Cutest Little Cupcake on the Block

Meet my new cupcake!!

She likes to sit on top of dessert cookbooks (aka the only cookbooks I own)...

She also likes to hold all of my cupcake wrappers! A big thank you to Erica Evan for my favorite new kitchen accessory!

Kickin' Pretzels

These are soooooo good! Barrett's Mom made them over Christmas and when I finally got up there and was able to try them...you better believe I wasn't leaving without that recipe. They are very similar to my oyster crackers, but with a little kick to them...

What you need:

1 bag pretzel sticks
3/4 c of veggie oil
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1 T lemon pepper
1 T garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder

What you do:

Dump the pretzels into a gallon size ziploc bag. Pour in the oil and all seasonings. Close the bag (muy importante!). Shake the pretzels around in the bag until they are all well coated. You don't have to do that very long, but every now and then give them another shake. Leave the bag overnight. In the morning give them another good shake and then dump them in a clean bag or container and enjoy!

You may be wondering where all the oil goes...well it is either completely absorbed by the pretzels or it magically disappears because there is no oil left in the bag when you wake up...these babies are dry! But trust me that's a good thing!

A New Planner for a New Year

The last planner I bought was for a two year time period. At the time I thought that was a pretty sweet deal, but after a year I wanted something different to look at. However, I couldn't bring myself to buy a new one when that one was still in good shape. So I knew for 2013 I would get myself a shiny new planner and when I saw a groupon for Maybooks I was sold! All the designs were really cute and this is the one I decided on!! It has all the months in the front and then it's spread out with one week on each page...oh and I got to customize it with my name :)

My (very belated) Christmas Wrap Up

As I was scrolling through the pictures on my phone, I realized I had Christmas pictures I never posted. So here you go...better late than never :)





1. I got the idea to hang ornaments in the windows off of pinterest, but of course I can't link to it from work...boo 2. I made stockings with our names on them to put up at Barrett's house last year and this year I decided to put them up at my place :) 3. My Christmas wrapping...brown paper, tulle and stamps or bakers twine and homemade tags. 4. My burlap wreath made its 3rd consecutive season appearance...this time with a poinsettia :)





I actually did make a Christmas craft! After searching forever, I finally found the perfect size jingle bell for my 'o' at Target...all hail Target






My Christmas nails that I did in 10 mins. before going to church...I loved them, but probably won't do them again since everyone kept asking me if there was a "special" reason why my ring finger was gold...Nooooooo



And of course my "tree" my absolute favorite decoration!!

 

Hello 13 in 2013!

Last year I set 12 goals for myself and even though I didn't complete everything (I was 9 for 12) I still had fun trying! If you want to check out what I did and didn't do, click here or the page link off to the right :)

In the spirit of the new year, I'm setting 13 goals for 2013!! Let's see how many I can accomplish this year...

1. Make 12 new dinner recipes (0/12)
2. Read at least 5 new books (0/5)
3. Watch at least 5 movies off my Oscar list (0/5)
4. Travel to at least 1 new state
5. Finish my friend's wedding gift (hopefully by her second wedding anniversary on March 5)
6. Finsih cork frame
7. Run an entire 5k (I've always done the run/walk thing for 5ks)
8. Do/Make at least 5 pins from my Pinterest boards (@katyleigh28) (0/5)
9. Make my "Whatever, I'm late anyways" clock
10. Make at least 1 dessert out of each of my 4 dessert cookbooks
11. Make an appointment with the "Witch" doctor to figure out my tummy issues
12. Make a Shutterfly book of my trip to SF last fall
13. Pay off my car aka Carrie or at least get closer to paying it off ;) 

Chex On Crack

Doesn't that look like a good snack to start off the new year with?!?! I thought so too! My brother's girlfriend brought it over Thanksgiving eve night and I absolutely loved it. I begged asked for the recipe and sure enough it was in my inbox the next day! I really didn't have a reason to make it right away so I had to wait a few weeks for my friend's birthday. Unfortunately, I got in a fight with the white chocolate that night and the white chocolate won :( So my friends got a batch with no white chocolate, but still plenty of other ooey gooey deliciousness. The batch pictured above I decided to use vanilla candy coating instead of white chocolate and it worked much better.

This is a little more time consuming than my chocolate covered popcorn, but still easy and all done in the microwave.

Per the wonderful Haley, here is how you make it! (I believe her mom found the recipe on pinterest)

Ingredients:

8 cups Chocolate Chex cereal (I couldn't find chocolate so I used honey nut)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup  MINI Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

1 cup Miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup caramel bits (found by the chocolate chips in the baking aisle - or chop up regular caramels)

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/2 cup milk chocolate baking chips

1/2 cup white chocolate baking chips

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Into large microwavable bowl, measure cereal; set aside. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper or foil.

2. In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave brown sugar, butter and corn syrup uncovered on high 1 to 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until melted and smooth. Stir in baking soda until dissolved. Pour brown sugar mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave on High 3 minutes, stirring every minute. (This is what makes the Chex so crunchy). Spread on cookie sheet. Cool 10 minutes. Break into bite-sized pieces.

3. Make sure Chex mixture is cool to the touch (so candy doesn't melt). Evenly sprinkle mini peanut butter cups candy and miniature marshmallows over Chex mixture.

4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave caramel baking bits and cream uncovered on High about 1 minute or until chips can be stirred smooth. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle over snack. Repeat with milk chocolate baking chips. Repeat again with white baking chips. Quickly sprinkle coarse salt over while candy drizzles are still wet. 

5. Refrigerate until set. Break apart and store in tightly covered container.

Enjoy!!

Fantasy Fudge

I successfully made fudge!! Woo hoo. I decided to try my hand at regular fudge after my disaster this time last year. I followed the instructions to the T on the back of the jiffy puff marshmallow cream jar. I also used my candy thermometer. Let me tell ya, having one of those helps a lot...ha ha.