Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

I'll admit, I'm not much of a cook or a baker. Most of my baking and cooking adventures happened when I moved out and they are very few and far in between. I also don't have very much time and when most recipes call for making things from scratch, I get a bit intimidated...

I like to experiment though, and so today I come to you bearing a recipe that tastes delicious, is quick, and isn't a lot of work! The type of dessert that I like best :)


"Not Scratch" Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

  • 1 bag of sugar cookie mix (I use Betty Crocker)
    • 1 egg
    • 1 stick of butter
  • 2/4 cup Fresh strawberry puree
  • 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup craisins (in the fruit aisle, essentially dried cranberries for those in the dark)
  • 1 oz cream cheese
1. Pour sugar cookie mix into a mixing bowl with the semi-melted stick of butter and egg. 
2. Wash strawberries, cut off tops and using a food processor chop the strawberries into eensy little pieces.
3. Add white chocolate chips, craisins and cream cheese and stir until it is mixed well.
4. Bake according to sugar cookie instructions (I cooked mine for about 13 minutes in a gas oven).
5. Enjoy your flippin cookies because they are delicious. You don't need anything else in the world except these cookies. Seriously, enjoy them.

Let me know if you guys try out the recipe and if you liked it!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Phillip the red panda

When school started for me, it put me in a bit of a pickle. One of my classes was charging $150 for the textbook I needed for the class! Unfortunately, it was a specialty book and the only other place I could find it was on the website that publishes it for about $30 more plus shipping.

So I went to facebook and begged, and asked if anyone would be willing to pay me for crafts in order to help me pay for the unseen cost of my textbook. Because I have such wonderful friends, I had a lot of serious takers, one was my friend A., who requested a red panda.

I found a cute red panda ami on the internet, but when I showed it to her, she wanted it to be a bit more realistic. Taking a huge step for myself, I made my own pattern! Behold! Phillip the Red Panda!

Here he is without legs, ears, or tail! He looked pretty sad!

In this picture all he needs is a tail!

The final product.


I was very happy with myself because not only is Phillip one-of-a-kind because I didn't write down all of the pattern, but it was my first time making something all on my own. I've come a long way with my crochet!
My friend  A. even left this sweet feedback for me.
I got my red panda today! He's perfect, I'm so pleased! A++ gold star!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Wreaths

 I'm going to share some of my first dabs at wreath making from Oct-Dec 2011

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I always said when I had my own house I'd go ballistic! My boyfriend and I moved into our own place in May, and well, my funds were too tight for me to go too crazy with decorating, so I decided to make my first wreath.

It happened as bit of an accident really, I was in Michael's near Halloween for something or other when I saw this huge white basket filled with black wreaths for $5. That seemed like a really good deal to me, so then I spent the rest of my time in the store gathering things that I thought would go well on it.

The product was so much better than I thought it would turn out! I found some sparkly bat garland and a wooden "wreath" that I painted and glittery spiders with clips. I also found some purple battery operated LED lights to stick in it so I could show it off at night. 

When December rolled around, I knew I wanted a Christmas wreath since I couldn't afford to put lights out or buy any Christmas decorations. I know some people could go on and on about Christmas, but it is my least favorite holiday...So I didn't want to decorate with the typical reds and greens. I figured, if I went with a blue color theme, I could leave the wreath up through January without my neighbors judging me.

I found a cute ribbon wreath tutorial while scouring Pinterest, and decided to give it a go. You can find the tutorial here, Since I just so happened to go to Hobby Lobby to collect materials when they had ALL of their Christmas stuff like 40% off, it was a mad house and pickin's were slim. I probably would have been a lot more happy with this wreath if I had found more ribbon I liked so I could have fattened it up a bit, but I was pleased with the overall result.

Unfortunately, it is almost March, so I think it's about time for me to take it down and move onto a new wreath! Now..to decide a theme....