DIY Tie Dye Crop Tops

Hi everyone! We all know that summer is coming quickly, and I need some cute shirts! I decided that it would be a fun idea to make a shirt of my own. So, today, my best friend, Lilly, and I decided to have a little D.I.Y. day! We made tie dye crop tops with fringe and beads! After school, we got on the bus (along with the rest of the school, seriously it was like a mosh pit in there) and headed over to Michael's. We got there and walked into the store. We picked the Rasta colors, and got the white t-shirts. We paid and went home. We went in the garage and picked out what pattern we wanted to do; spiral, ombre, striped, checkered, etc. We decided to do spiral. To do the spiral, you pinch the t-shirt, twist it, bind it with rubber bands, and dye it.

Image Courtesy of Tumblr

We let it soak for four hours, after that you put it in the washer and then dry it. We had our tie dye t-shirts all done and they looked so cute! But, we wanted them a little cuter than just that, so, we cut the sleeves off and cut fringe into the bottom. After that, we tied black beads onto the fringe.

I hope that you all get to try this with a friend! It was so fun and now we both have really cute shirts for summer! Only 20 days left until school is out! Have a great weekend everyone :)

I hope you all appreciate our looks

Avocado Ice Pops

Hi everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying your week because I am sure not enjoying mine. If you read my last blog post, you would see that I said that I would be competing in my first horse show of the season, great right? Wrong. On the way down to the show, my horse, Melody, kicked through the back window of the trailer and beat the hell out of her leg. With time, Melody will be alright, but if you are a horse person, you know how expensive those vet bills are. Like are you kidding me?! If I were to have open heart surgery and brain surgery it wouldn't cost half as much as my horse getting two stitches. Obviously I'm being sarcastic here, but I am genuinely pissed off.

This would be me right about now

Anyway, the only thing that has been keeping me sane for the past week has been the thought of summer. I love summer more than anything and especially the summer treats. Like, popsicles. I absolutely adore popsicles. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be popsicles. Hands down. For this blog post, I wanted to try something interesting and hopefully good, so I chose to make avocado ice pops! They sound weird, I know, but I think that the sweet and savory will play off nicely of each other.

Original Recipe Courtesy of Allrecipes


Here is what you'll need:

• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 avocados, cubed
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/3 cup of chopped fresh mint

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir your sugar into the boiling water until completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2.  Mash up the avocados with lime juice and the sugar-water in a large bowl with the lime juice and sugar mixture, until smooth. Stir mint through the mixture

3. Pour the mixture into the ice pop molds.

4. Store in the freezer until completely frozen.

Image Courtesy of Allrecipes

Enjoy! Have a great weekend everyone :)

Muddy Buddies

Hi everyone! Tomorrow I have my first horse show of the season and I am so excited! It is always a tradition for us coming back from the show to stop at the 7-11 and get Muddy Buddies. Muddy Buddies are Chex Mix that are covered in peanut butter, chocolate and powdered sugar, and they are more addicting than crack! Tonight I decided to try and make them myself and let me say that they were absolutely delicious, but they didn’t look too pretty... Oh well! They still tasted great and all of my barn friends loved them :)

Here is What You’ll Need:

• 9 cups of Chex Mix
• 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/4 cup of butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

First, into a large bowl, measure out the chex mix and set aside.

Next, in a microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter.

Microwave on high for one minute. Take out and stir, then put into microwave for another 30 seconds.

Stir into vanilla and pour over cereal evenly, stirring until evenly coated.

Next, place the mix into a gallon bag and add the powdered sugar.

Seal the bag and shake until evenly coated.

Spread onto waxed paper to cool.

Image Courtesy of HomeKidsLife

Store in airtight container in refrigerator. 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I did and have a great weekend!

Homemade Granola Bars

Hi everyone! I hope that you're as excited for spring break as I am! To kick off spring break, tomorrow I'm going cross country schooling with all of my barn girls. I really wanted to make a delicious and healthy snack for them to enjoy after schooling, so I decided to make homemade granola bars! This recipe was super easy to follow and it was delicious! I might even stop buying Quaker Oat bars after making this! I got the original recipe from Cooks but I was able to add my own spin on it. I replaced the dates and cloves for chocolate chips and coconut and it actually turned out really well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Preheat oven to 350*

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 2 cups of oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1/2 cups of shredded coconut
• 1/2 cups of chocolate chips
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup of brown sugar

First, you are going to mix together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, cinnamon, coconut and the chocolate chips.

Mix well

Then, you are going to mix together the oil, eggs and brown sugar.

Mix well

Slowly add your wet mixture to your dry mixture.

 Mix well.

Sprinkle some shredded coconut on top.

Lightly grease your 9x13 inch pan and bake for about 17 to 22 minutes or until lightly brown.

Enjoy!! Have a fun spring break everyone!

Bake Sale for a Cause

Hi everyone! This weekend I made over 400 cookies to sell at a bake sale for the American Cancer Association. I made homemade Rice Krispie Treats, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and dark chocolate chip with cashew cookies with coconut butter. For the chocolate chip cookies I have included this easy recipe that is certain to please any crowd :)

Original Recipe Courtesy of Nestle


Here is What You'll Need:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Preheat oven to 375 ° F.

Combine your flour, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.


 Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Put these in a bag and top with a cute ribbon! Now you have an award winning pack of cookies and a killer bake sale :) Enjoy!

Caramel Creme Cinnamon Puffles

Let's go to Oklahoma. Where the state fairs have so many sweet cinnamon rolls that there would be more than enough for an army. Cinnamon has to be one of my favorite spices ever and I was so turned off of it after the 'cinnamon challenge' that I stayed away from it for almost half a year. Anyway, I'm hooked on cinnamon again, and ready to try a delicious recipe with it! When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I was so excited to try to make it! It looked like a dessert straight out of a fancy bakery in Paris.

Original Recipe Courtesy of Pin Cookie

Here is what you will need for the Cinnamon Puffles:

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup of milk
• 3/4 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups of vegetable oil

First, you are going to combine the sugar and cinnamon in a baking tray.

Image courtesy of Whole New Mom

Next, you are going to put your milk and butter in a medium pan and cook over low heat until the butter has melted. Make sure not to boil.

Add the flour and stir until mixture forms a ball shape. Transfer this into a large bowl and add your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg until completely combined.

Image Courtesy of About.com

Put mixture into a large piping bag (or a large ziplock baggie). Heat the oil over a high heat and cook for two to three minutes or until the balls of dough are golden brown and float to the top.

Image courtesy of Playing With Flour

Immediately transfer the puffles with a pair of tongs or a slotted spoon onto the cinnamon sugar and roll well :)

Yum! Tune in next week for the recipe for the creme!

Helpful Tips and Tricks

Hello everyone! This week, I really wanted to focus on some tips and tricks that have really helped me out in the kitchen. These tips and tricks will cover everything from healthy substitutions to having the perfectly cooked cupcake. I hope you enjoy all of these and I hope that you will consider using some of them the next time your cooking :)

The first tip that I wanted to share is for when you are cooking something with a lot of fat or calories.  I have gotten together a list of healthy baking substitutions that are healthier, lower in calories and fat, and sometimes even yummier!

Substitutions Courtesy of Picklee

1) Flour to black beans
2) Sugar to apple sauce
OR
3) Sugar to vanilla extract
4) Butter to mashed avocado (but I don't recommend this one)
OR
5) Butter to a banana
6) Heavy cream to evaporated milk
7) Canola oil (or vegetable oil) to greek yogurt

These suggestions will lower calories and bad fats and sugars, making your cooking healthier and better for you!

The last tip that I wanted to share, is actually a bunch of tips from all sorts of amazing foodies!

1) "For best results when you're baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight."

 -Ina Garten

2) "Buy fruit at its peak at a farmers' market and freeze it in an airtight container so you can enjoy it year round."

-Mindy Segal

3) "A pinch of salt brings out the flavours in sweet baked goods."

-Rosie (Sweetopolia)

That's all for now! Thanks! :)