Life Hack - Easy Mocha

Hey guys!

its been a crazy few months. If you want to know a little about why I have been absent feel free to check out my life blog post.



For my birthday last week my wonderful in-laws got me:

A keurig! I have wanted one forever but they are expensive! I am super excited cause it makes coffee and tea super fast and really easy. I love it. 

Of course you dont need one to make this super easy mocha but i was just so excited i had to share. 

The easiest way to make a yummy mocha?

A packet of hot chocolate! 

I have been doing this forever. I just mix a packet into a cup of coffee and maybe add just a pinch of creamer. Its amazing! And with all the flavored hot cocoa mixes that are out there I never get bored. 

I just found a multi pack that had plain, cherry cordial and salted caramel  varieties. It makes me happy cause as much as i love my coffee i do tend to get bored easily.  

Pony beads, and other exciting things!

Pony beads have never really been my favorite. They are great for kids projects but even as a kid I had my eye on swarovski crystals, czech glass and tumbled gemstones. So I havent worked with them much. Until I saw a pinterest project that snagged my attention. I cant find it now but the pin was these super cute hair clips made with melted pony beads. Now thats something I can learn to like. I love messing with things so they dont look the same as they were and I love taking risks. So I had to try it. 

So after Mr. Hubby went to work one night I decided to try it out. I dug out the few that I had arranged them in flower shapes and put them in the oven according to the instructions I found online. 

They turned out absolutely adorable. I just love them. Once I have the opportunity to attach them to bobby pins I will post some better pictures and will have some in my new shop. 

What's that you ask? Some of you know that I made an effort to sell my creations by way of a small shop I called RandomAnn Designs. It had some great moments and I was able to do some cool stuff with it. But I was recently approached by my friend Jen who wanted a partner for a similar shop. So  J & A Inspired Creations was born. 

It's still in the works but we are really excited about it and have lots of ideas. We hope to hit the craft fair circuit this fall and have our online shop up and running by then as well.  I am super excited to have more of an excuse to create again. I am also running the blog for it so feel free to check it out. 

Fix-it Friday - Making a cute shirt cuter!

This post is from a while back ago but I forgot to share it :)


It all started when I got this awesome shirt at the thrift store.

It was cheap ($2) I loved the colors and was in great condition. But I'm not the biggest fan of tube tops. I am always super paranoid they are gonna fall down. But I couldn't pass this shirt up. I loved the colors and there were no stains on it. So I took it home thinking I could add straps to it or maybe take out the smocking and make it into something I would wear.

It ended up being easier than I thought.

I remembered I had some ribbon that matched. and after some messing around I braided a fairly long strap. I decided to sew it in the front center. I used the same color thread as the stitching in the smocking so you cant even see where I sewed it on. I added a bead to the straps so I could either use it as a cinch (kind like a draw string) and left the strap fairly long so could have the option to tie it.

Pardon the messy background. It was a crazy week. 

I was quite happy with it and wore a it on a date with my hubby to Friends too, a local greek restaurant which is my favorite. Paired with my basic white cropped sweater I can even wear it to church! 

I love the colors and the length :) 

Food Faves - Don't read this post if you are hungry.

The last few months I have been lucky enough to eat some of my favorite things at some of my favorite places. And I have an odd habit of taking pictures of my food. Mr. Hubby laughs at me every time. But it makes a fun blog post. Or at least I think so....

Portillos!

Mr. Hubby is a booger and doesnt see how this is better than Arby's. 

He's crazy.

 

Starbucks! love the hazelnut frapps! best thing ever. 

Noodles!

One of my awesomely friends introduced me to this place a few weeks ago. 

I loved it! 

Then I won a little wager and introduced hubby to it. We both got "the Med" sandwich.

Mediterranean inspired food is my favorite. 

Their pasta dishes are amazing. YUM! 

Speaking of Mediterranean. My favorite restaurant ever is Friends Too! a local Greek place with 2 locations. These pics are from when I introduced my lovely friend Becky (who introduced me to Noodles) to it. The middle platter and bottom picture are Saganaki, an amazing appetizer of cheese flambeed  with rum. AMAZING and FUN! 

Wendy's now offers frosty's in waffle cones.

 YES PLEASE!

and a small fry.... 

Last but not least. Taco bell. 

Baja blast slushie. I love slushies and i love Baja blast. this is amazing

Cake Mix Cookies!

Lots of pics in this post. Most just to make you drool...

You're welcome. 

I love these cookies. I tried them for the first time about 7 months ago before this blog and I knew I had to blog about them. And I haven't met a person who doesn't love them. Mr. Hubby loves them. If he is home while I bake them he eats them faster than my tiny oven can bake them. They are super simple, cheap and easy to make. No fuss, no bu-coo bucks and people pleasing all around (which in this case is a very good thing. )
:)

I love them because they are super versatile; they can be as simple or as complicated as you like. The basic recipe is only 3 ingredients and they taste wonderful as is. But you can mix in what ever you like to give them your own spin.

I originally started seeing cake mix cookie recipes on Pinterest and decided to make my own take on them. I was very successful. I baked 6 batches of these yummies last month for 3 different occasions.  

The 2 main ingredients to my spin on it.

 I'm not usually picky about brands but Reese's PB chips are one of the exceptions...

1 box devils food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 bag Reeses Peanut Butter chips

Preheat oven to 375.
Thoroughly mix all but the chips in a mixing bowl. Fold in chips. Batter will be really thick. But make sure it is mixed well.

Drop small spoonfuls on a nonstick cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. They spread pretty far and do rise. They are made from cake mix after all ;)

Cook for 10-15 min. They are ready when a tooth pick comes out clean and/or are springy/ spongy to touch. They are a soft cookie with a cakey texture. The bottoms need to be slightly over done so they hold up. 

DO NOT remove from cookie sheet right away. Let cool on sheet for 10-15 before moving to a cooling rack.They will fall apart if you remove them right away. 

I need to find my camera so I can start taking higher quality pics for you guys.... 

This is just my favorite spin on these. One of the batches I used yellow cake mix with chocolate chips - super easy chocolate chip cookies. I have also seen funfetti (funfetti mix with extra sprinkles mixed in) german chocolate (chocolate mix with coconut and caramel bits), Triple chocolate (chocolate mix with white chocolate and semisweet chips, and a bunch more. It is really simple cause you can used what ever cake mix and what ever mix ins and still use just the eggs and oil. 

I have also seen brownie mix cookies which is a little more involved but I will try at some point. I cant resist brownies though, so it will happen.  

This will probably be the last of the baked goods for a while. Because my fake oven (its a tiny electric apartment oven that is half the size of a real oven) heats up my little apartment to an uncomfortable temperature. Over the next few weeks I am going to transition to more summery items like cool drinks, and salad dressings, as well as including more posts about my crafting endeavors.  

I would love to hear from you guys. Let me know if you try this recipe and what creatively yummy versions you do! 

Food Flub - Evaporated milk ice cream

So I was hanging out with a friend one night and I wanted to do something random and fun. I had been goofing around on Pinterest (I get a lot of my inspiration there- at least food wise) and came across THIS pin to THIS blog post.

Ice Cream from evaporated milk?!?! Just 2 ingredients and no need for a  this is the greatest thing ever! I must try it!

I rushed through reading the recipe and thought I would be ok to just wing it. I had sugar and I had a can of evaporated milk.

What could go wrong?

Using my handy - dandy Kitchen aid stand mixer passed on to me by my wonderful Grandma Vicki, I whipped the chilled milk then added the sugar and whipped it some more. All in a well chilled bowl.

It looks yummy!

But then we tried it. It tasted like really stale marshmallows. Not very edible. Unless you like stale marshmallows. I would imagine there is someone out there who does. I like a lot of weird things. No judgments but I was disappointed to the max. 

A couple days later I decided to look at the original post again... 

Looking closer I realized that it called for POWDERED sugar... not regular ol' granulated. 

So I will be trying this recipe again. Sometime. 

Fix it Friday - My favorite backpack

Like any girl, I love bags.

 If you've read this blog long enough or know me at all, you won't be surprised to know my bag of choice isn't a purse or a classy leather handbag. I'm not big on leather unless its in an awesome jacket (though, I have yet to find one that I both love and can afford because admittedly I am a bit picky).

But rather my bag of choice is either a backpack, a smaller cross body bag (which lucky for me has recently become trendy) or none at all. I like the two extremes. I either want to be able to carry everything, including the kitchen sink or just the basics - phone, ID, and debit card. I do have a weakness from some Vera Bradley products as well (but well lets face it - most women/girls now do love at least one of their products)

I'm weird. I admit it. I'm don't go to school any more, nor to I hang out at the skate park as my favorite bag might suggest, but I love backpacks. I have at least half a dozen. But there is one that I love more than the rest.
This past christmas one of my brothers found me this discontinued YakPak that suits my personality quite well.

Its the perfect sized backpack - not too big but not too small, simple and my favorite shade of grapey purple so it quickly became my favorie. And it was a YakPak, which I am a big fan of. They have quirky patterns in great colors, and all their products are super durable. I have a wallet from them that I used for 2 years and the only reason I stopped using it was cause I went on a Batman kick and wanted a Batman wallet. 

Anyway. . . So I love this backpack. And I recently went from a 17' laptop to a 15'. And I was super stoked cause my new smaller computer would fit much better in my favorite  backpack. I had carried my old computer in this bag before but it barely fit and strained the zipper. But since I got the slightly smaller computer it would fit with out straining everything as much. There was only one problem left - this backpack doesn't have a laptop sleeve (they have other products that do) and I didn't want my new lappy in there without some sort of support.  So I dug around in my boxes of findings and found the solution! Thick black elastic straps! 

So did some quick figuring and did some hand stitching.

I made the decision to stitch the elastic with the seam of the pack pad even though it was narrower than the computer. It would help hide the stitches on the outside and in general be more secure and made it easier to keep everything in line. I did 2 straps and I think it worked out fairly nicely. (picture before extra thread trimmed)

Ta-da! Nice and secure! I will be using it to transport my computer on our trip this holiday weekend. It will work out quite nicely for what I need. I will probably add a vertical strap between the two straps just so its easier but I am still happy. My laptop, lap desk, AC adapter, mouse, kindle and fuzzy ear buds fit nicely with room to spare! I love taking my favorite things and making them even better! 

Recently, I've gotten away from my creative ways, but I am making an effort to get back at it. So don't be surprised if this blog goes from 80% food and 20% creative to a more 50/50 split. I have lots of fun stuff planned on both fronts over the next few weeks that I am really excited about.

Also-- I am open to suggestions. Is there a recipe you want to see me try? Or maybe a DIY project you just aren't sure about? Leave me a comment! I would love to hear from you. If I can I will try it. 

Coming soon! 

Lots of DIY's - my signature pendant, rings,  a thrift store alteration, and  rice heat bag.

Foodie posts - another flub, some of the best cookies, lemonade, 

Can Do Casserole - Creamy Chicken Casserole

So my friend recently had her baby and I had signed up to take her and her hubby a meal. I was planning on making a bake-able version of my super easy freezer burritos (coming soon!) But alas I misremembered the date and was in a crunch for time. I was only missing 2 ingredients for this yummy pot pie - esque chicken casserole that I had been wanting to try so I decided this was the option to go. After a quick run to the store I started this yummy recipe in a double batch (one for them and one for us).

Creamy Chicken Casserole

2 cans Cream of chicken soup
2 chicken breasts, cooked chopped
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
2 large potatoes
1 can biscuits

Peel and chop potatoes into bite sized pieces. Boil until almost cooked (still firm NOT mushy - they will cook the rest of the way in the oven. if you over do them now they will just turn to mush.)-  takes about 15 to 20 min depending on how big of chunks.
Cook and chop chicken breasts (I did mine in the skillet with a little salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder)
Mix chicken, veggies, potato, soup, salt, pepper and a can of water. Spray casserole and spread mixture evenly. Cook for about an hour (to heat through). 1/2 an hour in put biscuits on top.

Serves 3-6  (or 2 with leftovers for a second meal ;) )


Learn from My Mistakes:
There are 2 things I should have done differently.
The first is I didn't salt or pepper my veggies so they were a bit bland.
The second and more obvious is that initially I put the biscuits in at the beginning. This resulted in burnt biscuits that were doughy on the bottom. Putting them in half through ensures that you aren't putting cold dough on cold veggies and thus cooks more thoroughly.

Potatoes!

Biscuits! 

And apparently I fail at taking the final pic. I coulda swore I took a picture of them when they were done. but I must not have. oops!

All in all in turned out great. Mr. Hubby isn't a fan of creamy casseroles so I may tweak this recipe a bit for some individual portions. I liked it a lot. Its not the most healthy but it still chock full of veggies and tastes great. 

Coming soon!

- crazy easy Chocolate peanut butter cake cookies

- Ice cream food flub

- fix it! backpack edition

- thrift store fixes

Food flub - Easy Crock pot chicken stuffing

So I found this recipe on Pinterest.

I was super excited. I love my crock pot and I love stuffing.

And it looked super easy. Just throw chicken, stuffing, a can of cream of chicken soup, some sour cream and some water in the crock and let it go? YES PLEASE!

To be fair. I am making fun of myself in this post. Most everything that went wrong was my own fault and I will attempt this recipe again once I get over some of my own stupidity.

Thing started to go wrong right from the start.

My crock pot was on the counter and I took inventory of everything I needed.

Chicken 
sour cream 
cream of chicken 
stuffing 

I opened my chicken only to be accosted with the "foul"est of smells (cause who doesnt love a good pun?) Much to my dismay this chicken had spoiled. I'm still not sure how but it was disgusting. I bagged it up and asked Mr. Hubby to please take it to the dumpster right away. One whiff and he obliged with out complaint.

It was the last of my chicken and we had already bought groceries for the week. But I decided to go a head with the recipe sans chicken. I mean stuffing is amazing by its self right? One of my favorite parts about thanksgiving is leftover stuffing.

But I want it to be more than just flavored bread. Clint and I love corn and I always mix corn in my stuffing anyway. So I will throw that in there.


So in the crock went stuffing, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, some margarine and a drained can of corn. I hadnt pulled up the pin because I mean its so simple right?
Well, it didn't seem like enough liquid I must have misread.... So I added about 2 cans of water. maybe.... it might have been more. I was thinking it was about the amount that I would need to cook the stuffing on the stove top.

Than I had an idea. There's cream of chicken soup in it and I always make my cream of chicken with milk. So I threw in a can of milk or so.

I wasn't really thinking when I did this. I was cooking while extremely hungry. I spaced eating that day and had only had a cliff bar and my coffee and it was well after 2pm. Not doing that again.


Knowing it wouldn't need too long because there was no need to worry about chicken getting cooked through I checked it about 1.5 hrs later.

Needless to say there was not only too much liquid but the crock pot over cooked everything so it was just mush.. .  very tasty mush. but other than that it was basically inedible. I have included a picture at the bottom of this post. But fair warning. It looks nasty. Like wet dog food.


So in a nutshell:

1) Chicken went horribly bad. I had never actually smelled spoiled chicken before and don't care to again.
2) Too much liquid.

RESULT - Visually unappetizing (that's probably not strong enough of a word)  but actually pretty good tasting mush.
If you want to see the result scroll to the bottom.

.
..
...
....
.....
......
.......
........
.........
..........
...........
............
.............
..............
...............
................
.................
..................
................
..............
.............
............
...........
..........
.........
........
.......
......
.....
....
...
..
.
ok so maybe its not that bad. but there are a couple people I know who would not have wanted to see it. Looks like .. nasty.

Crockpot apple butter

I know apple butter is usually a fall thing but I promised I would post this recipe sooner rather than later.

I love apple butter, but like most things its not that great unless its homemade. The apple butter sold around Shipshewana is yummy but I dont always get up there and I figured I could make it cheaper.

I found a basic recipe online but wasnt a fan of standing over the stove. Not to mention I lost the lid to my biggest pot. So I did a little research and came up with a crock pot recipe.

Some things I did different-

-The addition of brown sugar gives the butter an extra oomph from the molasses. Not many recipes I found online use it but I love the depth it adds to the flavor.

- A lot of recipes called for various spices like ginger, nutmeg, allspice or clove. But I have come to prefer it with just cinnamon. Apples and cinnamon is a classic pairing so the simplicity works.


Crock pot apple butter

3lbs apples (my fave for this is fiji)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar


Core, peel and chop apples. Combine all ingredients in crockpot coating apples with sugars and cinnamon. Add 1 cup water. Cook until apples are very golden brown - about 8 to 10 hours on low. stirring every few hours.
Blend until smooth in a blender or food processor. Place in containers and cool.

Some recipes go a step further and recommend running it through a cheese cloth to make it even smoother. But unless your blender stinks at doing its job or you are REALLY picky about how smooth it is you can do with out this step.


Sorry for the lack of pics!

Coming up next: A pinterest fail.... stay tuned quirklings its gonna be an entertaining one!

Amish Peanut butter

Years ago my family took a family trip out to Shipshewana. We enjoyed the awesome food and all the great little shops. I don't remember how old I was but I do remember seeing the faceless dolls, marveling at the beautiful quilts and quilting kits, the Menno-Hof, and Jo-Jo's Pretzels in the Davis Mercantile which years later would become a personal favorite.
But the thing I remember most vividly was trying Amish Peanut Butter for the first time. I believe we were having dinner at the Essenhaus, and I tried it on a roll. I loved it and I convinced mom to ask the server what it was. Mom said we could try to makes some at home and I was excited.

Little did I know that the boy who would eventually be my husband lived just a few minutes from where we vacationed, or that close to a decade later I would live less than 2 hours away and go there on a regular basis.

 But I just realized that I wrote half a page about something you may not even know about.

So what is Amish Peanut Peanut Butter you ask? APB is a glorious, sweet, pale brown spread made very simply from creamy peanut butter and marshmallow creme with corn syrup to thin it out to a fluffy and creamy but spreadable consistency. In my experience it has been served on rolls or bread but I also love it with fruit. APB is also known as church spread because it was commonly served at the after service lunch.

APB is a staple at family get togethers for Mr. Creative's side of the family. And this past Easter was the first time I was asked to bring it. The recipe I used is below and was a hit with everyone. I was also asked to bring apple butter. And I promise you that recipe will be in the next post.


Amish Peanut Butter

1 cup Creamy peanut butter
1 cup Marshmallow fluff
1 - 2 cups light corn syrup

Thoroughly mix peanut butter, fluff, and 1 cup of syrup in a bowl (rubber spatula works best). Add additional syrup til it reaches desired consistency.


:)

Things I made - Baby Brylee edition

I am of the opinion that a house is not a home with out a few blankets crocheted by a loved one. And that every baby should have at least one comfy crocheted blanket in their nursery. So I am fairly predictable at wedding and baby showers. I love crocheting and love having an excuse to crochet. Granny squares area  personal favorite of mine, probably because they were one of the first things I learned when I first started crocheting.

The moment I found out my lovely friend Ashley was pregnant with her first little girl I got all sorts of giddy excited to make another baby blanket. I made sure I knew what her colors where and started tossing around ideas in my head. One of my favorite things in the world is making something completely unique as a present for someone that I know. I love seeing the looks on peoples faces when they see something I made just for them.  

I ended up making a very basic granny square blanket in the colors of baby Brylee's nursery - silvery grey and a light pink. You cant tell from the pictures but it is slightly bigger than the average baby blanket so that lil miss can continue to use it as she grows. 

I just love any thing granny square!

I also created a little basic hat for miss Brylee. A basic grey beanie with a little pink crocheted flower accented with a shiny rhinestone - very Ashley ;)

Maybe more pictures in a later post. 

Frugal Friday- Making Money Online

Hey Everybody,

I wanted to write about something a little different today. I promise you more recipes are coming but I do want this blog to be about other things as well. Plus some of you have heard me talk about the work I do online to supplement our income and have asked about how it works so I decided a blog post was probably worth it.

At the moment there are 2 websites that I work from besides my main part-time job at  RemedyLive where I am the on-call SoulMedic and help out with other various things related to the SoulMedic program. I get to do most of that from home so I am able to devote a decent chunk of my week to outside endeavors.

MTurk - Super easy and reputable. It is run by Amazon. It is based off of HITs- human intelligence tasks. Things like surveys, transcription, data entry, and giving feedback on videos. It can take some time to get used to and learn which HITs are worth your time but once you learn the ins and outs of the system you can make some decent side money.
Amazon has very specific rules for the work that is posted so there are very few scammers ever on there. You still have to use your judgement but I have only ever found a handful of HITs (in the 1000 that I have completed) that were scams.
Depending on the month and how much time I put into it, I can usually make upwards of $50 a month through Mturk. Definitely worth it for me. I can either deposit it securely into my bank account or use it to buy things on Amazon.
HitsWorthTurkingFor- A forum where users post the best HITs of the day. It is updated very regularly and dead (HITs that are no longer available) are crossed off consistently so you dont waste time clicking.
Mturk Forum - A forum all about Mturk. It clarifies rules, tells you which requesters (the people, companies or schools that post the HITs) are the best and is overall helpful for any question or issue you might have about anything related to Mturk.

Swagbucks-  You use their search engine and do various other little things to earn "swagbucks". You can also play games, do surveys, polls and other such tasks. Swagbucks roughly translate 1 swagbuck = 1 cent when you redeem them for gift cards. You cannot get cash like with Mturk but you do get giftcards to places like walmart and amazon.  I have only been using them for a few weeks now and I am still trying to figure out how to maximize my time on there but for now it seems just like an as you use it type of thing. I did install the tool bar and I do use it their search engine. Its not much for now but IMO every little bit helps. As I use it more I may post again about it.


7 Tips

1) Know when something just isnt worth it - for example HITs on Mturk that take an hour and only pay 5 cents aren't worth it. For every one it is different, I might be able to do something that is a little bit longer and pays less if I am able to multi-task while doing it.
2) Know how much info you are willing to give out- some places might want more info that you are willing to give. For example - I wont give out my street address or cell phone number. Those are not asked for often (especially on Mturk - on SB it is more likely) but they do come up every now and again. I simply back out of the survey
3) Know specific tax laws and how you would report these earnings. I wasn't doing any online money making last year but I am researching the specific laws and requirements for next year because I am on track to make enough to have to report. MTurk does have you fill out tax info and provides one of the forms you need if you reach the amount.
4) Know that these forms of income do NOT take out taxes for you. If you make the minimum amount you WILL have to report it.  You can combat this by making a point to put aside a percentage of your earnings in case you do hit that number so that it does not impact you come tax time.  I am still doing the research but as I currently understand it you report it under other earnings - the same place you would put the money made if you were self employed. I am still doing research on this though so I could be wrong. I was not doing it seriously enough last year for this to be an issue but I am this year.
5) Learn the signs of scams, links that might contain viruses, and places that might sell your personal info. Mturk is a bit easier with this - a general rule of thumb is to keep it in the work box or on one of the trusted survey sites (i.e. Qualtrics) SB is a bit harder and you do have to vigilant about the NOSOs (No Obligation Special Offers) Its just a matter of using your judgement.
6) Learn the best Requestors on Mturk and when you first log on do a search for them and do them first. Make a note of their posting habits (i.e. days and times they post, specific things they require etc. ) By doing this you develop a relationship with them and they are more likely to notice the HITs you work on.
7) To maximize earning set reasonable daily or weekly goals for yourself. This keeps you motivated and helps you figure out how much you can earn. It also helps you keep track of everything. You can either set a time goal or a monetary goal.


Do any of you use a website like these? I have a couple other ones I am looking into that I will probably post about eventually.  Let me know about your experiences or if you have any additional tips.

Sweet Saturday - Cinnamon sticky buns

If you ask my hubby to name his favorite things that I make for him, this recipe will most likely be one of the first things he says.

They are crazy cheap, super easy and can be customized to individual taste easily. I came up with them one day when I was craving monkey bread like my mom used to make, but wanted to do something a little faster and easier. Though I will admit they are NOT very health conscious


Cinnamon Sticky Buns

3/4 cup margarine or softened butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbs cinnamon
1 tube refrigerator biscuits (NOT the flakey or butter flavored ones, the classic buttermilk work best)
1/4 cup maple syrup (optional)


Cream together first 4 ingredients. Spray small casserole (or glass pie pan) and preheat oven according to biscuit directions. Spread 1/3 to 1/2 of sugar mixture on bottom of pan. Separate biscuits and layer on top of sugar mixture pressing slightly. Cover with another layer of sugar mixture. Bake until done (mine took about 4 min longer than the package directions.)
Cool slightly and invert onto plate or platter. Drizzle with maple syrup (optional)

The above is the easy and fast option. 30 min or less. If you have a little more time and are willing to put in a little more effort you can cut the biscuit dough into quarters, roll into balls, coat with butter mixture and put into loaf or bundt pan. It takes some extra time but looks better and provides more flavor.

While it is not healthy (over 250 calories for just 2), it is crazy cheap. The biscuits you can get for less than $1 on sale and the rest which you probably already have in your kitchen amounts to a little over $1.

Sugar mixture:

I always make a little extra and keep it in the fridge. It is good on toast :D

With this batch for some reason I decided to see how it would go if I just spread it on the bottom of each bun. It was still good but Hubby said they werent sticky enough. Do spread a layer on the bottom of the pan. But dont forget to spray it. Been there done that. So much hard cooked on sugar. Had to soak that pan for a while.  

All done! If you want them to be a little more moist you can cover them with foil while cooking. I just like them with a bit of crust. 

Inverted on a plate. YUM! 

These don't fit in with my diet especially since Clint and I tend to just about evenly split the pan (over 500 calories yikes!) but I will eat these every now and again just because they are delicious, cheap and IMO everyone needs a treat every now and then. Its a great saturday morning treat.


<3

Rachel

Whatever Wednesday! For The Love of a Jar of Salsa

Someday I want to try my hand at making my own salsa. And I probably will this summer when I will be more likely to be able to find decent tomatoes.

But for now I shall enjoy the convenience of a jar of salsa.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE salsa? any variety, even the not so common ones, I will try just about any salsa. I have seen mango and peach salsa (apparently one of my relatives makes a mean fruit salsa) but I have not yet had the opportunity to try those kinds.

And I love cooking with it too. Salsa isn't just for dipping or for topping tacos and burritos! I keep it on hand to cook with. It is convenient and not too bad on either the health or pocket book either. (Aldi salsa works great for cooking cause even though it isn't the greatest quality it has decent flavor and is cheap - under $2 for the big jar)

I add it to lots of different things. I have added to to meatloaf, burgers, burritos, casseroles, chili, and plenty of other things. But for today we will focus and 2 recipes that utilize salsa in a more traditional sense. Seasoned rice and an awesome Taco meat recipe. Hubby loved this and I will not be changing this recipe in the future. The rice recipe can be used as a side dish or combined with the taco meat to make an awesome and filling burrito. Both are crazy easy and as my hubby says "Homerun, spot on!"

Seasoned rice

1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
1/3 cup salsa (I used Aldi black bean and corn specialty salsa)
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder


Bring salsa, broth, hot sauce and water to boil.  Add beans, green pepper, and chili powder as well as some salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil again, and then add rice. Cook as you would any other rice.



Favorite Taco Meat

1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup salsa ( great with regular salsa amazing with specialty salsa's too. this time I used a tequila lime salsa that I found)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chilis (Rotel on sale :D ) drain 3/4 of the liquid.
1 teaspoon hot sauce


Brown  ground beef. Drain if needed. Add remaining ingredients, stir well and simmer for 15 min.

The finished product from today. We did them burrito style. Tortilla filled with taco meat, seasoned rice, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and some more salsa. The meat has a bit of a kick and lots of flavor.

What's your favorite way to use salsa? Ever cooked with it? I would love to hear about you have used salsa.

First Post! Foodie Friday: Burgers!

Hi!

This blog is about my 2 favorite things - cooking and DIY projects.
 I love cooking. But I don't generally follow recipes. I will see something somewhere and get a general idea of what I want and then do my own thing with it. So be forwarned that my cooking can be random and somewhat nontraditional.

I have enjoyed DIY projects ever since I was little. I remember making cards and necklaces from things I found around the house and asking for yarn, beads, paper, or things to paint for my birthdays instead of toys.

The element that will tie all of these blog posts together is creativity as well as frugality. My husband I are paying off student loans so money is tight. Meals aren't usually elaborate and projects are practical.

PS. Apologies for the not so great photo quality.

So here goes!

This blog is a few months coming and I thought long and hard about what recipe to do first. So I decided to do something that most everyone loves.

BURGERS!

But I wanted to do something a little different. So in this blog post I am doing burgers 2 ways - a more traditional meat based recipe as well as a meatless black bean burger.

Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I am in no way a person who would go on a meatless diet. I admit I like my meat. But in my recent endeavor to loose 30lbs by eating healthier and exercising more, I have found that I do better when I eat less meat but never really thought I would enjoy a meatless burger. But I was watching PBS one day and one of the cooking shows did a meatless burger that actually looked good to me. So I paid close attention and decided to try it, with my own spin of course. ;)


Ingredients:

1 can black beans (or equivalant dried)
1/2 Green bell pepper
 medium sized mild white onion
1 large egg white
1/3 to 1/2 cup Chili bread crumbs (directions below)
garlic powder
hot sauce
Chili powder
Salt & Pepper

Rinse black beans well. Set aside. Chop onion and bell pepper. Place in pan. Add approx. 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder, salt, chili powder, and pepper (fresh ground is best). Add a dash of hot sauce (more or less depending on how much spice you like) I know hot sauce might seem weird but even just a little bit adds a lot of flavor with out much heat. Onions should be almost translucent. Add beans and cook til well heated. Take off heat and allow to cool a bit.
After cooled slightly, pour from pan into food processor. Pulse a few times. You want to slightly break up the beans and just bring everything together but NOT puree. You do not want goop. (picture below) Transfer mixture to mixing bowl. Make sure mixture is completely cool and then add the egg white and crumbs. If the mixture is not cool the egg white will start cooking before it is mixed in.
Form into 4 patties. they will still be crumbly but should hold together fairly well.
Heat frying pan or griddle to medium heat. Place patties on pan and cook about 3-4 min on each side. Unlike regular burgers you DO want to press down on these with the back of a spatula to get a lot of color and crisp on each side.

Peppers and Onions with fresh ground pepper

beans!

All mixed up! Ready to cool!

I over pulsed just a bit but they were still fine. 

Doesn't look that yummy but trust me it is. 

Cooking (pardon the grease in the corner. I cooked one of the regular burgers on the griddle)

I finished it off as an open faced. I topped it with a bit of shredded cheddar cheese and some salsa! Yum!

Super Easy Chili Bread Crumbs

 bread (I like whole wheat best)

Chili powder
salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Spread bread on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with generously with chili powder and lightly with salt.
place in over for 30 - 45 min
break into pieces and put in food processor. pulse until crumbly. (lol)


Simple BBQ burgers

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup Chili bread crumbs
1/2 mild med. white onion,
chili powder (I did about a teaspoon)
Salt
Pepper

Chop onion (or mince if you have a husband who doesn't care for onion). Combine all ingredients. Form into 4 large patties. Cook either in the oven (350 degrees for 45 min to an hour ) or on the stove top.
Helpful hint: if you make this the night before, cover and let sit in the fridge. (or even for a few hours) the meat gets a lot more of that flavor.

I threw the onions for this one in the food processor cause hubby doesnt care for onions. butthead..... 

Raw meat.... blech.

Chili bread crumbs before the food processor. 

Patties!

Cooked in the oven. They are not burnt even though the picture kind looks darker.

A slice of Cheese, some bbq sauce, and a side of frozen seasoned fries i found on sale for $2 for a big bag. Hubby was more than happy. Even though he found out there was onion in them.... 

Both of these recipes were fairly simple. There will be more burger recipes to come but simple is always good. Simple is also generally cheaper.

So there it is. My first recipe post. Whats your favorite burger recipe? If you try these let me know what you think!

Some things to come:

14 days of valentines
Lemonade!
Balsamic dressing
And More!