secrets to an award winning cookie

at work each year we make cookies, have a cookie swap for ourselves and then box up goodies for faculty and staff to be nice/bribe them to be nice to us the rest of the year. we also have a contest to see who baked the best cookie, fun is had by all and you get to go home with an assortment of goodies.

two years ago i made these reese's peanut butter cup cookies that one first place! if you know me, this was a feat two years ago because that was probably the first thing in 2008 i cooked.

1st place winners

last year we didn't have the cookie exchange, but this year we did. i decided to go for my old standard. call me a cheater, i call myself resourceful :) one slight problem, i couldn't find the recipe! i looked for literally hours, sad i know, but couldn't find it!

i settled on this peanut butter cup cookie recipe from allrecipes.com, with 1,600 5 star reviews i thought i couldn't go wrong, so i thought. when they were done they didn't look as good as the other ones but they would have to do. well, what do you know these cookies took 3rd place overall and were the only cookie in the top three so i say they won first in the cookie division :)

i'm still looking for that first place recipe and i am determined to find it, but until then i will share my secrets on how to bake award winning cookies:

1) choose an easy recipe. don't spend hours breaking candy canes to make perfect peppermint fudge. go with easy favorites, for some reason at christmas it get's peoples attention.

2) put candy in your cookies. people will be distracted by the candy goodness and won't notice if you didn't put the right amount of flour in them.

3) use a kitchen aid mixer if you are lucky enough to have one. it does all the work and you get all the credit

my secret weapon

the first place winner was a brickle made out of saltines and chocolate, i'm telling you go with easy favorites and you are sure to win!

the best way to spread christmas cheer...

is singing loud for all to hear of course! that, and an ornament swap!

i stumbled upon southern weddings when i was engaged and it was love at first sight. this creative team knows weddings, are full of charm, and somehow keep me checking their blog daily even though i've been married for a year and a half :)

not only do they highlight the prettiest weddings you've ever seen, they take southern hospitality to the next step, enter an ornament swap! all interested sent in their addresses then you receive addresses of 3 others to send an ornament to. handmade or store bought you get to spread christmas cheer!

i decided to go the martha stewart route. if anyone knows homemade ornaments it's martha!

i used beaucoup coupons at michael's to get a ridiculous assortment of glitter and the snowflake punch. oh, and martha makes glue with a brush included which is cheaper than buying glue and brush separately, this woman knows her audience! instructions courtesy of martha stewart living.

a work in progress. in true lauren fashion i did not read the instructions carefully and glittered each side separately which caused uneven glitter. also i didn't use colored cardstock as instructed. oh well, no two snowflakes are alike right?

the finished product! i used ribbon instead of string to add my own little touch. it was so fun mailing these off to people i don't know! something about spreading cheer is pretty cheery itself :)

o tannenbaum

i love christmas trees. while there are different thoughts to their meaning and origination, they originated in germany so that's enough for me.

to me they represent tradition, continuity, and remembrance. remembrance literally by the memories each ornaments bring or family traditions around them, but also a reminder of continuity and hope. that year after year you can see them during this time of year where we remember not only the first coming of our King, but the second.

either way you look at it, i love them. i am a colored lights girl myself, i like a tree with as much color and handmade ornaments as possible. one day i do hope to have a two tree house, in which one can be elegant and one forever childlike as i like it.

my aunt has two trees up this year, one white lighted, one colored, for me to enjoy. the highlight of my week however, was when my sweet husband bought me a tabletop tree for our room because he knows how much i love them, and we made that little tree as tacky as possible :) to quote mr. d "i like this tree. it's a little lost, kind of like us right now."

colored or white lighted, o christmas tree, o christmas tree, your branches green delight us.

in everything give thanks

i just love thanksgiving. there is always good food, family, friends, and no pressure to find the perfect gift for everyone :) but really i do love it.

this year was very unique for us. sadly we did not get the house that we thought we were going to. it was sold out from under us because there was a problem with the appraisal and the process was taking too long. we were crushed, but we are trusting that the Lord has something even better for us. in the mean time we are staying with family, which is a huge blessing, and trusting and waiting. we also totaled our car in august so currently i have no address and no car to my name. i'm sort of nomadic. in the past three nights i have slept on a futon, a bed, and now a sleeper sofa. it's comical but it really does make you thankful for a place to sleep!

not being in a house we thought would be ours, or an apartment of our own, during the christmas season makes me really sad. i love the holidays and i felt like it was being taken away from me. yes i will decorate a tree with my family here but i will not have my own decorations, use my christmas dishes, etc.

it took a few days of me refusing to see the lesson in all this when i felt a quiet tug in my spirit. this could be my best christmas yet. christmas is not about stuff, or decorations, or gifts, but about anticipation and celebrating the best gift that has ever been given. so this year, i'm choosing to do something every day to enjoy this season for what it represents both secularly and spiritually. i have a few crafts up my sleeve and an advent guide sitting next to me which starts today.

so many times our expectations lead to disappointment. this year i'm learning to let go, trust, and in everything give thanks.

in the meantime, check out craft #1: a christmas wreath my mom and i made for sweet friends who let us use their apartment while they were away for the week!

michaels had all their christmas decorations 50-75% of this weekend! my crafty mama knew all the supplies we would need. she is a wreath making pro. here is bravo showing his appreciation for our crafts.

the finished product! because i am who i am, i took a picture of a wreath i liked in the store. not the same elements but the design of the ribbon. twenty tries and one quarter of the uga/ga tech game later it was perfected!

we are so, so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to take care of us during this season. our sweet friends let us use their apartment for the week and it's just what these weary souls needed with ten people staying at my aunt and uncles! when they came home they saw this on their door, just thinking about coming home to something like this made me feel like santa's helper :)

i also took advantage of some other sales at michaels so many more craft projects to come!

maple makes one and a little life lagniappe

our sweet maple made one a few weeks ago. for those living outside of orleans parish, no i haven't lost all sense of grammar that ms. adkins taught me in highschool (hands raised for ohs please erin :) it's just what you say here in new orleans...you make one, make groceries (shopping to the layperson) and you can also make a doctor (meaning you graduate from medical school). i digress, maple went to petco to pick out some toys and the most fun thing was...

i made pupcakes to celebrate the occasion! don't you just love the name pupcakes?

yes, those are dog food sprinkles and a candle.

in other dunaway news things have been in disarray for about a month around here because we bought a house! (yays! from the crowd of two still reading my blog :) our boxes have been packed and we have been ready to move for a month now...notice i said ready. something went wrong with the appraisal which is delaying the closing date for a while. we have to be out of our apartment this weekend and luckily we have family here to stay with. we know this house is from the Lord and we are trusting Him if it is His will. let me say though it takes patience! everyday though i get a glimpse of His faithfulness and His provision. like today my mom sent me a verse and then i read another verse on a great blog i frequent.

Be at rest once more, oh my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you. Because he trusts in You, Trust in the Lord forever.For in YOU, the Lord, is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3

we are learning to trust, to rely on the Lord to provide, learning to be flexible and spending time with my family here with free rent and meals is a plus! in the meantime we will be relishing in this lagniappe (another nola term for 'a little something extra') that brings joys to our days.

puppy birthday parties



bouquets of basil. way better than flowers in my book, although i like those too.

and cheering on this new dawg who i'm sure will bring good luck to his team. i think wrinkles never looked so good.

guacamole!

one of the many foods i love are avocados. i could eat one every day! approximately once a week i have a craving for guacamole. instead of rushing out to my favorite taqueria down the street i decided i would make it myself. i've tried MANY recipes, but this is my favorite one from alice waters, 'the art of simple food.' you should all run out and get a copy of this cookbook. it's wonderful. the recipe is simple, but delicious. as my friend corinne says "make this and you will be the hit of every party!" you should try and see for yourself!

2 ripe avocados (cut in half and remove pits...I think this is pretty self explanatory :)

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (this is about the juice from 1/2 of one lime)

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

salt

the recipe also calls for 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion, which we don't put in because we think it is delicious without!

you will want to try this. i recommend it with el milagro tortilla chips from whole foods. it just completes the perfection.

the fruit, literally, of our labor

one hot day in june we travelled to the northshore to go blueberry picking. although it was a while ago, this endeavor definitely deserves a post! i just love picking, harvesting, gathering, collecting...food that is :) maybe it was getting to spend time on my grandmothers farm as a kid, but to me berry picking is a favorite!

two of my faves joined in on the fun. my brother and i are proud of our hard work!

immediately (he insisted the minute we walked in the door!) when we got home it was time to make a blueberry cobbler.

maple was accidentally floured in the process of rolling out the crust. she didn't seem to mind.

delicious! recipe here. and yes, that is mounding piles of sugar on the top.

the next recipe, blueberry ice cream! some of the best ice cream i've had (and that's saying a lot if you know me!) recipe here.

the next few days were spent eating blueberries by the cupful. don't worry my gathering self froze some and saved them for winter :)

any favorite berries or berrylicious recipes? i'd love to hear!

lovely days

i'm not good at blogging. shocker i know. i think it has to do with the fact that i'm at my computer at work and that's where i blog (shh don't tell) and my pictures are on my home computer. any suggestions for solving this unfortunate hindrance would be greatly appreciated.

as bad as i am at blogging, i'm more tired of seeing that disgusting picture of the luther burger every time i log on to look at other blogs so i present to you some pictures of the "loveliest days" of this summer. i borrowed that title from a blog i found and i think it perfectly describes my summer (which is not over yet, thank goodness!)

in june, all of my family (there are only 9 of us in my extended family) traveled out to palo alto to see my brilliant cousin graduate from stanford. the only one missing from our clan was nana, so we made sure to make her sign so she would know she was missed!

unlike anything i've ever seen (and i've seen some unusual graduations, i do live in new orleans remember) the "wacky walk" as they call it was a sight to behold. as a reward for studying ridiculously hard for four years, standford graduates can do whatever, literally whatever, they want when walking in the stadium. you have to see it to believe it.

don't worry traditionalists. the smaller ceremonies for your major are formal, caps and gowns, and order and handing out of diplomas. here is my cousin richard, myself, and my brother. we are so proud of him!

after the ceremonies we all traveled to berkley where richard's girlfriend's family hosted a wonderful dinner. their house was picturesque, the weather beautiful (70 degrees and no humidity, what?) and the company delightful. here i am with my aunt and her best friend.

we ate outside in their garden and the hostess made the most amazing paella i have ever had, i'm not kidding, even better than the paella i had in valencia. see the amazing backyard above.

we all went inside because it was chilly (again in june what?) followed by the best banana cake i've had, ever. i guess you could say i liked the food :)

this lovely day was followed by a trip to san francisco, sonoma, and big sur. blogs to follow...

"and when we're old, we'll sit and repeat ourselves, telling our favorite stories...
and we'll love the lovely days."
-fisher

fat

Health Magazine released today their "opinion" of The 50 Fattiest Foods in America. If you know me well, you know if I use quotations I am being insulting. I would like to argue that I could probably find 50 foods in Louisiana alone fattier (is that word?) than beloved beignets, a favorite for locals and tourists alike. I digress. If you are interested, check out your state here.

I can't decide if this list grosses me out or if I want to try them. Some are crazy (a BLT with 20 pieces of bacon???), some are lame (poor Massachusetts got a chocolate chip cookie), but my all time favorite is from my dear home state, Georgia. I introduce you to...The Luther Burger. Named after R&B legend Luther Vandross (not sure if he ate them but Health Magazine wanted to make sure we knew he was diabetic in the article).

credit

A ground-beef patty, topped with cheese and bacon between two Krispy Kreme glazed donuts instead of a bun. I will not bother including the nutrition information because unlike Health magazine, I don't like to think about that when I am enjoying something delicious (not saying this is delicious, just saying).

Disclaimer: As a dietitian I am not promoting eating like this to the public (or blog world), I'm just saying it's okay to indulge, in moderation...which I guess might not include 20 pieces of bacon.

a taste of home

although i am completely in love with the city i live in, living 500 miles from your favorite state, your friends, and family can elicit homesickness (not sure if that is a word) every once in a while. usually i am prepared for this. it happens during the fall, the time in ga when the leaves are changing, the air is crisp and cool, sweaters are on the shelves in stores, and most importantly uga football is in full swing. it's during this time in nola when it is still 80 degrees, the leaves never change, the air is muggy, sweaters taunt you on the shelves because you will never wear them, and uga football must be watched on tv. the fall i expect being homesick, the summer...never!


well all that to say, i have been VERY homesick. missing good friends who are enjoying new relationships, fun weekends, and babies on the way. missing braves games on friday nights and screen on the green. missing jazz concerts on the lawn at the carter center and walks through centennial park with children splashing in the fountains. missing mostly the people but also the peaches, tubing in the mountains, and enjoying a drink on the marietta square.


being homesick has taught me a lot, mostly that this world is not my home, that i am called to something greater than myself, and to appreciate sweet times with family and friends. although i can't go to a braves game or visit erin at work at the marietta square (I would be a frequent visitor at her new job!) i have two sweet men in my life that remind me that home is not that far away! we all ventured out to chick-fil-a for spicy preview week for a little taste of home :)

spicy vip's excited about the new sandwich! (but i am mostly excited about my brother living in new orleans all summer--i feel my homesickness lessening all ready :)

a thumbs up from someone who is well versed in spicy foods, if he likes it, it must be good! (also he is a wonderful reminder of the state i love, i'm so thankful he is sharing this journey with me)

and yes, i do realize that in this new blogging venture, two posts have been about chick-fil-a. i promise i will try to work on that :)

florist for a day

a few weeks ago my longest best-friend, erin, got married. not longest as in tallest, that is reserved for corinne, but longest as in our parents knew each other before we were born, we met in kindergarten (but claim 2nd grade as the starting point). we went to elementary, middle, and high school together and although we have lived in collectively in 4 different states and 1 different country since then we remain the dearest of friends.

her wedding was beautiful, check it out here thanks to the awesome duo known as altmix photography. for my wedding with the help of a very gifted florist friend my mom and i did my flowers, see pictures here (i'm at work so there is a lot of linking going on!). it was a lot of work, but we loved doing it. we found such joy in designing bouquets and arrangements. we also did the flowers for erin's brother's wedding (sorry no pictures), and after having two weddings under our belt erin asked that we do her flowers! here are some highlights:

stunning bride, her groom and a close-up of her bouquet



bridesmaids bouquet and arrangement for guest book table

all the bouquets

some arrangements that are pretty cool if i do say so myself and the aforementioned tallest best friend

my mom and i had such a blast putting everything together! we both agree we are not cut out to be career florist but we enjoy the opporunity to pretend like we are, at least for a day!

to cook or not to cook?

so up until this year i was an oxymoron of sorts. i have a degree in nutrition and i am a registered dietitian but i never cooked. i either didn't have the means to (housesat for a year) or didn't have to (lived with my aunt and uncle for 3 years and she is a gourmet cook so there you go).

the thing is i loved recipes, planning meals, i knew how to cook, i just didn't do it. so when i got married last summer i'll be honest i was a little nervous. luckily i have a husband who loves to cook so with the dozens of cookbooks i own (yes i collect them) we started on our journey.

at first we didn't realize this but after about two months we realized we hadn't made the same recipe twice. so we set a goal for ourself (i'm all about goals) not to cook the same main dish twice our first year of marriage. now this doesn't include breakfast or side dishes but we have been married 9 months and we're on track! we do eat leftovers and we do freeze extra and pull it out on a rainy day, we just don't cook the same recipe twice.

let me tell you it's been so much fun! we are eating healthy, trying to eat local. growing our own herbs, and having a lot of fun together. we've decided that besides our new puppy, cooking might be our only hobby, but we love it!

here are two recent meals we've really liked:

spicy chicken shawarma, pesto whole wheat pasta, and southwest slaw

(who knew what a jicama was?)

delicious!

mushroom-stuffed chicken, short-cut collard greens (minus the bacon), and

honey roasted sweet potatoes

beautiful collards from a local farm and market

a little black dog who prefers to eat collard stems rather than her bone :)

recently we are loving cooking light, ellie krieger (her cookbook is great), alice waters the art of simple food, and blogs of course! so if you cook something good, post it! i still need 3 more months of new recipes :)

fleur de biscuit

lame title, i apologize. last saturday mr. d and i decided to make biscuits. an endeavour i've never been brave enough to embark on (the fact that i grew up in the south and never was taught to make biscuits is another blog for another day).

we decided to use the flying biscuit cafe recipe, my personal favorite, if you are ever in atlanta, go!

we don't have a lot of space in our tiny kitchen so the counter became our workspace. about 27 cups of flour later we had these ready to go in the oven:

i decided it would be fun to make with our fleur de lis cookie cutter. bad idea, you cannot appropriately "flour" a cookie cutter shaped like a fleur de lis. i think here they look more like dinosaurs. however, they turned out pretty well:

definitely resembles a fleur de lis right? well that is not the important part, the fact is they were amazing! being biscuit amateurs we didn't have high expectations, but we agreed, these were some of the best biscuits we've ever had (and we are both from georgia).

the final product! mr. d made his a sandwich, i am a biscuit purist and ate mine all by itself with some honey. they really were delicious.

maple recovering from her surgery wondering why she can't have any

i will share the recipe to those not fortunate to have the cookbook. mind you this resembles nothing my usual cooking light recipes have to offer, but it is a nice splurge every now and then!

a soirée of sorts

in honor of my birthday, and the birthday of another good friend, i decided to host a soiree, dinner party to the laymen. for some reason i wasn't into celebrating my birthday particularly this year but i love food and i love parties, so there you go.

it was also a wonderful opportunity to use the china, silver, and crystal we got for our wedding that have never seen the light of day. i don't want to be one of those people who only uses it on "special occasions." so if you come over to the dunaway household for dinner don't be suprised :) we will probably still use paper napkins and drink out of mardi gras cups, but you will have a nice plate.

i digress. we had a wonderful dinner party with good friends we are blessed with here in nola. not only are these people good friends they are good cooks as well. brie and pear tartlets, gourmet salads, and a lovely dessert involving praline mousse. i made an easy, delicious garlic and herb chicken.

we ate outside in our picturesque courtyard, kind of like on julia & julia when they eat on their roof. i went for the classy, eclectic look with fresh flowers, cloth napkins,but just enough touch of "we just got married and we do with what we have (or borrow)." my friend's china even came to the party so we would have enough.

sadly my camera was on the wrong setting so some of the pictures didn't turn out but here are a few!

yes, my handsome husband wore his tuxedo, with chacos

wonderful friends and great conversation

we try to be classy

pre-soiree