Friday Favorites

I'm on the internet alot, just looking at stuff.  Probably alot more than I should.  I could be doing other things like cleaning, working out or even saving the world from a zombie apocolypse.  But no, I'm on pinterest or stumbleupon looking at random things on the interwebs.  So I decided to make my internet time useful and start a (hopefully) weekly blog series, Friday Favorites, because a) I like alliteration and b) it's a way to show what I'm into and what inspires me for the time being.

Here are my Friday Favorites:
 

Favorite Repurpose via Easily Dunn.
Jamie turned an old shirt into a brilliant cardigan...no sewing involved.  I like this kind of easy peasy repurposing. 




Favorite Bedding via Bright Bazaar.
I love stripes.  I love this color scheme.  I love blanket...

 

Favorite Shirt DIY via A Splendid Assemblage.
A quote, a printer, freezer paper, paint, and an iron (and some other small things) will get you this.  Lurves.



Favorite Party Idea via In My Own Style.
Hole punching the plates and attaching the plasticware and napkins.  GENIUS!



Favorite Mustache via From the Tortoise and the Hare.
It's actually another DIY, but I do love a mustache!



Favorite Jewelry Organizer via Twinkle and Twine.
Although I love this, my heathen cat would think it's Christmas with all these dangly things. 

Favorite Use of Buttons via Scrap Hacker.
This blog post has a bunch of other creative ways to use those random buttons.



Favorite Birthday Decoration via Trey and Lucy.
This particular one is for a 6 year old, but honestly, I wouldn't mind it for my 27th...



Favorite Use of Driftwood via Apartment Therapy.
Hmm.  That's clever. 



Favorite Use of the Backyard via Wray Sisters.
Life's a beach.  Why not put one in your backyard??



Favorite Wedding Lighting via Style Me Pretty.
Paper lanterns look amazing and are low-cost.  Pretty sure I'd like these at mine...someday.



Favorite Funny via One Sydney Road.
It's amazing how one little comma can make a world of difference.










Stay classy,
Heidi 

Mexican Pizza

I'm a little bummed out after my grocery store trip.  Every customer was given a free raffle ticket for gift cards of different amounts.  Two - three numbers were called over the intercom every 10 minutes.  It normally takes me an hour to shop and it didn't seem like there were many customers, so I figured I had a decent chance.  Nope.  The number after mine and the two numbers before mine were called.  And two lucky sons of guns won a $75 gift card!  As I was going to the register, I even checked the "winner board" to see if I'd been called and just didn't hear.  Nope.  Story of my life....

Anyway, I love pizza.  I'm always looking for different types of pizza.  There's been some misses, but there's been some hits...like this Mexican Pizza from Emily Bites.  I've had mexican pizza before, but never made one.  And it was SOO easy.  The BF loved it.  I was dissapointed I didn't have another pizza crust to make another one.

Mexican Pizza adapted from Emily Bites

1/2 lb ground beef (I used a whole pound and had leftover meat)
1 pkt taco seasoning
pizza crust (I used Freschetta)
1/2 c salsa
3 tbsp taco sauce
canned black beans, rinsed and drained
sliced jalapenos
shredded cheese
chopped green onions

1. Preheat the oven to 450.
2. Cook the ground beef over medium-high heat.  Add taco seasoning and stir to thoroughly combine. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the salsa and taco sauce and stir together. Spread the mixture evenly across the surface of the pizza crust.  Sprinkle black beans across the top of the salsa layer and then follow with the reserved taco meat. Sprinkle the cheese evenly across the top.
4. Place pizza in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, slice and sprinkle the green onions over the top.

I also ended up pouring taco sauce on top of the pizza to add more heat.


Open wide! 

Stay classy,

Heidi

Mozzarella Sticks

String cheese and egg roll wrappers.  Who knew that these two ingredients come together to make great mozzarella sticks.  Easy peasy! 



This recipe from Taste of Home required frying the sticks.  When I first try out a recipe, I tend to follow it as close as I can.  Then after, if I like the recipe, I'll play with it a little.  So next time, I make these, I wanna try to bake them.  But I have to admit, the mozzarella sticks had an amazing crunchiness to them that I don't think can be re-created in the oven....



Mozzarella Sticks
from Taste of Home

Ingredients

string cheese

egg roll wrappers

Oil for frying

Marinara or spaghetti sauce

Place a piece of string cheese near the bottom corner of one egg roll wrapper (keep the remaining wrappers covered with a damp paper towel until they're ready to use).  Fold the bottom corner over the cheese.  Roll them up halfway and fold she sides toward the center over the cheese.  Moisten the remaining corner with water and roll up tightly to seal.  Repeat with the remaining wrappers and cheese.
  
In a skillet, heat the oil in preparation for the frying.

Fry the sticks, a few at a time, for 30-60 seconds on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with marinara sauce.

Stay classy,
Heidi

My Old Kentucky Home

The BF and I made a 12 hr road trip to my parents' house in Kentucky.  Since my older brother and I moved away (far away) after college, it's hard for my mom to have all of her kids under one roof.  And since the whole fam was together, we celebrated my baby brother's 16th birthday a couple of weeks early.  I also found out I'm gonna be an aunt!!!  My sister-in-law and brother showed me their sonograms.  So exciting!!  I'll finally have a reason to get the cute baby stuff I've been seeing lately.



Instead of just cash or a gift card, I found this idea online to put cash in an umbrella.  I found this Spiderman one on clearance and decided to make a theme.

The BF found this Angry Bird squeaky for the dog prior to the trip.



We finally got to see the recording of the Today Show we were on.

There's one more person in this picture!  A baby in case no one could read into that...



My cake that I messed up decorating.  I envisioned it to look so much smoother, but I got impatient and poured too hot chocolate ganache and it melted everything.  But anyway, it's a chocolate fudge cake, with buttercream icing, chocolate ganache and melted white chocolate (recipe follows).



It was still delicious though.

He also got Spiderman fruit chews, mac and cheese and band aids.  The umbrella was the last thing he opened.

Pretty mom-to-be

Our family tradition of Mexican Train Dominoes

She got tired on the way back.

So we let her drive a little.



One of the rest stops in Maryland has a pedestrian bridge that goes over the highway so we had to get a picture.

My go-to chocolate cake recipe for boxed cake mix.

Best Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 pkg fudge cake mix
1 pkg instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 c sour cream
1/2c oil
1/2 c water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 cake pans.  Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water until moistened.  stir in the chocolate chips and continue mixing for about 2 minutes.  Spoon the mixture into the pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Loosen the cake from the pans and invert them onto wire racks.  Cool completely before icing.





Stay classy,
Heidi

Back from Vacay

I've been on a hiatus for the last week.  The BF and I were in Kentucky visiting my parents.  And I didn't want to disrupt family time with my blogging.  Pictures from that little adventure will be posted soon!

A couple of weeks before the Kentucky trip, we explored a little more of our area.  We ate ice cream at Broom's Bloom Dairy Farm that of course, made their own ice cream.

We walk around our neighborhood all the time but never bothered to take pictures of the pond at the end of our walk...and the turtles that always greet us. 

We also spent a day at the Smithsonia National Zoo, which, by the way, if you're looking for a fun and free thing to do in the DC area, this zoo is a great option.

This escalator coming out of the metro station is the longest I've ever been on.

This guy was just walking around the bird habitat and creeped up on me.

So peaceful to watch...

He loved his angry bird toy

Ended the day with a meal at Noodles and Company

The COOLEST soda machine I've ever used.  Every single Coke flavor ever made...

Stay classy,
Heidi