A new cookie cutter!

We wanted a cookie cutter that looked like the Irish dance dresses...  This weekend we have a "ceili" - that is an Irish gathering of music, dance and food! 

I used a large round cookie cutter (it was $1.59) and made a paper one, then undid it and marked the metal one with lines where I needed to bend it "in" or "out."

 First dress (using Mom's butter cookie)...it came out so nicely!

All ready to go into the oven.  Olivia was pretty excited!

Both Hannah and Olivia helped me to decorate these cookies, using a simple homemade icing (confectioner sugar and lemon juice).  Which do you like the best?
I was inspired by these cookies:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/11118330303935824/

Popcorn and cranberries...

We used a needle and thread to string cranberries and popcorn...and then hung it on the Christmas tree we got last year (which we planted in our front yard), for the animals to enjoy.  There are a few pinecones hanging on the tree, too...we smeared peanut butter on them and then rolled them in birdseed.

We made vegan gingerbread.  This is one of my favorite recipes!  I decorated mine using all natural nuts and raisins and some dried ginger for buttons.

We made icing using the juice from 4 lemons and confectioner sugar.  Yum!  I ♥ ginger and lemon.  The girls used lots of coloured sprinkles. 

Olivia made 2 special cookies, one for Grammie (with white coconut for hair) and one for Peepaw (beard of white coconut)!

We babysat my Godson, Timothy, yesterday and today again for a few hours.  His big sister, Sofia, is 4 years old and battling cancer...her heart stopped twice late on Monday, so she is at the hospital.  They did surgery and she is still in a lot of pain.  Please keep her in your prayers...and her parents, Sergiy and Maryna.
Sofia a few months ago with an older woman from our church:

We made paper snowflakes, while he took a nap.

He admired them.

Olivia dancing with Timothy.

Tomorrow is St. Nicholas day for those of us Orthodox Christians who follow the old calendar.  I sewed 14 fabric bags 2 weeks ago, for the kids in our homeschooling group...and plan to put some goodies in the two for my girls.  I ♥ fabric bags you can reuse!

Butter cookies

My husband ordered this cookie cutter for me.  It's made in Germany.  And it's awesome, you can personalize your cookies with a message or someone's name on it. 

Butter cookies (this is the recipe my mom always used, about half the sugar that the average sugar cookies recipe calls for, and super scrumptious):

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (or lemon or almond)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Blend butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together well.  Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the butter mixture.  Chill for about an hour.  Roll it out to about 1/4" thick and then cut and bake at 425'F for about 5 minutes.  Allow to cool.  And then you can ice them!  Enjoy ♥

P.S. Reading "Wheat Belly" is really eye-opening, but it's going to be very hard to change.  I love baking with wheat flour.

Work around this home

Happy October!  It is beginning to really feel like fall, the leaves on the neighbor's maple tree have started to change color.  Last year, we made these cookies using a butter cookie recipe and carrot juice and confectioner's sugar to make the frosting naturally orange.  We got that maple leaf cookie cutter 5 years ago while in Vermont.  We gathered some acorns, black walnuts, green and brown sweet gum spikey seed pods, leaves of various colours from around our neighborhood...

If I didn't have a runny nose and sore throat, I'd make a batch of cookies today.  Over the weekend, Hannah peeled and chopped 6 apples up to make an apple pie.  She is 11 and I'm so happy that she is such a good little baker.  Maybe she'll bake some cookies?  This morning, I sipped some Traditional Medicines throat coat tea with Ell Farm honey in it.  I'm feeling a bit better.  

 

Rob is trying to fix the washing machine right now.  Hannah and Olivia are working on their homeschooling lessons...and I will see if they need any help and work on the alphabet cross stitch. 

P.S. Check out my hand drawn cards for sale!

She's 9 years old now...

Yesterday was Olivia's 9th birthday.  I made a yellow cake from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that my parents gave while I was in college, it's falling apart, taped together, but really I use it a LOT.  For the frosting, I used:

• 1 large strawberry
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar

...and blended them in my food processor until a nice and thick consistency and then spread it atop the cake.  It was really good!  Naturally pink.

Monday was Memorial Day and so we went to visit Rob's grandma in Indiana and to take her from the nursing home to the cemetery where her husband is buried (it's been 5 years since he passed away).  He was in the Navy.  

Then we all went to Cracker Barrel.  I haven't been to one in a LONG time, maybe 10  or more years, but I liked it.  Especially when the waitress brought out cornbread and biscuits in the beginning with real butter (cream and salt were the only ingredients)!  Rare when unfortunately so many places serve margarine with a long list of horrid ingredients.

Olivia really enjoyed watching the swans at the pond in our friend's neighborhood Sunday afternoon.