Snack is Coming!

Hi there! I know we have been missing here for the last few months. Even with summer vacation, there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day for everything. Perhaps one of these days we'll finally get it down and be able to get everything done, as planned.
Anyway, today's post has been a few weeks in the making. You may have heard of a little show called "Game of Thrones". If not, you may live under a rock. (It's OK, I have been told I grew up under one 😉) When Caleb and I first started going out, he introduced me to the show with the "Red Wedding" (Imagine red cornstarch, EVERYWHERE...) It took me another few months to get over that episode and we started watching from the beginning. The only problem- it's addicting. For the last three seasons, we've re-watched the entire series. This season has gotten him through the work week this summer, and we've looked forward to it every Sunday.
When this season began, we decided we wanted to throw a season premiere viewing party. Then it turned into a season finale viewing party. I started gathering a few ideas earlier this week, but then we decided against it because Sunday afternoons are kind of rough around here. However, as I was looking on Pinterest for ideas, I found a super cute shirt for the Little One.

For those of you who don't watch the show, the Nights Watch is the group of men who protect the Wall that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and the land beyond. For those of you who do watch the show, I didn't spell it wrong. I mean, I guess technically, yes, but it is a play on their last name. (I thought it was clever...) Then, the one shirt led to a handful of onesies for the future Littlest One:

These are all show-themed sayings and designs, changed to fit babies and kids. I absolutely LOVE how these came out- and I got to use up some materials, which is always a great feeling! 

And to enjoy while watching tonight, we made some "White Walker Direwolf Chow":

In the show, the White Walkers are a mysterious group of the undead that have come back and everyone has to come together in order to conquer them. The direwolf is the symbol of House Stark, and if I had to guess, Ghost is going to come help Jon and Co. Below are the directions to make this treat. This version is super quick and easy, and takes about 15 minutes to make, which includes melting time. Serving size depends on a few things, especially if you're anything like me and snack as you go. This recipe can also be doubled or halved quite easily.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups Rice Chex (or a combination. I like Rice Chex because they're gluten free and have a 'neutral' taste, so you don't have to use a lot of other things to cover it up. You know?)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar 
• Blue, white, and black sprinkles and blue chocolate candies

Directions:

1. In a double boiler (or, if you're like me, you can use a glass bowl and water-filled saucepan), melt the peanut butter and chocolate. 
2. Pour cereal into a mixing bowl. Slowly pour the peanut butter and chocolate over the cereal, and toss. Coat the cereal pieces completely. (Snack on the biggest chocolate-covered cereal piece you can find.)
3. Pour the powdered sugar and cereal mixture into a gallon-sized plastic bag. Seal tightly and shake. Make sure the cereal is entirely covered in the sugar. (Eat the biggest chunk you can find in the bag.)
4. Add the sprinkles and candies into the bag and shake again to mix. (Munch on a handful of the other colored candies) Enjoy the peanut butter and chocolatey goodness as you watch an episode or ten of Game of Thrones

Now, I'd be lying if I didn't say this is really just another version of the iconic "Muddy Buddy" or "Puppy Chow" (hence the Direwolf reference). The combination of chocolate, powdered sugar, candies, and the sprinkles make it a perfectly tasty representation of the characters on the show. I actually lucked out and found a "Blizzard Mix" of sprinkles, which works even better for this mix.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Santa brought an idea for a quick, last-minute gift!

We all know how busy it can get around this time of the year- obviously. And if you're anything like us, it always seems like you need to add one more person to the list. And then another. And another. (I definitely added three more to mine yesterday...) Whether it's a teacher at school or the letter carrier (two highly unappreciated jobs, especially around this time of the year, in my opinion) or you need a quick fix for one of those parties that sneak up on you (Secret Santa, White Elephant, etc), having something small on hand to give them isn't a bad idea.
Today's project is a little coffee mug with a few yummy treats included.

Obviously, there are a million ways to run with this project. Since we wanted the coffee mug to be used for more than just Christmas, but still with the holiday feel, we went with a wintery theme for our mug. We made a basic hot chocolate mix to put into the mug, which includes layers of crushed peppermint chips (you can use chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, other kinds of baking chips, too) and small marshmallows. The gift was finished off with a small plate of shortcut peppermint chocolate chip cookies with a mocha glaze.
The recipes we used for both the hot cocoa mix and cookies can be downloaded below. We've included some other ideas to add to a basic hot chocolate recipe, as well, to make it your own!

You can download the files here:
2016 Holiday Planner Insert & Recipes
"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" Studio File

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic day!

A Saturday Night Treat!

Happy Sunday Afternoon! We hope everyone is having a superb weekend. We are having a gorgeous fall weekend here. Not to brag or anything, but our last few weekends have given us amazing weather! And we have some leaves changing colors, which is always a nice little reminder of a New England fall. The only thing missing is some pumpkins. We wanted to carve some last night, but couldn't find any at the store. It was a sad night.
So, what do we do instead? Watch Harry Potter and make these delicious drinks:

These are pumpkin pie milkshakes based off the recipe found at Our Best Bites for their Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes. (These two ladies are awesome! We'd try all of their recipes if there was enough time in the day!) This drink has a base of vanilla ice cream and pumpkin puree. I kind of went off track from there. I added some vanilla and a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice. Unfortunately, or fortunately I guess, we didn't have any milk left in the fridge. We did have some apple juice, so we improvised a little. It was probably close to a quarter of a cup of juice. It definitely adds a bit more "fall" to the drink!! We decided to rim the glasses with some crushed graham crackers and chocolate syrup, and then dripped some chocolate down the sides of the glasses. (You could also use caramel syrup, which would also be pretty delish! And last, but not least, we added some whipped cream on top, with a garnish of a grahammie square!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hopefully we'll have a few new projects to share, and at least one more of Our Best Bites delicious recipes!!

A New (Delicious) Fall Drink

We hope everyone is having a wonderful, working Wednesday! On the bright side, it's downhill after today. Anyway, today's post isn't something we usually do. We're pretty sure the last time we did this was last fall. We are sharing our recipe for a *drum roll* Apple Pie Latte:

This drink is absolutely delish! Just looking at the picture makes me smile. There is a story behind this recipe, though. The other day, I was so excited to go the store and get the pumpkin spice coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. How can you go wrong? And especially when it's on sale?! When I got there, I was disappointed because it wasn't there. But they had this apple pie-flavored coffee. I was kind of weary about getting it, but went for it, mostly because we're deprived of it out here. (Washington's downfall). I also picked up some caramel creamer and whipped cream with the idea of making a latte (yum!)
I hurried (safely) home because I was just so excited! Now, we kind of cheat when it comes to making lattes. We used a gift card to make the most-awesome purchase: a Mr. Coffee latte maker. Unless you have a boat-load of money to spend on the machine, I wouldn't recommend it. Then again, if you're someone who goes out and gets a coffee every day, it might be worth it. We've definitely gotten our money's worth :)
So, here's how to make your own, without any fancy equipment. This recipe makes two drinks (or, just one really large one!) 

Apple Pie Spice:
In a small container, mix 1/4 cup cinnamon, 1 tablespoon allspice, and 2 teaspoons both nutmeg and ginger. Mix well and store in an air-tight container.
This is one of those mornings that this drink would be perfect. Needless to say, this drink was absolutely delicious! I was surprised at how "apple-y" this coffee was. There are only a few flavored coffees that have such flavor to them. After we finished the coffee (in like a week...), we had our first (and only) pumpkin spice latte from the "other" place, and it was so disappointing. It tasted like a regular ol' latte. Good thing we can make our own now!!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!

Cupcake Saturday!

Good morning on this absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning! We hope everyone is having a great day so far! Ours is looking to be busy, but hopefully we'll be able to relax a little tomorrow. Anyway, the cupcakes we are sharing with you today are the ones we made for our birthday last weekend. At the beginning of May, as we were watching the Harry Potter Weekend on ABC Family for the umpteenth time, we decided that we really wanted to have a Harry Potter themed birthday this year. Honestly, who wouldn't want to live in a world full of magic and mystery?! (And who says 27 is too old for a birthday party?!) We had a whole bunch of ideas to work with , but unfortunately, life got in the way and we didn't get around to it. But, we did make cupcakes to celebrate! These are our butterbeer cupcakes, in honor of Harry Potter:

We took a shortcut with these, and used a butter cake mix. Instead of adding water, we added cream soda to the batter (it was kind of difficult to find the cream soda. Not too many stores out here sell it. Who knew??) Once the cupcakes were cooled, we took white buttercream frosting and added a package of butterscotch pudding to it. We mixed it to make a butterscotch buttercream. (This would probably have been better looking if it was a homemade frosting, but it tastes delicious!) These were exactly what I would imagine a mug of butterbeer to taste like.
If the cupcake form isn't quite your thing, there are a ton of other recipes out there for drink versions. We've tried the one from this website, which was surprisingly good. It's not the heathiest drink out there, and drinking a tablespoon of butter may not be on your top list of things to do, but it is tasty in small portions. (That's in the mug.) We also found a butterbeer frappuccino 'recipe' here for the coffee drinker who frequents the corner Starbucks. I wonder if the one at Safeway would make this for us. There are also cream soda-based recipes, too.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a magical day!!

A Great Start to the Week

Happy Monday! We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We had pretty non-exciting weekend. It rained all weekend, but today wasn't too bad. The sun peeked through at times, which is always nice! But, now it's time to get back to work after a much needed Spring Break. So, since it's back to work, we don't have much time for our own crafts, unfortunately. On top of work, we have two sets of wedding invitations to do, which is super exciting!
Anyway, since we're trying to get back in the groove, today's post is different than our usual posts. This is what we had for dinner tonight, and it was just so good, we had to share!

It's not the best picture (I thought the smudge was on the front of my phone. Turns out I was wrong). Anyway, this is our Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Shells, and it is amazing! We were first introduced to this buffalo dip by our Aunt, who refused to give us the recipe. Luckily, everything is on-line, so we were able to come up with our own recipe. The dip by itself is delicious enough to have for dinner (which we've done!) The stuffed shells idea came to us last night as we were perusing Pinterest. I don't remember exactly how we came up with the idea, but it seemed like a genius idea. And, of course, everyone and their mother has already made them. Oh well. We made ours a slightly-lower fat version.

Here's how we did it:

1. We cooked 3 large chicken breasts and then cut them into chunks. Some people shred theirs, it's more of a personal preference.

2. As the chicken is cooking, start cooking the pasta shells. We didn't stir them too often, so they wouldn't break. (We cooked about 20 shells, but had enough dip leftover to fill another 4-5 shells)

3. As the chicken and shells are cooking, we mixed together the rest of the ingredients: 

     * 8 ounces (1 box) cream cheese, softened (we used reduced fat cream cheese)

     * 1/4 cup both ranch dressing and plain Greek yogurt

     * 1/2 cup both buffalo sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese (more or less cheese...)

4. Once the chicken is cooked, mix it in with the buffalo mixture. Take the mixture and begin filling your shells. Place them in a greased dish, keeping some room, just so everything gets warms evenly. When all of the shells are full, bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melty.

5. Enjoy! We had three each, but I'm sure a few more could have been devoured. We needed to save some for tomorrow's lunch!

Well, I totally recommend making this dish! It is so good! And now it's time to get ready for another work week! Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing You...

A fabulous fall! Yesterday, we went on about how this is our favorite season. And, since it's our favorite, we decided to make it this week's theme. So, for today's quick project, we decided to show off our fall card for this year:

 

We decided that this little birdie was too cute not to use! The inside of the card says "Wishing You a Fabulous Fall" (hence the title of the post)

And what's fall without something pumpkin-flavored?! Since we're just two girls on budgets, we can't really afford to get fancy coffee drinks everyday. While we were perusing Pinterest, we came across this recipe for pumpkin lattes, so you can have them whenever you want! I love how easy it is to remember, and it takes less than five minutes to make one! I only use coffee when I make these, but if you're fortunate enough  to have an espresso machine, you can surely use that. (And how cute is that mug?! We designed them with just some Sharpies (another Pinterest project ;)

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Makes: 2 large mugs

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie filling

2 tablespoons imitation vanilla extract

Pumpking pie spice*
1 cup of strong coffee, prepared

Whipped cream, for topping

Caramel drizzle

Directions:

1.       In a small saucepan, add milk, pumpkin, and sugar. Heat on medium heat until steaming. Stir occasionally.

2.       Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.(*I usually use just enough to cover the top of the milk)

3.       Pour mixture into blender. Blend for 30 seconds, until nice and fluffy.

4.       Divide coffee and milk between two cups. Top with whipped cream and caramel, if desired 

 This recipe is obviously pretty easy to cut in half, in case you only want to make one. Or make eough for two and drink them both...

Phew, that was a long one! I think it's time for me to go make one of these! Thanks for stopping by!