Treats This Week

I thought I would share what I have in store this week.

Noah’s having sweet peas, peaches and pears, and probably carrots. I figured out that the boy eats 6 cubes a day at school and five after school for a grand total of 11 cubes a day! That adds up to (obviously) 77 cubes a week. No wonder he’s such a chub! I have 32 cubes already made so to get us through the work week, I need about 23 more, crazy!

I’m making spring cookies for my office. They’re all wondering why I haven’t brought them any Treats. In the words of our RN, “You’re supposed to be practicing!” So, I’m practicing!

I’ll also be working on getting a ton of stuff ready to sell at the June Bugs Reruns Consignment Sale. It’s April 8-11 at the Clarion in Bentonville. If you want to consign, there’s still time. You have to be signed up and have all your items entered online (www.junebugsreruns.com) by April 5th at midnight. I’ve got a ton of stuff to sell so I’m excited about the extra cash!
Treats is representin’ at the sale as well. If you’re one of the first 250 people to enter the sale, you’ll get a gift bag and inside that bag you will find, among other things, an advertisement for Treats by Betsy with a 20% off code! Sweet!

For those of you who are not in the Twitter and Facebook loop, I announced the March Special this week. March is all about Spring and Spring is all about Flowers! In honor of the first day of Spring (March 20th), I’m making Flower Cookie Bouquets. Each bouquet includes a dozen beautiful sugar cookies that are shaped and decorated like flowers and baked on sticks. The bouquets are wrapped like regular flower bouquets so they’ll be really cute! They’re $10. I’ll also do the cookies flowers in flower pots for $15. These will make great gifts, so, order away!

Well, I think I have to go. Little Mister is fussy in his Johnny Jump Up. Must be nap time! I look forward to hearing from you!

Betsy

I’ve Been Thinking

And no I didn’t hurt myself. 

When I started Treat a couple of months ago, I really wanted to be able to blog about the little things that I do that are easy and make my life easier.  Sadly, I have  a full-time job and a baby who won’t stop crying unless I’m holding him.  He’s crying right now, as a matter of fact.  Nevertheless, I wanted to take this moment to give you a few little tips, things I’ve been thinking about lately.

1. When you have  a friend who has a baby, give her a gift for her, not just for the baby.  It’s easy to forget about the new Mommy, so it will mean a lot to her if you get her something special.  (See Gift Guides for more info)
2. Throwing a kid’s party doesn’t have to be a huge production.  Most kids are creative and love art.  Make a bunch of plain sugar cookies and let the kids decorate them with icing and sprinkles.  You can cut the corners out of plastic baggies to make piping bags.  The best part is the kids get to eat their creations.  If you put newspaper on the table the kids are working on, you can just wad up the mess when it’s all over.  That’s the best part for you!
3. If you like to cook or do crafts, it’s a really good idea to invest in a rolling cart that has storage on the bottom and a work space on the top.  That way you have a place to store all of your supplies and a place to work, but you can just roll it all away when you’re done.  (This is an awesome tip from my friend, Shelley.  She’s a crafter and we are both working on getting one of these)
4. Individually wrapped cookies decorated with your wedding colors or your initial would make fantastic wedding favors.  This is a great alternative to the played out Jordan Almonds!

Well, I guess that’s all I’ve got for today.  I hope you all have a great week!

With Love,

Betsy

Introducing Noah’s Treats!

Today I was doing my hippie thing and making homemade baby food for my Little Mister and I got to thinking…

Homemade baby food is so awesome!  It’s easy to make, although a little time-consuming.  It made with fresh produce, no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors.  It’s way cheaper.  And, Noah Davis prefers it to the jarred kind.  Plus, it’s easy to mix different flavors together to make food that your baby will love.  For instance, I always mix the green stuff with the orange stuff for Noah.  He’s not a fan of the green stuff, but a little sweet potato or carrot in there and he eats it up.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “Betsy, who makes homemade baby food?  That’s crazy!”  Well the answer is, of course, I do! (And I know it’s a little crazy, Ryann (my BFF) has told me over and over!)  And I’m making these wholesome homemade baby foods available to you!

“Noah’s Treats” are foods that I make from all-natural ingredients that your baby will love!  These single food purees and gourmet combinations are delivered to you in frozen cubes in a convenient 2 tablespoon portion.  You get 8 cubes per order and you can mix cubes within an order.  Each order is only $1.  That will save you up to $1.50!  Organics are also available at $1.75 per order.  

Coming Soon to {Treats} Menus:

• Noah’s Treats
• Low Fat/Fat Free
• Low Carb
• Low Sugar/Sugar Free 

Happy Valentine’s Day

I just wanted to say Happy Valentine’s Day to all my fans and a big THANK YOU to all my new customers.  New pictures are posted in the gallery of some of the Valentine’s Day Cookies that I made.  New specials are in the works, as well as an Etsy Store (treatsbybetsy.esty.com).  Check back soon!

Betsy

Valentine’s Day Specials

We all love Valentine’s Day! (and by “we,” I, of course, mean women!)  To celebrate this most commercial of all commercial Holidays, I’m running a few specials. 

My Twitter friends have already  heard about the buy one dozen get one free cookies deal (promo code Twitter).

For my fellow chocolate lovers, I’ve added a chocolate covered special.  Chocolate covered pretzels and cookies are half price (promo code Choc).

Valentine’s Day Treat Bags are also available for $5 each or $20 for 5.  These contain 1 dozen pink pressed or sugar cookies with sprinkles.

All specials are available until February 14th, but if you want them delivered by Valentine’s Day please order by February 7th.

The first 5 people to order, will receive a free gift, so get crackin’! 

(Order forms available on the “How to Get Your {Treats}” page) 

Love you all!

Betsy

Friends, Family, Fun, and Food!

It has been a fantastic weekend. Friday was my actual birthday and I celebrated by taking the day off and hanging out with my kiddos. My husband took us to lunch at Copeland’s. Copeland’s is always great and this was no exception. Drew and I split tomato basil soup and chicken parmesan. Drew loved the soup, but didn’t care much for the “little spaghetti” that came with the chicken. Mark had something with eggplant, so I don’t know if it was good or not. I’m not a fan of eggplant. After lunch and a quick trip to Wal-Mart that turned into a long trip to Wal-Mart, the boys and I came home. They took a nap and I broke out my brand new stand mixer for the first time and made vanilla sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting. They were a big hit! (Picture in the gallery) We finished up Friday with our good friends and neighbors coming over for dominos. Then I had a long phone conversation with my sister-in-law.

Saturday, I had a lazy morning, which is always good and then headed to meet up with my other sister-in-law and my niece for a girl day. Well, it wasn’t all girls. Noah, my American Express Baby (I don’t leave home without him), came with me. Shogun to start, teryaki chicken, edmame, rice, vegetables, the whole deal and it was excellent. Then we went for pedicures, which MaKennah deemed ”delightful,” and some shopping. All in all it was an awesome day. I love chillin with my girls!

Today, we tried out a new church. It was interesting. I’ve been a Baptist my whole life and we went to Methodist church. My husband was raised Methodist so he wanted to give it a shot. I think it was good, so we’ll probably go back next week. After church we made an actual quick trip to Wal-Mart and then headed over to my Mom’s for Chicken Enchiladas. They are my favorite thing my Mom cooks and she makes them for me every year for my birthday. She got me the cutest cake, too! It was Hello Kitty and it had one small cake in the middle and cupcakes all around it.

Now we’re home. I just finished the last bowl of my husband’s amazing chili. Noah’s in bed, Drew’s on his way and I’m headed to have a cup of tea and lay on my heating pad.

I think I’ll need one more piece of cake before bed…

New Treats, New Pictures, New Prices

It’s all new today, y’all.  Over the weekend I experimented with some new stuff and it all turned out pretty well.  The first thing I made were pecans with olive spread.  They were a huge pain in the rearola, as my mom would say, but totally worth it in the end.  Then I made puff pastry hearts with parmesan cheese.  They were both beautiful and delicious.  For the sweet stuff, I made a strawberry cake with strawberry preserves between the layers and chocolate frosting, pink heart-shaped cookies with pink sprinkles, and chocolate covered strawberries that could’ve turned out better, if I’m being honest.  All in all it was a huge success.  Check out the pictures on the gallery page.

In other news, I’m beginning to put together a price list.  It’s coming along slowly, because I’m not very “money minded” (ask my husband, he’ll tell ya!).  I have made some decisions though and I will be posting those prices on the “How to Get Your Treats” page as soon as I can.

Also, notice that I’ve add a few widgets to the blog to make it easier to follow.  You can click the button to the right and have updates delivered to your inbox.  You can see my most recent Tweets over there as well.

I hope you’ll all help me spread the word about {Treats}.  Your support means a ton to me!

Oh, by the way, a little party throwing trick…  If you need a quick and easy appetizer, just throw some cocktail sauce over a block of cream cheese and serve it with crackers.  I did it at my party on Saturday and people loved it!  That’s a freebie for ya.

Treats for Teachers

The “Bring You Teacher a Special Treat Day” treat bags turned out great!  It was so much fun to break out my old cookie press and a classic recipe and whip up a really cute gift.  My cheif taste tester, Drew, said the cookies were tasty and they are so pretty.  I couldn’t be happier.  There are more pictures on the Gallery Page, too. 

“Bring Your Teacher a Special Treat” Day?

So, every month at my kids’ daycare they give us a calendar of the month’s events.  This month, I looked at the calendar…  Pajama Day, Drew will love that… MLK day, I wonder if I’m off work for that… Hat Day, Drew will never be able to pick… Bring Your Teacher a Special Treat?…  Really?… Didn’t I just come bearing Christmas Treats?  (And was I the only one who did?)  Didn’t I just have my five-year old personally sign Christmas cards?  Didn’t I just buy snacks for a Christmas party?  Well, as my mom said, “if you make the calendar, I guess you can put whatever you want on it.”  Well, being the person that I am and remembering that I didn’t bring anything for the Teacher Appreciation Lunch last month (envision me rolling my eyes), I know I’ll do something.  But what?  I don’t want to spend that much money (or any money).  And we’re talking about 3 teachers between my two kids.  What to do, what to do??? 

I decide on pressed sugar cookies.  I love any excuse to get my ancient cookie press out.  It’s a hand-me-down from my grandmother’s sister and I absolutely LOVE IT.  I almost always have the stuff to make sugar cookies on hand (and I bet you do too whether you know it or not).  I have some treat bags I got on sale at Target that just have snowmen on them.  Seeing that it is 7 degrees outside I think snowmen are appropriate.  I can use food coloring to make them different colors and I can let Drew pick the shapes.  Ha!  I love how these things work themselves out in my brain!  Some people paint, some people sing, or write.  Me, I can come up with the perfect treat for any occasion.  What can I say?  It’s a gift. 

“Bring Your Teacher a Special Treat Day” is Monday, I’ll let you know how they turn out!

Just a Mom Who Loves to Cook

There’s nothing that makes me happier than making something delicious and beautiful to eat and then sharing it with the people I love.  I love to cook, bake, and of course, I love to eat!  I don’t want to be the next Food Network star, I don’t want to write cookbooks, I don’t need to make a lot of money.  I just want to share food with people, with you and your family.  I want to know that I’ve put a smile on your face and filled your tummy with something wonderful.  This is why I’m starting {Treats}.  Bon appetite!

Betsy