Monday, September 30, 2013

We're 27

27 - seems more real when I write/type out my new age! I turned 27 yesterday and my sweet husband celebrated 27 on July 4th!

We celebrated with friends, fishing and exploring in Colorado. It's always a little sad not to celebrate with our family in WI, but we sure are fortunate to have such loving friends in Denver who love us so well ((makes the distance a bit easier))

Thank you to each one of you who took time to celebrate me and my life! To encourage me and to make sure you knew I felt EXTRA love on my birthday! Isn't that what birthdays are about anyway?! XO

Here's to another year for me. Another year of growing, learning, failing, succeeding and learning to be brave!

Enjoy a little snapshot into our birthday celebrations!

Garden of the Gods // we walked and found a scenic nook for reading! 









happy 27th year to the sweetest man I know!
thank you to all our sweet friends in Colorado for making our birthdays ones to remember! 







and then we went fishing for Stevie's birthday! 




with joy,
Aneta Nina




Sunday, September 15, 2013

#HandmadeHomemade2013 // Pastries

My husband, loves pop tarts. I'm not super crazy about them. But I made homemade pastries and I liked them! It's part of my #handmadehomemade2013 series (been slacking).

I purchased The Homemade Pantry and chose the pastries as my first recipe. Making homemade dough is always intimidating, but the recipe of pie dough that this book includes WORKS or I just followed the directions for the first time baking.

The two things I would add to the recipe is a bit more vinegar and water mixture when you're making the dough AND put a thin layer of jam or filling because it will ooze out!



The Dough:
2 sticks cold, unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups flour
2 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 t salt

Cut butter into 1/2 in squares - Combine with flour - Toss the mixture and place in freezer for 10 min
Combine 1/3 cup of water with the vinegar and salt - Let salt dissolve and place in freezer for 10 min
Take the flour out and blend on low speed - Wait for it to become crumbly then start pouring in the vinegar/water - Add more vinegar/water if the mixture seems dry
Turn dough on counter and roll out into pieces - Refrigerate for at least one hour (to 3 days)

The Pastry:
Preheat oven to 375 F - Roll out the first half of the dough - Cut into six smaller rectangles (I just made small rectangles until the dough ran out) - Place on cookie sheet - With a pastry brush, paint each rectangle with the beaten egg - Scoop 1 tbl of filling onto each rectangle - Cut six more rectangles to match the size of the first batch - Place on top of each pastry that has filling - Press a fork along the edges and brush egg mixture on the - Poke holes with the fork on the pastries - Bake for 5/10 minutes OR seal them and place them in the freezer.

I placed my pastries in the freezer in a air tight container after I wrapped each one separately. As far as filling options, be creative: Nutella, ricotta cheese, chorizo and veggies....

buy the book here.


Monday, September 9, 2013

I Love September // Sales and Celebrations

It's been quite some time that I shared something on the blog. I didn't even write about our two years in Denver or three years of marriage! I'm making up for it with a sale on my shop - YAY!!

Here's the sale:

And here are some of the new items added:










And this is where you can shop: givewithJOY.etsy.com

with joy!
Aneta