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Archive for March, 2015

Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Recipe

Sugar cookies made with my favorite gluten free flour mix.CourseCookiesCuisineAmericanPrep Time45 minutesCook Time9 minutes0 minutesTotal Time54 minutesServings36 cookiesCalories68kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

  • 2-1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1-1/4 cups sugar
  • 10 Tbs butter OR margarine softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbs Karo® Light Corn Syrup
  • 1 tsp Spice Islands® Pure Almond Extract

Frosting

  • 1 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Spice Islands® Pure Almond Extract
  • 3-4 tsp milk or whipping cream

Instructions

  • Combine flour mix, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
  • Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes until creamy.
  • Add egg, corn syrup and almond and continue mixing until well blended.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes or until a smooth dough forms.
  • Transfer dough onto plastic film, flatten into a disc, wrap tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until very firm.
  • Preheat oven to 375?F.
  • Roll dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 3-inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
  • Place cookies on ungreased baking sheets
  • OR divide dough into 3 portions; refrigerate 2 of the portions. Lightly dust counter with Gluten-Free Flour Mix. Roll one portion of dough into a circular shape that is about 1/4-inch thick. Use favorite cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place cookies on baking sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until firm in center and light brown in color. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
  • Frost with frosting.

Frosting

  • Combine powdered sugar and almond extract
  • Add in enough milk to make the right spreading consistency

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Favorite Utah Restaurants

Every time I travel to Utah, I have to hit my favorite Utah Restaurants. Here is a list of my must try restaurants in Provo and Salt Lake.

Favorite Utah Restaurants

In February I spent almost two weeks in Utah.  I attended two conferences, spent time with my girls and other family and ate.  One of my favorite things to do with my girls is to try new restaurants and visit some of my favorites.  I spent a lot time in Salt Lake City this trip because of my conferences  so I got to check out some new SLC eateries.

I have driven by Eva’s Bakery in downtown Salt Lake many times.  Each time I thought, it looks just like Paris!  I knew I needed to make a visit.  I enjoyed lunch there one day with a friend and my sister in law.

Eva's Bakery

It made me feel like I was right back in Paris!

Eva's Bakery

We enjoyed a lunch of French Onion  Soup, Margarita Flatbread, Pear & Arugula Salad and an amazing Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad.  All was delicious!

Eva's Bakery for lunch

Thanks to Yelp we discovered the restaurant From Scratch which was walking distance from the Convention Center where we were meeting.

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We enjoyed a delicious Butternut Squash Soup, Honey Apple Salad and a Fennel  Sausage pizza with Creme Fraiche, Red & Green Onion, Mozzarella .  So yummy!

From Scratch lunch

Lucky for me we were in SLC three days so we got to check out The Copper Onion for lunch one day too.  Also located downtown, I had heard lots of good reports about this restaurant so was anxious to try it out.

The Copper Onion

This place was busy.  I always take that as a good sign.  We had lunch but I would definitely like to go back and try breakfast some time.

The Copper Onion

For lunch we had a yummy Copper Onion burger (without a bun for my gluten free friend) with some yummy steak fries  along with a  French Dip sandwich.  Both were made with delicious Niman Ranch Beef.   I was totally drooling over my neighbor’s french toast!

After our conference that weekend I headed south to Provo and enjoyed some yummy food there.  One of my favorite Provo restaurants is Oteo.  It is a must for every trip to Utah.  It is actually located in Lindon, in an ugly strip mall but there is nothing ugly about Oteo.

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One of my most favorite things ever is their Queso Fundido.  I dream about this stuff!!  I could just eat this and be happy forever.

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But you can’t go to Oteo and not have their tacos.  I am a big fan of the Hanger Beef but my girls adore their Avocado Tacos.  If you go on Tuesday (like we did), it is Taco Tuesday and you get three tacos for the price of two!

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Next up on my Utah food adventures was Blue Lemon.  There is one in downtown SLC but my girls and I went to the one in Highland for dinner one night.  Not pictured are the yummy sweet potato fries we also ordered! I love the easy, order at the counter casualness of Blue Lemon but the delicious, beautiful presentation of food you get just like at a sit down and order restaurant.

Blue Lemon Highland

Down in Provo I met Tessa one day for lunch.  She works on BYU campus so we needed to go somewhere close so we went to one of our favorite pizza places,  Slab.   It is just south of campus.

Slab Pizza Provo


It is appropriately named because you get a SLAB of pizza.  It’s a fourth of a pizza!

Slab Pizza

One of the fun things about Slab is all the great combinations of pizza they have.  Of course you can make your own combo too.

Slab Pizza

We also checked out a new place in downtown Provo,  Ivie Juice Bar,  located on University.   It is a smoothie and juice bar.

The Ivie
The Ivie

All three of us ordered their yummy Acai Bowls which is basically a really thick smoothie in a bowl topped with fruit, toasted coconut and drizzled with delicious honey.  So yummy and healthy!

The Ivie

The best part was I got to enjoy it with these two lovelies!

The Ivie
The Ivie

Can’t wait to go back and enjoy it again!

Provo and Salt Lake have both discovered the wonderfulness of food carts just like we have here in Portland.  They may not have the hundreds and hundreds of food carts like we do but they have some fun food cart roundups during the week.  One night it was in Lehi (where Cali teaches) so we hit it for dinner.  The girls insisted we eat at Cup Bob, their favorite!

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CupBop is Korean BBQ in Cup and it is delicious.  You rate your desired hotness on a scale of 1-10.  I went for a 3 and that was plenty hot for me.  

 Cupbop serves Korean style BBQs (Beef, Pork, and Chicken) with rice, veggies, and noodles.  They even have  gluten free version.  The best part is the yummy sauce they put on the top! It was too dark to get a good picture so I found this small one on Google.  Can’t wait to have it again.  Follow CupBob on Instagram.

l

The other food cart that was a must visit was Art City Donuts.  Oh man, are these things good.  They are little tiny melt in your mouth donuts that they put different toppings on.  They have different flavor specials each night.  You can find out where they are  going to be each day and what their flavors of the day are by following Art City Donuts on Instagram.

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art-city-donuts-10

These things literally melt in your mouth.  My favorite are the Cinnamon ones although these raspberry with crumble topping ones are pretty amazing too!

I spend a lot of time driving up and down main street in Lehi, Utah when I am in Utah because the school Cali teaches at is just off Main Street.  I love being able to help her with her upcoming productions and this visit we did a lot fabric shopping for costumes for her next production, The Little Mermaid.  Every time I drive up or down Main Street I have noticed the Lehi Bakery.

Bruges Waffles

I am intrigued every time by their sign – Home of the Square Doughnuts!  Well, this trip my curiosity got the best of me and I had to stop and check out the square donuts!  They have a lot more than just square donuts.

Bruges Waffles

Of course I had to try the square donuts, which are basically just yummy raised donuts but instead of being round they are square.  I picked up some of those and some other yummy choices too.

Bruges Waffles

Good thing I had some nieces and a nephew to share these with!  It was definitely worth a stop.

So, you are probably thinking that all Leigh Anne does while she is in Utah is eat!  Well, you’re right.  This last trip lasted 12 days so I had lots of days I needed to eat.  At the end of my stay I headed back up to Salt Lake City for a blogging conference and while there I went to lunch with my blogging friend Kristen Duke to Bruges Waffles & Frites.

Bruges Waffles
Bruges Waffles

Bruges is a tiny little place near downtown.  There is not a lot of room to eat inside but there is plenty of seating outside so go on a nice day!

We each ordered a waffle and then shared some frites!  They have lots of fun different dipping sauces to try.  I think the one we got was the Brazlian??   I got my waffle covered in cookie butter, strawberries and cream.

Bruges Waffles

If you are in Utah, make sure to check out some of these wonderful restaurants.

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On the Front Porch

OTFPjpg

Today I’m so excited to be sharing a fun interview I was asked to do by my friends over at Porch.com.  Porch is a home network that makes it easy for you to find the right professionals for all your home improvement needs, it provides you with amazing ideas for inspiration, and it’s all free!   It is a great place to go when you are working on a home project or maybe just looking for some great inspiration.  Be sure to check out Porch.

I had fun answering their questions, half of the questions are here on my blog and  to see the rest of the interview be sure to head over to Porch.com.

Favorite comfort food?

Pizza.  I love pizza and I have always said if I had to pick one food to eat the rest of my life it would be pizza!  My favorite pizza though is just plain old cheese pizza. (I’m boring!)

Proscuitto, Blackberry and Basil Pizza

What are 3 words to describe your blog?

Pretty and Delicious!

That is also my blog’s tag line.  I love sharing everything pretty and delicious and believe that life is full of pretty and delicious,  all we have to do is look for it.

Tell us about a time when you had major cooking fail (we’ve all had them!) 

I actually wrote a blog post about this and it got so many comments! I love to experiment with new recipes when I am entertaining.  A little dangerous but it usually works out pretty well for me. But for one particular dinner party I decided to play it safe and serve a dessert I had been making for years and one my mother had been making since the 1970’s.  I decided to double the recipe which I had never done before.  Well, some recipes are just not meant to be doubled.  I ended up with hot fudge soup instead of cake!  We scooped it up anyway and served it over ice cream. It wasn’t that bad.  The best part was that even though the recipe was a total bomb, my readers wanted the recipe when I shared about the experience on my blog. You can read the whole blog post here.

Describe your dream kitchen! Big and white.  It would need a really big refrigerator, six burner gas stove top and at least double ovens.  Maybe triple!  Everything would be white, white cabinets, white counter tops, white backsplash with lots of light for all those food photos I take in my kitchen.  Of course it would come with a live in maid to clean it for me every day!  A great big island in the middle where everyone can hang out and visit while I cook.  I love my current kitchen but the counters and backsplash are dark and I’d love to have them white..

Wilkes25web

How did you become interested in blogging?

I like to tell people I didn’t even know what a blog was when I started my blog! I was at a luncheon with some girlfriends and I asked a friend where she had gotten a recipe and her reply was “from a blog.”  “What’s a blog?”  was my response.  This was almost 8 years ago before blogging was what it is now.  She gave me the url to the blog and I went home and checked it out.  I was intrigued and decided I could do that too so I went out and bought “Blogging for Dummies” and got on Craig’s list to find someone to help me set up a WordPress blog and it started from there!  My blog was originally something I used as support, motivation and inspiration for a direct sales team I led but it evolved into a food and lifestyle blog after the first year or so.

Strangest item in your pantry?  Candy Canes.  Not strange in December but I keep candy canes in my pantry all year round because I love peppermint and want to be able to enjoy my favorite peppermint ice cream all year round!

peppermint ice cream

Hardest part about blogging?  Not spending my entire day and night in front of the computer or working on posts is tough when you love what you do.  With blogging there is always something else I could be doing to improve the blog or grow it.  Learning to leave work is hard.

Best part about blogging? All the wonderful people I have met!  Not only other bloggers but I have loved developing a community of like minded people with my readers.  I have met many of them in person and become real life friends which has been great. The fact that I get to work from home in my jammies if I want is a big bonus too!

If your life were a song, what would it be?  If you were to ask my husband he would answer “Wild Thing” from The Troggs.  He is the cool, calm, collected and grounded one in our marriage.  I tend to be the one coming up with all kinds of wild and crazy ideas and schemes all the time.  Fortunately he goes along with me most of the time and like the song says he just keeps on loving me.

Pinterest or Facebook?

If I had to choose between the two it would definitely be Pinterest.   But my current love is Instagram.  Be sure and follow me on Instagram!

What meal brings back the fondest memories?  Cheese Enchiladas.  My mom always made the best cheese enchiladas.  I think I’ve done a pretty good job of replicating her recipe. Her homemade enchilada sauce is the best!

Chicken Enchiladas

What are you exceptionally good at? (Permission to brag)

I am good at recognizing a good idea, jumping in and embracing it and figuring things out as I go.  I’m not an over thinker, I’m a doer.  It has served me well, especially in the blogging world.  I’m so glad I jumped in almost 8 years ago and decided to figure it out as I went.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve collected?  I’ve collected a lot of things over the years but my current fascination is with blue glass.  Probably not too weird though.  The old spoon collection I started as a kid, collecting them from different places we traveled,  that is in a box under my bed may be weirder.

brittany-lauren-photography-caitlin-wilson-24

What are 3 things everyone should have in their pantry?   Picking three is tough but three of my top favorites would be chicken broth, rice and canned tomatoes. You can do a lot of things with these three items.

Best tip for keeping your kitchen organized?  I consistently go through drawers and cupboards and clean them out.  I pick a cupboard or drawer once a week and just work my way through the kitchen and when I’ve done them all I start over again.

Favorite words to live by?  I often said to my children, “Make good choices.”  I have always tried to live by the following, “We can’t always control what happens to us but we can always control what happens next.”  We get to choose how we react to what happens to us.  We always have a choice.  I have a sign that hangs in my kitchen that I love and it reads, “We tend to seek happiness when happiness is actually a choice.”

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https://flipagram.com/f/S619qrz0Ha/embed

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Blender Salsa Verde

Blender Salsa Verde Recipe

CourseSaucePrep Time7 minutesCook Time8 minutesTotal Time15 minutesServings2 CAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb tomatillos husks removed
  • 1/2 C chopped onion
  • 1 fresh jalapeno havled and seeded
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 1/2 C fresh cilantro leaves
  • 3 Tbsp pepitas toasted and salted
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions

  • In a large saucepan, boil tomatillos, onion, jalapeno in water for about 8 minutes or until tomatillos turn light green.
  • Drain
  • Put tomatillo mixture into blender, add cilantro, peppitas, honey, salt and garlic.
  • Cover and blend until smooth

Notes

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

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On the Front Porch

OTFPjpg

 

Today I’m so excited to be sharing a fun interview I was asked to do by my friends over at Porch.com.  Porch is a home network that makes it easy for you to find the right professionals for all your home improvement needs, it provides you with amazing ideas for inspiration, and it’s all free!   It is a great place to go when you are working on a home project or maybe just looking for some great inspiration.  Be sure to check out Porch.

I had fun answering their questions, half of the questions are here on my blog and  to see the rest of the interview be sure to head over to Porch.com.

If your life were a song, what would it be?

If you were to ask my husband he would answer “Wild Thing” from The Troggs.  He is the cool, calm, collected and grounded one in our marriage.  I tend to be the one coming up with all kinds of wild and crazy ideas and schemes all the time.  Fortunately he goes along with me most of the time and like the song says, I think he loves me!

Pinterest or Facebook?

If I had to choose between the two it would definitely be Pinterest.   But my current love is Instagram.  Be sure and follow me on Instagram!

What meal brings back the fondest memories?

Cheese Enchiladas.  My mom always made the best cheese enchiladas.  I think I’ve done a pretty good job of replicating her recipe. Her homemade enchilada sauce is the best!

Chicken Enchiladas

What are you exceptionally good at? (Permission to brag)

I am good at recognizing a good idea, jumping in and embracing it and figuring things out as I go.  I’m not an over thinker, I’m a doer.  It has served me well, especially in the blogging world.  I’m so glad I jumped in almost 8 years ago and decided to figure it out as I went.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve collected?  I’ve collected a lot of things over the years but my current fascination is with blue glass.  Probably not too weird though.  The old spoon collection I started as a kid, collecting them from different places we traveled,  that is in a box under my bed may be weirder.

brittany-lauren-photography-caitlin-wilson-24

 

What are 3 things everyone should have in their pantry?   Picking three is tough but three of my top favorites would be chicken broth, rice and canned tomatoes. You can do a lot of things with these three items.

Best tip for keeping your kitchen organized?  I consistently go through drawers and cupboards and clean them out.  I pick a cupboard or drawer once a week and just work my way through the kitchen and when I’ve done them all I start over again.

Favorite words to live by?  I often said to my children, “Make good choices.”  I have always tried to live by the following philolsophy, “We can’t always control what happens to us but we can always control what happens next.”  We get to choose how we react to what happens to us.  We always have a choice.  I have some artwork that hangs in my kitchen that I love and it reads, “We tend to seek happiness when happiness is actually a choice.”

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To read my answers to the rest of their questions be sure and visit Porch.  Don’t you want to know the answers to:

My favorite comfort food?
What are 3 words to describe my blog?
My most major cooking fail (we’ve all had them!) 
What my dream kitchen looks like.
How did I become interested in blogging?
Strangest item in my pantry?
Hardest part about blogging?
Best part about blogging?
If my life were a song, what would it be?

Check out the answers over at Porch.

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Red Pepper Asparagus

Red Pepper Asparagus

Roasted asparagus and red bell peppers.CoursevegetableCuisineAmericanPrep Time15 minutesCook Time10 minutes0 minutesTotal Time25 minutesServings6 servingsCalories95kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp garlic chopped
  • 1 lb. asparagus trimmed
  • 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 C panko bread crumbs
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/3 C red pepper cut into thin slices
  • 1/3 cup slivered almonds

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  • Place asparagus on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and garlic. Toss to coat.
  • Roast for 5 minutes in oven. Turn once. Roast until desired tenderness is obtained. Will vary depending on size of asparagus.
  • Remove from oven and drizzle with vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with bread crumb mixture and slivered almonds

Bread Crumb Topping

  • Mix bread crumbs, almonds, red pepper and red pepper flakes together. Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Roast in oven for 2-4 minutes or until bread crumbs begin to turn golden brown. Turn several times.
  • Sprinkle over asparagus.

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There are certain recipes that every cook or baker should have and today I am sharing 20 Cookie Recipes Everyone Should Have!

Do you follow me on Instagram?  Please do!  I share lots of pretty and delicious over there.

20 cookie recipes everyone should have!

Every one should have a complete and proper repertoire of cookie recipes. Today I’m sharing with you  20 Cookie Recipes Everyone Should Have, or at least I think they should have!  Most of these recipes are ones I have been making for years because they are classics.  You probably have many similar recipes in your collection.  These Top 20 recipes are a great starting point for your baking and you can change them up by switching out some of the ingredients.

We’ll start with the bar cookies and then move onto drop cookies.  They are in no particular order.

  1.  The Best Lemon Bars – a good lemon bar recipe is a must and this one has been in our family for 50 years.  I haven’t been proven wrong yet that this is the BEST Lemon Bar recipe.
lemon bars
  1.  Oatmeal Jam Bars – A good bar cookie is hard to beat and this one can be changed up depending on kind of jam you are in the mood for.  My favorite is apricot. This recipe was given to me by a friend who got it from her mother when she got married in 1962.  The old ones are the best.
    apricot-jam-bars1-e1362668264853
  1.  Brownies – a basic, good brownie recipe is a must.  Brownies are just as easy to make from scratch as from a box and taste better!  You can dress the brownie up by adding in nuts, chips, frosting, etc. This is the recipe my mom always makes.  The addition of chocolate syrup makes them nice and moist.
Chocolate Syrup Brownies
  1.  Carmelitas – another classic from my childhood.  This recipe came from my sister in law and is requested at every family gathering.
Carmelitas
  1.  Caramel Brownies – I know I already shared a brownie recipe, but but my kids would not be happy if I left this caramel brownie recipe off the list.  It is by far the most favorite brownie, bar cookie I have ever made.  Everyone loves it!  It also came from my sister in law who is a great baker.  I have shipped these brownies to Argentina!
Caramel Brownies
  1.  Blondies – another basic recipe that can be dressed up or down.  I have lots of different variations on the blog but this recipe is always my starting point, just leave the chips out or use your favorite flavor chip.  We like butterscotch at our house!  My daughter took a cookie baking class years ago and this is one of the recipes they learned to make.  We’ve been making it ever since.
butterscotch blondies
  1.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar – people also call these the “lunch lady” bars.  I guess a lot of people went to school where they had a real person cooking and baking in the cafeteria.  I was a brown bagger and our cafeteria food was brought in from another school so no lunch lady bars for us but these are so yummy and truly a classic. Peanut butter and chocolate is a classic combo.
chocolate peanut butter bars
  1.  Rice Krispie Treats – knowing how to make a perfect rice krispie treat is important.  It is not by following the directions on the back of the cereal box or marshmallow bag.  I’ve got a couple of tricks for you.  For lots of fun flavor variations on the perfect rice krispie treat check out my recipe index. The Malted Milk Ball Rice Krispie Treat is one of my favorite variations on a theme.
Rice Krispie Treats
  1.  Shortbread – everyone needs a good shortbread recipe especially if you ever have a tea party.  I have several different versions,  lemon poppyseed shortbread and  I am also rather fond of the dark chocolate cherry shortbread version too.
Toffee Shortbread

Now let’s move onto the drop or rolled cookies.

  1. Chocolate Chip Cookies- Of course this one had to be at the top of the list for drop cookies.  It is essential and I’ve tried lots and lots of different chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years and I have quite a few different ones on the blog but this is the one I come back to over and over again!
Chocolate Chip Cookie
  1. Oatmeal Cookie– next on the list is the ever important oatmeal cookie. This recipe came from my great aunt Dorothy,  so it’s been in the family a long time too.
Oatmeal Cookies
  1. The Perfect Sugar Cookie – I actually have two sugar cookie recipes on this list because you need a good drop  sugar cookie recipe and one for cut out sugar cookies.  I’ve got you covered with both.  The drop sugar cookie recipe is one of my all time favorites. I love, love a good sugar cookie and this one is great!  I use almond extract in the recipe but if you aren’t an almond fan just sub in vanilla but the almond is really, really good!
My Favorite Sugar Cookie @yourhomebasedmom
  1. Cut Out Sugar Cookie – this is the recipe you use when you want to cut out sugar cookies in different shapes at Christmas or Valentines.  I like my sugar cookies on the thin, crisp side but you can roll these out as thick as  you’d like.
Sugar Cookies
  1.  Gingersnap Cookie – this is one of my husband’s favorites.  Call it a spice cookie, molasses cookie or ginger snap. Any name you like! I dressed them up a bit with a dip in some white chocolate.
Ginger cookies
  1. Homemade Oreos – this homemade version is so much better than the store bought although I won’t turn a store bought Oreo down! These are easy to make with just a cake mix.
Homemade Oreos
  1.  Snowballs – these cookies are a classic, especially at the holiday times.A Christmas cookie plate would not be complete without them. I like making mine with a little surprise inside!
Snowball Cookies
  1. Pumpkin Cookie – this one is a must during the Fall and especially at Thanksgiving. The maple frosting on these takes them over the top!
Pumpkin Cookies with maple Frosting
  1.  The Best Peanut Butter Cookie – you probably have a peanut butter cookie recipe you love, but if not, I’ve got one for you.  I always  make them with chocolate chips but you can leave them out if you must.  I get so  many comments on this recipe that it really is THE BEST peanut butter cookie recipe.
pb-choc-chip-cookie.1
  1.  Chocolate Crinkles – this is another family favorite at the holiday times.  You can of course make it any time of year but it always appears on our Christmas cookie plate.  I like to add in some white chocolate chips for a little fun!
chocolate-crinkle-cookies-chips600

20.  Monster Cookies–  Last but certainly not least is this family favorite.  This is a delicious cookie and no one will know that it is gluten free (as long as you use gluten free oats)  There is no flour in this cookie.  Just lots of peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips and M & M’s!

There you have – a list of 20 cookie recipes that everyone should have! Do you have a favorite cookie recipe to add to the list – I’d love to hear what it is!

Here are a few of my favorite cookie making tools:

Baker’s Half Sheet Cookie Sheet

Cookie Scoop

Parchment Paper

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Triple Chocolate Mint Cookies

Mint cookies with milk chocolate, white chocolate, and mint chips.CourseCookiesCuisineAmericanPrep Time10 minutesCook Time9 minutes0 minutesTotal Time19 minutesServings48 cookiesCalories158kcalAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

  • 1 C butter softened
  • 1 1/2 C sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp mint extract
  • 3 1/4 C flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 C mint chips
  • 1 C white chocolate chips
  • 1 C milk chocolate chips
  • green food coloring

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream butter and sugar together in mixer until light and fluffy.
  • Add in eggs and beat.
  • Add in mint extract and food coloring to get the desired green you’d like. Mix to combine.
  • Add in all dry ingredients to creamed mixture.
  • Add in chips and mix until just combined
  • Place dough on cookie sheets and bake for 7-9 minutes.
  • Don’t overbake the cookies, I actually like them a little under cooked. They don’t get as brown around the edges either.

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Using Instagram for Family History is easy and fun. It’s the perfect way to share your photos and stories with your family.

Family History

I grew up with a love for family photos and stories and a mother who loved family history, stories and photos too.  She was lucky to have had a grandmother who loved sharing the family stories and photos with her.  That is how family history is preserved.  It is passed down from generation to generation.  The scary thing is though, that if a story is not shared and written down, it can disappear in just three generations.  Three generations is only you, your parents and your grandparents.  If that story is not told and written down somewhere in those three generations, it will be gone, forever.

A few weeks ago I attended Roots Tech 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the largest family history event in the world.  While there I was motivated and inspired by a lot of amazing speakers and classes that I took.  The main message of the conference was Celebrating Families Across Generations.  One of the biggest topics at the conference was using Social Media to preserve and share your family history.  I attended a wonderful class put on by Rhonna Farrer of Rhonna Designs and Crystal Beutler on Family History on the Go Using Phones and Tablet Apps.

I got so excited about what they shared that while I was in Utah and staying at my mother in law’s home I decided I needed to digitize her old photos (over 450 of them) and start working with my sister in law, Tamara in getting the stories written down.

It was important to get those photos and stories preserved but it was even more important to get them shared with our family.  I wanted my children to know the stories and recognize the photos.  Written family histories are important and they are great but I knew that getting my children to read them would be a challenge so I decided to meet my children where they are at – Instagram.

I decided to use both Instagram and Facebook to share the family photos and tell the family stories.  Today I’d like to share with you what I am doing in hopes that it might help and inspire some of you to make sure your photos and stories don’t disappear from your family.

Here is how I did it:

Step One:  Gather and digitize the photos.  I was lucky enough to have access to my mother in law’s photos and with the help of my cell phone and an app called Shoebox by Ancestry I was able to digitize them all in a day!  All 450 of them.  I took the photo using the Shoebox by Ancestry app.  It then allows me to crop and edit the photo and because I use Ancestry as my family history research platform I tagged the photo and uploaded it directly to Ancestry from my phone.  You don’t have to use Ancestry to use the Shoebox App.  Just take your photo using the app, crop and edit and then save to your camera roll.  There are also other photo editing and cropping apps out that that you may already own.  Because I didn’t want to take the time to edit and tag them as I went I just took all the photos and will go back later and crop and edit them using the Shoebox App.  If you don’t have your family photos in your possession but know who does, make a trip to visit and bring your phone.  The photos never have to leave their home.  Just snap away.

Here is what they looked like in my camera roll before editing.

I just layed the photos on a piece of white paper near some good natural light (avoid reflections on your photo) and then took the photo.  Some of the photos were in an old scrapbook so I didn’t’ even remove them, just took the photo and then cropped out the black page.

I also took photos of documents, certificates, awards and pieces of furniture and other momentos.

2.  Set Up a Family History Instagram Account

 If you aren’t familiar with Instagram it is a virtual scrapbook/bragbook where you can share pictures & short videos on this app/site with those that ‘follow’ you. Over 200 million users.  It is a fun and easy way to share your family history too.

If you already have an Instagram account you can use it or you can set up a separate Instagram account for your family history as I did.  In order to do that you will need a second email address which I did through gmail.  Instagram will only allow you to have one account per email.  I called my account OurFamilyHistory and if you’d like to follow along and see what I’m doing you can follow me here.   You will have to log out of one account and log into another when  you want to post.  Another option is to keep Instagram open to one account on your phone and then have the other account open on another device such as an I-Pad.

I then sent out an email to my family members inviting them to follow me on Instagram at OurFamilyHistory.

3. Upload Photos to Instagram.  Be sure and include the stories with the photos.  Don’t forget the details and the funny things. Don’t just use names and dates.  Details are what makes it come alive for people.  This is a great way to open up conversation with family members.  Ask them what they remember about the people or event in the photo.  Get those stories while you can and while the people are still here to tell them.   If they are not near by, email them a copy of the photo and ask them for details.

4.  Set up Hashtags.  Hashtags are a fun thing to use on Instagram.  A hashtag creates a virtual file cabinet of all your photos that are tagged with that hashtag. It helps identify photos on a specific topic. Using the hashtag also turns in into a “searchable” link.   I use the hashtag #chuckandverla,  #wilkesfamily  and #family history on most of my posts since the photos I am sharing right now are all of my in laws, #chuckandverla.  As I start sharing photos of other family members I will come up with some other hashtags such as #jimandjane, etc.   Just put the # sign in front of a group of words with no spaces within the sentence.  Don’t do it this way, #chuck and verla.  Must be #chuckandverla to work.

Using 2-3 hashtags per photo is great.  Over hashtagging is annoying.

If you clicked on the hashtag #chuckandverla  this is what you would see. Every photo I have posted that I gave the hashtag #chuckandverla to.

5.  Include Memorabilia.  Be sure and also take  photos of documents, certificates, furniture, jewelry, art work, quilts, and bibles/books.  I love including memorabilia in with the photos. Photos show up as square on Instagram so if your photo doesn’t crop well into a square you can use an app like Whitagram so that the entire photo/document shows up.  I used it in the photo below so that the entire document showed up.

6.  Dress it up. You can get as fancy as you want with your photos.  There are a lot of fun apps out that that will add decor and text to your photos.  I love my friend Rhonna’s app Rhonna Designs for dressing up your photos.

and here is another.

7. Not Just People   – You don’t have to just share photos of people. In addition to memorabilia and documents,  sharing photos of favorite recipes and family traditions can be fun too. I am sharing all my family recipes on my blog but if you’d like to share old family favorite recipes with your family Instagram is a great place to do it.  Becky Higgins of  Project Life  is sharing an old family favorite recipe on her Instagram feed occasionally.  I love her Project Life App too for keeping caught up on all my family photos.

8.  Other Apps  –  I recently discovered another fun Instagram account called @writeyourstory365.  Once a week a prompt with a question is posted for you to answer.  Within a year you will have your personal history written using the prompts.  I have been emailing the questions to my parents and asking them to answer them for me.  I will then compile all their answers together into a life story for them.

9.  Not Everyone in my Family is on Instagram – What do I do? Believe it or not, not everyone is on Instagram!  My mother in law and husband are two of them.  In order for them to be able to see what I was posting easily I set up a Facebook Page that hooks to my @ourfamilyhistory Instagram account.  I call it Wilkes Family History.    The name Our Family History was already taken.  I now wish I had called my Instagram account Wilkes Family History so the two would have the same name.  I may go back and change the Instagram name.  After I post a new photo to Instagram I just click share and then it posts to my Wilkes Family History Facebook page.  That way everyone can see it.  On Facebook other family members can also upload photos to share with each other which my nephew has been doing.  I love having people leave comments on both Instagram and Facebook to share their memories and stories about the photos too. Be sure to set it up as a Page not as a Group.

Facebook Cover

I have been posting twice a day to @ourfamilyhistory and I am having so much fun with it!  As soon as I have this one up and going a little more I will be starting one for my side of the family.  I already have the Instagram page set up – @bestfamilyhistory.

You are welcome to follow along if you’d like to see what and how I’m doing.  Leave a comment below if you have any questions on anything or if you have a favorite family history sharing app or website you love to use!  I’d love to hear about it.

Also, if you don’t follow me on Instagram at @yourhomebasedmom, please do!
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