food

A Butterfly Cake

May 11, 2021 by Jessica 1 Comment

This past spring my mom had her birthday and I asked her what kind of cake I could make for her. The only request she had was that it be all chocolate. She made it easy for me! I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to decorate it but it quickly came to me. My mom loves butterflies so found a brown paper bag to cut out butterflies from. Then I hot glued them to some wire that was strong enough to hold them. I also cut some branches off of a butterfly bush, one of her favorite plants, to add some greenery to it.

Lastly, I added some purple candles which happen to be one of her favorite colors. I was so excited to put together a cake that I felt reflected her in so many ways. It was simple and lovely and delicious. And I’m happy to report she loved it and thought it was very tasty.

A Breakfast Dinner: You had Me at Pancakes

June 24, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

There is a lot more time to do extra fun things with my daughters since school is out for the summer. Last night we had a breakfast dinner and we went all out! We do not have an outdoor table at the moment so I brought out our coffee table and put pillows down for seating. I went with pancakes as the main dish and used this recipe to create cinnamon roll pancakes. They were a hit!!! So delicious. I even created this cute little banner to go on the pancakes. I made it in the Cricut Design Space and it reads “You had Me at Pancakes.” Isn’t it cute? It’s a #CricutSummer project. You can print and cut your own here if you like. I’m going to make a list of more ideas that we could do later today. What are your favorite summertime activities to do with your kiddos? -jess

Chicks Free Teacher Appreciation Printable

May 6, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week and I managed to get a few special things done. This was one of the gifts I gave my daughter’s teachers, although I used different packaging because I ran out of time to get these adorable little egg cartons. I’m sharing today the parts of this gift along with the free teacher appreciation printable, “Thank you for taking such good care of my little chick”, in case you would like to do something like this for a teacher or someone who takes care of your children.

To make this gift you will need the free teacher appreciation printable printed on card stock, packaging of choice (I found these cute cartons at Hobby Lobby, but used strawberry baskets from Michaels for the other ones), embellishments for package (I used baker’s twine, fabric scraps, eucalyptus leaves, and a mini clothespin), and baby chick cookies (I found a cookie cutter from World Market for $.99).

I made my own baby chick cookies and decided to try doing the royal icing where you flood the cookie. I used this sugar cookie recipe, which was very delicious! Not super sweet, maybe more of a shortbread cookie taste but soft consistency of a sugar cookie. I don’t remember which royal icing recipe I used. It was one that I had all the ingredients for lol. I used piping bags and frosting tips, but I think next time I would like to try the little squirt bottles. I did okay, but I need to work on this skill. hahaha. I was doing these late the night before and just trying to at least have them look presentable. So I’m happy for my first try 🙂

You can fit up to six of these cookies in the little egg cartons but these won’t sit quite this neatly if you want to close the top. I also suggest wrapping them in plastic wrap if you like. These are uncovered for picture purposes. I put the ones we gave the teachers in little plastic baggies to protect them. I also thought it would be cute to maybe just put two to three cookies in and then add two Easter eggs filled with candy too. Wouldn’t that be cute? -jess

Michaels Makers: Crafting with the Raw Bar

July 15, 2014 by Jessica 2 Comments

For this months Michaels Makers challenge, Michaels sent us a box of goodies with some items from a new line called the Raw Bar that will debut in stores on August 8, 2014. It is a line of products made of or accessorized by materials inspired by nature. Surfaces and textures include: burlap, cork, chalk board, wood, metal and canvas. They created the Raw Bar because customers requested raw surfaces that are unfinished and easily craft-able. I really like all the products they sent me and see a lot of potential with them. You really have the ability to make them your own.

I mulled over a few ideas like making a cake topper, wrapping gifts up real cute, creating a fun canvas, but I decided to make an herb garden and garland to go in our kitchen. Plants totally go with the whole natural feel of the products if left in their raw state.

I went to the store and picked up a few more items c/o Micheals to complete this diy. I grabbed six little clay pots and bottoms that would fit in the metal bin, a slice of wood for the bin to sit on, and string for the garlands. I also hit up a garden store and got some herbs and put them in the pots.

For the garland, I cut circles out of the cork ribbon and then cut them in half. Then I glued them to the string. I also glued the letters to the string and tied on the raw bobbins in between all the letters. Once the whole line comes out, I’m probably going to redo the letters and spell a different word so it fits better with being in my kitchen though. Here are a few more products that will be released and some projects you can make with them and check further below for links to what all the other Michaels Makers created this month. Happy Crafting! -Jess

An InLinkz Link-up

This post was created in partnership with Micheals. All opinions stated are my own. Affiliate links have been used. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support Happy Together.

In the Kitchen with Miss J: Banana Bread

August 8, 2013 by Jessica 3 Comments

It is still super hot here in Louisiana, but we still have to do some baking every now and then. It’s so much fun to do together and tastes good, so we put up with the extra heat from the oven. One thing that has become a bit of a staple for us this summer is banana bread.

Our family loves bananas, but sometimes we don’t eat them fast enough and they get too ripe. They are then either destined to go into a green smoothie, the freezer, or banana bread. I found this super easy recipe here while searching for something else. I loved the blog and keep reading through posts and then I stumbled upon it.

We keep ours as simple as the recipe is for now because I usually don’t have any other fun things to add in like chocolate chips or walnuts. Miss J loves smashing up the bananas for it the best. I would say it’s an easy enough recipe she might be almost able to put it all together by herself (I of course still do the oven part). For a spread, we usually add some cinnamon to cream cheese.

The bread tends to dry out some after a day or two, but is still great when toasted. I think if I stored it more properly it wouldn’t dry as much though. I can be lazy sometimes 😉 Any new easy fun recipes you have tried lately?
-Jess