Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins

Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins

1 cup milk
1/2 and 1/4 cup butter, melted and divided
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups flour
1/3 and 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine milk, 1/2 cup butter, and egg. Stir in flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir just until flour is moistened. Gently stir in raspberries and white choc. chips. Spoon batter into baking cups. Bake for 24 to 28 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan. Dip top of each muffin in melted butter, then in sugar.

This recipe was given to me by my friend Libby. She's an excellent cook and her Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins are always a big hit! Trying to stretch the recipe a bit I made the mistake of filling 18 muffin cups instead of 12. Bad decision because these muffins rise so beautifully and mound so perfectly for dipping in butter and sugar IF you divide the batter evenly into 12 cups. Otherwise they are flat and impossible to dip! So, I learned my lesson and divided batch number two in 12 cups. Perfect! You can see in the picture that the mounded ones are much better looking.

Tips From My Friend Libby: Line your muffin pans with two paper liners. After baking, remove the ugly one. My oven never really browns these. I suggest cooking them only the 24 minutes, as long as toothpick comes out clean. If I cook them any longer, I tend to get a crunchy bottom that is unpleasant.

My Fella on the Front Page!

Pardon the blatant bragging, but I just had to share this photo of my Firefighter. He made it on the front page of Thursday's edition of the Beaumont Enterprise. Yep, that's him in the tiny photo in the upper right hand corner. Hot, hot, hot (wink).

Photos of A Friend

Once upon a time...a husband asked his wife for photos. He wanted glamour shots to capture the wife of his youth. Many moons later, she complied and asked her friend Krystina to photograph her. This is as close as I get to glamour shots (no hairspray required). Shana you are beautiful!

Lucky Ladies Weekend {The Details}

In sticking with the “Asian/luck/your future” theme introduced by the Fortune teller invitations, we created various Asian theme elements for the party.

Felt Fortune Cookies: We created red, felt fortune cookies that were given to Elizabeth before each “stage” of the evening. Enclosed was the next activity phrased like a typical fortune cookie. For example: “Your stress will soon be relieved by the hands of a stranger” meant that she would enjoy a 1 hr full body massage.

Custom Chop Sticks: Amanda ordered custom engraved chop sticks from Beau-coup that said: “Lucky Ladies Weekend 2009” and “Friends Stick Together.” These were placed with the paper flowers at each place setting for dinner. The chopsticks were a big hit and a fun memento.

Candy Sushi: Wanting to add an Asian theme dessert to the menu I found recipes for candy sushi; a fun, silly alternative to the real deal. We also found various cookies at an Asian market. We had no idea what they would taste like as everything on the package was in Chinese.

The Outdoor Movie: Setting up for the movie was simple. We borrowed a projector from a friend and hooked it to a laptop with an external set of speakers. All we needed was an outdoor electrical outlet. We hung a white sheet on the side of a garden shed there in the yard and framed the screen with tissue paper pom-poms, vellum shields and battery powered tea lights. A large piece of heavy duty plastic was put down under the blankets to prevent damping those that wanted to lay on the grass. An ice bucket kept the drinks cold and was visible by candle light. If you are in Texas or any southern state, fogging the yard for bugs and provide insect replant is a good idea. We did both.

Take Out Containers: We used Chinese take out containers to serve snacks during the movie. A package of 30 was only $4.95 at the Asian Market

Candy Sushi

Candy Sushi

1/4 cup butter

4 cups mini marshmallows

6 cups crisped rice cereal

30-35 Swedish Fish Candy (found mine at World Market)

2 packages RIPS green, sour apple licorice belts

Grease a 12- by 17-inch baking sheet. Melt butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until smooth.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the rice cereal until it's evenly coated. Turn the baking sheet so that the shorter ends are at the top and bottom. Then press the marshmallow mixture onto the sheet, distributing it evenly.

Starting at one side an inch up from the lower edge, place Swedish Fish atop the mixture end to end in a horizontal line. Gently roll the lower edge of the marshmallow mixture over the Swedish Fish candy.

Then stop and cut the log away from the rest of the mixture. Use the same method to form additional logs. Slice each log into 1-inch-thick "sushi" rolls and wrap them individually with a strip of RIPS green, sour apple licorice belts.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen.

If you have left over rice crispy mixture, simply cut into "slabs" and place a Swedish Fish Candy on top!

Lucky Ladies Weekend {A Smashing Success}

As you can see from the pictures, Elizabeth's bachelorette/lingerie party evening was a wonderful success. We had a blast and the decorations and setting were perfect! The bed and breakfast, Abigail's Tree House was a wonderful location and the host, Lisa, was very accommodating.

Elizabeth was given lots of FUN gifts and we all enjoyed many hearty laughs. Details and recipes from the weekend to come...for now, enjoy a glimpse of the evening.

Invitations by Mail Please

Is the mailed invitation a dying tradition? It seems the generation after me primarily relies on communication via texting and Facebook and rarely checks their “postal” mail. There are always those walking around with the proverbial “cardboard sign” telling us that print is dying. I think there is an unmistakable trend toward the digital market which excites me…but invitations?! Oh, not invitations. What happened to the excitement of receiving a personal, hand addressed invitation in the mail? Where is the appreciation for a paper that feels good in your hand? Do other people frame invitations and hang them on the wall the way I do? Okay, so maybe my appreciation goes a little too deep. But I ask you, to rally with me and renew an appreciation for the printed invitation. Savor a beautiful invitation by displaying it. Respond to the RSVP. And continue to send mailed invitations for any event you plan. No matter the time constraints.
The invitation above was created and mailed in just one day.

It’s not my original design, but my “remix” of an invitation design I found via google images. If you are interested in ordering the original invitations they are available at paper style. I hope that the designer will forgive me for the blatant theft of his/her design and recognize it simply as my admiration of their work (GRIN).

When I learned that my PREGNANT best friend would be visiting Texas during the Labor Day holiday, I jumped into party mode. I wanted so bad to throw her a maternity shower, but until the announcement of her visitation, I didn’t think it was possible. So, that, dear reader is why this invitation was created and mailed in a day. These aren’t printed on paper you want to feel of over and over, they probably won’t be framed by the recipients, and no RSVP is required, but they are were hand addresses, and personalized for the guest of honor. I can’t help but think it makes her feel special and even brightens the face of the recipient more than a choppy text message or mass e-mail. So I’ll continue to mail my invitations and send text message reminders to generation digital.