Cinnamon Ornaments!

When I was in preschool, I made this adorable gingerbread ornament that has hung on the tree every year since. It's always given off this incredible cinnamon aroma that fills our house with Christmas scents. It's been 18 years since preschool, and it still smells divine! I decided to make some of these today as gifts with my Williams-Sonoma Cookie Cutters. They turned out so great! These ornaments are incredibly easy. In fact, you probably have everything you need to make them in your kitchen!

Ingredients:
2 cups Apple Sauce (1 15oz can)
2 cups Cinnamon
1 straw
Ribbon to hang
Cookie Cutters

Directions

1. Mix the apple sauce and cinnamon with your hands to make a ball of dough
2. Roll out the dough (I did this in between two pieces of wax paper) 
3. Cut your shapes! Make sure they are at least 1/4 of an inch thick.
4. Poke a hole where you want to put a ribbon with your straw.
5. Heat your oven to 170 (I just set mine to the warm setting) and bake for 2-3 hours. You also have the choice of not baking them and letting them sit out for a few days. 

That's it! I love mine and I'm super excited to give them away as gifts!

Stuffed Pepper

First off, I wanted to thank you all for blowing up pinterest with some of my blog posts! You made my day. :) It's my birthday week (I'll be 22 on Friday!), and I've been experimenting in the kitchen to celebrate. That almost sounds odd to say! If you ask my friends about my creations they will probably giggle themselves silly. I was never one to cook. In fact, my idea of cooking was a bowl of cereal or mac and cheese. Trust me, I make a mean bowl of cereal; however, thanks to that beautiful website we like to call pinterest, I've been broadening my horizons. Today's creation? Stuffed bell peppers. I've always seen them in the supermarkets. My mouth has always watered longingly at the display case of brightly colored stuffed (expensive!) veggies. So today, my goal was to make one. Every recipe I saw called for so many different things! I am a picky eater, so I knew it couldn't contain tomatoes and onions like every recipe called for. I can handle onion powder, so that was going to be my substitute. There were many great sauces out there, but I didn't have any of the ingredients to make them. So, I ended up with possibly the most simple stuffed pepper recipe ever. It was delicious! Please experiment with it and have fun!

Ingredients: (For 1 serving)

1. One green bell pepper (You can use any color you want but this is my favorite!) 
2. 1/4 cup of ground beef
3. 1/4 cup of rice (and 3/4 cup of water to make it) 
4. 1 handful (I'm guessing this would be around 1/3 cup?) shredded cheddar cheese 
5. 1/4 tsp onion powder
6. 1 tsp (or more according to your tastes) tabasco sauce/ or other hot sauce
7. salt/pepper to taste. 
8. 1 tsp garlic

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut the top off a bell pepper and make sure all the seeds are out. 
3. Bring a pot of water (enough to cover a bell pepper) to a boil. Once it boils, put your bell pepper in for 4 minutes. When it is done, set it aside. 
4. In a small pan cook your meat. You may want to soak the oil out of it with a paper towel. After the meat is browned, put in your garlic and brown that too. (Does that make sense?) :) 
5. In a small pot, add your rice and water. Put a lid on the rice and leave it open a little for the steam to escape. The rice will be done after 7 or 8 minutes. (usually when it stops bubbling and steaming) 
6. When both the meat and rice are done, combine them. I put my meat into the small pot I was cooking the rice in. Add your tabasco, salt, pepper, onion powder, and cheese. Mix! 
7. Spoon your rice/meat mixture into your pepper. Top with more chedder cheese. 
8. I placed my pepper in a small glass pyrex bowl to keep it upright. Bake it for 25 minutes! 

Eat right away! :) I actually had no idea how to eat this so I just took a steak knife and fork and went for it! SO GOOD. 

Apple Fritters!

I'm trying to make it a goal on this site to try out as many pinterest recipes as I can. I hope by doing so, I can give you all a better idea of what to make! Today's recipe pick are the homemade apple fritters that have been taking pinterest by a storm. Jacquline from Seemingly Greek is the creator of this yummy recipe. I looked through the reviews and adapted it to a recipe to better fit my tastes. The result? Pretty good! I have never been an apple fritter fan (I'm a freak!) but these were not too bad. :) A little trick... the more apples the better. The bites with the most apple in them were the best! So, I would definitely keep this one in my recipe box. I think my husband will love them! Be sure to check out Jacquline's blog for many other great ideas.

 

Homemade Apple Fritters Recipe:
1 heaping cup AP flour
1/3 cup sugar

2 T. and 1tsp brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp almond extract
1 T. butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
3 large apples. (Tart flavors work the best)

Glaze

2 cups pwd. sugar and 2 T. milk 

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat Oil (You will know it's ready when a small drop of dough floats to the top) I kept it on medium low heat.
2. Mix all ingredients together. (I like the original authors description: "The batter should be the consistency of a light cake mix") 
3. I used a cookie scooper to drop around 5 dough balls in the oil.
4. Brown each side (it takes around 30-40 seconds) I used two cooking spoons to flip and squeeze the extra oil out when they were done.
5. Dip warm fritters in your glaze mixture (I made sure they were completely coated) 

Serve warm! :) 

Want to try the original recipe instead? Click HERE! 

Passion for Fashion

I LOVE lace. Every time I wear a lace clothing piece I automatically feel more elegant. Here's a piece I picked up from forever21. It was around $25. Check out your local forever21 for some great lace items! Try pairing a lace dress with tights and pearl necklaces. This would make a wonderful Christmas look. :)

Free Printable Subway Art

Here's another free printable for you!

Free Printable!

I love this quote! I saw it on pinterest and made a version to frame in my home. Merry Christmas! Enjoy this simple, free printable!

Download by clicking here.

Miracle Acne Treatment?

I am one of those lucky people blessed with adult acne. It's not horrible, just a few pimples a month. In February I had a flare up that left scars all over my cheeks. . . NOTHING would get rid of them! It wasn't a happy situation for me. My Aunt had told me about tea tree oil many months ago, but I hadn't picked up my bottle until recently. A few days ago I bought my first bottle at CVS pharmacy on a whim. It was only around $10 so I figured it wouldn't be a huge blow to the budget. All I can say is: WOW! In just 2 days my acne scars on one cheek are completely faded. The other cheek's scars have been minimized greatly. My husband is using it and is having the same results! :) We don't dilute it at all (probably not the best if you have sensitive skin!) and find that it clears up your face super fast. Tea tree oil can also be used on small cuts and bug bites. Definitely worth checking into! :)

Fashion Recreation

I LOVE Blair's style on Gossip Girl. I'm not a big watcher of the show, but her fashion has always stood out to me. I love her headbands, classic Audrey Hepburn styles, and cute hair. I tried recreating one of her looks from what I had in my own closet... honestly, I could have probably done better. It turned out pretty  cute though, and I think it was a pretty fun outfit. :) Excuse the HUGE mess of a room. This picture was from before we moved into our apartment, and wedding gifts were everywhere!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I found this recipe on pinterest and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. :)

What you'll need:
1 package of crescent rolls (This will make 8 rolls... you can double the recipe if you need more!)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon almond extract


For the glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon (Add it in until it's drizzling ready. . . I added a bit too much and put in more powdered sugar to compensate)


Heat your oven up to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and almond extract. Roll out your crescents and peel apart. Apply the mixture you just made to these with a knife. Roll them up and pinch the ends of the crescents so the mixture won't fall out. :)

Put them in the oven for 10 minutes.

When they are done, mix together your glaze and drizzle over with a spoon. All done! YUM!

Homemade Fabreze Spray!

Oh, pinterest. I'm constantly trying out new ideas gathered on that gem of a site. Today I was determined to make the homemade fabreze spray I had pinned weeks ago. I'm going to be completely honest with you: I'm married to an amazing christian school teacher. We just recently moved to this new town and I haven't found a job yet. That being said. . . woooah are we on a tight budget! :) This was such a great find and I'm super happy with the results. Not having a laundry room in our first apartment has not been the easiest thing, so this spray will keep things fresh a little longer until our next laundry trip. I love that you can pick your favorite scented fabric softener. My bedding now smells divine. I'm a happy camper. :)




Here's the recipe for a 32oz bottle

1/8 Cup of Your Favorite Fabric Softener
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
Hot Tap Water - To Fill the Bottle to the Top


You can click here for the original post! :)