My Top 3 Favorite Things to Have at a Party!

I have had this blog for a little over a year now. I don't post as much as I would like but you can thank the crazy year that I've had for that. For once, I feel like my life is slowing down and I am at a place where I just feel constantly happy and content. I want to go back to that cooking all the time and house smelling like baked goods, girl that I was. I have new inspiration in life and I am determined to be the person I want to be.

For the past three summers, I've had one big game night with friends. I love games so much and any chance for me to plan a party just makes me happy. So, I got a group of friends to come over and it actually turned out to be a really special night for me. I always have a ton of food at my parties and make sure to make one special punch. This time, I did all three of my favorite party foods. 

The party food.

1) Strawberry Cookies

The last time I made cupcakes.

I've always made a good strawberry cupcake. They are my favorite kind of cupcake to make because it always turns out so moist. There is nothing quite like a moist cupcake. I've had it in my mind that cupcakes and cake are not the best at a smaller get together. They tend to be a lot messier and people aren't as comfortable eating them in front of people that they are just meeting. A cookie is the perfect solution to that. So, I thought what better way to make a cookie than turn my strawberry cupcakes into cookies. I tried my original recipe except with less liquids and more powders. It did not turn out like I wanted it to. Then, I tried this recipe and they turned out amazing. You can not just eat one cookie. They were moist and not crumbly at all. A perfect type of homemade cookie.

Recipe:

1 box strawberry cake mix (I used Pillsbury)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional:

1 cup chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350F. 

In a large bowl mix together the cake mix and baking powder. Set that bowl aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and oil. Add that mixture to the first bowl. Stir together until all the pockets of cake mix are gone. Add the chocolate chips in once completely mixed.

Make rounded balls of the dough and place them on the greased cookie sheet. A tip that I always remember when rolling cookies is to make the ball taller instead of wider. Personally, I think that makes for a better rounded cookie. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes. 

2) Punch

My mom made this punch for a family birthday party one year. A quick warning, don't drink too much of it. It hits you hard. 

Recipe:

1 bottle of vodka

3 cans of a light beer

2 cans of pink or raspberry lemonade concentrate

Mix them together and serve over ice.

3) Mini Wonton Tacos

Recipe:

Package of Wonton Wrappers

1lb Ground Beef

Taco Seasoning

Re-fried Beans

Cheese

Olives

Make taco meat as you normally would with the ground beef and taco seasoning. After that is cooked, add the beans to the meat and mix them together. 

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a cupcake pan, add a wonton wrapper to each cupcake part. Add a little more than a spoonful of meat mixture to each wrapper. Then, add the cheese and olives. You can add any sort of toppings to this dish really. I keep it simple to meet everyones taste. 

Cook for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. 

                                      

DIY Earring Holder

DIY Earring Holder

I have been searching for an earring holder for quite some time now. Nothing ever really caught my eye. My mom bought one from the Saturday Market but it was $25. That just seemed a little too pricey from me. After walking around the craft store for a few hours, my mom and I, came up with an idea. The total amount for my project was about 10 dollars.

What you need:

8x10 Picture Frame $5.99 (Any size picture frame will actually work. I got mine on clearance at Michael's.)

Plastic Canvas $0.59 (Used for yarn crafts. Check yarn section at craft store. They carry a lot of colors.)

1 1/3 yards of ribbon. $2.66 (At Jo-Ann Fabrics, they have yarn sold by the yard. This ribbon was 1.99 a yard.)

Tacky Glue or Super Glue

Scissors

Optional:

Hooks $1.18 (Any hooks you want. Mine are from Home Depot)

First, Take the cardboard backing and glass out of the picture frame. Cut the plastic canvas to fit the frame then, glue the canvas to it. The canvas is really tricky to glue onto so beware of that. Let it dry for quite some time before doing anything else.
After it is completely dry, glue the ribbon on the back of the frame. Make sure the length is even on both sides so you can tie it in a bow. Glue each end of the ribbon on the frame. Let that dry completely before tying the bow. Tie the bow then, hang on the wall with a nail or tacks. Take the hooks and place them in between the ribbon in frame. I hung my rings on the hooks.

                                 VIOLA! 

Hang your earrings and rings up and then you have an adorable ring and earring holder! This is probably one of my favorite crafts that I have done.

Now to enjoy a glass of wine with all this crafting I'm doing :)

Healthy Sounding Snacks That Make Me Feel Better About My Food Addiction

Life is really stressful sometimes. I complain about it way too much.

Justin Halpern is one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read Shit My Dad Says or I Suck At Girls, I suggest you do...immediately. So, every time I am having a tough day, I read parts of Shit My Dad Says to make me laugh. An example for you from Halpern's dad about his first day of kindergarten: "You thought it was hard? If kindergarten is busting your ass, I got some bad news for you about the rest of life." Amen to that. If I could go back to earlier days in my life, that I thought was difficult, I'd laugh at myself. I'm one of those people that binge eat when overly stressed. To avoid becoming extremely obese, I've been making small, healthier snacks that essentially make me feel better about myself, while subduing my stress. Two examples, and my favorite, are Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple Pomegranate Salad.

Cooking Kristen

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

If you've ever made roasted potatoes, its's basically the same thing, except with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
Seasoning of your choice (I use various kinds. A Sicilian blend is my favorite)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

First, Peel the potatoes. Then, chop them up into medium sized cubes. A little trick that I learned from my mom, is to let the chopped potatoes soak in a bowl full of cold water for about fifteen minutes. It helps remove the starch, so it doesn't stick to the pan as easily.

Place on a non-stick cookie sheet. 

Poor a small amount of olive oil on the potatoes. Just enough so each one is lightly coated.

Sprinkle as much seasoning on it as you want. 

Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes are up, flip and move the potatoes around on the pan.

Bake for another 15 minutes, or until they are crispy enough for you.

                                                  Finally, enjoy your roasted sweet potatoes.

Pineapple Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped pineapple

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 tbsp of sugar

1 1/2 tsp of lime juice

Lime zest for garnishing

It's as simple as mixing everything in a bowl. Then, eat the crap out of it because it's that delicious.

Valentine's Day Cards

I finally had enough motivation to update my blog! I've had a very difficult last couple of months. My life changed very drastically and I just couldn't find it in myself to bake, cook or craft. I'm finally starting to find my happiness again and start loving my new life. One of the best things about my life recently is the people that have become a part of it. When I needed people in my life, they were there. I owe all my happiness to the people who helped me through my hard times. I don't even think they know how much I appreciate them.

                  These people are so beyond amazing. They deserve the world. 

My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. Everyone knows that about me. I couldn't think of any better way to celebrate my favorite day of the year other than making cards for my friends. This is my first craft in a long time and I feel so much better! 

Today was a snow day for me. While being stranded in my house, in the freezing cold, I decided to do my Valentine's Day cards. While wearing leggings, sweats, long sleeve shirt, under armor sweatshirt, Columbia fleece, no makeup, scarf, hat and a blanket, I dragged my art supplies out and got to work.

On a quick side note, each person has a different card and a special message just for them. Nobody has gotten their cards yet.

I got all my crafts at Michael's and Craft Warehouse.

What you will need:
Valentine's Day Stamps
Ink Pads
Lots of heart shaped stickers
Ribbon
Tacky Glue
Envelopes
Glue Stick
Sharpie (I chose silver)
Scissors
Love colored construction paper (All shades of pink and red)


You can make the cards any shape you want. I chose to use one color on the outside and another on the inside. I used the glue stick to make them stick together. Making cards is very simple. It is how you decorate them that makes them unique and creative.
I folded mine in half, cut it, glued it and then folded them in half again.
The picture on the left shows what all my cards looked like before I added things to them.
I made twenty.

Below are some examples of some of the ones I made:

The envelopes: 

I hope everyone has an amazing Valentine's Day. Love is such a strange and awful thing when it ends but when you have it, it's beautiful. I love you all and thank you so much. 

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.

         Friday was my Birthday! One of the things that I really wanted was a loaf pan! For some reason, I've never owned one. Casey got me two awesome non-stick ones. So, today I decided that I needed to make some kind of bread. Of course, I chose Pumpkin Bread. I've never made it before and I'm pretty sure I've never even had pumpkin bread! But it sounded good so I gave it a shot!

Kristen's Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup Canola Oil

2 2/3 Cups Granulated Sugar

4 Large Eggs

15 oz can of Pumpkin Puree

2/3 Cup of Water

3 1/3 Cups of All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Salt

1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and water. Beat until smooth
3. Once mixture is smooth, add everything else and then stir together. Make sure you stir here and not beat.
4. I used two 9 x 5 in. loaf pans. I filled the pans about half full of the mixture. 
5. Place in the oven and bake for 50-70 minutes. Check on it at around 40 minutes will a tooth pick. Just make sure there is no unbaked mixture sitting on top. That might happen.
6. Once the bread is fully cooked, let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Parmesan Garlic Asparagus

Casey makes the best chicken in the world! It's his hidden talent! Tonight, he made zesty herb chicken...AMAZING! I wanted to add something new to plate and asparagus is one of my favorites! Sometimes when you don't put asparagus on the grill, it's not as good. So, I tried this recipe that roasted it perfectly. Parmesan and garlic add the right amount of flavor to this side dish. I will be making this again!

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
About 20 Asparagus
2 tablespoons of Garlic (I use minced)
2 tablespoons of Parmesan Cheese (I used more because I love cheese)

First, place the biggest frying pan you have on the oven at a little above medium heat. Once it feels hot, add a couple splashes of olive oil, or however much you think you need. Put asparagus in the pan and spread them out, so all are laying flat on the pan. You can either let them sit there for two minutes or you can cover the pan for two minutes. After the two minutes are up, throw the garlic and Parmesan cheese in there and toss the asparagus in it. Let the asparagus cook until dark green and the garlic is a darker shade of beige. When I got ready to serve it, I put a little more cheese on it! Now, ENJOY!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

"If you stand in front of a mirror and say 'pumpkin spice latte' three times, a white girl will appear and tell you everything she loves about fall." That is a joke Casey told me today. He said it instantly reminded him of me. Which does not surprise me cause I love Fall!! Pumpkin everything!! My mom emailed me a recipe for pumpkin cake, that called for one box of yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree. We don't really like cake around here, so I took that recipe, made it my own and made 18 delicious cupcakes!

Ingredients:

1 box of Spice Cake Mix

1 can of Pumpkin Puree

3 Eggs

1/3 cup Vegetable/Canola Oil

1/3 cup water

Optional:

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees!

First, blend Cake Mix, Puree, Eggs, Oil and Water with a beater until well blended. The mixture smells so good and takes just like Pumpkin Pie!

Next, take a cupcake pan and put your liners in it. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

Place in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes! Check at 15!

They are really awesome looking when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool, then frost them with the cream cheese frosting. You can either sprinkle the cinnamon over the cream cheese or you can mix the cinnamon into the container. Either way, it comes out delicious and moist! I guess all this just proves how much of a white girl I am!