Love Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there. :) This year, I decided to make some cookies for my neighbors, parents and dear friends. I'll be dropping them off on their door steps for an unexpected surprise when they get home.

I made the Chewy Chocolate Chunk-Cherry cookies that I found in this month's Martha Stewart. They came out so very good!

Ingredients

Makes about 40 

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 4 large eggs 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (2 1/2 cups)
• 8 ounces dried cherries (1 1/2 cups) 

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, then flour mixture. Beat in chocolate and cherries. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.

2.Roll dough into 1 3/4-inch balls (about 3 tablespoons each), and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets set on wire racks for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; let cool completely.

I packed them into sweet bags from Hobby Lobby and tied them up with a ribbon and small tag and they're ready to go!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!! Now, go spread love! xo

"love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star..."

                                                                                           — e.e. cummings

Lately.

This week has been kind of slow, so I apologize for the lack of posts. Here is what I've been up to lately.

Baking.

I adore baking bread. And Southern Hubby and I can't seem to get enough of this particular bread I've been making recently. I got the recipe from the Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making DVD. I treated myself to a few of their DVD's recently and I love them. ;)

Puppies.

This little man warms my heart and soul. Even though in April it will be two years since we rescued him, he can still be a bit skittish, slowly poking his head around corners and jumping at the smallest sound. I often wonder what sort of hell he lived through at the puppy mill he came from. I can't say this enough, rescue, do not buy.

Working.

My 'Bama Bee necklace is not one of my most popular necklaces but it holds a special place in my heart. I got a couple orders for it this past week and I decided to use the typewriter font for the word 'happy' and I love the way it came out. Must make one for me now.

Crafts.

My youngest sister had her wisdom teeth out, so I bought a soft blanket from Target and embroidered it for her to take. (My sewing machine also does embroidery.) I took one (yes, I'm a scaredy baby) and it really comforted me and kept me warm when the anesthesia made me chilly.

And how was your week? :)

Sweet Pudding Puff Pastries

As promised, here is the recipe for the sweets shown in my Romance Your Hubby post. Hope your man enjoys them as much as mine did! :)

Sweet Pudding Puff Pastries

Filling: Decide on what you want your filling to be and prepare that according to the directions. Keep it chilled in the fridge until your puffs are complete.

Pastry Puff Shells:

* Preheat oven at 400 degrees 

• 1 cup water
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt {I used salted butter so I left this out}
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 eggs {use three eggs and the only the egg white of another}

1. In a medium size pan combine water, butter, sugar and salt (if needed). Bring to a boil.
2. Lower temperature to low and add flour. Stir the mixture until it forms a ball. Transfer the pastry to your mixing bow. Let it cool completely. 
3. Once cooled (10-20 minutes) turn on the mixer and add one egg at a time. Keep beating the pastry until it is smooth and thick.
4. Using a tablespoon drop mounds of the dough onto a parchment lined sheet. 
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then lower the temp to 350 and bake for 25 minutes more. They should be golden brown on the outside and moist on the inside when done. Once cooled, split in half with a bread knife.

Lastly, fill with your pudding and enjoy! :)  

Yummy! Thank you to Aunt Ruthie for this recipe! :) Love her!! 

Romance your Hubby: Be a Sweetheart

credit

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought I'd share some ways that I show Southern Hubby I care for him and adore him. Some of these tips may not even be outright showy, but doing them often will definitely make him feel loved.

Talk him up.
Remember as wives, we are to lift our husbands up! I make it a rarity, if ever, that I go to my girlfriends with husband woes. I want the world to see him as he is- a wonderful man, provider, and my best friend. They never will if all I do is complain that he never puts his clothes in the hamper, or he went out to happy hour with his work buddies last Friday.

Wine and dine him.
It isn't only us girls that like to be romanced. They won't often admit it, but guys want to be swept off their feet, too. Send him flowers at work. Make him a sappy CD full of loves songs that mean something to only the two of you and leave it on the seat of his car. Put a romantic note in his lunch. They don't have to cost a lot of money, just something to show that you're thinking about him.

The way to his heart.

It's through the stomach, right? ;) I love to cook and bake for Southern Hubby. The other day, I made him some puff pastries filled with pudding. It wasn't his birthday. It wasn't a holiday. I just did it. And it showed him I cared. {I'll write the recipe for you in my next post.}

Be silly and sponatenous.
Once, I bought a bunch of little gifts that I knew Southern Hubby would like. They weren't anything major and they didn't cost a fortune (think DVD's, a raquet for squash, golf balls, ect.) At the front door I left a note telling him he'd be going on a scavenger hunt! For each clue he found, he'd get a gift. Of course the big gift at the end was ME! :) The clues were goofy and silly and I tried my best to make them rhyme. But what counted was that I tried! So catch him off guard. Be spontaneous! Make it your own special day and he'll feel so loved!

Be touchy-feely.

This should go without saying, but in the hustle and bustle of the everyday, you forget to touch. Pinch his bottom or lay a big kiss on him (longer than 10 seconds, or it doesn't count!) Do anything you think that will let him know you still think he's the cutest guy ever!

Pray for him.
Whenever I give Southern Hubby a kiss goodbye for the day, I whisper in my heart a little prayer. I pray that he makes it to work safely. I pray that he has a good day. I pray that he finds a minute to be with God. I pray that work is gratifying to him. I mainly just pray for him. I do it because I love him. He doesn't even have to know about this one. But do it because it reminds yourself that he is one of your most treasured earthly possessions.

                         **********

Of course, these tips won't work for everyone. When we read, "The Five Love Languages," I found out that Southern Hubby's love language is Acts of Service. He feels most loved when I do the thing that need doing, when I'm not being lazy around the house. He likes to feel taken care of. Well, being a housewife, I think that should be pretty easy! But sadly, I can get lost in doing things for the house and not necessarily him.

I'd encourage you to find out what you and your husband's love languages are and work towards developing habits to show him you love him. You can both take the test here.

Have fun! :)

Did someone say cream cheese?

Nothing says fall like pumpkins and spices. I'm so loving all these fall posts I'm reading. And I'm happy that some people haven't forgotten about a little holiday called Thanksgiving. Seems like the retail stores went straight from Halloween to Christmas stuff. What the heck?

In order to maintain my mood in the fall spirit, I did a little baking yesterday. I know there are several recipes of these floating around the Internet and once I saw they were topped with cream cheese frosting, I knew I had to make them. {Sadly, if you put cheese anything on a pile of rocks, I'd probably eat it.} But I got this particular recipe from Hoosier Homemade. )SO loving this blog, by the way. You must check her out!)

They're seriously scrumptious and pretty darn easy to make.

Pumpkin Spice Bars Recipe:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon {I added a smidge more for a spicier taste}
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 can (15oz) of pumpkin {not pumpkin pie filling}

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt & soda) in a bowl and set aside.

In another large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well. {I used my KitchenAid mixer)
Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a cake tester/toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

* {I ended up using a deeper baking dish so I added 15 minutes to my cooking time. Trust the toothpick method. When it doesn't jiggle like my thighs and the toothpick comes out clean, it's done.}

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:

1 (3 oz) pkg of cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla {never imitation; splurge for the good kind}
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, mix well and then gradually add the powdered sugar. Beat until mixture is smooth.

{Or cheat like I did and go buy some from Mr. D. Hines. He's a nice guy. He'll sell you some.}

Frost bars. Cut into squares. For a cute effect, top with candy corns and candy pumpkins. :)

Enjoy!
 
PS- Come back early next week for an super cool giveaway. I'm seriously digging this one. And it's a perfect stocking stuffer! :)

Thank You Cookies & Dishtowel

I know I mentioned it previously, but we hadn't technically seen the house we were going to spend lots of dough on. We saw the floorplan, saw the elevation, but never saw it actually built out with walls and stuff. (Yeah, you're not the first person to think I lost my mind.)

Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Same Floorplan came along and opened up their home to us! We were able to see the house with real life walls (imagine that!) and fully furnished. We were so grateful. Not only did we get a real sense of the house but they also let us in on some design and building tips they learned while they built.

They live just around the corner from our future home so I wanted to make sure to thank them for their hospitality. I decided to bake them some chocolate chip and walnut cookies from my favorite cookie book and deliver it to their doorstep. I've done this before several years ago to welcome a couple across our street to our neighborhood. They loved it (why don't people do things like this anymore?!), so thought I'd try the idea again.

To add some pressure to myself, cause I don't have enough stress, I thought I'd dabble in whipping up my own dishtowel. I've been dying to try a project from this book I got for Christmas and this was the perfect opportunity.

Man, I love patchwork. I was so intimidated to try it at first, but it's not bad at all.

However, it wasn't as easy to 'whip up' as I thought it would be. I needed to teach myself a mini lesson on mitering corners. And hemming the edges gave me some trouble just cause I was working with some tiny hem lengths.

In the end, I think it all turned out just fine. The dishtowel didn't look completely homemade and the cookies turned out delicious! :)

I'll have to continue this story later cause we decided 100% we're going with a different floorplan now. (I told you we are some crazies!) We're very, very excited in this change of plans.

I won't lie. I had one of the extras for breakfast this morning.

I'll update soon! Have a fab weekend, y'all!
xoxo

Today...

... I will be completing my second day of training of the Couch to 5K program. My first day's training kicked my butt. Thank God, I had my Polar F7. It really did help keep me going and I was able to see how many calories I'd burned afterwards. 804 kcals, baby! Worth every cent I paid for it!

... My throat is hurting a bit but I'm more focused on Southern Hubby who is really a sicky-poo right now.

... I finished my J.Crew wanna be ruffle shirt. It cost me $7. Much less than the one I was going to get from J. Crew. I got the shirt at Joanns and used some old knit shirts that I found in my Goodwill pile. It was pretty easy to make. If anyone would like a tutorial for it, let me know and I'll see if I can get one up! 

... I got a surprising email from a national cable TV station with an interesting opportunity. Hmmmm...

 ... I'm wishing I had a couple leftover Superbowl cookies I made last weekend. But not enough to have to re-clean up the mess they made during the last round.

.... I plan on doing the same thing I did last night. Have a cup of tea, read, and work on some knitting. Yes, I'm a gal in my late 20's. No, I do not spend my nights in bars anymore. And I like it that way, thankyouverymuch! ;)

... I dreaming of another ruffle project to do. So many possibilities!

Today will be a good day. :)

xoxo

Moving on...to pizza

Morning gals! After praying on it a bit, I've decided to move on. I'm going to be a bit more a cautious of what I write and the pictures I show from now on though.

Anyway, (just in time for lunch!)I wanted to share a fun recipe with y'all. The other evening, I had the biggest craving for pizza. I loooooove cheese pizza. Love. I'd never made pizza dough from scratch, but I figured it was a good day to learn. I ended up using Paula Deen's dough recipe and it was fabulous! It's very easy and hard to mess up. :)

I had to use my Lucy pizza making skills when tossing the dough. As you can see, it didn't turn out in a perfect circle. But that doesn't affect the taste one bit, thankfully!

And it was really a fun time in the kitchen with Southern Hubby! I'm always on the lookout for bonding opportunities with my husband and this was a great one! We tried to see who got the best circle, had fun with the flour, and ended up with some funny memories. :)

Do this one tonight, gals. :) Promise you won't regret it!

Happy cheesy pizza!

xoxo

New blog find!

Just wanted to check in really quick and let you know I found a nice blog today while waiting for my mother in law to shop at Coldwater Creek. She's funny, godly, likes to sew, and has awesome cooking recipes.

Hope you like her place just as much as I did! :)

Happy browsing!

xoxo Y

Happy February, y'all!

Can you believe that February is already here? Wasn't it just New Years?! Craziness!

How were y'all's weekends? We had a very low key one. Friday was date night and my choice... so what did I pick? I told Southern Hubby that more than anything I wanted to put on my comfiest flannel pjs, get into our super warm and soft bed, order in from a local Italian restaurant, and catch up on our tivo'ed shows. And that is precisely what we did! And oh honey- it was wonderful! Flannel, carbs, and my guy- what more could a girl ask for?

I cleaned my booty off on Saturday morning and attended a party at night thrown by one of my besties. She made probably the best margaritas I think I have ever had in my entire life. Seriously. But I was DD for the night so I didn't get to have much. Better safe than sorry. Sunday was the Superbowl but during the morning and early afternoon I set to work on my craft room. I got 80% of it finished and I can't tell you how happy this makes me! Now I can sew, make my jewelry, and whatever else my heart desires in a clean and organized space! Eeek!!

So let's back up to last week and my goals for HHM and MAHHM.

I am happy to report that I did really well on my first goal. I think I made some awesome progress on my spiritual morning time. I figured out a way to journal and pray that I'm really comfortable with. And I'm going to participate in a Bible reading challenge, but I've decided that I'm not going to worry about finishing it in a year. I don't plan on dragging my feet, but I think it's good for me to not worry about time constraints. If I'm rushed to meet a certain deadline and I never do, I'll feel like a failure and it will completely overshadow all good that I will have learned. I really loved a line that I read in my new book. I'll have to look it up and post it here asap. It was very fitting. I'll go in more detail on my routine later this week. So, I'm going to keep that number one on my goal list because I value this time so much. And it really does dictate how the rest of my day will go.

You're going to laugh (and I'll bet you already knew this) but, I didn't finish my other curtain panel. HOWEVER- I don't think you can appreciate how bad my craft room was (when I moved it all in, it was the holidays and I didn't have time to touch a thing until a few days ago) so I might have to give you a glimpse of it. So I decided that I'm going to give myself a break, because this room took about two days and that was with dear Southern Hubby's help! Bless his sweet heart. As I said, it's still not finished but it makes a world of difference. I have a lot of little boxes full of sewing notions to organize and I'll vacuum and steam clean the carpet, but that's about it. And even though I didn't get to my curtain panel, I'm sublimely happy. I think I'll spend some time in this room tomorrow...

Southern Housewife's Challenges for February 2nd-9th:

1. Continue becoming comfortable in my morning routine, remembering that it takes 21 days of repetition to make something a habit.

2. Make my niece an applique t-shirt for Saint Valentine's Day. I already have an idea in my head and I'm so excited to get started on it!

3. Work on a care package for my sweet sissy who is a sophomore in college. Her freshman year I sent her some cute cards that had "Send cookies now! Love, Sissy" and on the other side I addressed it to me and put a stamp on it. So, whenever she felt like my homemade cookies, she'd just pop the card in the mail, and I'd overnight her some the next day! I loved getting them! It feels like just the other day I was walking the same campus she is, and attending class in the same rooms. I get a little sad thinking it was 5 years ago. :( And in the fall, my littlest sissy is going to be there, too!

4. Should I even put in on here?! Okay...I'll try to get to my curtains. Cross my heart.

Off to photography class!

Happy planning!

xoxo