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Author Archives: Jennifer

Farm Stand Lemonade

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Back when Justin visited in March, I had planned to make this lemonade to go with our chicken fried steak. Timing wise, I didn’t plan very well, so we had it the next day. It was very refreshing. Since I made it a cocktail lemonade, I enjoyed a glass after I put Jessica down for bed while James and Justin enjoyed it with dinner.

Farm Stand Lemonade

Farm Stand Lemonade

Source: Sandra Lee (go here on the Food network site for a printable copy)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 1/2 cups water, divided
  • 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (it took about 6 lemons for me)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 4 shots citrus flavored vodka, optional (I used unflavored vodka, since that is what I have)
  • ice cubes
  • 4 lemon slices, optional

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over meadium heat, combine the sugar and 1 cup of the water. Heat until the sugar has just dissolved. Remove from heat and cool the mixture to room temperature (this is where poor planning on my part delayed the lemonade consumption).

In a pitcher, add the lemon juice and room temperature or chilled syrup. Stir in the remaining 3 1/2 cups of cold water and the heavy cream. Add the vodka, if desired. Serve chilled over ice; garnish with lemon slices, if desired.

Yield: 12

On a side note, you might have noticed a new tab, titled “Recipe Index” at the top of our website. It contains a list of all recipes I have posted, organized by category. I will updating this page as I add recipe posts. Do you find this useful?

Dessert for Aspen’s Baptism Party

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You might remember saying I had made dessert for Aspen’s baptism party. Here’s the post about it.

The week before her baptism and party, Aspen had been teething and needing her mama. So Julia took me up on my offer to help with a dessert for the party. I couldn’t completey make up my mind what to make, so I made two desserts.

The first dessert I made was a recipe I had book-marked from the Pioneer Woman. I have enjoyed most everything I tried from her site. The cake was even better a few days later.

Perfect Pound Cake

Perfect Pound Cake

Source: Pioneer Woman (she has a printer-friendly version on her site)

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 5 whole eggs
  • 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (I omitted since I didn’t have any)
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Sprite, 7-Up, or Sierra Mist (I used 7-Up)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cream butter. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Add egss, 1 at a time, mixing after each addition. Add butter and lemon extracts and mix well. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add soft drink, then mix together until combined. Scrape sides of bow, then mix briefly.

Pour into a greased Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until the cake is no longer jiggly.

Remove cake from oven and invert pan until cake drops out. (I did not wait until it drops out and I had it break, so be patient.) Slice and chow down!

Yield: 12

I felt the second dessert needed to be chocolate flavored, so I browsed my cookbook collection and decided upon these Cookies ‘n’ Cream Brownies.

Cookies 'n' Cream Brownies

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Brownies

Source: Taste of Home Prize Winning Recipes (go here for a printer-friendly version)

Ingredients – Cream Cheese Layer:

  • 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients – Brownie Layer:

  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa (I used unsweetened cocoa)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 12 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking pan (I used a glass baking pan).

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth; set aside. For brownie layer, combine butter, sugars and cocoa in a large mixing bowl; blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and baking powder; stir into the cocoa mixture. Stir in vanilla and cookie crumbs.

Pour into prepared pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over batter; cut through batter with knife to swirl. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen

6 Months Old

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Jessica is now six months old. Yesterday at her well-check, she weighed 16 pounds 6.4 ounces (50-75%), measured 26.4 inches long (75%), and had a head circumference of 44 cm (90%). She is still wearing 3-6 month clothes with no problem. I will need to get some bigger diaper covers soon. The majority of the daytime covers are only go up to 18 pounds.

Jessica, 4/6/10

She enjoys story time. She especially enjoys the change in voices Mommy and Daddy do. It sometimes gets her to giggling. Trying to put the books in her mouth is still probably her favorite part of story time. Jessica emphatically pats the pages and tries to turn them also.

Jessica is going to be crawling in no time. She scoots all over the living room floor, partially by rolling (front to back and back to front). If she sees something that interests her, for instance the parrot, she will stretch to try and reach it. She also has begun sticking her bottom in the air as she attempts to move around.

Jessica Reaching for the Parrot, 4/15/10

Jessica Mouthing the Parrot, 4/15/10

She has an excellent grasp and can hold items quite well, even moving from one hand to the other. I think she might be on the way to being a lefty like her Daddy, but it is still too early to tell. Her go-to thumb to suck is her left thumb. She also likes to grab the spoon with her left hand when eating. Of course, this could be partly because I try to hold onto her right hand. Recently, she has starting putting her right hand on her head and playing with her hair and I don’t want food in her hair. It’s hard enough to wash as is. I’ve come in some mornings to get her up for the day and she is sucking her left thumb and has her right hand twirling her hair or kinda resting behind her head.

Jessica still nurses four times a day, but we’ve now been experiencing solid food for two weeks. She definitely enjoys eating the rice cereal. She also likes to hold the spoon and suck/chew on it.

Jessica Enjoying Rice Cereal, 4/7/10

Jessica Holding her Spoonful of Rice Cereal, 4/9/10

The second food we tried was baked sweet potato. She did not care for this at all, but I think I might not have pureed it enough, so we shall try again.

Jessica Showing her Dislike of Sweet Potato, 4/11/10

On Thursday, we started bananas and she liked them. An unusual thing she does sometimes when I’m feeding her is to start sucking on her thumb when I remove the spoon from her mouth. I then have to move her hand once I’ve put more food on the spoon.

Am I a Monkey? 4/12/10

We’ve also started giving Jessica a sippy cup with water alongside her solid food. She has no problem drinking from the cup and can even sort of hold the cup herself.

Jessica Trying Out her Sippy Cup, 4/7/10

Jessica Sipping from the Sippy Cup, 4/15/10

Jessica now grabs on and gives us hugs. This just makes our day.

Prairie Fairy Design Team Entry

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I first found out about Prairie Fairy Digital Stamps a few weeks ago through Free Digital Stamps. Shortly thereafter, I found out about their design team call. For a week, I agonized over if I should try for it or not. In the end, I decided I might as well try.

To enter, you are supposed to make a card with an image Roberta provided. I decided to print out a number of the image in different sizes (one of the best things about digital stamps) and color them and then decide on a card. I ended up making two.

The first card uses Mojo Monday Sketch 134. I was especially inspired by Janette Olen’s take on the sketch. I decided the A2 card was pretty enough by itself and opted not to included a sentiment on the front.

Mojo Card

Stamps: Prairie Fairy DT Fairy
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Cameo Coral
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Pink Flamingo
Ink: Dell printer
Accessories: Stickles Gold; gold ribbon; yellow glitter brad
Tools: colored pencils; Stampin’ Up Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral (along punched flower edges) markers; EK Success flower punch

The second one is an 5.5-inch square easel card. I will add the sentiment on the flat part of the easel when I decide who to give the card.

Easel Card

Stamps: Prairie Fairy DT Fairy
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Pretty in Pink
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Tea Party
Ink: Dell printer
Accessories: Stickles Frosted Lace, Lavender; purple glitter brads; white sparkly ribbon
Tools: colored pencils, Stampin’ Up Blush Blossom marker

The image also would be perfect with some of my pictures of Jessica at the Wildflower Center, but I haven’t scrapped it yet.

Happy Birthday… with a cherry on top!

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I recently needed a few birthday cards, so I made four like this. I’m going to try to make a number of cards throughout the year for Operation Write Home and one of the cards I made will go to this great organization. I initially had a hard time deciding what color I wanted the ice cream to be. I finally decided chocolate would look good. I worked in a challenge making these cards: this week’s Stamp Something challenge to include stitching. See my white faux stitching along the punched trim.

Cherry Birthday Card

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Goody-Goody Gumdrops
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Real Red
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Summer Picnic
Ink: Stazon Jet Black
Tools: white gel pen; Stampin’ Up Real Red marker; Stampin’ Up Scallop Trim Border punch