Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

Last week, Keith and I had a great dinner with his work team mates, and they bought us a fantastic new vacuum, to start our marriage right. I am so glad they did, because the one I have now breaks ever other time I use it and makes horrible-sucking-out-your-soul sounds. I cannot wait to recycle the broken one, for the new shiny, exciting one.

Anyway, as a thank you, I wanted to bake some cookies, however there is a heat wave hitting Illinois...hard. So I didn't want to spend too much time in the hot kitchen making cookies but wanted them tasty. So, I stumbled on this recipe gem to make lemon cake mix cookies. They are so easy, and so tasty!

What you need:

• One box of lemon cake mix
• One egg
• One 8 oz frozen whipped topping (we used cool whip) 
• 1/3 cup of powder sugar

Instructions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350.
2.) Spray a cookie sheet with cooking oil spray, or spread some oil on it, whatever you prefer.
3.) Mix cake mix, egg, and whipped topping together and blend until well mix. The batter will turn a really thick and sticky consistency. I kept calling it banana taffy. 
4.) Put powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Using a scooper (one of my favorite gifts Keith has EVER gotten me) scoop small amounts and put them in the powder sugar.

5.) Roll the batter in the powder sugar and cover it. TIP: Don't touch the batter until it has powder sugar on it otherwise it will stick to your hands.
6.) Place on the cookie sheet. Bake for around 10 minutes, then check on them. One of the trays needed more time, one was done in 10.

 

The finish product will look almost like the crust cracked, but that's how you want it. I don't think these look amazing, but boy did they taste delicious! This recipe yielded about 24 cookies. Enjoy

By the way,

Thanks so much already for the support we have gotten on the blog. We appreciate it! :)

Zesty Lime and Avocado Salad

First posting!!  Yayy!  So I made this yummy salad on a nice summer evening to go along with a delicious sandwich.  It has great tastes and flavor.  Definitely a great summer salad.

I started out with a 1 lb bag of frozen peeled and deveined shrimp from Trader Joe's.  This shrimp works great because all I needed to do was throw it in the strainer and let the water run for a bit to defrost it.  Once defrosted, I chopped it into small pieces for the salad.

Next up I chopped up 1/4 cup red onion, and let that marinate in a small bowl with the juice of two limes, 1 tsp olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper for at least 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl I then combined the chopped shrimp, 1 chopped up avocado, 1 chopped up medium tomato, 1 jalapeno chopped up with the seeds removed.  

Then I added the small bowl of onions and other ingredients and mixed it all together well.  Top that off with 1 tbsp chopped cilantro.  Add salt and pepper if needed.

It was a different kind of salad and I am really glad I tried it!  One thing I did learn is it does not hold over night...so invite some friends over and enjoy! 

Hello Blogging World!!

So I am a little slower on getting my posts up but hello everyone!  It's good to finally get a post up.  As Jenn said, my name is Megan and I am really excited to be a part of The M.P.!  I am a high school math teacher, I love crafting and I am learning to love cooking.

That's me there on the right...with my roomie.  As Jenn told you, we met long ago and share a love of many things including camping, crafting and food!  So we will be meeting up at the M.P. just like we did for so many years camping!  So I hope to hear from everyone when you check out our blog and all the awesome things to come.  :)

Bits and Pieces: Wedding

I know, I have been MIA lately, I don't have a good reason. So I am posting today with all of the projects I have done this morning alone! There is no how-to, just some inspiration for all you soon-to-be brides out there. These are just some of the D.I.Y. aspects of my upcoming wedding.

 Instead of big table numbers, I found this fun laser cut frames from the craft store and decided to paint them in my colors. I have to do 22 of these bad boys. (My paint area is getting really messy!)

 To bring in my other color in the centerpieces, I went to the craft store and picked up some simple green scrapbook paper. I used my whole punch to cut out hearts.I am going to sprinkle some of these on each table.

 So many hearts!

 I also made a few pair of earrings. These are mine, however the camera took a bad photo of them. They are vibrant blue in real life. 

This is the top of the earrings I made as a gift. I wanted to keep the rest a surprise, but I love the cap. Beautiful. 

Lastly, I am plugging away at Thanks Yous for the Welcome Bag at the hotel. I got some Michigan Post Cards (well, okay, K's parents bought them for me) and wrote a cute note on each one. Each one says "We're so glad you came all this way, to be part of our special day!"

Well, I hope this post might inspire those getting married soon. Personally, I can't wait until the whole finish product is together! :)

Red Hot Chata Drink Recipe

I haven't posted for a week. That is my fault, I got sidelined by Keith's birthday and various other projects. I am trying to finish up summer projects and getting ready to tie the knot in mid September, so things can be a bit hectic. So, I decided to write a quick recipe post for a delicious drink that we discovered. This recipe is something I picked up a few weeks ago. I made one for Keith and he really liked it. It's a cinnamon based drink. Okay, ready?

First off, gather your supplies. For this drink recipe you will need ice, a shaker, cocktail cup, and ground cinnamon. You will also need a horchata flavored drink- Rum Chata in our case. And a cinnamon whiskey drink- Fireball in our case.

Place a few ice cubes in the shaker. Then mix in the whiskey and the horchata drink. We put in a ratio of 1 shot of whiskey for two of the horchata. The whiskey's coloring make it a weird color until its mixed...

But the lid on your shaker and shake well. Please don't mind the bad nail painting job, or the nerdy shaker.

Place a few ice cubes in your favorite cocktail glass. I got this one for Keith awhile ago. Anyway, back on topic, strain the drink with your shaker and pour into cup.

Sprinkle come ground cinnamon on top. and finally, ENJOY! 

We are still figuring this blog out, so please hang with us while our photos and recipes improve. I hope you like our first one. It's pretty delicious, however drink responsibly.