Thursday, February 25, 2010

Made carmels

I made some of my carmels this am and this time I added some marchino cherry syrup we bought in Traverse City last summer.  Hubby like it on his waffles aso I thought it would be fun to experiment and add it to my vanilla carmels.  Not too bad either.  I am gonna make a batch of espresso carmels tomorrow.
I found these 7 in round pans with a clear plastic dome lid and they work just perfect for market people and just a right size where it is not too much and enough for a few.
I like the custardy filling in these especially when blinged up with some whipped cream!!Peach Blueberry Kucken!! oh what a treat this cake was and it is really yummy!! I do a peach and blueberry pie combo in the summer and it is a favo at market so thought i would try it with this kucken recipe i found.  I never had it before and I can honestly say this will be a cake I make for my summer markets. I can see making cherry almond or maybe peach praline.  Gosh I am gettin hungry for some....... u guessed it a piece of CAKE!! LOL
Hubby came home the other night and said come look at something with me, so we drove down to the park just down the road a mile.  There was an ice berg near the shore that the waves had opened the middle of it and it really looked cool.  U can see in the pics u see right thru it.  Kind of cool!!  A close up of the hole in the ice berg
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~
This was looking from the street at the ice bergs thru the trees.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

More cards this am!!

I got up super early 3am and couldnt sleep so what else is a gal to do???? Play with paper, ink, stamps, scissors!!! LOL
More mothers day cards were made.  I of cource am drawn to the altered fairy ones but love them all! and PAPER TREY INK stamps are my favo!! just cant put them babies down!!
 Chalks were used to dress up this fairys wings!!I am having a blast using up some of my scraps, which if you are a fellow artist/crafter whatever you do you always have SCRAPS of supplies!!I decided to use this stamp on the inside of the card since I usually leave them blank. And look at that tiny flourish!! isnt that cute? a stamp in their set.
Chipboard flower shape with some sheet music ontop and silk flowers layered on that, a bit of lace and a bow and that's it!!
Ok so I am off to catch up on my favo blogs now.
Have a great afternoon!! thanks for stoppin by!
~~HUGS~~
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Mothers Day Cards

I had some time this afternoon to work in my studio space!!   So I worked on some Mothers day cards for etsy and the shop.   I just love my newest set of stamps!! PAPER TREY INK STAMPS!! they are the bestest around!!  This is the mothers day set and has awesome stamps!! their customer service was also awesome! which is bad for my wallet ya know! LOL

While I was sitting on the couch earlier My Boopie Woopie Boo was curled up behind my back looking just so dang cute I had to snap this pic of my little guy!!  TOO CUTE!!
I found this velvet light pink ribbon at Michaels the last time we were there and love the look of it!! kind of vintagey!!

Chalked the edges with white for a nice and soft feel.
On this dollar store paper flower I sprayed some of my cherry blossom mist by TATTERED ANGELS, love that stuff!!
I really like this altered fairy card!~!~  Love the vintage sheet music paper too! I tend to use that one alot these days!!
And all the frilly gemstone bling also finds way into my projects alot!! 
So that is it for todays postings I am off  to do chores and then hubby will be home.  Have a blessed evening yall!!
~~HUGS~~
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Trialing tues....

Hey yall!!   Trialing new recipes,   This am was about testing a new scone recipe.  I added some shredded cheddar and colby cheese to these.  I always have troubles when cutting my scones evenly and I really like the look of the traditional triangular shape.  Round ones just dont do it for me.  SOOOOOOOOOO I tried something new, I patted my dough into a shallow 9 in round coated pan.  Then tipped it out onto a sheet and VOILA!! oh how exciting this was!! LOL perfectly round!! used my pizza cutter wheel and these are great!!
As u can see nice uniform triangles and easy peasy to do!!

Each one got brushed with more heavy cream and topped with a sprinkling of sea salt.  Cant wait for them to come out of oven they smell really great! 
and look great too!!

I am also trialing some cookie recipes I found one is for a similar to the girl scout samoa cookie (btw is one of my altime favo cookie but havin them in the house is dangerous to me!! i will be way too tempted to devour them all) and also a different flavor of my homemade carmels.  Espresso Carmel sounds so dang yummy so that is a must try!!
So as soon as I finish this stuff  I am gonna work in my studio making some mothers day cards.  Oh here is a quick birthday card I made at 4am to go out with a birthday order I got.
I like to include a little card for the recipeint to get with their order.
Ok so have a blessed tuesday and I will be back with more pics tomorrow!!
~~HUGS~~
Darlene
 ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Desk top scrapbook

Here is a new baby girl mini album I finished up this am.
There are 15 pages in all to add your photos and or journaling to.  Each page is different and embellished with lots of stickers, stamped images, paper flowers, brads, eyelets, letters, ribbons, fibers, words and different colored cardstocks.   There is plenty of room for you little bundle of joys pics.  And what a great keepsake for all to see standing on a desk or table.  I did the covers out of wood then painted and added papers to them so this will stand on it's own.  I did put this book on ebay this am but would also make a personalyzed one if you would like one too.
Gotta git er done and finish my studio space!!  Have a great afternoon!!
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Friday, February 19, 2010

Bronson Market Kalamazoo MI

I decided to add some of my dried sweet basil flakes to the egg noodle recipe and it tasted wonderful! Had a bowl last night and only added some butter.

I made a few bags up for market today and also did up some plain egg noodles with the fettucini cutter.
TODAY IS MARKET DAY~~ YEAH~~

These dough balls are gonna be my egg bread braids.

I rolled the brioche dough into a tube and added cinnamon sugar and some plumped up golden raisins.   Rolled each one and popped them into a jumbo muffin pan.  Each has some cinnamon sugar sprinkled ontop.Here's the baked result.  I was gonna add a bit of glaze but they really are good without it and less messy to carry and eat.
Here are the ropes for each braided egg bread. And the braid!!  These have become a weekly addition and they also make awesome grilled ham and cheese sandwiches!! We had that for supper last night with a bowl of the basil noodles.

A new addition is my orange pecan shortbread cookies.  These are really good!! I just added some orange extract in addition to vanilla and also some fresh orange zest and chopped salted pecans.  What a flavor and I figured anything added to basic shortbread is gonna be super duper delic~
Ok well that was some of the treats I made for market yesterday along with some standbys like lemon poppyseed bundt cake, lemon blueberry muffins, peach praline bread and muffins, pistachio bread, all my regurlar cookies and also some peach cobblers. 
Have a great friday and happy baking!!
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Peach crumble and Brioche'

Made some of my glazed pistachio bread for market.  These are so yummo!! Peach praline bread mini loaves and also muffins.  Peach and Red Raspberry are my favorite fruits!! Gosh maybe I should make a red raspberry loaf with maybe a streusel crumb topping??  OH YEAH!!

These are my newest creation!!  Peach crumble cobbler.   I used frozen peaches from last season, laid them in the bottoms of the pans, mixed brown sugar, cinnamon, a bit of flour and topped the peaches, then the cobbler topping, flour, baking powder, a bit of sugar, salt and some butter!! mixed til cource crumbs and topped the peaches with some of this.  Melted butter got poured on top and a bit of the peach juice I strained from peaches earlier.  HERE'S a couple of the finished ones!! and oh my goodness did the kitchen smell yummy!! love those peaches!!  I did bring home a small one for hubby and I to try tonight! but since he is working a bit later than normal he may NOT get any!! LOL
Vanilla ice cream and oh there's supper!!
AND I also made a batch of brioche dough to make into something tomorrow.  Maybe cinnamon rolls? or pecan sticky buns? who knows we will see tomorrow!!
I hope yall had a great wed!! and a super evening!!
~~HUGS~~
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Snowy noodle tues


I went to the kitchen today and decided to make some homemade egg noodles to have with some gravy tonight for supper.  We have been making fresh spinach pasta for market so it was time to make something different.  I actually should make some chicken and noodles.  NICE comfort food on a snowy and cold tues.
We did get a few more inches and it is still snowing, but it is really pretty outside so I wont complain at all!!
With just eggs, flour, a pinch of salt, milk and just a dash of olive oil this ball becomes NOODLES!! isnt that crazy!!!


~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

I just used a hand crank pasta maker but am looking at gettin an electric one.  THAT would be so nice!!  and what about time saving!! LOL
And I tried some of my strawberry apricot jam on top of a cheesecake sugar cookie. They turned out ok but not my favo!!  They are sweet enough so NO FARMGIRL BLING for these guys!! sorry!! LOL anyway maybe a bit of powdered sugar sprinkled ontop would be enough to dress them up. 
Hope yall have a great evening!!
**STAY WARM**

~~HUGS~~

URGG!!!  I JUST HEARD ON THE NEWS WE ARE UNDER A WINTER SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT!!  oh well gotta love it!!
Darlene