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Fancy Schmancy Snickerdoodles

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My friends Julie & Betty want to help you out this holiday season with some semi homemade cookies that will surely get you, and anyone else you may share them with, into the spirit.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles 

Sounds fancy, right? Fancy, yes. Lots of work, no.

First, you need to procure some Betty Crocker Snickerdoodle mix. I found mine at Target, but I’m sure a lot of places have it as a seasonal item. If you see it, pick it up because I understand it can be hard to come by.

Ingredients:

1 pouch Betty Crocker snickerdoodle cookie mix
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips

Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Open cookie mix.
Set aside cinnamon sugar packet.

Add water, egg and cookie mix to cream cheese mixture.
Stir until soft dough forms.
Add in cranberries and white chocolate chips.


Cover & refrigerate 30 minutes.

After that horrible 30 minutes is over, drop rounded spoonfuls of dough into cinnamon sugar.
(You need to ask Santa for this cookie scoop. Perfect, uniform cookies every time.)
Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.

Place two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake a 375º for 8-9 minutes until edges are set.
Cool one minute then transfer to cooling rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen.

They are to-die-for. Guaranteed to make back injuries feel a little bit better. True story.

These can be baked up in a jiffy and are perfect holiday treats for the special people in your life. Package up a half dozen or a dozen, attach a little festive handwritten note and deliver cinnamon sugary happiness.

 You could change it up and do dark chocolate chips and chopped dried cherries or keep the white chocolate chips and sub dried blueberries. Adding some orange zest would also be a nice touch to the cranberry variety. Or what about some fresh lemon zest to the blueberry ones?

OK, go. Log off now and get the goods to make these.

Enjoy and Happy Tuesday!

Ice Cream Monday

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Hi friends!

Just popping in real quick to tell you about this little dessert I recently discovered…

You will want to make it ASAP. Perfect for last minute gatherings or for your kids’ birthday parties as an alternative to the usual birthday cake!

Inspired by this post. Here is another variation, too!

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

12-15 ice cream sandwiches

{variety of your choice ~ I used mini ice cream sammies found at Ralphs, their brand, 16 in a box}

Chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, or even Magic Shell would be fun!

Tub of Cool-whip

M&M’s or candy bar of choice {chopped up}

Use a tray or large dish to assemble this dessert. Lay a row of ice cream sandwiches onto your plate, tray or dish side by side. Spread on a layer of cool-whip, drizzle with chocolate syrup or caramel sauce and then sprinkle your candy of choice on top. Repeat with the same number of ice cream sandwiches followed by another layer of cool-whip, syrup and candy. Repeat one last time and you’re done! Place in freezer for a couple hours before serving and cut with a serrated knife.

Easy, right?

This would be fun at Christmas with the mint ice cream sandwiches and the red and green M&M’s or chopped peppermint bark.

Or what about neapolitan ice cream sammies with slices of banana in-between and topped with sliced almonds and cherries for a Banana Split Ice Cream Cake?

And I do know that they have cookie and cream ice cream sandwiches, too!

Have fun with it!!!

You must make one before summer officially ends.

Um, that’s what’s dangerous about living in So Cal…….

Kicking Myself

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I’ve been working on a simple, yet festive dinner menu for Cinco de Mayo.

Let me start by saying that I think we’re going to have to fetch the ice cream maker from the garage rafters and make some Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Salted Pecans for dessert!

Secondly, I saw these cactus glasses at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and have been thinking about them ever since…..went today and they had ONE left!

Wah.

I just think they are so cute and the perfect vessel to hold these gorgeous pink Cactus Pear margaritas…

Jay and I enjoyed sipping these margaritas at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in Vegas and they are definitely something worth trying to recreate at home ~ the problem is where to find the cactus pear juice?!?

Tomorrow I will be tracking down some more of these {prickly} glasses and the ingredients to fill them on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, we have our vibrant papel picado hung across the kitchen and are ready to celebrate!

{as seen here on our trip to Olvera Street over Spring Break}

*****

Kicking myself that I didn’t pick up a set of those glasses when I first saw them.

I hate when that happens.

Smooth Sailing

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Hi friends!

Happy Humpday.

Hope your week has been smooth so far. Mine has been drama-free thus far and I have been able to get up to the gym the last couple nights which was always good for me and seems to make life smoother.

Last week I {invented} a little breakfast smoothie with one of my new finds via Instagram. A friend posted some {Cookie Butter} from Trader Joe’s during Lent and I immediately fetched a jar to enjoy on/after Easter! It is fabulous alone on a spoon, on bagels, Ezekiel toast and graham crackers, but I thought I’d incorporate it into a smoothie in place of peanut butter and see what happened!

{Cookies & Cream} and Banana Smoothie

You will need: 2 cups crushed ice, 1/2 cup almond coconut milk, 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt, 1 banana, 1 tbsp ground flax {flax meal} and 1 tbsp. TJ’s cookie butter

Place all into a blender and blend ’til smooth!

Pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy!

*****

And speaking of {sailing}, we plan to take a quick little trip to the beach this weekend.

Last time we went to the beach {in January!} Jay captured some cute pics of the kids just frolicking in the sand…this time I wanted to plan a little better with their wardrobes and hair and have a little Nautical inspired photo shoot at the shore.

I had originally picked up the anchor tee for a gift for a little girl….when the guy rang it up, it came up as boy’s. I thought it’d be cute on Holden so I set out to find something complementary for Elliott and stumbled upon this little striped number with the big bow on the shoulder. Both of them will wear rolled up jeans and bare feet ~ I think it’ll be perfect for some fun photos to get us excited for summer.

*****

Make the most of the rest of your week…Saturday and Sunday will be here before you know it!

XO

Drip

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We discovered Bruster’s Ice Cream this evening…

Sooo glad these don’t exist in our neck o the woods. I would be there daily…they have some incredible flavors.

So long Baskin-Robbins.

I’ve discovered 31 new flavors!

{If you’re under 40″, you get a FREE kiddie cone with rainbow sprinkle hair, two little eyes and a mouth ~ this is Purple Dinosaur which is just vanilla taken up several notches on the color wheel!}

The ice cream was to-die-for.

They have Coconut Chip.

‘Nuf said.

***

In this weather you need to eat quick.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

We went through {lots} of napkins.

Batter Up

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Before I share Cake Batter Ice Cream with you, I wanted to back track a bit…

Last time we were in San Diego we went to a cupcake shop called Batter Up. It’s the cutest concept and the cupcakes were delish, but the store decor needed a grand slam.

It was pretty blah.

By the time we walked out, I had already redesigned the place and had a blueprint in my head.

Real live stadium seats bolted to the floor.

Old lockers filled with fun cupcake liners, cookbooks and all things cupcake related for sale.

Astroturf on the floor.

Pennant buntings hanging from the ceiling.

Apothecary jars filled with peanuts and cracker jacks.

Large glass vases holding baseballs.

The cupcakes needed some fun, festive baseballin’ names, ya know?

But I digress…

Now…back to Cake Batter Ice Cream.

This recipe is SO easy and SO out of this world…er…ballpark?!?

I ended up using whole milk for one of the 2 cups of whipping cream…made it a little lighter. Ha!

{2 cups whole milk, 1 cup whipping cream}

For the vanilla, I used the good stuff this time.

I was surprised at how creamy it was.

I tapped the cake mix through a mesh strainer to make sure there were no clumps.

Next time I will add rainbow sprinkles into the ice cream the last few minutes while the machine is running.

I only wish that I had red, white and blue sprinkles instead…

But, this ice cream was more than I imagined it would be. If you’re an ice cream lover and you don’t have one of these, you need to treat yourself to one!

Next up….some refreshing summer sorbet in our new sorbet cups!

{via}

Nighty night.

Whipped Cream, Nuts & A Cherry

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Last weekend we were supposed to bring the Cuisinart out of hibernation and make ice cream for Father’s Day.

Didn’t quite happen…sorry, Babe!

Tonight we made Pioneer Woman’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and boy, was it worth the wait!

Banana Splitinis it was…

Sliced bananas, freshly churned soft vanilla bean ice cream, a drizzle of Hershey’s syrup, a swirl of whipped cream, some rainbow sprinkles, coconut {for me}, peanuts {for Jay} and the proverbial maraschino cherry on top.

These would also be fun served in small mason jars!

*****

The slip n slide also came out this afternoon after a brief hiatus…

Last week was filled with necessary errands in the beginning of the week and a couple pool play dates at the end.

Tomorrow this guy starts summer camp thanks to his grandparents and sweet friends…for his birthday in February, we decided in lieu of {more} toys a nice gift would be a 3-day a week summer camp at his preschool. Three of his best buds chipped in and gave him a week as well! It’s a win/win situation ~ a fun 3 hours for him and 3 hours for me! We’re so grateful….thanks again.

This girl is going to gymnastics camp mañana. Same thing…for her b-day, the grandparents generously gave her the same 3 days a week to tumble and jump this summer. Again, it gives me a little time to myself and his preschool and the gym are right near each other so it’s perfect.

It’s a GREAT way to break up the summer.

I’ll say it again ~ thank you Lolo & Lola, Gramma, Popsi, Emma, Landon & Dylan.

This gift is truly the cherry on top of this mama’s banana split!

Have a great week everyone!

Happiness On Wheels

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How incredibly adorable is this ice cream truck?

{via}

I can hardly stand it…..we may be moving to AZ.

This is NOT what comes vending frozen treats in our ‘hood.

Darling…..absolutely darling.

Just had to share.

Electrical Box Boogie

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Please pause the music to fully enjoy the short video below. Thanks!

*****

Gramma is visiting today.

She’s nice and says, “Yes!” to the ice cream man.

I am mean and say, “No, not today” every. single. day. Our ice cream man comes rain, shine, snow, sleet or hail. He’s faithful like that.

Today was the first day ever that they got to pick something out of the old beat up van…Elliott, a snow cone and Holden, a Spiderman popsicle thingy with gum ball eyes.

{Did you know that Spiderman’s real name is Peter Parker? That was news to me…}

Gramma is so fun. It’s a treat to have her here during the week. Lots of fun was to be had this afternoon.

I am more strict on school days.

Homework. Homework. Homework. Sight words. Sight words. Sight words. Journal. Journal. Journal. Spelling. Spelling. Spelling.

I need to relax a little more and not be such a drag. I need to get up and do the {electrical box boogie}…

Love the hip action. This little {five and three quarter} year old is too much.

She’s receiving a special award in the morning.

Can’t wait to see my sweet girl walk across the stage and accept it.

Sweet dreams on this Tuesday evening!

 

Old-fashioned Creamery

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A couple summers ago my good friend, Melanie, introduced us to her “Gram’s” pink lemonade ice cream.

I was instantly hooked and I think that is when I longed to purchase our own family ice cream maker.

2 years later….

Beverly’s Pink Lemonade Ice Cream

1 can pink lemonade frozen concentrate, thawed
5 cups half & half (I used 2 cups h&h, 3 cups whole milk)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

On the stovetop, dissolve sugar & salt in 2 cups of h&h/milk in a saucepan (takes just a few minutes). Combine concentrate and the other 3 cups of h&h/milk and refrigerate for 2 hours. Pour into ice cream maker for about 20-25 minutes.

{The amount above had to be done in two batches}

Enjoy the taste of yesteryear!

The perfect blend of tart & sweet.

*****

As I prepared the mix for this ice cream, I couldn’t help but think how special this recipe is. Not one that I googled or read about in a current magazine, but one that probably is still written in an old leather book with yellowed, musty smelling pages…bent, torn and wrinkled over the years.

The kind of recipe that makes it’s way from one generation to the next.

It put a smile on my face thinking that Mel’s Gram enjoyed this same tart, yet sweet creamy goodness years and years ago.

I am honored to try this recipe and excited to file it away in my book of keepers.

I hope that Elliott and Holden will enjoy these tried and true recipes in years to come out of my special book…

…also sure to be tattered, sticky, spotted, dog-eared, but most of all LOVED.

Here’s to a fresh, tangy, citrusy week ahead!

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