Friday Foodie Fun - Salted Caramel Brownies

Notice how I left the "fitness" part of the title out?  Yeah.  After eating these brownies you definitely need some fitness to help burn off the sugar and calories.

It all started one night after I had diligently cleaned my entire house and was sitting enjoying the clean while playing Mario Cart with Madelyn and I had a sudden craving for salted brownies.  My sister in law introduced me to this wonderful treat at Christmas so I ventured to the cabinet and discovered that Yes!  I did have brownie mix!  Then brilliance struck and I dug out some caramels I had for caramel apples and in a fit of PMS sugar / salt craving a star was born.



Cast of Characters

This was crazy easy and crazy good.  I thought I had sea salt, but plain course salt worked just fine. The only change I would make is to try caramel ice cream topping next time because the actual caramels got pretty chewy/hard after they cooled, but not to the point of not being able to eat the brownies.

I mixed up the brownie mix, poured it in the dish and stuck caramels in as my heart desired.  I only did half the pan for fear that it wouldn't work and then I would have nothing to calm the chocolate craving beast.

As soon as I pulled them out of the oven, I sprinkled them generously with the salt and oh my were they amazing!

This was a quick and easy treat that hit the spot while having a slightly more sophisticated flavor profile.

Super Simple Salted Caramel Brownies:

Brownie mix of choice (I chose Ultimate Fudge with Hersheys pouch)
Square Caramels
Course Salt (Sea salt is idea, but iodized works fine)

Prepare brownie mix as instructed on box, plop in the caramels as your heart desires and bake as directed.  As soon as you pull it out of the oven, sprinkle on the salt. 
Enjoy as soon as the caramel is cool enough to eat without plastering itself to the roof of your mouth.

-Katrina

Valentine's Day Outfit

Just a few pictures of the skirt I whipped up for Madelyn for Valentine's Day. 

The heart on her shirt is actually attached with a safety pin on the pocket of her shirt.

The Ladybug bag was completed just in time for her carry her Valentines to school.

Such a sweetheart!

What's cooking?

This weekend I got a wild hair and set my mind on sewing a cupcake bag for Madelyn.

 She absolutely loves it!  So much that it went to bed with her last night.

Even the lining looks like cupcake batter!

These will be coming soon to etsy with the addition of a magnetic snap closure.  Perfect for any little (or big) girl in your life who loves purses and cupcakes!  Colors can be customized a little based on availability of fabric.

Email fourribbons@gmail.com to pre-order yours today!

Wow...

When I started sewing I never thought I would be creating such fun, beautiful things.  I always looked at fabric because it was so pretty, but never felt that I would ever be able to create anything more than a mess with it.

Seven years ago I attempted to make throw pillows for our living room.  I knew nothing about sewing except the very basics of thread, needle, fabric.  I bought some really cheap polyester stretch material because it was soft and the right color.  It was such a pain to work with!  I never got them done.  Then I wanted to cover new cushions for a chair I inherited from my grandfather.  I spent a lot of time picking just the right fabric and figured that I could sew a "cube" without a pattern.  I ended up with a mess, one cushion is mostly handstitched and the other is missing the back.  Yeah.  Not so hot.  I also did it without the right size needled or strong enough thread so it was a long hard sew with a machine that was tempermental to begin with. From that point on the only thing I did with fabric was done with a hotglue gun and wood for valences.

Fast forward 7 years and now I have a baby.  I'm a bit more patient and would love to make her things, or decorations, or something because baby crap is expensive and there's lots of cute baby fabric.  I got a sewing machine the Chistmas after Madelyn turned 1 and pulled it out and promptly hemmed 6 pairs of cotton knit pants cause my baby had a fat booty and short legs.  Sewing machine went back in the box for almost another year.

In January I pulled my machine back out and started sewing with Denise.  I made a flutter sleeve dress for Madelyn.  6 months later I am contributing items I have made and created to a boutique in NC and opening a store with my dear friend so that people can buy the stuff I make with pretty fabric.

The first flutter sleeve dress  I made

It's amazing.

Welcome!

Welcome to FOUR RIBBONS!


We are so excited you are joining us! Please, come on in, look around and have a glass of champagne. Before we get into introductions, let us show you around. Over there on the left is all about us, our facebook page (you should become a fan if you aren’t already!), followers, and a link to the store. We hope to do some adding on to that side with buttons for all of our friends.

It was a dark and stormy night in southern California. Oh wait. That’s a different story. The story of Four Ribbons begins on a typical sunny day here in SoCal when Denise and I were just totally minding our own business, neglecting our ThreeGs craft blog (but still sewing and creating, just not blogging it) and we got a phone call from our friend Amber telling us that she had a friend opening a boutique. Several conversations, lots of excitement, and creative ideas later…Four Ribbons was born.

The name Four Ribbons comes from the fact that we have 4 girls between the 2 of us (Denise 3, Katrina 1) and Ribbons is a play on our last names combined.

Our vision for Four Ribbons is to share our love of fun, playful, beautiful things with the world! You think we are kidding. We are not. There are only so many flutter sleeve shirts our girls can wear, so many bibbed dresses they can outgrow, so many places we can stick pretty blocks, and so many purses we can carry. Not to mention, our addiction to pretty fabric and paper costs money, so if we can share with you and make a little money doing it, our husbands are less likely to groan at the site of shopping bags full of beautiful stuff.

The things listed in our etsy shop are things we have made to date. We love to create, so if you have a special request for a color combination, sizing, or something you’ve seen and want recreated, please email us for pricing and availability.

Meet Katrina...

Hey all! Katrina here. It seems that we are embarking on this beautiful journey that is Four Ribbons. It is amazingly exciting. I think this is the part where I’m supposed to tell you a little about myself, but I’m no good at that, so I’m gonna do a list of entertaining facts about Katrina.


1. I scoff at instruction. Until I can’t figure it out on my own and I go crawling back.

2. I am very organic in my creations. There is no set way to do something, just do what looks and feels      
    good.

3. In addition to an addiction to pretty fabric, paper, and thread, I LOVE shoes.

4. I have more ideas that I can possibly finish. But I’m pretty sure I can start them all.

5. I could eat anything with tomato sauce, cheese, and bread or pasta for every single meal.

6. I love the smell of my daughter’s stinky toes.

7. I make a lot of faces in my day to day activities. I’ve made about 10 just trying to think of this list.

8. Now I want to webcam my facial expressions as I blog sometime.

9. I would rather scrub the bathroom than fold laundry.

10. I still sleep with a teddy bear.  I'm thinking of sewing him some pajamas.

Now that you know all about me, I hope you can look around and really enjoy what we have to offer. We have so many great ideas and I can’t wait to continue to create and share with you. I love a challenge, so if you have seen something, have an idea, or just want to see me struggle to try to make something, let me know and I will do my best to entertain…or, you know, make you something beautiful.

-K