Digital Pencil. I fell in love with her when I saw her!

She's colored with Copic markers (list is below) and then cut out using oval Nesties and petite scalloped oval Nesties. She's then popped up from the rest of the card. The DP is Best Creation and all the cardstock is from Bazzill. The flowers are all from Wild Orchid Crafts and the big butterfly is a Cuttlebug cut and emboss set. I used some pink  Liquid Pearls on it too. The little butterflies are from an EK Success punch.

This is the card for my June Coloring with Copics class I give at my local scrapbook store. Hope they enjoy putting it together as much as I enjoyed designing it.  So that's it for my card for today. Please be sure and pop over to Papertake Weekly and check out all the fantastic cards by my teamies! Then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and play along with us. Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! I will be out of reach for the next week. So I'll see you all when I get back next week! Hugs!

Copics used:
dress: B00, 02, 04
strawberries: Y15, RV32, 34, R83
hair: Y15, E21, 23
Flowers: R81, 83, G21, YG67
Grass: G21, 24
Skin: E11, 01, 00

Sunny Days with Celebrate with Flourish and BBTB2

Happy Monday and happy (HOT) summer!  This is my week to host the challenge cut at Bitten by the Bug 2.  In honor of the Summer Solstice, I selected a fun, summery cut - the phrase "Sunny Days" from the Celebrate with Floursh Lite cartridge! 

I designed this layout a month ago when I first selected my challenge cut.  The timing was perfect as my husband and I had just booked out first cruise!  Our 30th anniversary is in November so we decided to take a 6 night cruise to the Bahamas and Key West to celebrate.  We thought this cruise sounded like a perfect opportunity to introduce us to cruising - to get our feet wet, so to speak!

So, with "cruising on the brain" I combined cuts from Celebrate with Flourish and Life's a Beach cartridges to create this fun layout.  I used Celebrate with Flourish (CWF) to cut the Sunny Days phrase and the sun with clouds layered cut.  I love the layered look of the word phrases on CWF.  I confess that I have been utilizing a similar layering technique long before CWF was released. But using CWF makes the layering of letters MUCH easier.   I also really like the swirl cutouts - or flourishes - that are part of every CWF cut.  Such a fun cartridge.

I uses Life's a Beach (LIB) to cut the elements on the lower half of the page.  I cut the ship in multiple layers and had cut an additional bottom piece to make the ship taller.  I trimmed the ship out with ribbon, dashes and a cute little anchor. 

The double layer waves and the dolphines were also cut from LIB.  I had never cut the dolphines so I was a bit nervous about the tiny outline pieces.  But as you can see it all went very well.   The waves were cut in two layers - after welding two of each of the wave cuts together.  I thought the dolphins looked cut jumping out of the water between the waves.

I used this great beach photo on the layout, though truthfully I will probably make a matching page and save the layout for our fall cruice.  The photo mats will hold up to a 5 x7.  Sadly I was out of 5 x7 photo paper and had to print this photo at 4 x 6. 

If you have not already done so, please go by Bitten by the Bug 2 and check out the design team projects. I had a sneak peek and was WOWed by some of the great projects.  Also, please consider playing along with us on the weekly challenge.  Complete a new project this week using the "Sunny Days" phrase cut and post your project in the link area at BBTB2.  We provide a blog blinkie to the best project of the week, selected from those who chose to join us in the challenge.

Magnolia-licious Blog Hop - Black & White with a "pop" of color

Hi friends!! Hope you had a fabulous weekend, and that you're ready for a great week! It's time for a new Magnolia-licious Design Team blog hop, so if you've arrived here from the lovely and talented Barb, then you're in the right place! If not, pop on over to the Magnolia-licious Highlites blog for all the links to the hop. For our theme today, we were challenged by the Queen herself! Diana asked us to use black and white, with a "pop" of another color. Well of course mine had to be red.  I do love the color combo of  red, black, and white. 

For my card, I used one of the brand new stamps from the Sweet Rainbow collection which is available right now over at Magnolia-licious! She is #264 Lying Tilda.  Now you might notice I only used half of her! I really like the entire stamp, but the top half of her is perfect for popping out of a frame! She's colored with Copic markers. I know her dress is the R20 family, and her skin is E11, 01, and 00. Can't remember what colors I used for her hair. Sorry!  For the frame, I used my new Cricut Cartridge, Elegant Edges.   For the sentiment, I chose to use a circle sentiment from Lili of the Valley cut out with circle Nesties and petite scalloped Nesties. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and that yummy bow was made with May Arts silk ribbon. I also added some Kaiser pearls in the corners for the finishing touch.

So that's it for me for the hop! Now if you're interested in maybe going shopping over at Magnolia-licious, leave a comment on this post and you'll be elligible to win a 20 dollar gift certificate to the shop! That should assist you with your shopping fun! I will draw a winner the weekend of the first as I will be out of town for the next week. Now it's time to hop on over to visit the oh so talented Suzanne. I know she's got something gorgeous for you to feast your eyes on! Thanks so much for joining us in the hop today!  Please be sure and visit the Magnolia-licious Highlites blog so you can see how you can participate and win a fabulous prize from Diana! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

My Favorite Gluten-Free Summer Recipes

Cook It Up Summer!

Make it fresh, fast, and light. Just in time for Summer Solstice, these hand-picked favorite gluten-free recipes celebrate the abundance of local ingredients and garden-glorious taste. Kick up your warm weather meals with local fresh herbs, tender salad greens, lime infused guacamole,  protein rich hummus, and sparkling pesto. Simple grilled fish, colorful stir-fries, and bright quinoa salads  make for light and easy meals, perfect for picnic style get-togethers. Strawberries, blueberries and peaches inspire cobblers, cakes, and dairy-free ice creams everyone will enjoy.

Eating gluten-free couldn't be simpler. Or more fabulous.

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