9/29/11

New Paddle!

  I think this is such a cool idea.  I hate having to stop our mixer between adding ingredients to scrape down the bowl.  Just think... this does the job for you!  You can find this Kitchen Aid paddle at Target.

Pin It

9/28/11

Chocolate Cupcake With a Rolo on Top!

  Doesn't this look heavenly???  Really...I just want to bury my face into one of these!  And guess what... you can get the recipe!!!!  I haven't made these yet, so if you make them before I do, please tell me what you think of them. Enjoy!      
Pin It

9/26/11

Cookie Monster!

Don't you want a Cookie Monster Cup Cake???  I know I do!  Picture from Pinterest
Pin It

9/24/11

Change of colors

Its already fall!  Can you believe it?  Where did summer go?  But how fun it will be to sit in front of a campfire, drink hot cocoa, and bundle up! The cool weather brings on soup season, so today we made minestrone soup.


  It is a Olive Garden copycat recipe.  Try it, its so good!
It calls for spinach, but we didn't have any so we're missing one ingredient, but it still tasted good without it.





Pin It

9/22/11

Galaxy Nails

Have you ever heard or tried galaxy nails?  I just heard of it at A CUP OF JO.  She did a post on it and I think it looks so cool!  I tried it on myself and got the galaxy look but the colors that I used were too different, so it just looked kind of blotchy.  Check it out and tell me what you think!

Pin It

9/21/11

Hair Tutorials

I love all of these hair styles that I found from Pinterest. I'm always looking for new ways to do my hair.  Do you have any cool hair styles that you love to use?





Pin It

9/19/11

Tea in the Cold


















Cold weather has finally hit Ohio which makes me think of hot tea.  I haven't had a  cup of tea since...  last winter.


I found this pretty little tea cup from Anthropologie.
                         Pin It

9/15/11

Rolo Treats!



Don't you just want to reach into this picture and grab one of those candies?
I so feel like making these!  But we don't have Rolos. :(  Here's the recipe!  They are so easy, good, and a great party snack. Enjoy! Pin It

9/12/11

Simply Delish!

Today for supper I made something new that I created.  It is so creamy and delicious!  Here is the recipe.

                                                           Creamy Mushroom Noodles with Meatballs
Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef
2 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 pieces of torn bread soaked in 1/4 cup milk.
1 egg
1 Tbsp dried chives  (we have some chive plants that I cut, dry, and put in a container for winter.  You could just use your own favorite herb.
2 slices onion chopped
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Add all of these ingredients in a bowl and mix well.


  Then make 1" balls out of the meat mixture.  After you have formed all the meat into balls put them in a skillet with melted butter.  Cook the meatballs until they are brown all over.


Take out the meatballs and put them in a casserole, then put them in the oven at a low temperature. (I just put them in our warming drawer on low)  If you have a lot of grease in the skillet then dump it all out.  We use grass fed beef that is not greasy.

Prepare a package of noodles as directed.

                                                          Creamy Mushroom Sauce


1 (10 1/2 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup sour cream
2 slices onion chopped
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of these ingredients in the same skillet that you made the meatballs in.  Heat and add the meatballs and noodles.  Mix together and put cheese on top as a garnish.  Enjoy!

Pin It

9/10/11

Party Cakes!

I love these assorted cakes!  They look so yummy!  Picture from pinterest.

Pin It

Cats on the Edge

Our cats love to lay in boxes on our back porch and they don't seem to care if it's on firm ground or not.

  
Pin It

9/8/11

Baby Chicks!

We got baby chicks today through the mail.  They just hatched yesterday so you can imagine how small they are.  They are Barred Rocks which are a variety of egg layers.  Hopefully we'll get eggs from them in about 5 months. Aren't they adorable?

Pin It

Funnel Cakes! :)

My mom got this recipe from a magazine a long time ago.  I was so thrilled when she told me that we had a Funnel Cake recipe!  Here it is.

                                                                     Funnel Cakes

Ingredients:
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooking oil  (I just used Canola oil.  One time we were out of Canola oil so I just used lard, and          that worked fine)

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and milk.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture; beat smooth with rotary beater.  (test mixture to see if it flows easily through funnel.  If too thick, add milk; if too thin, add flour.)  In 8-inch skillet, heat cooking oil to 360 degrees (I used a candy thermometer to check the temperature).  Covering bottom opening  of funnel with finger, pour a generous 1/2 cup batter into funnel.  Remove finger and release batter into hot oil in a spiral shape.  Fry till golden, about 3 minutes.  Using wide spatula and tongs, turn cake carefully.  Cook 1 minute more.  Drain on paper toweling; sprinkle with sifted confectioners' sugar.  (It says it only makes 4 cakes but I got 5 out  of one batch).
Pin It

9/7/11

America's Test Kitchen Recommends...

America's Test Kitchen is a website and TV show showing the best recipes for different food.  And they test kitchen equipment and tell you which brand is the best to buy. They also test the many items that we use every day.   For bottled barbecue sauce they  recommend Bull's-eye Original Barbecue Sauce.


The taste testers said that it had a "robust" and "spicy" taste.  They also said that it had a "great, sticky crust" in the broiled chicken tasting, and that it was a good dip for chicken nuggets. Pin It

9/6/11

Homemade Hot Cocoa and Whipped Cream

Today it was cloudy, windy, and cold.  So I was feeling like making hot cocoa.  Here is the recipe that I created.
                                                                       Hot Cocoa

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa
1 small cinnamon stick
1/4 cup miniature marshmallows
1 tbsp caramel
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
6 1/2 cup milk

Mix the water, cocoa, cinnamon, marshmallows, caramel, vanilla, and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat.
Keep it on medium heat until the sugar and cocoa is dissolved. 

 Then add the milk and heat to desired temperature. 


Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 white sugar

Use the whisk attachment and whip it at the highest speed until it is fluffy (don't whip too long or you'll get butter!)
 And the finished product is hot cocoa with whipped cream and a few cocoa covered marshmallows on top! 









Pin It

Measuring cups

I love these measuring cups from anthropologie.  I don't think I would ever want to use them for measuring cups though, they're too pretty! 
Pin It

9/5/11

Golden Corral Rolls

I found this recipe on the internet and liked it very much. I was very surprised how much they tasted like Golden Corral Rolls.  It was weird, I couldn't really see a big difference from this recipe to a regular white bread recipe, but the taste was so very different.  It was so light, sweet, and GOOD!  Here is the recipe for them.   
 Notes:
  I put the dough in a warming drawer to rise.  Instead of the dough taking 1 1/2 hours to rise, like the recipe suggests, it took the it around 40 minutes.  After I shaped the dough into rolls, I put them in for 15 minutes because I wanted to make sure that they were plump enough.        
Pin It