Love, Actually

In honor of Valentines quickly approaching, I decided I would feature this new blog I found that has fun and inexpensive date ideas for you and your hunny.

As a newly wed myself, I am a firm believer in date nights. It is easy for me to see how the obligations of life can quickly make you forget about a fun part of a relationship, the romance! Taking time in your week to stop and refocus your relationship does not have to be the same cookie cutter ‘dinner and a movie’ (don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a time for just dinner and a movie) but who says that dinner can’t be a picnic in the park and the movie watched on a laptop? This site is great at giving some really creative and many expensive and DIY date ideas. Here a few of my favorites.

Pizzeria Date Night.

Love Checks.

Personal board games.

I found this years Valentine’s Day ideas from this site, I will post pictures later! Let me know what you think or what ideas you love!

Flour on your Camera?

Does anyone else out in this blogging world have flour or other food particles lounging around on your camera.  I usually don’t let it  stay there to long but my husband did once ask, “Is this icing on the camera?”. What can I say, I’m a messy cook and I am still trying to get the hang of this blogging/ tutorial business.

So last night was one of those baking nights, I’m not sure what got into me, but I just wanted to bake. I started off using a bag of sliced frozen peaches from the freezer to make peach cobbler. I found a really delicious sounding recipe for a slow cooker peach cobbler recipe. I thought that sounded great, but alas, after the measuring, mixing, and 3 hours in the slow cooker, I tasted it and my peaches had gone bad.I’m not sure how but somewhere between the slicing, freezing, thawing, cooking, the peaches went very very bad.  I know, how awful! The smell of warm peach cobbler lofting up from the kitchen trashcan was too much for me to handle, so I decided to make  something else.  This time I made something I knew would work and be just as delicious, Oreo Truffles. But these are not just any Oreo truffles these are Sugar Free Oreo Truffles. Sound too good to be true, well they are not! I will post the pictures and instruction soon, right after I get the melted chocolate off my camera!

So let me know, do you have anyway to keep your camera clean while cooking for a blog? Or do you have any great cooking catastrophes? Leave a comment, make me feel better about my new beginner cooking skills!

Peppermint Bark

Need alittle sweetness added to your day, well I have just the thing for you! It’s a process to make but simple enough that anyone could do.

Here is the type of chocolate I used. I got it on sale at AC Moore. They have great 40% coupons which makes this project even more affordable. I used 1 bag of Dark Chocolate and 2 bags of White Mint. You can use whatever type of chocolate you want – I just have picky chocolate eaters in my family!

You will also need 3 cups of Candy Canes.

I lined 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

And smashed the Candy Canes in a Ziploc Bag. *Tip: cut a hole in the corner of the bag to get the crumbs out, makes less of a mess then trying to get it out of the top.

Melt the Dark Chocolate chips in a double boiler on the stove or in the Microwave. Then divide the chocolate between the two cookie sheets and spread it out close to the end of the paper.  Place the sheets in the freezer while you continue onto the next steps.

Melt the White Mint Chocolate then add 3 cups of chopped up Candy Cane. ( I saved some larger crumbs to sprinkle on the top)

Take the harden Dark Chocolate out of the freezer and divide the white mixture and smooth out on top.

I sprinkled some larger pieces on top then put the sheets back in the freezer or refrigerator.

Once the chocolate gets hard take out and crumble to pieces. Place in a air-tight bowl or cute container for  great  gifts.

I also found this great recipe for Candy Corn Cookie Bark at Your Homebased Mom.

I think it would be fun to make a Valentine’s Bark, do any of you have ideas or recipes? Leave a comment and let me know!

Craftynest

Craftynest does a fabulous job on old and broken items and making them into something usable and beautiful. Check out some of the ideas I found and check out their site for some more great ideas.

I love the Bamboo veneers she put on these typical Ikea tables. Check them out here.

Have extra drawers lying around, check out her bookcase here.

I love these Popsicle snow flakes, find the tutorial here.

I loved how she turned this old dresser into this movable tool box.

And she turned this old window into a one of a kind piece of art.

I hope you enjoy these ideas as much as I do.

Valentine Inspiration

Here are a few ideas to give you a little inspiration for the next special holiday. I’m a believer that every house could use a little more pink, so what the perfect time to spread some cheerful LOVE around. Enjoy the pictures and let me know if you have any Valentine ideas and I would be happy to add them.

Room to Inspire

Craft Rookie

Fun to Craft

Room to Inspire

Room to Inspire

Under the table and Dreaming

Under the table and Dreaming

Little Birdie Secrets

Craftaholics Anonymous

Delish

Katie’s Nesting Spot

Happy Deocorating!

Crescent Roll Braid

I found Week 2’s recipe on Sumo’s Sweet Stuff.  Its called a Crescent Roll Braid. You can see how her’s turned out here. Because it was just my hubby and me eating,  I cut the recipe in half and it was perfect.

The nice thing about this recipe was I didn’t have to buy any special ingredients, I already had everything in the fridge and pantry. Here is a picture of all the ingredients you need, minus the chicken ( it was defrosting in the microwave when I took this picture).

Framed Collage

Many of you may remember this post where I showed off my new “full of potential” frame I bought from Goodwill.  Well here is the final product! What do you think?

Here is the original frame.

I spray painted it black,

added some pictures, and…

Vuala! My new pride and joy!

Dollar Store Crafts

Here is an ingenious blog I found the other day!It has creative craft ideas from objects found at the Dollar Store. It’s fabulous because who doesn’t love the Dollar store?? Here are a few ideas I found that have made it to my “someday” list.

I love this customized rubiks cube! It would make a great and simple gift or just fun to have around your office. I can’t wait to pick one up and try this for myself. Go here to find instructions on how its made.

This is a great teachers gift. Seeing these makes me want to be a teacher so i can hang one in my office. Click here to see how its made.

Here are some fun coasters you can make from your favorite scrap booking paper. Found out how here.

Need a better way to keep yourself organized? Check out the picture frame calendar here.

Here is a fun Christmas card holder made out of a placemat.  Oh the possibilities this project has.

Let me know if you come up with any great ideas from Dollar store finds.

Shower Curtain Play Mat

I haven’t posted a kids project in awhile so here is on I found on Dollar Store Crafts.

This project is very simple and extreemly cheap.  Find a clear vinyl shower curtain and let your and your kids imagination run wild.  This would be a great project for snow and rainy seasons. If you try this project with your kids, send me pictures, I would love to post your ideas!

Bistro Chicken

The new recipe I tried for this week is called Bistro Chicken. I found this recipe at Kraftfoods site. Here is the original recipe but I ended up changing some things around to make it easier and cheaper.

What you need:

2 tsp. oil

3 cups  sliced fresh mushrooms

1 onion, chopped

1 can  (15 oz.) stewed tomatoes, undrained

1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing

3 Tbsp.  tomato paste

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

1 cup  KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

2 slices OSCAR MAYER Fully Cooked Bacon, crumbled

I ended up substituting these three items ( stewed tomatoes, undrained, KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing,  tomato paste) for a jar of Spaghetti sauce. I’m not sure how much this changed the taste, but the ending result was not bad. I may try the original sometime to compare the two.

Here is how you make it:

HEAT oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onions; cook 5 min., stirring occasionally.

ADD chicken; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 12 min. or until chicken is done (165°F).

Stir in spaghetti sauce. When it is warm, TOP with cheese and bacon; simmer, uncovered, 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

I served mine over Spaghetti noodles to give the meal a little more substance, but my husband said that made it harder to eat.  Next time I will probably just do the chicken with some other side and leave the noodles out. Any ideas?

So final verdict: Good, but not perfected. Will probably experiment some more on this, but it will be made again.