DIY Glitter Ornaments

I love the look of glitter. But, I hate glitter itself. It gets everywhere, falls on everything and it's hard to get rid of. Someone put glitter all over my co-worker's desk in June for her birthday. It's November now and she is still finding glitter.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest: http://www.plumadorable.com/make-your-own-glitter-ornaments/

They were so beautiful and the glitter was INSIDE!!!

I went to Joann's and picked up a 16 pack of glitter samples and 18 clear ornaments (one broke and the other I put extra glitter and some acrylic paint inside). Then at Safeway I got some MopNGlo. I have no idea why the MopNGlo helps the glitter stick but, it does.

Set up a station with newspaper or a cardboard box because this gets messy. I also used a shot glass to help rest the ornament if I needed an extra hand.

Remove the silver tops of the ornaments, swirl in some MopNGlo making sure to get the entire inside coated. Drain the remainder into the MopNGlo container. Use a Q-Tip to get rid of bubbles or excess in the opening. Pour in your glitter, shake to coat all areas, replace silver top and hang!

Frozen Nutter Butter Treats

These are delicious and addictive. Like biting into a light fluffy cloud of peanut butter goodness. They are adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:

12 Nutter Butter Cookies

2 Tablespoons of Butter

1 8oz package of softened cream cheese

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons of Vanilla

1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip 

1/4 cup of melted dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Crush the nutter butters with a rolling pin in a ziploc bag and then mix with butter. Press onto bottom of cupcake tins lined with cupcake liners.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and peanut butter until blended. Whisk in the Cool Whip and take 1/2 cup into small bowl. Blend in melted chocolate. Spread half the remaining cream cheese mixture over crust, top with layer of chocolate mixture and remaining cream cheese mixture.

Top with mini chocolate chips. Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Eat 3 in one sitting and then feel guilty but happy. 

Thai Iced Tea

Many years ago, while living in a small town, my brother and I used to go to a Thai restaurant for dinner. He would always order a Thai Iced Tea with Cream, so I did too. It is one of my favorite drinks. But, I hated that the only way to get it was to go to my nearest Thai restaurant. So, I went searching and found thai tea mix on amazon. This is how I make it at home:

Ingredients: 
8 tablespoons of Thai Tea Mix
1 Cup of Water
3 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla
1/4 cup of milk or cream or half and half

Directions:
I use my Keurig to heat up my water and then my french press to separate the tea from the water. So first I place the tea mix in my french press and click the middle cup button on my keurig. Or use 8 oz of hot water. Let the water and tea mix for a few minutes. Then place the top on the french press and plunge down until the plunger can't go anymore. Pour the liquid in a separate glass that already contains the sugar. Stir. Add the milk, stir, then add lots of ice. Add a straw and consume. 

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

My old neighbor used to make these for her family and I got the chance to try to them so I started making my own and now they are a Fowler Family Favorite. 

Ingredients:
6-8 flour tortillas
2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese 
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of Chicken Broth
Stubbs BBQ Sauce

Directions: 
I use two frozen chicken breasts from Costco that I place in a skillet with some cooking spray on medium heat. As they de-frost, I salt and pepper both sides. Cook for two minutes on each side, then add the chicken broth and put on the lid. Cook for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Once cooked, shred the chicken with a fork or slice into bite sized chunks. Add the chicken to a bowl and add BBQ sauce. I use about 1/2 cup of sauce but use however much you'd like and mix.

Heat a pan on low-medium heat. Take a tortilla and add a layer of the cheese on one side, then place some chicken over that and another layer of cheese. Close the tortilla and make a second. Either spray your pan with cooking spray or add butter. My husband likes butter more. Place both quesadillas in the pan and cook until browned on both sides. Continue until you've used all the chicken and enjoy! 

Frozen Smores

This Recipe is adapted from easybaked.net and was found on Pinterest!

A delightful summertime treat of Frozen Smores!

INGREDIENTS:

9 sheets of Graham Crackers

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup whipping cream

 mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cup cold milk

1 3.9 oz box of instant chocolate fudge pudding

8 oz of heavy whipping cream (you can use an 8 oz tub of Cool Whip instead)

1-2 teaspoons of Vanilla 

2 teaspoons of powdered sugar

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (as topping)

DIRECTIONS

Place graham crackers into a ziploc bag and crush into fine crumbs with a rolling pin. 

Melt butter and add to graham crackers, mixing until well combined to make crust.

Place 18 cupcake liners in your cupcake tins and evenly divide crust mixture into all 18 cups. I used a small glass to press my crust into the tin. 

Place dark chocolate chips and whipping cream into a small bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Mine only took 30 seconds to become melted and smooth. Spoon chocolate into the center of each cup, on top of the crust.

Divide Marshmallows among cups. I used about 7 per treat.

Whip your 8 oz of heavy whipping cream with a stand mixer with whipping attachment until it starts to grow. Then add vanilla and powdered sugar and continue to whip until it is the consistency of whipped cream. (if using Cool Whip, skip this step.)

Mix cold milk with pudding on medium speed for 2 minutes. Fold in half of the whipped cream (the rest will be used as topping).

Spoon filling into the cups until it is level with the liner. 

Pipe a little bit of the left over whipped cream on each dessert using a decorating tip.  Then sprinkle the top with the mini chocolate chips.

Freeze for at least a couple of hours.

Serve cold right away– or put them in a sealed container and freeze until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy! 

Frugal Shopping

I like to save money. It makes me feel not so guilty for spending money. (I have buyers remorse.)
Yesterday was Cyber Monday and we saved a boat load of money on Christmas gifts.
A few other tips I have for saving money at Christmas time are as follows:
I recycle gift bags, boxes, ribbons and tissue paper. My family is used to me hoarding gently used wrapping stuff after we rip into our presents.
I buy wrapping paper at discounted prices after Christmas. You can find many Christmas things for next year on clearance after the holidays.
I try to buy most gifts on sale or on Cyber Monday. Deep discounts!
I try to find the best deal on something by shopping around. www.amazon.com can help with that.
It may seem cheap but it saves me lots of money. :) 

The Journey

The first house we put an offer on was at the end of a cul-de-sac down off of the road. It was a blue rancher with hard wood floors and granite counter tops. It needed a new deck in order to be purchased with a FHA loan so we made an offer with the intention of getting an FHA rehab loan. Our offer was verbally accepted and the listing Realtor said the seller lived a few hours away so it would be a few days before it would be signed. A week later, we were told they went with another offer. I was more mad than sad. The Realtor lied. She was reported and we moved on.
The second house was a HUD home in a quiet neighborhood with no homes behind it. It had hardwood floors and the living room separated the master from the other bedrooms which I really liked. HUD homes take offers for the first ten days its on the market in sealed envelopes, On the tenth day, they open them all and pick the best one. We were over asking but it was still not enough.
The third house was a two story home in a tight neighborhood that was a little sketchy but it was cheap and nice. There was a competing cash offer and after several days the bank did not respond so we moved on.
The fourth house was a large two story home that needed to be remodeled. It was on a third of an acre and had lots of potential; however, our offer was not enough.
At this point, we felt defeated and like we would never find "our" house. As we were searching the listings for something to see, I saw a condo listed that had 1728 sq ft! I added it just to see it not thinking we would like it. We fell in love. It was so much space, the kitchen counters were granite and it was huge with new appliances, the bathrooms were big, there was a loft and a garage with storage space. We made an offer on Saturday and Thursday we found out it had been accepted.

We are still in escrow but we should close by the 26th!