Simply Sycamore Way

Hand stictched Blooms

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:43:00 +0000

I am dying for an EMERSONMADE. hand stitched flower. The adorable couple-duo, Emerson & Ryan, create adorable in hand stitched blooms including roses, poppies, and dahlias. The flowers come in a variety of sizes ranging from tiny pins to hair pieces to big brooches.They are the perfect accessory for a plain blazer, a little black dress, or a cute little pop in your hair. I love Emerson's creative designs; but what's great is Ryan (aka bigR) does the photography, artwork, and collages! What an awesome couple...

EmersonMade.

Never fail treat to please...

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Sat, 08 May 2010 23:03:00 +0000

On this rainy day, I am, ironically, headed to a BBQ, and while most people bring chips and beer to a BBQ, I'm bringing chocolate chip cookies. But these cookies aren't your average crunchy, crumbly chocolate chip cookies, instead the cookies are moist and cakey. When I say cakey, I mean cakey... adding less butter and brown sugar to the dough changed the texture to become fluffier and thicker. This won't become your go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, buuuut if you ever get tired of your go-to recipe this is a nice change.

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1. Pre heat oven to 350F. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla, and eggs; mix until combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips
3. Drop heaping tableshopps of dough onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies until centers are set and edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
4. Let cool, then devour!

DIY Canvas Tote

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Be Green with this easy to create canvas tote! The striped tote used in this project is currently available at H&M for only $2.95, but when jazzed up with fabric paint it becomes more fashionable! This bag is perfect for toting your knitting projects, favorite books, groceries, or to use for a relaxing day at the beach! Customizing this tote (or any canvas tote) is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Supplies: Canvas tote, fabric paint, and doilies

Step 1 - Position doily anywhere on your canvas bag. For this bag the doily was placed on the lower left corner of the bag.

Step 2 - Gently paint over the doily, make sure to fill in all the holes, this will ensure that your design will be bold and dramatic.

Step 3 - Peel back doily before the paint dries.

Of course you should get creative and be the designer... add your initials, use multiple colors, or add a silhouette of an object you will put in your bag!

Final Product --

Link of the Week

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:34:00 +0000

Cath Kidston is a fabulous British designer. Kidston's floral, polka dot, and star designs cover teapots, cutlery, gardening tools, bedspreads, picnic baskets and bags. Unfortunately, in the U.S. we can only browse her online products - items are only available to those in England, Ireland, and Japan!

Marbled Cupcakes

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:38:00 +0000

Marbled Cupcakes
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising) sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Stir together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.
3. To make chocolate batter, measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a bowl. Stir into reserved 1 cup batter.
4. Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and a cake tester (i.e. toothpick) inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Milk Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (or more)
3 tablespoons milk

1. Whisk together ingredients until smooth.
2. When cupcakes are at room temperature, drizzle milk glaze for an extra sweet taste.

Instead of milk glaze, use confectioners' sugar

Strawberry Picking

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Every June, as a child growing up, my family would take a trip out to the country to go Strawberry picking. I can vividly remember the huge strawberry balloon that hovered in the sky high above the farm, the root beer floats and hot dogs we would get from Stewart's Drive-In, and the rock candy treats from an old candy store. But mostly I remember squatting down next to my mom, watching her add strawberries to our box, while sticky fingers and all, I ate the strawberries.

When the sun finally decided to shine on Eastern Massachusetts, I went to Connor's Farm in Danvers to go strawberry picking. I left Connor's Farm with a box of strawberries and with those strawberries I decided to make Martha Stewart's Strawberry Cake.

Strawberry Cake.

Makes One 10-inch cake
6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened, plus some for pie dish
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberries hulled and halved... the more the merrier!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. **** Don't be scared to load up on Strawberries!
Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. *** At first I didn't think it would take an hour to cook but that's really what it takes!
Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

General Tso's Chicken... Cooked at Home

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:11:00 +0000

I just love General Tso's Chicken. My stomach is growling just thinking of the sweet and spicy sauce combined with broccoli, chicken and rice. Unfortunately - or fortunately - an order of General Tso's Chicken, is always just a phone call away, so I never think about making it at home. Well, times have changed, and I made my favorite take out meal at home - with a little help but whoever said help was a bad thing?!

I found a General Tso's Chicken Seasoning Mix in the ethnic food aisle at the local grocery store and even better I already had most of the ingredients my kitchen at home.

Ingredients: flour, sugar, soy sauce, rice, oil, chicken, 1 onion, broccoli.
Directions:

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and toss with 1/4 cup of flour. In a skillet on med-high heat, add the chicken to a few tablespoons of oil. When the chicken becomes lightly golden add the chopped onions.
Combine the contents of the seasoning mix, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1/4 cup sugar, and 3/4 cup water in a small bowl.
Once the chicken is golden brown, add the seasoning mixture to the skillet and watch it bubble.
Turn the heat down and let the mixture simmer and thicken. Cook the rice accordingly then combine with the chicken and sauce. Let the rice soak up the sauce

Fill up on General Tso's Chicken without having to pick up your phone!

A lazy sunday morning

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Sprinkles Dark Chocolate Cupcake mix with Spatula from Fiesta Products

Every lazy Sunday morning needs a lazy activity. You know, an activity you can do quickly with very little effort...enter Sprinkles cupcake mix! Available at Williams-Sonoma, Sprinkles cupcake mix is created by Sprinkles, the beloved cupcake shop started in Beverly Hills. The mix comes in a variety of flavors and inside each package are the signature confectioners' "dots" that finish Sprinkles cupcakes. I used the chocolate mix for my lazy activity!

Polka Dot Mixing bowl from Fishs Eddy.

The mix is packaged in a little tube and comes with instructions that are just a tad bit more elaborate than what you'd find on a Pillsbury cake mix box. For the ingredients you will need: butter, eggs, and milk. Then simply mix and bake!

Girl Scout Cookies?? Gimme, Gimme!!

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:23:00 +0000

Bokx 109 chef Evan Percoco chowing down with friends

Thursday, March 12th, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts held their annual Cookie Creations Event at the Hotel Commonwealth. The event featured local Chefs vying for the best dessert of the evening, the catch, each chef had to use a Girl Scout Cookie as an ingredient in their dessert. The event was a hit with over 300 attendees (almost double the amount from last year). I was a volunteer for the event, but of course couldn't resist a tasting the desserts.

The event program featured all the recipes ! My favorite dessert was the Thanks-A-Lot Butterscotch cheese cake with Thin Mint Sauce from Chef Percoco at BOXK 109 in Hotel Indigo. The crowd favorite was a Key Lime Yogurt Tart from Chef Jennifer Hooper of Great Bay!

Great Bay chef Hooper preparing her Key Lime Yogurt Tart

My favorite Girl Scout Cookie are the Peanut Butter Patties, so I couldn't help but savor the Peanut Butter Crunch Torte by Chef Woodfine from Troquet. The peanut mousse included crushed Tagalongs, the texture and taste was delicious!

Troquet chef Woodfine posing with her delectable Peanut Butter Crunch Torte.

This was a successful event for the Girl Scouts and I certainly can't wait to recreate the Chefs' masterpieces! Please remember to buy Girl Scout Cookies or donate to the Girl Scouts of Eastern Mass.

Attendees sampling the desserts

And off we go...

kbullock2@gmail.com (Katie B.) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:04:00 +0000

One my favorite sounds is a quiet dinner table... and I don't mean quiet because no one has anything to say, I mean quiet because everyone is busy eating! And so, with my interest in cooking I have set out to explore recipes to make it easier for youu to figure out what is for dinner tonight!

And so I will start with tonight! Everyday at around 2:30 my boyfriend asks me the age-old question 'What's for dinner?!' (Now I know why, while I was growing up my mother answered that question with 'poison') Today, I was not as irked by that question, instead I was wanted to use a vintage Pyrex casserole dish I got for my birthday (wow I sound like a 50's housewife). After scouring the web, I found THE recipe Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Cornbread Casserole (From Rachael Ray).

The meal was relatively simple to make and more importantly it was deeelicious! The one snag was that I cut the recipe in half and didn't have nearly enough for myself and the very hungry boyfriend! Also, next time I will be sure to have some green beans on the side. Well, I better be going, I hear some Godiva Chocolate calling my name...