SHE: Thanksgiving Begins...

Hey Y’all,

We are a little over a week away from Thanksgiving!! I am so excited. I love everything about Thanksgiving. I like the colors, the smells, the cool temps (usually) and the casseroles!!  I love a good casserole. To me, the turkey ~ which most consider the “main dish” of the holiday… is a side note.  Now don’t get me wrong, my hubby will fry us a delicious turkey and it will be devoured. But I love to fill my plate with the yummy goodness of the many casseroles we have.   It’s funny, they are all typically easy to prepare, yet I rarely make them except during the holidays. Maybe I will make that a new idea and make them more throughout the year. Think that will take away some of their specialness? (I am really not sure that is a word.)

What about you? Are you a meat and potatoes girl or a casserole taster?  My favorite is sweet potato casserole. Lisa has a delicious recipe in our cookbook. It’s like a dessert it is so yummy. But then you have hash brown casserole, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, squash casserole, corn casserole, macaroni and cheese casserole and the list goes on… What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Like many of you, we will be making our grocery lists this week.  I plan to be sharing ideas with you about our Thanksgivings and “How we do them”.  We would love to know your family’s favorite Thanksgiving foods and your tips for a successful holiday dinner.

xoxo,

Amy

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Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day 2017  ~

Enjoying the day with our family and hoping you are able to do so too!! Grateful for the

men and women who made

this day possible.

Back soon with some tips and tricks to share

with you all.

xoxo, 

        Amy

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SHE Thinks Easter (Last Minute)

Hey y'all! So as I'm sure you know, Easter is Sunday. AKA three days away! 

In true slacker form, I've not done a thing as far as decoration, crafts, or baking! Oops! 

I quickly scanned Pinterest for "quick easy Easter" - below are some cute ideas I found that I thought I'd share with you!

So how cute is this bunny garland? I love the little cotton ball tails. 

Image via Pinterest

These eggs are a great way to add a little extra decoration without having plastic eggs laying around. This would also be fun for the kids to help with if they were a little older!

Image via Pinterest

I think this button egg is my favorite! So cute, so easy, and so many possibilities!! 

Image via Pinterest

I love this snack because it's festive, sweet (peeps), and healthy (fruit). A win-win for everyone!

Image via Pinterest

Finally - you can't go wrong with Rice Krispy's! Add some food coloring to the melted marshmallows before you add the cereal and shape like eggs for these cute and yummy treats!

Image via Pinterest

Hope this helped get the creative juices flowing if you're like me and haven't done a thing. 

Happy Easter!

xo Courtney

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SHE: Tips for Holiday Baking

Hey *|FNAME|*,

Hope you have recovered from the holiday weekend.  Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday baking season for me.  And I am sure it does for you too.  Today I want to share a few tips with you to help make your treats extra tasty.

image via Bing

When baking cakes or cookies using eggs that are at room temperature makes a big difference in the texture. They will be lighter and fluffier.  If you are in a hurry, soak eggs in warm water for 10-15 minutes to bring them to room temperature. Then bake according to your recipe.

Butter versus margarine:  unless the recipe specifically calls for butter, you should be okay using margarine in your recipe.  Butter is a must for pastry, candies, sugar cookies and shortbreads. 

Whichever you  choose the temperature of your butter or margarine is more important.  Too soft, cookies will spread out too much, too cool and the mixture won't cream together well. It will take 30-45 minutes for the butter to reach room temperature.  The finger poke test is the best indicator for the correct temperature.  Poke your finger into the stick of butter, if your finger makes an indention in the butter, it is ideal temperature and will make the best cookie. This is a great article!

When making rolled or cut off cookies, separate the dough. Keep 1/2 in the refrigerator and roll out the other. Keeps it from getting too soft.

I keep evaporated milk on hand for baking too. I substitute it for water in recipes for a richer flavor.  You can also use Almond milk or heavy cream to improve your recipe flavors ~ low fat is never a option! It 's a dessert, just embrace it. 

Keep a few boxed brownie mixes on hand for when you need a quick dessert, but don't have a lot of time.  Adding an extra egg, using whole milk and a teaspoon of vanilla will really bring a homemade taste to your dessert.  You can also add 1/2 cup of chocolate, toffee or butterscotch chips, nuts, chocolate syrup or caramel... whatever flavors you like. 

One last tip~ parchment paper. It is life changing when baking. (Now, don't confuse it with wax paper.. wax paper does not go in the oven)

What do think? Were you already familiar with these tips?  We love to share and plan to have more over the next few weeks.   I will be baking several of my traditional Christmas treats and will be sharing my recipes with you.  We would love you to share some of your family favorites with us. You can  never have too many good recipes.

Let's kick off the season of baking!!     

Xoxo,

Amy

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SHE: Wishes You a Happy Halloween

    Hoping you and yours have a fun treat filled Halloween ~

If you need a few last minute ideas, follow us on Pinterest and I bet we can help you out. 

And here are so jokes your kiddos will love. 

Trick or Treat friends!!

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Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!!

Oh my goodness, Can you believe it is the 4th of July?  Summer is going way too fast for me. How about you?  I love a reason to celebrate and when we get a long weekend - that's just more days to spread out the celebrations. 

I hope you get to enjoy the holiday with all the ones you love.  Between cookouts and swimming and the fireworks extravaganza take a moment and remember those who made this celebration possible.  How fortunate we are to live in a country where we are free to worship and celebrate without fear. 

America is the home of the free because of the brave!

 Happy 4th of July ~

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SHE: Celebrates

Hey Y’all,

image via google

Happy Memorial Day!! For us, Memorial Day is the official the kickoff to summer.  School is out for the kiddos. The long weekend will be filled with plenty of BBQ’s, picnics, parades, swimming and family time.  Which by the way I love! I bet you do too. 

But do you know what the celebrating is all about?  According to Wikipedia:

“Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering

the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 186

8, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. By the 20th

image via google

century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.”

So enjoy your festivities but also to take some time to remember & reflect on those men and women (& their families) who went before us to make the world a safer place for us all.

Celebrate big!!                                                            

                         XOXO,

Amy

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter Friends,

Hope you had a lovely time celebrating with family and friends.  For empty nesters, ours was jam packed.  Incredible church service and then yummy dinner with our family.  Due to family schedules, sharing our newlyweds and family traveling home from an out of town visit, I prepared dinner for us all.  I really enjoy cooking for everyone & it was pretty yummy~ but I was a little tired at the end of the day.

Easter has always been a very traditional holiday for us: church, big dinner, Easter baskets and what seems like at least 25 Easter egg hunts.  We have also always made a "bunny" cake for dessert. But this year I ended up making a white cake with a yummy marshmallow buttercream frosting I had never made this recipe before and it was very good. I am not a coconut fan, my family is.. so 1/2 was topped with coconut and 1/2 was plain.  Sorry~ no picture of the finished product but I promise there were a few slices remaining.

What are your Easter traditions?  We never focused too much on the Bunny ~ I tried to make sure Brittney knew that Easter was about God sending his son to die on the cross for our sins. But... she did always get an Easter basket, typically with "spring/summer" things- a new swimsuit, sidewalk chalk, jump rope and a little candy.  (Babies with parents in the dental field don't usually get too much candy for any holiday!)

How ever you celebrated this special holiday I hope it was special to you and the ones you love. 

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Who Doesn’t Love Christmas Cookies?

Hey Y’all,

Hope you are soaking in every bit of the Christmas season that you can.  We are on the final countdown and if you are like me it is coming very fast.   A favorite activity for our family is baking special treats.   Well, I bake and Mike samples.  It works for us.  This year I have made quite a few. Check out our Pinterest board for all of the recipes. She Degree Pinterest

I like these because they are really pretty easy to make and they make a nice gift.   I sent several treat bags with my husband to work to share with his friends. The treats were Buckeyes, Sugar Cookies and Pecan Tassies.

Buckeyes taste really good, but my chocolate doesn’t swirl as pretty as I would like…. I think I need a little more practice.    Check out this link for great directions. BuckEyes

Image via Pinterest

      My sugar cookie recipe is very easy and they are probably the best sugar cookies I have ever had.  Dressed with a confectioner’s sugar glaze and sugar sprinkles make some very pretty snowflakes, don’t you think?     

                 Sugar Cookies

• 4¾ Cup Flour
• 1½ tsp Baking Powder
• ¾ tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Margarine
• 1½ Cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1½ tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
2. Beat margarine and sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs. Fold in Vanilla.
4. Stir in flour mixture.
5. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.
6. Roll out dough until it's about ¼ - ½ inch thick
7. Cut into your favorite cookie cutter shapes
8. Bake at 350 degrees in pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes.

 

Glaze/Frosting:  Mix with fork 1 cup powdered sugar and 4 tsp milk. You can add more powdered sugar to make it thicker. Add more milk to make it a glaze. You can use this on anything to give it just a little extra sweetness.

 

Pecan Tassies

The Pecan Tassies are probably my favorite.

Crust: ½ cup butter    3 oz cream cheese    1 c. flour

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth, stir in flour.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Filling:  1 egg   ¾ c brown sugar 1T butter melted   1 tsp vanilla   dash of salt   ½ c chopped pecans

Stir together egg, sugar, butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. 

Shape chilled flour mixture into 1” balls. Place in mini muffin cups that have been sprayed with cooking spray.  Press dough on the bottom and up the sides of the muffin cup. Spoon 1 tsp of pecans into each muffin cup. Fill to the top with egg mixture.  Bake @ 325 degrees for 25 minutes or until mixture is set. Cool on cookie sheets and remove from pan. 

Pampered Chef makes a great wooden press that is perfect for spreading the crust into the muffin pans.  Pampered Chef.

 

My tip for the day ~ prepare  your cookie dough the day before you want to bake.  The chilled dough bakes better and the kitchen is not quite as messy.  I hope you will want to try these out for yourself.  Who knows, they may become your new holiday cookie ~ 

                                                xoxo, 

                                                                  Amy

 

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