#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨
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Sweetnicks

Food and Life

Pottery Barn Dip

May 7, 2010 · Narrative

Pottery Barn Dip

Sometimes it takes seemingly forever to tell you about a recipe.  I have a small stack of recipes next to my laptop, things I’ve made that I think are worthy of sharing here.  And, well, I have a little bit of a backlog, because I don’t talk about recipes every day here.  I like to mix it up a bit.  This explains why you are only now hearing about a recipe I made back in September.  I was actually looking through the recipe stack for something in particular and came across it.  I happened to make it for the first time when Sarah and her kids visited us over the Fall.  And now that I’ve rediscovered the little scrap of paper, I think I might make it again this weekend.  I do love a good dip.

It’s an odd mix of ingredients that just happen to work well together.  Don’t you just love when that happens?  And any recipe that suggests using Frito Scoops?  I’m there.  I have no problem admitting I’m a saltaholic.  The dip is actually a bit thicker than a traditional one, so would even be great spread on a small cracker as well.  Enjoy!

Project 365
May 6, 2010, Photo #90

Graduation Cupcakes

Tomorrow is Jamie’s last day of student teaching, and by mid-month, she’ll officially be done with school, graduating with her Masters in Education. She asked if I could make cupcakes for her to bring to her students tomorrow, and I was only too happy to oblige. I went with these Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes and instead of the crushed Whoppers on top, I went with sprinkles. It’s a little hard to make out, but they’re graduation cap sprinkles. Perfect.
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Malted Milk Ball Cookies

April 28, 2009 · Narrative

Malted Milk Ball Cookies
Thanks for all the emails and comments about Madeline.  She woke up this morning with another high fever and I made a trip back to the doctor.  They said it can come and go for up to 72 hours from when the antibiotics started, so even though it sorely pains me to see her feeling so lousy, I am trying to be patient.  As patient as one can with only four hours and nineteen minutes of sleep since Sunday morning.

Both yesterday and today, she perked up around dinnertime, after having slept through much of the afternoon.  I’ve been paying close attention to making sure she’s well hydrated and tonight after she ate her dinner, I gave her some jell-o to mix up the Pedialyte, water and Gatorade rotation a bit.  To keep her a bit busy so I could quickly eat my own dinner, I gave her the spoon to play with, putting some jell-o on it first.  Out of the corner of my eye, I spied her picking up the spoon and putting into her mouth.  Again and again and again.  Tonight was the first time she successfully fed herself with a spoon!  She was so proud of herself, she clapped after each time.  Of course the first food she spooned herself had to be red, sticky jell-o, nicely coloring her pale blue shirt, legs and arms.  Her belly was a nice shade of red come bath time.

OK, onto what you came here for … recipes!  There was a recent fundraiser at Nick‘s school and I volunteered a Cookie of the Month Club, baked by yours truly, for six months as a prize to auction off. When I was knee deep in cookie batch number four on Thursday night, I was wondering if I had momentarily lost my mind.  The actual prize won’t be so time consuming, but for the auction I had promised a platter of cookies so the attendees could get a taste before bidding.  Hence, the late night baking marathon.

So anyway, remember those OMFG (thanks, Magda!) Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes from last week?  I had half a box of malted milk balls leftover and as I was searching for a recipe for a thin and crispy chocolate chip cookie to add to the platter, I happened to stumble on a recipe for Malted Milk Ball Cookies on Baking Bites’ site.  When it comes to cookie style, everyone has their own preferences.  For most types of cookies, I prefer thin and crispy, although there are a few exceptions, so these were right up my alley.  These are the kind of cookie that you look at thinking that it’s going to be a chocolate cookie, then you take a bite and you’re all “what the heck?”  I think it’s hard to pick out that there are malted milk balls in these cookies, but that wouldn’t stop me from making these again. It also made a ton (ok, at least 4 dozen), so it’s perfect for when YOU raise your hand and volunteer to bake for six months of a Cookie of the Month Club … or just because.

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Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

April 23, 2009 · Narrative

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes
Today an old acquaintance from high school mentioned cupcakes, and I immediately perked up. Not just at the mere mention of cupcakes, but she went on to tell me about a store that’s about 30 minutes from here that is a “sprinkle selection paradise.” A store specializing in everything a baker or candymaker would need?  Dangerous waters for me indeed. Every time I go to a food store, I always take a quick peek at their baking aisle to see if there are any special sprinkles or odd items I might not find elsewhere. And now to find out that there’s an entire store dedicated to such things? Mark my words, I’ll be making a trip there very soon.

Now speaking of cupcakes, I’ve got another one to introduce you to … Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes. This is the second recipe I’ve tried from Anne Byrn’s book, Cupcakes!, and although I loved the Orange Marmalade Ricotta cupcakes I made a few weeks back, one bite into this one, and those memories were quickly erased. OMG good. Know this: I’m very careful with deeming a finished recipe OMG-worthy.  If there’s too many, you might not trust me, you know?  And I want you to trust me.  At least when it comes to food.  Out of the nearly thousand recipes I’ve written about here, the list of OMG recipes is still quite short, so you know I take it seriously.

I had to ration myself one of these little malted milk ball babies a day, and quickly gave away half the batch to resist any further temptation. Like Anne’s other recipes, this one is quick and easy and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand already. The addition of the sour cream makes these cupcakes crazymoist, and I daresay this might be my new go-to recipe when it comes to needing to make cupcakes.

Her recipes tend to be a bit lengthy, but only in the wordy sense, not in time expended.  She just goes into a little more detail than most when it comes to the recipes’ instructions, so while it may look long, I promise you, it’s worth it to jump in.  Honestly, it didn’t take more than 10-15 minutes to get the cupcakes in the oven, and that seems about perfect when the results are this good.  I mean, seriously, did you see that picture? Dig in!

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#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛

Pinterest

#flowertherapy might be right up there with #water #flowertherapy might be right up there with #watertherapy.  Love passing the time in secret wildflower patches. As you do. 🌸
I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon I remarked how pretty that tiny sliver of the moon was on the way home tonight, and my friend pulled over right away so I could grab a photo. That’s when someone really knows you! It was just too beautiful to resist. 🌙
Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ C Weekend photos in review, old school style. ✨ 
Context: 1/ picture perfect weekend, 2/ threw together a quick meal w udon noodles, steak and broccoli, so good, 3/ the sun reflections on this painting struck me today, looked like a cross 4/ it takes all afternoon but nothing like Sunday Gravy, 5/ six months old, 6/ when he wants some serious zzzz’s, he covers his eye with his ears, the cutest, 7/ breakfast pastries at @coniglios
I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New I have plenty of reusable shopping bags since New Jersey banned the plastic ones last year. But when I spied this beauty for a buck, how could I resist? It just is so darn happy, which makes me happy. The little things aren’t so little. 💛
Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged Cheers to the weekend! This may look like a staged photo, but Lola just has ZERO boundaries and Clifford is exceptionally patient. 😂
I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s I’ve been on a smoked salmon kick lately (it’s so good for you), so when I saw that a local patisserie has a smoked salmon croissant available (weekends only), I added it to my list of things to seek out. I popped into @chocolatinenj early on Mother’s Day and was rewarded with this deliciousness. Layers of soft flaky croissant dough, tender smoked salmon, light whipped cream, thinly sliced red and green onion slivers and dotted with capers… it was every bit as amazing as you’d imagine it would be. If you’re local, don’t sleep on this one. 😋
Weekend photos in review, the belated edition. 1/ Weekend photos in review, the belated edition.

1/ hit up a few yard sales and snagged this beautiful pasta dish from Italy with my favorite color for a buck, 2/ and one of these printer trays came home with me too, 3/ pre Mother’s Day celebrations with 30 local moms, 4/ finished the weekend supervising furniture assembly
Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd bir Today would have been my friend Cathy’s 53rd birthday. Unfortunately she’s not here to celebrate because she died suddenly at age 49. I think of her often … every Mother’s Day because we spent most of them together since her husband worked weekends … when I discover a new food adventure (we once did a day long donut crawl) … when I’m sharing a special time with my kids knowing that her then-11 year old is growing up without her. Before she passed, I always appreciated every day, but since then, even more so. You never know what the next day can bring, so relish in the sunshine, surprise rainstorms, making wishes over railroad tracks and all the wonderful randomness life can throw your way. Don’t waste a single second, say yes, live on the outskirts of your comfort zone, laugh often, tell people you love them, give eight second hugs, and squeeze every ounce of joy you can out of life. Do it for the people who can’t. ✨

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