My Top 10 Recipes of 2012

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Wow, it's hard to believe this year has come to an end, but here we are.  I was checking my blog stats and thought I'd share with you my 10 most popular recipes for 2012.  Be safe if you plan to be out this evening - designated drivers are super cool people!

#10 -- Lemon Cupcakes with French Vanilla Buttercream

#9 -- 5-Star Ham and Potato Soup

#8 -- Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

#7 -- Best Ever Blueberry Muffins

#6 -- Pains d'Amande

#5 -- Homemade Gnocchi Tutorial

#4 -- Biscoffee Cake (and a cake tip)

#3 -- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

#2 -- Skinny Cream of Broccoli Soup

#1 -- Spaghetti and Meatball Pie

 I hope each and every one of you have a very safe and Happy 2013!!

Classic Creme Brulee

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Classic Creme Brulee - ButterYum

In our family we have a traditional of celebrating birthdays with a special meal - the guest of honor picks all their favorite foods, including dessert.  Now that our oldest is engaged, I thought it was appropriate to include our future daughter in law in this tradition.  When asked, she didn't hesitate listing the items she wanted for her special dinner.  Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Black Cherry and Raspberry Reduction, dinner rolls, and her childhood favorite green bean casserole.  Oh, and for dessert - Creme Brulee.  I love Creme Brulee so I was happy she asked for it.  Yes, it's rich and super high in calories, but it'so delicious I don't mind splurging every now and then.  
Note:  If you're like me and prefer your creme brulee to have a crunchy caramelized top layer over a COLD creamy custard, be sure to use deep ramekins (shallow ramekins will allow the cold custard to get very warm during the torching process).



Classic Creme Brulee
makes six 8-ounce servings
Printable Recipe

4 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split (*or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
1/2 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
Turbinado Sugar

Preheat oven to 325F. In a medium sauce pan, heat the cream and vanilla bean* until the mix simmers.  Remove pan from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. In a bowl whisk together the sugar and yolks until they are a pale yellow. Whisk cream into the egg mixture and pour into 6 custard dishes. *If using vanilla extract, whisk it into the egg and sugar mixture (don't heat it with the cream).

Place 8-ounce ramekins or custard dishes in a large baking dish lined with a towel. Pour boiling water into baking dish so the level of water reaches half way up the ramekins. Bake for 30 minutes or until custard is firm but still wiggles. Chill for at least one hour. Top with an even layer of Turbinado sugar and use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar.  Alternately, you can caramelize the sugar under a broiler, being careful to not allow the cold custard to warm too much.

Note:  Pure vanilla extract may be used instead of splitting a vanilla bean, but the vanilla bean gives a much better flavor.

Delicious Cookie Recipe..."Nana's Good Cookie"

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Hi everyone!! If you're looking for a last minute cookie recipe to bake for the holidays (or any time of year, actually), this is our family favorite.

This is my mom's recipe and her recipe card was titled "Good Cookie", so that's what we call them...Good Cookies.

In honor of my mom, I want to share her recipe for Good Cookies. We miss her every day, but especially during the holidays.


This cookie is sugary, crispy and tender at the same time. The recipe makes a lot too...80+ cookies, depending on the size you make them.

Good Cookie

1 cup oil1 cup butter, softened1 cup packed brown sugar1 cup sugar1 cup plain corn flakes1 cup quick cook oatmeal3 1/2 cups flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt1 egg, beaten1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 cup chopped nuts...I use walnutsextra white sugar for topping
Mix all ingredients together in large bowl with a mixer. Hand roll a spoonful of dough into a ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. I roll my balls about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.
Take a drinking glass and moisten the flat bottom of the glass on a wet or dampened paper towel.  Then dip the wet glass in a bowl of white sugar. Flatten each ball with the sugared glass. Flatten to about a 1/4 inch. 
You can also use colored sugar for the holidays too!!
Bake at 375* 8-10 minutes or until golden on the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
Dough may be refrigerated for several days before baking.


Enjoy,
~Karen~

Shout-Out Post Number Four: Tips From My Fellow RDs About Making The Most Of Your Farmer's Market Visit!

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This week, August 5-11th,is National Farmer’s Market Week so I thought it would be fitting to write a post highlighting farmer’s markets including some great tips and information from a few fellow RDs in the Food and Culinary Professionals Dietetic Practice Group I belong to, a group Dietitian Shout-Out post per se :) Farmer’s Markets are on the rise, according to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Website “direct marketing of farm products through farmers markets continues to be an important sales outlet for agricultural producers nationwide. As of mid-2011, there were 7,175 farmers markets operating throughout the U.S. This is a 17 percent increase from 2010.” Luckily there is increased interest in obtaining foods locally, directly from the farm and I think the USDA website states the purpose of a farmer’s market best: “Farmers markets allow consumers to have access to locally grown, farm fresh produce, enables farmers the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with their customers, and cultivate consumer loyalty with the farmers who grows the produce.”

I wholeheartedly admit that I NEED to visit my local farmer’s market more often, and this is one of my goals this year. I picked up a couple of nice suggestions and some key information about making the most of a farmers market visit from a few of my RD colleagues too! Karen K. Ehrens, RD, LRD of Ehrens Consulting makes an important point- “I think one of the greatest things folks can get from a market is meeting the producers and the folks at the market. Shopping a farmers market is so much more than just a transaction of dollars. It is an opportunity to know from where your food comes and the people who are growing it. You can learn so much about the seed, the care, the time and the challenges of growing food. If your growers are still at market, you are lucky. The drought affecting 65% of the United States is also taking a toll on small produce growers. If you go, thank your grower!” Carrie Peacock MS, RD, LD, a Culinary Dietitian suggests “ask the farmer when the food was picked or harvested and if they have any favorite recipes.” Toby Amidor, MS RD CDN, of Toby Amidor Nutrition, has some AWESOME tips for navigating the farmer’s market, click HERE to check out the post on her blog including how to pick the best produce and some great food safety info too! And for additional important information on food safety at the farmers' market, HERE is a wonderful recent post on the Food Network’s Healthy Eats Blog by Dana Angelo White, MS RD ATC, Nutrition Consultant Certified Athletic Trainer. Need some inspiration for what to do with all the great produce you pick up? Go the veggies section of my blog for some easy recipes! Many of my dessert recipes feature some great fruits as well!!
 

Turning Four And Looking Forward To Another New Year!!

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Another year has passed by and I am celebrating my FOURTH year of blogging and still going strong! I am continuing to increase my readership and improve my photos (many have been accepted on food sites like Tastespotting, Foodgawker, and Healthy Aperture!)  I also joined the Recipe ReDux group and have been enjoying creating recipes for their monthly challenge! This has been a great year of developing lots of yummy and healthy recipes too, especially my protein bars!  Thanks so much for all your support and I look forward to another fun year of cooking and blogging!  Here’s to a awesome new year- but first, here are some of my favorite recipes of 2012!  Oat Raisin Cookie Dough Protein Bars
 Vegan Pumpkin Almond Oat Cookies or Bars 
Lentil Taco Filling
Carrot Cake Pancakes
Summer Squash Noodles
Single Serve Banana Pecan Baked Oats
Greek Chicken Pizza
Sausage And Brussels Skillet
Almond Cranberry White Chocolate Oat Squares

The Best of 2012

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2012 has now come to a close.  Looking back through a full year of posts reminded me of all the special celebrations I made treats for, all the sweets I’ve shared with family and friends, and all the fun little projects I’ve had the privilege of sharing with you over the past year.  Thank you for an amazing year!

This blog has become such a big part of my life.  I often stay up very late working on posts, my kitchen almost always shows the signs (the mess) of my current “project”, and my grocery bill is full of more pounds of butter and cream cheese than I care to calculate!  This is my passion, my hobby and my job.  I take it very seriously, and it is very important to me.  I guess it sounds funny to say I take making cupcakes and cookies “very seriously”… but I do.  It’s part of who I am.  Between planning posts, baking and decorating treats, taking photos, writing posts, replying to e-mails, and lots of other little things that keep this site running, I spend many hours a week on this “little” blog.  It is a lot of work… but also very rewarding!

After a long day that may include failed recipes, photos that took much longer than planned, more e-mail questions than I have time to answer, and a family (my sweet family) who somehow needs dinner every night… I will get an e-mail… an e-mail that keeps me going.  An e-mail from a 12 year old who is learning to bake using my recipes, an e-mail from a mom who just used my ideas to pull off a beautiful party, an e-mail from someone who took cookies into work that were “a huge hit”, and sometimes an e-mail from someone just saying thanks for all the things I share.  What I’m telling you is your words are very important to me… in fact, they are everything.

If you have spent time on my site this year reading posts, thank you!   If you “like” me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, thank you!  If you have left an occasional sweet comment, thank you!  If you have sent me an encouraging e-mail, thank you!   Your support and encouragement mean I can continue doing what I love… baking, party styling, crafting… and for that I am very, very grateful!

I chose a few unscientific approach at choosing my “top 10″ posts of the year… I looked at the posts that had been pinned to Pinterest the most, posts that received the most comments, and posts that were personal favorites of mine… and kind of merged them together to create this list.

Without further ado, here are some of your (and my) favorites of the year…

Heart Cutout Cupcakes

Early in the year I made these sweet, heart cupcakes.  Like many projects, this concept (originally from Just Jenn Recipes) had been on my “to bake” list for quite some time.  I was so glad to finally get to play with the idea.  I liked it so much I made a St. Patrick’s Day version a couple months later.

Vintage Bunting Baby Shower

This baby shower was extra special to me!  This was for my younger sister and her very first little baby, a sweet boy.  I had a great time planning the details, and then sharing the day celebrating this beautiful occasion with our friends and family.  In addition to all the party details (in the link above), I did a full post with the Fabric Bunting Sewing Tutorial.

Banana Caramel Cream Dessert

This one actually surprised me… this post (and this image) was my #1 most pinned post of the year!   I guess when you layer homemade pastry cream, whipped cream, bananas and caramel… you really can’t go wrong!

Purple Ombre Mini Cakes

These mini cakes were inspired by my original Pink Ombre Swirl Cake (from August 2011).  I saw lots of pretty versions of my larger Ombre Swirl Cake pop up all of the internet this year.  I love the colors of these mini cakes, and hope to have time in 2013 to try other color variations.  These little cakes were also featured in an August issue of Woman’s World Magazine (one of four features of my work in Woman’s World Magazine this year!)

Grace’s Cake Decorating Party

My oldest daughter, Grace, is a craft loving, art loving, mini baker and requested a cake decorating party for her 8th birthday.  We had a great day, and all the little guests really enjoyed decorating their own mini cakes.

Watermelon Krispie Treats

These watermelon shaped krispie treats (directly inspired by Dine and Dish) were so fun to make!  I made several batches these cute treats over the summer.  Later in the year, I made some Candy Corn Krispie Treats, and then Christmas Tree Treats using the same concept.

Strawberry Blueberry Cheesecake Trifles

These cute, simple and delicious treats were based on my Cherries on a Cloud, and Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse.  The basic cheesecake filling is so easy to make, and is delicious with any variety of toppings!

Blackberry Vanilla Cupcakes in a Jar

 Continuing my love of desserts in jars, I snuck in a couple more this year!  One of my favorite (and quite popular) elements of these cupcakes was the use of a cupcake liner as a jar topper.  I’ve used this idea several more times, as it’s such a simple and pretty way to finish off a jar of treats.

3-D Pumpkin Cookies

The idea for these 3-D cookies was born early in the year, and it was hard to wait until fall to share it!  It was one of the fun times (and few times!) that an idea I had in my head actually came together the way I had imagined!  Later in the year I made some 3-D Christmas Drum Cookies using the same concept.

Gingerbread Cookies, for a Gingerbread House Decorating Party

I made lots of decorated cookies this year!  These sweet gingerbread people were certainly the simplest of the bunch… but they represent so much of what I love about baking.  They are cute, delicious, and are very likely to make you smile… and for those reasons they are pretty much perfect to me.  I made these for a Gingerbread House Decorating Party we hosted for my daughter’s and their friends.  It was a beautiful way to kick off the Christmas season and it was a very special day of enjoying sweets, being creative, and spending time with friends.

Did you see your favorites in this post?

Did you make any recipes, or try any ideas from my site this year?

Any special request for things you like to see more of in 2013?

I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you again sweet readers for making 2012 a wonderful year!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Ideas All In One Place...

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Hi everyone!! I know this time of year can get so busy and our time is very precious. I did a little updating on my blog, so I thought I would share it with you for easy holiday inspiration...




I finally had a chance to update my Christmas Page and added some posts that I had done in the past and some recent ones too...in case you missed them. If you CLICK HERE, it will bring you to the updated Christmas page.
I hope the next few weeks can be stress free for all of us!!
Enjoy,~Karen~

Sew Darn Crafty Linking Party...Week 94

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Hi everyone!! Here's to another wonderful linky party. I hope you can share some of your wonderful projects this week and I also hope you enjoy all the links everyone share!!





WHAT IS A LINKING PARTY...
I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.
Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking

• you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or
• you can share what you've been up to (linking)

If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger who was willing to share her thoughts and ideas.

HOW AND WHAT TO LINK TO THE PARTY...
Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration
Easy steps to join in on the fun...

• link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post. Copy and paste the address that's at the top of your computer into the linky steps.
• link as many projects as you'd like...old or new
• anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...
• visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!
• linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in
• just click the blue "click here to enter" button which is at the very END...below all the other picture links that everyone has shared. Click and follow the easy steps

If you want to add the button to your blog's side bar or add it to your list of parties that you're in each week...Click HERE for a tutorial for adding a button


Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week~Karen~

Delicious Cookie Recipe..."Nana's Good Cookie"

To contact us Click HERE
Hi everyone!! If you're looking for a last minute cookie recipe to bake for the holidays (or any time of year, actually), this is our family favorite.

This is my mom's recipe and her recipe card was titled "Good Cookie", so that's what we call them...Good Cookies.

In honor of my mom, I want to share her recipe for Good Cookies. We miss her every day, but especially during the holidays.


This cookie is sugary, crispy and tender at the same time. The recipe makes a lot too...80+ cookies, depending on the size you make them.

Good Cookie

1 cup oil1 cup butter, softened1 cup packed brown sugar1 cup sugar1 cup plain corn flakes1 cup quick cook oatmeal3 1/2 cups flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt1 egg, beaten1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 cup chopped nuts...I use walnutsextra white sugar for topping
Mix all ingredients together in large bowl with a mixer. Hand roll a spoonful of dough into a ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. I roll my balls about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.
Take a drinking glass and moisten the flat bottom of the glass on a wet or dampened paper towel.  Then dip the wet glass in a bowl of white sugar. Flatten each ball with the sugared glass. Flatten to about a 1/4 inch. 
You can also use colored sugar for the holidays too!!
Bake at 375* 8-10 minutes or until golden on the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
Dough may be refrigerated for several days before baking.


Enjoy,
~Karen~

How To Back Up Your Entire Blog...2 Steps

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Hi everyone! Just a few days ago I had an issue with my blog. I still don't know what happened, but pages weren't opening correctly and things were missing. It magically corrected itself, but made me realized...I need to back up my blog more.

I have made a plan to back up once a week, every Monday morning. I blog a lot during the week, so I need to back up more than I have in the past.

I blog with Blogger, so I will be showing you the "How Tos" with Blogger, but if you blog with Wordpress or Typepad, please research how to back up your blog!!! It's so important. You don't want to lose all your hard work.

There are 2 parts to backing up your blog.

1. Backing up your template
2. Backing up your posts and comments

How To Back Up Your Entire Blog...

Part 1. How To Back Up Your Template

Go to your Dashboard and click the drop down box that I'm pointing to with the red arrow.


Select the TEMPLATE button...


Go to the upper right corner where it says BACKUP/RESTORE...Click that


Then you will click "DOWNLOAD FULL TEMPLATE".

On my iMac, it went to my download section...your computer might be different.

Part 2. How To Back Up Posts and Comments...

Go to Dashboard again and click drop down arrow to SETTINGS.

Then go to the bottom left and click "OTHER"


Then you will click EXPORT BLOG...


Then click DOWNLOAD BLOG...

There is a link to the help section if you want to read it first. Just click the "Learn More" when you are on that page.


That's it!! Two easy steps to back up your entire blog.

I think it's a good idea to get in the habit of backing your blog up on a regular basis...at least once a week if you blog often.

Happy Blogging,
~Karen~