St. Patrick's Day Wreath

I threw this wreath together tonight in almost no time. :) Here's how you can do it too!

What you need:

Wide Brown ribbon

Thinner Green ribbon

Foam shamrocks (you could make them yourself, but I bought these at Dollar Tree. $1 for a package)

Hot Glue

Black marker

wreath form

1. Wrap the form first with the brown ribbon.

2. Overlap the brown ribbon with the thinner green ribbon.

3. Hot glue 5 light green shamrocks together.

4. Use the sharpie to write "L-U-C-K-Y"

5. Hot glue the last shamrock in place

6. Use the brown ribbon to make a hanger at the top of the wreath.

DONE!

Lasagna Soup

I love great Pinterest finds.

This lasagna soup is amazing. Love it soooo much!

You should probably try it right now. You won't be disappointed.

Project 365: Day 161 Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Oh Pinterest why do you tempt me so much? Especially when I need to think about working out, not eating cookies. SIGH.

I made this cookies last night during the Super Bowl from this site:
thisistolove.blogspot.com/2011/08/oreo-cheesecake-cookies.html

and today... it has disappeared?!

I did manage to find it online here also: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2010/11/step-by-step-oreo-cheesecake-cookies/

(looks like a pretty fabulous blog!)

Here's what you need:
3 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup oreo crumbs


Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until web combined.

Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add the flour and mix on low until flour is incorporated.

Fold the oreo crumbs into the cookie batter.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop and arrange the cookies on the cookie sheet two inches apart.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown and the tops start to puff slightly.

Cool on the pan for two minutes before transfering to a wire rack to finsh cooling.

This made about 2 dozen cookies.

Junk Food Bouquet

Doing all of your gift giving through the mail can get rather difficult over time. I feel like I never know what to send him and I am constantly out of ideas. Not to mention the fact that buying a non-mushy Valentine's gift for man is not the easiest thing in the world.

Tonight I sat down for about 30 minutes while catching up on Grey's Anatomy to make this manly bouquet to put in the mail for the husband. I hope he likes it!

Here is how you can make your own!

What you will need:

Junk Food:

(I used small bags of chips, sunflower seeds, peanuts, beef jerky, and different types of candy bars.)

Wood Dowels

A foam floral block

A plastic pot

1. Hot glue the food packages to the dowels. (I broke some of the dowels make them at various heights. The pieces in front are on shorter sticks, etc.)

2. Arrange the dowels in the foam block. Use hot glue to secure the sticks in place.

3. Use hot glue to secure the foam block into the pot.

Ta-da! Quick, easy and fun!

Linked up at tatortotsandjello!

Project 365: Day 139 Caramel Apple Cookies

What do you know... another Pinterest score! I found this recipe for Caramel Apple Cookies a while back and have been dying to try it out. I made them last night and I have decided these are the best cookies in the world. 

I took them to work today and they were eaten up! Luckily, I saved a plateful of cookies for me and the girls at home. 

I got the recipe from here: http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/11/apple-cider-caramel-cookies-recipe.html and just tweaked it a little. I can't wait to check out their blog a little bit more!

What you'll need:

1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted

1 cup granulated sugar


1/2 teaspoon salt


1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix *Not sugar free*


2 eggs


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 teaspoon baking soda


1/2 teaspoon baking powder


3 cups all-purpose flour


1 bag Kraft Premium Unwrapped Caramel bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Add the caramel bits. (I didn't use an exact measurment. It was most of the bag, I just added until there were caramel bits throughout.)

3. With a cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl and  place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.

4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool the rest of the way upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack.

The original blogger said if you have an issue removing cookies from the paper place the cookie sheet in the freezer for a few minutes and then you can twist them off. (worked like a charm!)

Crockpot Bufflao Chicken

This is another recipe that I found on Pinterest and have been DYING TO try. I don't know how I managed to NOT take a picture but luckily the original blogger has a bunch of pictures.

What you'll need:
2-3 pieces of frozen Chicken Breast
1 bottle of Frank's Wings Buffalo Sauce
1 pkg. of Ranch dip


Put chicken breast in the crockpot. Pour entire bottle of buffalo sauce on top and then pour in the package of Ranch Dip.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Remove chicken from crockpot, shred and return to crockpot. Add two tablespoons of butter. Cook for another hour on low so that the chicken can soak up the juices.

We used this for buffalo chicken sandwiches with mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing. (I think Blue Cheese would have been awesome also.) YUM!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting

I have been finding so many amazing recipes one Pinterest here lately. Mostly, I am finding a ton of sweets. The problem is, we don't eat a lot of sweets in this house. More often then not, sweets are thrown away before we can eat them all. Luckily, I have hungry coworkers.

I made these Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for a birthday last Sunday. They were AMAZING.

I got the original reciepe here for Pumpkin Spice Latte cupcakes, but since I couldn't come up with espresso powder, so we did without.  I also used pumpkin spice instead of nutmeg and cloves. No one complained.

What you'll need:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. pumpkin spice
1 tsp. salt

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

4 large eggs

For the topping:

2¼ cups heavy cream, chilled

¼ cup confectioners' sugar
Ground cinnamon

Caramel sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and salt. Stir together and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixture on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing just until incorporated.

Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full. Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pans. Let cool completely.
To make the frosting, place the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-low speed at first, gradually increasing to high speed. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar gradually. Whip until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over-beat. Use a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip to frost the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and drizzle with caramel sauce. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.


Go try them now!