Sweet & Easy

The easiest sugar cookie recipe ever!  No need to break out the Pillsbury dough roll when it's time to make cookies this holiday season. Try this recipe:

SUGAR COOKIES RECIPE

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

 2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, almond extract until smooth.

Blend in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar.

Roll into a ball (or multiple medium size balls).  Cover the ball(s) with plastic wrap and chill for 2-3 hours.  

Divide dough in half and roll on a floured board or table top. 

Cut out design with cookie cutters and place each on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees until very light brown on top.

Enjoy & Happy Holidays!

Gifts Fit For A Cook (From Houzz)

40 Must-Haves for the Kitchen: A Gift Guide for Cooks

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Home Design and Decorating Ideas:

Kitchen Design · Bathroom Design · Living Room Design · Bedroom Design · Dining Room Design · Patio Design · Landscaping Design ·

Food Glorious Food

If Kleinfeld is the bridal mecca, then Williams-Sonoma is most certainly the cook's mecca.  Which makes it the perfect place to talk about during this month of the cooks and foodies' holiday -- Thanksgiving!

I love food, all kinds of food.  So you would think that Thanksgiving would be my favorite holiday.  But it's not. Well it is because of my time with my {large!} extended family, but it isn't because of the food.  For some reason THAT much food just turns me off.  It's too overwhelming I think. I wind up eating very little and mostly just dessert :)

If I were solely in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, I would fill it with a mixture of small plates and larger entrees that are unique twists on traditional fare.  Like the Sausage-Leek Corn Bread Stuffing recipe below....yummm!

Williams-Sonoma's Holiday Guide is a great companion for your holiday cooking plans.  It's filled with delicious unique recipes and great cooking tips to make your holiday cooking quick and easy.

Enjoy and eat well! 

SAUSAGE-LEEK CORN BREAD STUFFING
 
Ingredients:
3 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green portions
1 Tbs. chopped fresh sage
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 1/2 lb. mild Italian sausage, casings removed
1 package (1 lb.) La Brea Bakery corn bread stuffing
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 garlic cloves, roasted, peeled and smashed into a pulp
3 to 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, warmed

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart baking dish.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, celery, leeks, sage, salt and pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the onion mixture to a very large bowl.

In the same pan over medium-high heat, cook the sausage, breaking it into large chunks, until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the onion mixture, add the stuffing and parsley, and stir until well combined.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk the garlic into the broth until combined. Stir the broth mixture into the stuffing 1/2 cup at a time, making sure it is completely absorbed into the croutons and does not pool in the bottom of the bowl. Taste a crouton; it should be moist throughout but not crunchy or mushy. You may not need all of the broth.

Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 10 to 12.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.
 

Artsy Smartsy

I LOVE taking pictures.  In fact, I think I'm even some of my friends and family members' unofficial official family photographer. Thanks to the digital camera revolution I can just snap away all the time without any additional cost.  I don't get paid, but I don't mind.  Because the photographic storybook that I have is irreplaceable.  {That's why I have it backed up in 2 separate places!}

But that's not the topic of this post.  When you take as many pictures as I do, it really is a waste unless you have some way to see them and use them.  Photo albums are great --- LOVE MyPublisher for that -- but unless you have lots of coffee tables, you won't be pulling them off the shelves often.  Framed photos are wonderful too, but they can get a little boring and predictable.  

Artsy Couture has a fabulous alternative to the average framed photographs -- Gallery Blocks!  Gallery Blocks are "professional photographic prints adhered to solid wood with perfect 90° corners." They come in both single sizes and multiple floating images {like the one in the picture above}.  The floating blocks are my favorite because it's so hard to choose just one!

Cover Your Alcove

I admit, sometimes it is difficult for me to make a decision.  Especially about things that either cannot be changed or would be costly/time-consuming to change.  I think about what-ifs.  What if I hate it later.  What if it goes out of style.  What if I find something better!

It took me forever to decide on my wedding dress.  I went back and forth between two dresses until I just went with my gut.  It turned out wonderfully.  I was happy and until this day I have no regrets.  In fact, I think I would have regretted going with the other dress.  But I digress...

When you're redecorating or decorating your home, there's always this tension between decorating based on what's popular at the moment --- like wood paneling of the 60s or the black and white & abstract art style of the 80s -- and decorating and painting with a future sale {or your future taste} in mind.  Considering I've bought and sold more houses in my young life than I care to think about, I'm always thinking about "what happens when we sell?" as I am designing. 

But who wants non-offending various shades of beige walls throughout their house?  {Been there don't want to do that again}  That's why I love LOVE my latest find Casart^tm Coverings. 

Casart^tm Coverings are removable hand-painted murals and decorative finishes. The murals are printed on canvas-like vinyl with a repositionable, adhesive backing.   Essentially "Magnet-like slipcovers for your walls"!  You can change your wall covering seasonally or whenever you want a new look!  But without the usual paste and mess of traditional wallpaper.  I'm soooo getting some of these.

modern bedroom design by dc metro showroom Casart Coverings

Apple Pie, Apple Crisp, Apple Jacks, Apple Sauce, Apple Muffins, Apple....

If you didn't know already, it is APPLE Season!  Apple picking, bobbing for apples, all kinds of apples on sale.  So if you go apple picking, or win a bushel of apples at a fair, or just can't resist a sale --- what to do with all of those apples {see a pic of our deep deep sink at the end of a day of apple picking below}.

The easiest use for a whole bunch of apples at one time is to make apple sauce.  It's really easy and you don't even need a recipe.  First you peel the apples {or keep the skin on as I like to do so that you get all the fiber along with all of the sugar} then slice them in medium size slices.  Slice around the core, of course, or -- if you are lucky and have one of these apple core gadgets -- first core the apples, then slice them.  Add lots and lots of apple slices to a deep stock pot, then add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.  You can also add a little sugar if you need it, but most apples are pretty sweet on their own.  Turn the pot on low, cover and let the apples cook on low for a long long long time {that's technical kitchen jargon there} stirring every now and then to keep the apples from sticking.  You'll know they are done basically when the apples start looking like apple sauce!  Don't over cook because I don't know what apples turn into after that :-O


If this doesn't sound easy {or appetizing} to you, try this delicious recipe:

Cinnamon Apple Crisp
Bon Appétit | March 1993
by Fran Love Taylor: Raleigh, North Carolina
Yield: Serves 10

1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 450°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples and toss to coat. Transfer apple mixture to prepared dish.

Combine flour, 1 cup sugar and butter in medium bowl. Using pastry blender or fingertips, blend ingredients until coarse meal forms. Spread flour mixture evenly over apples.

Bake crisp 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake crisp until apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Epicurious.com © Condé Nast Digital, Inc. All rights reserved.

Smart TV

Cable/Satellite TV is sooooo 2000s. Even DVR is becoming a bit irrelevant.  Every show {and movie when I have time} that I watch is available on the network's website, and with limited commercial interruptions.  So tell me again why I am paying Verizon a billion dollars a month for Fios {oh yeah for football/sports that's why...smh}?!?  But seriously, if I could easily get the internet on my TV and watch it with limited connectivity issues, I would totally switch. I don't think we're truly there yet, but we're close.  

Google now offers Google TV {and Apple has been offering Apple TV for some time now, but to little fanfare}.  I love everything Google so I had to check it out.  It seems like all that you need is a Logitech Revue Companion Box or something similar, and an internet connection {and a TV of course} and you're good to go!

Amazon is also offering Amazon Video which allows you to "rent" movies and TV shows on demand.  You can access this using Google TV or even straight from your laptop.

While the price tag is a bit high -- $299 for the Logitech -- think of all the money you'll save not paying for cable every month and it will quickly pay for itself. 

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm itching to. I would LOVE to stop paying Verizon all that money for practically nothing every month.  My only worry is that accessing your TV over a wireless network may get a bit annoying.