Chocolate Trail Mix Blobs

I've done it again! This time, I made a yummy snack!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• Trail Mix (walnuts, cranberries, raisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, papitas)

Directions

1. Melt Chocolate. I prefer to use a water bath to prevent burning the chocolate.
2. When chocolate is melted, dollop teaspoonfuls onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. 1/2 cup of melted morsels makes enough for about 15 blobs.
3. Press trail mix into chocolate. I used 1 of each of the following: walnut, cranberry, peanut, raisin, sunflower seed & papita.
4. Allow to set; I put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator to harden chocolate and set trail mix.
5. Enjoy!

Pictures (with comments)

Here are my ingredients: Trail Mix & Semi-sweet chocolate morsels.


Close-ups of Trail Mix & Morsels.


Semi melted chocolate and then fully melted chocolate. I like to use a water bath to prevent burning. You can always melt the chocolate in the microwave, but I always seem to burn it.


Close-up of blobs of chocolate.


Close-up making the blobs.


Finished blob!


More close-ups of finished blobs.


Cookie sheet in the fridge.


Yummy! Perfect little snack!

One Pot Wonder Tomato Meatball Linguine

This is a Pinterist-inspired creation, with my own twist. The idea is to just throw everything into a pot and simmer till done!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. (16 oz.) uncooked linguine
• 50 Mini meatballs (escarole size)
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes with liquid
• 32 oz package vegetable broth
• 14.5 oz can vegetable broth
• 1 large onion, cut in julienne strips
• 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 4 large sprigs basil, chopped
• 1/2 bag of fresh spinach (about 4.5 oz), chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, meatballs & basil in a large stock pot. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil.
2. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
3. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper , stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot.
5. Serve garnished with Romano cheese.

Pictures (with comments)

I made about 50 mini (escarole size) to put in the pasta. The original recipe was vegetarian, but I like meat so I thought that it would be yummy to add escarole-sized meat-a-balls. I make my meatballs with 80/20 ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, Romano cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper & Italian seasoning. I rolled them into inch-sized balls and cooked on a cookie sheet for 20 minutes. The pictures above are the cooked meatballs draining on paper towels.


Picture of meatballs, chopped spinach (red bowl), chopped fresh basil, 5 cloves thinly-sliced garlic, julienne sliced onion & seasonings (red pepper flakes, oregano).


Throw it all in a pot. Cover & bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid almost evaporated.


I love how colorful this is!


Seasonings on top (I didn't want them in the main picture because it doesn't look as pretty).


Simmering, half-way done.


Complete! I let it simmer for about 20 minutes, until most of the broth was evaporated.


Dinner is served!


Piping hot!


So yummy!

DIY Oven Cleaner

So I saw a pin on Pinterest so I had to give it a try. Actually, I knew this would work, but it's one of those cleaning jobs you just avoid. I mean, who wants to clean their oven? Well, the proof is in the pudding! Or in this case, Vinegar, Baking Soda, Lemon & some balled up aluminum foil. And elbow grease. Lots of elbow grease.

Ingredients

• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• Half lemon (not pictured)
• Balled-up aluminum foil

Pictures (with comments)

Before. Grimy, greasy, yucky. The glass in the door is gross.


My ingredients. I made a paste of baking soda & vinegar. Probably used about half a box of the baking soda, and I just poured a little bit of vinegar in at a time (to avoid the volcano eruption we're all too familiar with from 8th grade science).


I forgot to take a picture of it, but I used half a lemon as the applicator, and squeezed the fresh lemon juice all over the paste after I spread it on the door. Then I balled up aluminum foil as scours. You can see the grease on the aluminum ball.


Then I wiped it all way with a couple of paper towels. The door is now see-through and in fact reflective. You can see the top of my cabinets in the door's reflection now.


After. I think this worked. What do you think? It's not perfect, but like I said in the before/after photo, these results made me happy.


Here's the before & after comparison. Obviously the "after" isn't completely spotless, but it made me happy.

DIY Laundry Detergent

I saw this on Pinterest, so I gave it a go! I am telling you, this is remarkable! Credit goes to this blog: http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/ - Total cost is $29.55 for a year's worth of laundry.

I broke it down - Total ounces by weight = 381.2 oz
2 Tablespoons = 1 oz.

This means 381 loads of laundry. This equals $0.08 per load.

The math don't lie.

Ingredients

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
• 1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
• 2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Fels Naptha
• 1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
• 2 (55 oz) Bottles of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener

Directions

1. Cut the Fels Naptha into strips and then microwave.
2. Use a Magic Bullet or food processor to puree the Fels Naptha into a powder. If you don't want to use a processor, you can always use a cheese grater.
3. Get a very large bucket and mix everything together. It is recommended that you layer the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. You only need 2 tablespoons (even for the largest load of laundry)! The Purex Crystals lid is perfect for measuring.

Pictures (with comments)

The ingredients. List is above.


We had to cut the Fels Naptha. Then we microwaved it.


This is what Fels Naptha looks like after microwaving...


We used the Magic Bullet to puree the Fels Naptha into a powder - worked great!


My handy mixing helper!


Mix, mix, mix!


You only need 2 tablespoons (even for the largest load of laundry)! The Purex Crystals lid is perfect for measuring.


Here's the finished product. This is going to last for an entire YEAR!


Grand Total: $29.55 (pay no attention to the $20 cash back...)

What a Difference a Day Makes

So I was wasting time on Pinterest.

I happened across a pin that one of my friends re pinned:



The location of the item doesn't exist anymore (because it has probably been re-pinned a whole bunch of times), but if you Google "what a difference a day makes", there are a bunch of websites that offer to make the print for you for a fee. Here's one on etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/106812129/what-a-difference-a-day-makes-digital

I re-pinned it because I thought it was such a lovely idea. But why pay someone when you can make it yourself???

So I did!



I bought an 11x14 frame with matting from Walmart & we'll be hanging up our new piece in our living room.  Right now it's just sitting on our piano:


 Not too shabby, eh?

No Mess White Chicken Chili Express

This is a recipe I posted on All Recipes.  This is what I call the no mess chili. There's literally no work involved. You open the cans of beans, rinse them, and throw them into the crock pot with the rest of the ingredients. Set for 4 or 6 hours and you have a hearty, flavorful meal. You can really use ANY beans you want. I added light red kidney beans for a pop of color. You don't want to skip the green chilies or cilantro, because they really make the flavor burst!

Ingredients

• 4 (10 oz.) cans cooked chicken
• 3 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
• 1 (40.5 oz.) can Great Northern Beans
• 1 (16 oz.) can Navy Beans
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can Pinto Beans
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can Light Red Kidney Beans
• 2 (4.25 oz.) cans diced green chilies
• .75 oz. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. ground mustard
• 1/4 tsp. paprika

Directions

1. Rinse & drain all beans, then add to crock pot.
2. Pour in all 3 cans of chicken broth into crock pot.
3. Rinse canned chicken (break apart with fingers) and add to crock pot.
4. Chop cilantro coarsely and add to crock pot.
5. Add the rest of the seasonings (cumin, cayenne, garlic, mustard & paprika)
6. Set crock pot for 4 to 6 hours.
7. Serve over rice or corn bread.