Butterscotch Pie

Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Over the holidays I made a delish Butterscotch Pie. Now this is the real deal. You make the butterscotch from scratch, caramelize the sugar, whip the cream, and make gingerbread cookies for the crust (I used Aunt Pine's recipe for those) - it's serious. But the payoff is unbelievable!! This is not a recipe I would normally tackle - as you may remember I'm all about making a tasty dessert but I'm more of the short - cut kind of gal.

My mom asked me to bring this dessert to our family Christmas celebration. I had no idea what I was getting into when I said yes. I will not even attempt to give you my version of the recipe in this post. This should be left to Martha Stewart to explain. And I highly recommend you watch the video provided by Martha to get all the details. Then make the pie. And then call me so I can have another piece!!

Here's how our pie came out. Pretty good looking if I do say so myself! Needless to say there was very little leftover. Everyone said it tasted divine! Although I had informed them that they were only allowed to have such a reaction.

Did you make a super yummy dessert over the holidays that you would recommend?? Please let us know, I love an excuse to bake!

1st Blogiversary

Today is my 1st Blogiversary (that's anniversary in blog world.) I started this journey with the recommendation from my friend Julie. It's been extremely enjoyable. I really appreciate those who follow my little blog and look forward to sharing more with you in 2010. We've got some upcoming projects that should be fun! And I would really like to start sharing some of the beautiful homes my family and friends have. (We'll see if there up to that!) I am surrounded by very talented people! You've met my Aunt, and my friends Julie and Shannon. I haven't even begun to mention my talented Mom! There should be some good posts, if they'll let me (and my camera) into their homes!

Again thanks for following along. Hope you all will be here next year this time! And Happy New Year to all!!

2009 Recap Part B

Yesterday we reviewed the first part of 2009. And now we move into the latter part of the year. What a great way to start... with dessert! Just looking at this cake makes my mouth water! It's so YUMMY!!

The beautiful artwork my Aunt did in our Master Bedroom

Thanks to some inspiration I attempted a fall wreath.
Wedding shower present that turned out super cute!

Celebrating Katie's baby to be...

A great idea for a hostess gift

The OUTstanding Aunt Pine's Gingersnaps

A Winter Wonderland


Craft day with Shannon

And a sweet star to finish up with.

2009 Recap

This has been my first year of blogging and it's been a lot of fun keeping up with different projects, cooking experiments, and crafty explorations. With our blogiversary coming up on the 3rd, I thought it would be a good time to recap what we've done this year.

We started with a "Little Re-arrange" in January. I have to say I am loving the move and we have really enjoyed having the den in a bigger room.

A little knitting project for my Godchild. Turned out super cute!!

It took a little more effort to get the Master Bedroom updated after the re-arrange. I have some ideas for a few more projects in here this year... More to come on that later! Also don't forget about the great wall art my Aunt did here.

Loving the new color in the living room!

Our first attempt at a garden. We definitely have more to learn, but it was a great experience and produced some yummy veggies!

A fun little project borrowed from the girls @ Bab's Blog

A summer refresh on the front porch. We've loved using this space! Check out me and Ellie enjoying breakfast one morning.

Well that gets us through half the year. We'll finish out the rest of the year tomorrow!

I wish upon a...

boxwood star. Ok that does sound a little funny. But I have to say it's pretty cute! And super simple with little to no cost!

First take a wire hanger and shape into a star

Cut some boxwood

Take floral wire and attach boxwood to star. Keep going until all the way around.

yes that *may* be a beer in the background - what?? I don't know a better party than a CRAFT party!!

You can hang them on the wall - on a chair - from the mantle - even outside for great decorations... The possibilities are endless!

Here come Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus...

right down Santa Claus lane. Which happens to be in our den. We don't have a lot of collections but I do have to say I love our Santas. I love the fact that I normally get one a year from someone but it's not one of those collections that people have gone crazy with. It's just here and there; a lovely surprise.

Enjoy strolling down Santa Claus lane at our house!

This reminds me of the Three Muskateers - Santa style!

He's made out of a lightbulb, I know what you're thinking - bright idea!

"A little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly"

Now this guy, he's special. And when I say special I mean makes me stop in my tracks each year we unpack him. My sweet Aunt made him for us. And not that just that would make my heart go pitter patter but she took it to the next level... You see all those sweet little items in Santa's pocket... Well those all are items from my family members. My Granddaddy's pen, my Memama's thumble pin, my great aunt's pin and it goes on and on.

Isn't that the coolest! I think I even caught you wiping that tear from your eye!

Well I hope you enjoyed your stroll down Santa Claus Lane.

Cookie Swap

Don't you just love a good reason to whip up something sweet? I know I do!! I was invited to a cookie swap this past weekend and it was so fun! There are many ways to do a swap but I have to say I really enjoyed the fact that we were a small group -a) you didn't have to make dozens and dozens of cookies (only 3 dozen which is a normal recipe) and b) you can individually wrap your cookies to give away. The reason I love this is because when you put peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies in the same container with Aunt Pine's Gingersnaps you end up with a weird mixture of flavors!

So for my contribution, I made our family recipe for Aunt Pine's (that's short for Pauline you just put the "p" on the "ine" and get Pine - like "bean" ) anyhoo... I am going to share this recipe even though it is a family secret that could truly make a million but you are my friend and I trust you will use this gift wisely. And after all it is the season of giving!

Aunt Pine's Gingersnaps

3 sticks unsalted butter

2 eggs

1/2 c Molasses

2 c sugar

4 c flour

4 tsp soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

Melt butter and add the molasses, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to molasses mixture. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning form into balls (1" scoop) and roll in sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until deep brown color and start to "crack" on the top.

They may look a little under-done but that creates the best crunch edges and chewy center.

For packaging the cookies for the swap, I took simple brown paper lunch bags, folded them at the top, and then cut a slit for the ribbon to run through. I used some nice thick red ribbon with wired edges and tied in a simple knot. Then used a cute label to put on the bags. Super simple but super cute!

It was a great time to hang with some ladies I hadn't met before and eat yummy cookies!!

Christmas Cards

I wanted to do something a little different to display our Christmas cards this year. So I decided to hang 2 small wreaths on our front closest door and use clothespins to attach the cards to the ribbon and wreaths. I think it turned out super cute. It adds a nice splash of festive-ness in that area of the room. Is festive-ness a word? Yeah probably not but it totally should be!

Oh Christmas Tree

Ain't she purty!

And some close ups...

I love just sitting on the sofa enjoying the glow from the tree.

A great hostess gift idea...

I found this cute idea here and made a couple up. Holiday Zucchini Bread - YUM! It's a great gift to have in the fridge for any Holiday Parties you are invited to!

(this will keep up to 2 weeks in the fridge.)

Compile all your ingredients

Layer in the jars

Ta da!!

Make cute little label and DONE!
That wasn't hard at all huh?!?!