Laura Tucker

Eggnog Cookies with a Creamy Spiced Glaze

December 20, 2016 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

Who’s ready for Christmas?! Can you believe Christmas will be here in just a few short days? Man, this year has really flown by! I’ve been so caught up in checking things off my my to-do list and wrapping presents like it’s going out of style, and I’ve been craving a moment of relaxation where I could just sit down, snuggle up in my husband’s recliner and watch Christmas movies. Seeing as how I have a 1 1/2 year old, that sort of thing is pretty much out of the question, but I CAN still have a little me time once in a while and indulge a little! I’ve always had a really big sweet tooth, so I knew that Christmas cookies would be just the thing to help me unwind a little.

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Farmhouse Style Valentine’s Day Decor

December 16, 2016 by Laura Tucker Leave a Comment

Southern Made Simple is part of several affiliate marketing programs, and thus affiliate links may be included throughout this post at absolutely no cost to you. As always, I love sharing my favorite Farmhouse Finds with you!

Once the Christmas decor is taken down from the shelves in stores, heart shaped boxes of chocolate, stuffed animals and candy hearts immediately start taking their place in preparation for Valentine’s Day! I’ve never been one to decorate much for Valentine’s Day, but it’s mostly because I’ve never found much Valentine-y decor that I actually liked.

I started to searching high and low at my favorite retailer (hello, Amazon!) to see if I could find a few pieces of home decor that fit my aesthetic a little better. Y’all know I’m crazy about the modern “farmhouse” look, so I was downright giddy when I found a few things that fit the part!…

Finding Beauty in Simplicity with 100% Pure Cosmetics – Review

December 13, 2016 by Laura Tucker 6 Comments

I received complimentary product and compensation in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts expressed within this post are completely my own. I only share things that I truly love! #ad #100percentpure #nodirtybeauty

What if I told you that you could highlight your natural beauty using things found in nature? That you could optimize your beauty routine by ditching the toxins, chemicals, preservatives and artificial colors and replace them with simple, 100% natural and cruelty free ingredients and still feel flawless and beautiful? I wasn’t so sure that I would ever find a makeup that would fit all of my needs that wasn’t filled to the brim with yucky chemicals, but I’ve seen the light on the other side, and it’s positively amazing (and 100% Pure!)

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Eggnog Ice Cream Coca-Cola Floats

December 12, 2016 by Laura Tucker 5 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone #SmartWayToShareJoy #CollectiveBias

Have you ever had an encounter with a ‘nog hog? You can usually find them during the month of December lurking around the refrigerator and guarding the carton of eggnog like their life depends on it. They’re the people who get crazy excited when the holidays come around, simply because it means they can spend a portion of the money they’ve divvied for presents on that liquid gold beverage they love so much. I just so happen to come from a family full of ‘nog hogs, and I’ve even seen my own siblings scuffle over who was going to get the last swig of eggnog out of the carton during a family gathering. Ah, sweet memories! 😉…

Simple Holiday Snowman Cheeseball

December 6, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HolidayRITZ #CollectiveBias

Some people love the holidays for the the presents and gift-giving. Others like it for the lights, carols, ribbons, bows, reindeer games and jolly plump men in Santa suits. And sure, all of those things are some pretty fabulous elements of this special season, but there’s something that really warms my soul more than anything else during this time of year. For me, it’s the people. I love to visit folks. I love to be surrounded by family, friends, love and laughter. I love to entertain. I love to serve. I find my joy in being with others, and everybody knows that when there’s a group of people gathered, there’s a spread of delicious food nearby waiting to be surrounded by others, too.

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Easy Holiday Gift Idea: DIY Hot Cocoa Gift Basket

December 5, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

This weekend I got to sneak into “town” and do some special holiday shopping for my friends and family. My husband stayed home with my daughter, so I got to walk around the store completely uninterrupted. No temper tantrums, no little hands reaching for items on the shelves and throwing them on the floor, and no frantically chasing a toddler down the aisles. It was bliss.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you may already know that I’m from a very small community in rural Alabama. There’s not much to my little town, just a few gas stations, a sandwich shop and a school. There is, however, a centerpiece in my community that makes surviving out here in the sticks much, much easier. It was also my store of choice on my much needed shopping trip this weekend, where I picked up a few supplies to put together a really fun little DIY project I’m about to share with you. You may be surprised to know that the gem that I’m referring to is my beloved Dollar General store, and I am pumped about all of the sweet holiday items I scored there!

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Little Deer Sugar Cookies

December 5, 2016 by Laura Tucker 1 Comment

I’ve mentioned once or twice before that my family rarely buys ground hamburger meet. Because my husband is an avid hunter, we primarily eat venison instead of beef. Deer season just recently opened up here, and my husband has been in the woods every chance he gets hoping to snag a trophy and keep our family’s freezer filled with enough meat to last us the year. I’m certain that I don’t vocalize it nearly enough, but I’m so proud of my husband for being the amazing provider that he is.

To celebrate the opening of deer season this year, I decided to make my husband a special treat to come home to when he came out of the woods. I found this super cute little deer cookie cutter online and snatched it up just in time for opening weekend. I knew that making a batch of sugar cookies shaped like little deer would be just the thing to celebrate!

What really makes these cookies so wonderful is the dough. Friends, this is THE perfect sugar cookie dough recipe. At least, in my eyes it is. 🙂 The texture is so smooth, it’s not too sticky, it’s easy to roll out, and it bakes to perfection every time. The flavors are spot on – almost like those addicting little seasonal sugar cookies that Pillsbury pushes during every holiday.

After mixing up my dough and letting it chill in the fridge, I poured a little flour out on my counter and spread the dough out using a rolling pin. I went to town cutting out the little fawn shapes and spreading them out on a greased cookie sheet. (Note: You kind of have to be delicate with this cookie cutter as the legs are pretty thin and the dough shape can break easily!)

After the cookies baked in the oven and completely cooled down, I added a little gel icing to finish them up! Here’s a free printable copy of my sugar cookie recipe. If you don’t have a deer cookie cutter, you can still use this recipe with whatever shape of cookie you’d like!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Deer Cookies

Prep Time2

Cook Time8

Total Time2 8

Course: Desserts

Servings: 40

Author: Southern Made Simple

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter or 3/4 cups butter - softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar until creamy
Add in eggs and vanilla and blend well
In a separate bowl. combine flour, salt and baking powder
Blend flour into sugar and butter mixture and beat with mixer until thick dough forms
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350F
Clean off counter space or use a large cutting board and dust a little flour over surface
Using a rolling pin, smooth out dough into a thin layer and press the cookie cutter to form shapes
On a greased baking pan, cook cookies for exactly 8 minutes
Remove from oven and transfer to plate to finish cooling
Frost as desired
Yields roughly 40-45 cookies

Tried this recipe?

Tag me on Instagram: @SouthernMadeSimple or use the hashtag #SouthernMadeSimple and share your love of southern cuisine!

And just to make things extra fun, you can add a red nose and transform these fawn cookies into reindeer cookies for Christmas!

My husband was really excited to see all of the deer cookies that were made just for him when he came home. This recipe is really fun to get children involved with…especially if they’ll be making these for Santa and his reindeer to nibble on at Christmas time! 😉

Do you have a fun or whimsical cookie that you like to make on special occasions? Do you have a deer hunter in your life that you’d love to make these for? Be a dear and leave a comment below! 😉

The BEST Ever Meat Loaf Recipe: Venison Edition

December 2, 2016 by Laura Tucker 33 Comments

I’ve been on a huge sweets-kick here lately with the holidays being in full swing. I looked back at my recent recipe posts and realized that most of them were sugary concoctions, so I thought I’d throw a little savory into the mix and share one of my go-to, fool-proof recipes that my family absolutely loves. I love to prepare it on nights when I don’t feel like doing a whole lot of prep work in the kitchen, and when I need something that’s totally easy to pair any sort of side dish with.

This super simple meatloaf recipe only requires 4 ingredients, yet it’s loaded with flavor and is super moist & delicious! There’s nothing worse than a dry meatloaf, but this one is totally perfect every time!

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Fresh Apple & Brown Sugar Cake

November 30, 2016 by Laura Tucker 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned a few times in previous posts about this fabulous little grocery store that I have nearby that always has an amazing deal on produce. They’re really good to slash their prices on the produce that needs to move out very quickly because it’s approaching it’s expiration date, and they almost always mark everything down to 99 cents for a large bundle. It’s a crazy good deal if you anticipate cooking with them pretty quickly, or taking the produce home and freezing it for later use. (For example, I got a 5 lb bag of organic carrots and a bag of key limes for 99 cents once. It was a total score!)

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