cooking

DIY Monogram Coasters

DIY Monogram Coasters

Hello World,

I have finally hit the age where many of my friends have started getting married and having children. As a recent college graduate, buying my to-be-married friends a kitchen aide mixer or something super impressive is slightly out of my budget.

I went to my first bridal shower this last weekend, and scoured the internet for advice on what to give. Most of the advice I came across said that the bridal shower gift is usually less expensive than the wedding gift, with an acceptable price range being $25 – $75. Gifts can come from the registry if you want to play it safe, or you can go against the grain and give something handmade.

At first I thought about giving a spa set with bath items and toiletries, but decided against that because Pinterest was flooded with similar images and I had this feeling someone else probably had done that idea. I then scrolled through the bridal/wedding registry and noticed they asked for many kitchen items like: bakeware, pots, cooking utensils, etc.

Being Italian, I finally decided on giving a Italian dinner date night basket. (I figured food was safe, because it will eventually be used. Maybe after the fit-into-the-dress diet, but still useful.) I also read that giving monogram gifts is bad luck. In my case though, both the bride and the grooms’ last names start with the same letter.

To add a dash of handmade to the basket, I made some simple coasters:

DIY Monogram Coasters

1. Gather your supplies: small tiles, cork or felt bases, strong glue, paint, a paintbrush, and a clear sealer (not pictured).

2. Apply glue to your cork base and attach to the bottom of your tile.

3. With a pencil, I sketched out a single-letter monogram.

4. Paint your design and allow to dry.

5. Repeat with your other coaster(s) and spray them with clear spray paint or apply Mod Podge to waterproof them.

Bridal Shower Present - Italian Dinner Date Night

Here is the basket I gave. It included: a pasta scoop, a slotted spoon, organic pasta sauce, whole wheat pastas, extra virgin olive oil, a bottle of red wine, the coasters (not pictured because they were drying) and a metal colander.

Bridal Shower Present - Italian Dinner Date Night

The wine, pastas and extra virgin olive oil were also all made in Italy! I added crinkle paper shreds (from one of my Darby Smart boxes), wrapped the entire thing in cellophane, and topped it with a simple white bow.

This type of basket would also work as a house-warming or holiday gift.

Happy Crafting!

(Can’t Eat Just One) Chocolate Chip Cookies

cookie1

Hello World,

This Thursday (May 15th) is National Chocolate Chip Day, and cookies are one of my favorite desserts. To celebrate this magnificent ingredient, I whipped up some ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies! Check out the recipe below:

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large mixing bowl, mix together everything except the flour and chocolate chips. Next, mix the flour into your mixture one cup at a time (this makes mixing by hand easier). Mix in the chocolate chips. Spoon dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, in two-tablespoon-ish sized scoops. Bake for 10 minutes, or until tops are golden.

Makes approximately 36 decent-sized cookies.

Bacon wrapped dates (with goat cheese and almonds)

Hello World,

Last week for my birthday, a friend made these and I just had to share them with you. Due to their bacon-ness, they were gobbled up pretty quickly by my guests. They are really easy to make and only require four ingredients:

To make this finger food you will need: raw bacon, dried dates, goat cheese, and sliced almonds.

Start by butterflying your dates. Add goat cheese and a few sliced almonds to your open date. Next, fold the date closed, trapping the cheese and almonds inside it. Wrap the raw bacon around your filled date, and trim the bacon once the meat has overlapped. Place this roll overlap-side down on a baking sheet.

Repeat this process until you have filled an entire baking sheet. Broil them in the oven until the top side is crispy. Flip the rolls over and broil until the other side is crispy as well. Remove rolls from your baking sheet, dispose of the bacon grease properly, and enjoy!