Recipe - Coconut Macaroons

Just lately, I have had a craving for all things coconut. Last week I made a pie that my Brother in Laws Mother created called Fat Ass Pie, which features coconut and pecans. Stupid me did not take any pictures but I can guarantee (judging by the reaction of my family) that I will most definitely be making it again! When I do, I will put the recipe up! It is absolutely delicious!!! 

This week, I decided on Coconut Macaroons. A friend in England gave me a recipe a long time ago and it has been my go to macaroon recipe ever since! They are nicely sized, perfectly crispy on the outside and deliciously chewy on the inside. You won't just be able to eat just one! (Well, I couldn't anyway...) This is how they turned out! 

Here's what you need to make them!

This is to make 24 macaroons, you can cut it in half if you prefer, but you will wish you hadn't!

1 and 1/3rd of a cup of all purpose flour

11 cups sweetened, flaked coconut

2 14oz cans of sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of almond extract

1/2 a teaspoon of salt

Mix the flour salt and coconut together in a large bowl. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and then pour in the condensed milk.  Stir well so that the milk coats everything and the extracts are evenly distributed.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the mixture into 24 balls.  Bake in the oven for around about 30 minutes at 350 degrees until the coconut is toasted!  Keep an eye on them in the last 10 minutes or so, because they tend to go from toasted to burnt quite quickly!

You can eat these warm or cold and if you wanted to jazz them up a little, you could even add chocolate chips into the mix or maybe some chopped almonds :)  Either way, they taste sooooo good!

I hope you enjoy them!! Let me know how they turn out!

~Tasha

Yay!

I finally worked out how to use gimp!  What do you think of the new design?  Can you see anything that needs to be changed?  I am also loving the new picnik which is now PicMonkey! I managed to make an awesome button really quickly!

I am going to post a couple of recipes this evening too as soon as I find the lead for my camera...

Upcoming Giveaway!

I am just about ready to rip my hair out over the new design for my blog.  I swear, I have been messing with it for 2 weeks now and it does NOT look the way I want it to.  I have read so many tutorials that I'm about to go cross eyed.  I'm using Gimp and it's not doing what I want it to! Haha.  Can ANYONE recommend another program to use that's straight forward?  I don't have Photoshop!  I would be forever in your debt!!

On a brighter note!!  I have just received some exciting news from a company!  They are sending me some products to review and they are also going to provide a giveaway!!  I can't wait!  My very first giveaway!  Watch this space!  Details will be provided within the next week!

Still dreaming of riches

Well, unfortunately I didn't win the lottery.  CAN. YOU. BELIEVE. THIS. CRAP. THOUGH?  The Maryland lottery winner lives 10 freakin' miles away!  We all just about had a heart attack when they announced that the winner was in Baltimore County!  Soooooo close.  I know I shouldn't be jealous, but damn! So, yes.  Today I am still dreaming of riches.  I refuse to give up!  Even after reading all the statistics that really don't put any odds in my favor AT ALL!  (People just trying to rain on my parade I think!)  I'm a glass half full kinda person, so I have to think that one day I will get lucky! Haha.

Anyway.  Today I am going to be redesigning my blog.  I have downloaded a bunch of stuff and am in the middle of playing around with it, so we shall see how it looks later!  If anyone is reading this, do you know of any really good blogger design tutorials?  Or, a good site for graphics that can be used on a blog?

Dreaming of Riches

All day long pretty much everyone in the USA has been deciding what they are going to do with $640 million dollars WHEN their numbers get drawn this evening.  I am one of them.  It's gonna be me!  I can feel it!  I frantically called my Hubby this morning (who is staying with a friend back in the town we just moved from finishing up a job) to tell him to make sure he bought lottery tickets!  Even if it was $5 worth!  (I always dream about winning the lottery, but never actually play...  So I figured this time I probably should!)  My family have bought quite a few too and we have all been seriously planning on what we would do.  It's quite funny really because we ARE convinced!  I have a feeling there are going to be some very upset people tomorrow!  IF you don't hear from me tomorrow though it is because I am on a private jet to St Croix!

Back in the swing of things...

I have stepped away from blogging for a few months for a variety of reasons.  The first was that I seemed to be stuck.  I read too many 'blogging 101's' and tutorials etc and while they were extremely helpful, they made me start to seriously doubt myself!  They all told me that I should pick a 'niche' and stick to it.  I wasn't sure if I could do that!  I mean the main point of my blog is that I am a new Mom living in a new country, but I can't write about JUST that!  I like to cook, I like to save money, I like to enter competitions and searching for freebies. I like to complain every now and then, I like to laugh,  I like to google extremely random stuff, I like crafts and a BUNCH of other things. So,  I have decided to say screw it!  I'm just going to go with it and write about what I want to write about and see where this takes me!  I am going to redesign the blog though, lol.  OCD apparently.

The other reason is a lot has been happening in my life just lately.  We have not being doing all that well financially and we have recently all moved in with my parents until we can get back on our feet.  It's a big change and we are just beginning to settle in and adapt. It's not the ideal situation but I think it's going to work out just fine. Hopefully the new chapter in our lives that this is going to lead to, is going to be a very positive one!

You heard it here first.  I am making a public vow to blog at least 3 times per week from here on out.  Even if I am just blogging for me!  (Unless of course something crazy happens and all my fingers fall off.  THAT would suck.)

Crafty Christmas

This year, I am broke.  Completely and utterly, broke.  Also this year, I have been getting into crafts (Another thing that I never knew would happen!)  I always thought that I was extremely 'un'artistic but it actually turns out that I don't have to be!  SO!  This Christmas, my Husband and I are going to be making our own gifts.  I don't want to tell you exactly what they are just yet!  But I can tell you that Mod Podge is my new best friend!

In this post I would like to give a shout out to a few blogs that I have stumbled upon that have given me fantastic ideas!  They all have a fantastic array of DIY crafty projects that ANYONE can do!

The Hybrid Chick - I fell in love with these fabulous photo blocks by Julie Mom of 4

Photo courtesy of 'The Hybrid Chick'

Light & Spoon -  This is a VERY cool idea to make your own artwork using melted crayons

Photo courtesy of 'Light & Spoon'

Our Best Bites - Has an awesome gift idea for kids!  Make your own homemade slime!  What kid doesn't love slime?!

Photo courtesy of 'Our Best Bites'

Chica and Jo have an idea that I also fell in love with.  They have coasters made out of curling ribbon!  I tried this one out and the end result was amazing!  This is perfect for using up all your extra curling ribbon!  I always have tons of the stuff left over at Christmas.

Photo Courtesy of 'Chica and Jo'

A Beautiful Mess has an idea that I have always wanted to try.  Homemade Graphic Soap courtesy of Sarah Rhodes

Photo courtesy of 'A Beautiful Mess'

New England Through a Yummy Mommy's Eyes also has absolutely amazing photo blocks.  I love how she has aged them!

Photo courtesy of 'New England Through a Yummy Mommy's Eyes'

Over at Mommy Models, they have a tutorial on how to make your own photo canvas art!  I bought a canvas print last year as a gift and they are really quite pricey!  I wish I had seen this one last year!

Life in Grace has another great gift idea for kids!  Homemade alphabet crayons!  I will definitely be making these with my Son when he is older!

Photo courtesy of 'Mommy Models'

With that, I am off to find my X-acto Knife!

~Tasha