Happy Halloween!!

With Halloween just a few days away, it's about time I post pictures of my Halloween decor!  I'm getting a nice little collection of stuff, and loving every minute of it.  I love to decorate, can you tell?!  So here ya have it:

First I'll start with my inside decor, which I'll have to admit I did slack a little on, I focused more on the outside/deck this year, but there is still time and as long as my daughter feels better this weekend we'll probably craft a few indoor decor items, but so far here we are:

Dollar Store Spiderweb w/ Spider

Dollar Store Ghosts Hanging From Ceiling Fan--

(First day I had these up I managed to scare myself with them...was walking down the hallway to come to my living room--only my daughter and myself were home, and I seen shadows so started to walk really slow to see whose shadows they were, then immediately felt silly when I realized the fan had been turned on)

Pumpkin lights in our front window, Dollar store bats & pumpkin window decals (both glow in the dark), and my daughters yet-to-be carved pumpkin

 My Pink Pumpkin For Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Girlie, Sparkly Pink Pumpkin....I Kinda Like Pink...Can You Tell?

Now For The Outside:

HUGE Bat on My Front Deck

 Inflatable Ghost (We've Named Boo)

My 2x4 Creation (Pumpkin, Frankenstein, Ghost, Witch), Window Decals, Danger Tape, and a Pink Happy Halloween Sign

My pink and black boo sign, I know I know more pink decor.. Haha only I could find a way to add pink to every holiday.  I was going to put this inside, but felt it fit the space between the window/door outside better.  It's hard to tell but theres a plastic spider on the middle O.

Halloween bunting and my orange feather Halloween wreath, definitely my favorite craft of the season, going to make a pink one with lights just like it for Christmas ♥  Was going to get small orange lights to put in this one but they sold out :(  Maybe next year!

Pumpkin table with pumpkin candle holder on opposite side of the door.

The final result of the front porch :)

Frozen Yogurt Part 2!

 Despite how much we loved our Frozen Yogurt Dots, I must admit it was a pain to peel those little dots off of the wax paper and too much work for how long they lasted.  So after seeing this it looked like a much better solution.

 I went to the dollar store and bought a new mini muffin pan, then scooped yogurt into each cup, froze them and then tried to remove them.  (Whatever you do- do NOT run them under hot water like you would an ice tray as they will just go mushy and you will have to refreeze them.)  It took a few minutes of letting them thaw but they did come out nicely:

 

They can then be placed into ziploc bags and frozen, or they work perfectly for make ahead smoothie packs. Cut up fruit and flash freeze (place on wax paper/pan in freeze for 10-15 minutes) then put into ziploc bags with yogurt pucks.  Then you just take them out put them in the blender with milk or juice and blend :)

My New Workout Plan

Did workout day 11 of the month this morning and feeling great (more on that momentarily).

I do have a small confession, while at Dairy Queen yesterday (doing a pick-up for my parents, so that I wouldn't be tempted to get something for myself) I looked up at the menu to realize our Dairy Queen has suddenly got an ORANGE JULIUS inside!!  Where have I been that I didn't know this?! Can you tell I live in a small town...  I had to, I had to, I got my favourite, a strawberry banana smoothie (A large, that I shared with the fam, according to their webpage is 430 cals).  It was what I concidered to be my lunch yesterday, but still technically cheating :(

Back to the workout part, have started:

 

Jillian Michaels Body Revolution

It is a 90 day (if I don't get bored) program consisting of 3 phases, 15 total workouts.  Each workout is approximately 30 minutes.  Today I did day 1 of week 2.  So far I am loving it, and have gotten into a habit to do my workouts right after my morning routine (Brook off to school, beds made, floors swept, dishes done and put away).  Seems to be working well, and I'm not bored yet.  

Jillian has played a HUGE part in my previous 70lbs of weight loss, so I'm confident that I'll likely see results from this program.  I like that the videos are done in a group setting, although they're all in incredible shape seems to help keep me more motivated.  I also love my hand weights, and she makes good use of them in these videos, even adding them to more simple moves for the more advanced.

I've also been walking to the bus most mornings and afternoons, as well as using my spin bike/elliptical in the evenings when time permits (and I'm not exhausted).  Well that's it for now, off to craft away the rest of the afternoon and start dinner (spaghetti with turkey meatballs yum!).  Have a great week everyone!

Snickerdoodle!

Wanted to try something new, and was thinking something with cinnamon, so when I stumbled across this recipe it sounded like a winner and a must try (and it is!) so I did just that.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

As Well As (For Rolling):

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. In another bowl combine dry ingredients (not including extra sugar and cinnamon).
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.
4. Let dough rest in fridge for 30-60 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350°
6. In small bowl combine white sugar and cinnamon.

 (As You Can See Little Hands Were Helping--Finger Prints in The Dough, Haha!)

7. Roll dough into small balls and roll in cinnamon mixture, place on ungreased baking sheet.

8. Cook for 12-15 minutes. The cookies may seem undercooked, but will continue to cook after they are
removed from the oven. When the cookies have cooled they should be soft and chewy in the middle.

Mini Muffin Potato Tots

Was at my Mom's one afternoon when I seen Rachael Ray making these "Mini Muffin Potato Tots" , all I caught was the very end of the segment so after coming home I made sure to "Google It" so that I could give them a try.

Ingredients:

• 1 16-ounce package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• Salt and pepper
• Cooking spray

The bag from our store was a 750g bag, 16 ounces to grams = 453g so I just eyeballed approximately half of the bag. 

  

In a medium bowl, toss the shredded potatoes with flour, making sure to coat all the shreds in a little bit of flour. Add in the egg and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray muffin cups with cooking spray. Use a small scoop (I used an ice cream scoop)  to evenly scoop the potato mixture into all of the mini muffin cups. Spray the tops of the tots with cooking spray to ensure even browning.

 

Bake for 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven, and flip with a fork. Bake for an additional 9-10 minutes or until brown on top.

  I will note: I was actually in a hurry--and didn't read the instructions all the way through, when my "hasbrown cups" were not dark enough I just cooked them longer...and did not flip them, and I wondered why mine didn't look like hers! haha 

 They were still delicious, would go nicely as a breakfast side, or we used them as a side to turkey burgers at dinner instead of french fries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to take a minute and wish my Canadian readers and friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving.  I have so much to be thankful for, and words can't express how grateful I am to get to spend each and every day with my family.  I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home Mom, to have my Husband home every evening for dinner and to help me tuck our little girl in at night and it is truly a blessing.  So from our home and family to yours,

Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

So with thanks to our local grocery store and my husband being one of the produce guys, I managed to score this beautiful box of bananas for $3.00 originally I called it a "case" but my husband has corrected me and said a case comes with a lot more, to me this looked like a lot--I used one bunch for the below listed snack that is not in the picture :)

So now the question is what to do with all these bananas?!  This mornin I got to work!
To add to my list of frozen treats first on the agenda was banana bites, I've done them before and my daughter and I like them, my husband not so much, so you be the judge :)

Slice bananas and lay them all on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.  Add peanut butter.

Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl (I use chocolate chips) in 10 second increments, careful not to burn.  (As I've said I've done this before and when I first did it I melted just the chocolate chips by themeselves, this time I added about 2 Tbsp of milk and found it worked slightly better as the chocolate wasnt as thick and didn't freeze solid, yes its a gooey mess to eat but almost ice cream treat like!) 

One at a time drop banana pieces into bowl, and use spoon to cover with chocolate, I found if you try to roll them in the chocolate most of the peanut butter will come off, then use a fork to lift the pieces out.  Freeze and once frozen remove from tray and store in container in freezer.

Corn Dog Mini Muffins!

I told you I loved my mini-muffin pans!  The sight of these made me think "pogo" and "the fair", and with this recipe you get the best of both worlds as it is baked and not deep fried.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (you could use applesauce to make them healthier)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package hot dogs (I used approx 7)

  Preheat oven to 400°, Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls 

Gently mix together wet and dry ingredients, stirring only to coat. Be careful not to over mix here or you will have tough, dry muffins. There might be small lumps in your batter, and that is okay.  Be sure to grease your pan (I used Pam).  Using a tablespoon, fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Be sure not to fill all the way to the top or they will be too full once you add your hotdog-- which you will see I didn't follow directions, haha.

Cut hotdogs and place one in each cup

Bake for 10-15mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, be sure to watch them though as every oven is different and overcooked cornbread will be tough and dry.  I think they took slightly less than 10 mins in my oven, but as I've said in prior posts I've found propane cooks faster.

Remove from pan while still hot to avoid over cooking, and enjoy!  I really liked these and was impressed with howeasy they were to make, so made a 2nd batch to freeze and use for Brook-Lynns lunches....I'm going to try thawing them and mircrowaving to see how that works, but I would THINK to avoid soggy muffins the best bet would be to reheat in the oven  :)