Cookie's Crumbles

Cookie's crumbles, morsels and tidbits

August 10, 2011 | 0 Comments

Drunken Bread Pudding

This recipe is awesome! I could have eaten the entire dish myself. But I didn’t (well, almost). I made this for dessert when my parents came for dinner tonight. I’ve been on a bread pudding kick lately, getting it at any and every restaurant that has it on the menu. And I’m not sure why I have been craving this specific dessert. Growing up, my mom would make her own version of this somewhat regularly, but I wouldn’t eat it. I don’t remember if I just didn’t like it or if I thought it looked mushy or what. But I love it now. The actual bread pudding is pretty basic. Out of all the recipes I have seen over the years, the following is pretty standard. It’s the fabulous sauce that goes on top of this one that takes this from plain bread pudding to pure, sweet awesomeness! Try it, I promise you’ll thank me.

Drunken Bread Pudding:

4 cups of bread torn into cubes

2 eggs

2 T. melted butter

2 1/2 cups milk

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325. Place bread pieces into a 9″ baking dish, keeping the pieces tight together. Beat eggs, butter, milk and sugar together. Pour over bread. Sprinkle pecans on top. Bake for about one hour, or until golden brown.

Drunken Pudding Sauce:

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup jack daniels whiskey

Combine all in a saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat until mix reaches a low boil. Continue cooking about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Serve on individual servings of the pudding.

Completely fabulous! I think I ate half the dish tonight, with my dad eating the other half. You could add raisins and/or cinnamon to the pudding, but I’m not into raisins. You could also leave off the nuts if you are allergic or just don’t like them. Enjoy!

August 9, 2011 | 0 Comments

Creamy Blueberry Pie

I found this recipe while on vacation in July. I pulled it out of a magazine intending to make it for my father-in-law, who loves blueberry pie. Blueberries are not my favorite fruit, I bought these specifically with this recipe in mind. They taste great, somewhat tart and firm. After making sure I had sour cream, I threw this together in less than 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Creamy Blueberry Pie:

1 refrigerated pie crust

5 cups blueberries

3/4 cup sugar

3 T. corn starch

3 T. water

1 T. lemon juice

8 oz. sour cream

Preheat oven to 400. Bake pie crust for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. In medium saucepan, combine blueberries and sugar. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Whisk cornstarch and water together, stir into blueberry mixture. Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute, or until thickened. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in lemon juice. Add sour cream, stir until well combined. Pour into crust and chill at least 4 hours or until firm. Store covered in the refrigerator.

August 8, 2011 | 0 Comments

Cottage Life

As I mentioned in my last post, my parents rent the same cottage every year in August for a week. We all go up as one big, extended family (Papa, Oma, Beca, Sara, all the kids and hubbies when they can get out of work) and love each other all week. My parents have been doing this for seven years now and I love this week. Every year my boys and I look forward to it. I tend to take lots of pictures all week, and this year was no exception. I’ve also realized that my twins like to just wear their underwear all week. I came home to one whole load of underwear in the laundry, and that’s all. They swam in them, slept in them and played in them. Good enough for me. We spend a lot of time kayaking, a lot of time swimming and a lot of time giving kisses. And the week would not be complete without watching all the Tiger baseball games! These are a few of my favorites from the week.

August 7, 2011 | 0 Comments

Kimberly & Nick {Wedding}

I had the opportunity to photograph Kim and Nick’s wedding in South Bend, Indiana. The wedding and reception took place at St. Mary’s College. What a beautiful place for a wedding! So many spots outdoors and indoors to take awesome wedding shots. And Kim was a beautiful bride. I’ve been waiting for one of my brides to wear a wedding dress from the JCrew bridal collection, and she did. Thanks again Nick and Kim for allowing me to spend this very special day with you and your families. Enjoy!

To see the slideshow from the beautiful wedding, click here.

August 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

My New Nephew

Wow, I’m finally home after another week long vacation. I had the best intentions of blogging every morning, but when I got to the cottage we rented, there was no internet connection and no phone service. So, we’re back and I’m ready to behave; a blog post every morning 🙂 My parents rent a cottage every year. My boys and I go and my sister and her family go. We spend the whole week together and it’s always fun and awesome! This year, my sister was pregnant for their second baby and due on September 1. No problem, we all thought, she’ll be fine. But Monday night, my sister came into my room and woke me up, “I think I’m in labor.” Needless to say, I ended up driving her in to Grand Rapids on Tuesday morning and by 1130am little Henry Paul was born via repeat c-section weighing in at 5 pounds and 18 inches long. We went up to see him that night and here are a few of the pics I got. I will be taking his official newborn pics tomorrow after church. So watch for a post of those soon to come. We love you Henry!

August 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

Kayaking Adventure

Once again I am on vacation for a week, staying at a cottage that my parents rent every year for our entire family. Every year we spend a week together as a family; my kids and I, my sister and her child and our parents. Our husbands come out after work a few nights and we all have a wonderful time. My dad has two kayaks, one is newer and one he bought from someone and it’s got to be at least 30 years old! This kayak is much bigger and can hold two people easily. This morning my dad took me out for an early morning ride and I grabbed a few pics. Unfortunately, I have very limited internet here and no way to edit these shots. These are straight out-of-camera. The best part was seeing a mother deer and her two fawns walking through the woods as we coasted by. What beauty God puts in front of us if we just take the time to look. I love you Dad for helping me “see” God’s beauty every day and for taking me on these rides every year!

July 30, 2011 | 0 Comments

Canvas Wall Art

I love having photos on my walls. Luckily, I have very high ceilings that allow for lots of wall art and I take lots of pictures, so I always have a lot to choose from. I have one wall in my living room that I update with new canvas prints or a gallery mount every January after my annual New Year’s Day photo shoot of my boys. That means that I always have last years’ canvases to find a home for somewhere in the house. Therefore, my bedroom wall is the dumping ground for old canvas and gallery mounts that move from the living room. I also love to make up large canvas prints for my living room and kitchen area from photos taken throughout the year, steering away from my kids and using nature. I’m always asked where I get good canvas prints made. For my clients, I use a professional lab here in Grand Rapids. Their work is awesome and I love their product. But for my personal home canvas prints, I will use Costco or the professional lab. While the quality of the Costco canvas is not the same as Prolab Express, I feel like the look is just fine for my personal use. The following are some canvas I have up in my home. I will follow each pic with the lab I used to print it. Leave me a comment if you have any questions! Happy Saturday!

my bathroom canvas. i need this to remind me daily that God’s compassions are new every morning and His faithfulness is great! this was done at Costco 20×30

three canvas across top of window, these were done at Prolab Express, Grand Rapids

the boys done at Prolab Express, Grand Rapids.

the boys done at Costco.

my kitchen up above the cabinets, done at Costco 20×30

July 29, 2011 | 0 Comments

Zucchini Fritters with Pepper Sauce

While on vacation two weeks ago I went through at least ten cooking magazines, pulling out recipes and marking pages of things I thought sounded good. When I got home, I organized the new recipes into my recipe books and promised myself I’d try them. When I first pulled out a new one last week, I realized how severely lacking in my kitchen I am. I have a “small” list going of things I now realize I need to do any sort of “gourmet” cooking 🙂 For the following pepper sauce I needed a food processor. As I still do not own one of these, I used my smoothie blender. It seemed to work just fine. These fritters were a spur-of-the-moment thing, as both Karl and I had eaten big lunches and were not very hungry. Obviously, these are more of a side dish, but we ate them as our main meal. I loved them and Karl said they were good, but he did not want seconds. Hmmmm… I started the pepper sauce first and while the peppers were broiling, I began the fritters.

Zucchini Fritters:

3 medium zucchinis, coarsely grated

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 large egg

2 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Coarsely grate zucchini. Place in a colander set in the sink and toss with 1 t. salt. Let sit 10 minutes, then press out as much liquid as possible. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, lightly beat egg. Then add zucchini, onions, flour and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.

In large skillet, heat the 1/2 cup vegetable oil over medium. Slowly (as oil is hot and will splatter) drop zucchini balls into oil and gently flatten with a spatula. Fry until browned, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towel to drain.

Pepper Sauce (Adapted from July 2011 Cooking Light)

4 red bell peppers

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 T. fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 t. ground coriander

1 1/2 t. ground cumin

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/2 t. crushed red pepper

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, discard seeds and insides. Place bell pepper halves, skin side up, on a baking sheet, flatten with hand. Broil for 12-15 minutes, or until blackened. Place in a paper grocery bag and fold to close tightly. Let stand for 20 minutes. Peel skins off. Place red peppers and all other ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Plate your fritters while hot and drizzle with the red pepper sauce. Enjoy!

July 28, 2011 | 0 Comments

Blake & Bryce {Wedding}

Here is a full sneak peek from my wedding last Saturday. Blake and Bryce were married at Laketown Conference Center in Saugatuck. It was quite warm, but a beautiful time was had by all. I love outdoor weddings (when the weather cooperates) and love the pics I’m able to take outdoors. These pics are some of my personal favorites ever and I hope you enjoy!

Venue: Laketown Conference Center, Saugatuck

DJ: Moments In Time Disc Jockeys, Joe Lober

July 27, 2011 | 1 Comment

Apple Green Wedding Details

I love wedding details! They are a favorite part of my day at every wedding. Saturday’s wedding had an apple green color scheme, with green, black and white as the main colors of the day. Following are some of the detail shots from the wedding. These colors were perfect for a hot July outdoor wedding. All I can say is the attention to detail was stunning! Enjoy.