Queen Mother Blog

Ok, I'm hardly an inspirational blogger, but my mom passed a copy of this little bookmark on to me this Sunday & I wanted to share it with you.  It's probably not the first time you've heard this, but for some reason it was timely for me (a bit insecure these days? or always? lol) so I'm sure it will be for some of you as well.

Last Friday I went to my first ever cookie swap.  It was the first cookie swap party I've ever been invited to & it was being hosted by my a lovely friend I don't see very often so I decided to participate.  Let's just take a minute to say that I seriously underestimated the amount of time it takes to make 9 dozen cookies.  Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot to some of you pro bakers, but I cannot bake.  I really can't.  In my original recipe post for these cookies, I mention how I can't even bake up a box of brownies.  So I decided that I was going to bake "my" lemon cookies.  A very delicious iced cookie that has actually turned out for me in the past!!

When you make one batch of them, the mixing, chilling, shaping, baking and icing don't seem like much for the delicious finished result. But when you make 108+ of them, you realize that Pillsbury sugar log cookies could easily sub in for the actual cookie.  So for those of you who want to save a serious amount of time but still want a lemon cookie, I say, skip the whole recipe down to the icing and use whatever sugar/butter cookie you want.  No one will know!

And why does this lemon cookie "work for me" today you ask?  Because I won both prizes for 'best taste' & 'best presentation' I'm so proud! :D   Here's a pic of our little spread, let's see if you can spot my lemon cookie(s):



And without further ado, here is the recipe, courtesy of Real Simple:

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Makes 48 cookies
Hands-On Time: 20m
Total Time: 1hr 45m


Ingredients
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more if necessary
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions
With an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.
Divide the dough in half and shape into 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350° F. Slice the logs into 3/8-inch-thick pieces and space them 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and zest until it forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more lemon juice if necessary). Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set, about 15 minutes.

Note:  I rarely have been able to make a log and just slice these.  I usually have such crumbly dough that I have to make a ball, chill it and then shape them.  Does anyone know the science of this? Butter too cold or something?

Anyway, they actually do work for me ;o) check out the other cool stuff on Works for Me Wednesday!

This is a really quick little tip for you. I picked this up from a magazine a while back and it definitely saves time in the morning (or if you are organized, night) when making lunches.

All you have to do is get a container that holds all of the stuff you use to make sandwiches, and keep those items in it.  Then you only have to make one trip to the fridge. :)  And I know what you're thinking, Bay's sandwiches are lame.  Please.  Marc is just grateful to have a lunch. :D

Check out the other tips on Works for me Wednesday!

Recently I bought the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook "Deceptively Delicious". I bought this because as a toddler, naturally, Rayna wants to eat ZERO vegetables. Since you make veggie purees to mix into the recipes, I was left with a *ton* of purees and I want to only make one or two of these recipes at a time to start with. Most of the recipes call for either 1/4 or 1/2 cup of puree, so I froze some of the purees in 1/4 cup pieces by measuring out 1/4 cup of puree into a lightly sprayed muffin tin:

This week at We are THAT family the Works for Me Wednesday posts are themed with cleaning tips. This makes me very happy, because I love cleaning tips. Who isn't looking for ways to get done with cleaning faster? When I first started reading WFMW was when I learned the whole "microwave a bowl of water" trick to loosen the grime in the microwave and make cleaning easier. Later on I tell my mom my newly-gleaned nugget of wisdom for microwave cleaning, she says 'oh yeah, of course.' Well maybe the world knew that, but I didn't.

I love to save plastic grocery bags and reuse them for little trash liners, lunch bags for hubby (he eats a pretty big lunch, lol) and of course, for dog poop disposal. A long time ago my mom taught me to keep the plastic bags in an empty tissue box. I love that, because then you aren't spending $10+ at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a bag holder and you give something a new life.

It has been ages & ages since I put up a Works for me Wednesday post. Seriously, at least 6 months if not longer. In that time WFMW moved itself on over to a different blog, but still has all the awesome tips you know and love. I still read a lot of them and every week I think "what could I put for WFMW this week?" and apparently nothing works for me anymore and time slips on.

This was one of my first ever WFMW topics, but I just had to mention it again because it is blowing up and working for me like crazy in the last couple of weeks: Paperback Swap!

You join Paperback Swap and list ten books that you don't mind getting rid of. Just for listing your books, they will give you two credits, so you can choose any two books in the system that you want. The person who has the book you want, ships it to you, it costs you a credit. When someone requests one of your books, you ship it to them, you earn a credit. So yes, there is postage involved, but everything else is free.

Since I've joined, I still pretty much never buy books. I've gotten cookbooks, biographies, best-sellers, etc. It is not just for paperbacks, either, I like to request hardcovers whenever I can.

I also signed up for their sister sites, Swap-a-dvd & Swap-a-cd, because you can transfer the credits between them. I have since gotten rid of a bunch of dvds that were collecting dust, and transferred those credits to PBS to get more books. The reason why it has been "blowing up" for me the last couple of weeks is tons of books that I had been wishing for were suddenly coming up ready for me to request. Today I just got Love is a Mix Tape, which I've been wanting to read for a while, and The Biggest Loser cookbook (which I so need) is on its way to me now.

Another way to earn credits is to refer friends. So if you want to check out Paperback Swap, here is a button. And if you would like to put me as your referrer, my user id is rms33--& I know it will work for you too! :D

Be sure to check out all the other WFMW posts @ We Are THAT Family!

I was really stoked about this little invention for wfmw, until my husband came in and called it "totally ghetto-fab." Well, if you have a bunch of feeding related objects that seem to populate around your dining room table, maybe this will work for you.

One thing I never seem to have around is enough bibs. I also always have a can of puffies hanging around the table that never makes it back to the kitchen. So I decided to add a little storage pocket onto the back of my high chair. First, check the back of your high chair. You probably have some extra holes where you could adjust the straps. My high chair is a Chicco.

I took a tote bag (it was one of the freebies from a few weeks ago) and cut the straps off the front, so I had two long straps that I could thread into my highchair. If you thought things through more than I did, maybe you'd turn the bag around so the logo wasn't showing. Oh well, no one is really seeing this anyway. You could also use a gift bag if you don't have a tote bag. Stick the handle straps through the holes in the high chair:

On the inside of the high chair (inside of the seat liner) secure the straps. I just criss-crossed mine and stapled them. Nothing really fancy:

Put the seat cover back on, and fill your storage bag with those items you need near the highchair:

I don't think that it is very unsightly, especially since no one sees the back of my high chair:


Maybe this won't work for every type of highchair, but maybe it gave you an idea to add a bit more storage where you need it!

Check out the other Works for Me Wednesday posts at Rocks in my Dryer!

Even though my photo editing skills were always seriously limited, I always managed to somehow have Photoshop on my home computer. Recently, when I purchased a new one, it didn't come with Photoshop, and I didn't seem to mind for a while.

Enter my blog, and suddenly I want to do basic photo editing like cropping photos. That is when I found out about Picnik. It is totally free, you don't need to download anything...you don't even need to register!

All you do is upload your picture from your computer, facebook, or whatever site you have it on. From there you can crop, brighten, add text, etc. I used Picnik to add the text to my banner up top. This is a free layout where you have to add the text to the image and that's how I did it! (Aside: I was also tinkering with Picnik to create my own blog button, but I'm gonna hold out until I get a new blog template. I like the free option I have now, but would like to get something a little more "professional." Know any good blog designers?)

So here's a button for you to click if you wanna hop on Picnik yourself.

I'm sure it will work for you. Check out the other posts on Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer!

photo by iChaz on flickr

I think every online shopper is at least vaguely aware of coupon codes online, but I wanted to put this up as a resource for you when looking for coupon codes.

If you are looking for a really quick coupon code to get you in and out of your shopping cart fast, check www.retailmenot.com. I've gone here to check for Victoria's Secret coupon codes (because VS actually lets you use THREE in one transaction!) & they also have other stores available. For example, there is a $10 off $30 coupon for American Girl listed here. I have also found retailmenot to be good for Papa John's online coupons.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, shop through a program that will give you extra rewards, such as MyPoints and Ebates. I've already written about my love for MyPoints, and I often complete a lot of my online purchases through Mypoints because I will earn big points for them, such as right now Overstock.com is offering MyPoints members 10 points per dollar in addition to their site-wide free shipping.

Ebates is another program you can use. Shop by clicking through Ebates' links to your favorite merchants and you will earn cash back on your purchases. Right now is double cash back, so some sites are giving 8% cash back! You will get this money in the form of a check in February (Ebates sends out checks several times a year). What is great is that Ebates shows you what other coupon code offers you can use in addition to your cash back. If you want to sign up under my referral and earn a $5 bonus, you can sign up here.

Whatever you do, don't shop online without coupon codes and without getting something in return. Combine these offers with a rewards-generating credit card and you can get yourself some really good bonuses for things that you have to purchase anyway.

Hope this helps! Love, Bay

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday. Be sure to check out the other WFMW tips at Rocks in my Dryer.

I stumbled upon this really great tutorial for how to recycle old magazines into homemade gift bows. This was perfect for me, because I had signed up for a free subscription to Elle Decor without realizing just how awful the magazine really is. I am not in the billionaire-NYC-decorator market, I guess. I even tried canceling the free subscription, because the heavy mag just lands right in the recycle pile, but no one really wants to take responsibility for the free subscription.

But this is a really cool use for recycling those pretty ads into something I can actually use for the holidays. So the ones in my picture look a little challenged, but I'm getting better. It's late! The big black one on the bottom was a Rolex ad, lol.


I just love wrapping gifts, so I have a feeling I'm going to be making a bunch of these for Christmas. Oh and they only cost about a penny for the paper fastener! A penny definitely works for me. Check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!

I was thinking about what I was going to write in this WFMW post and I was stuck between two websites. Then I realized that hey, I have already mentioned Roboform & Paperback Swap…am I addicted to the internet? Is that all that works for me?

And then I thought, who cares of course I’m not. But there really are two cool things that are especially working for me at the moment:

Pandora- Pandora is an internet radio site, where you just quick type in your favorite song or band and it will play similar tunes. What has impressed me about Pandora is that, unlike other online radio gadgets, this one doesn’t play some really random, totally off-the-wall choices. It claims to use music genomes (?) to play appropriate tunes. So far, I love it. I have the Beatles station, the Fleetwood Mac station, the Joan Baez station…and I just realized that I sound thirty years older than I am.

Etsy- This one probably isn’t new to you. I have been suggesting Etsy to crafty people for a while. “Oh wow, your homemade widgets are awesome! No, don’t sell on eBay, sell on Etsy.” Things like that. This Christmas season, however, I plan on doing much more shopping from the comfort of my couch, and I checked Etsy out for some unique gift ideas. I’m hooked! I love the homemade shirts, bags cuter than you could ever find in stores, earrings that real people make. You might think that cool, homemade stuff is going to be more expensive that what you’d find at the mall. Instead, the prices I’ve found at Etsy are way better than at the stores which I would be shopping. Another cool thing about buying straight from a real person is that if you want something in a different color, just ask, and the artist might be able to make it special for you/your gift.

So those are two quick sites that work for me. I hope you like them, too. To see what works for other people, check out WFMW at Rocks in my Dryer.

While you are here, check out my new Tastefully Simple giveaway!

I love, love Paperback Swap. It is a no-brainer that it works for me. If you haven't heard of it, here is the run-down:

You join Paperback Swap and list ten books that you don't mind getting rid of. Just for listing your books, they will give you two credits, so you can choose any two books in the system that you want. The person who has the book you want, ships it to you, it costs you a credit. When someone requests one of your books, you ship it to them, you earn a credit. So yes, there is postage involved, but everything else is free.

Since I've joined, I rarely ever buy books. I've gotten cookbooks, biographies, best-sellers, etc. It is not just for paperbacks. I like to request hardcovers whenever I can.

I also signed up for their sister sites, Swap-a-dvd & Swap-a-cd, because you can transfer the credits between them. I got an Andre Rieu dvd :) and I just ordered a Christmas cd.

So if you want to check out Paperback Swap, here is a button. And if you would like to put me as your referrer, my user id is rms33



Be sure to check out all the other posts at Works for Me Wednesday @ Rocks in my Dryer!

It's Works for me Wednesday again! This time it is a themed edition about toys actually worth buying. I really thought long and hard about what toys I could really stand behind, and I have to say that my knowledge is slim. At just about 8 mos., Rayna is most happy playing with her spoons. What I did go through like water, pre-baby, was dog toys. And when I thought of "toy that is actually worth it's price" I immediately thought of Good Cuz toys.

Kongs are great for marathon-chewing type dogs, but don't they get a little boring after a while? My dog Buddie was a real maniac of a puppy. He quickly ditched Kongs because they didn't squeak, and we started ripping through toys quicker than toilet paper. Good Cuz (& Bad Cuz, Ruffians and all the other shapes) were the strongest, squeakiest, best toys we could buy for him. Long after he ripped the feet off, the ball was still fascinating to him. Who knew? They look like this:
and you can get them anywhere. Here is an online store that is selling them for a decent price. Amazon.com also sells them. I get them at my local pet store, but they also sell them at larger chains, too. Look for the bright colors and the dalmatian on the package. If you have a little one of the doggy type on your list, I'm sure he/she would appreciate it! They definitely worked for me & Buddie Love ;)

For more tips, visit Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday!
And while you're here, did you enter my new giveaway?

It is Works for Me Wednesday again! I hear a lot of girls on the web talk about homemade bread. It seems that every good wife is baking fresh baked bread with some type of secret recipe. I heard somewhere along the line about "no-knead bread", which is easy for the novice to try. Since I am a novice bread maker (actually, a first-time bread maker), I did some searching and found an archived recipe from a blog I like to read, Steamy Kitchen. Here, since it really did work for me, I'm posting my pictures along with Jaden's recipe. Enjoy!

No-Knead Bread-

3 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose because it was all I had and it was still good! It's probably soo much better with the right flour!)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt (3/4 tablespoon if you're using kosher salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water

1. The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess (like this):

Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop. (After which it looks like this:)

2. When you are ready for it, dump the dough out onto a floured surface. Wet your hands. This will prevent the very sticky dough from sticking to your hands. If you find dough sticking to your hands, wet again. Why not flour your hands? You could, but you want to keep the flour: water ratio pretty even. Since we are adding flour to the surface, I balance it out by wetting my hands. It is the high water content that makes this bread so deliciously light and the crust very crisp. With wet hands, grab the dough and fold over all ends towards the middle. Turn dough blob over so that you get a nice, smooth, tight surface. Try to tuck the dough ends under to get that taut surface. (Ok, mine didn't have a "taut" surface, but this is what my tucked and flipped over dough looked like:)

Gently move dough onto a floured towel. Cover. Let nap for 2 hours. It should puff up nicely and double in size. (Here is my dough inside the floured towel. My "after 2 hours" picture looks exactly the same, but it really did rise:)
3. A half hour before the nap ends, slip covered pot into your oven. Crank up the heat to 450F. Let it pre-heat for 30 minutes or longer. Use a 5-qt or larger cast iron, ceramic, Pyrex, stainless steel or enamel pot. Just check your pot collection - look for large, heavy, no plastic. Round, oblong - doesn’t matter. Should be at least 4″ tall. (I used the Pampered Chef stoneware roasting pan, since it was my only oven-friendly pan with a lid.) After pre-heating, remove the hot pot from oven. Now plop this wobbly dough into the hot pot. Doesn’t matter how it lands - actually, the messier it lands, the more “rustic” it looks. Shake pot a bit to even out the dough.


4. Cover and put back into the oven. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Photo below is peeking through oven door after 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake further for 15-20 minutes. To check - you can either tap the bread (should sound low, hollow, like a drum) or take its temperature (should be 210F in middle).
Here is bread just after baking:
5. Remove and let cool. This bread really does sing - the crust crackles as it cools. Listen to it! (Mine was super quiet...just a little crack here and there, lol)

And that's it! Oh, and the bread was delicious! The smell of the house was amazing, the warm fresh bread was great, but can you tell I'm just really proud that it worked? I had zero faith in myself that this would work, because I have a hard time baking anything, especially brownies from a box. To view the entire original recipe (along with her super-cute pictures) click here.

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, click here!

It is “Works for me Wednesday” over at Rocks in my Dryer (a bunch of girls post tips and tricks that work for them). I was already planning to post on here about Roboform, and I have to say that it definitely works for me. I’m not trying to sell you anything, it is free! (There is a “pro” version you can buy, but the free one works for me so far)

The name “Roboform” already sounds a bit intense to me, and I guess it is—it does a LOT of things that I don’t even know what to do with—but I use it for quickly filling out internet forms. You know, when you are filling out a form for a freebie and it is asking for all of the same information: first name, last name, address, blah blah blah? All I did was fill in that information once for Roboform, and now I can push a button and it fills it in for me Every Time.

What is also really cool is that free Roboform lets you have two “identities” so you can push one button to fill out the form with your usual information, and then push another button to do it again with different information. You can use this for requesting samples to two addresses, like one for your work and one for your home. I have one identity for me and one for my mom, so when I request something, I go back and request it for her as well. Aren’t I sweet? (This is where I am really tempted to buy the “pro” version, it lets you have TEN identities…imagine all the mailboxes I could be filling ;)

Ok, so I have a handy button for you to download it and try for yourself.