"A" is for Artichoke

We have a couple of friends in our neighborhood where give each other about an hour's notice and almost literally shout out "Happy Hour" and the families congregate.

The host guarantees the house will likely be a mess {we all have toddlers/babies}, there may or may not be a super-easy appetizer available, but there will always be a delicious beverage and good company. No thrills, just fun.

Taking you another direction...

When I was growing up my mom used to serve artichokes with mayo for dipping. I don't like mayo. I grew up not liking artichokes. {I will say mayo is probably my mom's only food vice - Other than that she raised us with great eating habits.}

BUT, I recently came across a blog from The Spicy RD {she's great - worth reading} and was amazed at how yummy she could make artichokes look with her recipe of Artichoke Squares so I thought I'd try it out when we hosted happy hour on Friday.

The artichoke squares were a big hit! My son, who usually loves everything, was not a fan but my daughter, who usually has a "more refined pallet" {e.g. she's pickier} loved them and ate three for dinner.

A few changes I made to my recipe:

* Used 6 egg whites instead of 4 eggs

* Used 1 1/3 c low-moisture/part-skim cheese instead of 2 c cheese

* Sprinkled bread crumbs on top {didn't have bread to make my own}
* I didn't have fresh parsley so I added dried oregano

* The recipe called to put it in a 9"x9" pan - If serving as an appetizer, I'd make it in a larger pan next time to make thinner squares.

I would highly recommend trying these and even adding them to you go-to list for simple, healthy recipes to serve with limited time available. Most ingredients you can have on-hand all the time.

Cool Dads

What's that drink, you ask?! :)

It's our house specialty: The Creamsicle. Two parts vanilla vodka, one part fresh orange juice {fresh off our tree}, and club soda to taste. Result? Dreamy:

How do you make artichokes? I'm so open for new ideas! And, let me know if you try a Creamsicle. There's one more tasty drink I'm excited to share, but that's for later. :)

Feeling Loved

The sweet Canadian for whom I got to make the custom bird mobile I mentioned in a previous post had some really neat feedback that I am touched to share with you:

"Thank you Thank you Thank you....what an amazing piece... colorful, playful, and can see that it was made by a great soul! I am so happy that I found you and that we could work together! I love the wings, that made it even more special for me and I was so touched that you thought outside the box for me! You are amazing at what you do and I am sure little angels bless you everyday....Will send a pic a soon as I put it up in the room for sure!!!! All the best to you and your business...."

She was such a treasure to work with! Thank you, "A.J."! Here's another look at her birds...

After posting her mobile on my blog, another reader wanted the chance to order a similar mobile for her baby due in October. So, please click here if you are interested in a similar mobile.

I have been really humbled by the feedback and referrals I've received lately. Thank you for all the love and for telling others about Cookie+Curly. {And for liking C+C on Facebook!... Hint, Hint for those who haven't already.}

I enjoy working with so many creative and fun people to make these creations. I'm so glad they are being enjoyed!

New Lunch Discovery - Yum!

I had a fantastic lunch yesterday made with leftovers from the previous night. A simple, nutritious and super-fast food choice for a snack or meal...

Red quinoa ("keen-wa"), low-fat cottage cheese, organic cherry tomatoes, and toasted pecans. Yum!

A little known fact about quinoa is that the Incans called it "The Mother of All Grains" - They knew their stuff back then! Quinoa is a unique grain in that it is high in protein (12-18%) and it has all of the essential amino acids making it a complete protein {e.g. all the same amino acids of a meat} thus giving it the name "superfood", which is I'm sure how many of you have heard of it.

On top of being a super-yummy super-food, quinoa is high in iron {an element of which many women don't eat enough} and magnesium {needed for metabolism and lots of other things in the bod}, and has a good amount of potassium {helps with balancing blood pressure} and fiber {we all know what that's for}. It's also gluten-free.

Red and "regular" or "white" quinoa don't have much nutritional differences but the red quinoa does have a bit of an earthier, nuttier taste and a more grain-like texture.

I always prepare it with a low-sodium broth as it's a little bland for me when prepared with water alone. It's great by itself or you can mix in nuts or roasted vegetables, or we like the texture it provides when we eat it with our salad.

Click here for amazing quinoa recipes from EatingWell magazine. {Have I mentioned I LOVE this magazine and their website?}

What's your favorite way to eat quinoa?

"To Sew With Love" Feature Is Up

Okay, this is a bit of a re-post, but it's up so I wanted to let you know. Head on over to To Sew With Love and enter and get 20% off all Cookie+Curly products and possibly win $25 store credit!

While you're there, be sure to check out all the tutorials she does, as well as all her Blog with lots of goodies, and all the amazing sponsors she has. Lots of stuff to check out.

{Nutrition Niblets}

I heard your nutrition interests...

* post-workout eats

* gluten-free - what's up with that

* are cleanses okay to do?

* I need something new for dinner

Great topics! I'll get back to you on that. Anyone else have things you want to hear about?

Enjoy your day!

Blankie Love - New Prints Online

'Tis the season for blankie love! Lots of blankies going out these days. 

And a few new prints added to the site for the little girly-girls out there into pink and purple!

Modern Elephants in Pink

White Flowers on Pink Flannel

Butterflies & Flowers in Yellow & Purple

One recent customer is in the know. She knows that a little one can't be without his/her favorite lovey blankie, so she ordered two of the same print (also a new print to the website).

Ladybug Blankies with "Paci Leash"

Remember, $1 shipping on all blankies and all new blankie orders come with a free "paci leash".

Congratulations to all the new mamas out there! {Darci, still praying your little boy will join us SOOOOON!}

More on food stuff next blog, I promise!

New Mobile Style Heading North

A new mobile style is heading up north to Canada - I love all the love from Canada! {My grandmother was born and raised in Montreal and my American grandfather went to university, plus my brother and his Canadian wife/family live in B.C. so I feel like a piece of me belongs there.}

"A.J." in Ontario wanted a bird mobile similar to Cookie+Curly's Butterfly Flutters for her baby boy's room. She was "looking to do some brown, green, blue, yellow (that pop) orange, purple (even a splash of pink....even for a boy I am Ok with) and any other color you can suggest... with a brown ribbon up-tie." 

I LOVE working with customers like this. They know what they want and they're open to color.

So here's what we came up with...

This one got a little boo-boo on his tail. Can't see it while hanging but you can here.

Lots of color and patterns to keep the babe entertained and stimulated, yet delicate and sweet - nothing crazy.

What do you think? Should I offer these on my website? As always, I love to hear from you!

"To Sew With Love" Feature

{5/13/11... PLEASE NOTE: Blogger.com was down for 2 days and this promotion went offline and was lost but it will go live again in a day or two. I'll keep you posted.}

Welcome, all of you from To Sew With Love's Blog. I'm so excited to be the feature at this time! 

Please head over to Lelanie's blog to get the details on how to get 20% off all Cookie+Curly products and possibly win $25 store credit!

While you're there, be sure to check out all the tutorials she does, as well as all her Blog with lots of goodies, and all the amazing sponsors she has. Lots of stuff to check out.

Enjoy, and shop!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back, everyone. Blogger.com has been down for the last 24+ hours. More posting in a bit... Just wanted to let you know I wasn't deserting you - they just had some untimely maintenance to do. But we're back! 

Take a look around. I'd love to hear from you!

Is Your Neck Dressed?

I love making birds and blankets, but I've recently jumped into making necklaces and oooooooh is it fun!

I use only the finest materials such as sterling silver, gold, vermeil, and bright chalcedony to make this one style of necklaces...

Honey-Gold Teardrop in Vermeil Ring

Sunshine-Yellow Sterling Silver Wrapped Necklace

While for the others I use antiqued brass to give it a vintage look.

Lilac & White Carnation Antique Brass Necklace

Vintage Aventurine Locket Necklace

The cabochon necklaces are so fun to make - I'm loving the personalized image choices some of you have chosen. Such a personal gift to give, or a way to get the necklace that's as unique as you.

Vintage Butterfly Necklace

Vintage Red Bird Necklace

Please cruise around my site and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear feedback!

I hope all you mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I did! I even got what I asked for... Do you remember what that was?

Sweet Pot Pizza

{Posting}

Hi there, Much-Appreciated Readers. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not always going to be posting my Blog posts to Facebook so please be sure to check back here regularly to read what's going on. I'm adding things to Cookie+Curly's site almost daily too.

Thank you to everyone who has "Liked" Cookie+Curly on Facebook. If you haven't done so already, please do so now. I really appreciate it. Even better - Please post on your Facebook page to encourage others to do so. Thank you!

{Sweet Pot Pizza}

We had our end-of-the-year brunch for Bible study yesterday and I signed up to bring a potato dish for 8-12 people. I was in a lazy mood and had resorted to bringing baked sweet potato fries with roasted shallots on top. That was the plan at least, until my dear husband used all the scallions {about 10 large ones!} on our homemade pizza. {Yeah, our breath stunk, but man was that pizza goo-ood!}

I had to come up with Plan B based on what I had in the house as it was 10pm the night before. I found this INCREDIBLE recipe for "Sweet Potato, Red Onion & Fontina Tart" at EatingWell.com and it was a hit! Many asked for the recipe so here you go. 

Little changes I made... 1) I used Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough instead of making a tart crust from whole wheat pastry dough, walnuts, etc.; 2) I roasted the red onions a little longer than suggested just because of my personal preference; and 3) I used Havarti {a favorite} instead of Fontina cheese.

Theirs:

Mine:

Pretty close, yeah? I will definitely use this recipe again - It would also make for great finger-food appetizers.

Did any of you taste it and have some feedback? What's your favorite way to prepare potatoes? Do tell!

P.S. A recipe for some yummy Green-Cakes are below - I didn't post them to Facebook but they're worth checking out for sure.

Green-Cakes

As you know, I'm always trying to find new ways to get veggies in my sweet, darling little ones. Well these hit to spot tonight!

 

Yes, we had breakfast for dinner upon the personal request of my little Princess. But dinner is a big time for veggies for us and kids didn't nap today {read: exTREMEly tired kiddos} so I had to think of something... Something different.

I'll just say it right now: They look disgusting and VERY green but honestly, they tasted great. The egg and flour balanced out the spinach and they had a crepe taste to them.

I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com when I Googled "spinach pancakes". You basically mix thawed spinach, an egg, and flour and season with salt and pepper. {They suggested adding paprika but I added garlic powder instead.}

Then you saute them in olive oil for a few minutes on each side, basically until the egg is cooked and they're browned a bit on either side.

So, yes. They still look disgusting when they're done, but I promise you they really taste great. {I'll admit - There was some dipping in syrup by some.}

 

Try them with your kids {or spouse, for that matter} and let me know what they think. 

Tangerine & Cookie Dough Love

{Tangerine Love}

Tangerines. I love them. Those little "Cuties" are so practical and delicious. Just right for any snack and most meals. But these tangerines are different...

Check out the color of these little beads. I want to eat them up!

This is one of the new bracelets listed on my website. The chain is a light-weight, sterling silver chain with a little texture on the links. What do you think?

Many have been getting them as gifts for Mother's Day. Do you have your mom covered?

{Cookie Dough Love}

When I was 8 years old I remember sitting out on our driveway with my best friend and brother as we licked clean the bowl used to make fresh chocolate chip cookies with my mom. I think she left a little "extra" in there for us as I also remember a belly ache that followed. Since then, despite the belly ache, I've always had a thing for cookie dough.

I was assigned to bring a sweet treat to the Stitch Market last Thursday night and a savory treat Friday morning. While searching the internet for a savory bread recipe {more on that later}, I ran across these sweet things...

{Egg-less} Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Um... yum! I had to do it.

These gorgeously scrumptious "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles" are courtesy of RecipeGirl.com. Thank you, RecipeGirl.

I didn't take any pictures of my process as there are great photos on her website, but trust me - They're great! This is how I decorated mine:

{Darn Blogger.com - It won't upload the pic. I'll try later.}

If you need to bring a appetizer-style dessert to a function, these are your gems. A home-run with everyone who tried one. Anyone who was there care to comment?

{P.S. The dietitian in me would like you to limit your intake to one. Try, at least.}