Envelope Valentines

I know this isn't a food post...sue me.  After the convincing it took for me to get Corinne to cooperate, this is definately being posted on here!!

Corinne and I sat down to work on some valentines today (I sat; she squirmed).  She was not as excited as me, however, but I couldn't wait to try out these cute little valentines!  So being the mom, I won!

How cute is it to turn a heart-shaped valentine into an envelope?  Pretty darn cute!

 Just ignore the folds...I had to make sure it worked before I shared it with the world!

Fold the top down first, like so:

Then each side, overlapping them slightly:

Fold the point up and turn to look like an envelope:

We all have a million of these, right?

Stick one on the point to hold it all together and voila! you have an envelope made from a heart!

Just "address" it and add a cute little stamp! 

Shhhh, don't tell Andrew what he's getting for Valentine's day!

Merry Christmas!

So a very merry Christmas to everyone out there!  I know I am a few days behind, but you know how the holidays are!  Plus, we have been dealing with some illness here in our household, so I was unable to get to some posts I promised (sorry!).  Hopefully all will be forgiven??
Any-who, I did make a gingerbread house, but unfortunately, due to me feeling under the weather, I will only be posting the finished product with a few tips, instead of a tutorial.  It took all the effort I could muster to just put the darn thing together.  I just wasn't in the mood to document the whole thing, also.  If you want the recipe and full directions, visit http://www.marthastewart.com/.  That's where I got my recipe.  So here we go!!

All of my pieces baked and ready to go.  I actually used half of the recipe and it made a decent sized house.  I'm not into constructing a large house, so this worked perfectly for me.  Also, I had plenty of dough left to make plenty of gingerbread men for dunking in hot apple cider (since the dough is dense, they can be pretty hard).

Instead of icing to "hold" the house together, I followed Martha's idea for using a sugar syrup.  It works really well, though it hardens soooo quickly, I had to be really quick to assemble the pieces.  But once they are together they don't move.  Just be careful...it's HOT!

And the finished product:

I used almond slices for the roof (starting at the bottom to get the "stacked" effect), and added batting for the snow, though you could use cotton candy to make the whole thing edible! 
I was pretty happy with the results and it looks cute on our little shelf, especially at night when I stick a little electric candle inside and the light glows out the windows!
I hope next year you can be inspired to make a creation of your own.  And I hope I will be feeling better and can get even more creative!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

How to chippity-chop an onion...don't cry, it's not that hard!

Chopping an onion can be one of the most frustrating, teary-enducing steps in cooking.  For me, it was a time consuming task that I couldn't ever seem to master.  Luckily, that all changed once I saw a step-by-step guide with pictures! (Very important!!)

First, cut the "stalk" or "leaf" end off of the onion (the part that would stick out of the ground).  Then cut the onion in half, through the root end, leaving the root end intact.

Peel the onion.
Using a sharp knife, make a cut parallel to the cutting board at the top of the onion:

Make two more cuts parallel to the board towards the middle and bottom of the onion:

Now make cuts from the top of the onion with the tip of the knife facing the root end slicing several times across the onion.

Then, finally make cuts across the onion, letting the chopped onion fall away from the knife until you cut through to the root end. 

After a few times, you'll be chopping onions like a pro!