Salty and Sweet Cookies

 I have two philosophies in life:  salty....and sweet.  It's the perfect combination.  Like a band aide to the soul, or at least my taste buds.  There is a cookie at Central Market that I 'visit' so frequently, if it were human, it would need a restraining order.  I finally found a recipe that mimics my little chocolate victim. 
If you need a new addiction, and who doesn't?  Meet, a sweet and salty cookie....or salty and sweet....whatever your poison.  I found this recipe at sugarcooking.  :O) 
Sweet and Salty Cookie
Ingredients:  1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. baking soda, 1/2 c. butter (room temp), 1/2 c. packed brown sugar, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 egg, 1 t. vanilla, 1 c. milk chocolate chips, 1/2 c. peanut butter chips, 1/2 c. broken pretzel pieces, sea salt
Instructions:
1.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. 
2.  In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and add egg and vanilla. 
3.  Add flour.  Once it's combined add chips and pretzels.  Cover and place it fridge for 1 hour. 
4.  Preheat oven 350.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place round balls onto the paper, sprinkle each with a little sea salt and bake for 10 minutes.  This makes at least 2 dozen cookies

DIY Personalized Rubiks Cube

I saw the tutorial to DIY your own Rubik's cube using sports stickers a few years back on sceneofthegrime. I decided to try this idea out using vacation photos.  This would be a super cute idea for a family gift or work gift (thought about giving one of these to my bosses with group shots of my coworkers, but....didn't seem like much of a gift ;o)).

I printed off 6 photos from my recent trip to Hawaii and I snagged this rubik's cube for a buck at the store. I tried to choose photos with different colors on on the back drop (blue/black/tan etc) to help with the color matching later on. I first pealed all the stickers off the rubik's cute...not a problem, I'm practically a pro at this-it's how I solved the puzzle when I was little too...peel and replace.  ;o)  I then traced the size of the whole square and then used the stickers to measure out the inside squares.  I traced the whole thing onto the portion of the photo I planned to use....

  

 If you look closely at the photo of my mine, you can see where I held my squared off square on the top of the photo and drew down the lines to 'engrave' the lines on the photo so I knew where to cut.

I cut it each side into little squares.  

 I then glued them into place using a glue stick, though some (like the the one with the hole) needed a little dab of permanent glue to hold.

Father's Day BBQ Gift Set

 I'm headed to GMT today to share an idea for Father's Day.  These were all really affordable gifts to put together, and hopefully very useful.
I'll be demoing fire starters for the grill and this little container for matches with a 'striker' for a lid.  I blogged about this on Tuesday. *Make sure you use the strike anywhere matches.  You still can light any match on sand paper with enough heat, but it can take a few tries-matches are made differently these days and are harder to light for 'safety' reasons-so....save yourself trouble and get strike anywhere matches.  

 We will be making a rub for meat.

The recipe is really simple, source.
To make a DRY RUB just blend: 8 T of brown sugar, 3 T of kosher salt, 1 T chili powder, 1/2 t. pepper, 1/2 t. cayenne pepper, 1/2 t. thyme, 1/2 t. onion powder
I'll be making some bbq sauce (attaching a little brush to paint the meat...I don't know the grilling term, but in my world-that looks like a paint brush).

 BBQ Sauce Recipe:  (Makes one cup) 1/2 c. ketchup, 2 T brown sugar, 2 T Worcestershire sauce, 1 T. cider vinegar, 1 t. garlic powder, 1/4 t. mustard powder, 1/4 t. salt.   Mix it together, you can simmer all the ingredients together for about 5 minutes to really help the ingredients marry.
I put all the supplies into a disposable foil pan, I thought it was more useful and practical for 'dad'....I found some hickory wood, skewers, serving trays, and dish towels to round out the gift. All the 'accessories' were available at the dollar store (even the wood).  I'll post a link to the show later here.

July 4th Wreath Revamped

 I made a  'wreath' out of an old ruler to put on my door for the 4th a few years back.   I to go ahead and spruce it up and add 'more.'  I took apart an old grapevine wreath with other 'stuff' on it and bought some berries/tarnished stars, burlap ribbon, and (new) antique looking flag.

 ...and the old measuring stick star....

 I wired it all onto the grapevine wreath....this'll be my door for the next few months....until I find other stuff to add....

Fire Starters...or....We Didn't Start the Fire....

 I'm working on a little somethin' somethin' that includes fire. And so....here are a few ideas for fire starters adapted from 7,456 things I've seen over the years.
#1-little fire starters.  You know when you light wood or charcoal and you run in a circle sparking little areas in hop that one will catch? Enter...these doo hickeys.  You can add them to the bottom of your pile o' stuff and light them to burn and help catch the other 'stuff' easier.
Just take toilet paper or towel tubes and fill them with dryer lint and shredded newspaper if you are low on the lint...

 Stuff....

 Roll some recycled store bags around and twist or them shut, then toss them on the bonfire while it's just a bon and you are hoping for the 'fire' part to happen....

 Next up....a place to store my matches.  I always run out of striking area before I run out of matches, so I'm actually storing these in my house for my candles, but it would also be great to take out to the bbq or on a campout.  There is just something that makes me a little nervous about those little paper boxes filled with matches....a little glass jar makes me feel less nervous.
Grab a mason jar and some sandpaper (found 12 sheets for a buck at the 99 cent store...you do the math)...

 I cut out a circle the shape of the lid and put it on top and then filled 'er up with matches (make sure they are the strike anywhere matches-they still will light on sandpaper, but most matches are made to just strike on the box, you can still light them on sandpaper with enough heat, but the avg person may take a few tries).
Do you "noes'tice anything in the picture I was trying to take below?  Welcome to my life....I have the greatest inspection team this side of the Mississippi.

Laura Bush Cookies

 I made these cookies for Election Day for my secret sister at work.  I asked around in regards to her political allignment (I know, I know-rude, right?) and then I found a recipe that went with the party.  I always thought it would be fun to have a party around Elections or July 4th that went with the presidents and/or their wives favorite recipes.....I guess I know what I'd be serving for dessert.  These really are good, regarldess of your political affiliation, Ms. Bush knows her way around a cookie!  Maybe this will be the year I put my idea to the test, I'll actually be home....yay! 
Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies 
Instructions: 
Cream together:  3 sticks of butter (room temp), 1 1/2 c. sugar, 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
Add:  3 eggs
Add:  1 T of vanilla
Mix together and add:  3 c. flour, 1 T baking powder, 1 T. baking soda, 1 T cinnamon, 1 t. salt
Mix together and add:  3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats, 3 c. semisweet chocolate chips, 2 c. sweetened flake coconut, 2 c. chopped pecans
Heat over to 350.  Drop 2 inch balls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake 17-20 minutes.  Makes about 3 dozen.