Summer and Pineapple Sun Flowers

Summer is finally here! After two weddings and a month of traveling to Arkansas, Wisconsin, Colorado, Texas, Maryland and Virginia I am finally more settled and into the swing of summer.

 One day the two girls I nanny and I went strawberry picking. The girls were great pickers and we had so much fun. We ended up with a peck and a half of berries. Of course I promptly turned them into strawberry jam. They made over 15 pints of jam! I had never made strawberry jam before this summer and it was quite a sucess.

This weened I'm visiting my Mom, sisters, and brothers in Charlottesville. Every since I saw this recipe on Tammy's amazing blog I was dying to try it. Crissie and Chris are going to a picnic tonight so I decided to give them a try! They turned out great. I love the pineapple flowers. They are so summery and remind me of my favorite flower--sunflowers.

These are so easy to make, just slice a pineapple and pop them in the oven really low, about 225, for 4 hours. When they come out they can just sit in a muffin tin to get the flower shape and that's it! I am so excited about these, and can't wait to make more. Hopefully they taste good, but I'll have to wait for Crissie's evaluation tonight.

cookies!

here it is folks- the best cookies ever!

okay now i will qualify that statement. these are the best non-chocolate, non-fruit, fluffy, creamy cookies ever.
i first had these at Christmas time with Chris and Crissie. Chris' mom Mirian Stokes made them and mailed them to Chris and Crissie... and I devoured them! For the past 5 1/2 months I have been craving these cookies. Yesterday Katie and I finally made them.


We had lots of fun with these, but it was a pretty long commitment, especially since we made a double batch!


Here is her recipe:
1 c. butter
2 c. flour
1/3 c. heavy whipping cream (not whipped)
granulated sugar

Mix first 3 ingredients thoroughly and chill for 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350. Roll dough to 1/8 in thick. (be sure not to make it too thick or it will have problems cooking evenly) Cut small rounds (1/2-1 inch) and coat both sides with sugar. Bake for 7-9 min. until slightly puffy. Cool and put 2 cookies together with filling to make sandwich cookies.

Filling:
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blend ingredients together and tint if desired.

ENJOY!

What am I supposed to Do?

Since deciding to stay down in Guatemala with my family for a while, I have had many interesting family moments.
Much of my day is usually filled with cooking, reading recipes, and planning meals. Today I made 3 loaves of bread and a batch of cinnamon rolls (half plain and half raisins of course). And yesterday some pumpkin scones. We certainly have some eating to do.
When the kids come home from school the house is filled with noise and bustling. Yesterday Lydia and Katie finished their homework before dinner as asked. After dinner Lydia asked if she could watch a movie since she was done with homework. I replied that she didn't need to be watching movies and she exclaimed, "well what am i supposed to do!" I smiled and laughed. After several options we decided on finger painting. Katie decided to just watch but here are some results.
After Lydia goes to bed, accompanied by one of us rotating older kids, we usual spend some time sitting around the table reading, doing work of some sort, or talking. Katie didn't want a picture of her face because she was "in a towel" so this was all I could get.

I hope this cheers you a bit Mom, I know you hate being so far!