Cranberry Orange Scones

Are you looking for a tasty breakfast item to make this weekend?  A good friend of mine shared this cranberry orange scone recipe a while ago and I've made them a few times as a special breakfast treat. My boys love them and so do I.  The recipe came from the Go Bold With Butter website, but I altered the recipe slightly and use only dried cranberries.

Cranberry Orange Scones
Makes 8 scones

Ingredients:

Scones:
2-1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
6 Tablespoons Cold Butter, Cubed
1 Cup Half & Half
1 Egg, Whisked
Zest of 1 Orange
3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries

Orange Glaze:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

*I've used both a food processor and my KitchenAid mixer and the food processor works much better.  The dough is sticky and can get a little messy.

For the Scones:
Mix dry ingredients together in food processor or mixer, then add cubed butter until you have a sand like consistency.  Next add half & half, egg and orange zest until the mixture comes together in a ball.  Then add cranberries and pulse together quickly.  Place ball of dough on heavily floured surface, roll into a circle about 1 inch thick.  Then cut into 8 wedges and place on lined baking sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

For the Orange Glaze:
Mix together powdered sugar and orange juice, then spoon glaze on scones.

Store scones in airtight container.

I've also made Blueberry Lemon scones using this recipe, but substituting the cranberries for fresh blueberries and the orange zest and juice for lemon zest and juice. Both are delicious, but my family prefers the cranberry orange scones.   They are yummy breakfast treat!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

School Valentines

Parker and Ryder celebrated Valentine's day at school this week, with a party yesterday at Parker's school and one today at Ryder's school.  I was fortunate enough to be able to attend both.  It's so much fun watching them participate and interact with their friends at school.

Parker decided on a mustache Valentine after showing him a few different options on Pinterest.  He thought they were pretty funny!

I've officially decided printers are not my friend.  I have wasted so much time trying to get my printer at home to work and I've had enough.  I whipped up a couple quick designs in Photoshop and had Chris print them in black and white at work.  Then I cut them out and we used double sided tape to attach them to some red cardstock paper.   I found fun mustache straws at Michaels and we simply punched a couple holes in the Valentines and slid the straws in. 

I gave Ryder a few options too and he chose frog Valentines.  We found a bag of frogs in the Valentine section at Target for $3.  Ryder worked so hard unwrapping each frog and he enjoyed helping put together his Valentines.  

Parker and his friend Brooke after their party.  There was so much going on at Parker's party I didn't get any other pictures.  They each got to do a few different crafts, eat some special treats and pass out their Valentines.

Ryder eating his snack at his Valentine's party at school and then at home checking out all his goodies.  By the way his shirt isn't suppose to be like that, he completely stretched it out.  Ryder had so much fun passing out his Valentines to all his friends.  They all sat in a circle with their bags and each kid got a turn to go around the circle and hand out their Valentines.  

Mustaches and frogs... I definitely live with boys!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Christmas Card Organization

I have a problem.  I have a really hard time throwing away Christmas cards, baby announcements, and any other card or announcement that has a picture on it.  I have thrown away some in the past, but not all of them.  

This year I decided to organize my picture cards and announcements.  To begin with, I punched two holes in each card, with a three hole punch.  Then I organized the pictures by year, then separated each year with a piece of cardstock paper and wrote the year on each piece of cardstock.  I found some 3" book rings at Staples to keep everything together.  

I plan on keeping my new book with the my Christmas decorations and setting them out during the holidays to enjoy.  

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Free Valentines Print

Have you started decorating for Valentine's day?  Do you decorate for Valentine's day?  I don't do too much, but I did decorate my mantel.  I made an 'All You Need Is Love' print because I love The Beatles and it's the perfect phrase for Valentines.  I had an 8 x 10 print, printed at Costco and framed it in an 11 x 14 frame. Download the free print here.

Free Valentine's day print

I also bought a cardboard X and O and painted them red and pink for hugs and kisses.  I used some of the bottles and vases from years past for other miscellaneous items on the mantel as well.  Use what you have!  

Hugs & Kisses

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Gift Cards

Do you have some holiday money burning a hole in your pocket?  Or did you get a a gift card you are not very excited about it?  Buy and sell gift cards at Cardpool.com   Get up to 92% cash back for your unwanted gift cards and buy gift cards at up to a 35% discount.  You can find just about any store you want:  Ann Taylor, Lowes, Target (maybe we should be using gift cards instead of credit cards there anyways), Banana Republic, Tiffany & Co, Starbucks, etc.  There are a ton to choose from.  Check it out and use this
link and get $5 off your first order.  There is free shipping and 100 day purchase guarantee on all orders.

I'm not making any promises, but I'm really hoping to have some sort of project done by next week.  I'm not sure what's going on but last week I went to use our dremel tool, to work on an anniversary project for Chris and he had taken it to work.  Seriously, we use our dremel about 3 times a year and we both happen to need it on the same day.  So, maybe I'll finish that project, it shouldn't take too long.

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!

Cheers to a Fabulous 2014!

Top 10 things I'm going to work on this year, in no particular order.

1. Spend more time playing with my kids
2. Continue posting at least once a week, right here on this blog
3. Grow my Rodan + Fields Business
4. Travel
5. Go to the gym or get outside and exercise more
6. Spend less time on my phone
7. Cook and try new recipes
8. Spend quality time with my family and friends
9. Try to be more patient with my boys
10. Be creative

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers to a fabulous 2014!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our house to yours!

6 more days until the big day!  Are you ready?  I'm getting close.  I started baking the other night and I have a few more presents to wrap, then I should be close.  Christmas party tonight and Saturday night!  Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

Happy Champagne Thursday!

Cheers!