Hats

Because my son has a big infatuation for hats I am always on the look out for new hats.

His favorite being a fedora hat. I like to call them gentlemen hats though. 

1001 Fedora Hats was a great place for me to start looking. 

They carry fedoras for all seasons and are available in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes.

Blue plaid fedora

Brown twill fedora

Once I started looking at hats I realized I should look into getting a sun hat for me for this summer. 

I found a big selection of sun hats at the Sun Hat Shop. 

They have those big floppy hats that are perfect for lounging at the pool.

Ribbon crusher hat

Ribbon crusher large brim hat

Ultra braid hat

Ribbon braid hat with ticking

Both companies are a part of 1001 Shops.  They offer free UPS ground shipping with in the United States and Canada. Gotta love free shipping, right?

This is a paid sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Minnie Mouse Nail Design

Check out this tutorial on painting a Minnie Mouse nail design from Cutepolish.
I might have to try it out on my nieces. 

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

Winner!

The winner of the Headbands and Hardware giveaway is

Steph

Congratulations!

To claim your prize email your name and address.

A big thanks to Headbands and Hardware for the fun giveaway!

Recipe Roundup- Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy 
By Deborah from Taste and Tell

Mile High Buttermilk Biscuits
from Cook's Illustrated (via Nook and Pantry)

makes 12 biscuits
total time: about 25 minutes

2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 C buttermilk
Additional flour
2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 500ºF. Spray a 9 in springform or cake pan with some nonstick spray.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt to a bowl and mix the ingredients together evenly. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in the butter until the pieces are no bigger than a small pea. Fold in the buttermilk until everything is just blended, and there are no streaks of flour remain. Do not over mix, the mixture should still be lumpy.

Line a plate or tray with some flour and using a 1/4 C measuring cup or 1/4 C ice cream/cookie scoop, scoop out balls of the dough onto the tray of flour. Flour your hands and roll each ball around in the flour to evenly coat them in a layer of flour. The dough is very wet and very sticky. Place the dough balls into the prepared pan. Place 9 balls around in a ring and 3 balls in the center of the pan. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.

Bake for 5 minutes at 500ºF (middle rack) and then lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for another 15 minutes.

Sausage Gravy
from Nook and Pantry

total time: about 15 minutes
1 16 oz. tube of pork sausage
Additional fat if needed: bacon grease or butter
4 Tbsp flour
3 C milk
A little bit of dried herbs (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to a cast iron skillet or large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the sausage and break it up into bite size chunks, but don’t break it up too much, you want nice cocoa puff sized chunks. Brown the sausage and get some fond on your pan.

Turn the heat down to medium. Remove the sausage and drain, reserving the fat. Return about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the rendered sausage fat into the pan. If you don’t have enough fat, add a little bacon grease or butter to bring it up. Add the flour and cook while whisking until the roux is golden brown. Keep stirring and slowly pour in your milk, making sure to whisk out all the lumps. If it looks too thin, don’t worry, it’ll thicken once it simmers. If you like your gravy super thick, use less milk (2 or 2 1/2 cups). Once you added all the milk, return the sausage back to the skillet, add herbs if you want to get fancy, and season with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper. Simmer the gravy until it’s thickened and serve it over your split biscuits.

Recipe Roundup- pink Meringues

Recipe: super cute pink meringues
By Naomi from Hello Naomi 

makes approx 16

prep time 15 min

cooking time 1hr

ingredients:

4 large free range egg whites

1 cup of castor sugar

1 vanilla bean

rose pink food colouring (few drops)

rose water (approx 1 tsp) optional

icing sugar for dusting

method:

• pre heat oven to 90 deg C fan forced
• line 2 trays with baking paper
• in electric mixer beat egg whites on high until frothy
• still on high gradually add all of the sugar 
• keep beating until stiff peaks form 
• mix in seeds from vanilla bean, colouring and rose water(optional)
• spoon large dollops of the meringue onto the baking tray
• use a palette knife to shape
• bake at a low temp until they are have thick crust and are light to pick up (approx 1 hr) 
• let them cool in the oven with temp off and door ajar 

to decorate- dust with icing sugar or to make mini pavlovas serve with cream, strawberries and passionfruit- yum!

Recipe Roundup-

Chocolate Chip Cookies 
By Marian from Sweetopia

*

Click here for the printable version.

Ingredients:
½ pound or 250 g unsalted butter
½ cup or 100 g white (granulated) sugar
1 cup or 200 g packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 ¼ cups or 320 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 ounces or 300 g semisweet chocolate chunks (or favorite chocolate of choice)
*


Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix butter, white sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla extract and eggs and mix well.
4. Sift together flour and baking soda and add to mixing bowl; mix until just combined.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Form the dough into uniform size balls and space them apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  {A 1 ½ inch ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon can help you create uniform cookie balls}.
7. Bake for 15 minutes if you like your cookies chewy, longer if you like them crisp.  (Approx. 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the cookie no longer looks ‘wet’).
8. Remove from oven, let cool on the pan for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. Once cookies are cool, decorate with royal icing if desired!

Recipe Roundup- Raspberry Chocolate Meringue Kisses

 Raspberry Chocolate Meringue Kisses

By Darla of Bakingdom

Makes 3 to 6 dozen (depending on the how big you make them)

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon raspberry extract (or other flavoring)
Food coloring (optional)
About 1/2 cup semi-sweet, white, or milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats. Place chocolate chips about 1 1/2- to 2-inches apart on the sheet.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Place the bowl on top of a medium sauce pan filled with a couple of inches of barely simmering water and set over medium heat. Gently whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes. Transfer the bowl to the standing mixer (if you're not using a standing mixer, just remove the bowl from heat and use a hand mixer), and whisk the mixture on high until stiff peaks form. Stir in the extract and food coloring, if using.

Fit a pastry bag with a Wilton #30 star tip (or comparable), fill with the meringue, and pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets, centering each star on top of a chocolate chip. Refill bag as necessary.

Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

Recipe Roundup

The next round of the Bloggers Recipe Roundup starts on Monday! 

There are some yummy recipes so get ready.

 If you want to be included in the next Recipe Roundup send me an email.

Dianna's Must Haves

When I first started my blog years ago I had a little series, Dianna's Must Haves. 

I decided it is time to bring it back. 

Some things might be repeats but oh well, I posted them so long ago. 

 

 

1) Label Maker
I love my label maker! It seriously makes life easier.
I like to label everything including my shoes.

2) Tweezerman tweezers
Have you ever tried tweezing your eyebrows with cheap tweezers? It sucks!
Tweezerman slanted tweezers have a strong grip, so it will pull the hair out every time.

3) The Pampered Chef Micro-Cooker
I am not usually a kitchen gadget sort of person but the pampered Chef Micro-Cooker is one of the greatest things! The Micro-Cooker is designed for  microwave cooking. The lid is vented and doubles as a strainer. It makes cooking so much faster and easier. I especially like to use it for Top Ramen or mac n cheese when I need a quick little meal. It also is perfect for melting chocolate.

Headbands and Hardware Giveaway and Review

Recently I got the chance to review some cute new hair accessories. 

Headbands and Hardware sent me some of their ponytail holders and a pretty headband to try out.

 

Headbands and Hardware is an online hair accessory boutique. 

They carry everything from ponytail holders to headbands to hair clips, the list goes on. 

I really loved the tight grip on the ponytail holders. It seems like most elastics I use will start to stretch out with in a few wears but not these.  

I also got to try this cute feather headband.  Don't you love it?

With all the choices of  headbands, clips, ponytail holders and more you are sure to find something you love at Headbands and hardware.

Stop by the online shop today and see for yourself.

Headbands and Hardware is giving away a $25 gift certificate to one lucky reader!

To enter leave a comment telling me your favorite style at Headbands and Hardware.

Make sure to include a way to contact you if you win (blog or email)

Bonus entries
Follow this blog on Google Friend Connect
Following me on twitter
Like me on facebook
Post on fb or tweet about this giveaway including a link


Leave a separate comment for each entry.
Giveaway ends at midnight on Wednesday January26th

Winner will be announced Thursday, January 27th

Winner will be chosen by Random.org

I am

Listening to- Forever Young by Youth Group.
I love this version!


Watching- Despicable Me.
Brody and I have been watching this a lot lately.


Reading- The Grapes of Wrath.
It is taking me forever. I just can't get into it.

Cooking- pulled pork sandwiches.

Looking forward to- Getting a massage in a few weeks!

Corner Book Mark Tutorial

 This is probably one of the easiest page saver tutorials you will find!

All you need to make this corner book mark is

An old envelope or flat paper bag (the kind card shops use)
Scissors
Tape or glue
Decorative paper
Scalloped scissors
Ruler
Pencil.

 

Start in the bottom corner of the envelope or flat paper bag.

Measure in about two inches (or desired size) on both sides and make a small mark.

Using your ruler connect the two marks to make a straight line as shown below.

 

Cut along the line.

You should now have the most basic corner bookmark.

From there you can write a message on the bookmark or cover with decorative paper by simply cutting a coordinating sized triangle and gluing it on the bookmark.

For a scalloped edge, simply cut along the bottom with scalloped scissors.

Easy!

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

 I can't get Brody to smile for pictures lately.

This little wool suit was his cousin's from years and years ago.

Melamine Dishes

Set one

Set two

I am loving all the melamine dishes at Target these days.
Maybe it has something to do with having a two year old in the house.


Do you use melamine?

White Vinegar Tips

-Clean the deposits and water lines in aquariums and fish bowls
  Wipe them down with white distilled vinegar and then rinse. For hard stains soak overnight.

-Use as an antiseptic on cuts or scrapes

-Remove old stickers on cars
 Soak a cloth in white distilled vinegar and cover the sticker. They should peel off in a couple of hours.


What do you use white distilled vinegar for?

How to Make a Pulled Pork Sandwich

 I love a good pulled pork sandwich, they taste great and are way easy to make.
Here are my step by step instructions so you can enjoy them too. 

The shoulder cuts are the best choice for making pulled pork. Often, you'll find different names for these cuts including; Pork Shoulder, Pork Butt, Pork Butt Eye Roast, Boston Butt, Picnic Shoulder, Pork Chuck and many others. They all come from the same portion of the pig so don't panic if you don't see what you are looking for.

My husband's (the butcher) personal favorite is the Boneless Pork Butt Eye Roast. It is small enough for a great meal and big enough for just the right amount of leftovers.

 

Season both sides.

I like to use Spade L Ranch Pork chop & rib seasoning.

 

Cook in a covered crock pot on high for one hour. 

Crock pot cooking is usually synonymous with having to add moisture to its contents. The Pork Butt is one of a handful of exceptions. They are loaded with marbling and won't dry out.

Continue cooking on low for 6-7 hours.

Total cooking time 7-8 hours.

 Take two forks and gently pull meat apart.
There will be some left over juices, you can drain it if you like.

 From here you can either go ahead and mix in bbq sauce or eat it plain.
I like to keep it plain and add the bbq sauce once it's on the sandwich, so I can use it for other meals later. Plus, the beauty of pork is in its great flavor. It goes with just about anything. Salads, burritos, over rice etc.

Ruffled Shirts

I love ruffled blouses don't you?
I love how girlie and feminine they are, of course I wear mine with jeans to dress them down though.

Here are a few of my favorite ruffled shirts from around the web. 

Blue Ruffle Front Blouse from Dorothy Perkins

Second Interview Top from Mod Cloth

Frilled Top from Valley Girl

Strawberry Milkshake Top from Mod Cloth

Ruffle Top from Valley Girl

Daytrip Sheer Shirt from The Buckle

Lovely Ruffled Scoop Neck Top from Forever 21

Ruffle Blouse from Sears

Gold Ruffle Blouse from Dorothy Perkins

Movie List

 Here is a list of a few of the shows we have watched recently.

What have you been watching?