Tempt My Tummy Lollipop Cookies

My big girl turned 6 on Saturday and wanted me to make cookies for her to take to school on Friday. I have tons of great cupcake ideas..but the girl doesn't like cake (which will not stop me from making a cake for her party this Saturday). She loves frosting so I figured these would work! She liked them. They were very tasty and they held their shape well. I usually try to avoid any cookie like this but it went surprisingly quick. It was a good idea to bake them one day and frost them the next.

It made a TON of dough so I cut out hearts that I am going to give for teacher Valentine gifts. I made them last Wednesday, decorated the lollipop ones on Thursday...I'm not decorating the heart ones until tomorrow but I've been diligently "testing" them to make sure they don't get unflavorful or stale. So far, so good.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
6 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

2 cups butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I used a little extra vanilla)

1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below that works REALLY WELL) Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3 inch cookies. If you want to make it a lollipop cookie, place a stick under each cookie. The cookie will bake right on to it.

HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies. This is such an easy process and saves a ton of time.

The icing I used comes from Confetti Cakes for Kids cookbook.

Royal Icing

1/2 cup egg whites

4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

food coloring

Beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Scrape the bowl when needed. Add lemon juice and beat on medium high speed until stiff peaks form and the icing is no longer shiny, 6 to 8 minutes. Use immediately or place in an airtight container.

When decorating cookies like those above....

1. Pipe a small boarder of icing around the edge of each cookie - do all of the cookies.

2. Make thinner frosting of the same color as your boarder and flood the cookie - one cookie at a time.

3. Right after you flood the cookie, add your designs with other colors. This way it will all dry smooth.

Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes!

Not me! Monday

Friends of ours lost their car key when they were over and they did NOT have to look underneath the couch cushions for it. And there were NOT toys, socks, goldfish, raisins, etc. under each cushion. I was certainly NOT embarrassed. I clean under cushions each and every week (OK, at LEAST once a year :) ....and that was for the Superbowl.....and I still have yet to clean there.

My 3 year old did NOT have to visit the Principal's office for yelling at the music teacher. I wonder how that went. What could you say to this little face? Can you imagine this little face yelling at the teacher? I can NOT. She was so sad that I did NOT get out the camera to capture the moment. That might me a little insensitive.

I do not know what is more embarrassing, when you have breast milk all over the front of your shirt (which I did NOT) or when someone that you don't know mentions that you may NOT be leaking everywhere. This does NOT happen to me at least once with every child. And I did NOT just adjust the baby so it looked like she peed all over me .

Go over to My Charming Kids and Not Me Monday to see what others have definitely NOT done this week! Enjoy!

Aloha Friday! A little OCD?

I was walking around our neighborhood trailing the garbage truck. As they were throwing the empty cans everywhere, I was resisting the urge to pick each up and line them nicely by the curb. I also wished at one point that I had an edger because my walk would be so much nicer if every one's lawn had neat edges. My spice cabinet looks like this.....

I am not surprised when I find things that my daughter plays with like this....

But just so you know that I am not always like this because here is my craft closet....a super huge mess not contained to the closet.

I find myself with little OCD moments. So for my Aloha Friday question of the day....

Do you find yourself, at times, obsessive-compulsive? Care to share with what?

It's Friday, which means that over at An Island Life it is time for Aloha Friday. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So on Fridays we take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, she asks a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response. Then everyone else asks a simple question of their own blog for others to answer.

A Thousand Word Thursday

Cheaper Than Therapy holds A Thousand Word Thursday each week. Go visit to check out other pictures!

Here's mine as a reminder that summer will be here soon. We don't often get freezing weather but today is one of those days....

Free Books Work for Me!

Have you already heard of Paperback Swap? I absolutely love it. All you do it find 10 books around the house that you no longer want. Create an account and add the books. You will then get 2 free credits. This means that you can get 2 free books right off the bat. You search their database and pick any two you want. That member then sends you the book. When a member requests one of your books you send it to them and earn another credit. When that member requests the book you print out a book wrapper - it's all done for you - tape it around your book and mail it (addresses and everything are already on it). You can use media mail that costs around $2.25 - much less than a new book and comparable to a book you can get resale.

**If there is a book that you want that is not listed you can put in a request. When another member lists that book it will notify you.

**They even have a printed postage option so you can skip the post office all together. There is a small fee for this but is probably less than gas to the post office. I haven't tried this yet but am going to do it the next time someone requests one of my books.

** There are almost 3 million books listed.

**What a great way to reuse and recycle. Maybe get rid of a little clutter (I know, you will just add more with more books)

If you love to read and it's obvious from the tons of books you have in your house, why not? Go over to Rocks In My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas.

Sorry about the plug below...while doing a little research (how many books were listed :) I found out that you could get credit for referring a member.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=gert003%40aol.com


If you use the link above to join, I'll get a free credit when you post your first ten books (and you'll still get 2 free credits for posting them!) but you certainly don't have to sign up through me!! Just an option :)

Tempt My Tummy Broccoli Cheese Soup

I tried this new recipe last week and loved it. I doubled it because there is no way I'm going through all that work for 4 servings - although it was actually easy. I was the only person in the house excited for it but everyone ate it (and were pleasantly surprised). My daughter even asked for leftovers for lunch the next day. Make some bread machine bread for a wonderful accompaniment. Well worth it! Visit Blessed with Grace for more Tempt My Tummy recipes!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe from recipezaar.com

SERVES 4
· 1 tablespoon melted butter
· 1/2 medium chopped onion
· 1/4 cup melted butter
· 1/4 cup flour
· 2 cups half-and-half cream
· 2 cups chicken stock
· 1/2 lb fresh broccoli
· 1 cup carrot, julienned (I pureed mine so that nobody would ask me to pick them out. It made the soup thicker. Just the way I like it!)
· 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
· 8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
· salt and pepper
Sauté onion in butter. Set aside.
Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.
Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Return to heat and add cheese. Stir in nutmeg

Not Me Monday!

It's Monday. Time to tell you about somethings that did not happen....

So our 6 month old does NOT still sleep in bed with my husband and I (and I do NOT lie to our pediatrician saying that she is doing fine in her crib). I am NOT questioning my parenting skills because the other girls were in their cribs at 4 months. SO...I did NOT check out a huge pile of books about getting your child to sleep through the night (she does sleep perfectly all night long...just right by my side). Which, of course, the librarian did NOT offer her own advice. I picked up the first book and it did NOT list everything I was doing as absolutely correct (I love you Dr. William Sears)! Then I did NOT not read any others. I think I just needed it in writing somewhere that it was OK to do it my way. I am NOT OK with a little attachment parenting!

I did NOT tell my baby to focus on her core when trying to get her to sit by herself. And my three year old did NOT repeat this to her several times in encouragement.

My five year old did NOT have an accident in Borders and then run at me yelling "Mom, I thought it was going to be a fart!"

Go over to My Charming Kids and Not Me Monday to see what others have definitely NOT done this week! Enjoy!