Sweet Saturday

For my Sweet Saturday Post I wanted to share with you this SWEET card that one of the gals on my team made for me celebrating the birth of our sweet Lily Girl.

 The right hand piece removes to be a bookmark - my favorite kind - magnetic!!

I am so thankful for the gals on my team!!  Thanks Jeanne!!

Speaking of Sweet Lily...Jessica is so sweet to send my photos of the kids on a regular basis.  Even though we only live 1/2 mile away I love getting these daily reminders of how blessed we are.

Sawyer loves hisbaby sister too

She's getting so big already!! and full of smiles

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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Sweet Saturday

I have been spending more time with Sawyer lately because Mommy is recovering from Lily's birth. So what makes this a SWEET Saturday post?
#1: anytime spent with the grand kids is sweet, but this time Sawyer helped Gramma make cookies for the first time.

 So tempting!!

 I think his favorite part, though, was "washing" the dishes.  This boy loves the water!!

We made my favorite Gluten Free Cookies.
Want the recipe??

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cup oat flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Mix together the butter and sugars. The mixture will be slightly crumbly. Add the egg and

vanilla and beat until smooth.

Mix together the soda, salt, and flour and add to the wet ingredients. Mix until well

incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky. Add the chocolate chips.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just becoming

golden.

This time I used White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries instead of the Chocolate Chips!! YUM!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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Sweet Saturday

One week ago Gracie celebrated her 11th birthday.  Instead of a family birthday party she chose to have a dance party with her friends.
This is the cake that I made for them to devour.

Oh, YUM!!  Twix on the outside and M&M's on top of a French Vanilla Cake!  The easiest cake I've ever made!! and no piping the edges (which I cannot do right now because of a trigger finger)

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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Sweet Saturday!

For the past several years I have been asked (by my sister) if I would be willing to judge the 4-H still projects at our local fair.  It's a nice little chunk of money for a couple days "work".  I love seeing the creativity of these kids.  Some are shy and some are NOT!! lol!!  I judge MANY animal notebooks like cows, pigs, horses and dogs.  My favorite is when they bring in their plate of cookies or the quick breads for us to taste!! LOL!!
One little girl made this darling cake and I just HAD to share it with you

I especially appreciate it because I hate working with fondant and she made it look so easy.  Of course she got an A!!
Gracie came with me on Monday and she enjoyed watching Gramma do her thing, even snapped a few photos with my phone.

 Some come with one item like their notebook and some come with boxes filled to the brim taking advantage of the limit of 18 items submitted.

 We had a little down time so we walked over to see the goats during one of our "pit-stops".

 I let Gracie wonder a bit on her own and she snapped quite a few pictures.  She said that the bunnies were her favorites because they were so soft.

 She liked this horse because the face protection they had on it made it look like a giraffe!

Grampa and Tyler spent the afternoon together then came to the fairgrounds to have supper. So thankful for these fun times we can have with them, they are growing up so fast.
Thanks for stopping by!
Christi Pin It Now!

Sweet Saturday

This is from a wedding that my cousin, Dawn, and I did in June.
I am so thankful that Dawn does the fancy stacked cakes for the Bride and Groom and I do the sheet cakes, or in this case, cupcakes, that are served to the guests.

The florist was there when Dawn delivered the cake and was able to catch a photo of the finished product.  We don't always have that privilege.  Not all the cupcakes are shown because I had to make 150 of them!!  WHEW!!

Next wedding I will be making the cupcakes out of my new home!! Can't wait!!

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Thanks for stopping by!
Christi

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Sweet Saturday

My sweet Riana was about 3 years old when she started at Aunties. 

For Riana's card I wanted to try the  Triple Tiered Slider Card that I saw on Dawn Griffiths blog. I had so many darling pictures of Riana that were always my favorites

Isn't this fun!!  Oh the memories that are packed into these pictures!!

My Beautiful girl!

Here is the whole crew.  I had both girls (Becca and Riana in my care)  The oldest (on the right), Andrew, was our Joey's buddy growing up.  I was teasing Scott that he was a cross between Dobie Gillis, Gilligan and Shaggy!!  He totally embraces it!

 I had the privilege to make Riana's cakes

This was her favorite book growing up - I can't even count how many times I read this book to her... THE BEST NEST by Dr. Suess

Over the years I made MANY scrapbooks with the pictures of the kids in my care and all the fun we had.  Now at graduation I am gifting them to these kids.  It was great to see her smile at all the memories.  In this photo she is reading the note I put inside.

 She loved the make up bag with goodies from Uncle Dale.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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Sweet Saturday

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It was Spring Break Week here in Hudsonville, so Gracie came to spend one day with us.  The nice part is that she came on Monday when Gramps has the day off.
She and I were creating in the craft room when she said "I feel like making cupcakes"! Too funny, "Gramma isn't doing baking right now, but I bet Gramps will help you make cookies  " - sure enough - Gramps and Gracie made 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies, of which I think Gracie ate at least 10 of them!!  OOPS! sorry mom!!

They sure look delicious!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Christi Pin It Now!

Sweet Saturday

We have spent a wonderful few days with my sister in New Jersey, but today is "travel home day."
One fun thing we like to do as sisters is planning meals together.  Granted, Lynette had to do most of the work, but whatever I could do (while sitting and elevating my foot) I did.
So how many of you spend time on Pinterest and see the quick how-to recipe videos like this one?

We thought it would be fun to try some of these recipes while we were together.

 YUM!

What a super easy recipe to make.
Here is the recipe from Tasty

16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 eggs
12 Oreo cookies
crushed Oreos for topping
Muffin tin liners

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until well combined. Line a muffin tin with paper liners (white looks the cutest), and place a whole Oreo at the bottom of each liner. Top with cheesecake mixture and crumbled Oreos (you can mix them into the cheesecake if you prefer). Bake at 275°F/135°C for 22 min. Cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, leaving the cheesecakes in the muffin tin. Remove them from the muffin tin right before serving.

I did all the hard work! You know, putting the paper liners in the cupcake tins and adding one GLUTEN FREE OREO style cookie in the bottom!!
Lynette mixed all the ingredients and I filled them up.  Added more GF OREO crumbs on top and baked them.
I think the hardest part of this entire recipe is AFTER they are baked.  You need to let them cool AND THEN put them in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours.  The wait time was horrible!! I wanted to try them right away!!
The four of us each had one and then we took four of them to the Associate Pastors family who works with my brother-in-law at Shamong Baptist Church where he is the Senior Pastor.  It was fun to treat them and to meet them.  I know that their little family is a blessing to Rich and Lynette which makes me love them too.
Give them a try - they are delicious!  You can cut the calories down by using low fat sour cream and the 1/3 less fat Cream Cheese.  And as you can see, we made them Gluten Free simply by swapping out the regular OREO brand of cookie for the Gluten Free version.  YES, I had to go Gluten Free again to help with the aches my muscles were having especially down my legs.  Within 3 days of going Gluten Free I could tell a BIG difference.
Thanks for stopping by!
Christi Pin It Now!

Sweet Saturday

Happy 17th Birthday Sweet Cherie!!

 I broke my own rule of never making stacked cakes, but it was for a good reason

She loved it!  French Vanilla with Raspberry filling!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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Sweet Saturday

When Gracie gets a day off school (this time it was a teacher in-service, I think) it is time to play with our food.  I mean: work together in the kitchen to create something yummy!
I saw this idea on Pinterest.  It has 2 of my favorite food groups (chocolate and caramel!)  I am not a big fan of marshmallows, but I can tell you, these are amazing!!

Gracie unwrapped all the caramels and then stir-stir-stir with 2 T of water

We put sucker sticks in the center of the giant Marshmallows.  They call them "Campfire Marshmallows"

We coated each marshmallows with the caramel and then put them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

CHILL! One thing we learned is that it is smart to spray your parchment paper with an aerosol baking spray to keep them from sticking.  If you wait about 10 minutes you can form the caramel over the bottom.  See how they spread out a bit at the base... after 10 minutes just push that caramel around to the bottom.

Now it's time to coat them with chocolate!  YUM! I buy the Wilton brand of candy melts: Milk Chocolate is my preference.

Let it drip and wipe off the bottom with your spatula 

A major part of having fun in the kitchen is cleaning up the mess.  Good thing that at 10 years old, washing dishes is fun!

 Here they are again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christi

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