Sangria Punch

This drink reminds me of summer for some reason. Maybe it is the pretty color or the cool taste, who knows, but I really like it! Anyway, I usually prepare this when we have people over and it only makes one pitcher so it never last very long, I mean you would think I would learn and make more than one batch but I never do. Blame the blond my thick skull.

Anyway, I have had this recipe for many many years and honestly have no idea where I got it.

So here goes:

Sangria Punch
3/4 cup Country Time Lemonade Drink Mix
4 cups cranberry juice cocktail
1 cup cold OJ
1Tbsp. fresh lime juice
3 cups cold club soda
2 medium oranges, sliced
2 medium limes, sliced

Empty the drink mix into a pitcher, add cranberry juice, OJ and stir till drink mix is dissolved. Refrigerate till ready to serve. Just before serving, stir in club soda & fruit. Serve over ice cubes. Makes approx. 1 gallon.
This would be really good with added wine or rum too :)

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

 

 

Doesn't that look so yummy, creamy, and full of chocolate goodness?

 

Well, don't let the look fool you!

 

Every so often, I come across a recipe that intrigues me and just have to try it out. This one was no different. I mean using certain odd ingredients in places that you normally would not find them is a little tempting and I just have to try it and taste for myself. Like these Cupcakes Made with Beets!!

 

One day while watching Giada At Home on the Food Network, she made Chocolate Avocado Mousse. My thoughts were..."Wow, 2 foods I love and if I can get my kids to eat it then fabulous!"

 

So, I made the recipe and set it in the frig to chill. After a great dinner, out came the dessert. Chocolate Avocado Mousse.

 

The hubby was the one to try it first, he was not fond of the texture, which is VERY thick by the way, and he could tell that there was something in it he just could not figure out......

 

I tried it, a little thick for my taste and while my eyes told me it was chocolate mousse, my mind was telling me it was creamy brown chocolate flavored avocados. See, that plays tricks on the mind and I did not like that one bit.  I knew that it had the potential to be weird but not quite that weird.

 

Our boys? They LOVED IT! Like I mentioned earlier, it was way thicker than chocolate pudding so they filled up on it before they finished their serving but hey! I got avocado in their cute little bodies and they never knew it!

 

So, a thumbs down for us adults but a hit with the kids!

 

This is one that I doubt I will make again, I prefer my avocados alone or guacamole style!

 

If you would like to try the recipe for yourself, here it is. Be sure to read the comments, almond milk and agave was not included in the ingredients so be sure to add those in, maybe if I added more almond milk that would have given it a thinner consistency.  Oh well, I gave it a shot, that was enough for me.

 

If you try it, let me know what you think!

DIY Window Picture Frame

Is that not a beauty? This is one DIY project that my handsome husband came up with, it was his idea, and I have to admit, he did a fabulous job. Don't you agree?!

We found the frame a while back and it had been sitting around so my husband got to work on it, it was going to be a Christmas gift for my in-laws.

He removed the glass from the window first then got busy preparing to paint the frame by first using Kilz to prime the frame. This was important to seal in the paint that was already on the frame, I assume it was lead paint, I think that window is older than we are! Then he picked out and purchased the crackle primer and paint at Lowe's and painted per the directions on the label.

After it was dry we took photos of ourselves. I took a photo of my husband and he took photos of the rest of our family. (I think he takes good photos too!!) And then printed them out at our local Walgreen's.  (8 x 10 size).

Then cleaned the window glass with dish detergent and removing paint with a razor blade, dried, then cleaned with glass cleaner, my fave...Invisible Glass! That stuff works so well!! Love it!

I then cut out the mattes to frame the photos using scrapbook cardstock, I just made sure that they were the same size according to our like then cut all four of the mattes.

My husband then put the glass back into the window, adds the photo matte and photo to each section, adds picture hanging hardware to the back and felt circles to the back to protect the wall while hanging.  I was so happy how it turned out that I forgot to take a photo up close, but I did get my in-laws to hold it up for me before they took it home!

I must say it turned out so well!! I love it and secretly wished we had it in our home, I do have the perfect spot in mind for it!! So we are on the look out for another frame so we can do it again and put one in our home.

Lets have one more look, shall we?

Wow! I just love it!!

Have you ever tried this before?

Linking up to Link Up With Me, Liz Marie.

Its An Obsession......

For Christmas, I gave my husband a Keurig. Enough said!

If you have one of these, you know exactly what I am talking about..........the coffee is amazing!  And for some reason, I nor my hubby can get enough! So many flavors, so much to choose from! Does anyone else have a stash like this?????? (please tell me you do..)

And keep in mind that we have already consumed approx. 3 boxes of K-cups since Christmas morning....each time I go out to the grocery store or anywhere really that carries K-cups, I pick up a new flavor to try. I think it is safe to say that it is an obsession....

Although, today after I added my most currently purchased box of K-cups, I began to wonder in a funny kind of way all the obsessions that I have and ones that occur in periods of my life and ones that stick around for good.

Some that occur in periods (couple of times a month or so) of my life are obsessions with food,  such as chocolate (my husband would disagree on this one, he thinks if it is chocolate and it is in our house, it will automatically be consumed by yours truly or be hidden away from everyone for keep for myself for my later enjoyment) and wine, oh yes wine, I do love it but I go in spurts, I drink everyday for a while then back off for a little while and then back on again. If it is a good bottle(s) you bet I'll be drinking every night!

Other obsessions that stick around are ones that involve being clean & organized. Clean and organized home = a happy me! Don't get me wrong, I am not perfect, but I try to keep on top of it most of the time.  And my car, but with black interior that is another challenge that is very difficult to keep on top of especially with 2 boys who love to put their feet all over every surface in the back seat! Another obsessions is nail polish, love having my toe nails painted ALL THE TIME! If it comes off, it immediately goes back on! And another one, hand sanitizer! I do not like germs and use it every time I get back into the car after being in a store, I use it on my kids & hubby too! Multiple bottles, gotta make sure I have one available whenever needed!

Wow! I guess you guys just learned a few things about me you never knew before! Please tell me you guys like Keurig as much as we do! :)

(I was not paid to write about Keurig, these are my opinions only!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

 

Does that cupcake not look absolutely yummy? I think so, and it sort of happened by accident. You see, I had to make cupcakes for my youngest to take to preschool. At first I thought all the cupcakes would be chocolate but I thought that I would spare the teachers' nerves and just do vanilla. Plus, it was the only flavor that I had in the pantry. While getting the mix going, I knew that only 12 cupcakes would be going to the preschool so that of course left 12 cupcakes here for us to eat.

 

Well, I thought that here was my chance to change things up a bit and try something new. I was in the mood for chocolate so after I followed the directions on the back of the box for the vanilla cupcakes I poured half of the mixture into 12 cupcake liners for the preschool, then I decided to play with the remaining mix. I thought, heck, if I screw it up its only 12 cupcakes, right?!

 

 

Ok, so with 1/2 of the mixture in the bowl, I added 1/4 cup of cocoa and 3 to 4  tablespoons of coffee.  Mixed it all together and then filled the remaining 12 cupcakes liners with the new chocolate mixture and baked the cupcakes according to the directions on the back of the box.

 

After the cupcakes cooled, I started on the frosting. I made a basic vanilla buttercream frosting.

 

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Then I used this frosting to decorate the cupcakes for the preschool and for the frosting that I had left over I added....

1/3 cup of peanut butter (you may add more, just be careful, the more you add, the thicker the frosting)

mixed well and frosted the chocolate cupcakes.

Melted chocolate and drizzled on top.

 

That was it, simple and yummy, especially with a glass of milk!

 

The cupcakes were moist and the combination of the chocolate and peanut butter were just the trick for my chocolate craving. 

 

Let us take one more look......



Thank goodness that I only had 12 of these and that I shared...........I could have eaten them all, but I didn't.

Looking forward to baking lots of Christmas goodies soon, there are a few that I make every year. And this year, I am looking forward to surprising some neighbors with some of those goodies too! It is always more fun when you share!

Do you have any baking traditions at Christmas?

7 Layer Magic Cookie Bars

These are made every year here at Christmas, these are for sure a tradition at Christmas and always have been since I was a little girl.

They are yummy, oh so yummy and very addictive, gooey, chocolaty, so many rich flavors....so are you ready to make some of your own?

1 & 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup of butter, melted
Mix the above ingredients and press into a 9 x 13 dish, lined with foil or parchment or sprayed with cooking spray.

Then layer in order the below ingredients on top of the graham cracker layer:
1 cup of butterscotch flavored chips
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 & 1/3 cups of coconut (I use the coconut in the freezer section, just let thaw first)
1 cup of chopped nuts (I use pecans)

After all the ingredients are layered, drizzle 1 (14oz.)can of sweetened condensed milk (yes, the entire can) over the bars.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

And of course they are great with a glass of milk. Can you tell that I have  a major sweet tooth?

 

Just one more look at this fabulous treat... (oh and these are one of the treats that I will be sharing with a few neighbors, I hope they enjoy them!)

 

 



DIY Beverage Tags

 

I absolutely love Ballard Designs, the design is so me and I could go crazy with the plastic if given the chance!

One day while browsing through the magazine I came across these beverage tags.

The price in the catalog was $18 for a set of 6, which is a very reasonable price, but I thought to myself that it would be fun to try and make them myself.

I started off my visiting my local Michael's store, I picked out the tags and headed home.

I had some black rub-on letters in my scrapbooking supplies and thought that would be perfect for the words on the tags. 

 

They went on well, but you just had to be careful to go slow and take your time because the texture of the tag was a little rigid and you have to be sure to get the entire letter onto your tag or it would be hard to line up the portion of the letter that didn't go on the first time.

 

After all the words were on the tags, I decided to add some scrapbook paper to the back of the tag, mostly because the price sticker for the tag was stuck to the back and I could not remove it completely and this solution took care of that ugly problem. I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the back.

There was one tag that I did not have a word for, so I thought that by covering the tag in a Chalkboard sticker would be cool, that way the host could use it for any beverage just by writing in chalk the name of the beverage on the tag.

 

To age the tags a little, I used Ranger Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap around the edges of the tag till I got the look I was going for.

 

Then I covered each tag with 2 layers of Mod Podge, allowing each layer to dry in between coats. Then added twine to hang the tags.  And I must say I love the results!

 

 

The tags are so cute on the pitcher! I made these as a  Christmas gift for a special person, I hope she likes them!

 

 

 

The tags are perfect for a gathering of friends at home, a bridal or baby shower or even a family BBQ in the backyard.

 



 

Have you been making any Christmas gifts for friends and family?