Learn how to make some St. Patrick's Day shamrock and leprechaun treasure decorated sugar cookies with this royal icing cookie decorating tutorial!!  Did you know that March comes after February? Like... EVERY YEAR?!?! I don't know why this continues to be a surprise to me. I mean... I LOVE making Saint Patrick's Day cookies. I start thinking about them in January. (I'm not kidding. My neighbors wish I was kidding. ) You would think that at some point I would realize that the day after February is, in fact, March.  But somehow my brain continues to think that February will never ever, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances actually end. 

A non-spreading and no-chill Irish Cream Green Velvet sugar cookie recipe for St. Patrick's Day!! I kind of love holidays. Especially the ones where I don't have to work and my kids don't have to go to school. Because I'm lazy? Sure.  But also because I love when things are fun AND lazy.  We celebrate all the major holidays around here. And the "good ones" like Ice Cream For Breakfast Day (first Saturday in February) and National Pajama Day (April 16).  Fun and lazy. I told you.  St. Patrick's Day is a little bit harder for me because SOMEONE  … I'm not mentioning names (because I don't know them, not out of the goodness of my heart.)  got this great idea that parents should stay up super late after their children are asleep and instead of snuggling up with their favorite ice cream and a movie...they needed to plan devious tricks that a magical being might be executing while said children are sleeping.  These tricks will necessarily require thought...

Use this icing color palette and the formulas to make icing for your next Saint Patrick's Day cookie project!!  I used Chefmaster brand food coloring for all of these formulas. If you're not sure what the "parts" mean, or how to use these formulas, check out THIS POST for detailed step-by-step photos! When I make different colors with the same ratios (like the greens above), I usually make the darkest color first. Then I add some of the darker colored icing into a bowl of fresh white icing to make a lighter version of the same icing. See how I made the Happy Shamrock cookies HERE!!

Use this cookie decorating tutorial to learn how to make decorated horseshoe sugar cookies - with cutters you probably already own. Oh you guys. You've heard of Phoenix, right? The Valley of the Sun? It's hot there. And full of ...well...the sun. I went there last week to decorate cookies with new friends. And then I came home to 4 sick kids, 2 feet of snow and a 3 day weekend that turned into a 6 day weekend. My kids are always really good about keeping me in check like that. " Oh, you thought you were some kind of trendy grown-up that can exist as more than a mother and go have a consequence-free mid-week vacation in the sun for a few days? We don't agree. "

There is so much to love about spring. I mean, IT'S WARM. That alone should be enough to celebrate spring like it's a chocolate cake at a surprise party. But on top of that, spring is also NOT winter. Which means that the dull gray snow covering my entire world has magically shifted into GREEN GRASS! And it stays light so much longer. I don't have to plan my entire day around the 12 minutes between 12:17 and 12:29 to take photos. And, AND...my children's clothing choices have a solid 4 weeks in the no-judgement-zone. My daughter wants to wear shorts and sandals and a winter coat? TOTALLY MAKES SENSE. My son  refuses to wear a jacket of any kind on account of him being "immune" to cold even though it is currently snowing and/or hailing ? That's okay too. Even when they are standing together at the same time...spring just makes everything okay somehow. It also explains the plastic bird cage filled with grass,  hanging from my tree...

There are two kinds of people in this world. The kind that love leftovers and the kind that don't make their own meals. Because I'm pretty sure that if you had to make dinner every night for 3 children, 1 baby and a husband that all have very different nutritional...ummm inclinations ...leftovers would be your new best friend. You know the kind that you can call at 3 in the morning because you heard a sound in your basement and either your neighbor left their sprinklers on all night and it's your sump pump turning on or someone has infiltrated your house and you are about to become a ninja whether you want to or not? Leftovers are that kind of friend. It's like a free meal. Sometimes I pretend that someone else made it for me. Like the me that made it was actually a me from another timeline, so really it wasn't me who made it. And I'm just sitting there enjoying all the work that some other more fantastically talented culinary version of myself has put...

Use this royal icing cookie decorating tutorial to learn how to make adorable little leprechaun cookies!! Living inside all winter kind of stresses me out. So much noise and clutter and laundry. I basically can't handle even the simplest of tasks like "breathing" and "sitting" without freaking out about every visible ounce of clutter. And do not even get me started on the sounds that send me into a full-on anxiety attack by the end of winter. (Can you say SIMULTANEOUS WHISTLING??!!!) (Don't even try it.) (Please. I'm begging you.) So I started this new thing last week. You may have heard of it. It's called "cleaning." It's where you pick things up and put them away. And wash stuff. Like every load of laundry that ever existed. As it turns out... I *DO* have a floor in my laundry room. And my children actually own socks. And my favorite jeans? They totally exist. Who knew? But the very best part of this whole "cleaning...

I've really been trying hard to eat healthy for the last few weeks. I've had cauliflower... on purpose...more than once this week. (Which...actually is not much of an accomplishment because I actually like it. But if you hated cauliflower, then that would have sounds super impressive, right?) I've reduced my sugar intake by brushing my teeth before making cookie dough. I estimate that this act alone has reduced my sugar calories by half. I'd love to lie to you and tell you that I've changed my sugar-dependent ways and that this was all in search of a healthier me and a better future and all those fantastic things that people say (and I would never mean), but the truth is -- Spring is coming. And with it... CADBURY EGG SEASON!!! I've got to make room now because this year --  I am accepting the challenge . I'm not exactly sure what this "challenge" is necessarily... but if it has to do with Cadbury mini eggs then I AM IN. I am in sideways and d...

I am nearing the end of my sojourn in South Korea, my friends. I have turned my oven on and off again for the last time. I have exploded my last bag of powdered sugar all over my kitchen while mixing icing at high speeds. I think it would be safe to say that I have eaten my last black bean pizza crust stuffed with sweet potato filling that also has mayo and corn drizzled on top. I have walked my last rice paddy and bought my last corner store cantaloupe ice cream on a stick. I have not, however, pushed my way through the last mob of ladies trying to simultaneously bundle up and pat my young children. I still have two Korean airports to get through. Nor have I said my last " annyeonghi gyeseyo "( goodbye) because secretly, I'm hoping to connect with some Koreans in America. And in this dream, I also speak much better Korean just by virtue of returning to my home country. Yesterday, as I tore my grocery list off the pad of paper for my very last shopping trip, I notic...

In case you haven't heard, there is a pretty big holiday coming up. It's full of magic and rainbows and tricky little tricking type people. Clothing and pancakes and elaborate household decorations just turn up green with no explanation. Regular old meals like mac and cheese are replaced with corned beef and cabbage. There is pinching. And hidden treasures. And shamrocks. And four leaf clovers. And also.... a jillion or so cookies. As it turns out... I'm going to be a smidgeon busy in the upcoming weeks. You know, since I'm moving across the world and all with my 3 small children. And I might not have time for a jillion or so cookies. So I was thinking that maybe I could show you these for now and we can just see what happens tomorrow. Also, I was totally going to play this off all nonchal Also... I'm kind of, a little bit pleased to tell you that this picture is completely CLICKABLE! Click on any picture and it will take you to the appropriate...

I'm not exactly what you would call "a great cook." In fact, I spent almost all of my growing up years trying to avoid learning how to cook or sew or do anything else that would later benefit me in life. My poor mother. Combine my lack of skill with the fact that I am the pickiest eater alive...she probably thought I would starve to death upon moving away from home. Well, that or somehow manage to live solely off cottage cheese and Wheat Thins. (She would be right on her second assumption.) These days I have kids. And I'm married to a guy who eats actual food. On a daily basis. It gets tricky. So I have created a system for making dinner. Basically, I take a whole bunch of different foods out of the fridge and freezer. You know, like vegetables, rice, eggs.... stuff that people eat. And then I pour it all into a bowl. Or a blender. Sometimes I even heat it up. And then...I hope madly that it isn't disgusting. Some days it works out and some days it doe...

Can I ask you all a question? Whatever happened to scrunchies? I mean, I get why triple layers of neon colored leggings went out of style. I completely understand that "Saved By The Bell" couldn't last forever. (Zack and Kelly can though. I'm pretty sure they're still together. And don't tell me if they are not. I don't want to hear it.)   But WHY can't scrunchies still be popular? I have a lot of hair. I practically NEED scrunchies. They are like the perfect accessory. You can get them to match any outfit. Right now, I buy those Maximum-Power-Super-Heavy-Duty-No-Tangle hair elastics and they last for about two days. And don't even THINK about suggesting I  buy the cheaper ones and just use them once. Those things don't even last 10 minutes. I bought a giant hair claw one time. You know, the GIANT kind. I giggled when I bought it. (Because I am 10 years old and things like that amuse me. ) And...as it turns out...I have too much hair for t...

Have you ever said or written a word over and over again and then suddenly realize it's not a real word anymore? It's not even made up with real letters. It is just symbols and the sounds you are making come from an entirely different language that they don't even speak on this planet. You know, like the word "COUCH." Say that 10 times in a row and see how you feel about it. Once, I said it like 27 times in a row and it has completely ruined that word for me. I just have to SEE it and I start thinking in an alien dialect. These shamrocks were just like that. (I practiced on wax paper before putting them on my cookies. Practice is good. Don't be afraid of it.) I started out piping this little trifoliate plant that has come to symbolize St. Patrick's Day and they morphed into some kind of rocking chair for frogs. I am at a loss. I made some wet-on-wet shamrocks last year that I loved . This year I wanted to go completely crazy and make some wet-on-dry s...

I was going to say something funny and educational and totally informative in a way that would stick with you for the rest of your life. And you would love me forever. And totally print out pictures of my cookies and my big ol' huge head and tape them over the gorgeous Caribbean Island photos in your calendar, just so you could remember how much you like me on a daily basis. But I didn't because I got tired. Like, actually tired. Okay, look -- I haven't really slept in kind of a long time. All 3 of my children have apparently been talking to each other and have decided that they will get up at random, yet completely spaced out intervals through out the night. I think they are trying to get more movie time, but they haven't really given me a list of their demands yet, so there's nothing I can do about it. So I was thinking that maybe today can be kind of like casual Friday except that its not Friday, and there are no jeans involved. At all. Because reall...

I think it is safe to say that I run with the perfectionist crowd. Maybe run is too strong of a word. Let's go with-  walk quickly with the perfectionist crowd.  (As long as your definition of perfectionism is similar to freaking out over every -single -detail in a cookie and spending 10 minutes on that one last thing that you just can't get right but should be right and then letting it consume your mind for the next 4 days while worrying that everyone will notice how you left that one little bit of flour dust stay on your cookie...  But I'm definitely not a perfectionist if your definition includes a clean house and no dishes in the sink.) I wanted these cookies to be kind of wonky. I tried really hard to make the squares...not squares. It started out great (see the "u"?) But I was fighting a losing battle with the inside part of me that says " These are not squares. You are doing something wrong. FIX IT ." And with each tile, they got square-er and...