How To: Toast Coconut

I have had a serious love affair with coconut lately.

This for me is a big step.  

Not the love affair with food part, but the coconut part.

You see, coconut has never been a favorite of mine, unless it was in Pina Coladas or suntan lotion, that is.

Recently I made this Coconut Cream Poke Cake, and it's topped with this amazing 

Coconut Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting, and when I taste tested the frosting, 

I knew that I was hooked.  

Since then, I have been making many many coconut treats.

(you can search the word coconut here to find them all)

Many recipes called for Toasted Coconut, and as I was toasting some today for an upcoming post, I thought maybe I would do a post on the how to do it.

I mean at some point in our life, we didn't know how, right?

There are about 2 cups of sweetened coconut here.

There are two ways to go about this, you can either toast it in the oven or on the stove top, which is the way I typically do it.

How To: Toast Coconut

Ingredients:

shredded or flaked  sweetened coconut

On the Stove top:

Sprinkle your coconut into a frying pan and spread it out. Over medium heat, brown your coconut, stirring regularly so as not to burn it.

It toasts quickly, usually only takes about 5 minutes.  When it is golden brown it's done.

In the oven:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sprinkle your coconut onto a cookie sheet. 

Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so to evenly brown.  

Make sure you watch it, once it begins to brown it happens very quickly!

I think that is why I prefer to do mine on the stove top, I am right there stirring it, I am not as likely to walk away from it.

Sweetened coconut will brown much faster.  If you have unsweetened coconut on hand, you can sweeten it by tossing the coconut with powdered sugar.  

( 2 Tablespoons sugar to about 1# of coconut)

Seal left over in an air tight container and store in the pantry for about a month, or freeze for up to one year.

Tasty served over ice cream! 

How To: Freeze & Use Ripe Bananas

It seems I am always buying bananas.

I think my husband and youngest son are part monkey.

There is one thing about bananas though... 

they have a small window of time they are considered 

"perfect" in our house.

Buy them green: too hard

Green to slightly yellow: still a little to firm

Almost all yellow (but NO brown spots!): PERFECT!! Eat! Eat! EAT!!

Next day: still okay, but better eat them quick!

Brown spots appearing: they sit on the counter until I use them, or freeze them.

I used to put them in a zip top bag, now I just put them directly in the freezer!

When you want to put a banana in a smoothie, or in your bread you have a hankerin' for, they are right there, perfectly ripe, and perfectly ready.

Using in a smoothie is even easier, peel and throw it in the blender frozen.

For bread, they defrost rather quickly sitting on your counter.

You can slice it down the side with a knife, or just cut the end off and squeeze it out like soft serve ice cream!

Don't throw away those 'naners!! 

Put them to good use!!

How To: Froth your own milk at home

How often do you find yourself warming up with something from your local coffee shop?

I love warm beverages anytime, but especially when it's as FRIGID as this winter has been.

But those lattes can hurt your budget "a latte!"

I actually have a capuchino maker stashed up in my pantry, that has a milk steamer, and I do get it down from time to time, but I will let you in on a little secret about me, I hate having clutter on my counter!

Drives me CRAZY.

I love coffee and tea lattes, and this works SO DARN GOOD!

Especially when you want one in a hurry!!

How To: Froth Milk at Home

What you need

Jar with a lid

Milk, your choice

Place desired amount of milk in jar leaving at least half of jar empty, for room to froth.

Place the lid on the jar and SHAKE!!

I shook mine for about 30 seconds or so.

Remove lid and heat in the microwave.

I started at 30 seconds, but added a little more time, because I like my beverages HOT.

Watch it, though, because it will GROW!

(I need to add a picture of this!! -- my kids were giggling like crazy!)

With a spoon, hold the froth part back as you add your hot milk to your beverage of choice. Stir. 

Spoon froth on the top of your beverage.

Warm hands.

Sip.

Enjoy!

How to: Pre-bake a Pie Crust

Ever made a recipe that called to " pre-bake your crust" and you made the crust, put it in the pan, baked it, and it slide down the side of the pie pan into the bottom.
So, you maybe cussed a little, then sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar and baked it the rest of the way,  ate it to heal your ego, bought a pre-made crust and used it instead?

No?

Errrrrr..... me either?

Now... in case you need to pre-bake a crust, here's the super easy way to do it correctly!

How To: Pre-Bake a Pie Crust

Lay your pie crust in your pie plate and form the crust edge.

Lay a large piece of heavy duty foil over crust and form to cover.

Bake at 450 degrees for 4 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for 2 minutes more.

Cool.

Fill with whatever your pie loving heart desires!!

How To: Hosting a Holiday Cookie Exchange

I have hosted a Cookie Exchange for the last 16 years.

It's been a lot of fun and has totally evolved throughout the years.

When I started, we all had little kids and I had it with my stay-at-home-mom friends.

Everyone would come to my house, and I would have breakfast food, the kids would play and the moms would have coffee and chat.

As the kids got older, I would still have it in the morning, some would be in pre-school/grade school and some were home.  People that came could make with at some point, with or without their kids.

Now, many of my friends have gone back to work, we all have school aged kids or our kids are out of school and we just want to go OUT.

So, for the last few years I have had my Cookie Exchange at my Sister-in-Law (to be)'s Wine Store.

Yes. Wine + Cookies= HAPPY WOMEN

Every year I have good intentions of taking photos of the event, and every year, I start having fun and completely forget.

I did manage to find a couple of photos from last year, and incorporated some cute ways to package cookies for gifts or an exchange.

Links to the yumminess, too!!

So, I will type up here on this post what I do to organize the event, so maybe you and your friends can have one, too!

Hosting your own Holiday Cookie Exchange

The month of December always fills up fast for everyone.  I always try to get my date on the calendar by mid-November.

Since the invention of facebook, I typically do a facebook event, almost all of my friends have facebook, and the one that doesn't, well it just gives me an excuse to chat with her on the phone! *smile*

I always try to select my date as close to Christmas as possible, my exchange typically falls somewhere between the 18th and the 21st.  That way guests have goodies for their family and friends during the holidays.

Each guest RSVP's with what cookie/candy they plan to bring.  I try REALLY hard to not get duplicates, or "all chocolate" or too much mint, or too many things with nuts.

Many of the people that come only bake for this, and when they return home with all of their goodies, I don't want their platter of treats to be all brown because everything is chocolate. *wink*

I want there to be a nice assortment of flavors and colors for everyone's cookie platters.

So, it's a first come first serve thing.  If you planned on making peanut butter kisses, and someone else signs up first, you go back to the drawing board and find something else.

The number of people changes every year.  Some years I have had as many as 15 people, other years there are only 8.  Whatever number of people in attendance there are, that's how many dozen cookies you will bring of your cookie.

Caramel, Toffee and Pecan Fudge boxed with a bow

For example, there are 10 of us coming, myself included, and  I am making sugar cookies, I bring 9 dozen of my cookie to the party.  Friend A brings peanut butter kisses, 9 dozen, friend B is bringing fudge,  9 dozen pieces, and so on.

Great Aunt Vern's Sugar Cookies in a tin

Everyone brings their candy/cookie wrapped/boxed with one dozen per package.  Some place theirs in bags, some boxes, some on plates and some in tins.  Whatever they decide.  On their packages, they attach their recipe for their baked good inside.

gift or bring candies like Peanut Brittle in mason jars with ribbon attached

Up-Cycled Pringles cans I made with recipe attached for my exchange last year

Turtle Bark in a tin

Everyone brings their own baked good (all 9 dozen) in a big box or basket.  I line them up, and at the end of the evening everyone takes one package from each guest (except themselves) and then leaves with 9 dozen different kinds of cookies, and all they did was make one kind.

See?

Everyone is welcome to bring an appetizer to share, and we sip wine and relax.  

Who doesn't need to relax a little by the middle of December??!!

One other fun thing we added a few years back, is we do a gift exchange.

Everyone brings a wrapped gift (dollar amount is about $15) and we place them on a table.  

We draw numbers and start at 1 and that person opens a gift.

Person number 2 can either steal the gift from the person who opened it, or open their own.

If there are 10 people, we play from 1 up to 10 and back down to 1 so everyone gets a chance to steal.

But the gift can only be stolen twice.

It's a lot of laughs!

Toni got a great HUSKER bag...too bad she's a huge Iowa State fan! Ha!

It's a fun activity, and there always seems to be something new and creative!

Fun to shop for , too!! 

So in a nutshell that is how I do my cookie exchange.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoy hosting it!

girlfriends cookie exchange 2012

How to Make: Homemade Modge Podge

I love doing crafts with my kids.  

Sometimes a craft calls for an item that you have to run to the hobby store to buy, 

and you don't even need to!!

I made labels for my Homemade Sugar Scrubs that I made in jelly jars, and instead of spending more money, I just made my own Modge Podge!

Some jars had modge podge over circle labels placed on scrapbook paper, others had them on the jar itself.

Homemade Modge Podge

white glue

water

 jar with lid

Mix equal parts of glue and water and place in jar with lid, give it a good shake!

It's nice because you can make as little or as much as you want!

How To: Make a PEEP Centerpiece

PEEP centerpieces

I made these for Easter last year.  

Link to Last Year's Post

I shared them and have gotten so many questions I figured I would type up a quick step by step so you could have one on your table this year!

I use a 6" square vase, and put a pint sized canning jar in the middle.

The canning jar works great for the size vase I have, and because you can put the lid on top and the jelly beans don't fall inside. If you don't use a jar, plan to fish them out!!

Pour the jelly beans around the vase, taking care to keep them evenly dispersed.

Once you start getting it full, check to see where the PEEP bunnies ear tips land.  You want them to land toward the top of the vase to conceal the stems and the jar.

My 6" square vase houses 16 bunnies perfectly.  Notice how I stagger them to fit in the corners?

Here is a top view of how they line up.

I didn't use the black jelly beans because they are "ugly." 

I didn't use them so we could EAT THEM!!

Yummy!!

Take the remaining beans and fill the void area to stabilize your jar.

Side view.

It's a little early to go buy blooms for in the vase, but my sweet son, Spencer, had cut me some fresh lilacs this morning, so I stuck them in there to show you the flowers inside.

You will most likely need to use a funnel to fill the jar with water.

If you get the beans wet, it makes a big 'ol mess!

Here's what you will need:

6" Square Vase

1 pint size canning jar

2 packages of PEEP bunnies

3 - 16 oz packages of jelly beans

mixed flowers of your choice

I have been contacted by Robyn from Mix Mingle Glow.  She informed me that this was her original idea. Upon researching ALL of the like centerpieces on the internet, I have found so many links that it's hard to tell where it came from first.  But I will give her credit if she made it first!

Sorry for any confusion. But in the day and age of Pinterest, it's just so darn hard to tell.

ORIGINAL IDEA from http://www.mixmingleglow.com

I hope you and your guests enjoy this FUN Easter centerpiece!!

How To: Make a Conversation Heart Centerpiece

Conversation Heart Centerpiece

When I found the napkins and treat containers with conversation hearts on them, 

I knew that was the ticket for my party this year.

It's no secret how much I <3 Conversation Hearts!!

I decided to run with the idea for my table and centerpiece.

Years ago I made a centerpiece for Halloween the same way using candy corn,

 it was super cute so I ran with it!!

Here is what it took:

Two vases, one that fits inside the other with some wiggle room

2 packages of conversation hearts or other candy

Color coordinated flowers

I love to buy flowers at Costco. They always have really unique bunches 

that you can have so much fun arranging.

I bought a bunch of flowers from Costco and in addition to that I purchased a 

dozen roses and eucalyptus to mix in!! 

(Needed the roses for the SANGRIA!! )

Place the smaller vase inside the larger vase and begin to fill the space between with your conversation hearts.

Fill to the top of the small vase.  

I was lucky enough to have a cylinder vase that was the same height, it worked perfectly.

You will have to use a funnel to fill the inside vase with water, being super careful not to get the candy wet!!

Arrange flowers inside water....

DONE!! and SO CUTE!!