Fuggedaboutit Caprese Dip

Looked too good to pass up!

Today, I wanted CHEESE! I saw knew it the minute I walked down that dairy aisle at Publix, that my cart would not leave the store without it. I am on Weight Watchers, so I also knew that I couldn’t just eat a block of cheese (although it passed my mind more than once.) I remember a pin I saw (which you can find here) and I decided I would try to wing it and get the ingredients I thought it called for. Well, of course, I forgot something as always – fresh basil. I did have some ground basil so I had to make do.

My ingredients so close.

I weighed out 2.5 ounces of fresh mozzarella pearls, dropped that into my oil sprayed dish, and sprinkled basil on top.

Yum

Next, I added tomatoes and red onion, since I had some diced and figured, why not? Then I put it into the microwave for 1 minute- I couldn’t wait for it to bake in the oven. I needed it NOW!

Like the recipe suggested, I felt a little frisky and poured some balsamic on top (GREAT idea!)

Looks delicious!

It was oh so good- I paired it with a few Melba toasts and it really did the trick! I think adding fresh basil would have added a little more flavor but even without it, it was perfect! I think this will be added to my afternoon snack list from now on, especially when I’m feeling “cheesy.” Wow… That really just happened…
Happy Dipping!

XOXO

Lace

Candy Corn Cookies

These little gems have been all over Pinterest lately and when even my boyfriend said they were cute, I knew I (we) had to make them. We followed the recipe here.

I was weary as soon as it said 1 cup of sugar. To 3 cups of flour?! NO WAY are these going to be Pillsbury like. We trudged ahead anyway and ran into our first pitfall- I only had neon food coloring. My choices were green, pink, fushia, and blue. To make orange and yellow. Boyfriend thought he could do it (he couldn’t) so he tried his hardest and this was the outcome:

Th brick of “candy corn”

Oh yeah, This is what it was supposed to look like:

Eh, not quite. After cutting them my roommate mentioned how they looked like little pizzas and, well, they did.

Pizzas ready for baking

Needless to say, they didn’t come out looking like they should. I still had hope for the them, however, as they are cookies and, well, does appearance really matter when it comes to sugary goodness? Unfortunately they weren’t sugary goodness either. They tasted pretty horrible actually- the closest thing I could come up with is a really bad shortbread cookie. Boyfriend tried to salvage them by sprinkling sugar on top of them…

Our last resort

It didn’t work…

Ok, so we are playing up the camera, but they were bad…

Even though this was a huge fail, I would like to try them again because they are just so darn cute. Here is a list of what will be changing though:

• I’m just buying Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough
• I’m buying two of them because they were little!
• I will use normal colored dyes
• I will not let Boyfriend do the coloring

I sent this picture in a text to my mom afterward to show just how bad it really was, and I think this pretty much sums up the post…

Well…

(The ball of yuck is all of the corners and extra dough meshed together, but you get the picture…)

XOXO

Lace

Magic Carpet… Cleaner?

On my day off today, while sitting around in my pajamas, I figured I should do something productive with my life. So, I opened a new tab and pulled up Pinterest. I know, kind of contradictory right? WRONG. I had a mission people and I stuck to it.

The apartment needed a cleaning- My roomie and I have been at our internships all week and by Friday, well,  it looks like it, so I started by sweeping/mopping the floors and wiping the counter tops etc. All I had to do now was vacuum. I love the using vacuum powder in the floors but there was none to be found, and, like I said, I was still in my pajamas so a trip to the store was OUT of the question. BLING (that’s the sound of my ideas) Pinterest to the rescue. A quick search for “Carpet powder” did the trick:

All it called for was baking soda, an essential oil, and a container (they used a parmesan cheese jar). Well I had baking soda…  But that’s it. Yep, not even parmesan cheese, so I almost just vacuum sans powder and called it a day but I decided to put some effort and brainpower into this. I looked everywhere for a scent I could use when it dawned on me that Bath and Body Works oils for oil warmers! Oil-check!, Now a container. I looked through my pantry until I found an unopened can of crystal light drink mix; I took the packets out and voila! A container. A few holes with a hole puncher in the lid did the trick.

My supplies laid out and ready.

My makeshift lid/powder shaker.

Pouring the mixture into the container

It didn’t say an exact amount of oil so I added about 30 drops in all. Then I whisked it up, poured it in and got to sprinkling. It made about a full container of carpet powder (I had almost a full thing of baking soda), but we all know how much it takes- I had about an inch left after I was done. The apartment smelled AMAZING and I think it did the trick. I am very pleased with the final product and love that I can switch up the scent next time around!

Overall Rating: 8 (Not sure how much cheaper it is than just buying the bow of powder, but a nice cleaner)

XOXO

Lace

An Introduction

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of blogs that focus their posts on Pinterest ideas, crafts, and recipes that they have tried. I LOVE this idea and have wanted to try it since I started a Pinterest account. Everyone knows how huge this site has become in the last year and rarely a day goes by without someone mentioning some kind of food/craft/speech idea to me that they “saw on Pinterest!” I want to have a spot where I can keep track of things I have tried or ideas I love and how those worked for me.

I am a 23 year old Speech Pathology student in Tampa, Florida. I am in the midst of my internships and am looking forward to graduating with my Master’s Degree in August of 2013. Considering that, Pinterest has given me many ideas throughout the last year for therapy, organizing, and study tips. It has also been a way for me to veg out after a long day at school

I have a great family, amazing friends, and a wonderful boy who gets thrown into my craziness and ideas and usually ends up helping/finishing my projects. I’m sure you will read more about them in the future.

XOXO