A Fall Craft - Mini Pumpkin Wreath

This blog aint just about food. Today I'm bringing you a Halloween craft idea! I know... you guys didn't know I could be crafty, did you? It's cool, neither did I!! 

Now don't go thinking I'm all sorts of amazing with my crafty skills, cuz I'm not. I actually am one of the least crafty people ever. I want to be crafty. I want to take old junk furniture and turn it into a masterpiece. I want to be able to make my own jewelry and clothes, and sew, and paint drawings, and sell stuff on Etsy. I want to gut my house and re-do it all by myself without calling in a professional. But let's face it, I'm not crafty. I asked for some art supplies two birthdays ago so I could get my art on. Nope, never touched it. It's still in the bag. And yes I've got some old pieces of random furniture that I've purchased throughout the years at numerous yard sales, stashed in the basement, which I vowed to renovate and never did.  I just get intimidated...

But for once, I saw a crafty Halloween idea on Pinterest and knew it was something I could actually start and finish. Sweeeeet! That Pinterest has got me inspired, thinking I can do all sorts of things! I've spent hours pinning different holiday-themed crafts and other house renovating ideas. I have been so inspired to decorate my home with fall and Halloween decorations, that I knew I had to make this wreath made with mini pumpkins from the grocery store.

First you wanna grab a wire hanger from the closet. I molded the wire hanger into a round shape as best I could. Stick each mini pumpkin through the wire... it will go through. I wondered... it does. Mine isn't the best circle, but it'll do. I secured the wire to itself and hung it on our door for guests to see right when they walk up. 

You can purchase the really mini pumpkins from your grocery store in the produce aisle. I got mine at Walmart. They weren't with the other large pumpkins, or even the smaller sized pumpkins that you would still display on your porch. Those are too big for this wreath. I couldn't find the tiny ones at our local outdoor pumpkin stand. Your best bet is to grab the tiny ones from the produce section.

And so there be it. My finished craft project! Isn't this Halloween wreath ultra cute? I think so. And it was super easy too. It better be, cuz that's pretty much the only way I could have completed it.

Go me! :)

Peace, and bacon grease!

 

Rocky Road Fudge {Week 5 of The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Sweets!}

It's Week 5 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas challenge, hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. Christmas is quickly approaching, people! Have you started shopping? Have you thought about it? I bought one present for PJ last week. And I feel pretty accomplished about it.

Fudge is one of those things that I instantly associate with Christmas time. It's rich, it's high in calories, but it's oh so good. I can never eat too much since it is so rich, but that's probably a good thing for my waist line. I love all kinds of fudge... peanut butter, chocolate, butterscotch, you name it and I'll eat it. I was super geeked to see this 10 minute recipe for making fudge over at my dear friend, Sarah's blog. Since I'm having to make a different treat each week, I've been trying to make easy and quick recipes. This one totally fit the bill.

I had never made fudge before and I was surprised at how simple it really is to whip together. Just melt some chocolate, condensed milk, and salt... throw in some peanuts and marshmallows... stir.... and BAM, you're done! Well, you gotta refrigerate it and allow it to harden of course. Unless you just want to eat the melted chocolate with peanuts and marshmallows thrown in. It wouldn't be fudge, but it definitely would be delicious. But I recommend making this fudge. I loved the crunch from the nuts in contrast to the pillowy marshmallows :)

Rocky Road Fudge

from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes

• 3 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted peanuts
• 1 and 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Line a 8x8 inch baking dish with parchment paper or spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. In a saucepan, combine chocolate chips, condensed milk, and salt. Heat on low, stirring constantly. Once smooth and completely melted, add peanuts and marshmallows. Stir again until smooth and peanuts and marshmallows are completely coated. Pour and spread into the baking dish. Refrigerate until firm, and slice when ready to serve.

Printable Recipe

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful Christmas goodies in the blog hop below. You can get your baking list ideas right here!

Linking up to: Tasty Traditions, GCC Recipe Swap, Full Plate Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Turning the Table Thursday, It's a Keeper Thursday, What's Cooking Thursdays?, Twisted Thursdays, Sweet Treats Thursday, These Chicks Cooked, Making It With Allie, and Tastetastic Thursday.


Peace, and bacon grease!

WWDB? Ben & Jerry's Maple Blondie Ice Cream

Wow, it's been awhile since I've wrote up a WWDB? post. And if you dunno what that is, it stands for WHAT WOULD DESI BUY? When I test a product and love it, I like to share it with you all so you can enjoy it too.

You're about to see alot of posts about ice cream that I would recommend. Yes, we eat alot of ice cream. And yes, we both are somewhat lactose intolerant. Lactaid comes in handy at our house :)

Are you guys fans of Ben & Jerry's ice cream? Me, I think they're pretty durn fun. They make ice cream tasty, of course, as well as super cool and fun. One that I've recently tasted and liked alot was Maple Blondie. If you like maple flavors, you'll love this. It's a maple-flavored ice cream with maple blondie chunks with a maple caramel swirl. How can you pass up maple, blondies, and caramel? Obviously, I couldn't!

And I've gotta try this controversial Schweddy Balls! Anybody had it, or is it banned in your house?

What are your fave ice cream brands and flavors?

P.S. Any ideas on what to call these posts? I originally thought of it as a spin on WWJD/What Would Jesus Do? But now, WWDB makes me feel a bit sacrilegious.  Anyone got a different creative name for these product review and recommendation posts I do?

Note to self: Don't equate myself with Jesus.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/24/11

What's up peeps? How's everyone's Monday going? Mine's decent enough, though my tummy is bothering me a bit. The weekend was fun... Saturday me and my mama went shopping at out to eat at BJ's Restaurant inside the mall. Um, love their beer battered fish that my mama let me try. My open faced pot roast sandwich was pretty good but I'll definitely be back for that fish! Yesterday, I met up with my bestie since we had to reschedule our plans last week, and more shopping and eating... this time at a different mall and we ate at Johnny Rockets. I hadn't been there in literally like 10 or 15 years... I had remembered it being overpriced and the food not so good. But it was pretty good this time. And I was anticipating the price so that didn't bother me either. We will definitely go back. And tonight I'm going out to eat at Bonefish Grill with some grade school friends! That's alot of eating out and spending money. So I'll definitely be fixing some home-cooked meals the rest of the week.

Well, my menu plan for the week is pretty much staying the same as last week. Cuz we didn't really make anything on the menu plan except the Skillet Lasagna which I will eventually post about, and burritos. So I'll be recycling 5 meals from last week. And tonight I'm going out to eat... and I'm sure we'll order something another day this week. So my menu plan is all set for the week by default!

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to add. This just may have been what made the weekend really great. I got accepted into Xavier University's Community Counseling graduate program! Woot woot! Go me :) I start in January. I'm overly excited. And terrified all at the same time! 

Hopefully 4 years outta school won't hinder me too much. Pretty sure I'm not gonna have a life for the next couple of years.

Peace, and bacon grease!

3 hours? Really?

Just wondering. Does it take anyone else 3 hours to write up a post? Or is that just my slow ass? Cuz I fell asleep early last night, hadn't blogged about my recipe or edited my photos for two cooking challenges, and then woke back up at one in the AM and had to have the post scheduled to publish at 8 AM the next day. I HAD to blog that night at 1:00 AM. But no biggie, I thought. It shouldn't take too long. 3 hours later, yes at 4:00 AM, my post was finally complete. But I had to wake up for work at 7 AM!! Screwed.

Now today I'm surviving off of few hours of sleep. I feel like I'm back in high school or college, pulling late nights to finish an assignment at the last minute. But not exactly because I do actually like blogging and editing photos.

But why the heck did it take me 3 hours to write up a post, edit several photos, and do all of the necessary requirements for two cooking challenges??? That's the part I just don't get. And I'm shaking my head at myself. I highly doubt that it takes anyone 3 hours to write up a post.  I'm still confused why it took me that long.

I guess it's the perfectionist in me? 

Or maybe it's the sluggish, technology-challenged, old lady in me?

Probably the latter.

So I'm guessing my old, slow, tired butt will be passed out at 7 o'clock tonight!!

Just wanted to share and make you guys feel better about yourselves. Because at least you aren't the slowest blogger in the world. That award goes to me  :)

That is all.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Caramel Apple Marshmallow Dip {Improv Cooking Challenge} + {Week 4 of The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Sweets!}

Top of the morning to you! I was recently contacted by Sheryl at Lady Behind the Curtain to participate in a monthly cooking challenge called The Improv Cooking Challenge, where each month we all have to make a dish that features two specific ingredients. I was all over that! 

For October, the first month, we had to make something with Caramel and Apple. That's where all those caramel apple recipes I've bookmarked came in handy, and I finally settled on this version of Caramel Apple Dip. I've seen variations of this simple yet delicious snack slash dessert recipe showing up all over the blogsphere and knew it would be made one fall day with some crisp apples. This was the perfect opportunity.

As you know, I'm also participating in The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Sweets weekly challenge, hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. Not gonna lie, it's tough to come up with a recipe to make every week, as well as find the time to make it during the week. So I figured why not kill two birds with one stone? So I'm submitting this Caramel Apple Dip to both linkies. This counts as a holiday "sweet", right? I say yes. Nod with me.

The slight modifications I made to the recipe were that I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar, and Hershey's caramel topping not Ghiradelli. We only needed 4 apples total instead of 6-8, (since there is only me and Peej), and used 2 granny smith apples and 2 honeycrisps. Had to use those honeycrisps since they're in season! Her recipe says to use 1/4-1/2 cup caramel, so we used 1/3 cup. We also didn't really measure out the heath bits... we just used as much as it took to completely cover the dip. I'll leave Tina's measurement of 1/2 cup heath bits since we just winged it. Oh yeah, and I added in the word "marshmallow" to the title, because in the future I hope to make a similar caramel apple recipe that doesn't include marshmallow, so I'll probably call that just Caramel Apple Dip, so I'll need to be able to differentiate the two. 

I'm always thinking ahead like that. Ok not always but usually. Ok not usually but sometimes. Ok ok hardly ever.

Caramel Apple Marshmallow Dip

ever so slightly adapted from Mommy's Kitchen

• 8-oz block of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup marshmallow cream
• 1/3 cup Hershey's caramel topping, + more for drizzling
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heath toffee bits (or however much you want to cover the dip)
• 2 granny smith apples, sliced
• 2 honeycrisp apples, sliced

Blend cream cheese and marshmallow cream in a medium mixing bowl until creamy. Add 1/3 cup caramel, dark brown sugar, and vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to a decorative bowl, or the center of a platter. Drizzle more caramel topping on top and sprinkle generously with toffee bits. If using bowl, place it in the center of a platter and surround with the sliced apples.

Printable Recipe

We couldn't stop eating this! It's a sweet dip, so it was kinda like our dessert before dinner. I'm so glad I've got some leftover for a snack tomorrow at work, too!

Don't worry, PJ already knows about my love affair with caramel  :)

Be sure to check out the Improv Cooking Challenge blog hop below!

And check out some tasty treats at The 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Sweets blog hop below, too!

Peace, and bacon grease!

Menu Planning - Week of 10/17/11

Why hello there my sexy peeps! How the heck are ya? How did everyone's weekends go? Mine was plenty fine, though some of my plans got canceled. I was supposed to meet up with my bestie for lunch on Saturday because we haven't seen each other in wayyyy too long! But unfortunately she wasn't feeling well and was also worn out and stressed from the week so we decided to meet up next week, also because we are both broke and get paid next week. Then I was also supposed to go shopping with my mama and help her return some clothes I bought her for her birthday that were too big, but she had a sinus headache and said we'll wait til next weekend. Man, either some sickness is really going around, or people just don't wanna hang out with me! :) But that was ok, because Saturday was Sweetest Day and I wanted to spend time with my sweetest anyway! Thanks, Hallmark, for the made-up holiday :) He worked a couple of hours that day, but we ended up spending most of the day together which was great, because otherwise I was only going to be spending the late evening with him. So I'm actually glad it worked out like it did! Saturday evening, PJ and I did some fine dining at The Palace Restaurant inside the Cincinnatian Hotel downtown on Vine Street. Talk about ultra fancy!!! (And feeling out of place lol). I'll post a review one of these days. Ya know, probably like a year from now. That's how I roll.

Did you like reading that whole book of a paragraph? Hey, I had alot to say! And I'm not done either...

Sunday was also great because PJ and I and his family all went to Keeneland for the horse races! That was my first time there. I originally had plans to hang with my mama on Sunday, but switched around some plans so that I wouldn't miss the horse races. I'm always nagging PJ about how we never go anywhere and he's a homebody so he's content with being home all the time, but we're young and I like to get out sometimes! I wasn't gonna miss this... I had to be able to cross it off of my bucket list. Horse races... check!

And man was it beautiful. Beautiful scenery and trees. The sun was beaming, yet it wasn't scorching hot. It was nice to spend time with family, drinking beers and margaritas (had my first one and I.LOVE!), betting on the races... though PJ and I didn't really bet much except on a couple of races; we spent our money on crap food and alcohol instead. What?

Some of those ladies are dressed to kill, too! I mean, why would you wear heels and a dress meant for a wedding to a horse race, where you have to stand most of the time? I would have been so uncomfortable! I've seen the ladies all dressed up in their dresses and oversized floppy sun hats (on tv), and wondered if I should go buy me a hat to wear to the event and attempt to dress up. But I decided against it when people said it aint the Kentucky Derby! And I'm so glad I didn't because I would have wanted to shoot myself if I had to stand and walk around in heels all day long! But there were still tons of ladies dressed to impress. I would too if I had a boxed seat and didn't have to do much walking.

But we had a blast, and will definitely go back one day when we actually have betting money. Plus we'll come better prepared with some foldable seats and maybe a cooler of beers and snacks for tailgating before time.

Are you guys tired of my weekend wrap-ups yet? I hope not, cuz I love to share them with you. Let's get on to the food already though....

Gotta keep it kinda cheap until Friday, cuz I'm broke as a joke! Especially after Keeneland yesterday and The Palace on Saturday. I never understood those folks who claim that money doesn't buy you happiness. Because I'm pretty sure I can't eat a delicious meal, enjoy some alcoholic beverages, gamble and other fun things without money. Just sayin. How shallow do I sound right now? You still love me though, right?

So yeah, I'm trying to work with items I already have in the pantry or fridge, or recipes that don't require me to buy a lot of ingredients. 

Oh, and can I puh-lease make this danged skillet lasagna already?!? If I don't make it this week I give up!!! lol

Monday 10/17/11:  Skillet Lasagna, with ciabatta bread

Tuesday 10/18/11:  Burritos with refried beans, onions, maybe some chicken and Avocado Dressing, with frozen corn

Wednesday 10/19/11:  Ranch Chicken with frozen veggies

Thursday 10/20/11:   Two-Packet Pork Chops and Ranch-Roasted Potatoes 

Friday 10/21/11:   Sweet Chicky Nuggets (like Chick-Fila) with frozen waffle fries

Saturday 10/22/11:  Chicken Alfredo Biscuit Casserole

Sunday 10/23/11:  Long John Silver copycat fish, and "chips" 

Make it a good one, yall!

Peace, and bacon grease!