Posts Tagged ‘Martha Stewart’

The Weekend Dish: Halloween Spirit

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Hi pals, what’s in store this weekend?

pumpkins

Sarah and I are getting into the Halloween spirit. I’m planning to visit a pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect Cinderella Pumpkin to decorate at my friend’s pumpkin carving birthday party.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins

I think I’ll bring my famous mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Dense and deeply pumpkin and spice flavored to celebrate the season.

Halloween cookies

I might also make our mini Halloween cookies by substituting the chocolate chips in a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe for black and orange M & M’s as seen above. These are irresistible, I want to eat the picture.

Thirsty Scientist drink

I’m dying to try this Jack-O-Lantern Martini (a Manhattan with hints of pumpkin, apples, and fall spices) created by my friend Jason of The Thirsty Scientist. His mobile mixology services were featured on The Kitchn blog this week! I hear he may have an opening still for Halloween weekend if your party wants to chic it up a notch.

beautiful-glittered-pumpkins

I heart Martha Stewart glitter crafts (as seen here) so much that I actually made these glitter pumpkins 3 years ago and highly recommend the project.

LE glitter pumpkins

Mine are not a prefect as Martha’s but I was still proud of myself. Wishing you all a crisp and cool weekend.

xo,

LE

In the Kitchen

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We spend a lot of time in kitchens.  Not surprising then that we try to make ours as pleasant a place as any in our homes.

Here’s what keeps me happy in my kitchen.

This good-looking radio has great sound.  I usually cook to talk radio.  Or plug in my iPod for classical music or— if Angus is out— French pop! M. Sarkozy and Charlotte Gainsbourg are faves.

My kitchen walls are painted Blue Hubbard, a calm and happy Martha Blue from the now-discontinued Sherwin Williams line.  It’s close to her new Araucana Turquoise.  I think of it as the perfect robin’s egg and it looks clean and cheerful against our blonde cabinets.

Stylish lamps makes the kitchen feel less utilitarian and more like an extension of your living space.  I keep a similar one on my breakfast bar.

A full French press is the best kitchen companion.  I’ll upgrade to this gorgeous gold version when it becomes available.

An inexpensive luxury given that it lasts forever and whips dense foam clouds every time.  I love my Bodum frother.

Half glass bookends keep favorite cookbooks close.  Mine do not house goldfish.

Bright tulips are a much happier sight to see.

After this weekend’s trip to Artisanal LA, I’ll add a Woolly Pocket herb garden to the mix.

What happy bits are in your kitchen?

xoxosl

The Weekend Dish: Color Love

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Happy Friday, my loves!  What are you up to this weekend?

I’m helping Lydia polish some final DIY projects for her wedding.  She’s already shared her decor and color inspirations.   In just a few weeks now she’ll reveal every detail.  I can’t wait!

I’ve been a magpie for color lately.  Here are some of my favorite eye-catching bits.

Not sure how I feel about acrylic, but I’d like to swim through the lapis, lay in the moss and lick that caramel (with a little fleur de sel, please).

How about this incredible antique color chart?  I never tire of seeing one shade blend into the next.  How red-purple becomes purple-red and so on.

Seasonal fruit?  Love.  Pretty calendars?  Love Love.  Seasonal Fruits of California calendar in sorbet shades? LOVE.  Thanks to Katie Armour for tipping us off to this one.  I’m going to hang it in my office for menu inspiration throughout the year.

John Derian knows color.  And now he’s putting it on stationary.

I’m partial to soft ballerina shades and moody storm colors so we chose this hand-marbled Italian paper in light blue peacock to line our wedding invitations.

Feeling playful?  DIY marble paper

Martha named her pastel paints after her Araucana chicken eggs.

Araucana is my favorite word that I can’t say.

Also, the chickens are “rumpless”!!!

Ever wonder why blue has a cooling effect?  Or why red increases your appetite?

Pantone has a Color Think Tank–a tutorial on how we perceive and describe color and how it affects our mood.  A must-read for the color curious.

And the chandelier swaying against the fire-cloud sky?  Just one of several antiques dripping crystal and wax over our friends’ impossibly romantic wedding in Mendocino.

Much love to our happy newlyweds.

And to our readers.

xoxosl

Martha Stewart Mixing Bowls

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Sarah and I are big fans of the Martha Stewart color palette and I love how she translated her signature colors into an everyday kitchen staple. These pretty Robins Egg Blue, verdant Sage Green or dusty French Grey bowls make me smile each time I grab for one.

MS mixing bowls

Super functional as they don’t take up much space in your cupboard, very durable and reasonably priced at Macy’s. They are pretty enough to tote a big salad to a pot luck or pile with fruit on your counter. I think they make a lovely shower or hostess gift. Don’t forget the same colors come in mini prep bowls as well!

Best Little Kitchen Gift Ever

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By Sarah Lagrotteria

My Aunt Gigi gave me these mini prep bowls for Christmas last year.  They’re so pretty I keep them out on the counter.  Friends can’t resist grabbing them and asking, “where did you get these?”

Martha mini prep bowls

I keep them in a stack with the top one (in my kitchen that’s the pale pale mint, second from bottom here) filled with Maldon sea salt.  If you buy them, I swear that you’ll love and use them constantly.  I think I may have even chosen my wall colors  around these little guys…oh, Martha…

xoxosl

Chocolate, Oatmeal and Apricot cookies

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Chocolate, Oatmeal and Apricot Cookies

Chocolate, Oatmeal and Apricot Cookies

By Lydia Ellison

When my Martha Stewart Living magazine arrives in the mail each month I have a special ritual. I make tea and snuggle on my sofa with my magazine and some sticky tabs and get lost in the pages of eggshell blue excellence. Last month I received my March issue and read it in this aforementioned fashion and when I got to the last page, the “Cookie of the Month” page, I was struck by inspiration. I got up off my sofa and went to the market so I could immediately make cookies (this is very rare, I hardly ever bake.)

Now I should admit I had been craving oatmeal cookies for awhile… I am an oatmeal-raisin person, not usually an oatmeal- chocolate cookie person but the MSL March “Cookie of the Month” was the perfect balance between the two, Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricots and White Chocolate! It sounded amazing and I had all the ingredients except for white chocolate and apricots. I made them with gluten free baking mix instead of regular flour (most oats are gluten free) and they worked perfectly! Moist and fluffy on the inside and crunchy and crisp around the bottom and edges.  I substituted half the white chocolate with unsweetened dark chocolate to cut the sweetness of the white chocolate and cut down the vanilla extract but added my signature almond extract instead. They were fantastic! Drew and I ate 3 cookies each right before dinner (in lieu of a salad course you could say) and later that evening our friends devoured the rest of them at a Top Chef viewing and never once suspected they were gluten free. Success.

You can of course make them with normal flour if you and your loved ones are not sensitive to gluten.

Chocolate, Oatmeal and Apricot Cookies

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe

Ingredients
Makes about 4 dozen (I froze half the dough and baked them off the next week)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or Gluten Free Baking Mix)
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs
4 ounces white chocolate chips
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
7 ounces dried apricots, preferably California, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour (or GF baking mix substitute), oatmeal, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla and almond extracts and eggs, and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just combined. Stir in chocolates and apricots. Cover, and refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.
2. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are golden brown around the edges but still soft in the center, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.

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