Photo Coasters

My Dad lives in CA so I only see him once a year during the holidays and he only gets to see his grandkids during that time. So, for Christmas this year, I decided to make him some photo coasters since he is a coffee drinker and he can remember his cute grandkids at the same time. Suce an easy peasy project and cheap too.

Cast of characters:
4x6 photos of cuteness
4x4 tiles
mod podge
shellac (sealant)

1. Cut photos to match size of tile
2. Mod podge the back of picture to tile and then put a top coat on top of photo
3. Once dry, spray shellac (sealant) so tile can be used and get wet without the picture getting ruined.
4. Enjoy some cuteness while drinking some warm cocoa!

Linking up to Strut your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple &

DIY Chalkboard

This year our family made Christmas gifts for each other. When I saw an idea off Somewhat Simple, I knew I had to make it for my sister. Her blog is called, "Let's Celebrate." I would provide a link to it, but it's private. Dang it, cause it's so darn cute. She celebrates all the little things in life, like 1/2 birthdays, first day of school, National Doughnut Day ( I didn't even know a day existed!). You name it, she celebrates. I found this frame @ DI for a few bucks and painted it red. I bought some chalkboard paint that worked like a charm. That stuff is so cool and now I'm ready to make everything chalkboard. My little sister used her Cricut to make the letters.

Linking up to Christmas Show and Tell @ Tip Junkie , Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design and Toot Your Horn Tuesday @ A Silly Little Sparrow.

Pumpkin Roll

This is the BEST pumpkin roll ever! It's the perfect dessert for the holidays. I used my grandma's cheesecake filling for the inside of the pumpkin roll since it is so delightful but I'm sure the filling from Libby's is just as good.
















Libby's Pumpkin Roll
(recipe from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 large eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional) 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

NOTE: Recipe for the filling that I used: 8 oz cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tub of cool whip. Beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Fold in cool whip.

Silhouette Ornaments

Silhouettes are the rage right now in the blogging world. I found the easy tutorial HERE. It will be fun to see how different the profiles change year to year.

Mini Peppermint Bark

Peppermint bark is awesome, especially during the holidays. But it costs an arm and leg for some chocolate and peppermint candy melted together. Where I saw it, it was $26.50! So, when I saw this idea HERE, I knew I wanted to try it and it was my kind of price too.

Note: Do not use cheap chocolate. I learned the hard way.

Cast of Characters:
1 bag of milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag of white chocolate chips
peppermint candies crushed (as many as you want)
snowman mold from the Dollar Tree

1. Crush candies and put in bottom of mold
2. Melt white chocolate chips and spoon on top of candies. Leave room for the milk chocolate. Set in fridge to harden.
3. Spoon milk chocolate on top of white chocolate to the top of the mold and put back in fridge to harden.
4. Once hard, pop chocolates out of mold and eat up! Aren't they cute?

Holiday Cocoa

Peppermint stick icecream is my all time favorite. So, when I saw this idea from a family friend, I knew it would be a hit. The ice cream melts on the top of the hot chocolate and makes it so creamy and delish. Now go make your tummy sing. You will thank me.

Holiday Cocoa
1 cup hot chocolate
1 scoop of peppermint ice cream
1 dallop of whip cream

Make the hot chocolate and scoop some ice cream on top. Add the whip cream for a finishing touch. Are you in love?

Honey Lime Enchiladas

I'm not a red sauce enchilada fan. So, these enchiladas caught my attention since they use the green sauce instead and they are awesome! The original recipe came from My Kitchen Cafe but I used the variation from Homebased Mom. Serve it with a side of rice and you've got one dang good meal.
















(Editor's Note: I know this picture looks absolutely disgusting, but my little digital camera is all I have. Trust me- they are awesome)

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
(original recipe from My Kitchen Cafe)

6 Tbsp honey

5 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1-2 limes)

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

8 – 10 flour tortillas (depending on size)

1 lb of a Mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar), shredded

1 large can of green enchilada sauce

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder together with the shredded chicken. Allow it to sit for at least 1/2 hour or you could do it hours before and just cover and refrigerate.

Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Place chicken and cheese into middle of a tortilla and spoon about 1 tablespoon of enchilada sauce over it and roll up. Place seam down in the pan. Reserve about 1-2 cups of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Pour enchilada sauce over the top of rolled enchiladas (reserve a little bit to add after they are baked) and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

French Bread

Homemade french bread is the best paired up with some yummy spaghetti. This recipe is really easy and delicious. Now stop reading and go make some!

















Grandma’s French Bread
(recipe from Sister's Cafe)
2 ¼ c. warm water
2 T. sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
5 ½ -6 cups flour-stirred before measured

First dissolve sugar and yeast in the warm water. Let this proof—or sit for a few minutes until it bubbles. Then add salt, oil and 3 cups of flour and beat well (At this point I switch to my dough/kneading attachment on my Bosch mixer) Add in 2 1/2 -3 more cups of flour. The dough should clean off the sides of the bowl and not be too sticky. Knead for a few minutes. Leave the dough in the mixer to rest for 10 minutes and then stir it down (turn on your mixer for 10 seconds) and then allow to rest another 10 minutes. Repeat for a total of 5 times. Then turn dough onto a floured surface and knead it 2 or 3 times to coat with flour. Divide into 2 equal parts. Roll each part into a 9x13 rectangle. Roll dough up, starting from long edge of loaf to seal. Arrange seam side down on large baking sheet that’s been sprinkled with corn meal, allowing room for both loaves. Repeat with second part of dough. With a sharp knife, cut 3 gashes at an angle on the top of each. Cover lightly; allow to rise 30 minutes. Brush entire surface with egg wash (one egg beaten slightly with 1 Tbsp of water). If desired, sprinkle with sesame seads. Bake for 30 minutes at 375. Cool on racks
NOTE: For a crustier loaf, a pan of hot water may be set on bottom of oven while bread is baking.

Monogrammed Wall Art

This was a super duper easy project. I found the idea HERE.

Materials:
12 x 12 piece of wood
scrapbook paper
Any letter you choose
mod podge
Acrylic paint

1. Paint sides of board
2. Mod podge scrapbook paper on top and apply several coats on top to seal it.
3. Paint letter desired color.
4. Glue letter on top of scrapbook paper.

All done! Now isn't that cute? Go hang it somewhere..

Linking up to DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land.

Homemade Bread

I love me some homemade bread. I'm a terrible bread maker- usually the dough will come out really tough and dry which leads to a little cursing... I found this recipe and it was easy peasy! I didn't have any whole wheat flour so I just used all purpose flour instead. So yummy! This is also a perfect recipe for the Kitchen Aid since most recipes call for the Bosch and have way too much dough for the Kithcen Aid to handle.















Fresh Wheat Bread
Recipe from Sister's Cafe

2 cups whole wheat flour, sifted
4 to 5 cups bread flour, sifted
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast (a rounded Tablespoon)
2 ounces honey (1/4 cup)
1 2/3 cups water
2/3 cup milk
½ stick butter (1/4 cup)

1. In a large mixer bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt and yeast.
2. In a medium bowl, combine honey, milk, water and butter, and heat to 105 degrees in the microwave. (About 60 seconds - I used a candy thermometer. It worked great.)
3. Stir liquids to melt the butter and add, all at once, to the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl.
4. With the dough hook installed on your stand mixer, mix dough. Add more flour by the Tablespoon, as needed, until the dough comes together and clears the bowl. Mix for 8-10 minutes with the dough hook until no longer sticky, adding flour as necessary.
6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Remove from bowl and divide dough in half. Make each half into a 10 x 12 rectangle and roll each up from short end. Pinch the seams. Roll on the countertop to make a uniform log and place in an oiled breadpan seam-side up. Shake the roll to oil the bottom, turn the pan over, catch the dough and reinsert it into the pan, seam-side-down. (or just spray your plastic wrap with oil before covering so it doesn't stick. I don't like to use a towel to cover because it can dry out the dough.)
7. Return to warm place and let rise an additional 30 minutes or until at least 1 inch above the pan top. Bake in a preheated 400°F. oven for 25 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on rack.

Yield: 2 loaves

Buttermilk Waffles

These waffles are scrumptious. Go ahead... try it!

Buttermilk Waffles

(recipe from Martha Stewart)
Ingredients
Serves 4 to 6
8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter, plus more for waffle iron
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1.Grease waffle iron with a small amount of melted butter, and heat. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
2.In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour into dry mixture, and combine.
3.In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter.
4.Ladle about 1/3 cup batter onto each section of the waffle grid; spread batter almost to the edges. Close lid, and bake 3 to 5 minutes, until no steam emerges from waffle iron.
5.Transfer cooked waffles to a baking sheet; place in an oven set to low heat, about 200 degrees, while using remaining batter.

Cheap Christmas Gifts

This Christmas will be much leaner than in the past years. I'm making all of the gifts this year which has required me to use a little bit of creativity on my part. This is an extremely frugal gift- 16 cents for the tile, an old Christmas card, some mod podge and cork board. I found this idea at Beneath My Heart. I initially tried it with the napkins but it turned into a big ol' mess so I used a Christmas card instead.

Dip in Deliciousness

This is one of my very favorite salsas. So fresh and yummy. We eat it with chips or even put it on tacos.



Bean and Corn Salsa
Recipe from Jen Beckstead

1 can black beans
3 medium tomatoes
1/3 bunch of cilantro
2/3 bunch green onions
1 juice of a lime
1 or 2 avocados
1 can corn, drained
1 packet Italien seasoning

Mix together and eat. Yum O!