Candied Pecans

I’ve been making these super addictive little treats and giving them out as gifts this Christmas season.
I stopped by Hobby Lobby last week, picked up a bunch of mini mason jars- which I might add were all 50% off, so they came to about .90 each. Filled these jars up with the pecans and tied a pretty little burlap ribbon around them. Instant gift– Homemade and delicious!
They are SO good and SO easy to make!
Here’s what you need-
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound pecan halves
Here’s what you do-
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil, spray lightly with cooking spray; set aside.

2. In a large zip-top bag, combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water and vanilla extract. Add the pecans to the bowl and stir them into the egg white mixture with a rubber spatula, making sure they are all moistened. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the egg white mixture and drop them into the bag with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Once all of the pecans are added, seal the bag, and shake it to coat all of the pecans.

4. Using a clean slotted spoon, remove the pecans from the bag and place onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, stirring them every 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.



I’ve seriously been giving these to everyone! The kids teachers, friends, family members, neighbors, you name it!
When you add up the cost of all the ingredients and the mason jars, they come to approx $2.00 per gift.
That’s a deal if you ask me!

Aren’t they cute??

How about include the pecans with a plate of beautiful homemade Christmas Cookies? The kids will love helping you bake and decorate!

Peppermint Cookies and Cream Popcorn

This recipe is inspired by my good friend Casey. She gave me the sweetest gift over the weekend– a gift of precious, uplifting bible verses, which I definitely needed.
She also gave me a bag full of yummy cookies and cream popcorn. I’m not the biggest popcorn person, but I couldn’t put this down. I was practically pouring the bag into my mouth. It was SOO good!
Here’s what you need to make this simple, yet delicious treat-

1 sleeve of peppermint Joe-Joes found at Trader Joes (there are 3 in the box)
1/2 bag of white chocolate chips
approx 5 cups of popped popcorn, or you can use an envelope of microwave popcorn
1/2 bag of Andes mint chips (chocolate chips can also be used in place of these)

Here’s what you do-
Pop your popcorn. Place the popped corn in a large bowl.
Melt 1/2 bag of the white chocolate chips according to the package directions. Mine melted up perfectly in the microwave. Once the chips are melted, drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn. Mix.
Now add your Andes chips or chocolate chips into the popcorn mixture, stir.
Last step is to crush up the sleeve of Joe-Joes, add them to the popcorn mixture and stir.

DONE! How easy was that??!!??

This is the perfect treat to bring to a holiday gathering (which is exactly what I will be doing tonight– high school girls small group, you get to be my taste testers!!)
Or how about pop in your favorite holiday DVD- mine is Elf in case you were wondering =) cozy up on the couch with some fuzzy blankets and enjoy this fun dessert!
The kids (and adults will love it).
A super fun twist on popcorn!
Merry Christmas friends!

A San Diego weekend and some chocolate stout cupcakes!

A recent trip to Stone Brewery, in Escondido has inspired my latest creation- chocolate stout cupcakes. But, before I get into sharing my recipe, I want to tell you a little about this brewery and super fun weekend I had with my husband, sister and brother in law–

We’ve been planning a trip down to San Diego for my sisters 25th birthday for months. A few weeks ago it finally happened. Can you tell I’m excited? We don’t get to go out of town too much, so I was really looking forward to this trip!
The plan was to get down there early on a Saturday, spend the day hanging out, going to Seaport Village, just exploring San Diego sans the kiddies. Our plan had changed a little, due to my sister having to work half a day on Saturday, so now, my husband Brandon and I had time to kill.
I’ve always wanted to go down to Stone, and do a little beer tasting and tour the brewery. My wish came true! And we had a blast! We got down there early, booked a brewery tour for noon (please note, if you plan on doing this, you must get down there early to book the tour. They do not allow online/phone reservations, only in person)




Took the tour (which was super affordable, $3 per person and $1 of that fee will go to charity– this includes the tour, 4 beer tastings and a take home souvenir glass) tasted beer, and had lunch in their beautiful gardens. I highly highly suggest visiting Stone. It was absolutely stunning having lunch in their serene gardens. My husband described the feel of these gardens as modern organic. SO peaceful. We could’ve stayed there all day.
So after Stone, we met up with my sister and brother. We stayed at a great little hotel right on Mission Bay called The Dana. Walked around Seaport Village for a bit, and then off it was to Old Town, to celebrate my sister’s birthday at Cafe Coyote Mexican restaurant (you know- the one that makes those oh so addictive fresh tortillas right there in front of you? That’s the one)

The next day we got up early, rode our bike on the Mission Bay bike path, had breakfast, then returned home. It was such a wonderful and much much needed weekend!

Here’s my sister Julie with her hubby Calvin-

Now this brings me to my recipe for Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, with all the beer tasting going on, and multiple beers my hubby got as Christmas gifts this year, I’ve had a new appreciation for beer (usually I’m a red wine kind of girl). All these beers inspired me to make a dessert with, you guessed it– BEER!
Here’s what you need:
1 cup stout beer
2 sticks butter, softened
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 eggs
¾ cup sour cream
Here’s what you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, and baking soda together. Set aside.
Add the eggs and sour cream to a mixer, and mix together on a medium speed. Add butter, mix. Add the beer and cocoa, mix. On a low speed, mix in the sifted dry ingredients. Add in the chocolate chips and stir in by hand.
Spoon the batter into cupcake tins lined with baking cups. Bake for approx 19 minutes. Cool on wire racks before frosting.

Now, you can leave these cupcakes plain, just as they are. They are now known as chocolate stout muffins, haha =)
But, I ended up frosting mine. I made a dark chocolate, merlot buttercream. You heard me right- Merlot. Yum. Told you I loved red wine, didn’t I?

Here’s what you need for the frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 stick softened butter
5 tbsp of merlot
Here’s what you do:
Cream butter in mixer, slowly add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add in merlot.
Frost the cupcakes- very lightly. This has a very strong, rich flavor. Recipe yields approx 3 dozen adult friendly cupcakes.

I noticed this book at the Stone Brewery gift shop, and it made me laugh. Very appropriate for this post!! Now you can have both beer and wine in this cupcake!

Hope you enjoy friends, and a very Happy Happy New Year to you and yours!

AAUSS- Adopt A US Soldier

Have you heard of the show “Army Wives”? I’ve become completely obsessed with it. Like I could sit down and watch an entire season in a day obsessed.
We recently signed up for an Amazon Prime account (which is awesome by the way, free 2 day shipping- yes please!)
Amazon Prime offers something called instant video, which is similar to Netflix. In adding movies and TV shows to our list, my husband added Army Wives for me. Well, just one show in and that was all it took for me. I fell in love. The characters, the story line, all of it!
I’ve always had so much appreciation and respect for the soldiers serving in our military, but  this tv show, whether being realistic or not, has taken my appreciation to another level.
A few weeks after we started watching this show I got an e-mail forwarded from my husband Brandon-

FW: Your Soldier Information from AAUSS ( Adopt A US Soldier )‏

He signed us up for an “Adopt a Soldier” program. This program allows you to connect with US soldiers who are deployed over seas. You have the opportunity to have your very own soldier, to connect with them, write to them, send them care packages. How awesome is that?! I had no idea this even existed!
We’ve already connected with our soldier, who by the way is a female. Very nice surprise! We’ve been sending e-mails back and forth, and I’m in the process of putting together a fun care package for her filled with lipglosses, lotions, some store bought treats, and of course some homemade goodies!

I decided to bake some of my homemade snickerdoodles to send to her. You can find the recipe here. I figured they’d will ship well, and I won’t have any concerns with them melting.  And really, who doesn’t love a snickerdoodle? I’m including a cute Valentine card for her as well as some drawings from the kids.
I really hope she likes it! We had so much fun putting this package together for her. The kids have been  loving helping me write e-mails to her.
I want to leave you with a  little info on this great program, I hope this blog inspires you sign up to adopt a soldier. It can be as involved as sending care packages and daily e-mails, or you can do as little as sending an e-mail once or twice a week. All that matters is they know that someone out there cares about them, and it means a lot , I’m sure of it!
http://adoptaussoldier.org/
Sign up here:
http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/index.php/site/adopt

What I've been up to lately...

What I’ve been up to lately…

I’ve been a busy little bee lately.
First off, I’ve started weight watchers. I’m down 6 pounds since the beginning of January. It’s been pretty easy for me to follow the points plus program this time around. Of course I do have my hard days- especially when I’m baking. But I’ve learned I can enjoy my sweet goodies, as long as I keep it in moderation. Moderation is KEY, for sure!
A few weeks ago my family and I started hiking again. Oh how I love hiking!
We went to the “Ghost Rock” in Laguna Beach-


Then the very next day my husband and I went hiking to “The Dripping Cave” in Aliso Woods-


In two days we hiked over 12 miles. I loved it- although my foot did not! On our Dripping Cave hike, I must have rolled my ankle, although I don’t remember injuring it at the time. It took me a good week and a half  to recover, I could barely put weight on it. But the good news is I’m all better now, and ready to start hiking again!


How beautiful is this! It’s amazing how some of our local OC hikes can make you feel like your in a whole different world.
Other then hiking, I’ve also been going a little crazy with my crafting. I decided to take apart my dark brown and beige burlap wreath, and add some new colors and design accents to it to match the inside of my home-

I used two different colors of burlap, a beige and green. I love the two tone. I also tied a cute bow, hot glued it onto the wreath, and then picked up a black wooden N at Joann’s and glued it onto the bow. I embellished the wreath with these adorable burlap flowers, and placed a pearl in the center-

Aren’t they cute!?!
Here is the burlap wreath tutorial I used- click here. I love this girl! She’s adorable, and explains the wreath instructions in such a simple way.
If you are interested in learning how to make the sweet flowers, click here.
I also made a cute little “gift in a jar” as a get well gift for our pastor’s wife, Cathi, who has recently had knee surgery-

This craft pretty much explains itself! Find a mason jar, and have fun filling it up with goodies!
In Cathi’s jar I included some organic shower gel and lotion, 2 See’s Candies lollipops, a bag of mini snickers, 2 tea bags, and a EOS lipgloss. She loved it!
Of course I’ve also been baking- a lot! I made these yummy red velvet cupcakes for a BBQ we went to over the weekend (please excuse my kitchen in the background!)-

You can find my recipe here.
I also made these brownies. Let me tell you, I’m obsessed! A homemade chocolaty fudge brownie, that has a very fudge-like texture with a decadent chocolate honey buttercream icing. It’s heaven! I made these for Cathi after her surgery, and I also made them for a sweet friend who has just had her third child- a sweet little baby boy!

The recipe is pretty darn easy, and so worth giving it a try. I hope you enjoy it!
Here’s what you need for the brownies:

• 1 Cup butter
• 2 Cups sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 2/3 Cup cocoa powder
• 1 Cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 baking pan.
   
2. In a mixer, add softened butter. Add the sugar and beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined.
3. Mix in cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add flour and stir until combined. Pour into your prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake  approx 25-30 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely.
   

Here’s what you need to make the delicious frosting-

• 3 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 Tablespoons chocolate syrup (I used Midnight Moo from Trader Joes)
  
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Directions-
Beat the butter, chocolate syrup, honey and vanilla until blended. Add powdered sugar and beat to desired consistency and pour over the cooled brownies.

I garnished these brownies with chocolate sprinkles, and for the second batch of brownies I made, I topped them with dark chocolate chips. Have fun with it!


I’d love to know if you try out this recipe. Shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you. Happy Friday and happy baking friends!

Charlie's 7th Birthday

                                                     

 Happy Birthday To Charlie!

                                                            I can't believe Charlie is 7!

We had a birthday party for Charlie on Saturday with family and a few friends from school.
It was a lot of fun, the kids played games, decorated toy cars, played with squirt guns and pretty much just had a blast!

                                  It's so crazy how fast the time goes by, how is my boy 7 already!

                                                    Charlie and little Missy on his Birthday

                                                                    Pinata Time!!

Of course I had to add a pic of my cupcakes... An Oreo stuffed red velvet cake with a cream cheese icing

                                                                   Love him! Silly Boy!

Cake Decorating Bliss

 Cake Decorating Bliss

So recently, I took a cake decorating class at my local JoAnn's store. In this class we made cakes, cupcakes and cookies, learned how to ice them correctly,  and learned many neat designs and flowers. It was an amazing class, I had a great time, especially beacuse I took this class with a friend from Church. I learned SO much. Here are some photos of the yummies I made...

                             How sweet is this cake! The cupcake on top was super easy to make.

                              Cookies from the very first class, we learned how to use the star tip.

                                               Just an example of the star border I learned

Brandon and I are taking a class at Church called "Spiritual Parenting", so why not make a Spiritual Parenting cake??!!

I found it funny that in this class they teach everyone to make a homemade "buttercream icing", although there is NO butter to be found in this recipe! Can you guess what replaces the butter? CRISCO, blahh!!
I often wonder why so many pastry chefs are so thin, well if they are using this "buttercream" recipe, then that answers my question!! 

I felt very deprived after about a month of baking cakes/cupcakes only to be topped with this yucky Crisco icing, that I had to go ahead and bake my own cupcakes with real buttercream icing!

 Oh yum!!! This is a lemon cupcake, with a lemon curd filling, and a vanilla buttercream icing. I made the sweet little candy flowers on top, and added a yellow pearl to the center.

                Yep, there they are! My beautiful little cakes. No more icing deprivation for me!

I just loved this class so much, that I think Im going to continue on to the flower design class, and then maybe the fondant class after that. Fun times!!