Sep 27, 2012

Homemade Pop Tarts

Madeline Beard Fashion, Food baking, college fashion, fashion, homemade, pop tarts 2 Comments

I want to start this post off with a quote I just found on The Man Repeller‘s Instagram:

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson

I really like the idea of this — happiness should be a duty, a priority, in our lives. I feel too often I spend my time micro-managing that I only have a few fleeting “wow, I’m doing this for myself and no other reason” moments every week. Which brings me to the main topic of tonight’s post: homemade pop tarts!

I pinned these over the summer and have been wanting to test drive the recipe for months. Wandering around the aisles of my neighborhood grocery store last night I thought to myself, “What the heck, I’m going to make pop tarts tonight because I need a break from everything else.”

So I gathered up the ingredients…

… mixed up the dough…

… flattened the dough out with my trusty rolling pin + cut out 14 rectangles for 7 pop tarts…

… added strawberry preserves + closed up each tart with a fork…

… let ’em bake, then let ’em cool…

… annnd adding the icing/sprinkles in the morning!

And let me tell you, they turned out great. Like taking a bite from my childhood, without all of the extra preservatives and red dye #12. Yum! My tips for future pop tart endeavors: less is more with this crust, and the more strawberry preserves the better. I was pretty light handed with the preserves this time around and I really didn’t need to be — ~~live~~ bake and learn 🙂 If you end up baking your own homemade pop tarts, you’ll have to let me know how they turn out through a tweet or Instagram photo.

These pop tarts turned out looking pretty celebratory, what with the colorful sprinkles… who knew today I would have something to celebrate!? Last week my dear friend Tania asked if I wanted to be featured in her “Looks on Campus” column on College Fashion. I jumped at the opportunity to connect with a wider audience of fashionistas, you can read Tania’s article here.

After the article was posted, I reached a record 500 page views in one day! Opening my Google Analytics account this morning was such a big surprise and I want to say how thankful I am for everyone and anyone who has read SLB — every day is an adventure, and I’m so glad I get to share it with you guys. On that note, I’ve gotta get to bed, the last 24 hours have been both exhilarating and exhausting. Sweet dreams readers, much more to come.

♥

Sep 24, 2012

Weekend Recap : Life’s Little Sweet Things

Madeline Beard Food 1 Comment

This weekend was a blur of plans with little time set aside to go off and do my own thing. I’ve noticed that as I get further into this jam packed semester, it’s important to reflect on life’s little sweet things.

On Friday night, I went to dinner with two fabulous friends, Kelsey and Sam. We got burgers at a neighborhood favorite, Chef Geoff’s, then took the scenic route to Something Sweet, an ice cream shop near our apartments. We arrived at Something Sweet about two minutes after closing time, but the guy working let us in anyway and we were able to satisfy our fro-yo cravings. As we enjoyed the gorgeous night outside the shop, the guy behind the counter came out and offered us two dozen free cupcakes. If that’s not a good omen, I don’t know what is. The night was so simple and sweet, but it was exactly what I needed after such a hectic week.

Looking forward to the bright things on my horizon including my first CapFABB meet up, a ticket to Capital Food Fight, a trip to Mexico and many more fall days filled with friends, laughter and adventures.

♥

Sep 4, 2012

Summertime in NYC

Madeline Beard Food, Other Adventures Brooklyn, food, New York City, sweets, travel 2 Comments

I did it! After climbing onto a bus in the wee hours of the morning yesterday and sleeping through the entire 4 1/2 hour trip, I finally arrived in New York City! The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind of running around the city, working with a fabulous designer and spending time with two great friends. While this trip is primarily for business (more on that later), just being in the city again has made me reminisce about the last time I visited New York.

As a mini vacation to myself, I came up earlier in the summer to spend a long weekend with a dear old friend, Gracie. I have been meaning to post highlights from the trip since starting SLB and now seems like the perfect opportunity — as shown in the photos below, my NYC vacation ended up turning into a “Tour de Food” around the city. In my opinion, the best vacations are the ones where you get to snack your way through neighborhoods. Luckily, I got to discover some pretty fabulous restaurants and bakeries during my summertime trip and hopefully I will have the chance to revisit a few favorites while I am back.