I would definitely say that I am more guy than girl. Oh sure I own frilly clothing from Anthropologie and I know how to bat my eyes while gently pressing my boobs together with my arms to get a free beer but overall I would have to say that I relate and tend to act more like a guy. I am after all a beer drinking hockey player.

I would much rather watch sports than make a scrapbook (that incudes golf if those were my two options). I choose beer over wine. I think bacon can be a meal on its own. I do the t-shirt smell test and if it smells alright, then we are good to go. I have a mini fridge in my living room. There is clothing right now in a pile somewhere in the apartment, as well as a wet towel on the floor (don’t worry I will pick it up eventually). And I suck at following directions, of course until I get to the point of realizing I screwed up.

Case in point these cookies. Yes, those are cookies, not cupcakes. I actually made them to prove a point publically and boy did I. I get quite a few local people asking me to decorate a cake, cookie favors, cake pops, etc…for them, their child, dinner parties, etc. When I tell them I am not good at that they don’t believe me. I am a good baker, I am not a good decorator. And no offense to those in the industry but most of the people I know that are wonderful cake decorators usually have an art/design background. They don’t have any sort of pastry background and many of them don’t make the cakes, they hire out…I know, I have been the hire out. Same with the cookie people. They excel at decorating, they make super cute and amazing stuff but most of them aren’t going to make you sourdough from scratch. Anyway, I saw these cookies and said why yes! My friend has a birthday coming up and I thought these would be super fun. So I decided to make a test run.

Except I didn’t really follow directions. I saw the pictures I saw royal icing and just started to go for it. The one thing I do love about finding these, was the recipe for sugar cookies. Is it the best for taste, not so much, BUT the dough does not have to be refrigerated and you can just roll and bake. It’s great. They hold their shape well too. I didn’t follow the directions on how thick they should be. Oops. I didn’t follow directions when it said that I should let them set up for 4-5 hours (when icing the parts together). I didn’t notice I was supposed to make flood icing. Oops. Directions? Who needs them. Apparently I do.

If you compare how they should look with what I ended up with you can clearly see that I win my I suck at decorating argument. I won’t be making these for my birthday. Don’t get me wrong I think they are an adorable idea. I don’t know why I all of a sudden thought I would be able to do this. Don’t worry I won’t give up on trying to get better at it…I just am apparently on the 17 year plan.

I will give the cookie dough recipe, but truthfully, it’s best just to link the step by step guide from Sweet Sugar Belle’s direct site. If you want to see a 4th of July version, go here!

Basic Sugar Cookie Dough

1 cup{two sticks} of REAL unsalted BUTTER, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
2-3 tsp flavoring {pick what you like, I prefer almond}
2 1/2-2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring. I use emulsions, but extract also works well. Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add little by little to the mixture.
I can tell the dough is ready when most of it sticks to the paddle.
When I touch it, it has a little give, but does not stick to my fingers.

Roll out on parchment to about 1/4 an inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary. Then, cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. This version makes 2-2 1/2 dozen, doubled, it makes 4-5 dozen.

Recipe from Sweet Sugar Belle

First off I want to say that who needs a traditional flower garden when you can have a Home Farm? Not only has having a Home Farm on my patio brought lush green to gaze upon (as well as all the salad greens I need), but many of those herbs and plants also produce flowers. Some of those flowers, like the one pictured above, are even edible as well. In fact, every flowering plant I chose for my Home Farm is edible.

In case you are wondering what the lovely yellow flowers above are, they come from Arugula, also called rocket in the UK…my former neighbor is from Britain and she was more than excited to learn they were the same thing as she was wondering why there was no rocket here in the states. My particular flowers are yellow, but I am told they are often white. I’m happy to get the yellow as they add a pop to my lovely farm. Normally you want to remove the flowers but I am trying to promote bees to come on by since my strawberries don’t seem to want to produce any fruit and my local garden store guy suggested promoting bees. The Arugula flowers go nicely in salads and add a beautiful and summery touch, perfect to serve at a dinner party. Though keep in mind, that just like Arugula itself, the flowers also have a spicy, peppery flavor.

The other two flowers that are adding beauty to my Home Farm are Chive Blossoms, which I have had for some time now and Pea Blossoms. The Chive Blossoms produce a gorgeous purple color and can be used basically where you would put onion, for just like the arugula flowers take on the flavor or the arugula, the chive blossom takes on the flavor of the chive, though slightly less pungent. I personally like to scramble them into my eggs. Looks a little odd, but taste really good. You want to take your chive blossems off as they grow, if left on the plant will go to seed and stop producing chives. Pea Blossoms, though edible (note that flowering ornamental sweet peas are poisonous so do not eat if that is the kind you have) I won’t be using them, for if you take away your pea blossoms you will diminish your pea harvest and I don’t want that.

And while all of the flowers are pretty, it was one, not so pretty flower that had me the most excited of all…my broccoli. That’s right, broccoli is a flower…kind of. The broccoli parts that we eat are called florets. Each floret has the potential of opening a tiny flower. When broccoli goes to flowering, it has bolted and is not edible. Bolting means the plant has finished its reproductive cycle and is now going to make seeds (just like the chives). This I think it going to be the hard part for me. I am not sure totally how large my broccoli is going to get before I harvest it. According the Triscuit Home Farming website (crop guide), broccoli takes 112 days till harvest, but I have a slightly different variety, one that is more forgiving to the Pacific Northwest Weather. For right now I will just play it by ear. No matter what I was mostly just excited that for the first time every I got a vegetable to grow! No, like really excited. Called my mom excited, yes I am a nerd.

How about you? How is your Home Farm coming along? Did you plant anything that produces edible flowers? It’s only June, you could still plant a Home Farm. You too get excited about broccoli…which a lot of people can’t say that.

If you are interested in seeing other ideas, please visit the other bloggers who are participating in the Home Farming Movement which you can find at the Better Homes and Gardens Home Farming Challenge Page.

As always, Triscuit compensated me for this post, but the ideas, words, bad grammar, and opinions are all mine.