Photo Card

Merry Bright Greeting Holiday

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Decided to play around with my camera this weekend and lucky Lucy got to be my test subject. Over the summer, my brother decided he wanted to upgrade his SLR camera and I inherited his Canon Rebel SLR. Still trying to figure out all the settings and working from tricks I picked up at a class in the fall.

I got lucky that Lucy felt like participating in my maddness (or maybe it was the treat I had in my hand. Got quite a few good shots and thought the picture above came out so cute, decided to sent out a photo card for Christmas to our friends and family.

Happy Holiday's everyone!

Oreo cheesecakes

These little Oreo cheesecakes are delicious and so easy to throw together. The recipe comes from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.

I love this recipe especially cause it is easily divided or doubles depending on your needs and can be made a day in advance. They are not overly sweet, the tang from the sour cream comes through. I topped these off with a homemade chocolate whipped cream (tastes like chocolate soft serve ice cream!)

From Martha Stewart Cupcakes_

42 Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275°. Line standard muffin pans with liners.

Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.
Beat cream cheese at medium speed using an electric mixer.

Gradually sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla.
Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies.
Divide batter among pans. Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling is set.
Cool completely on wire racks.

Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Remove from pans just before serving.

O Snap

Gingersnap that is....

So continuing on my pumpkin kick, I bring you these scrumptious cookies from 2 peas in a pod.
While trying to decide on desserts to bring to the party my niece Sophia's baptism, I knew I wanted to try something different to go along with all the traditional Portuguese and Italians desserts that the grandmothers would be making.
The cookies are delicious! Very soft and airy due to the pumpkin with all the traditional flavor of a gingersnap. I brought the left overs with me to work and my co workers couldn't stop eating them and I have had several requests to make them again! This recipe is a keeper

Check the recipe out over on Two Peas & Their Pod

*Note for the wise, the dough was sticky, even after refrigeration. So be prepare to have sticky hands when forming the cookies

So maybe I do like pumpkin after all...

Other than decorations, I have never been fond of dishes and baked goods made with pumpkin. I'm going to be honest, I never gave them a fair shot. I don't know why, I always heard people rave how they love this time of year, for pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins and lattes.
Come September 1st in the blog world and pumpkin seems to be the main topic of posts.

One of these posts was from one of my favorite bloggers, Annie Eats. She posted a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes that I knew I would have to try to see if it could get me over my aversion to the orange stuff.

I whipped up half of a batch to test on the girls at our regular Friday night get together, changing the frosting to a cream cheese frosting. They looked great and everyone left with 1 for the road. Even the hubby had one and he is not a man for sweets!

Cookie Monster

Everyone meet Sal, my own personal cookie monster.

The boy will eat any cookie, even ones that he thinks aren't that great. Sal is probably one of the reasons i love baking cookies so much, well that and obviously cause they are delicious!

For Sal's Birthday I found the most perfect recipe to make for him. Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip. You may think it is over kill in a cookie, but believe me, they all work together so well, nothing competing.

Found the recipe over on Brown Eye Baker - put this on your must make list. Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

no one was late for this important date...

My bestie Kiley's bridal shower was a couple weeks ago - a while back it was decided that we would use her love of Alice in Wonderland as inspiration. Scoured flea markets and consignment shops for teacups and teapots for centerpieces and whipped up some mismatched table runners for some extra color to the tables -

all finished and waiting to be delivered

Arrangement for entrance

Pic of the Week

Little Lucy's hiding spot behind the curtains to the screen door -She loves it there so much sometimes it take me a while to find her cause she won't move an inch when she's looking at the window.

We had a health scare with Lucy a month ago but she's a trooper and is getting better every day.

let them eat cake...

I was asked if I would be able to make a cake for my High School Graduation Party - Of course I said yes, considering the fact that I use to babysit for Gabby and she is the sweetest girl. The cake ended up being larger than I originally expected and with much help from my bestie Kiley the cake came out beautiful and received many compliments from the party goers.

Congrats Gabby and the class of 2010!

Sunday Mornings

I love Sunday mornings... They always seem to be a little care free and relaxed. For me, I always try to do all my errands and house work on Saturday so Sunday is free to do what ever I please. Early Sunday mornings consisted of lots of coffee and catching up on the food network, nothing can beat that -

Happy Anniversary

Just wanted to take the time to wish my husband Happy Anniversary! It has been a wonderful 3 years and I know we will celebrate many more in the future. Love you Babe!

(Photo from Halloween 2009)