Cream Cheese-Stuffed Strawberries Tutorial

Kate (author of The Guy Next Door) here again with another recipe from Diamond Rings are Deadly Things. These are super easy and very tasty.

Here's what you'll need to get started for the Chapter 20 Tutorial:

1 pound of large strawberries
1 package of cream cheese
¼ to ½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Then set aside.

Place a graham cracker in a bowl.

Use a juice glass to crush the cracker. Set the crumbs aside.

Wash the strawberries. If you have a peeler/corer, it is really handy for the next step. If not, use a paring knife.

Insert the peeler corer near on the edge of the white part of the strawberry under the green leaves.

Twist around and pull out the core. Fill a pastry bag with the sweetened cream cheese and pipe into the strawberries. If you don't have a pastry bag, a baby spoon works really well.

Sprinkle with crushed graham cracker crumbs and serve. Enjoy!

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

 

Chapter 20: Cream Cheese-Stuffed Strawberries
Rinse one pound of large strawberries. With a paring knife, remove
the tops and cores. In a mixing bowl, beat one package of
cream cheese, ¼ to ½ cup powdered sugar, and one teaspoon vanilla
extract until creamy. Fill a frosting bag with the cream cheese mixture
and pipe it into the strawberries. Crush enough graham crackers to
fill a ½-cup measure, and dip the strawberry tops in the crumbs, or
sprinkle them over the tops. If not serving immediately, refrigerate the
strawberries until serving.
Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com.

Don't Peel the Potatoes!

Chapter 14- Don’t Peel the Potatoes!

When making Idaho mashed potatoes, here's a simple tip to save you tons of time! Don't peel the whole potato when it's fresh out of the field or your garden, just scrub the potatoes thoroughly and then use a paring knife or peeler to remove three
strips of skin, one on each end and one in the middle.

Cut, boil, and
mash the potatoes as normal. You'll notice that the skins break apart and blend in easily with the mashed potatoes. You just added a bit more fiber to those delicious spuds!

Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com.

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

Ice Cube Bliss

Chapter 23 Tutorial: Ice Cube Bliss

Add an elegant touch to sparkling water or any bridal party beverage with these flavored ice cubes. Combine a small amount of lemon juice, several lemon slices, and water and then freeze in ice cube trays. You can also freeze fresh blueberries, mint leaves, or raspberries in ice cubes.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

ice cube tray
lemons or
berries or
mint leaves

Plus water (of course!) and a bottle of sparkling water when serving.

The ice cube trays I used this time were tiny so I opted to zest the lemon instead of slice it. Only do this if you don't mind lemon zest floating in your drink. Otherwise thinly slice and cut lemon pieces to fit inside your ice cube trays.

Cut a lemon in half. Place a strainer over a bowl.

Squeeze the lemon juice into the strainer and bowl. The strainer will catch the lemon seeds.

Pour the lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup. Add the lemon zest if desired. Add enough water to equal one cup. (Or however much you need to fill your ice cube trays.)

  Fill the ice cube tray and place in the freezer. If using lemon slices, place a slice in each ice cube compartment before pouring in the lemon water.

If using mint leaves, raspberries, blackberries, or small pieces of lemon slices, place in ice cube tray and cover with water. Then freeze.

When frozen, remove from the freezer and serve with sparkling water.

Place desired ice cubes in glass and pour in sparkling water.

Garnish with fruit as desired. Serve and enjoy!

Thank you to Kate for the great demo on ice cube bliss!

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

 Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com

Create Your Own Guest Book with Wedding Question Cards

Hello!  

Kristie here from 

Kristie Kreates.

Today I'm showing you an idea for creating a unique 

Wedding Guest Book.

Using your computer create a "question card" template.

I have used a simple, elegant design for mine.

Printing 4 on a standard size piece of 8.5" x 11" card stock works well.  

These make a perfect size and are easy to trim into individual cards.

Put a question relating to you at the top of each card.

I have used 4 different questions on my cards, 

but would suggest at least 6-8 questions.

You can have as many questions as you like.

Print multiple copies of the questions.

Trim them to individual cards.

At the reception, instead of your guests signing a traditional "Guest Book"

encourage each guest to choose a card, write the answer to the question

and sign the card.

You might want to have a basket filled with these cards or

lay them out on a table.

Be sure to have plenty of pens for your guests to use.

You might even have customized pens that the guests can take home

 as a small remembrance of your wedding day.

After the wedding, you can put all the cards into

 a small photo album,

create pages in a scrapbook, 

or make a book out of the cards themselves.

Here are the questions I used on the cards:

What is the best marriage advice you have ever received?

What should we name our kids?

Where do you see us in twenty-five years?

What is the most romantic place we should visit?

Thank you for stopping by today,

I hope you will consider using this idea and

making a unique guest book of your own.

You will be sure to get much pleasure from it for years to come.

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

Chapter 26-Wedding Question Cards
Create six to eight questions that members of the wedding party
can answer about the bride and groom (questions that encourage
brief answers are best). Print one question each on a sheet of cardstock.
In place of just signing a guest book, encourage guests to pick
a question to answer and then sign.
Some examples of questions:
“What is the best marriage advice you have ever received?”
“What is the most romantic place we should visit?”
“What should we name our kids?”
“Where do you see us in twenty-five years?”
Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com.

A Twist on the Ring Pillow

A Twist on the Ring Pillow

Photos courtesy of Andrea Jolley

A little tip from Rachelle and Chapter 24:
Tie wedding rings to a vintage or family heirloom Bible using
ribbons that match the wedding colors. You might also use twine, or vintage string depending on the look you're going for. Many thanks to my mom, Andrea, for finding an old Bible and taking these pictures!

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com.