The Apple of my eye!

Wow, can't believe summer is here and in full swing!  I keep telling myself that I haven't really had a chance to relax yet because I've felt so busy cleaning, running errands, living up to commitments, etc. but really that's just a cop out I think.  The truth is that I have had time to relax but I've just been taking that time in such small doses that it hasn't registered with my multi-tasking brain.  I really need to take more time for me and put aside the other stuff so I can truly feel rested.  Like today for example.

I woke up craving apple fritters and coffee for breakfast.  It just seemed like such a homey and comforting morning treat, that is until I went on Pinterest and realized the recipe would take a little longer than I first thought and since I got distracted looking on Pinterest in the first place, I didn't actually start making breakfast until after 11.  But what the heck, I was still craving it and I was in the mood to bake so I went ahead with it anyways!  Boy was I glad that I did!  This recipe is actually a lot easier than I first imagined, you prep your apples, topping, and oil while the batter sets up and let me tell you, once you sit down with that hot cup of coffee and take your first cinnamony bite of the fritter, it tastes like homemade tart apple pie goodness finished off with sweet melt in your mouth dusted icing (be sure to have a napkin handy cause that 'dusting' tends to find its way onto your clothes).

I'm literally drooling as I post this and may have to go back for seconds...okay thirds! Cheers and enjoy!

I just couldn't start my day without taste testing this recipe and enjoying a great cup of coffee in my favourite coffee mug!  Find the full recipe here:  http://userealbutter.com/2012/09/30/apple-fritters-recipe/

What's a little frying between friends!

not sure if I added enough icing sugar  LOL

Made with love!! And, no I did not pose this pic!  Cool huh!!

Administrative Assistants ROCK!

Last week was Administrative Assistants Week/Day where I work and I felt the need to write/share a post about it this week. I have a school based job and I see three to four Administrative Assistants on a weekly, if not daily basis.  These people amaze me every day with their roles.  They are right up there with the job of 'Mother' in my opinion, because each day they multi task, manage, and care for the students and staff within the schools they work for.  They have to be organized, creative, flexible, and empathetic of a variety of situations.  Kudos to all these talented gems that we work with!

As soon as I found out that it was Administrative Assistants week with the official Day being Wednesday, April 24th..my creative brain started to percolate.  I wanted to do something to thank these special people for all the great things they do, especially considering all they do to help me function in my role and really, I feel like they do a lot!  So I went home and logged on to my Pinterest account for inspiration and along with a healthy dose of yummy goodness from the Betty Crocker Website, this is what I came up with.

These cute little purse/treat bags and this lemon whoopie pie recipe.  The only thing I changed to the recipe was that I added in about a teaspoon of Lemon Chiffon Dip Mix (from Epicure) to the icing mixture.

Beautiful and delicious treats for some truly awesome women that I know, it was truly my pleasure to give these to the ladies that I work with because I really do appreciate everything they do in their jobs and especially when they help me in mine :)

How do you appreciate your co-workers? Please share!

Cheers!

Blogging and Baking

I can't believe I have just one more day of work (with my day job) and then the summer is mine to create, craft, and of course..bake!  I love baking but I have to be in the mood for it or creatively motivated.  In this case I am being creatively motivated to do a lot of baking for my Uncle's 60th birthday party on Saturday.  I love my uncle Doug and I'm happy to contribute however I can to making his party a success and in this case that means baking up a storm over the next couple of days! 

I've been spending the last few days getting my baker's "hat" on, figuratively speaking, and trying to figure out what's best to bake, what I should store it in, where will I store it, and again..what to bake?!  I am one of those people that, before I do anything, I have to be mentally and physically prepared to complete the project from start to finish.  On the upside this makes me a great multitasker, but on the down side..I am one hell of a procrastinator too!  I should have started my baking process on Sunday but here it is Wednesday and I'm just getting started..but that's okay, I work well under pressure!

Anyhow, I thought I would share with you one of the yummy ideas I'm planning on making.  I've only made these once and I'm still amazed by how well they turned out the first time.  I'm crossing my fingers they will turn out just as well, if not better, the second time around.

French Macarons!  I'll include the link for the recipe at the end of this post if anyone else wants to try them. 

 A few tips I will note, as I learned from my mistakes the first time around..1) make sure you have a good mixer or hand blender for when you are making the meringue.  My mixer does not do well with small amounts so I was pretty much just stirring around the egg whites instead of whipping them and it took me 10 minutes to whip them by hand. 2)  The recipe says to use paste food colouring and I highly recommend this..I used regular food colouring and while the cookies still looked okay and tasted just as good..as you can see by my photo - the colours came out more pastel than bright!

 I made sure I understood the directions well before I started and that I had the right baking tools on hand.  It paid off to be prepared, because in the end the recipe is actually very simple to make, as long as you are using the right equipment.  For example, I made sure I had a good sieve for sifting the icing sugar and ground almonds..it made it so the cookie batter was nice and smooth.

Also it is very important to let the cookies dry before baking and to make sure you adjust the heat as directed on the recipe so you don't burn your cookies and so they are able to rise properly and develop the 'claws' on the bottom of each cap.

I'll post pics soon of my second attempt, unfortunately I won't be able to let you taste test them..but I can do that for you :)  hehehe.  Just teasing..here's the link for the website where I got the recipe (Giver's Log).  I'm very happy to send more people to this blog..it's got some fabulours DIY ideas!!  http://www.giverslog.com/?p=1089

Have a great day!