I know I have been lacking on my posts for the past two weeks, but I am back!
I feel like a lot has happened since my last post...let me tell you in short:
- I took a trip up to New York for my mom's birthday 2 days before Valentine's Day {1 day before that super blizzard} and ended up staying an entire week! Why did I have all this time off? I decided to change jobs and had 2 weeks off in between...
- I got a new job! You're looking at the new {and only} Assistant Buyer for ThinkGeek!! I am back in the fashion industry, sort of. So far I am loving it there, and the lack of suits required to wear to work.
- I found this new recipe that allows you to eat all the raw cookie dough you want, with no risk of salmonella! It uses applesauce instead of eggs, who knew? You can also bake them if you want a delicious cookie without the eggs.
What you will need:
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
6 blocks chocolate-almond bark
In an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla together until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together, and with the mixer running, slowly add to the butter mixture.
Scoop out the batter using a mini ice cream scoop and roll it into balls. Place the dough balls about an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and transfer them to the freezer for 30 minutes to let the dough set up.
While the dough is chilling, melt the chocolate-almond bark in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.
Remove the chilled dough balls from the freezer. Using two spoons, dip the balls one at a time in the melted chocolate, rolling them to coat fully.
Returned the dough balls to the wax paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
First off, Happy Valentine's Day blog world! This is my first Valentine's Day as a blogger, and my first swap box!
I was matched up with Tabitha from A Hundred Tiny Wishes. As we emailed back and forth I was able to learn a lot about her, and I have made a new friend in blogland!
Some things I learned about Tabitha:
- She was born and raised in Indiana and still lives there
- She has been married for 4 years and has a 3 year old boy, oh and he was born in the same hospital that she was!
- She has lots of pets- a dog, cat, and a tortoise
- She loves owls and moose
- Her favorite color is pink
- She loves Starbucks, pink moscato, scented candles, and Benefits mascara
What Tabitha got me:
I love owls as well, coffee and chocolate!
These fuzzy socks are so cozy! And the lotion and spray smell so girly!
Cannot forget my own personalized wine glass!
While I was shopping the other week I spotted this great heart-shaped cookie cutter and knew I had to use it for Valentine's cookies.
For the cookie, I used the same recipe as my Touchdown Football Cookies {which were a hit at our Superbowl party, 3 dozen gone in a flash.}
Once the cookies cooled, I mixed the confectioner's sugar with hot water and added a drop of red food coloring to give the glaze a pink color. Then I either added lovey dovey saying or tiny sprinkles.
Enjoy!
I absolutely love oatmeal cookies! I have been using this recipe for years making them! I got the recipe from my mother's recipe box, but not sure exactly where it had originated. You can also add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts or whatever else inside them too! I personally love chocolate in anything, but I skipped it this time to hopefully be a little healthier.
What you will need:
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cup instant rolled oats
Yield: 2 dozen
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease the sheet.
Beat butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, mix well.
Stir in oats.
Using tablespoons, roll into balls. Place the round cookie balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten the cookie balls with a fork.
Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the cookies stand for 1 minute, then transfer to racks to cool.
As I impatiently awaited for the Peter Pilotto for Target collection to launch on the Target website at 12 am this morning, it never went live!
I was on the phone with my mom and sister {3 way call with my mom holding her house phone with me on the other end and her cell with my sister at the other end} trying to figure out our plan of attack. As we were researching, we found that the collection would launch sometime in the "wee hours of the morning," whatever that meant.
We decided to wake ourselves up as early as possible to check. My mom called me at 5:30 am that it had launched!
This is what I ordered, fingers crossed that none of it gets backordered!
I decided to not even bother the trek out to one of the stores this morning, knowing the mad house it will be even though I really wanted the purple floral print sleeveless dress {not sure if it's worth the $70, but Target made that decision for me!}
What were you able to score today?
I decided to give it a shot and make my own printable for Valentine's Day. I always use PicMonkey to edit my photos for my blog, so I figured making my own art wouldn't be that hard. I used some royalty free clipart found online and a little creativity.
What's more romantic than the tunnel of love? It reminds me of innocent, young love at a county fair or carnival.
Click below to print or download my printable, then hang or frame anywhere!
Click here for PDF
Enjoy!
