For the Crafties and Foodies

I have really been enjoying all the fun projects I have been finding on Pinterest lately. I have done multiple projects and made many delicious treats and meals. Below are a couple of my favorites from most recently.

My team has a DIY gift exchange every Christmas. This year I had tons of ideas to choose from as a used Pinterest for my resource. I searched and searched and pinned and pinned. Eventually I decided on a jewelry hanger since my Secret Santa's mom makes jewelry. I bought all the parts from Hobby Lobby. I started with an unfinished wood frame. I spray painted it with gray Krylon spray paint. I then added knobs to the bottom to hang necklaces or bracelets on. (My brother in law did this as it involved sawing and drilling). Then, I painted an E in the middle of a piece of burlap using black acrylic paint. I printed the letter on paper first and taped it behind the burlap to ensure the letter would be perfect. Finally, I attached the burlap using a staple gun and tripped the excess fabric. Here is the final project:

Sorry...couldn't get the photo to turn :)

Burlap to hang earrings and knobs for necklaces and bracelets

And for the foodies:

Last week I made a delicious homemade veggie burger. I got the recipe from a friend. I had never ventured into something like this before and was eager to give it a try. I even took pictures as I went :)

The ingredients

First: cook 1/2 cup brown rice

Heat tbsp. extra virgin olive oil with 1 small yellow onion diced, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp salt together for 7 minutes

Add a can of black beans and rice and cook, stirring for 2 minutes

Add 1 tbsp fresh cilantro and mash with other ingredients to get cohesion

Let the mixture cool until easy to handle.

Form into four patties and allow a few hours in the fridge to set.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet.

Sprinkle flour on both sides of the burgers

And grill into browned.

Top with your favorite ingredients and ENJOY!

I used colby jack cheese, avocado and tomato on a sesame bun. YUMMY!

These are some of my favorites from the last couple of weeks. So so pretty and yummy and easy too!

Some Serious Weather and Dessert

I've had a big week and have a lot to post about. Here's a couple simple things for starters. St. Louis has had some very serious weather in the last week. Tuesday night we got out of class just in time to get home before crazy weather. I decided it was not too bad so I tried to go meet Lara for dinner. It started getting really loud and I thought I hit something. Then I realized it was hailing...HARD. Below is a piece of hail that fell on my car. Scary out there people.

Wednesday night I prepared for a trip to Georgia with my team. Part of preparing means making the girls tons of treats for them to gorge themselves with on the ride. This time I made cake balls. They love these decadent little treats. I also wanted to try a new dessert. It turned out delicious if I do say so myself...and it is SO easy. All you do is buy two fudge brownie mixes. You make one as directed on the box and pour it into a cake pan. You then put three large candy bars on the mix. The second box of brownie mix is then made and poured on top. It looks like the picture below before adding the second mix. Make sure the second mix completely covers the candy bars.
From there you bake the brownies for double the amount of time as you normally would. The final product needs to cool before cutting so the chocolate can re-solidify. It was absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try it with different types of candy bars.

You should try it too!

More to come tomorrow.