Craft Night: Nutella Toast Recipe

So last night I hosted my first ever craft night. I just put it out there on social media and several ladies said they were interested, so the wheels were in motion. I found a silly craft for those who did not bring a craft of their own (more on that craft in a later post) I then spent Sunday doing one of my new favorite things: playing hostess! We finally have a big enough apartment to have people over without being cramped or too hot, etc. So, I started on the menu. One thing I made was Nutella Toast. I'm gonna let that one sink in, NUTELLA TOAST. And it was pretty stellar.

Basically, you get a baguette and slice it up. Then in a pan melt some butter and pan fry these bad boys until they start to brown and crisp up. Then put a liberal amount of nutella on the bread. Top with berries and mint and if you are feeling daring- some sea salt. It was very tasty.

That's not all I made though. However, I am going to space those recipes out throughout the next few blog posts. I really enjoyed this low key craft night. Happy crafting folks!

Recipe: Butterscotch Cookie Butter Fudge

Oh my gosh, I re-found cookie butter (from Trader Joes). I found a jar in my cabinet, next to a bag of butterscotch chips, that I haven't used in forever and was fast approaching the expiration date. Today was a rough day and Keith went back to school so I was trying to pass time until he could come home so I decide to make one of the best things ever---fudge.

What you need:

• 1 14 oz can of sweetened condense milk
• 12 oz of butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup of cookie butter
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Get out a 8 x 8 pan and spray it with cooking spray. Mix sweetened condense milk, butterscotch chips and cookie butter in a pan and heat over medium to low heat. Stir regularly until all (okay, or most) of the chips have melted. Turn heat to low and add vanilla. Stir just 5 more second and remove from heat. Pour mixture into pan and put in the fridge for a few hours.

This recipe yields a lot. BUT, it yields a lot of deliciousness!!! Enjoy!

Three Easy Camping Recipes

We went camping! It was so fun, and new to us. We both have camped throughout our childhood, but this was our first time, only us. So, we went for it. We stayed in Northern Michigan (lower peninsula) at two different campgrounds. One was on Higgins Lake, a beautiful state campground that I used to go to as a child, with my partner of this blog, Megan and our families.

The second camping site was off the coast of Lake Michigan in Mackinaw City. It was one of the most beautiful places I have been.We walked along the beach, went to the city, and even traveled up to the Soo Locks. It was a great trip. Keith and I learned a lot about camping, including how to chop wood, start a great fire and cook some delicious food.

Breakfast Recipe: Breakfast Sandwiches
I don't do eggs, you can add eggs but I found them really gross (I know, I am a wimp when it comes to food textures)

What you need:

• Two slices of bread
• Spreadable butter
• Two turkey sausage patties
• Cheese
• A pie maker
• a fire pit

Make sure you spread an good amount of butter onto the bread so it does not stick to the pie maker. We always heat up our pie maker first in the fire. Then make your sandwich, close the pie maker and put it in the fire. After a few moments check the pie maker, flip or take out. It took about 5 minutes on each side to melt the cheese. Easy and great sandwich.


Lunch Recipe: Hobo Hash

 What you need:

• Aluminum foil
• cooking spray
• hashbrowns (we got the kind in the refrigerated section and kept cool in the cooler)
• shredded cheddar cheese
• pre-cooked chicken sausage
• salt and pepper to taste
• Fire
  

Make sure the fire is nice and hot and has some good amount of coals at the bottom. We actually let the fire die down so that it was only coals. Next I laid down two foil sheets and sprayed the top sheet with cooking spray. Put down hashbrowns, then cheese. I cut up the sausage and put them in too. I rolled up the aluminum foil and we put it right on the coals. Make sure to flip the aluminum foil package halfway through cooking. Ours took about 15 minutes to cook. But it did burn the bottom because we did not rotate it enough.

Dessert Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup S'more

Okay, this isn't really a recipe since everyone knows how to make s'mores. But, try this! Instead of putting a chocolate bar between the graham crackers and marshmallow, replace it with a peanut cup. IT IS A GAME CHANGER! Seriously- you won't regret it.

Okay- well, I hope you enjoy these recipes and now go camping.
 

Recipe: Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Keith had a birthday last week. So, to celebrate- I threw him a party. We had our great friends come over and eat delicious food and drink and have fun. I made Keith a taco bar, which was awesome! But I also made two special desserts- pretzel gelatin and dirt cake. This post is going to focus on the pretzel jello.

My aunt usually makes this for all our holidays- but in a large batch since we come from a large family. So- I tried to make individual servings. it turned out pretty good.

Ingredients
-1 and a 1/2 cups of crushed pretzels
-4 tablespoons plus 1 cup of sugar
-10 tablespoon of butter
-2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese
-1 tsp of vanilla
-1 (8 ounce) container of frozen whipped topping (thawed)
-1 (6 ounce) package of strawberry gelatin
-2 cups of boiling water
- 1 (16 ounce) package of slices strawberries

The how to:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 I lined up small ramekins on a cookie sheet.Then I ground up the pretzels using a rolling pin.  Combine 4 tablespoons of sugar, melted butter and pretzels in a bowl. I then put the pretzel mixture in the bottom of the ramekins and baked for 6 minutes. Then let it cool completely- I actually left them in the fridge overnight.

Next, I put the cup of sugar, cream cheese and vanilla in my stand up mixer. I mixed those up. I folded the whipped topping into the mixture and blended. Keith help me pipe the cream mixture using a freezer bag with the corner cut off, on top of the pretzel mixture. Then we let it sit for an hour.

I then mixed the boiling water with the gelatin and stir it until it dissolved. While still hot, I mixed in the frozen strawberries. The gelatin was too runny, so I threw it in the fridge for about 5 to 10 minutes, not too long though! I scooped a large amount of the gelatin into each one.

Once all set, let them chill in the fridge for a full hour before serving. I left two without strawberries because I don't like strawberries and some people don't like gelatin. There was extra strawberry gelatin when we made them, but I think that's why.

Enjoy everyone!! 

A Warm Up Weather Recipe

It's warm! Today reached 70. I can feel summer in the air and it's glorious. I celebrated by buying and planting new plants while listening to records today. It was magical. This weather gets me so ready to go for walks, camp in the woods, eat on the porch and of course, enjoy nice tasty popsicles!

Keith and I invested in a Zoku Quick Pop Maker. And, it's amazing. I toyed around with it for a bit, and thought I would share my favorite recipe: Orange Julius Quick Pops.

What you need:

• 6 ounces of thawed orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup milk (I used fat free)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingriedents in a bowl until well blended. Pour into the Zoku and wait about seven minute, until frozen. Remove with the tool and devour.

Enjoy the warm weather (and the delicious Popsicles!) 

Recipe: No bake cookie butter cookies

Have you tried Cookie Butter yet? I tried it at my old office and it is delicious. I think I could probably sit down and eat it out of the jar, but I am trying to be a little more civilized, so I decided to make some really easy no-bake cookies.

What you need:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup of cookie butter (we got ours at Trader Joes)
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of quick cooking oats

I started by cutting up the butter and putting the butter, milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan. I heated it until it started to boil, stirring frequently. After it reaches a good boil, do not stir for about one full minute and then remove from heat. Stir in the cookie butter and the vanilla. After that's all blended, stir in the oats. All of the liquid should be soaked up by the oats. One wax paper scoop out a large tablespoon of the cookie butter/oats/butter/delicious mixture. Let them set until fully cooled and enjoy!

seriously guys, these are DELICIOUS.

A cheer up recipe: Thin Mint Milkshake

So, every now and then we all need a cheer up. So, Keith was in need of a cheer up, so I made him the best thing I could think of: 

A THIN MINT MILKSHAKE

Yep, I said it. And it was delicious. 

what's in it? 3 scoops of low fat vanilla milk shake, 1.5 cups of skim milk and 5 thin mints. I topped it with fat free cool whip and half a thin mint. Keith loved it and I hope you do too!

Enjoy :)