V and Co.: snicker doodle ice cream cookies

one thing is for sure. having the kids around 24/7 is quite the shock the to system that might throw you in for a tail spin after having them be gone for 6 hours at a time for the school year.
here's a fun and easy way to get a few "awesome mom" points and you might just get a few minutes of quietness due to the fact that the kids will be stuffing their pie holes with the yumminess of these treats.

 first things first you will need individual cups of vanilla ice cream kept frozen. (these obviously are from walmart.)
and then you will need snicker doodle cookies.
the recipe i used goes as follows:
SNICKER DOODLE COOKIES:
ingredients:
 3 3/4 cups flour                              2 eggs
 1/2 tsp baking soda                        1/4 cup milk
 1/2 tsp cream of tar tar                   1 tsp vanilla
 1/2 tsp salt                                     3 tblsp sugar
 1 cup margarine/butter                  1 tsp. cinnamon
 2 cups sugar
preheat oven to 375 degrees
directions:
-stir together flour, soda, cream of tartar, and salt. set aside.
-beat butter for 30 seconds in the mixer, then add 2 cups of sugar and beat until fluffy.
-add eggs, milk, and vanilla; beat well in mixer till smooth.
-add dry ingredients, one cup at a time until it's all combined and mixed well.
form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the mixture of the 3 tblsp sugar and cinnamon.
-place the balls 2 inches apart (optional: flatten a little bit, i never do cause i'm lazy like that.)

cook for around 8 minutes till just slightly golden brown.
cool on cool rack.

for the ice cream cookies cool completely otherwise the ice cream will melt. i would say even give it a full day of cooling if you can.

 now onto the the ice cream cookie part!
your cookies should be fully cooled down, and your ice cream cup should still be frozen.
get just a little bit of cinnamon. as we will only be using a pinch in each cup.

 for each cup you will need two cookies and pinch of cinnamon and a spoon for mixing. :)

 just place a pinch of cinnamon in each cup (if you are having your kiddos help either do the cinnamon yourself of have them use the cinnamon dispenser and shake a little into the cup)

because we don't want the ice cream to melt we will just mix the cinnamon a little bit.

then scoop up the ice cream and place it between two flat sides of the cookies.

eat and enjoy your yummers snicker doodle ice cream cookie.

and enjoy the little bit of peace and quiet you will get while your kiddos nom nom nom on the yummy cookies. 

V and Co signing off on how to survive having your kids home after you've enjoyed er i mean...you've had a school year long of 6 hours a day where your kids are being perfect angels to those awesome teachers of theirs! 

bring on summer. 

i'm grabbing it by the horns! 

V and Co: how to make: 3 minute walnut fudge

 so here at V and Co. we've made 3 minute fudge, and then last year we did 3 minute mint fudge, this year i made 3 minute walnut fudge.

still trying to confuse those around me and on the internet that i can actually be somewhat of a cook...well at least in the dessert aspect of things. when in actuality i am anything but a great cook. it's okay i can't be it all...good looks, crafty as hell, and an awesome cook would just make people mad at me. so i'll just go with the reality of short hairy colombian girl that has to wax and shave a lot, likes to sew and makes lots of mistakes to get to the final product but when she gets there likes to teach others how to do it too, and doesnt really like to cook but will, and if it looks good and comes out tasting good? bonus!

welcome to my blog i get lucky 48.8% of the time and this is where i put that 48.8% in pictures.
okay so enough about me. lets talk about this yummy fudge.

ingredients needed:

 2 packages of 11.5 oz chocolate chips (one dark and one milk chocolate)
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 small bag of chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons of butter (i forgot to add it to my first batch and it made the fudge kind of dry)

- first place in a microwaveable bowl your 2 packages of chocolate chips, your condensed milk, and your butter.
-next place in the microwave for 3 minutes

 -meanwhile get you bag of chopped walnuts and...chop them a little more.
-put some aside to place on top of your fudge

 -once your 3 minutes in heaven is done in the microwave, stir in walnuts, then pour into a square pan. mine was a 9x9 pan. if you want thinner squares do a 9 x 13 pan.

let it cool, then cut into squares.
do what you want with the fudge, but i suggest you give some of it away...cause it can be dangerous to just have it in the house.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: how to make a pretty apple pie

welcome to part two of the apple pie saga. 

find part one here.

okay so now that you have all this apple pie filling in your pantry. lets make an actual apple pie out it shall we?
now if you are looking for a homemade pie crust...keep looking cause that's not what i'm doing here. all we're doing here is taking pre-made stuff and creating a very pretty lattice pie crust.
oh i've tried to make my own crust...and i don't have the touch yet. i'll keep trying and someday i'll get it right and then i'll rejoice.
but now is not that time. :)

okay what you need:
-one deep dish frozen pie crust
-one package of unrolled pie crust (you will only use one)
-one mason jar of apple pie filling
-pizza cutter
-1/4 cup of milk
-1/4 cup of sugar

-pour one mason jar full of apple pie into the crust.

-unroll one pie crust

-with the pizza cutter make strips from the pie crust

-notice that my pie crust was a little munched on one side, it's okay we will use it for the leafs so i placed it aside.
-you will need to leave just a little for the leaves.

-start by placing strips of the dough across the top of the pie...

- cut off the excess and add it to the extra you placed it aside.

-now to make the lattice part of the crust.
-you are going to interweave the strips of the dough the other way now

-continue to interweave the dough strips.
-press down the ends when you get all the lattice done.

-roll out the extra dough

-with a knife cut out leaf shapes, and draw lightly on the leaf (not going through all the way)

-pull back the extra dough from your cut out leaves.

-place the leaves on top of the lattice you just created

-get your milk and your sugar and if you have a pastry brush it will be helpful.

-brush some milk on top of the leaves and lattice.

-after you have brushed milk all over the top of the crust, sprinkle sugar on top of the crust.

PREPARE TO COOK:

-preheat your oven to 375 degrees
-while waiting for the oven to preheat get a square piece of foil paper and fold in 4.
-cut the foil to create a circle

-place the foil on top of your pie (this will save your edges from browning too much)
-cook for 30 minutes
-remove the tin foil
-continue to cook for 30 minutes or until you see the juice boil.

now you have a pretty pretty pie.

and it should taste really good.

we wouldn't know because:

while we weren't looking the dog decided to get on his hind legs and grab and drag the pretty pretty pie onto the floor and proceed to eat the WHOLE  *breathe vanessa breathe* whole pie.

it happened on thanksgiving morning of all days. so when i saw the pie tin empty on the floor. i screamed "NO WAY!no nononononoooooooo.!" the whole family came running and then they all stopped short and no one said a word because i wasn't saying anything anymore but i was flapping my arms up and down...not saying a word. the husband kindly and quietly suggested we just buy a pie.
i gave him "the stare" he quickly backed away.
and then we went to try to find a pie.
oh yeah did you know that EVERYONE and their DOG buy pies BEFORE thanksgving morning??
we even asked the lady at the bakery in walmart if they had any apple pies left.
she gave me the look as "moron, everyone bought pies yesterday."
k fine so we bought a frozen pie.
and you know what?
thanksgiving was fine.
but i can't wait to finally eat my apple pie. maybe this weekend. i mean i have 6 more quarts. :)

V and Co: hello kitty cupcakes

my daughter's birthday is this sunday.
when i asked her what she wanted her cupcakes for school to look like she gave me a blank stare.
"i don't know."
come on kid, give me something to work with here.
so i started naming things off and hello kitty got an excited look and "YEAH! YEAH! HELLO KITTY!" ok.
we can make that happen.
one thing is for sure. cooking and baking isn't my forte. i mean i cook, obviously my family is still alive and breathing even after nearly 15 years of my cooking...and baking...well i can do a few things pretty well like my apple pie, but everything else...it's a gamble really on how it's going to look. mainly i can make okay stuff, but the presentation...eh.
so i have a cake making friend/neighbor and i asked her to help me with the cupcakes and cake, and either i am very pushy and overbearing, or she's very nice because she instantly said "sure!"

 the top was made out of fondant. you can make your own using marshmallow. or you can buy it.

my neighbor made her's and it actually tastes quite yummy (i know store bought fondant doesn't always taste awesome)
she had a hello kitty cookie cutter that we used for the base of the head, there was some food color involved for the bow and the nose (she has the  fancy stuff that cake decorators use)
and then last but not least we used edible ink

it started off with the shape of the hello kitty head, then i made noses and bows...
and then we drew the face with the edible ink.
super easy if you have the right tools!

then i made something i felt confident in making: little flags using tooth picks and the washi tape that i got at target :) yay for using it for cute things!

a little friend from her class saw them yesterday and it got the seal of approval from the fellow 5 year old.
and lets just say trying to keep the boys away from the cupcakes for over 12 hours was a feat all in itself.
this morning we still have 24 cupcakes hello kitty cupcakes unscathed. and today i take them to her class for all of her classmates to celebrate katie on her special day of the year.
then i will come home and put up banners and start wrapping presents.
what a happy weekend we're going to have. :)
hope you have a good one too.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: cooks: 3 minute 3 ingredient mint fudge

last year i gave you this 3 minute fudge...well with the holidays in full swing lets add a little holiday twist to it shall we?

this fudge can go by many names: simple mint fudge, increase your jean size fudge, make your friends fat so you look good fudge...but i went with the "make you wanna make it cause you don't have time to keep up with the perfect homemaker down the street name": 3 minute, 3 ingredient mint fudge.

seriously, it's so easy that you can whip this bad boy up for neighbor gifts in like well...3 minutes. and have it look like you slaved away for hours when really you made it and then ate some before you brought it over.ready to make some?
okay.
ingredients needed:

 1. 14 oz condensed milk

2. CHOCOLATE: one 14 oz package of semi sweet chocolate chips. And one 10 oz package of Andes mint chips
3. 3 tablespoons of butter
*optional garnish is crush candy cane candy
instructions:

1. combine in your bowl your chocolate chips and your Andes mint chips
2. add condensed milk, and mix in. Add butter
3. microwave for three minutes, stir till smooth.
4. pour into a 9 x 9 pan for thick squares or a 9 x13 pan for thin squares

 *to garnish if you'd like get some candy cane looking candy, and crush them

 *sprinkle on top, and let cool.

 tada! place them on a cookie platter, or in a little bag for neighbor gifts, or just eat them all, i don't judge.

yum yum!
see you monday with a tutorial.