The Little Brown House

Hot Chocolate Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:08:03 +0000

When I saw this recipe featured on Tasty Kitchen yesterday -

I knew I had to try it immediately, if not sooner.

Hot Chocolate Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

I mean, the name alone practically put me into a chocolate coma..

In fact, before I got ready to bake them this afternoon,

I went online and cancelled my Weight Watchers account…

I am tired of paying to have a page on the internet with my name on

it remain blank for 3 months in a row…

So – for today anyway- I am accepting my extra 10 pounds as God’s

reserve plan for the future, just in case I get stuck in my house

with no food for a week or two during the winter.. besides – my whole

life has been spent not being satisfied with myself and I am tired of it!!

Whew, sure glad I got that off my chest. Hey – maybe I weigh less now..

This recipe uses 4 packages of powdered hot chocolate – which I thought was

interesting. It also has 3 different kinds of chocolate chips in it – 1 cup of each..

Did you hear that? That was the sound of Heart Surgeons all over the country

gasping in horror.. yes, I did say 3 cups of chocolate chips.. in addition

to 2 cubes of butter. Ok – so they are not the healthiest.. just make them once or

twice a year and be good all the other days. Except, of course, for Tasty Tuesdays..

Mix the two cubes of butter with 1 cup white sugar and 2/3 rds cups brown sugar,

then add two eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix till blended well.

Now mix together 3 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 packages of cocoa mix

After mixture is completely blended, add the secret weapons… err – chocolate chips.

(Note to self – schedule remodeling of kitchen including lighting for this winter)

There you go – now take the bowl and go sit in front

of the TV and put in the dvd of the movie Date Night… you won’t regret it..

Or you could just mix the whole thing together and bake them..

It really is your choice.

I used a cookie scoop for mine – because that’s just how I roll.

*Spoiler alert* these may be hot when they come out of the oven,

resulting in a burning sensation for those who can’t wait to taste them..

Then again – that is probably why they came up with the combo of

warm cookies and cold milk – problem solved!

So -are they good?

You don’t need me to answer that – you saw what went into them

I would say that you should pick a gloomy day

and make them as a surprise for your family. At least then it looks

like you have good intentions.. rather than waiting to make them

after everyone is in bed and hoarding them in that plastic bowl in

the freezer labeled “Brussel Sprouts”

Not that I have ever done that myself, I just hear things…

Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks Salted Butter- At Room Temperature
1 cup White Granulated Sugar (I Like Baker’s)
⅔ cups Packed Light Brown Sugar
2 whole Large Eggs
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla
3-¼ cups All-purpose Flour
4 packages (1 Oz. Packets, NOT Sugar-free) Hot Chocolate Mix
1 teaspoon Salt
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Each White, Milk, And Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Preparation Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, hot chocolate mix, salt and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients in 3 to 4 parts, making sure all is incorporated. Fold in chips. Chill the dough for an hour or so. Use a 1/4 cup as a scoop to scoop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Diy Picture Decor

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:02:48 +0000

This may be one of my favorite projects to date.

I wanted something to hand in my newly remodeled bathroom.

I wanted something cheap and romantic – sounds like a good date night title huh!

I started out with a picture frame I got at Ross for $5

Then I choose some of the photo’s that I have taken to see what ones would work.

These were just pictures I have taken of some of the things in my house.

I only choose from the ones that fit with the romantic

theme – but you could use any pics of stills that you have

depending on what decoration style you have going.

You could do them in Black and White for a more

modern look.

I put them into my IPhoto program (the one that comes with a Mac)

and made them the same size, then used a combination

of color lightening and antique-ing effects on them.

Then, the best part, I sent them in to Walgreens from my computer

and they were ready for pick-up at the store an hour later.

All of them 4 x 6 and .19 cents each!!!!!!

Whoo Hoo!!

We just had a Walgreens put in a couple of blocks from me – I am loving it!

So I played with the different pictures, and decided on two of them to use.

Sorry about the lighting – this bathroom has no natural light.

This shows how it looks with my Diy light fixture

Once again, sorry about the blown out exposure!

You can go see the light project here-

Thrifty Chic Light

Hope you liked it! I am off to do some Labor Day Weekend clean up!!

Have a great weekend!

Baby Week!

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:18:31 +0000

It is baby week here at the little brown house!

No – not me silly! (praise God!)

(If you want to see how I made these cupcakes, look under recent posts in sidebar)

Some of you may remember that both of my daughters are pregnant.

Well, the first baby was born this week!

Lydia Grace

8lbs 15ozs

21 inches long

Here she is with big sister and big brother, who are very excited!

(she really isn’t yellow – this was my phone camera!)

So, as you can imagine, I have been busy this week!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I will be up and running again

this weekend, when I hope to show off our newly remodeled bathroom!

In the meantime, I will leave you with one of the funniest

things I saw this week at the hospital.

This sign cracked me up!

I am sure there are many reasons for it,

but it seems to make calling for help harder than

it needs to be. You must say the words

“Condition H”

After dialing 3333…

It does seem like just saying the word

“help” would be faster,

I spent the week wanting to dial 3333

and yell

“Preparation H”

But maybe that’s just me…..

Low WW fruit/cheese snack

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:04:01 +0000

I am feeling the need to scale back a little bit in my eating. In fact the

word scale is very appropriate for that… I have had many a Tasty Tuesday

with sugar and calories. Which really are two of my favorite things…

But life does happen, and those things make me larger. So I determined

to do some weight watchers friendly recipes this week. I use the online

WW program. Which means I pay them $16 dollars a month to keep my

name on an empty points tracker page. Its a great relationship…

Anyway..

Last week, I walked into the lunch room at my office and saw one of my

coworkers making this as a snack. (Holla Jen!)

I was very intrigued by it – and couldn’t wait to try it for myself

It is a very simple combination of ingredients -

You can use either pears or apples for this – I tried some of each.

My co-worker made it with goat cheese, which I happen to love,

but I think it would work well with any number of soft cheeses.

Feta and Mozzerella come to mind.

I put the photo of the WW cream cheese in because I know it

would taste great with that too – and the weight

watchers points would be even lower.

Start by cutting up your apple. I use Fuji apples – they are my absolute favorites!

I also use this apple cutter, which is one of the most used items in my kitchen.

If you don’t have one, get one….

Then I proceeded to pare my pear………

Dang I am so funny…. it’s a gift..

Lay out your fruit on a plate

Then crumple some of the cheese over each slice

Now dribble honey over all the fruit and cheese.

The combination of flavors is really amazing! I seriously love it – and it actually filled me up

for lunch, not just as a snack. But considering it is only about 3 Weight Watchers points,

you could eat it anytime without messing with your daily points allotment to much!

I had forgotten until after I had eaten almost all of it, that Jen also added ground pepper to hers -

So I salvaged a few slices and tried it with pepper -

It was good! I would eat it gladly either way -

Who am I kidding, pour some chocolate over it and I would

eat the goat itself….

Thanks for stopping by!

A Southern Fairytale

Tasty Tuesday

Designs By Gollum – Foodie Friday

Paper Plate Decor -

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:19:31 +0000

So – I can be a determined person… I prefer that to the term stubborn.. which I am not..

If this is your first visit to The little brown house, you need to know that I am a

member of punctuation over-users anonymous…. or POUA

Anyway -

I did a post about putting together this plate display on my wall earlier this month -

You can go look at it here

Hanging Plates

I had found some paper plates that fit in really well with the colors in that room

and I tried to make it work with the Plate display – I put it on the center plate

But decided it looked too dorky. I was determined to use the plates in some way though.

So last night I played around with some things in my craft room

and came up with something.

I took one of the plates, some cheap Walmart picture frames, and some Dollar Tree vinyl

that said “God Bless Our Home”

You can see in the picture below that I had already started putting things

together before I remembered to take pictures! And I did not take

pics along the way – hopefully you can figure it out by looking at it,

if not – just ask me!

So I put it all together -

I think they are kind of cute – I like the way they go with my curtains.

I almost spray painted the frames Heirloom White, those of you on my Facebook page know that

I have started having dreams

about that spray paint, so I thought it was time to back off….

Seriously…

Anyway -

I was thinking these would be really cute in a baby’s room over the crib.

I also tried with a couple of wooden accent pieces that I picked up

at Home Depot and spray painted brown to match.

So what do you thing? I still have 7 of those plates left, so I

guess I need to come up with some other ideas huh!

One thing I have realized about myself is that I get bored easily

with my decor. Not all of it, but I love to change up little accents

now and then. This is a very inexpensive way to do that -

Which makes Mr. Little Brown House happier..

I am linking this post up with some great parties – go check them out!

Chocolate Butterscotch Popcorn

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:14:11 +0000

Welcome to Tasty Tuesday at The little brown house!

I decided this week to make something that doesn’t require using the oven -

Of course, the Northwest is having a mild summer for some reason,

and it is only about 73 degree’s here today! But I know for some of you

it has been a very hot summer. Right now, however, I am rethinking my idea

to make an easy sweet irresistible snack. Because I am finding it, well, irresistible!

I decided I would just make up my own recipe – after all, how hard can

chocolate covered popcorn be to make….

You start by making some microwave popcorn. I thought I was being so

smart and bought some that had only 1 Weight Watchers point per serving.

Then when I opened the package I realized I had bought the mini bags,

then after I popped it I realized I had bought Kettle Corn! It all came together

fine, however. At least good enough for me to snack on until I was stuffed!

So, start by making about 10 cups of popped corn. I had intended to get the lightly salted kind,

and I do think that would work best for this recipe.

Put the popped corn into a large container, so that you can spread it out.

Put 2 Tablespoons of butter into medium saucepan on the stove.

Then add 1 cup of Butterscotch chips.

I then added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of corn syrup

I forgot to wait and add the vanilla after I took it off the stove,

I would recommend doing this.

It looked a little strange, but I had high hopes!

After it had all melted, I poured it over the popcorn, which I had added some salted peanuts to.

Just to make sure we got in all the food groups…

Then I mixed it around – making sure everything was covered in

butterscotch goodness!

Yummy!

At this point I put the pan into the oven at 250 degrees as I made the chocolate.

I thought it would be good to keep it warm and malleable…. gosh I don’t get to use that word often!

100 meaningless points to anyone who can use it in a comment on this post…

Now it is time to make the chocolate. I put 3/4 cups chocolate chips and about

1 Tablespoon of butter into the microwave to melt together.

At this point I want to remind you that I am not a professional..

On the contrary – I am basically a bumbling idiot when it comes to cooking.

I am sorry if I have led any of you to believe otherwise…

I seem to be lacking the “melt chocolate in microwave without turning it to stone” gene.

So I added about 1 Tablespoon of Corn Syrup – which repairs all things.

Then I put a baggie into a glass and filled it with the chocolate mixture.

One of my readers ( thanks Patricia!) suggested I use the baggie, and it worked great!

I piped the chocolate on the popcorn, mixed it up a bit, then put it in the fridge to cool.

After about 30 minutes – I got it out, and I can only say that something magical happened!

It is not crispy like caramel corn, it is softer – yet somewhat crunchy.

The salt of the popcorn and peanuts , sweetness of the butterscotch, and tang of

the semi-sweet chocolate combined to make what tastes like a candy bar type treat.

I also found that it fits perfectly in the dollar store jars I redid in this post:

It would be a great Christmas treat for someone!

Dollar Store Gift Jars

And with it being cooler here today – I just had to add a little Fall

to my photo shoot!

Thanks again for stopping by the Little Brown House – I call all of my readers my brownies in my head

is that bad? I figure if Lady GaGa can have her little monsters, I can have my brownies!

I know – sometimes things in your head should not be verbalized!!

Foodie Friday @ Designs By Gollum

Dollar Store Gift Jars

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:28:29 +0000

Welcome to The little brown house! I have been thinking about

the holiday’s lately… I know, we are still in the midst of summer.

Don’t hate me! It is hard not to think ahead when the stores have

Halloween and Thanksgiving things out on the shelves already!

Anyway – I have been looking for some craft

idea’s for gift giving – and I came across these jars at

The Dollar Tree –

the store that lures you in with the thought

that “I will only spend a dollar or two” and then pops you out

an hour later with $25 worth of items in your bag!

Guess how much these jars were!!

I know – old joke..

But aren’t they so cute for one dollar? I don’t know what it

is about glass and jars, I am just drawn to them.

So I decided to buy some and figure out what kinds of

things I could do with them to make them into gifts.

I decided to spray paint one of them with a white semi-gloss.

It was a little breezy outside – but I insisted on doing it anyway -

It could have turned out better, but as usual, I was in a hurry!

I gathered up some supplies from my kraft things

and began to play around with them and the jars.

I had some Chinese wrapping paper, some vinyl number stickers

and letters, and some buttons..

You might remember from my Black and White Console Redo

that I love to combine paper, numbers, and jars!

I did not take step by step pictures of how I did everything,

So I will show you the pictures and explain as I go!

OK – the first one really requires some explanation.

My son is turning 19 in a couple months, and all he ever asks

for is money. Which is usually what we give him.. but I wanted

to find a more creative way to give it to him – so this is my thought

The jar has the numbers 1 – 4 on it, and here is what I plan on putting in it,

* A $20 bill

* 2 movie tickets

* A gift card to a restaurant

* A gas card

Here is what I will write on it -

1 for the money (cash for movie treats)

2 for the show (two tickets to movie)

3 to get ready (Restaurant gift card for dinner before movie)

and

4 to go! (gas to get to the theater)

I think he will like it, and I know I will enjoy putting it together!

This next one is for my granddaughter Kelsi

Her birthday is in November,

I just made her these two rings she is wearing

So I thought I could do a jewelry jar for her

This is the one I painted – I cut out a square of the wrapping paper

and sprayed adhesive on the back, then put it on the jar.

Then I put a vinyl K on it, and glued a button on the top and the front.

Cute huh!

The third one I was thinking I could

fill with tea bags or those individual Starbucks instant coffee’s

I put the word Tea on it with the vinyl letters, and then

put a strip of the wrapping paper inside.

I wasn’t sure if I would keep this one, so I didn’t use the

spray adhesive to stick it in there – but it would work like this

if you just wrapped the paper around the tea/coffee.

So – tell me what you think! And please share any ideas

you might have of how to make these dollar store jars

into a great gift idea -

Thanks so much for coming by! Be sure to check out the party links below!

Baby Shower Cupcakes – The Trilogy – The Return of the Buttercream…

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:47:04 +0000

Ok – I swear.. this.is.the.last.cupcake. post…

At least in this series. It is also my longest post title ever – which I believe

I will celebrate by having a cupcake and coffee..

So – just to bring everyone up to date. I made cupcakes for my daughters baby

shower last Saturday. I made yellow cake ones filled with lemon and frosted with buttercream.

Cupcakes – Part I

Cupcakes – Part II

Then I made these cupcake stands out of Dollar Store burner covers -

Cupcake Stands

Ok – now we are all up to date!

So, what would a cupcake be without frosting? Or icing as our Canadian friends call it – aye?

When looking for a recipe – I once again visited my good friend

Hoosier Homemade

She is known as the Cupcake Lady, and she is gifted in all things cupcakes!

I even watched her video tutorial on how to frost them – I highly recommend it!

Can you believe so few ingredients can make something so delectable?

You start by whipping 2 sticks of real butter till it is creamy

Then you sift 4 cups of powdered sugar – which I did – which is so unlike me..

Generally when I see the word “sift” in a recipe I replace it with dump, or drop, or pour…

But I decided to be a good girl and follow directions.. I will try not to make a habit of it.

Now add the powdered sugar alternately with milk and vanilla,

to the creamed butter.

She does not give precise measuerments for these – I used around 2-3 Tbl. of milk

and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Since I was using lemon filling for my cupcakes, I decided to make the

frosting lemon flavored too.

So I added about 1 Tbl. lemon zest and 2 Tbl. fresh lemon juice to the frosting after

I had mixed in the milk and vanilla. Then I mixed it all together till blended well.

So – butter, sugar, lemon,vanilla – really not much can go wrong here..

Then I popped it into the fridge to chill, while I got ready to make

my first attempt at using a pastry bag.

I bought the bags and tip at Michaels. The tip was so cute and promised me a “star finish”

I have never in my, um, 30 some years, seen a star that looked like this..

It should have been named “frosting looks like spaghetti noodles tip”

but I guess truth in advertising didn’t win out in this case.

So – back to Michaels for a big ole round holed tip.. boy howdy..

You put the tip down into the plastic bag before you add the frosting -

Then you cut the tip of the bag off so that the metal tip pokes out.

The “Cupcake Lady”

suggests that you put the plastic frosting bag into a tall glass to fill it.

Once again – I followed her advice.

I spooned the frosting into the plastic bag

I twisted the end of the bag until the frosting came out of the tip -

Then I started making slow circles on the top of the cupcakes.

Oh – you are such discerning readers!

You have noticed that those are not my lemon cupcakes..

You are right – I also made chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling for the shower.

I was not as happy with those as I was with my lemon ones.

Therefore I am not sharing the recipe with you.

Yes, I am always looking out for you -

I was much happier with the finished product after I stopped using the

“coiled spaghetti strands” tip.

Although – this tip could be called “little pile of dog poop” tip…

Please erase that from your memory..

I did not even say it..

Here, let me distract you with a pretty cupcake picture..

They were such diva’s during the photo shoot.

“Powder my crumbs, I am so parched, those lights are making me melt”

Blah blah blah -

Those photo shoots are so grueling..

Thanks for coming by! You may have noticed some changes

to the blog – I have switched hosting sites and now have someone helping me

out with blog “housekeeping” if you are looking for a new web host here is his link!

Cloudul.us

Thanks so much for stopping by The House!

Diy August – Vote for me?

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:07:29 +0000

If you want to – I mean if you really feel strongly about it…

You can go vote for my post in the Diy August contest.

But only if you have a deep burning desire to do so..

My post is Plate Wall Art – #27…

But you must feel it deeply…down in your heart…

goodbye forever…dying of embarrassment…oh the shame…

Diy August Contest Voting

Dollar Store Cupcake Stands

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:26:00 +0000

Finally! After two posts about the baby shower cupcake event going on at the Little Brown House, I am going to debut

as promised, my dollar store cupcake stand! I know you have all been awaiting this moment with bated breath..

Whatever that is..

Last year I entered the Dollar Store Contest and came up with a few decor items made

with dollar store purchases. One of them was my burner cover cake stands – you can see them here:

Dollar Store Cake Stand

As I was planning my daughters baby shower – I came up with the idea of making cupcakes:

I decided to update the dollar store cake stands and use them as cupcake stands – total cost around $3.50

I found some scrapbook paper I loved at Michaels

I traced around the top of the plate-

When I placed the paper circle on the top, I decided that I needed

to paint the plate so that I would have a clean finish

on the sides and in case any showed through on the top.

So we went outside for a couple of coats of Heaven’s own paint – Heirloom White..

It makes everything better.. really..

Ah – much nicer!

Now I put spray adhesive on the top of the plate, and placed the round paper on top of it.

Then I repeated the process with the next plate

And here is the finished product!

Very pretty indeed!

And the day I made them I got the cupcake toppers and covers I had ordered -

They matched so well!

I may have squealed a little bit!

I have been working on the cupcakes all week, and just finished frosting and filling them today-

So of course I had to dress up the stands for their photo shoot!

I ordered the personalized cupcake toppers and matching wrappers from Julie at

www.etsy.com/shop/alittlelollipoptree

I am so happy with them – I especially love the Welcome Baby Lydia Grace toppers!

So I am about ready to go with the baby shower this Saturday!

If you would like to see the recipes for the cupcakes – you can find them here:

Baby Shower Cupcakes Part 1

Baby Shower Cupcakes Part 2

Thanks so much for coming by! I am linking up with a few fun parties – go check them out!

Updating to add picture of the actual Lydia Grace who arrived 8/31/10!

Isn’t she beautiful!