Recipe Cards - DIY

I love to experiment in the kitchen and try interesting recipes!  However, when I found a recipe I liked, I had a hard time finding it the next time I wanted to use it!  I was using a binder, random scrap pieces of paper, torn off backs of ingredient boxes, and pinterest to hold my recipes.  Can we say mess?  To organize my favorite go-to recipes I decided to use an old school approach - recipe cards.

To start my new organization tactic, I found a box that some 4x6 note cards would fit in easily.  I had a fancy cigar box, but you could use a small shoe box, gift box, food container, or go out and buy a brand new one!

I realized that 4x6 note cards weren't "pretty" enough for my favorite recipes, so I went to pinterest to find some free printable recipe cards.  I printed off a few different kinds, cut them out, and glued them to the 4x6 cards to give them some weight. You could also just print any recipe card printable on card stock!

Voila!  Recipe cards for my favorite recipes!  Now when I find a recipe I like, I will just write it on the card and I won't have to print anything off or cut it off a box!

How do you organize your recipes?  Do you use pinterest or do you like ol' fashioned paper?

Smores Brownie Bites

I love making treats that look decadent, but are no trouble at all to create!  These little beauties are SUPER easy to make, and you probably have all the supplies in your house already (and if you don’t, you can easily pick them up at your nearby grocery store).  The best part about this recipe, is that you can mix and match items that you currently have on hand to make something delicious AND pretty! 

Bill of Materials:

Brownies

Marshmallow Fluff

Graham Crackers

Chocolate Sauce

Start with Brownies – seems a bit simple, but seriously, you can make small ones (I used a mini cupcake pan and made them using my favorite boxed recipe).  But, you can also make large brownies, cut out brownies, heck, even buy them (I won’t tell!).  But you will need brownies!

After the brownies are cool, dollop some marshmallow fluff on top of each one.

Drizzle your chocolate sauce (any ol’ kind will do! – I used a Ghridelli chocolate sauce, it’s what I had on hand at the time!).   Then, top it off with some crushed graham crackers – or crushed teddy grahams, or Nutella wafers… you get the idea.

Yum!

Chocolate Chip. Oatmeal, PB2 Scones

Do you ever open up your kitchen pantry and decide that you wanted to bake something?  The other night around 10:30 pm I had the urge to bake!  On the hunt for something yummy, I went on my favorite website to find something to bake (pinterest) and found a delicious looking scone recipe from MlovesM but changed it up a little bit- with some Chocolate PB2!!

Never heard of PB2?  Check out their website.  It's a fabulous product that is a healthier form of peanut butter- less calories and less fat!  MlovesM's recipe calls for 1/2 cup peanut butter, so I used half a cup of Chocolate PB2 instead (quarter of the calories and a tenth of the fat) and they are delicious!

Once cooled, I wrapped each scone in plastic wrap and brought one to work with me for breakfast this week!  These scones were a great treat!      

   

Free Trip - Cincinnati, OH!

I participated in this summer's CREATING REALLY AWESOME FREE TRIPS on C.R.A.F.T.!  

Last year, I shared a free trip to Dayton, OH.  

This year, I shared an adventure to Cincinnati, OH!

Big cities are always fun places to visit, but it seems like they are always so expensive!  Cincinnati (the Queen City) is a big city (third largest in Ohio) and located, right across the river from KY and has a LOT to do for free (or at a low cost). 

Findlay Market:  Tucked in the downtown area of Cincinnati is a little gem of delicious food and tons of people watching!  The Findlay Market has everything from ice cream shops, jewelry boutiques, pet stores, produce, crafts, and coffee shops.  The market is open T-F 9am -6pm, Sat 8am -6pm, Sun 10am -4pm.  Tours are available for new (and veteran shoppers) every last Saturday of the month at 10 am.

Carew Tower Observation Deck:  Carew tower is a 49 story building with an observation deck that has, in my opinion, the BEST view of the city by far!  This view is open the public M-Th 9am -5pm, F 9am -6pm, Sat & Sun 10am -7pm for a small price!  Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children and certainly a worthwhile trip if in the downtown Cincinnati area!

21C Museum:  Free and open 24/7/365 (how many places do you know like that!?) this museum is a hotel fully set up with a spa and bar, however you don’t need to be a guest of the hotel to see the contemporary art that is all over the walls and floor (literally) of the museum.  The exhibits are open to the public and are changing all the time.  This is a great place to stop by and see something totally new!   

 Fountain Square:  This square is the CENTER of everything in Cincinnati!  Located in the center of the business district, the square is between great restaurants  stores like Saks and Tiffany's and awesome museums, like 21C, right around the corner.  Fountain square has free WiFi and TONS of free entertainment, from music to trivia, there is always something to see and do!

Cincinnati Art Museum:  one of the oldest in the United States, the Cincinnati Art museum is located near the top of Mt. Adams.  The museum is open T - Sun 11 am - 5pm (closed Mondays and major holidays).  Admission to the main museum and special exhibitions are free, but there is a fee to park.   

Cincinnati Public Library:  this library houses one of the finest collections of books among public libraries nationwide!  It also includes a gift shop and coffee shop!   The library is open M - W 9am -9pm, Th - Sat 9am -6pm and Sun 1pm -5pm. 

Cincinnati Museum at Union Terminal:  One of the last great train stations built, this museum is still used as part of the Amtrak system.  The museum exhibits are not free, however on Saturdays and Sundays (1pm, 2pm, and 3pm) there is a free 45 minute tour that explains the history behind the building and the mosaic artwork in the rotunda. 

Come visit me in Cincinnati!!!

Happy New Year!

I am back from a LOOOONG break trying to get my life back in order from a BIG move!  

Buying a house is a HUGE event in one’s life, and if you've ever bought a house, or had to move all of your earthly possessions from one place to another, you KNOW what I’m talking about!

I want to take a few minutes (or posts) to bring ya’ll up to speed as to what has been going on!  I have had a LOT of really cool events and parties go on in the last couple months that I want to share how I organized for them and how they went!  (That is the point of this blog in case you were curious!)

Let’s recap the LAST event in my townhouse apartment – New Year’s Eve 2012!

Due to most of the items in the apartment being packed up, NYE was a very low key event (meaning, the Mr. Fix-it Fiance, and his Awesome Accountant sister were the only attendants!) and all of these pictures were taken with my phone, not my trusty camera!

The food and drink was VERY simple!  Pink Champagne, because you can't have a NYE party without Champange, accented with Champange cupcakes, with Pink Champange frosting! 

I set out the cupcakes as a "DIY cupcake bar" so that we each could decide exactly HOW MUCH icing we wanted on a cup cake.  This is a great idea, because not only is it fun to frost a cupcake to one's liking, but also those who don't like icing, don't have to eat it!  I LOVE win/win ideas!

I was told that eating doughnuts on New Year's is a tradition, and that they bring luck!  Since we hadn't heard any final details about the closing of our house, I thought we could use ALL the good luck we could get.  I used doughnut holes instead of full doughnuts... 

  

This is the spread of my last event in my townhouse apartment!  I am SO excited to share with you all of the new events that have gone on since New Year's Eve!

One last picture of my yummy cupcake!