Gingham Apron Giveaway!

via Michelle on Pinterest

I love and collect aprons: some are new, some are vintage (from flea markets, antique stores) and most my mom makes for me for holidays and birthdays - and they’re my favorites (of course). I'm wearing one of her aprons in this picture. Isn't it pretty? I really DO wear them at home when I bake or cook, not just for pictures for work. They keep my clothes clean (practical) and they are, well, FUN!

In this picture (right), I'm wearing an apron from Anthropologie one my very favorite stores ever for aprons and housewares. And, they carry some of the prettiest sundresses I've ever seen.

3 more aprons from my mom. She’s a keeper. I know!

Recently I started using Pinterest and found these oh-so-pretty aprons from Stitch thru Time (below, left). These folks aren’t on Facebook or Twitter yet, but I hope you will give their site a look.

I'm a big fan of gingham and have used it in one form or another for Sweet & Simple since day one. My original "test" packages had ric-rac and gingham bows. And so I thought one of these red gingham aprons would be a perfect pop of color for an upcoming photo session for Sweet & Simple. And then I thought why not share a little apron love?

I really like this company's aprons for the obvious vintage look/feel, the number of styles and the size options. Most aprons are one-size-fits-all. Although aprons aren't really fitted, it's nice to wear one gently sized. And the matching mother-daughter aprons are too much - some of the best I've seen.

Source: stitchthrutime.com via Michelle on Pinterest

The giveaway is simple:

Please leave a comment in the comments section of this post telling me if you wear an apron when you bake/cook, if you collect them, give them as gifts and/or what you love about aprons and what color (yellow, blue or red) gingham apron you would choose for yourself.

Next Sunday, February 12^th I will select a random winner using random.org and notify the winner in the comments section.

Once I have confirmed your mailing address by e-mail (for your own privacy, please do NOT post it online on my blog), Sweet & Simple will order and send you one (1) 1940 Retro Gingham Apron in yellow, red or blue from Stitch Thru Time.

Some other online aprons I like very much at the moment:

Source: jessiesteele.com via Michelle

Jessie Steele - known for beautiful, retro aprons. Well made. My Jessie Steele aprons have lasted and lasted and still look great. Love these anchor aprons (above) and the cupcake apron below? Perfect for your fav cupcake fanatic!

Source: jessiesteele.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Aimee Broussard - she's just launched her own apron line and are they adorable, or what?! So happy for her. Love the hearts and gingham - just so sweet.

(or follow Aimee on Twitter or Facebook)

Source: etsy.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Michelle on Pinterest

And here's a fab vintage inspired apron from Etsy store Pig & Company - ruffles, a heart pocket, bows and an awesome print. What more can you ask for?

Want to make an apron? Here are some free patterns from Tip Junkie!

Thinking of collecting vintage aprons? I only buy what I will wear or give as a gift. I tend to stick to the $6 - $10 range for vintage, though you can pay much more depending on the quality, condition, etc. For me, the apron must be in wearable condition (no stains or damage) and FIT me. If it is too tiny, I set it aside for someone else to enjoy. Wash your vintage aprons by hand or on the gentle cycle of your washing machine with a mild detergent and line dry and cool iron as necessary.

Vintage aprons are wonderful to give as gifts/party favors at a cookie exchange, gingerbread decorating party, bridal shower or other event where they might be appreciated, thought I do tend to give vintage inspired NEW aprons because one gal's "vintage" is another gal's "used."

Thanks for looking and I sure hope you enter the giveaway by commenting below.

#NellysBigDay

“And …I said YESSSSS!”

                  

It happened one November midnight, in Twitterverse, we saw this tweet from our dear Nelly @nella22. Without missing a beat, we all knew Nelly had “said YES” to her beloved “M, as she sweetly calls Brian Murray, her fiancé.

So here we are, Nelly dear, your friends in the food world, wishing you and Brian, all the best. And with our wishes, a simple recipe with an easy formula for a life of bliss, rich with EVERYTHING in it!

BLOGGERS RECIPE FOR NELLY‘S WEDDED BLISS

Mix together: A lot of Love, Patience, Perseverance, Respect, Courage, Strength, Trust, Kindness, Honesty, Compromise & Great Sex.

Stir in: Equal Parts of Love, Support, Faith, Fidelity, Hope, Validation, Friendship, Forgiveness, Communication.

Cook over slow simmer for the rest of your life. Dot daily with a Sense of Humor.

Leave out the nagging, sarcasm, skepticism, doubts and stubbornness.

Serving Suggestions: Best prepared daily. Serve with flourish because Married Life is a FEAST. Live it with flavor, spice it with unconditional love, enjoy its richness.

Recipe Notes: Some ingredients won’t always be fresh or available. Or the heat may flare up and the anger spills over. Simmer down and douse the flames with all the LOVE you can throw in.

Enjoy the feast of marriage, love and life!

(Written by : Elizabeth @Mango_Queen)

Dear Nelly,

Thank you for the gift of your friendship.  I wish you a lifetime of health and happiness with Brian. Looking forward to meeting you both IRL before too long. Sending love and hugs and every good wish your soon-to-be-married way! 

Love,

Michelle

Halloween 2011

Just wow!

I was blown away by these costumes last night...truly Sweet & Simple.

My friends, Tim & Jenn, came to our little Halloween gathering last night dressed as Sweet & Simple cookies. Their 12 year-old twin daughters not only suggested the costumes but made them by hand, including the oversize side saddle "ribbons" - my original ribbon for Sweet & Simple cookie packages. For the ribbon, they dyed paper and stitched it with yarn. The labels were made from construction paper.  Dry cleaning bags were the "cello" wrap. They both wore adorable headbands with daisies on top. I just love a tough guy in a daisy headband! Hilarious.

Tim & Jenn left the labels for me to keep and you can see them below. I will treasure them.

This is my favorite label. EVER. Hee hee.

They renamed my Molasses Ginger Cookies. 

Cookies baked with love and labels made with love.

AND they copied the full nutrition label. Just too good.

Happy Halloween from Sweet & Simple! 

My costume cannot compare, but I was a pirate gal. As you can see!

3 Short Twitter Stories

Alan's beautiful bowls.

The foodie/cooking/baking Twitter community is one of my favorite online hangouts.  It’s a fun and creative group of people – a neighborhood, if you will – where everyone shares common interests.

For the most part, I follow the foodie/baking community. But, I also enjoy following small business experts, social media experts, people I work with professionally, other local businesses and news media. For me and Sweet & Simple, Twitter is a source of real time local and global information, not only a place to talk about cooking and baking.

Sweet & Simple's YouTube Channel

If you had told me two years ago, just before Sweet & Simple launched, that I would be sitting at my desk typing a blog post to introduce my new YouTube channel I would have called you bonkers and rolled my eyes. Seriously.

Over the summer, I needed some pictures of myself holding Sweet & Simple pre-packaged baked goods. I asked Sandra Downie and Melani Lust, with whom I worked earlier this year, if they could help me again. I also asked a friend (and neighbor) if he would join us and shoot some video footage of me talking about Sweet & Simple.

I had originally planned on one long-ish video to tell my story and promote Sweet & Simple, but that idea did not work out as well as I hoped. It turns out that telling my story to a camera is not that simple - but either is starting a small business! So, we came up with the idea of 7 mini-videos. My words were unrehearsed and unscripted which is pretty obvious. Together they tell the story of how I took an idea that started in my home kitchen two years ago and turned it into a wholesale cookie business.

Thanks for watching. And thank you, especially, for being part of Sweet & Simple - it has been an incredible journey and an extraordinary learning experience for me! I love my job.

This is me in my kitchen holding some of my Sweet & Simple pre-packaged baked goods.
Thank you, Mom, for the beautiful apron. I really do love it.

Chia Pumpkin Muffins

Sherwood Farm, Easton, CT, October 2011

Friends of mine recently started a business called Health Warrior - they sell premium chia seeds.  I’ve been enjoying their chia with yogurt and fruit for breakfast and was curious about using chia in baked goods.

It turns out chia seeds are practically made for muffins. If you’ve baked with poppy seeds, the slight crunch of chia in this recipe won’t deter you. And if you want a slightly healthier treat, this recipe is definitely for you.

I started with a simple and great recipe - Alton Brown’s Pumpkin Bread. I’ve been making his recipe as muffins for over a year, but I use canned pumpkin for convenience, omit the pumpkin seeds and add chopped chocolate or chocolate morsels.

For this adaptation, I used part white whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar, added non-fat yogurt, and a touch of ginger and vanilla. They are moist and delicious and my kids love them.

Chocolate Chia Pumpkin Muffins

As adapted from Alton Brown.

16 muffins

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare a muffin tin with liners and set aside.

1 cup (135 grams) all purpose, unbleached flour

1 cup (130 grams) white whole wheat flour

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup (161 grams) vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (425 grams) canned pumpkin

1 cup (227 grams) non-fat plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup (120 grams) chia seeds

1/2 cup (113 grams) chopped semi-sweet chocolate or semi-sweet mini chocolate morsels

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine the dry ingredients with a whisk: flours, sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients with a whisk: vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Remove the paddle and work bowl.

Workly quickly, fold in the chia and chopped chocolate with a spatula.

Distribute the mixture evenly between the 16 muffin liners. I use a heaping 2 oz scoop for the muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffin tops bounce back when pressed lightly.

Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out on a wire rack to finish cooling.

I seem to be dusting all my baked goods with powdered sugar these days - they look nice with or without the sugar!

Giant pumpkin at Sherwood Farm, Easton, Connecticut, October 2011.

Sweet & Simple Apple Cake

It's fall and time for apple recipes!  Thank you to my baker friend, Jennifer, for giving me the recipe I used as a starting point for this post: Teresa Apple Cake Supreme. Any recipe with “supreme” in the title has got to be a good place to start, right?

The original recipe has more sugar, more cinnamon and a generous dose of orange juice. I reduced the sugar and cinnamon, omitted the orange juice altogether, and added unsweetened applesauce and vanilla bean. The result is a not-too-sweet cake that lets the apples shine and highlights my favorite flavor – vanilla. Vanilla beans are expensive and it’s always a treat to bake with them for family and friends. And isn’t the smell of a vanilla bean out of this world?

If you haven’t split and scraped a vanilla bean, it’s simple: Make sure your paring knife is sharp. Working carefully, split the bean down the middle, scrape down the sides, getting all the little vanilla bits.  It’s worth it to watch a brief vanilla bean tutorial – click here for an excellent one. 

What I love about the recipe – the original and mine – is how easily it pulls together. The only time consuming part is peeling, coring and slicing the apples which I  find relaxing, especially with a cup of coffee or tea and the kids stealing apple slices as I work.

A note about pans for this Apple Cake. I tried a springform, a Bundt and a 13x9 Pyrex glass baking dish. The 13x9 pan gave me the best results – uniform color and crisp-but-not-hard edges. And, at home, I always rotate my pan(s) halfway thru baking for best results.

Sweet & Simple Apple Cake

Serves 10-12

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare a 13 x9 glass baking dish by lightly greasing it. Set aside.

Cake:

3 (405 grams) cups AP flour

2 (400 grams) cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 large eggs

1 cup (215 grams) vegetable oil

1/2 (123 grams) cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Apples:

6 cups (1,020 grams) apples sliced thin (I use Granny Smith)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 vanilla bean, scraped*

  

Toss the apple slices with lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Set aside.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.

In the mixing bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine dry and wet ingredients. Mix until just combined. If there are any dry crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, gently work them in with you hands.

Take half the cake batter and spread in the bottom the prepared 13-x9 glass baking dish, using a butter knife or small offset spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan. Take half the apple mixture and spread evenly over the batter. Repeat.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for approx. 1 hour.  When the cake is done, the apples on top will be wilted and lightly browned and the cake will be set in the middle. Let cake cool in the pan.

Serve warm from the oven, room temp or cool from the fridge. I prefer this cake after it has had a chance to sit – I like to bake one after dinner for breakfast the next day! Just before serving, if you wish, dust the cake with powdered sugar. Or, dust each piece individually with powdered sugar just before serving. For a homey dessert, try the Apple Cake with, a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm. Enjoy!

*If you prefer not to use a vanilla bean, increase the vanilla in the cake to 2 1/2 tsp.

Apples in Vermont, September 2011