Valentine's Day Treat...

Or diet drink?
You be the judge!
My Red Velvet Brownie Body By Vi shake:

I have to say, this is the yummiest, most filling diet shakes I have ever had! Alot of my friends are doing the program, so I thought I would try it, too, since my weight loss kind of stalled a bit... The Body By Vi Shake mix smells and tastes like cake mix... SOO GOOD! There are so many recipes to try, but this one (I made it up) is my favorite so far! The recipe:2 scoops of Body By Vi Shake mix, 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 container red velvet yogurt, 8 oz fat free milk (I used unsweetened light vanilla almond milk by Silk), 1 Tbsp fat free sugar free cheesecake pudding mix, several drops red food coloring, and about 6-8 ice cubes, and blend! So yummy!(oops I think I said that already!) If you are interested in finding out more about Body by Vi, click the link to be taken to my Body By Vi website:

If you are doing Body By Vi already, I would like to know it's working for you and if you have any favorite recipes!

"Paddleboat Fun"

I saw this awesome color challenge over at The Color Room, and since I had these colors in my October kit, I decided to play along (albeit a little late).

The challenge:

My take on the challenge:

Again, with a crooked photo...gaggghhh!!! Oh well, you can get the idea-I just have to get used to shooting my pages w/o tons of sunlight (it has been very fallish, gray, and rainy here lately). Any way, on to my layout:

I finally scrapped a few photos from my honeymoon! Supplies I used: Pink Paislee Vintage Moon Harvest Moon paper, scraps of Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Dresses paper for the photo mats, Echo Park Life is Good Element and Alpha stickers, several Girls Paperie vintage buttons, ZVA bling flourish that I colored to match my layout with a Copic marker, black glitter chipboard Thickers.

Oh, and if you don't read the Dear Lizzy blog...she had the AWESOMEST recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on her blog this morning- 16 oz can pumpkin, 1 box spice mix, and chocolate chips. It sounded so yummy, and I had some of the stuff, so I tweaked it to what I had-1 cup of pumpkin pie mix, 1 butter recipe yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, and just added in some spices-ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a cup of chocolate chips, dropped them on a greased cookie sheet and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes. They were SOOOO yummy with a glass of ice cold milk-and I think they still would have been awesome with out the chocolate chips. Try them out and let me know what you think!

Yummy Treats

For my post today, I am sharing some treats with you that I made for far off family members (small disclaimer-I got the idea to do the Vanilla Cinnamon Roasted Pecans from a fellow DT member-she made almonds, but I love pecans) Lindsay challenged us to make a tag today-I took a little bit of creative license with "tag" and made a label for my Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Pecans. I put them in a tin that I washed and repurposed from some mini Pirouette cookies- covered the outside with some pretty Christmas patterned paper, tied a soft sage satin ribbon around it in a pretty bow, and printed the label from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Vintage Christmas Labels digistamp set on red cardstock, cut it out, and attached it with hot glue.

Another treat I made was Pumpkin bread,tied with a red satin ribbon and topped off with a label freebie that I found on the net.
Here's the recipe for the pecans:

Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Pecans

4 cups pecans

1 egg white

1 Tbsp cold water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c. sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Beat egg white, vanilla, and water until frothy but not stiff, then add pecans and toss to coat. Mix cinnamon, sugar, and salt, then pour over pecans and toss to coat. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake at 250 degrees for about an hour.

I am linking up to these challenges:

• 2 Sisters Challenge Blog- Christmas
• MyGraphico Christmas Challenge
• All Sorts Challenge- Anything Goes
• Aly's Sunday Challenge- Anything Goes
• Craft Your Passion Challenges-Christmas
• Drunken Stampers-Anything But a Card

Thanks for stopping by! Now grab a cup of coffee or cocoa, put you feet up for a few minutes and see what the rest of the Lindsay's Stamp Stuff team has for you!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Laurel Seabrook
Leanne Garner
Margie Visnick(me)
Micki Harper
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen

A Recipe Card and a Sale

I am really loving the versatility of the Vintage Halloween Labels digistamp set! I joined a bunch of recipe swaps this fall, and these stamps have been that "perfect finishing touch" to my cards! For today ONLY, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff at Mygraphico is on sale for 40% off-so go grab some stamps!On this card, I used the Vintage jack-o-lantern round digistamp, used a round punch to punch it out, colored my pumpkins quickly with my Copics, and then inked the edges with chalk inks. The background cardstock is from GCD Studios Paris Nights (my most used Stack of all time), and I decorated it with dew drops.

The challenges that I am entering are:

• The Crazy Challenge- Let's Cook It(kitchen)


• Creative Craft Challenges- black, white, and one other color (orange)


• GingerLoft Challenge- Happy Haunting (Halloween)


• A Spoonful Of Sugar Challenge- Anything Goes


• Stamp Something Stamp Challenges- use a digi


• Stampin' B's Design Team-Food


• Stampin' With The Dragon- Black, White, and one other color (orange)


• Stamps R Us Challenges- Halloween

Thanks for stopping by! Now, check out Lindsay and the other DT members' blogs for more fab projects and a freebie!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cheryl Gorka (DT Coordinator)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Laurel Seabrook
Leanne Garner
Lisa Jurecek
Margie Visnick
Melissa Craig
Micki Harper
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tamara Bennett
Tracey Allen
Tracy Vinson

A quick card for a swap, and a SALE!

Today I am sharing a simple recipe card that I made for a swap on 2 Peas, all about strawberries! My recipe is for my Gran's shortbread. So yummy! I used the Recipe Lines digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff recipe set, a paper doily from the Dollar Tree, a square of red gingham paper, a free svg file for a strawberry that I picked up on the web, and a white flower from Plantain Schoolbook cartriidge, with the edges rolled, and a dot of yellow stickles in the center.

Now, head over to My Graphico, they are having a 15% off sale in honor of Earth Day!

Recipe Swap with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

This week, I needed to make 6x6 recipe pages for a swap that I am participating in. So, I started with these recipe card digistamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff (the recipe card and "dessert" circle). I made this page based on the sketch this week from Sweet Sketch Wednesday. The patterned paper is Basic Grey Eva Collection, ribbon is Offray, and I made the ruffle by pinch pleating lightweight maroon cardstock in a circle, hot glueing to a punched circle, then hot glueing the dessert circle (which I punched w/ my Martha Stewart scallop circle punch) on top. I then cut the cake image from the From My Kitchen Cart at 3/4 inch from lavendar cardstock, then the layers from chocolate brown cardstock. I glued that all together, then glued it to the rosette before adding Stickles to the cake for frosting and the cake stand. Thanks for looking, now head on over to the rest of the DT's blogs for tons of inspiration and eye candy!
Lindsay (Owner)*She has a freebie for you!
Tamara
Lisa
Shannon
Leanne
Melissa
Cindi
Erin
Tracey
Micki
Janet
Diana

3 more layouts for July! (And a free Cinnamon roll svg for you!)

Over the weekend, I worked on a few pages for the recipe album that I am making for my little sis. Most of the svg files I used (the rolling pin- Cinnamon roll page), (the mixing spoon and spatula-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies), and (the "Pie" for Pumpkin Pie), I used free svgs from Lora's Blog. For the cinnamon roll, I made my own svg, which you can find HERE

And since these recipes are family favorites, I thought I would also share the recipes for any one who would like them

Caramel/Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. lukewarm milk

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

4 1/2 to 5 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 to 2 T butter,softened

1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 T brown sugar

powdered sugar to taste

(I usually double the filling)

Caramel (or you can skip this part and add the frosting on top)

1 c. brown sugar

8 T. butter

1/2 c- 1 c cream (if you don't have heavy cream you can use evaporated milk or half and half)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 2 1/2 c. of the flour, beating until smooth. Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl and rotate so that greased side is up. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough, turn out onto lightly floured surface, and roll into an 11x17 inch rectangle. Cover w/ filling ingredients by spreading w/ butter and sprinkling w/ cinnamon, powdered sugar, and brown sugar. Roll up like a jelly roll, beginning at long side, and cut into slices 2 inches wide.

Prepare caramel by dividing between 2 9 inch cake pans and spreading over the bottoms. Cut butter into pats and distribute over top of sugar in both pans, then pour cream over that. Place rolls in pans, leaving space for rising. Cover, let rise until doubled in size, and bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

You can skip the caramel and make this awesome "Cinnabon" Frosting:

1/2 lb. butter

1/2 lb. cream cheese

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Allow butter and cream cheese to reach room temp. Beat together until fluffy, slowly add sugar, beat 12 minutes then add extract.

Eat them warm....Yummy!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1c. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix peanut butter and sugar together, blending well. Stir in egg and vanilla. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press w/ fork to flatten slightly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes (they won't LOOK done, but take them out, they will harden as they cool).

Try to wait until they cool, then eat them with a tall, frosty glass of milk.

Pumpkin Pie

1 deep dish pie crust

1 egg white

1 T. ice water

2 eggs

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

16 oz. can of 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 c. heavy cream

Line pie crust w/ foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil. Bake 1 minute more. Beat egg white, and 1 T. ice water. Brush on bottoms and sides.

Filling: in large bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, pie spice, and salt. Stir in canned pumpkin, and pour into pie shell. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Filling should jiggle slightly. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have been on a cupcake kick lately- and red velvet is my FAVORITE! In case you would like to try these yummy treats for yourself, here is the recipe (adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens recipe):

Red Velvet Cupcakes

3/4 c. Butter, softened

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. cocoa

1 tsp each of salt and baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp liquid red food color

2 tsp white vinegar

2 1/2 c. cake flour (not self-rising)

Cream cheese frosting:

2 (8 oz.) blocks of cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter,softened

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Sprinkles!!!!

Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl with mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla 2 minutes until creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. Stir buttermilk, food coloring, and vinegar in a 2-cup measure until well blended. With mixer on low speed, beat in flour in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk mixture in 2 additions, beating just until blended. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 of the way full and bake about 15-18 minutes for mini cupcakes, 20-25 minutes for regular size.

Don't forget the fabulous frosting! First, beat the cream cheese and butter in a mediium bowl with mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Increase the speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy. Frost cupcakes and add sprinkles (this is important!) Refrigerate until serving. Dive in- I DARE you to try to just eat one!

Hi y'all! And for this post, I have a recipe to share. Here are some cookies that go perfectly with a tall frosty glass of milk. But be warned, they are for true chocolate lovers only! I took several of my favorite recipes, combined them and tweaked the recipe for our tastes and they came out yummy!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (this enhances the chocolatey flavor)

Combine this in a small bowl, set aside. Preheat the oven to 375.

1 cup butter (2 sticks, no substitutes- TRUST ME real butter always makes for better cookies!)
3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
2 tsp. pure vanilla
2 large eggs

Beat these ingredients together until creamy. Gradually add flour mixture, beating only until well blended.

Then stir in:
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Drop by teaspoonful (or tablespoonful, if you like them big) onto an ungreased baking sheet - I like to line my baking sheets with parchment paper- it keeps them from burning on the bottom. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes-I usually go about 9, I don't like dry cookies. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy!