Thursday, July 19, 2012

raspberry crumble bars

I don't often (if ever) post recipes to my blog, but I have to say... I made these raspberry oat bars for the first time today and they ROCK! Here's how you make them.

1) Pick fresh raspberries. Okay, you don't actually have to pick them. ;) I just happened to stop by the local raspberry farm with my daughter today, which is what inspired me to make these bars. I have raspberries everywhere! Fresh raspberries from the store also work.

2) Make raspberry jam. What you want to do is pour some of your raspberries into a sauce pan and add a little water, and start cooking it down. Cook it for about 10 minutes, and then strain it (I used my flour sifter, the mesh worked fine) so you don't have any seeds. You want to end up with about a cup of raspberry juice. Put it back on the stove to simmer, and stir in 1/2 cup of white sugar. Simmer until it starts to get thick... it took about 20 minutes. Let cool.

3) Here's the raspberry crumble recipe, taken from the food network.
  • 2 sticks butter, softened, plus more for the pan
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup Raspberry Preserves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.
Add the flour, both sugars, oats and salt to a bowl in your stand mixer. Add in the butter and egg and beat at low speed. Stop the machine and scrape the bowl down a couple of times. Keep processing until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Keep 2 cups crumb mixture aside.
Press the remaining crumb mixture on the bottom the prepared pan. Spread the Raspberry Preserves over top, leaving 1/2-inch border. Crumble the rest of the oat mixture over the preserves.
Bake until lightly browned, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.


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I also sprinkled some cinnamon, sugar, and extra oats on top of my crumble. Super good!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

true colors



These two cards were made with a stamp set I designed called True Colors. I stamped the sentiment from the set on the inside of the cards. I've been wanting to do an art-themed set for quite some time... there is box of crayons in this set too that would go great with the "Life is a Box of Crayons" sentiment. If I can find that sentiment somewhere in my stamp stash, I'll make one! :)

I was camping this weekend and I took a bunch of crafting supplies with me so I could make cards outdoors on the picnic table. I was surprised at how much fun it was... I wasn't sure how convenient it would be, but as it turns out, I must have been inspired by nature because I couldn't stop stamping. I highly recommend stamping outdoors if you haven't tried it. It's true my cards smell a little like campfire smoke, but hey, it's all part of the experience.


One of the things my kids love to do the most when we go camping is make S'mores. I took several photos of the S'more making, and thought I'd make a little tag with The Great Outdoors stamp set to use with a potential scrapbooking page. I love that little S'more stamp and stick with the marshmallow on it... so fun to stamp with!


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

happy independence

I absolutely love patriotic themes. Red, white, and blue are such great colors. And I love Independence Day. For those of us living in Seattle, July 4th represents the unofficial beginning of summer (I know that's a little late for the rest of you out there in the USA but it's typically when the weather gets warm here. )




This is a card I made with the GRS Happy Independence Appetizers set. I LOVE the fireworks in this set, they are so fun to play with. This card was super easy to make... just splash a few fireworks across a white card, add some buttons, and layer the sentiment over the top. Clean, easy, and beautiful.

I have a fun freebee today... I designed some digital paper a few years ago called Stars & Stripes that I'd be happy to share in honor of the holiday! Click HERE or on the image below to download! This matches my God Bless the USA stamp, available at Gourmet Rubber Stamps.



To all those living in the USA--- Happy Independence Day!