Chinese Hot Pot

Tonight I got to experience a Chinese Hot Pot! My cousin Dean that is in for a visit from Taiwan, invited my family & I over for dinner. I had such a good time. I wasn't quite sure what a Hot Pot entailed, but I loved it! Dean had made a really big batch of broth (not sure what else you would call it) with veggies in it. There were two tables set up and on each table there was a pot in the middle that was on and had the broth boiling hot. There were all kinds of things to cook like shrimp balls, meatballs, chicken, steak, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, corn, brussel sprouts, etc. You would just pick out what you wanted and throw it in the pot for it to cook. It didn't take long at all for the food to get ready, but it was a lot of fun chit chatting while the food cooked and then getting to try different things. I thought it was really sweet of them to have us over and give us the awesome experience.

Dean getting the hot pot ready

Tis the Season

I love Christmas time. I had a great time with family this weekend. We had my Dad's side of the family over for our annual Christmas lunch. My cousin, Dean, flew in from Taiwain & surprised everyone. We hadn't seen him in three years so it was an awesome surprise. I really have missed him.

Dean playing on the stomp rockets my parents got my 2nd cousins

Hanging out before lunch

Love Mom's Gingerbread tree

Right now I'm all cozy in my bed watching a Christmas movie on the Family Channel with my sister. Love lazy Sundays....well, I do have a load of laundry in the washer right now..so that's not completely lazy, right? : )

I must say I absolutely LOVE my new camera. It's awesome & was so worth getting up early Black Friday. I took pictures of some cookies I made for a cookie exchange party and they turned out a lot clearer than my old camera.

Pumpkin mini muffins I made for the brunch

These cookies had cranraisins, pecans, & lemon zest in them..with a lemon glaze on top

I originally made peppermint sugar cookies and they didn't turn out like I thought they would, so Mom suggested I make these easy "cookies." It's just ritz crackers with peanut butter in the middle, dipped in chocolate...very simple & good! 

Well, I'm going to publish this & finish watching this Christmas movie...it has Zack Morris in it from Saved by the Bell! haha....sad, but I don't know his real name!

Black Friday

It's almost Thanksgiving...and to be honest I'm not really looking forward to Thanksgiving, but the day after. Usually I do look forward to Thanksgiving day, but this year it'll just be Dad, Mom, me & Sara. I'm sure our boyfriends will come over later. Alex is working so I'm not sure what time he will be getting off and Dusty & Susan are doing Thanksgiving with her family this year. It's kind of depressing that we don't have any grandparents that are alive. I'm very thankful for the family I DO have though.

Anyways, the plan this year is my friend, Elizabeth, & I are going to go Black Friday shopping before going into work at 9a.m. We did that the year before last & it made for a looong work day lol. It was worth it though. Last year we took a vacation day; I wasn't able to do that this year though because my coworker had dibs on it. The only big ticket item I want this year is a digital camera. Elizabeth might look for a tv, she hasn't decided yet.

Have you seen the Target Black Friday commercial for this year? It is hilarious!

Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy Shopping! : )

Weird Pizzas

So, the other day I decided to cook lunch for the family. I was being a bum and still in pjs (hey, it was Sunday!) so I definitely wasn't up to going to the store for ingredients so I just used what I had. 

Sara wanted a regular pizza...but since we didn't have pizza sauce I used spaghetti sauce. We also didn't have mozzarella cheese ...so cheddar cheese it was! I also put black olives, pepperonis, yellow peppers, and some left over meatballs from the baby shower lol. It was a very random pizza. Can't say I will make it again, but I thought it was good.

So not a healthy pizza!

Up close

The other pizza I made was a chicken bbq pizza. Oh yeah, for the crust for both pizzas I made it in my Mom's bread machine & added garlic to the crust as well. I boiled chicken until done then sliced it into small pieces. Then I added Italian dressing to the chicken, bbq sauce, and garlic. I mixed it up really well then put it on the crust. Then I added cheddar cheese, pineapple tid bits, and yellow peppers. This pizza was my favorite out of the two weird concoctions lol.

Love cheddar cheese

Yum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cake Pops for the Baby Shower

I made cake pops for the triple baby shower this weekend. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I ended up making about 50 cake pops. It was getting late & I was getting tired so my sister, Sara, & her boyfriend, Timmy, helped me decorate some of them...we were getting kind of goofy so some of them turned out not so cute lol.

I doubt I will be making any more cake pops for a good while lol.

And on a totally non-related note...I can't get over the fact that Ashton Kutcher had been cheating on Demi Moore! I'm sitting here watching Two and a Half Men and it made me think about it. I really thought Ashton & Demi were in it for the long haul. I know the odds were against them with their age difference & all but still.... I guess that's Hollywood for ya though.

*sigh* I've always had a thing for him since That 70's Show

I seriously doubt Two & a Half Men is going to make it without Charlie Sheen (winning!), but at least there's some eye candy for now : )

Baby Shower Gifts

I can't post this until after the upcoming baby shower next weekend, so I'll have this automatically post Sunday evening. Both of my sisters-in-law and my cousin are pregnant, so we are throwing a TRIPLE shower! It should be lots of fun! I made Carrie, my sister-in-law that lives next door, a maternity shirt. It was an iron on pattern and super simple.

Carrie modeling her shirt. It says "Miracle in Progress."

 I also found some super cute iron on jewel blingy letters at Hobby Lobby. They were pink and shiny...my favorite! lol. Those were a little more time consuming but so worth it because it came out really cute. I took a plain pink onesie and ironed on her name..Charlotte. Her full name will be Charlotte Rose...such a beautiful name. I can't wait to meet my baby niece!

Cell phone pic

I'll have to take some pictures of the shower & post them. Should be a fun time! : )

Such an amaetur baker

I went shopping with my Mom running errands and what not and we stopped by Aldi to get a few things. I saw a box mix for a no bake cheese cake & thought that would be an easy/quick dessert. The directions were to mix in 1 & 1/2 cups milk and beat til firm then put into graham cracker crust and let chill for about an hour. Easy enough, right? Yeah...unless you are ADD like me and get distracted by everything lol. I was chit chatting with my Mom in the kitchen while putting this simple cheesecake together...when after I was done putting it into the pie crust and putting some mandarin oranges on top (for garnish) that I realized I made a big mistake. I had put 1 & 1/2 cups WATER instead of milk!!! I don't know why in the world I did that... But, it was too late, it was already mixed up. So, I did what any normal person would do...I took some fruity wine I had bought at Aldi and poured a little bit on top of the cheesecake making sure to soak the mandarin oranges. I thought for sure it wasn't going to set up so might as well add a splash of "fun" to it haha. It actually turned out GOOD! I couldn't believe it. lol. I guess in the future I could do that as a 'low calorie' dessert since cutting out that much milk would cut out a bunch of calories. And I'd of course have to leave out the wine haha.

Source

This isn't a picture of the cheesecake I made, but it's close enough. I didn't think about taking a picture of what I thought was going to be a disastrous dessert. lol.

Late Halloween post

I am in dire need of a new camera. I broke mine almost two months ago & it's about to drive me crazy. Sara lets me borrow hers, but it seems when I end up blogging it is late at night when I don't have access to her camera (she's asleep.) So, this leaves my blog lacking pictures.

This will be a short post. I just wanted to show off my new cupcake carrier and highly recommend it. My Mom gave it to me for my birthday; she ordered it from Amazon. It's called The Cupcake Courier.

First cake, then presents! :)

I was VERY excited!

I've taken my cupcake carrier to work a couple times now. The last time I brought it was on Halloween. I made the same mummy cupcakes I made for a friends party. They were super easy to make & turned out cute.

I also made "witch fingers" using homemade sugar cookies and almonds as the fingernails. Everyone really liked the mummy pizzas I made. All it was were sandwich thins, pizza sauce, cheese sticks, and black olives. There was other food not pictured...like buzzard dip...sounds gross but omg it's so good! I don't have the recipe on hand, but all it has in it is: cream cheese, mild/hot sausage, rotel tomatoes & green chilies. Then serve with tortilla chips...yum!

Til next time! :)

DIY- Coasters

I've really gotten into crafts since I've been addicted to Pinterest. One of my besties and I had another craft night a couple Friday's ago. It was so funny because by the time we got our materials together (takes longer than you would think!) we weren't getting started until almost 9..so I ended up staying there til after 1 a.m....we are wild party animals, I tell ya! lol. She made a Halloween wreath while I made coasters for my boyfriend and his friend. Her wreath was really cool and was made out of foam and toothpicks..spray painted black.

I stole this pic off Elizabeth's FB : )

I wish I had taken a picture of the coasters I made for Dustin and his friend, Oliver. Dustin's were the Avengers symbols. He really liked them a lot. His friend's coasters were of Magic cards. I think they could have turned out better, but hey it was my first try. ; )

**Took of a picture of these last night with my cell, that's why they aren't very clear but you get the idea :)

So, that gave us the idea to make coasters as a wedding gift for a friend of ours. So, Elizabeth & I bought the tiles at Lowes (16 cents a piece!!) and started brain storming. We wanted something personal so we decided on monogrammed coasters. We found some scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby that had the same colors that she was using in her wedding. Then we printed out the actual monogram at my house (after taking a good while deciding what font etc lol). We mod podged (can that be used as a verb??) the scrapbook paper & the monogrammed paper onto the tile...we did that a couple times. Then we spray painted them with a clear glossy coat, added the felt dots, and they were done! They came out pretty good & our friend loved them! : ) Here's the link of the tutorial we used. We altered it a little.

We were sitting at my Mom's dining room table so we had to put a towel under them ;)

We made four total...I have better pics on Sara's camera but it's late so I'm just uploading cell phone pics.

 I'm super anxious to start working on Christmas crafts. Elizabeth & I need to make another craft date soon to do that! : )

Saturday

It's Saturday morning and I'm doing a little baking. Nothing exciting, just regular chocolate chip cookies. I'm baking them for the Fire Department supper tonight. My friend, Elizabeth, asked me if I wanted to contribute a dessert for them to sell and I decided on chocolate chip cookies because who doesn't like those?? : ) Well, I finally uploaded some pictures to my computer last night so I can post pictures of the pumpkin dessert I made.


I made a pumpkin cake with apple cider glaze. It didn't turn out very pretty (as all my recipes haha) but it tasted good & didn't last around the house very long. :)

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze
For the Cake:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
For the Glaze:1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons apple cider
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Empty the contents of the boxed cake mix and pumpkin puree into a large bowl.  Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated.  The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely.

Pour batter into a greased  7 x 11 X 2 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not over bake.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.

Make the glaze while you're waiting.

Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and pumpkin pie spice.  Glaze should be thick but pourable.  Add more sugar or cider if needed.  Pour over the cake while still warm.  Reserve some to pour over each slice when served.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Not very good presentation, but you get the idea lol 

 I also made some cute Halloween cookies for work. It was from a simple recipe for sugar cookies, but you replace some of the flour with cocoa. 

Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa
• About 36 candy corns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat/stir the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in the egg yolk, vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour & cocoa, and mix until a dough forms.

Scoop out level teaspoons (a measuring teaspoon, not a cereal teaspoon) of dough, and place balls on baking sheets, 2 inches apart. (It looks like too little dough for each cookie, but it works.) Roll into balls.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are firm and cookies are dry to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes.

While these are baking, start going through the bag of candy corn to find 36 good ones.

Remove from oven; gently press a candy corn into center of each cookie (surface of cookies may crack slightly). The candy corns will stick once the cookies heat them up..they seem like they will fall off at first, don't worry.

Cool on sheets 1 minute; transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Make 32-36 cookies.

Don't you love how I try to make it a cute picture with the pumpkin & I don't even clean up my mess in the background lol

I made a bunch of these cookies, but took the picture before they were all done because I figured I'd forget. 

 

 

 

 

 

So, back to the simple chocolate chip cookies......totally burned the first batch! lol. I put them on the bottom rack without thinking about...so now working on the second batch. Hopefully these turn out better!

Been a while...

I've been really slacking with writing...I haven't been doing too much baking either. But, FALL is here and it's my favorite time of the year! I have so many things in mind to bake. Fall just makes you want to put on warm, comfy clothes and eat yummy comfort food. I can't wait until it's time to pack up summer clothes for good and get out all my hoodies, leggings, boots, etc.

I have been super obsessed with www.pinterest.com I find myself repinning a lot of pumpkin recipes lately. I'm going to make one tomorrow that I can't wait to try. I'll have to remember to take pictures & actually post it! You should definitely check out Pinterest if you haven't already. But, I must warn you...it's VERY addicting!

Last Saturday my bestie, Elizabeth, & I had a "craft day" at her house. We had all these different craft ideas in mind to make for the day and thought we'd make at least 3 crafts or so...that didn't really work out. First we had to go get the materials... that didn't go as we had thought it would..it took waaaay longer. Seems, we are very indecisive. lol. Picking out fabric alone took over an hour and I may or may not have broke one of the shelf racks at Walmart and made about 100 fabric squares fall to the floor..lol Oops! After we got our materials from Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, & Walmart & refueled with some Chick-fil-A we finally made wreaths! We found the idea on Pinterest (of course!) and went at it. It was a lot of fun! We also made a scarf out of a t-shirt, but I don't have a picture of that...maybe I should do that! We have a lot more fun ideas for fall, winter, & Christmas that we want to do.

Cutting strips of fabric

Elizabeth cutting her fabric

My finished product for my bedroom

Elizabeth's finished product...fall wreath :)

I made another wreath the next day too.

Hopefully I will be posting again tomorrow with the pumpkin recipe I plan on making! : )

Cake Pops

Cake pops seem to be the new fad here lately...so of course I had to follow the crowd & try them out for myself ; ) They were very simple to make & turned out super cute...they would be ideal for parties or get togethers!

Ingredients:

• Cake mix (and ingredients listed on box) {use the flavor of your choice}

• 1/2 can of icing (flavor of your choice)

• Milk chocolate candy melts (I used one bag from Hobby Lobby)

• Lollipop sticks (from Hobby Lobby) 

• Colorful icing for decorating

• Sprinkles 

Directions:

• Prepare & bake the cake as directed on the box
• After the cake has cooled, crumble it up into a large bowl
• Put half of the can of icing in the cake crumbs & then mix with your hands (time to get dirty!)
• Make sure the cake is mixed very well with the icing them start forming small round balls of cake
• Microwave chocolate in microwavable bowl, but make sure not to overcook!
• Stir thoroughly until completely melted then dip a lollipop stick into the chocolate
• Place the lollipop stick into the center of the cake pop (the icing acts as a glue)
• Now roll the cake pop into the chocolate...I dipped a spoon into the chocolate & then rolled the cake pop around in the spoon until evenly coated
• and lastly is the fun part...decorating!

You can also set the lollipop sticks into styrofoam so the cake pops will stand upright, but I didn't have any styrofoam but I thought it turned out just as cute : )

Cherry Jello Dessert

A friend from work gave me this recipe. I was looking for something low cal that was "summery" & this seemed like a type of dessert for a cookout. It's very refreshing & light. I have no clue what the actual name of this recipe is so I just made up one ; )

Cherry Jello Dessert 


2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 box cherry sugar free jello
1 can cherry pie filling (no sugar added)
15 oz crushed pineapple (don't drain)

• Boil water & sugar
• Add jello & dissolve
• Add pie filling & pineapple (with juice)
• Pour into 13 x 9 dish & congeal

Topping:
8 oz Sour Cream (light)
8oz Cream Cheese (fat free)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup pecan pieces 

• Mix sour cream & cream cheese with hand mixer
• Add sugar & vanilla 
• Mix until smooth
• Pour topping over jello & smooth
• Sprinkle nuts over top if desired
• Chill before eating  

It doesn't look very pretty, but it tastes good! ; ) 

Nutritional Facts: Makes 12 servings, 140 calories, 3g fat, 0 fiber, 175 sodium, 11g sugar

Random

I was looking through some of my pictures on the computer & I thought these were worth posting. I wish I had a better camera....my camera seems to take the worst pictures in the kitchen because of the lighting. Oh well, you get the idea ; )

This is a cake my sister, Sara, made from scratch. I thought it was really pretty & it tasted great! Yellow cake & chocolate icing...yum!

This is Kaylen, my friend Belinda's little girl...she & I were making cupcakes for Easter this year

Kaylen's finished product : ) (See what I mean about the lighting)

One of my mini cupcakes...I just think mini cupcakes are so cute!

I ended up with a lot of mini cupcakes so I made a little something for my brother & his wife. (Don't mind the ugly old pan I used to sit them on haha)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies

These turned out really good. The pumpkin spice with the chocolate has a really good taste. Kinda seems like a Thanksgiving dessert with the pumpkin ; )

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies 

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 & 1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1-1/2 ounces semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 chopped pecans

• Lightly grease baking dish with cooking spray, butter, or margarine. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Blend together flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside.
• Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar. Next add the egg, plus the vanilla extract. Continue mixing until well combined and smooth.
• Stir in the pumpkin puree and then turn speed to low. Mix in dry ingredients and blend until combined. Add chocolate chips and pecans.
• Spread the batter evenly in greased baking dish. Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean about 38 to 42 minutes.

**Makes about 28 brownies (depending on how big you cut them) 175 calories, 10g fat, 1g fiber**