Salted Caramel Milkshake {Holiday Recipe Club: Cinco de Mayo}

It's almost over but, Happy Cinco de Mayo, amigos!

We didn't do any big celebrating, but I made sure to have a margarita.

Do you guys know one of my favorite things in life?

Salted caramel. 

For reals. I'm all about the sweet and salty if you don't know by now. 

And for this month's Holiday Recipe Club, we had to make a Cinco de Mayo recipe using either chorizo, tomatoes, or dulce de leche... or a combination of any of the three. 

I chose to roll with the dulce de leche because I love all things caramel and have seen those little dulce de leche cans around stores and always wondered what to make with it. Now was the time to find out. While I was in the aisle I saw the canned kind, and some more  dulce de leche squeezable caramel sauce, same brand. So I just got both. I ended up using the pourable caramel sauce. I'll figure out what to do with the other stuff, oh don't you worry.

I opted for something simple yet something that will brighten any day or put a nice end to a rough work day or week. I found this salted caramel milkshake recipe... with some alcohol added in. Oh I'm all on that!

Salted Caramel Milkshake

slightly adapted from Food Network

• 1 cup french vanilla ice cream
• 1/3 cup Nestle La Lechera Dulce de Leche caramel sauce (squeeze bottle)
• 1 shot 1800 silver tequila
• Whipped cream
• Sea salt and/or candied orange peel, for garnish

Blend the ice cream, dulce de leche caramel sauce, tequila and 3 ice cubes in a blender on medium speed until thick and smooth. Pour in glass and top with whipped cream, sea salt and/or candied orange peel. 

Printable Recipe

This recipe made one margarita-glass full.

You can definitely make these without the alcohol too for the young ones. Or for yourself if you're not into the whole alcohol thing. But then we can't be friends. Just kidding, just kidding. That just means more alcohol for me  :)

Check out these other Mexican recipes for other Cinco de Mayo ideas!

Baked Creamy Chicken Flautas
Chicken Taco Lasagna with Cilantro Lime Sauce
Mexican Chicken with Jalapeno Popper Sauce
Southwest Chicken Burritos
White Chicken Enchiladas with Green Chile Sauce
Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad
Mexican Sour Cream Rice
Southwestern Deviled Eggs
Hot Fiesta Dip
Jalapeno Poppers
Homemade Taco Mix

Peace, and bacon grease!

Linking up here.

What I'm Loving Wednesday... Pantries, Reading, and Fros!

Whoa there... I kinda started then stopped my What I'm Loving Wednesday posts outta nowhere. But I like them, so I'm back with more of what I'm loving currently.

Wanna join along? Do it.

I'm loving the weather today in Cincy. 87 degrees and sunny!

I'm loving that my first semester of grad school is finished! And I think I did pretty good :) Annnnnd that I have this week off from classes.

I'm loving that I'm starting a new class in a week. Excited to learn something new! Going to get my text books today, and I'm excited about it. Nerd alert.

I'm loving this pantry we are gonna buy soon. We need a new one cuz ours is old and crusty with dated wallpaper in the drawers. Ew! Love this walnut color.

{Source}

I'm loving that PJ and I are going out to eat to celebrate me being done with my first semester, maybe tomorrow. Someplace fancy, my choice of course :)

I'm loving that I've started back up reading Vee's blog again. I had followed her blog for so long and then had stopped reading for quite some time. Then it dawned on me the other day that I haven't been checking up on her. That woman is somethin else. Pure amazingness in human form. She inspires me, and reading her blog reminds me to cherish my blessings.

I'm loving my curly fro. Gotta switch it up sometimes.

I'm loving that I started back up reading! Um, according to my sidebar I still need to read 5 books for the year. Yep, 5. Still. Haven't read one. So I'm excited to be 30 pages into a book at least. Dunno if it's a keeper yet though. Anyone read it?

{Source}

Well, that's all for now folks. What are you all loving this beautiful Wednesday?

Peace, and bacon grease!

Linking up here.

My Life Bucket List .... {Non-Food Related}

Yo.

I'm back with more goals for the future. I'm very ambitious today. 

This time the focus isn't food, though.

These are goals that I personally have that have nothing to do with food. Yes, I do have a life outside of food. A very lame one, but still, I have one.  These are goals to make that lame life a better, more fulfilled one!

1. Vacation outside of the U.S.
2. Visit at least 10 states (KY, TN, IL, FL, SC)
3. Write a book
4. Plant a garden
5. Create a quote book
6. Ride an elephant
7. Swim with dolphins
8. Go horseback riding
9. Go on a cruise
10. Reach my goal weight of 130 lbs
11. Visit a major US monument
12. Earn my Master's degree (on my way there!)
13. Exchange handwritten or typed letters with a pen pal
14. Take a photography class or workshop
15. Volunteer for something psychology related
16. Go on a hot air balloon
17. Sell something on Etsy
18. Sell something on Ebay or Craigslist
19. Go on a road trip
20. Get a renovated, updated kitchen
21. Learn to play my guitar
22. Go to the casino
23. Take a salsa dance lesson
24. Take a boxing or mixed martial arts class
25. Go to a shooting range
26. Learn another language
27. Attend a concert
28. Attend a Zumba class
29. Have a penpal
30. Own an iPhone
31. Learn to surf
32. Go white water rafting - the real thing!
33. Visit a waterfall
34. Go to an art gallery
35. Go to Disneyworld or Disneyland
36. Paint or draw something amazing using my supplies
37. Solve the Rubix cube
38. Scrapbook
39. Go on a vacation with my mama
40. Have a maid
41. Buy a new car
42. Go to a Reds game
43. Go to a Bengals game
44. Have a child
45. Install a hot tub in our home
46. Give to charity
47. Go to the KY derby
48. Host my own holiday dinner
49. Cook an entire Thanksgiving meal
50. Mud wrestle or do a mud run
51. Learn to do a cartwheel
52. Go to a live taping
53. Get a tattoo
54. Be on the "Amazing Race" (this has been on my bucket list for awhile now but realistically I dunno if I could do it...)
55. Attend a murder mystery dinner
56. Become a licensed counselor
57. Go to Six Flags
58. Go to Cedar Point
59. Attend a parade 
60. Learn to use html 
61. Reach my reading challenge goal

This list will probably keep being updated as I think of more things that I wanna do before I die.  I know I'm forgetting some things.

Check out my Recipe Bucket List and my Food-Related Bucket List, too!

Peace, and bacon grease!

Food-Related/Blog Bucket List

Have you guys heard of making a 30 by 30 list?

I've seen it on several blogs now and knew I had to join in on the fun. I figured now would be as good a time as ever to post a list of my food goals that I wish to accomplish. My list came to be more than 30 so I can't really call it a 30 by 30.

These are food-related goals that I want to accomplish, or that pertain to my blog.

1. Use slow cooker
2. Use fondue set
3. Use deep fryer
4. Get a photo accepted on Foodgawker 
5. Get a photo accepted on Tastespotting
6. Get a photo accepted on Dessert Stalking 
7. Get a photo accepted on Tasteologie
8. Take a (food) photography class
9. Meet with a fellow Cincinnati food blogger (Katie, Aimee, Heather, Christine, Melissa, and Tanya) or any blogger for that matter!
10. Make a facebook page for my blog
11. Take a cake decorating class
12. Reach 500 followers
13. Take a cooking class
14. Make a wine section on my blog
15. Attend a wine tasting
16. Use fondant
17. Make something using yeast
18. Go to a cookbook signing
19. Meet a famous chef
20. Enter a cooking/recipe contest
21. Win a cooking/recipe contest
22. Make a how-to cooking video for my blog
23. Attend a food blogging conference
24. Decorate a fancy cake
25. Visit a food truck
26. Eat a Philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia
27. Host a dinner party
28. Start a cooking club
29. Collect recipes from my mama
30. Learn how to make PJ's mama's recipes
31. Go to a farmer's market
32. Make a meal using a unique, unusual main ingredient
33. Use my dslr for food photography
34. Make a layer cake 
35. Make a photo recipe index for my blog or categorize by meal type and alphabetically
36. Make a sidebar of my food photos
37. Put a cool "print friendly" button on my blog

That's all for now! I'm sure I could think of more. But this is a start. Cuz we all know some of these just aren't gonna happen. But it's fun to dream, and pretend they will! Wish me luck on this journey :)

Check out my Life Bucket List, and my Recipe Bucket List.

Peace, and bacon grease!

April's Secret Recipe Club - S'mores Cookies

It's time for another month of The Secret Recipe Club!

For April I was assigned to Jamie's blog Cookin' with Moxie. As always, there were so many wonderful recipes to choose from, but I settled on her s'mores cookies, because I had the graham crackers and marshmallows to use up from my pb&j s'mores. 

These cookies didn't disappoint. My dumb butt kept putting them back in though for longer than the recipe called for because the marshmallows weren't melting. Then the marshmallows got kinda brown so I took them out, and then the marshmallows ended up being a bit chewy and the cookies a bit crisp but still delicious. Next time I'll put them in for less, maybe the length the recipe actually calls for. I also did not turn mine half way through like Jamie did, so maybe that would also be a good suggestion.

S'mores Cookies 

ever-so-slightly adapted from Cookin' with Moxie

• 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (I crushed some whole graham crackers up in the food processor)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• about 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 2 Hershey bars, chopped up

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars until fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and baking soda, and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spray cookie sheets with baking spray or cover with parchment paper. Drop tablespoon-full scoops of the batter onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of Hershey bar into each cookie. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on wire rack(s). Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

 
Printable Recipe

I'll definitely be back to try some more of Jamie's tasty recipes!

Linking up here.

Peace, and bacon grease!

Ahh!! No More Picnik....

I'm so distraught! This is the first time I'm wanting to use Picnik and can't since it shut down. It just isn't the same! No levels or cloning or curves or fun stickers or frames! I'm glad I can still use the texts though cuz there are some cute ones.

Anybody know of some other free photo editing software since Picnik is gone? I need easy, people!

How are YOU all surviving without Picnik?

Peace, and bacon grease!

Peanut Butter and Jelly S'mores {Improv Cooking Challenge}

Hey friends! It's time for another round of the Improv Cooking Challenge, hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker! 

For this month we had to pick something peanut butter and jelly related. Can you believe I was never crazy about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Yeah, I was that kid. Weird. So I was excited to see what other peanut butter and jelly recipes live out there in the vast world of recipes. I went through my longgggg list - like 200 pages worth - of recipes from blogs that I've wanted to try, did a search for "peanut butter and jelly", and was oohing and aahing over my options. Did you know there are tons of peanut butter and jelly bars and cupcake recipes out there? I'll try them one day, but for now I was drawn to these peanut butter and jelly s'mores. Uh, genius! I love when I can find a unique, creative recipe. I hadn't heard of this idea before and was intrigued. Cuz I used to love s'mores. Loved my marshmallows burnt. Extra burnt.

The only change I made was that I added some chocolate to it too, to make it a true s'mores. Plus the peanut butter and jelly of course. 

Overdoing it? I.think.not.

Peanut Butter and Jelly S'mores

slightly adapted from Cookin' Up North

• creamy peanut butter
• strawberry jelly (or whatever kind you prefer)
• graham cracker
• 2 marshmallows
• 2 squares of chocolate (I used a Symphony milk chocolate candy bar)

For one s'more, break a graham cracker in half and spread with peanut butter and jelly. I used 2 normal sized marshmallows. Stick a square of chocolate in each of the 2 normal sized marshmallows and roast until marshmallows are browned to your satisfaction. Put on top of the peanut butter and jelly-topped graham cracker and then top with the other graham cracker half.

Printable Recipe

Looks like PJ was ready to dive in head first. We enjoyed this treat! It was fun to "roast" the marshmallows on the stove, but it would of course be a great idea for camping too. Put a twist on the old s'more, plus it's so easy to bring along some peanut butter and jelly too.

Oh, and check out the other Improvers' peanut butter and jelly recipes below:

Linking up here.

Peace, and bacon grease!