Hot Glue on a Cold Day

A lot of people get very intimidated by craft projects that involve sewing so I have found a super cute idea! A co-worker is having her baby shower next weekend so I've been searching for something crafty to make for her gift. I don't know what it is about the cold but I can't resist finding something to make. Here's what you need:

1/4 yard of fabric
1 empty wipes case--travel size (Huggies is the one I used)
Coordinating ribbon
Hot glue gun
Felt
Scissors

Here's how it turned out!

Happy crafting!!!

Stuffed Jalapenos...YUMMY!

I found a recipe for these about a week ago and have been dying to give them a try! They could not have turned out any better! The recipe for Texas Style Stuffed Jalapenos calls for:

8 large jalapenos
1 pkg of cream cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese (I grated pepperjack cheese instead to add a little more spice)
Dash of garlic salt
Dash of salt
Hickory smoked bacon (I was out of bacon and used crumbled bacon usually found in the salad section at the store)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Split the jalapenos in half length wise and remove the seeds. Mix cream cheese and cheddar cheese together adding spices. The recipe calls for the bacon to be placed on top of the peppers. Since my bacon was already crumbled, I included a handful in the mixture.

Stuff peppers generously and place in baking dish. Bake until the cheese mixture bubbles.

Enjoy!

Baking on a snowed in day

After already having one day of not going outside because of the massive amounts of snow, I started getting antsy and got the urge to be productive (aka my DVR ran out of things I have recorded). Since the beginning of the year, Brandon and I have been doing our best to eat healthy and we really have done a decent job. However, there have been two bananas in our fruit basket that had gone at least a couple of weeks without being touched and were not exactly the color of something I would want to eat. I was about to throw them away until Brandon told me banana bread could be made from them. I didn't believe him until I found a recipe that called for the less the ripe bananas. The recipe seemed kind of bland so I tweaked it just a bit and the product turned out DELICIOUS! Here's what I did...

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (I used two bananas and it was perfect)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl cream together butter, vanilla and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Pour batter into loaf pan that has been coated with cooking spray. Bake 60 - 65 minutes until toothpick or knife can be inserted and come out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Tada!

Bean Bag Fun!

Hello bloggsters!

With the new work week starting up and the possibility of a big snow storm coming to the area, I have a perfect, (aka easy) fun project almost anyone can do! Hopefully if you get a day or two off snowbound you can make this for your favorite kiddo or child at heart (Brandon wants one too now!).

Our nephew turned two a couple weeks ago and Brandon and I searched all over for an OSU bean bag to no avail. We then went to the internet to purchase one but found them to be VERY expensive...some more than $100! So, in 3 days and with the help of Simplicity pattern 5105 and Brandon's wonderful pattern cutting abilities, we created this...

We started by cutting out six of these...

...and then sewed them into two set us three which looked like this

the two halves were then sewn together and sewn to a piece of the material cut into a circle. Though the pattern did not call for it, I stitched in a zipper in the bottom circle and made an inner liner using the same pattern so the outer OSU cover could be removed and washed...there's no telling what a two-year-old might get on that! 

I think it's safe to say the little man liked it too! :)

Let me know what you think! Have another great idea? I'd love to hear about it! Here's to wishing everyone a great week!

To start fulfilling our New Year's resolution...

So how many of you took the plunge and made a resolution this year? Brandon and I did in hopes of being swimsuit ready when we take our trip to St. Thomas in February. To help with this, we fixed this DELICIOUS meal!

--Baked Salmon
Brandon preheated the oven to 400 and made an aluminum foil pouch for our fresh salmon filets. The filets were covered with chopped onion, cayenne pepper, garlic salt and slices of oranges fresh from Florida courtesy of Brandon's crew member, Adrian (thank you!!!). After 15 minutes of baking, the salmon filets made their debut and oh, were they ever tasty!

--Asparagus Bundles (Courtesy of Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood, pg. 127)

     2lbs fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
     12 slices of bacon (I have found thin sliced works better than thick cut)
     1/2 cup light brown sugar
     1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
     1 tablespoon soy sauce
     1/2 tsp garlic salt
     1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Divide the asparagus spears into 12 bundles (for me this averaged out to be about 4 spears per bundle). Carefully wrap 1 piece of bacon around each bundle, starting about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the tips. Secure the bacon-wrapped spears with a toothpick (I didn't have any toothpicks and it still worked just fine). Lay the bundles in a low-sided casserole dish.

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, soy sauce, garlic salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the asparagus bundles. Transfer the dish to the oven and roast for 25 minutes, or until the spears have begun to wilt and the bacon looks fully cook. Remove the toothpicks (if you used them! :)) before serving.

Give this a try for a healthy option for dinner. Hope you enjoy and I would love to hear what you think! Have other healthy recipe ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Until next time... :)