~ready for spring, are you?~

Good morning and happy Monday everyone!!

 

Cute hey?? Just in time for spring gardening…

$19.99 at Tar-jay peeps, for real. Lug soles, made in the US of A. 

In the garden centre, sizes 8 or 9. Don’t all run now!!

Got them just in time for another dusting of snow, guess the gardening can wait a little longer!

But I’ll be ready

Oh yes I will….

Tracey

 

~ready for a laugh?~

When I got to read Amy’s "Hey Girl" post last night I laughed out loud! I showed it to Mr RGV and he didn’t see what was quite so funny about it 

Or why I was laughing quite so much.

Anyways, hop on over to Amy’s post at New Nostalgia and she has a whole bunch more there for you!!

Like this:

And if you’re a homeschooling Mom be sure to check out Mandy’s pinboard here.

Smiles!

Tracey

~Ikea goodies giveaway winner!

Well comment 21 was selected by random generator and yay for lynneandco!! 

lynneandco's comment:

“Love your blog. Check it every day so that I don't miss an entry! I also bought some of your beautiful glittered fabric ribbon and love using it on special packages and homemade cards. I've never been to an Ikea but hope to get there one day!”

Thanks Lynne for your sweet comment! So happy for you! 

Please send me your email so I can contact you and get your gift shipped out to you.

And a big thanks to all my blogging friends for coming by and entering. Hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Tracey

~french farmhouse stylin'~ vintage milk carrier~

Hiya, I wanted to start talking about a few ways you can introduce a french farmhouse feel into your home and decor, and we’re starting with a ~vintage milk carrier~

I shelled out a pretty penny for this one, but I had passed up one too many and knew it would be one of those “I wish I woulda” deals.

Sometimes this vintage carrier sits on top my kitchen cabinets with a couple old milk bottles inside, but quite often I pull it down and fill it with flowers.

Currently my runner is just an old floursack on my family farmtable. We use this table all the time, so I like to have something that is quick and easy to move on and off. Even everyday spaces should have something to pretty them up and make you feel ~happy~

I popped in a few of my favorite blue mason jars and white tulips, and instantly have a pretty focal point in front of the window that shouts to me “french farmhouse stylin’”!! 

I closed the blinds to shoot these photos but typically the light floods in the back of the house in the afternoon.

Heart the old wooden handle and worn metal.

It’s a quick and easy decor item that you can change up in so many ways, with BIG impact, so next time you see a vintage milk carrier, don’t pass it up!

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Home and Family Friday at Home is Where My Story Begins
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday over at Coastal Charm
Take-a-look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts
Cowgirl Up at The Farmhouse Porch

~Tracey~

~raggygirlvintage top choc chip cookie recipes part I~

Hi peeps,

Looking for a sugar fix? You’ve come to the right place! If you missed my post yesterday on the 4 “secret” ingredients in our choc chip cookies you can read it HERE.

So let’s dive right in shall we! 

First up the cookie recipe with the surprise ingredient : instant vanilla pudding mix. I like the recipe posted by Jamielyn  over at Iheartnaptime, So hop on over and you can view the original post, and check out Jamielyn’s awesome blog while you are there! 

What I really like about this recipe is it is super quick to whip up. And the cookies are de-lish!

Recipe # 1 

~Yummy vanilla pudding choc-chip cookies~

• 1 cup salted butter (softened)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar. Add pudding mix and vanilla. Beat in one egg at a time. In a separate bowl, mix together, flour, salt and baking soda. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips until combined. Preheat oven to 350F. Spoon cookie dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

~

Next up, giant choc chip cookies. I posted about these here. This recipe comes from My Baking Addiction, and was developed based on the cookies sold at Levain Bakery , which I have never had but if they are anything like these they must be amazing.

Warning: these are a meal replacement cookie! 

You can view Jamie’s post and the original recipe here. These are great packaged up as a gift. If they last that long.

Recipe # 2

~Bestest Giant Choc Chip Cookies EVAH~

2 sticks butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 cups good quality semisweet (or milk choc) chocolate chips or chunks

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mix in vanilla and beat until well incorporated.

2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

3. Form large chunks on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake.

Now it was really, REALLY hard to narrow down our third choice, it was a toss up between a recipe that includes corn starch which gives them an amazing texture, or our spicy oatmeal choc chip cookies. 

So in the interests of choc chip cookie connoisseurs out there I am going to post both recipes in a later post and let you decide.
{plus I figured that at least throwing in some oats somewhere may just redeem my choc chip cookie posts. Maybe.}

Happy baking, let me know if you try any of these!!

linking up to Creative Things Thursday 

Tracey

you still have time to enter my Ikea goodies giveaway HERE

~4 “secret” ingredients to the best choc chip cookies~

Okay peeps, let’s talk choc-chip cookies. I have made a ton of choc chip cookies in my baking career, including many recipes that claim to be the best ever. {By the way, when I say my baking career, I am referring to motherhood. Ha, ha!}

But here’s something you may not know about me : I am an avid baker and read recipes like I read blogs. I know I’m not the only one!

Believe me there are a lot of recipes out there claiming to be the best ever choc chip cookies, but of course as a family we have narrowed down our favorites! Our very best choc chip cookie recipes.

And in all this testing of choc chip cookies recipes I have come to this conclusion : there are 4 “secret” ingredients essential to a really good choc chip cookie. It’s not really all that profound but I like to read what works for you guys, so thought I’d share what works for me.

So, next post I’ll share some of our family favorite recipes for choc chip cookies, but first, let me spill the beans on my “secret” ingredients!

~secret ingredient # 1~

Butter

 Okay, not so secret, but I only ever bake my choc chip cookies with butter. It really makes a difference to the taste. And I always use salted butter, just cut back on any added salt.

{By the way do you know why we add salt to baking at all? It is a flavor enhancer, it brings out the flavor in our food, especially baked goods, Anyways, we’re getting sidetracked here.}

~secret ingredient # 2~

Soft brown sugar 

 Some recipes call for a mixture of brown sugar and regular sugar, but I always include some brown sugar, the soft kind. Plus I use organic sugar if any regular sugar is called for, you can buy it in the big bag at Costco (US) and it is unbleached and all, which makes us feel better about eating sugar at all, right?? Riiiight?

Anyway, it’s the soft brown sugar that really gives the cookies a great texture. I should probably add here that my family prefer a soft/chewy choc chip cookie, rather than the crispy kind.

~secret ingredient #3~

Instant vanilla pudding mix

Yup, you read that right! Kinda on the sweet side, but good! {I always make my gingerbread dough with a recipe that includes a pudding mix, and it makes a huge difference to the taste.} Just trust me here peeps and try it! 

Now, I used to buy my all natural vanilla pudding mix at Trader Joes, but they discontinued it, so for now it’s the artificial version. But that’s okay ‘cos we’re using organic sugar, remember

~secret ingredient #4~

Milk chocolate chips

I know, I know, they are pricey. I do have a big bag of the semi-sweet ones for when I’m whipping up a big lunch bag batch, but when you can use the milk chocolate chips, they make a HUGE difference and will knock your cookie ratings right out the park. 

Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips are my favorite, when they are on sale I pick up a bunch. They’re also good right out the bag when you just need a handful of chocolate. Oh - did I just say that out loud??!!

So there you have it, my 4 “secret” ingredients! Come back next post for Part I of the line up of raggygirlvintage family favorite choc-chip cookie recipes {wow, that was a mouthful!}

So do you have any “secret” ingredients we should all know about?

Happy baking!
Tracey

Have you entered my GIVEAWAY here??

~white enamelware pitcher up for grabs~

Happy Monday everyone! Just wanted to remind you to sign up for my Ikea goodies giveaway.

Click ~HERE~ to go to the giveaway post.

You have until Friday Feb 24th midnight!

Have a lovely week!

Tracey

~Ikea goodies giveaway~

Hello friends,

I had a little visit to Ikea recently, I know some of you will be jealous and so I am hesitant to confess that I don’t go very often {mostly because Ikea styling is generally too new and contemporary for my preferred decor style}.

Having said that, they have some really good basics and accessories that I like to pick up, and there is always something new to see. My everyday dinnerware is from Ikea, I always pick up some paper napkins, affordable pillow inserts, check out the fabric and bring home a pack of cinnamon buns for the kids! I am also in love with one of their mirrors, but that will have to wait…

I have been planning to make more white pillow covers for my sofa, so I was very happy to find these hanging instore. 

If you are looking for a basic white pillow cover these are a great buy, they are clean white, a nice heavy fabric with a little texture and zip closure and all for $8.99 each (Canadian $, so probably less in US Ikea). They fit a 20x20” insert.

Here’s a close up of the texture in my yummy vintage cart.

So let’s get to the giveaway! Since it is the month of love and I was thinking about you all while I was there shopping, I picked up a couple things for you too

Ta-da!!!

So here we go:

THE GIVEAWAY

You will have seen all over blogland the classic Ikea enamelware pitcher, it is probably the most used pitcher in my house, I always have it out and usually filled with flowers. 

I was so delighted to find the matching baby pitcher in store, isn’t it cute!

This pretty floral fabric bread basket was a surprise find, wouldn’t it be pretty for a summer picnic. If you look on the label you see how it folds out into a bread basket. My local Ikea sold out of these real quick.

and I'm gonna add a pack of pink cocktail napkins, yup, we’ve got some pink going on here today it appears! Of course there will be a couple of surprises too, what's a giveaway without a few surprises!

So go ahead and :

1. leave a comment letting me know you’re a follower

for extra entries…

2. spread the word about my giveaway on your blog

3. spread the word on fb, twitter etc.

here’s the button

click here for the code or see my sidebar
{can't figure out how to insert it here, any ideas??)

oh, and make sure I can find an email for you in case you win!!

Also, I’ve got my new Linky follower box up on my sidebar, as I’m not too sure what all is happening with the blogger follower box, so just in case…go ahead and sign up there too.

Giveaway closes Friday Feb 24th midnight. Open to residents of US and Canada.

Tracey

PS. This is not a sponsered post, just me sharing some Ikea love

~blue and red ticking love~

~don't forget to check out my giveaway here~

Hi there! Let's talk about ticking shall we?

There is something so timeless and classic about ticking fabric. I love how it fits with so many decor styles. It comes in a variety of colors nowadays, but I like to sew with the blue or red.

These are large 20x20” pillows I sewed up in blue ticking for a customer. 

They look so good with the white pillows.

This is a smaller version with .…. a ruffle of course! 

A wide raw-edged shabby ruffle, why not! Great for tucking in with a bunch of pillows, or propping on a chair.

I’ll leave you with my red ticking pillow on my old rocker outside on the porch!

How about you, do you decorate with ticking?

linking up to Feathered Nest Friday
Home and Family Friday 
Frugal Friday
Air your Laundry Friday 
Show off your cottage Monday 
Take-a-look Tuesday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday 
Creative Things Thursday 

Tracey

~simple gestures~

Mr RGV found this for me down by the river.

It’s just perfect!

Hope you feel treasured this Valentine’s Day.

Hugs,

Tracey