Doug and Brittany

Ombre Calendar [Free Printable]

thewerths2012 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:55:57 +0000

While writing out our summer travel schedule and events, I discovered that our calendar only goes to the end of June.

See a need, fill a need, so I created this Ombre 2013-2014 Calendar using Adobe InDesign.

Download and print one for yourself below, in either Blue Ombre or Pink Ombre. Designed to print landscape on 8.5″ x 11″ paper.

I had mine spiral bound (Staples or Office Depot will do this for next to nothing!) and it now hangs on the side of our fridge to help keep our happy little life organized.

Ombre Blues Calendar

Ombre Pinks Calendar

Dean & DeLuca

thewerths2012 — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:42:25 +0000

I love almost everything about Nashville, but one thing that it’s missing is a Dean & DeLuca! There’s just something so lovely and energizing and refreshing to me about a really good gourmet food store. Not a grocery store. A gourmet food store. Like Williams-Sonoma (one of my very favorites), only Dean & DeLuca serves coffee, fresh pastries and bread, and lunch!

I had hoped to pop in to one of the locations when we were in NY in May and September last year, but we never got around to it. Next time! I must.

To hold me over, I get their emails and regularly peruse the website. It’s a food lover’s dream.

Also, I love giving food/spices/oils/mixes as gifts!

Black & White Truffle Salt

Italian Spice Collection

Dean & DeLuca Metropolitan Rack with 34 Spices

This will be in the kitchen of our forever home someday. I love this sleek display, and the OCD part of me is so happy that they all match!

I would proudly display this next to a giant stainless steel gas range!

Photos from Dean & DeLuca

Mason Jar Strawberry Shortcake

thewerths2012 — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:48:46 +0000

After a long winter (that is still trying to hang around TN!), we finally have in-season Florida strawberries in our grocery stores! I may be biased, but I do believe that Publix has the best and most fresh selection of berries, and in fact I usually will make a second stop there on grocery day (which is usually Sunday for us) just to stock up.

So in honor of the little red beauties, I thought I’d share a super simple and fast recipe for Mason Jar Strawberry Shortcake.

A friend invited us over for impromptu dinner a few weeks ago, so I needed a dessert I could whip up in a matter of minutes. Her boys love strawberries, so this one was a no-brainer.

You will need:

1 pound cake loaf (from grocery bakery section)

1 qt. strawberries

1 cup heavy whipping cream

confectioners sugar to taste (I use about 3 tbsp.)

Wash and cut strawberries. Cut pound cake into cubes.

With whisk attachment on your stand mixer, whip heavy cream and powdered sugar (start with just 2 tbsp.) on medium high speed until fluffy (careful not to overmix), adjusting powdered sugar amount to taste.

Layer pound cake, strawberries and whipped cream in serving dish.

Since we have a large supply of Mason Jars at the ready, I opted for individual servings. Bonus: they’re perfect for taking on the go (versus using plastic wrap on a trifle bowl).

I have a feeling we will be making this many times this spring and summer! Enjoy!

Valentine’s Treats: Red Velvet Cake Truffles

thewerths2012 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:29:16 +0000

Doug often says, “I love love.” And I feel the very same way. So it should come as no surprise that I really love Valentine’s Day, but not in the “roses & chocolate” kind of way–I really don’t like roses at all. The thing I love most about Valentine’s Day is the giving of small tokens of love to friends, family, co-workers & neighbors.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, I decided to whip up a batch of Cake Truffles in the most vibrant red I could think of–so of course, Red Velvet was the clear winner here. Please forgive the horrible lighting in these photos. I had worked all day in the office and then spent all evening in the kitchen, so I didn’t have the luxury of early morning or late afternoon natural light.

Red cake batter makes me happy! It’s so bright and matches my mixer and kitchen accents perfectly!

This is step 4 of the process (I can’t go giving away ALL of my secrets, y’all!)–balling them up before they go to the freezer for a few (which is step 5).

Didn’t get to capture the dipping process … had to work quickly in order to get the sprinkles to stick before the chocolate hardened! These are the finished products, pre-packaging.

Dug around in my trusty craft storage drawers and found some bubblegum pink raffia (the plastic kind, not the paper kind–plastic holds a tighter tie without breaking)! The tags were a quick creation I whipped up in Adobe Illustrator.

Some got individually packaged for co-workers and neighbors.

Others were packaged in 4s for some couple friends. 2 for him and 2 for her!

Of course, none of this would have been possible without my constant kitchen companion! Faithful supporter or hungry scavenger … you decide.

Cupid delivers. Everyone loves happy mail, especially when it’s edible.

So there you have it. To quote my friend Laura, “Baked goods can totally change the world.”

And I happen to fully agree.

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!

Valentine’s Printables

thewerths2012 — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:14:35 +0000

I’m always on the hunt for cute, seasonal prints for our house, so for Valentine’s Day, I decided to design my own. I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out!

So in honor of love, I thought I’d do you a solid (as my husband now likes to say) and share them for free! Who doesn’t love a cute, free printable?

Download the “Hello. Also, I Love You.” print here

Download the “All You Need Is Love” print here

Download the “Be Mine” print here

Download the “You Have My Whole Heart” print here

*You will need to sign up for a Scribd. account, but it’s totally free … no gimmicks here, but you do need a login before you can download.

Then, just download the prints you like, trim off the white edges and pop into your favorite 8″x10″ frame!

All-American Pie Crust: A Southern Staple

thewerths2012 — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:47:31 +0000

I rarely keep prepared pie crust in our fridge or freezer. I have been known to use the frozen pie crust (bonus: it comes in its own pan) or the Pillsbury Pie Shells from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Both of those work just fine, and in a pinch, I’m sure I’ll grab one of them again … but lately I have really enjoyed making my own. Let me be the first to de-bunk the myth that homemade pie crust is difficult: it’s not.

In my favorite southern cookbook Bon Appetit, Y’all, I found a recipe for All-American Pie Crust. Did you know you can make pie crust dough in your food processor? I didn’t, but now I doubt I will ever go back to making it in a mixing bowl with a pastry cutter (or, let’s be honest … two butter knives).

For a double-crust pie, simply double the amounts and divide the dough before rolling out.

You will need:

11/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, preferably Crisco, chilled and cut into pieces

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

3 to 8 tablespoons ice water

In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour and salt, then add the vegetable shortening and butter. Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With the processor on pulse, add enough of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together without being sticky or crumbly. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm and the moisture has distributed evenly, about 30 minutes.

Flour a clean work surface and a rolling pin. (If making a double-crust pie or 2 pie shells, work with one disk at a time, keeping the second disk chilled.) Place a dough disk in the center of the floured surface. Starting in the center of the dough, roll to, but not over, the upper edge of the dough. Return to the center, and roll down to, but not over, the lower edge. Lift the dough, give it a quarter turn, and lay it on the work surface. Continue rolling, repeating the quarter turns, until you have a disk about 1/8 inch thick.

Ease the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim 1 inch larger than the diameter of the pie plate; fold the overhanging pastry under itself along the rim of the plate. For a simple decorative edge, press the tines of a fork around the folded pastry. To make a fluted edge, using both your finger and thumb, pinch and crimp the folded dough. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

To blind bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Crumple a piece of parchment paper, then lay it our flat over the bottom of the pastry. Weight the paper with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. This will keep the unfilled pie crust from puffing up in the oven. For a partially baked shell that will be filled and baked further, bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and remove paper and weights. (You can reuse the rice or beans for blind-baking a number of times.) The shell can now be filled and baked further, according to recipe directions. For a fully baked shell that will hold an uncooked filling, bake empty shell until [it reaches] a deep golden brown, about 3o minutes total.

If you don’t already have a copy of this cookbook, you need one. They’re available on Amazon, and with a 5-star rating, you know it’s good.

I was gifted a copy from a friend and love it so much that I gifted another copy to a friend. Virginia includes snippets from and glimpses into her life as a culinary student, which are great encouragements for a novice cook like myself.

**Reprinted with permission from Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking by Virginia Willis, copyright © 2008. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House.

For more information about Virginia Willis, visit her website at http://www.virginiawillis.com/ and her blog at http://virginiawillis.wordpress.com/

Chess Pie: A Southern Staple

thewerths2012 — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:44:28 +0000

If you are from the South, chances are you love Chess Pie (or at least have tried it, though I know very few people who have tried it and don’t love it). I’ve had it dozens of times but have never before tried to make it. I needed an idea for a dessert to take to a friend’s this weekend, so I pulled out my copy of Bon Appetit, Y’all, and sure enough, there was a recipe for Chess Pie.

You will need:

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon white or yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup melted butter, cooled to room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

All-American Pie Crust, blind baked (instructions here) and still warm.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth. Add the sugar, cornmeal, flour, and salt. Whisk well to combine. Add the butter, buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Whisk well to combine. Pour into the warm pie shell.

Bake until golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. (The pie may puff and crackle during baking, which is fine. It will settle as it cools.) Remove to a rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Note:

I ended up cooking ours for closer to 50 minutes, just to be sure that the center was done and that it wouldn’t be runny when we were serving slices. Make sure to pay attention to yours, the suggested cooking time might work just fine with your oven!

This was a great first stab at chess pie. I’ll definitely make it again!

For more information about Virginia Willis, visit her website at http://www.virginiawillis.com/ and her blog at http://virginiawillis.wordpress.com/

If you don’t already have a copy of this cookbook, you need one. They’re available on Amazon, and with a 5-star rating, you know it’s good.

I was gifted a copy from a friend and love it so much that I gifted another copy to a another friend. Virginia includes snippets from and glimpses into her life as a culinary student, which are great encouragements for a novice cook like myself.

Homemade Marshmallows

thewerths2012 — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:29:46 +0000

Let’s talk about marshmallows. I love marshmallows. I love them on s’mores, dipped in chocolate, in candy bars, in ice cream (hello, rocky road). They’re my favorite part of Ambrosia salad. Pretty much any way you can serve a marshmallow … I’ll eat it.

So imagine my excitement to see homemade marshmallow recipes start popping up all over Pinterest! After carefully reading a few recipes and comparing their reviews, I decided to go with Alton Brown’s recipe.

In lieu of vanilla, you can add another flavored extract at the end of the recipe to give your mallows a little something extra, but for my purposes, I just stuck with the original vanilla recipe. I always like to try out a basic recipe first and see how it goes, that way if I make a variation on it later, I can usually pinpoint that any errors probably were committed with the substituted components.

I admit, I was a smidge nervous because of some of the negative reviews, but you can’t succeed if you never try.

You will need:

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups (used my kitchen scale for exact measurement)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the cold water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/2 cup cold water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping, prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Notes:

I didn’t have a candy thermometer, so I used what I had: a meat thermometer. Unfortunately, it only goes to 220 degrees, so I just let the mixture get to 220 and then left it to bubble for 3 more minutes (all of the recipes I saw said 7-8 mins total cooking time, so I figured it was a safe bet to go by time).

I left the marshmallows out overnight. I think they set up just perfectly.

When you turn the marshmallow mass onto the counter or cutting board (I put two pieces of wax paper down to help me later funnel the leftover dusting mixture into a ziploc), it would be a good idea to sprinkle some of the dusting mixture on the newly exposed side of the marshmallows. Mine were a little sticky when I removed the pan, so I dusted them–made the cutting process so easy.

The pizza wheel idea was brilliant. It’s the best way to cut them quickly and (relatively) cleanly.

I dumped the remaining cornstarch/confectioners sugar mix into a gallon size Ziploc and threw about 10-12 cut marshmallows in at a time. Zip closed and shake to cover, so those interior sides that are sticky when you cut can get a good coating. Sure beats coating them all by hand, and cleanup was a breeze!

The verdict? They’re amazing. Even Doug, who says he does not like marshmallows, said they were way better than store-bought. Sorry, Kraft … I think my days of buying your Jet-Puffed marshmallows are over. This recipe will yield the fluffiest, spongiest, most springy and flavorful marshmallows that you’ve ever eaten. I promise. They even make great gifts!

Peppermint Cake Truffles

thewerths2012 — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:03:28 +0000

Today is my sweet and hilarious friend Arley‘s birthday. Knowing how much she loves cake truffles, I was not the least bit surprised when she said that’s what she wanted her gift to be. Well, I was more than happy to oblige!

Tis the season for peppermint, so I made her some peppermint cake truffles. I dipped one dozen in white chocolate and the second dozen in dark chocolate. Add some crushed peppermint candies and a few chocolate drizzles and Voilà! A box of delicious treats is born.

Happiest of birthdays, Arls! I love you to the moon and back.

photo credit: Arley’s blog.

Sugar & Spice: Annie & Talbot’s Baby Shower

thewerths2012 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:45:44 +0000

Hang on to your hats, this might be a long post! Last Sunday, some girlfriends and I hosted a baby shower for our close friend, Andrea. She and her husband Kris are new parents to Talbot May, born October 4, 2012. Talbot joined the Barnett family on October 30th via domestic adoption, and she is just perfect. You are one loved little girl, Talbs!

The shower we hosted was an afternoon shower, themed “Sugar and Spice”. We had a candy bar, loads of sweet desserts, Spiced Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate, and Andrea was given some pretty spectacular gifts.

By no means do I claim to be any sort of actual legit photographer, but here are some photos I captured of the day with the spiffy camera we own but I am still learning how to use.

Burlap wreath I made to adorn the door and welcome guests. Talbot’s nursery will be teal with lime accents, so a sparkly teal “T” was a must! My friend Robin made all of the paper poms you see here and elsewhere.

We carried the teal and lime theme throughout the shower with custom prints. These frames are from my personal party inventory (used at our wedding to mark reserved tables) and I custom-made the prints for the shower and for use later in the nursery.

Another custom print I made

For this print, I actually downloaded the design pdf for free and used Talbot’s monogram. Love how this turned out, I am a huge fan of quatrefoil designs!

This is the main table with the cookies and petit fours on one end and the candy bar on the other end. I am so proud of how it turned out! The ladies did a great job with the menu.

This area is all Robin. She used a chalkboard from my party stash and turned it into a beautiful sign for the mantle. She also handmade the banner. So so cute.

Close-up of the banner. Love the details.

Here’s the invite that we sent out, and I am smitten. It’s girly without being overly pink–just lovely. All of the floral arrangements you see like this were arranged in my 1/2 gallon mason jars. We used pink snapdragons, white hydrangeas and lime spider mums. Simple yet elegant and didn’t overpower the other asthetics we had going on.

Andrea is a BIG reader and also loves all things English, so we bought Talbot a copy of the children’s book Madeline and used it as the sign-in book. I love that this will be a treasure for them for years to come! Robin’s mom sent these flowers and they smelled divine.

We created an encouragement tree so people could write their words of encoragement to the new parents.

I have to say, I am so proud of how the shower turned out. It was just perfect and Andrea loved it all. It was most definitely a team effort, and I am so thankful to have worked with a great group of passionate, creative women. We love you, Annie and baby Talbot!