Food

Friday Flair Link Party // Feature Edition no. 11

0 · Sep 27, 2013 · 29 Comments

Friday Flair Link Party // Well, we've made it to another Friday! I've been doing double duty these last two weeks. During the day I am a mild mannered Mom / Blogger and in the evening I've been channeling my inner drama geek. My daughter Hales has been working hard on her school production of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and I've been helping with Lobby Decorations and a little set designing as well. Super Fun!! My sweet husband has been playing Mr. Mom at night with the other kiddos. Sweet Guy!! It's just so amazing to watch how hard these kiddos work to pull together such a fabulous show!

This next week, I'll will be traveling to Orrville, Ohio to visit the J.M. Smuckers Headquarters to do a little pre-holiday prep!

I'm joining several talented bloggers to learn all about the Smuckers Family. We will be sharing our Holiday traditions and learning about some new ones that I'm sure will be fun to add to this Holiday season. I can't wait to share all the goodies with you next week.

Also, next week… I have a handful of aaaamazing giveaways that you won't want to miss. Make sure to be here bright and early on Monday morning. Don't forget to enter this week's Silhouette Portrait GIVEAWAY running right now, and take advantage of this month's aaaamazing Silhouette promotion. The Holidays are right around the corner… It's time to start stocking-up for all that Holiday crafting!!

How about last week's Friday Flair?! So many lovely posts. Here are a few that caught my eye…

spider web cookies from it's always autumn // halloween owl cake from bird on a cake // gooey monster eye cookies from lil' luna

floral moss wreath from live laugh rowe // mud hen bars from your home based mom // monogram fall wreath from tidy mom

lace mason jars from mod podge rocks // donut creatures from your home based mom // googly eye art from the scrap shoppe

how to make a wood & rope swing from scattered thoughts of a crafty mom // sesame chicken from my recipe magic // tansy wreath from keeping with the times

Everything looks wonderful!! Thank you ALL for sharing your amazing talents!

Let's get this Link Party Started

Halloween Decorations with American Crafts & Target

2 · Sep 26, 2013 · 16 Comments

This Halloween Decorations post brought to you by American Crafts // ' Tis the season to start dressing up our homes with all kinds of creepy, crawly decor. I have to admit in the past I have not been much of a Halloween decor person. I've never really gotten into the macabre & grotesque side of Halloween. However, In recent years the Halloween trends have become way more fun in my eyes and I've fallen in love with decorating for this playful holiday. Companies like American Crafts have also made it so dang EASY to dress-up our home decor and spook things out for our parties!

A few weeks ago the crew at American Crafts sent over some goodies that they have created for Target for this year's Halloween season and they are soooo stylish and fun to work with!

The products range from full kits like the paper wreath, witches hats & banner all the way down to stylish washi tape and everything in between. You can buy little individual elements to create with, or buy a full kit that comes with everything you need. I put together this stunning paper wreath that was a SNAP to make.

The kits come with everything you need, you don't even have to bust out the glue or tape. The instructions are easy to follow and the project comes together really quick. For this one I did find that a stapler did come in a little handy at times, but for the most part everything worked like a charm. I used the wreath to dress-up my entryway and I love how everything turned out.

I added stickers to some glass containers that I had laying around. It's simply amazing how even just that, transforms the whole scene into something a little spooky.

Next, I made the banner from the Happy Halloween banner kit. The EASIEST BANNER EVER!! Seriously… Everything is self-adhesive so it's just stick-it and go.

The cool thing is you can make whatever element just how it is pictured in the kit, or you can (if you feel comfortable) bring out your creative side and use the elements to invent your own masterpiece. I used the elements from the witches hat kit to dress-up some straws for the display.

I love how they turned out!

You can find all of these fun products, plus several more at your local Target store. Go grab'em before they are gone. As cute as they are, they are sure to sell out FAST!!

Disclaimer // This is an American Crafts sponsored post. I received free product and payment for this post. However, all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. I want you to know that I will NEVER post on a product that I don't love or would use in my normal everyday life.

Silhouette’s New Glass Etching Kit // Promo Code & GIVEAWAY

0 · Sep 25, 2013 · 224 Comments

Silhouette Affiliate // The folks over at Silhouette have been madly creating all kinds of fun new ways for us to use their CAMEO & Portrait machines. Earlier this month they released their Stamp Making Kit and it was a hit. This month they have an exciting new product, their Glass Etching Kit. They are just so darn creative and we are LOVING it!!

The kit comes with everything you will need to create all kinds of etched glass projects.

etching cream

stencil vinyl

transfer tape

Silhouette Hook

Silhouette Scraper

10 exclusive Silhouette etching designs

Instruction / idea book & DVD

If you haven't ever etched glass before, you have to give it a try… It's soooooo easy!! All you have to do is create an image with your Silhouette CAMEO or Portrait in vinyl, affix it to your glass, brush on some etching cream and wait for a few minutes. Once your time is up, wash the etching cream off the glass, remove the vinyl and voilá you're finished!! It's just that easy.

Silhouette is making it even easier this month with a wonderful promotion to go along with their new Glass Etching Kit!

Click HERE to go to the special sale site.

To celebrate the release, Silhouette is giving away a Silhouette Portrait to one lucky WhipperBerry friend!

All you have to do is follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter box below to enter to win a Portrait of your very own!!

This giveaway is open to anyone with a shipping address within the United States. It will run from September 25th-30th at noon central time. The winner will be announced that evening here, via Facebook and then contacted by email. This giveaway is not associated or in conjunction with Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram in anyway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Brown Butter White Chocolate & Cinnamon Chip Cookies Recipe

1 · Sep 24, 2013 · 6 Comments

// Brown Butter White & Cinnamon Chip Cookies Recipe //

Thanks again Heather for having me!

When September arrived a few weeks ago, I absolutely loved knowing my nieces, nephews, and dear little friends were starting up school again. This time of year is so nostalgic for me. It's hard to beat the thought of freshly baked cookies ready at home for our hard-working school kids, right? My little ones aren't quite there yet, but before I know it I'll be sending them off to school, and I hope they'll enjoy coming home to a sweet treat every once in a while.

I recently discovered Hershey's Cinnamon Chips (I've only been able to find them at Walmart) and wanted to try them in cookies. Brown butter anything is a winner in my book, so I looked up my favorite brown butter cookie recipe found here and adjusted the recipe a bit. They have a delicious nutty flavor, rich with the white chocolate, and the cinnamon chips add a wonderful fall flavor. I think they'd be a great after school snack, for kids and parents!

BROWN BUTTER WHITE CHOCOLATE & CINNAMON CHIP COOKIES

{Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen's Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies}

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoons of salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt or sour cream

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

2/3 cup cinnamon chips

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk constantly during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown and give off a nutty aroma–smelling heavenly. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

With an electric mixer (I used my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment), mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all the chocolate chips.

Chill your dough in a covered container for about 2 hours in the refrigerator. Just before the dough is done being chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop balls of dough (about 2 tablespoons) onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes (a little more or less depending on your oven). They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for a minute or two, then remove them and let them fully cool on a wire rack. Or, if you're like us you'll enjoy one or two straight off the pan, being sure to "blow blow blow" as my little boy would say. 😉 Repeat with remaining dough and enjoy!!

xo,

Haley

And here are a few recipes and projects that make my autumn-loving heart all sorts of happy:

Roasted Peach & Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Festive Mantel with Silhouettes and a DIY Halloween Photo Banner

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Roasted Veggie Taco Salad // Easy Weeknight Dinners

1 · Sep 23, 2013 · 3 Comments

Easy Weeknight Dinners // If I didn’t love meat so much I would be a vegetarian… Seriously, I LOVE vegetables! I would much rather have a plate full of veggies along with a small side of protein. With all of the wonderful Farmer’s Market goodies at this time of year, I thought I would make a tasty Roasted Veggie Taco Salad for dinner. You can also check out my Taco Hand Pie recipe if you just can’t get enough tacos.

It’s was a knock it out of the park hit with the family! The combination of the savory roasted vegetables with the fresh Mango Salsa was perfect. It was just fun and colorful enough that the kiddos didn’t balk at a plate full of veggies and my meat loving sweetheart didn’t even complain once.

Layering it all with lettuce, refried beans and topped with Queso Fresco made for a very satisfying weeknight meal. Here’s how you can make it for your family tonight.

Ingredients for Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

1 zucchini

1 yellow summer squash

1 large onion

1 small head of garlic

1 jalapeño

1 large green chili

2 green tomatoes (optional)

1 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T taco seasoning

salt & pepper

1 can of refried beans

4-6 tortilla bowl or a large bag of tortilla chips

1 large head of green leaf lettuce, red leaf or Romaine

Fresh Mango Salsa

1/2 cup Queso Fresco or a mild Feta cheese

Sour Cream

Taco Sauce

Directions on how to make Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

Heat oven to 450˚, wash and cut veggies in large, yet still bite size pieces.

If you would like to have your salad on the spicy side leave the ribs and seeds in the jalapeño, for a milder salad, remove the ribs & seeds. Remove the garlic from it’s skin, but leave whole. I just happened to have some green tomatoes in my garden and I thought I would add them to the mix. The roasted up perfect and tasted fabulous, but they aren’t a deal breaker by any means. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. Really you can add any kind of veggie you want to this mix. That’s the beauty of this recipe.

On a baking sheet drizzle with olive oil and generously season with salt, pepper & taco seasoning. Toss to coat everything with the oil and seasoning.

Roast at 450˚ for 30 minutes or until the veggies start to char a bit. Remove from oven and let cool.

While the veggies are cooling you can mix up your Mango Salsa. You can check out my recipe for that here.

I just love this fresh salsa and it adds such a bright flavor to the salad.

Next, in a small sauce pan, heat your refried beans. Once they are warm, you can start to layering your salad with the beans at the bottom of your tortilla bowl or on the bottom of your plate surrounded by corn chips.

The next layer is the lettuce that you have washed, dried and cut into bite size pieces. Then top of with a good helping of the roasted veggies, then the mango salsa, with a good sprinkling of the Queso Fresco or Feta.

I then add a dollop of sour cream and then a splash of taco sauce to act as the “dressing.” Mix together and enjoy!

This will take Taco Tuesday up to a whole new level for sure!!

Food

Let's get this Link Party Started

Ingredients for Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

Directions on how to make Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

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