We had such a lovely photo shoot for my Little Girl’s Pearls line. I am such a sucker for peonies & vintage blue ball jars. The stylist had a great antique French blue glass box. I {heart} this photo. It makes me smile.
Sweet Cream Butter…Yumm!
I decided to try my hand at homemade butter. I remember shaking the jar and passing it around the classroom when I was a little girl, and shaking the jar with my boys when they were little. However, I’ve never actually made any significant amount of the creamy stuff. Today the boys were at gymnastics camp (because we homeschool, when the boys have a “camp” or other activity it becomes a rare mama break). I took the opportunity of a quiet house to whip up a batch. To my surprise, it actually ended up being relatively easy and quick!
Fresh Made Butter
- 1 quart of heavy whipping cream
- 1/8 tsp. salt
I poured the cream into my stand mixer, put the splash guard on (this is a must if you don’t want buttery gorgeousness all over you and your walls), then turned the mixer on high. I ended up also covering the whole thing with a kitchen towel, to cut down on the splashing. Every couple of minutes I turned it off and scraped down the sides, but later found out that I don’t think that was necessary. It took a bit longer than I had anticipated, probably because I kept turning it off to scrape the sides!
I used the whisk attachment until the cream started to stiffen up, like whipped cream. Then I switched out to the paddle attachment, so I wouldn’t have to dig the butter out of the whisk. Then I just let it go. After a few minutes the motor started to slow. I peeked in and the butter had separated from the buttermilk! Hooray!
I scooped out the solid butter and squished it into a ball. I ran it under cold water and kept squishing it/kneading it until the water ran clear. I read somewhere that you need to do that to get the buttermilk out, or your butter will go bad quickly. When the water ran clear, I added in the salt and continued to knead it for awhile until it was well combined.
I recently purchased a butter keeper (we saw one at my Mother-in-Law’s and were intrigued). It keeps the butter fresh as well as soft…perfect for our house of toast eaters. I swear our boys could eat a loaf of bread a day if we let them!
The verdict was that the butter was great (especially since I baked a fresh loaf of bread to go with it). Smiles all around for homemade bread and fresh butter!
::Kindle Fire Give Away Contest::
Hooray! Today’s the day. Now I know it’s April Fool’s Day, but this a great surprise among all of the pranks and gags. I’ve teamed up with oodles of other great small businesses to give away a few fun prizes.
- Kindle Fire
- Kindle Fire Case
- Amazon Gift Card
Head on over to Kay’s blog at My Precious Kid to enter!
Good luck!! 
Easter Party – 2012
Oh my! What a wonderful whirlwind of a day. After yesterday’s baked egg fiasco, today ran wonderfully smoothly! It ended up being the three of us mamas and our 8 kiddos. Then the neighborhood kids joined in later in the day for a total of 17 by the end. We dyed 89 eggs, and the boys (along with one girl who put up with all of the boys) spent the afternoon hiding, finding and munching on eggs.
#1 with one of his egg masterpieces.
There were many masterpieces created today including the “egg star” (a play on the Death star), “morning sunrise”, pac man inspired eggs, flowers, swirlies, oodles of green eggs and every design in-between.
An Easter egg table of friends.
I was so happy we didn’t run out of eggs. I was afraid I hadn’t made enough, but by the end just the mamas were decorating…so it was just enough.
#2 and his favorite egg masterpiece
While the kiddos enjoyed pizza, strawberries, blueberries, carrots and salad, the moms munched on some alternate food. We started with a wonderful Chinese Chicken salad & lentil chicken salad. We also tried out some spring herb quinoa cakes from Two-Tarts. I can’t believe how DELICIOUS and easy they were! Super yummy. Then we finished our day off with homemade ricotta topped with farm fresh strawberries, blueberries and fresh honey I brought back from Hawaii.
It was an amazing Easter party day filled with family, friends and amazing food. Who could ask for anything more?
The Eggs Blew Up!
Ha! It’s 10:09 pm, and I just returned from the grocery store on a last-minute egg run. We have a few more than a dozen kids visiting tomorrow for our Easter party. I thought it would be fun for everyone to dye eggs, then have a giant egg hunt in the back yard. I tried a new recipe to make the eggs, I baked them instead of boiling them. Let’s just say that I learned the lesson of not trying a new recipe at 9pm the night before a big party!
The eggs exploded, I mean literally blew up ALL over my oven. My goodness! It was hilarious to hear the little eggs let off a squeal and then “pop pop pop” everywhere. The entire time all I could think of was how grateful I was to have a self-cleaning oven. It’s running now, and my oven should be good as new by morning.
I’m too tired to boil the eggs tonight, so I’m just going to get up early to get them done before everyone arrives. I’ll post pictures of the Easter Egg Extravaganza later.
Nighty Night!
~ Julie
Well, hello there!
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get workin’ on my blog. I have had one in existence since 2007, but have posted only a handful of things. So here we go… I thought I’d start by telling you a little bit about us. I am Julie, mom to two amazingly sweet, energetic, creative, inventive boys who are now 8 and 11. I can’t believe they are that old. Where on earth did the time go? I swear I was just wrapping them in snuggly blankets and the sling! I’ve been married to my high school sweetie for 17 years (and we’ve been together nearly 22). He’s my soul mate, and makes me a better everything.
me and my sweetie
We recently returned from an amazing trek to Oahu with four generations of my family. It was a trip that will not soon be forgotten.
Oahu - 2012 - North Shore
I’ve never been able to spend a month with my grandparents like that. The stories they told read like great classic books. How far removed our life is from those of my grandparents in their childhood. They grew up on farms, fabulous, rural, fresh, wonderful. We would love to have our own little plot of land to raise our boys, someday that dream will come true. Until then, we will continue to cultivate our little backyard into a the mini-farm we would like it to be.
I own a few little corners of the web. I started out in 1999 with {Jules}™ and in 2002 added a shop focused on my pearls, Little Girl’s Pearls. Then in 2004 I added a site that encompasses all of my family’s crafitness, Whimsy Kisses. Each shop is a labor of loves and keeps our hands busy. I’ll post more about each one as time goes by. Designing jewelry and running my own business(es) is definitely my dream job! I adore all of the different aspects involved in small business ownership, and it keeps me out of trouble.
So, welcome! I’m so happy to have you here.
