Monster Cookies

I was really wanting to try out a new cookie recipe the other night after baby bed time and was reading though some of my cookbooks for inspiration.  I came across this recipe for Monster cookies in an old elementary school cookbook that I got at a thrift store. The fact that it looked like I had all the ingredients on hand made it look like the perfect candidate for that nights cookie!  The thing I failed to realize was the amount of ingredients and how big a batch this recipe makes until I had already put ingredients in the bowl.  Unless you need to make a lot of cookies, I recommend making a half batch of these. I really like these cookies, but with peanut butter, chocolate and oatmeal is it possible to go wrong?

Monster Cookies

6 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 tablespoons light karo syrup

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup margarine

3 1/2 cups peanut butter

9 cups oatmeal (I only had 8 so I added 1 cup flour)

1 cup chocolate chips or chocolate candies ( I did 1/2 cup each)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix ingredients in a big bowl in the order listed.
3. Spoon cookie dough on lightly grease cookie sheet by the rounded teaspoonful.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Let them cool.
6. enjoy!

Makes about 12 dozen! I had to refrigerate most of my dough and bake them the next day and they turned out fine.

Lazy Enchiladas

Being a full-time student, mother, and working can create a busy schedule.  Sometimes when I get home at night the last thing I want to do is create a huge meal, so one of my favorite easy meals to throw together is lazy enchiladas (the only thing that really makes me call them enchiladas is the sauce). They are a cheesy and gooey comfort food that tastes so good when you have had a rough day.
so here it goes...

first you put frozen burritos in a baking dish ( I use beef and bean chimichangas)
 Just put as many as you need, four usually works best for us

                                                Cover in enchilada sauce

Cover in cheese and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, make sure it is heated through.

top with sour cream and that is all there is to it! I usually serve with a salad for a complete meal.

Bread Machine Bread Sticks

I love to make my family homemade meals. It is so nice to prepare a meal and have made almost everything yourself. Being a huge bread fan, I wanted to be able to make my own for our meals.  I have really struggled when it came to making breads and rolls from scratch. For a long time I would be so excited to try a new roll recipe and they would come out like rocks. Since making rocks was not my goal I would get pretty discouraged, then this year I discovered an ally.  My bread machine.  I am still not an expert baker by any means but now I can at least make rolls and they turn out pretty good.  So today I decided to try and make bread sticks using my bread machine.

I got the recipe I used from

http://www.breadmachinediva.com/2010/05/bread-sticks-from-the-bread-machine/

I  put the ingredients in my bread machine in this order:


1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 Cup of water- I always use warm water (not too hot, not too cold)

1 Egg that is lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter- I did not have actual butter so I used country crock.  If you do use butter I would make sure it was soft.
4 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbs instant dry milk
3 1/4 cups flour

                                        
                                            ( I just put my ingredients in and didn't mix)


 Now you put your bread machine on the dough cycle and wait

                              (This is what mine looked like when it was finished)


Roll out your dough on a floured surface and I divided it into 16 pieces.  

(I divided my dough into 2 pieces and then divided those halves until I had 16 pieces, this is only half of them)






Shape the rolls into bread stick shapes and put them on greased pans, you will probably need two.

                               
                        Cover them and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes




I then put a little olive oil and garlic salt on their tops and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown on top

They were yummy! Put with a pasta dish and a salad and you have a complete meal!

Mustache Drinking Glasses

I have been seeing "mustache" products all over Pinterest and they make me smile every time! So after seeing the way cute mugs in this pin...

Source: gisselserrano.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

and wanting to do some glass etching with the cream I got at Michael's...

( Make sure you use a coupon when you go! Try downloading their app if you need a coupon)

I decided my kitchen needed some new glasses!


Items needed for this project:

 drinking glasses to etch
 etching cream
 vinyl
 cutting mat
 pencil
x-acto knife
mustache printable found below


So to start this project I first printed off some mustaches, I found the ones I printed off from this pin...

Source: tiffanykelley.com via Laura on Pinterest

then I cut out and put the mustaches on a piece of vinyl that I put on a cutting mat for easy cutting

 now to take a blunt pencil and traced all of the mustaches so that there is an indent left in the vinyl

And use and x-acto to carefully cut them out

After I got all of my mustaches cut out, I cut around each of them and placed them where I wanted on the glasses. Try to make sure that you get the vinyl as smooth as you can, especially around the outline of the mustache.

Then it is time to add the etching cream...

Wait 60 seconds and  rinse the cream off and you have new mustache drinking glasses...

I think this one is my favorite!

Valentine's Day Onesie

My new addiction... freezer paper stenciling.  I love how easy it is and how you can create a t-shirt design and paint it on yourself with almost no experience needed. With Valentine's day coming up soon, I thought that my daughter Lillie could use a Valentine's onesie to wear.

 To make your own onesie you will need:

A Blank Onesie - I used a white onesie and dyed it with Rit dye in "Fuchsia"

freezer paper

acrylic craft paint

Fabric painting medium- I found it a Michaels
foam brush

a Cricut or other craft cutter- You could also use an x-acto knife to cut out design
iron
something to put inside onesie to prevent paint from soaking through to other side- I use a Ziplock bag

First you figure out what design you want to put on your onesie.  I cut my freezer paper to the size of my cutting mat and place it shiny side down. I used my cricut to cut out what I wanted, but you could print an image off your computer, trace it on the freezer paper, and cut it out.

After your design is cut, put it on the onesie where you want it to be, still keeping the shiny side of the freezer paper facing down. Make sure you keep put the little pieces like the insides of the "O"

Take your iron and go over the whole design so that it sticks to the fabric. When your design is on there, mix the fabric medium and craft paint according to the directions on the medium bottle.  This is the fabric medium I use...

Make sure you have put something in the inside of your shirt so that the paint does not go all the way through the onesie and start painting in your design. I use a small foam brush. Be careful not to get under the freezer paper as you paint, but if you iron well enough, that should not be too much of a problem.

Once you are done, you just have to wait until the paint is done drying and carefully peel the freezer paper off. I am not very patient and usually end up using my blow dryer to speed up the process... The fabric medium I use says to heat set it for 30 seconds with a iron. I put a towel over it then iron.

And your onesie is done!!!

I added a tutu and a cute hat and I am happy with how cute it looks!  She is all ready for Valentine's day!

Here is to a new year!

I have been thinking of creating a blog for a while now. I have just been getting into making crafts in the past year, it started with my daughter being born and wanting her to have cute headbands so I got a glue gun and started to make them for her. It then progressed to making homemade gifts for my family when I saw cute wood crafts online and now it seems like I am having new ideas for things to make everyday. As a new mother learning to cook for my family has become very important to me and trying out new recipes is something I love to do. Being a beginner at both cooking and crafting I am nowhere near being a professional, but would love to share my adventures (also know as mistakes )  as I learn. So with it being a new year, I thought what better time to start a blog than today so please stay tuned as I chronicle my journey :)