Hi! It's me, ...&J2 bringing you another installment of DIY fun! This time, we took it outside to mix up some Sun Brewed Sweet Tea! And for some extra flair, we infused it with raspberries and lime- DE-lish!
Here's what we started with!
Place a family sized tea bag in pitcher full of water. We used one tea bag per quart of water. Cover the pitcher (to prevent evaporation and unwelcome intruders!) and leave it outside to brew in the sunlight.
Once the tea is dark enough, bring it inside and sweeten it up! We recommend about 1 cup of sugar, but you could add more! It's called sweet tea for a reason! :)
While the sugar was dissolving in the pitcher we moved over the stove to make some raspberry juice. Mix two quarts water with a container of raspberries and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and let them simmer for a bit.
While the raspberries were simmering, we squeezed some fresh lime juice for our tea. You only need about 3 tablespoons.
After about 3 minutes of simmering, the raspberry juice should be ready to go! Strain out the pulp and pour the juice right into your tea. Next add the lime juice. Stir the tea a few times just to make sure all of the sugar is dissolved and the raspberry and lime juice are infused throughout.
Pour over ice, garnish with a sprig of fresh mint, and enjoy! We recommend sipping your sweet tea on the front porch with a warm batch of cherry cobbler :) PERFECTION!!
Check back in for the next DIY project soon! Because we're going to keep them coming at you right up until the workshop next week!
He Brings Me Flours: DIY Biscuits & Cherry Cobbler
Hiya! It's Julia here to sweeten up your Wednesday afternoon with a healthy helping of DIY yumminess!!!
Yesterday we mixed up a batch of Cherry Cobbler in preparation for our upcoming Nashville workshop, "He Brings Me Flours!!"
Here are the ingredients we started with!
First up! Pitting the cherries! (We started with about 2 lbs of them!)
You can buy a cherry pitter, but in the true DIY spirit- we decided to do it the old fashioned way! With a chopstick! :)
Once you tear off the stem, you practically have a cherry pitting bullseye! Use the chopstick to push the pit through the cherry and out the other side! One word of warning, don't wear white!! Because it can get a 'lil messy!
After I pitted all of the cherries I put them off to the side.
Next up? Mixin' up the biscuits!! YUMMMMM!
Start with 1 and 3/4 cups of flour.
Add three tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoons of baking powder.
Just another day in the office! :) Add a pinch of salt and set your dry ingredients off to the side.
In a separate bowl, whip up a cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.
Stir the heavy cream into the dry ingredients. Then mix it until it is solid enough to take out of the bowl. Sprinkle some flour on your cutting board and knead the dough until it's smooth. (It shouldn't take very long!)
Next, flatten it out and cut out your biscuits. Make sure they are about 3/4 of an inch thick!
Place your biscuits in your baking pan and set them off to the side. Preheat your oven to 425. It's time to finish up the cherry topping!
In a large mixing bowl add two cups water and three tablespoons cornstarch.
Mix in your pitted cherries.
Now add 1/4 cup sugar and about two tablespoons of lemon zest. Also add a pinch of salt to the mixture.
Next, boil the cherry mixture for about five minutes. It will thicken and become clear. Then, pour the cherries on top of your biscuit dough and pop it in the oven.
YUM!!!
Cook for about 20 minutes and ENJOY!!!
Check back later in because we have another DIY project coming your way tonight!!
It's been a few months now, and I can finally talk about it. Laugh about it, maybe.
But just maybe. So don't push your luck.
What is this "it" that I speak of, you ask. Oh, that would just be my hair TRAVESTY that happened back in May when my hair dryer decided one day and for no reason whatsoever to just "wig out" (pun totally intended) and scorch my hair.
Yep it did quite a number and ended up frying most of my hair before I realized what was happening. In my defense, there were no tell-tale signs of said scorching like, y'know, smoke....or that awful burnt hair smell that usually accompanies hair dryer malfunctions. No, this attack was surreptitious. Covert. Clandestine. Under the radar. Cloaked in the guise of every day hair drying.
And it was only when I noticed that I had singed off nearly half my bangs, when the damage was already done, that I realized what had happened and started shrieking in octaves that only Cooper could hear.
And so, to my hair dresser I went. To have inches of shriveled locks lopped off. And to begin the long road back to "able to be seen out in public" hair. In the mean time, there were buns. Bobby pins. Interesting braided bangs that people thought was just me being fashion forward. Ohhh. El. O. Ellle blogworld. Fashion forward indeed.
But what I came to realize, was that perhaps the best cover up of all for this fringe faux pas was just a good ole trusty ball cap. So you can imagine how happy I was when our bride & groom from last weekend, Tiffany & Charlie, brought me one. But not just any baseball cap. See, T&C know that I am obsessed with the show "NCIS" and will often watch hours of the marathons they put on USA (hey, what else are you going to do when you can't be seen in public :) Well it just so happens that Charlie works for NCIS. Not the show. The real NCIS. Complete with weapons and all. Y'know, the one that advises Dinozzo & Gibbs how to be so broodingly handsome while defending the country. Oh Hoo-rah. So just knowing how much I love the show, Tiffany & Charlie got us a real NCIS hat & mug from the....I dunno....NCIS gift shop? :)
And all this time they thought they were just getting me a gift.
But little did they know, because of them the NCIS is now aiding me in a major cover up. :)
Happy Tuesday y'all!!
M:)
**So tell me, what was YOUR worst hair disaster? Come on, make me feel better here. :)
Happy Monday all!! We have a really exciting announcement about Spread the Love Maine! After lot of requests (and emails!) to make the stop closer than Bangor (which is apparently WAY up there...who knew!) we have decided to move it to Scarborough which is a lot closer for most people. From what I hear, Scarborough is only about an hour and a half north of Boston so any of you Beantown (or RI or NH or CT) folks who missed us the first time around can sign up for this one! Just click on the link in the pinned post above and that'll get you all set up! It's THIS WEDNESDAY, so be sure to sign up fast! See you there!
Well....this is it. The final chapter in our Spread the Love Saga.
I can't. believe. it's. over.
These past two months were just a blink....a blur...a blip on the great tortilla burrito that is the time-space continuum. And yet somehow, an entire lifetime was lived in them. All of us that were along for the ride came out of it slightly different people. Hopefully slightly better people. Better for the ride. Better for the reality. Better for getting out of our own little bubbles and out into the great expanse of the horizon beyond. I cannot say thank you enough to those of you who joined us on this great adventure. I know this is a story that I will be telling my great-great grandchildren for years to come (because I fully intend on living that long) and all of you will be the characters. Thank you for sharing your hearts with us. Thank you for being so raw, so honest. For never being afraid to look weak, for never caring if you were vulnerable. You are the real heroes of this story.
And I just want to say thank you for letting us read along.
So much love,
J&M
From hanging out with Harrison & Calista over Valentine's Day....we cruised on down to Vail in search of some famous hot chocolate we'd been hearing about from Sarah & Shyla for over a year.
Rrrrrrrimini!!!
Let me just tell you this. It was worth every last mile without wireless signal to get there and every last minute on the treadmill after. In my heaven, the clouds will be made from this hot cocoa.
Play it cool. Play it cool.
We didn't get any pictures from our time in Denver because our personal photographer (Miss Julia G, who did a ROCKIN job documenting the whole trip, was back home that week). But we did have an amazing time with a group of amazing people AND we got to sample the world's best margaritas and fish tacos ever courtesy of Miss Rene Tate and her BFF Jessie. Good times were had by all!
From Denver there is a whole lotta NOTHIN until you get to Kansas City. See this shot below? This was the highlight of the drive! Add to that fact that I only had about 1/8th of a bar the whole 10 hours and I came very close to losing my mind. Where are we now? Oh yea, we're at that place that has fields on both sides. Shoot me!
Kansas City just stole my heart. We had people there all the way from Arkansas (wat up Beaty's?!) and with their sweet southern/midwestern accents I just wanted to gobble each and every one of them up. But I didn't.....that would be weird.
HUGE thanks to Digital Labrador for hosting us!!
And finally from Kansas City we made our way up to Chicago, where Bob & Dawn Davis hooked us up with this awesome space at Calumet. If Chicago were going to win a "Lovey" it would be for best group to go out with a bang with!! We still have one more stop to go in Maine later this month, but Chicago wrapped up this crazy road trip for us and they did it in style!
I think Justin is demonstrating his mad marionette skills here. :)
And that's it. Two of the most life changing months of our lives are over. But like I said, I know I'll be talking about them for years and YEARS to come!
ETA: Here's a fun shot Rene sent us of our fish taco dinner!
Spread the Love
