2 Dollar Apothacary Jar

I have been looking for cheap ways to make an apothacary jar for holiday candies. I found the glass bases at the dollar store for 1$ a piece and the top parts for 1$ a piece at a thrift store.

I went to my local Hobby Lobby and found some glass glue.

Take the top part of your jar and turn in upside down on your table. Using a washable marker mark where you want the base to sit. Then take your glue, and following the directions, make a continuous circle of glue inside your mark.

My glue told me to wait 60-120 seconds before pressing the two pieces of glass together. This allows the glue to set a little bit and create a better seal.

I placed a book on the top of the jar to keep the seal in place and allowed it to dry for a full 24 hours.

I love it and can't wait to fill it with colorful candies year round.



Amazing Turkey Dinner

For most of you, Thanksgiving Dinner is quickly approaching and the who, what, where when and how is all needing to be planned. Since my husband will be working on Turkey Day we decided we would have our enormous dinner yesterday. I have to say, it turned out amazing.

For the turkey I used the recipe from Best Bites blog here. I think the main ideas were that you need to first brine the turkey for atleast 24 hours, then inject the turkey with your key flavors and, finally, cook your turkey in a an oven safe bag. I followed the recipe for the turkey quite closely with only a few minor changes. I used a lot of garlic and parsley instead of the sage but it was still amazing.

Another plus, was that when you use the bag to cook the turkey it only takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to be finished. I remember my mom getting up well past sunrise the morning of Thanksgiving Day to get the turkey in the oven so it would be finished by 2 pm. In a way, because of that I dreaded the day when I would have to cook my own turkey. However, this ended up being very easy to pull off.

With the turkey we had potato rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, key lime pie and chocolate pudding pie. What's that? What about the pumpkin pie and the berry pies? Well, neither my husband or I like pumpkin pie very much and there are no berries on the southern border I could have used. This was a bit of a dissapointment for me since I love my homemade fruit pies.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and enjoy your turkey!!

Paper Mache Pumpkin

Although these might be kind of time consuming this is a fun craft you can do with your kids. Might end up kinda messy at times but messy is fun, right?

Supplies you will need:

Balloons
Newspaper Strips
School Glue
Scissors or sharp knife
Orange Paint
Tin Foil
Green or Brown Paint

Make sure you have a place where you don't mind things getting messy. I use an old plastic table cover for all my messy crafts.

Make a mix of your glue with water. Usually you use a 2:1 ratio glue to water but I don't ever measure it.

Blow up your balloon to the size you want your pumpkin to be. Dib a strip of newspaper into your glue mixture and place flat on your balloon. Do this until the entire balloon is covered, leaving the "stem" of the balloon uncovered. You can either allow each layer to dry before you add more or you can keep adding the wet layers like I did. Then I allowed it to dry for about 24 hours before I painted it.

For the stems take a piece of tin foil and twist it into the shape of a pumkin stem. After it is the shape you want it to be you can pain it however you like. I did a couple layers of different greens and browns to give it more of a realistic look and I love the way they turned out :)

Cardboard Coffin

Unfortunately, I don't really haved the pictures for a tutorial for this but it is super simple. As long as you have the general shape of the top and bottom and the sides are all the same you can have on great looking cardboard coffin :)

DIY Pumpkin Lantern

Super cute, right? These only took me a couple hours outside of dry time. Basically all you need to do is follow the general idea of paper mache
Supplies you will need:

Balloons
Orange Crepe Paper or Orange Steamers
School Glue
Scissors or sharp knife

Make sure you have a place where you don't mind things getting messy. I use an old plastic table cover for all my messy crafts.

Make a mix of your glue with water. Usually you use a 2:1 ratio glue to water but I don't ever measure it.

Blow up your balloon to the size you want your pumpkin to be. Dib a strip of crepe paper into your glue mixture and place flat on your balloon. Do this until the entire balloon is covered, leaving the "stem" and top of the balloon uncovered. You won't need too many layers since you want to be able to illuminate the pumpkin from the inside with your candle (I would recommend flame-less).

After your crepe paper is dry you can pop the balloon and take it out. Now all they need are faces and a pretty illuminary on the inside.

Ghost in a Jar

Please welcome Bartholemeu the Ghost. This was SO simple to put together and I'm sure would be fun to do with a child for halloween. 

All you need:

Scrap white paper or tissue paper
Needle and Thread
Black Permanent Marker
Glass Bottle
Paper for a Label

All I did to make a ghost is took a piece of fabric and rolled it into a ball to give the head its form. Take your needle and thread after you put a knot in the end and string it through the rolled fabric.

Now take your scraps and pull the needle through the middle of the scrap fabric pieces to add the body of the ghost.

Add your eyes with the permanent marker and place your ghost in your jar or bottle. By leaving the thread attached to your ghost, you can use the lid of the jar or bottle to secure your ghost mid air.

Now you can make a label for your ghost.

Quick and Easy Apple Tarts

These are so super easy. All you do is follow your favorite apple pie recipe.  All you need to do is take your pie crust and after rolling it out like you would for a pie cut out some circles using a knife. I used the rim of a bowl for a template. After that all I did was hold the pie crust circle in my hand and spoon your apple mix into the pie crust. Using your hands press your crust into a ball with the apples in the middle. It's ok if they look kind of messy... gives them some character.

Backe at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes and enjoy!

Spooky Tin Foil Tree

SO EASY!! All you do is take some tin foil and scrunch it up into the shape you want. The messier the better, gives your tree character. Then you take smaller pieces to scrunch into smaller branches. I used a hot glue gun to attach the branches and it turned out like this.

Cool right? Now take your favorite can of spooky spray paint and go to town! I used black but brown or purple would look amazing!

Bacon Tomato Chicken

This is a very easy and super yummy main dish.  We have been having a LOT of chicken lately and I admit I have gotten really tired of it. I just had to come up with something else. So I went looking online and combined a couple of elements I thought would be yummy.

Take your thawed chicken breast and rub with olive oil and garlic.

Spinkle your choice of spices and herbs on the chicken. I use just thyme when I want more of an italian taste.

Then place a slice or two of roma tomatoes on the chicken. Then put two slices of bacon or turkey bacon on the top in the shape of an "X". This holds the tomatoes on the chicken.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. (I always cut open my chicken and check to make sure it is fully cooked. OR if you are smarter than I am and have an internal thermometer that works great too)

Enjoy!

For a more advanced version, you can stuff the middle of the chicken with some mozerella cheese and italian sausage. 

Jute Monogram Tutorial

I was REALLY bored the other day (you can only workout so much!) so I came up with this quick and cheap little project to hang on my wall. I really like the rustic feel it has and it goes great with the "farmhouse" autumn feel.

First thing I did was find an old cardboard box and draw out my letter. I then used my amazing McGyver skills to cut it out with a pocket knife.

Once you have your shape you can proceed on to covering your cardboard with jute. You could also use yarn or strips of fabircto give it a taste of your personality. I personally just attache one end of the jute to the back of the cardboard and wrapped the jute around the letter form. Occasionally, I used a dab of hot glue to secure peices down or cut little peices to fill in empty space.

After my form was done I grabbed a frame I wasn't using and went looking for fabric. Wallah!! An old shirt the hibs doesn't use any more.

I cut out a piece from the breast of the shirt and taped it over the glass in my frame.  Glued my monogram to the fabric and then added some pretty coffee filter flowers to the top.

Voila!! Easy, fun and beautiful! 

Muffin Tin Apple Pies

You can easily use your favorite apple pie recipe to make these fun individual pies. Make your pie crusts (2 crusts makes about 6 pies)

Roll out your crust then use a small bowl to measure a circle about a little bigger than your muffin tin. You will want there to be about 1/4 inch of crust above the edge of the muffin tin. This extra edge will help you attach the top layer to the bottom.

Then take another small bowl and measure out a smaller circle that will cover the top of the pie.

Make your filling.

Take your muffin tin and place squares of tin foil in the holes to mold the muffin shape. This will allow you to easily pull out each mini pie when it is finished baking without it losing its form.

Place the larger circle of crust in the bottom of the muffin tin holes on top of the tin foil and press out any cracks and folds. Take a fork and poke the bottom a couple times then put in your filling. I like to fill them pretty full because as they bake the filling will settle.

Place the smaller circle on top of each pie and pinch the sides together. I like to use my fingers but I know many people use a fork to create the seal. Then you can adorn the top with whatever crust decorations you want. Just make sure you poke a few holes in the top for the steam to escape.

Bake at 345 for 35 - 40 minutes and let sit at least a half hour before serving.

Fall Decorating

So being down here in the south there is no such thing as a "season".  There is no winter, no spring, and no fall. There is summer.  The only way I know it is September is the weather has finally cooled off enough to stay under 100* F a couple days a week. Everything is just as brown and hot as it was mid July. Soooo... in my sanctuary of an apartment I am working to "autumn-ize" my decor. I went looking for old shirts and any other scraps in fall colors I could use.

I changed up my lamps. I don't know why this picture makes it look so crooked... must be the horrible lighting and my lack of a decent camera. Or it's just my lack of photography skills, ha!

I dug up a picture I painted as a Sophomore in high school. Random? Very. Why do I still have it? Who knows.

Pulled out a lace table cloth and put the our random sword (gift from my grandpa) on it for some character.

Finally, I added a homemade monogram wall hanging to make it more personal. (Tutorial to come)

Tuna Crochettes

 As many people know, tuna fish is something that is extremely healthy. Low in fat and high in protein it's a common element of a body builders diet. However, eating tuna without high fat condiments like mayo proves to be very difficult. I have, for a number of years, eatin tuna directly out of the can with only pepper for taste and water to wash it down. Yuck. But let not your heart be troubled! I have found the solution! By eating tuna crochettes you are able to get all of that protein with a very small amount of added fat. They are easy to eat by hand and I love eating them dipped in a little ketchup and baked potato wedges. For those with kids who love those nasty freezer fish sticks... this is an amazing alternative!

2 cans tuna, drained
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Then begin making 2 Tbs balls of the mixture. Place each ball on wax paper or tin foil and allow to sit for 15 minutes. This will allow the extra water and other fluids to "drain" out of the balls. (Make sure you don't skip this step. The crochettes will fall apart as you cook them if you don't allow them to sit.)

After the fifteen minutes, take your balls and roll the balls in bread crumbs or oat crumbs (the oats are my favorite and they make for a crunchier bite). Then place balls in a pan of 3-4 Tbs of hot olive oil. Take a spatula and squash the balls into little patties. Cook each side on medium heat for 3 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Doggy Diaper Bag

This only took me about an hour to make and it worked really well on a trip we went on a couple days later.  Because I used a bag that already had a bottom in it the process was super simple and quick.

If you make one of these make sure the dog food bag is one of the plastic sturdy ones. I washed mine out and it got rid of the dog food smell.

The first thing I did was measure from the bottom of the dog food bag and mark the desired height of the bag. I chose to make mine tall enough so you can see the "puppy chow" label. Then cut across.

Because I was short on time I chose not to "hem" the edges of the bag but I wanted to make sure that it didn't have the chance to unravel. So I took a lighter and used the heat from the flame to melt the cut edges.

Now for the straps. I used the leftover scrap from cutting the top off the bag for the straps. How wide you want the strips to be is up to you. I basically cut the stips then folded them to the size I wanted. Doing it this way I was able to get the "puppy chow" to be on the front strap. Make sure that the edges of the strap are overlapping that way you can stitch through both flaps at once.

Then take your folded strap and stitch the overlapping flaps down.

I wanted to make sure that the stitches had more stability so I used a zigzag stitch but you can use a straight stitch if you wish.

After that I measured and marked where I wanted my straps to be.

Then I attached them.

The end! It turned out to be very sturdy and worked perfectly for all of my puppys things.

Best Homemade Granola Ever

So I think my search for an amazing granola recipe is over. This one is not as "healthy" as the banana granola recipe because it has brown sugar in it. But I like it better because this recipe creates a nice crunchy granola that goes great with my daily 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt. Mmmm... it is a must try and so easy to make!

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider (I juiced half an apple and it turned out great)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped/sliced roasted almonds or pistachios
2/3 cup cereal nuggets (like grape-nuts but I didn't have any so I used some corn flakes to add more crunch)
2/3 cup dried fruit (I don't like dried fruit but cherries, raisins, apricots are some good ideas)
1/2 cup sunflower seed kernnels
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

In a large non-stick skillet, combine sugar and cider. Cook on medium-high heat about 3 minutes or til sugar dissolves, stirring frequently.

Stir in oats and remaining ingredients. Continue to cook in skillet 5 minutes or until granola is lightly browned, stirring frequently.

If you want extra crunchy granola, bake on 325 for about 15 minutes stirring frequently to keep edges from burning.

Cool completely. Store in air tight container up to a week.

Banana Granola

So a couple Fridays ago I was brain storming ways to eat healthier and cheaper. After much deliberation, I decided that making my own granola would be a good way to start. I went searching for recipes and found some great ideas that I mixed and matched to come up with my own healthy granola.

This is the granola recipe that I came up with.

2. cup rolled oats
1 ripe banana
3/4 cup water
1 Tbs honey/syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup roasted almonds, sliced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

First,  blend banana, water, syrup/ honey, cinnamon, vanilla and sea salt.

In large bowl, toss wet ingredients with oats, and nuts.

Lay out on baking sheet and bake for about 40 min stirring every 10 minutes.

The Joys of Juicing

Some time last week my husband and I watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was very interesting and sparked an interest in other food research. We quickly discovered that we, as most Americans, were remarkably deficient with our fruit and vegetable intake.

After doing some further investigating we decided to try a juice fast. Basically, a juice fast is when a person abstains from solid foods for a period of time and only drinks fresh veggie and fruit juice. We would juice lots of veggies and fruits and that is what we ate for two days. (Now, please know that I do not claim to be a professional and do not recommend doing a juice fast without first consulting a dr) Originally, we were going to do a juice fast for about a week but because we are very active and workout a lot we decided that it would be better for us to take in solid foods as well. So we began eating lots of fruits and veggies with the juice and gradually added proteins back in to our diet as well.

It has been almost a week since we got the juicer and I do not regret getting the juicer at all. I see a juice fast as a "recalibration" of my digestive system and taste buds. I have never wanted to eat fruits and veggies like I do right now. If I think about a Mcdonalds Big Mac or any other fast food meal I just about vomit in my mouth. Studies have shown that people benefit from every meal being 51% raw fruits and vegetables and I love knowing that I am getting that in a concentrated juice form.

Now, when I don't get my juice for a while I begin to feel groggy and tired. I try to take in at least a half cup of juice per meal (every three hours) and I am able to go the entire day without feeling tired at all.  It is an amazing feeling to get all the vitamins I need naturally. It's something that I can't really convey in words and so I would encourage all to get a juicer and add natures juice to your diet.

Sweet Lemon Bread

This bread is absolutely amazing. I love baking quick breads like this one because I don't have to wait for it to rise before I can stuff my face with it. It ends up being solid enough to eat by hand making it perfect for a quick breakfast, addition to a lunch, snack or a yummy dessert.

Prep: 15 min

Bake: 55 min



1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 large lemon

1/2 unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Oil a 9x5 in loaf pan.

2. In a bowl, use a fork to stir four with baking powder and salt. Stir in grated half a lemon.

3. In a seperate bowl, use an electric mixer on medium to beat the butter. Gradually beat in 1 cup of the sugar. Beat for 2 min. Beat in eggs, vanilla and milk.

4. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture just until batter is moist. Don't overmix. Pour into the loaf pan and smooth the top.

5. Bake in the center of the oven until golden and a skewer comes out clean, 55-56 min. The top cracking is normal as the top sets before the bread has fully risen.

6. While the loaf is baking take your lemon and squeeze about 3 Tbs juice into a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar but don't worry if sugar doesn't fully dissolve.

7. When your loaf is fully baked, remove from oven and place pan on a rack. Immediately use a skewer or fork to poke several holes into the loaf. Drizzle or  brush half of the glaze onto the loaf and let sit 10 min. After running a knife around the sides of the bread, turn out loaf then place top side up on cooling rack. Drizzle or brush remaining glaze over the loaf.

8. Dig in!

As a side note, Cocoa Bean seems to have taken a liking to the smell of lemon.