Mason Jar Corn Dogs!

As summer rolls to an end, I love to hang on to every warm day as long as I can (while simultaneously decorating for Fall...) 

One way I did just that was make Mason Jar Corn Dogs!

I love mason jars for all sorts of applications, and you can't beat them in the kitchen!

Here's how you do it..

Grab your favorite corn dog recipe - (I like them all, but this one is easy) - and make the batter!

Get your oil nice and hot and skewer the hot dogs.

Grab two mason jars (this is all about grabbing today!) and fill one jar with your batter and the other with flour!

Dunk the dogs in the mason jar full of flour...

...then dunk them in your batter...

Fry them in the oil and eat...do you know what's missing?  An after shot!

Ummm, we may have been too excited and just ate them all up! 

So trust me they are delicious!

What's your favorite way to hold on to Summer?

Linking up to: Made from Pinterest

Kitchen Marquee Sign

I love that the accent color in my kitchen is orange.  Orange is my favorite color, so anytime I make something orange, or buy something orange, my first intention is to find a quirky spot in my kitchen for it. 

While out at vintage markets and perusing Pinterest, I found marquee signs that kept grabbing my attention.  I've kept my eyes peeled for a large "C" for our family's last name, saw tutorials on how to make my own - then thought about how to add one to our kitchen.  The first thing that came to mind was "EAT" when I think of being in my kitchen - and thus this little project was born.

I bought the string lights and cardboard letters at Hobby Lobby.  The lights are battery powered and even have the option to twinkle which really gives it the effect of a true marquee sign!  Both the lights and the letters are much smaller than those used in the tutorial, but they turned out great after I spray painted them orange!

Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich

Soooooooo, I got really excited by the idea of a Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwich!  I saw a commercial for it from Jack in the Box - had to try it.  BOY, was I disappointed!!!  It was soggy, greasy, flavorless - and to put it lightly disgusting!

This concept seemed so easy to make, so that's just what I did the next evening for dinner!  I thought I'd share how easy it is with you!  Grab a shopping cart, here's your list:

Grocery Shopping List:

 

boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

sourdough bread

creamy Caesar dressing

tomatoes

romaine lettuce

Parmesan cheese

1 lemon

cloves of garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

 

The number of breasts you need depends on how many people you are feeding!

 

 Start with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium heat.  Saute a few smashed garlic cloves in the oil to infuse it with their flavor.  Remove before they brown or burn!

 

Pound out your chicken breasts (or slice them in half horizontally).  You basically want a thin breast that will cook evenly and sit on you bread nicely!  Fry the breasts in the garlic olive oil seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.  Squeeze half a lemon onto both sides of the breast while cooking.  It adds such a delicious zing to otherwise boring chicken!

 

I found these super cute mini lemons that are only about 2 inches long! 
Is it weird that I think food is cute?

Toast your bread and slather it with the creamy Caesar dressing.  Top it with the warm chicken, Parmesan cheese, sliced tomatoes and the romaine lettuce.  Add a side of your favorite kettle style chips - and dinner is served!

Fender said it got 10 fingers up!

Hope you get to try it soon!

I'm linking to Monday Funday
 





Strawberry Brulee Cupcakes

 

I was messing around with some left overs last week and discovered a new delicious way to use up a boxed cake mix!  I want to share with you the Strawberry Brulee cupcakes that were the love child of my antics in the kitchen.

 

The brown sugar on top makes the most delicious crust and with the addition of fresh strawberries it takes a plain ol' boxed cake mix to a whole new level!!!

Enjoy!!!

Owl Towels

At Target awhile ago, I found some of their cloth towels on sale and have always wanted to decorate my own napkins.  The idea of this is not new - fabric paint, stamps or stencils, but I had a certain look in mind that I used my artistic dC to create! 

I love white owls, but not too many.  I have only a few here and there sprinkled throughout our house and would never want to overwhelm.  In an attempt to add more orange to our kitchen I thought it would be fun to have dC draw me my own owl, and then I could transform him into my new cooking pal!

dC drew me an owl, and I used the stencil techniques I've used in the past to transfer and paint the pattern onto the towels.  I realized he didn't have any distinct eyes, so I borrowed Fender's Angry Birds pencil to make them.  Shhhhh - don't tell Fender I used his pencil.

 

 

Then I just followed the heat setting directions for setting the paint so that they could be washed and dried.  I made some Ron Swanson towels and Storm Trooper towels too.  They are so fun I can't stand it!  Who doesn't want a little Ron with their bacon or tea?

 

 

This week I'm linking to:

Banana Valentines

In the past, I've embraced Valentine's Day a bit more, I've decorated, baked cookies, made crafts with Fender, but this year I decided to make a tasty frozen treat.  Thus banana valentines were born!

I sliced bananas into thin discs and using a 1 inch heart shaped cookie cutter I cut the slices into hearts and tossed them into the freezer for five minutes. 

Then I tempered some semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave and dipped the frozen bananas into it using a fork to knock off the excess chocolate.  Then set them on parchment paper to dry.

Since the banas are cold, they should set up right away but if you can wait to eat them and have any patience left you can always put them back into the freezer until they are hard.  Enjoy!!!

Preserving Jellied Cranberry Sauce

I've converted dC into a cranberry sauce eater.  He hasn't been a fan, but this Christmas I decided to branch out and make my own jellied sauce from scratch.  Since cranberry season ends in December, I hit my local grocery store and bought some in order to preserve this deliciousness of the season.  And since dC got me 3 new types of  Weck Canning Jars for Christmas I could not resist trying my hand at canning the sauce!

You can find the recipe for the Jellied Cranberry Sauce here.

I love while the cranberries are cooking they begin to burst. At times it sounds like popcorn popping!

Using the Weck jars is a bit more complicated than the typical Ball jars since their lids are glass they are not self sealing. The end result is so pretty that I'd use these forever!  There is a great tutorial over at this blog how to use the jars. 

There are only two things I would add specifically to preserving cranberry sauce.  First it would be to strain the sauce into another container before ladling them into your jars.  This will help in consistency of flavor and is a lot less messy. 

 

The second would be to skim the pink foam off the top of the jelly before pouring in to the jars.  It just keeps the jelly clear and a beautiful deep red color!

I hope you take some time this season to preserve some of your favorite flavors!  Happy Canning!

Sugar Ornaments

As we countdown to Christmas one of the nights was to make an ornament.  I found a really cute post for sugar ornaments here, but to be honest they didn't turn out.  We made them and waited and they just crumbled when we tried to remove them from the cookie cutters.  So I reworked the method and wanted to share with you how we made them today!

What you'll need: 

 

1/2 c sugar

1 T glitter (I used mica snow)

2 t water

cookie cutters

parchment paper

rolling pin
string or ribbon

 

 

1.  Mix the water, glitter, and sugar together in a bowl until it is combines and sticks together when you pinch it with your fingers.

 

 

2.  Dump the mixture onto a piece of parchment paper and begin to press it down until you have a flat surface of the mixture.  I rolled it a bit with a rolling pin at this point to get it really level.

 

3.  Then I picked my favorite Christmas cookie cutters that I just recently found at the thrift store.  An owl, a tree, a reindeer and a mini ice skate and cut them out of the mixture.

 

 

4.  Using a toothpick make a small hole in the top for the ribbon to go through.

 

5.  Move them to somewhere safe to dry overnight.

 

 

 

6.  Once they are dry tie a ribbon or some silver string through the hole. 

Hang on your tree and enjoy!

 

 

Fortune Cookie Countdown

This year we are going to celebrate the countdown to Christmas with fun activities and events that we can do together as a family.  Fender and I put together a list of all of the things "Christmasy" we could do and I've added in a few bigger surprises for our family days off together. 

After I printed out the list (with specific numbers so that we weren't out late on a school night) I cut each of the activities into strips.  Then I whipped up a batch of fortune cookies and used these as the surprise inside.  I used this recipe here.

I left the number hanging out so that it would be easy for the kids to grab the correct one.  There are a few nights in there that I am very excited for (like ice skating and a movie at the drive in!) and can't wait to see their faces when they open them up!

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

I have always done a Fall wreath for our front door, but this year I wanted to do one for our kitchen.  This wreath cost only a few dollars and was super simple to make.

 

I got the idea when Fender and I were at the dollar store and he fell in love with the black crows.  I grabbed a few crows, a straw wreath and came home to get to work.

 

 

First I spray painted the wreath black.  It doesn't absorb completely, but it's hardly noticeable.  I pulled a few strands of the straw out to make the wreath more jagged.

 

Then I tried to attach 3 different crows, but it was too much and I ended up with one.  The dollar store crows have wires coming out of their feet, so dC helped me shove him on!  Fender named him "Headward."   I don't know why. but that's his name!

 

 

Can you spot a little bit of last year's Halloween crafts?

 

Happy Halloween everyone!!!