Best Sugar Cookies I've ever made

I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time making good sugar cookies. They either spread out too much, or get too floury when you roll them out. I just always have issues making tasty cut-out sugar cookies. The problem with this, is that I really like sugar cookies! They're so good! I know not everyone will agree, but I like them. :)

Anyway, it's becoming a tradition in our family to make heart-shaped sugar cookies on Valentine's day. And this year I found a winner recipe, so I thought I'd share it.

Here it is:

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and vanilla and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown.

Make sure you follow the directions exactly and they will be divine!

The 5 Things That Strengthen My Marriage

1. Talk:  I try to talk to my husband here and there throughout the day.  Even when I call and he doesn't answer, it means that I took time out and I was thinking of him.  We like to talk about everything.  I call him when I'm on the verge of tears or when something funny happens.  And he calls me to talk about frustrations at work and things like that.
2. Communicate:  To me, this is very different than talking.  Just like Sara mentioned in the video game comments, you can't say the kitchen is messy and think your husband knows you really want him to clean the kitchen.  Say what you are thinking.  My husband and I have a tough time with communication.  Usually both of us are at fault just because we failed to add something or we thought one was listening when they never even heard you.  Try not to get too upset of mis-communication issues.  Get it straightened out and move on.
3. Be Selfless:  I've always been told to put your spouse first.  If you are getting something from the bedroom or kitchen, ask if he would like or need anything while you are up.  Maybe you could do things you know he likes.  Do things you know he would notice and appreciate.  I like to try to clear the kitchen table off because I know he would notice and appreciate that I did that for him.
4. Spend Time Together:  Just the two of you.  Get away from your daily life and kids every once in a while.  When you spend time together just the two of you, not much else matters.  He can focus on you and you can focus on him.  Spending quality time together can remind you of why you fell in love in the first place.
5. Study/Learn/Pray Together:  I love talking to my husband on a more spiritual level.  We can teach each other so much and I always discover something new that makes me love and respect him even more.  When we pray together and for each other and our family, our relationship is strengthened.

What are five things that strengthen your marriage?

Stir-fry

I don't know why I love stir-fry so much but I do.  I think it's easy to make and I like that you can put any vegetables you want into it.  This is a healthy stir-fry recipe I have but when I did this, I changed it a bit.

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of broccoli florets, 1/2 red bell pepper, 

1/4 of a red onion and 4-5 oz. of cubed chicken breast and 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice.  I didn't measure mine and I didn't have broccoli (total bummer because I love broccoli in stir-fry) or brown rice.  That's what makes mine different.

So here are all of the ingredients I used.  I love chopping food and making my dish colorful.

That looks pretty colorful to me.

 I put the chicken in just a few minutes before everything else to give it a chance to cook a little bit.  I also added a clove of minced garlic.  I don't think garlic can ruin this meal.  It only makes it better.

Cook this on medium heat stirring frequently for 10-12 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Then add 1 Tbs of soy sauce and 1 Tbs of teriyaki sauce to the skillet.  Stir well and remove from heat.  Season with any desired spices, such as onion powder.

Here is my rice.  It would be brown but my husband HATES brown rice.

(Measure the 1/2 cup of rice after it is cooked.)

 Here is the final product.  All the juices from the sauce are so good and I make sure to pour extra on my serving.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great.  If you make this with the ingredients in bold, this is the nutrition value of this meal.  I hope you like it.

409 calories,  36 grams protein,  35 grams carbohydrate,  14 grams fat,  4 grams fiber,  6 grams sugar

Zaycon Chicken Event

Hi guys, long time no talk on my side! Sorry about that, I'm currently 22 (23 tomorrow) weeks pregnant with a 15 month old! Things have been a little busy around here.


How many of you have heard about Zaycon Foods? Well I'm always looking for a way to buy things in bulk for cheap, and Zaycon was an answer to my prayers! In October they had a chicken event, you get a 40lb box of fresh boneless, skinless, never frozen, chicken for $1.49lb!!! That is super, super cheap!! My plan was to buy a case and can it, but I found out a week after I purchased it that I was pregnant and all those plans went out the window! I ended up buying a chest freezer and bagging all the meat with the hope that I would can most of it later... (that still hasn't happened yet!)

Seriously, ordering from zaycon was soooo easy. I went to their website www.zayconfoods.com, registered with them, (if you refer people and they use your name you get a dollar credit... so if you feel like giving someone credit you can use Lacey Bryce ;) or, if you already know someone using the sight feel free to use their name!) I looked at the events and locations and made sure they came to my tiny town... which surprisingly they did! I placed my order online, and they emailed me all the information I needed. The chicken came in about 3 weeks later, I went to the location they were delivering at (it was a local store parking lot) I drove up, rolled down my window, showed the nice gentleman my confirmation and he loaded the case of chicken for me! I never even had to get out of the car! Now that's service! The chicken comes in 1 huge bag, with 3 or 4 bags of chicken inside.

This is the massive 40lb bag... Yes it is on a towel I'd rather wash a towel than sanitize my chicken because chicken juice leaked everywhere... (I still sanitized the counter top no worries;))

 The chicken has never been cut or processed so it comes as an actual breast... its heart shaped. I'd never seen anything like it... I cut the chicken apart and bagged them, some in bags of two, some in individual bags. The chicken was huge, one breast can easily feed my husband and myself. They really dont cook down a whole lot like grocery store chicken does. (did i mention there is no added hormones or preservatives!)

 I wasn't kidding about the size, it's bigger than my cutting board! 

 I ended up with 20 bags of two chicken breasts, and 22 bags of individual chicken breasts! Id say the $59.60 i spent was very worth it!

All in all I'm really happy with doing this. Did I mention they don't just do chicken? They do produce, hamburger meat, and bacon. These don't all run at the same time, you have to wait for the event to come. I believe the chicken event is still happening in select areas, and if your area has already happened, no worries, they will do it again in a few months. I had been aware of the sight for over a year before I bought anything. I just registered with them so I would get the emails about what events they were doing. I'm so glad I finally got brave and ordered... it has saved us a ton of money. I was going through a bag of frozen chicken at Walmart (almost 7 bucks) a week. We eat a lot of chicken due to my husband's gout.

• Did you find this sight helpful?
• Do you know of other sights similar to this that would be good for buying in bulk for canning/food storage purposes?