Tag Archives: Baking

An Aunt Dimity Kind of Sunday!

Good evening!

I have having a really good Sunday!!

I am reading the first book in the Aunt Dimity series, by Nancy Atherton. The first book is called, Aunt Dimity’s Death. This was one of the series that was left to me by my Grandma Kay, and I have to say, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!! The book is fun, and the premise is interesting. Matter of fact, the character reminds me so my of my sweet Kay, and even her lovely cottage in the English country-side reminds me SO MUCH of the sweet, homey vibe that I always felt out at Kay’s beach house.

Here is the book description from the inside of the cover:

When Lori Shepherd was a little girl she used to lie in bed at night with a stuffed rabbit named Reginald and listen to her mother’s stories of the indomitable Aunt Dimity, who lived in far-off England. But now Lori is a newly divorced, down-on-her-luck grownup, her mother is dead, and Lori’s long since realized that Aunt Dimity was just a character in a comforting bedtime story.

Or was she? One day the bedraggled Lori is summoned from the latest of her dreadful temp jobs to the Dickensian law firm of Willis U Willis. There Willises Junior and Senior inform her that Aunt Dimity was indeed a real person–a very rich real person who’s just died and left Lori a respectable bequest. Unfortunately, there’s one catch: Lori must visit Aunt Dimity’s English cottage and find a secret hidden among the treasure trove of letters written by her mother and Dimity over the four decades of their friendship.

What begins a fairy tale in a improbably cozy setting becomes a mystery–and a ghost story–as Aunt Dimity’s gentle spirit leads Lori on an unotherworldly quest that Dimity could not fulfill in her own lifetime. And for Lori, Dimity’s bequest is even greater than she dreamed, as she discovers that in this life, true love can conquer all.

I am almost done with this first book, and I happened to get my hands on Aunt Dimity’s oatmeal cookie recipes, so I decided to make them for my sweetie today. They are very light, fluffy, and cake-like!! I HIGHLY recommend giving this easy recipe a try! I got a copy of this off of Nancy Atherton’s website.Β  πŸ˜‰

beth’s oatmeal cookiesΒ Β Β Β 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies.

  • Β 1 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 5 tablespoons raisin water (see below)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In small saucepan, combine raisins with water and bring to boil; lower heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool, reserve 5 tablespoons raising water, then drain raisins in colander.

In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and raisin water and mix well. Blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Add nuts if desired. Add raisins and combine well.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown and firm on top when touched with your finger. Cool on wire racks.

DELICIOUS!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! πŸ˜‰

The Great Croissant Bake!!

Good evening!

My sweetie and I have just finished enjoying a few of the lovely croissants that I have made today! I paired them with some sugar free strawberry preserves as a nice dessert to go with an early grilled dinner. This picture is actually a picture of my end results. They really did turn out much better than I could have hope for.

That is one more thing crossed off of My Life List!! YEAH!!

These croissants were flaky, buttery, and delicious! They were quite time consuming and I made quite a mess in the kitchen making these, but I could definitely see doing these again for a special holiday like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. I am still a firm believer that I don’t like baking – I am not sure I have the patience for it, but I am very thankful that I had taken the time and energy to make these!! πŸ˜‰

I have spent part of the evening watching the British mini series Daniel Deronda. It is such a great movie, and Daniel Deronda is simply a charming gentleman!! Great story. I am on episode 3 of 4, I can’t wait to see how it ends.

I really don’t have any extravagant plans for this evening. I think I going to spend some quality time with my sweetie this evening, and we may still yet go swimming, which will be fun. Other than that, I am going to enjoy a quiet evening doing some reading and getting ready for another work week. πŸ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS evening! πŸ˜‰

This Might Be Why I Don’t Bake!

Good morning!

I have been up since about 7:45 this morning! WHOO! HOO!! I slept an hour more then yesterday!!!

Today is the day of my great Croissant extravaganza! Well, it the day that I am tackling the task of baking homemade croissants from scratch off of My Life List! I am using Allrecipes.com’s Quick Butter Croissants recipe. So far I have been doing a lot of griping, and whining, and complaining, and grouching and that hasn’t been focused at the recipe, or how it is going thus far, but it has been towards my little computer! LOL! πŸ˜‰ It just doesn’t seem to want to not go into powersave mode!! I am sure my husband thinks that I am just absolutely bonkers at this point, but it really is my fault for misplacing my printed recipe!! Oh well, I will have to go to my happy place when the recipe is ready for my attention again!! πŸ˜‰

Anyway, the recipe is going alright so far, I think??? It is hard to tell when you are not sure exactly what it is supposed to look like at each step of the way, but I *THINK* it is working??? They should be done sometime this evening, so we will either have them with dinner, or I will pair them with fresh, sliced strawberries for dessert! YUM!!! I will take pictures and post them this evening, so you can see how they turn out!! Cross your fingers kiddies!!! πŸ˜‰

I have a four-hour wait right now, while the dough is chilling in the fridge, which means I have some crafting time on my hands, so that will be nice!! Less stressful!!! and it looks like Jason is queuing up an episode of Bones at the moment. We are finally on season 4, and this season is just a weird season, especially without Zach. Plus the fact that they keep running through interns. However, the story lines seem to be really fun and interesting, which is good! I really love Booth and Bones together!!! He is such a champion for her, and I love that she is 15 degrees off normal!!! Too funny!!! πŸ˜‰

Anyway, I will keep you posted on my croissant progress, but right now I am going to have to apologize to my little computer so she keeps behaving for me. I may have to go buy her a present!!! A new carrying case!!! WOO! HOO! she says!! πŸ˜‰

Have a FABULOUS day!!! πŸ˜‰

Sunday of Bliss!

Today has DEFINITELY been a Sunday of BLISS!! I knew when I woke up after sleeping in, next to my best friend, which I am blessed to be able to do every morning, that today was going to be a FABULOUS day!!!

While waiting for my sweetie to wake up, I got busy finishing theΒ  book, The Lost Symbol, which I did. That book was very interesting – probably Dan Brown’s most controversial book to date. Nothing I have ever read of his have ever caused me to change my beliefs, and of course his books are works of fiction, but Dan Brown writes in such a way that you are forced to think about what your reality and what you believe.

By the time I finished reading, my sweetie was also awake, and was too reading the same book himself. Next, we headed to the office, so that I could do some crafting, and Jason started looking for pictures for his vision board. Apparently the success that my sis and I had last week in creating our own vision board has inspired my sweetie to create a vision board of his own! That makes me EXTREMELY happy!!! I think visualizing your future is a very healthy thing, and ESSENTIAL to making your dreams come true!!!

Jason made us a delicious Italian dinner this evening, and he is TOTALLY in his ZONE cooking, baking and trying out new recipes!! I really LOVE that man!!! πŸ˜‰

Right now, I am watching a documentary about dreams, as in sleeping and dreams. Apparently 2 Nobel Prizes, and countless medical breakthroughs have come from things that people dreamed about while sleeping. It is rather fascinating! I didn’t realize that when you are in the stages of REM sleep, all of your muscles are absolutely relaxed, almost putting your body in something like a paralytic state, I never knew that! This documentary has inspired me to put a journal next to my bed so I can start writing my dreams down.

As for what is to come this week, I know I am going to be really busy this week at work. My co-worker and I are facing the 11th hour right before a very large 2 week go-live right now, and we have A LOT OF WORK TO DO BEFORE next Monday, which is the big go-live day!!! and I just remembered that I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, so I had better make sure I get to bed early tonight!!! πŸ˜‰

As for now, I am going to spend the rest of my evening spending time with my sweetie and continuing on with my Sunday of bliss!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! πŸ˜‰

Playing Santa’s Helper!!

Got outta work half day for a 4 day weekend: check

Spending time painting ornaments with sister: check check

Good baskets of baked goods put together:Β  check check check

Christmas gifts placed in bags for transport: check check check check

Delivering said goodies to family for Christmas: PRICELESS!!!

We are waiting for our brother-in-law, and then we are on our way!!! YEAH!!!