Wedding Cookies and Royal Icing Transfers

This weekend I had the great pleasure of watching my sweet sister-in-law marry the man of her dreams. She was truly the most stunning bride of all time, and I can't wait to share some pictures from the day with you soon! Coltin had the opportunity to do the ceremony and it was incredibly special for him to be such a big part of his twin sister's day.

These kinds of occasions always call for cookies and I had such fun creating these for the beautiful bridesmaids to enjoy as they did makeup and hair the morning of the ceremony.

One of the absolute best techniques I have ever stumbled upon in the cookie decorating world is royal icing transfers. It is the process of making royal icing decorations for the cookies ahead of time and then transferring them over after they've dried. Non-artists and perfectionists rejoice!! This is basically tracing over something and ending up with a gorgeous, uniform product. I've used this technique for flowers, monograms, logos, Disney characters, and several other small details like eyes! Here are a couple examples:

To get started, what you'll need is a print out of your design, parchment paper, tape, your icing of choice, a paper towel for quick clean up, and a boo boo stick.

When it comes to icing consistency, I like to use what is called "20 Second Icing." It's called that, because once you run an icing spatula through the icing, it should take 20 seconds for the icing to settle back to an even surface. This will ensure that your icing will be thin enough to make a smooth finish, but thick enough that it won't run over the edges of the design you are tracing.

Once you've got all your materials together, tape the parchment paper over the top of the design you are copying. Then trace over the design with your icing, using your boo boo stick to help smooth things out or fix mistakes. I highly recommend doing several extras! These guys can be super fragile depending on what you're doing, so you can count on a couple to break as you transfer them to the cookies. I also recommend letting your transfers dry overnight. No matter what! I've tried rushing them before and just ended up with a mess.

After the transfers have had a change to dry, use your boo boo stick or a thin spatula to help lift them off of the parchment paper.

Once it is free from the paper, fill in the area of the cookie that the transfer will attach to and give it a few minutes to slightly dry and then carefully drop the transfer on top. I have found that method works best for things like letters or other intricate designs that would be harder to "glue" on after the background color has dried. For flowers or other similar designs, you can let the cookie fully dry and then use a dot of royal icing to glue the flower on.

I ended up using these "R" transfers on the wedding cake cookies because nothing is more exciting than gaining a new initial for your monogram as a bride!

Chicken Salsa Verde Soup

I'm not much of a soup person. Every time I eat it, I enjoy it, but I never crave soup and it doesn't make its way onto our weekly menu very often. That being said, on a cold winter day a few weeks ago, I tried a recipe from Gimme Some Oven for chicken chili and fell in love. It is a new staple meal at our house and it's truly the easiest meal to throw together--5 ingredients, 15 minutes and you're done! I've tried both the slow cooker (when my chicken was still frozen) and stovetop (when I needed it in a pinch) versions and they are both divine. 

I've renamed the recipe for my purposes because I think the salsa verde is the star of the show. Talk about adding tons of flavor in no time at all. This soup doesn't have to simmer on the stove for hours! I grabbed the cheapest jar of salsa verde that I could find at Walmart and dumped it in. 

While the soup is heating up, chop a few add-in toppings and you've got a decadent meal to dip into. We opted for some bacon leftover from breakfast, green onions, avocado, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. We try to keep our meals paleo as much as possible, so we opted for fresh toppings, but I imagine a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese would take this soup over the top!

Give it a shot and let me know what you topped yours with. Fingers crossed, we only have a few more weeks of winter! 

Chicken Salsa Verde Soup

Recipe copied from gimmesomeoven.com

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups chicken broth

4 cups cooked shredded chicken (*or see slow cooker method which uses uncooked chicken breasts)

2 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained

2 cups salsa verde 

2 tsp. ground cumin

DIRECTIONS:

Stovetop Method: Add chicken broth, shredded chicken, beans, salsa and cumin to a medium saucepan, and stir to combine.  Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for at least 5 minutes.

Serve warm with desired toppings.

Slow Cooker Method: Add chicken broth, 2 uncooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, beans, salsa and cumin to a slow cooker, and stir to combine.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours until the chicken is cooked through and shreds easily with a fork.  Shred the chicken.

Serve warm with desired toppings.

Snow Day

Today we got a snow day! Not an "ice" day, but an actual snow day!

It was going really well until my eyes flew open at 8:00 am and I began thinking through everything I could get done with my new-found "free" hours. How many projects I could get done, blogs I could write, crafts I could make, Oscar wrap-ups I could watch...oh the options were overwhelming.

And then I sat down in my favorite chair to make a to-do list and I was mesmerized by snowflakes falling outside the window. It's near impossible to watch snow slowly drifting to the ground and not be at peace. There is something so cleansing about pure white snow covering the dead, brown grass below. It's like an eraser creating a blank slate, a fresh start.

There are seasons in life when God speaks the same thing over and over and over again. Most of the time it's because we're not listening. My theme lately has been about rest. It's been in the songs on the radio, in my discipleship lessons, in my Bible, spoken through friends and family members, and today it was if these tiny frantic footprints were shouting the same message at me all over again. Rest. Rest. Rest.

So, in spite of the anxiety rising in my chest, I decided to simply rest today and enjoy the beauty of God's creation. It hasn't been easy. My nature is to be in constant motion. My hands always need to be working, cleaning, cooking, picking up, ironing, etc. Our society has been so ingrained with the thought that if we aren't doing something, we are falling behind. And falling behind is bad. One of the books I am reading says it this way:

"We live in a society that values productivity. We often use the phrase 24/7 to describe a supposedly successful lifestyle that is full of pressure accomplishment, and perhaps, fun. There is usually little downtime. Every moment--even riding a bike on a Sunday afternoon--has to produce something. We do this to ourselves, and we expect everyone else to follow along. Soon people begin to burn out, and they are pushed aside as unproductive." 

And then the gut punch:

  "The hidden assumption in all this activity is that our time is ours to do with as we wish. The Bible challenges that assumption. When we honor God's ownership of our time, we will know better when to say yes and when to say no." 

(Spiritual Disciplines, Larry Sibley)

Ouch! I'm so guilty of that. Today I'm choosing to rest. I might even have another cup of coffee and snuggle back under my blanket for the rest of the afternoon. I hope you'll find moments this week to draw aside and take a moment to simply sit and be still. It doesn't make you lazy and even if you "fall behind" the rest of the world, I promise God will use it for your good and his purpose!