Double-Chocolatey Goodness

Double-Chocolate Muffins are a rich and decadent dessert that will leave you wanting more. Topped with a fresh strawberry, you’ll be thanking yourself for making these.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 milk
1 egg

*Optional:
Fresh strawberries to top your muffins with
Butter to melt onto your freshly baked muffins

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners or grease the pan. In a mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Make a well in the center of your flour mixture. Set aside the bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Combine until moistened. Your mixture should resemble the consistency of brownie batter.

Spoon muffin mix into prepared tray and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cooked muffins sit in the pan for about 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. If desired, melt butter on top of muffins*. Serve warm and enjoy!

Bottle Cap Jewelry

Do you have an outfit that needs a little spicing up but don’t have the right piece of jewelry? That’s okay, because I have the perfect solution. Bottle cap necklaces are an easy fun way to personalize jewelry that is unique to you.

 

What you need:

Round Epoxy Stickers
Bottle Caps (Either from a craft store or from home)
String
Scissors
Rubber Cement
Metal hole punch
Nail file or sandpaper
Page from a dictionary, book, etc.
*Clasps to attach to string

Directions:

1.Find a word in a dictionary or book tear the page out and save it for later. I chose the word “beauty”.

2. Punch a hole in your bottle cap. Depending on the size of your hole and your string you may need to punch an additional hole (overlapping the previous one) so your string will fit through.

3. Measure out your desired length for your necklace and then double it. Take the string and fold it in half. Take the folded end and feed it through the hole on your bottle cap. Now take the two ends and put them through the loop that you created when you fed the string through the hole. Pull the string tight.

This is what your necklace should like so far.

4. Take your dictionary or book page that you set aside earlier and place your epoxy sticker over the word(s) that you want.

5. Cut around the circle and get rid of the excess paper.

6. Put glue on the bottle cap and on the back of your epoxy sticker.

7. Place the epoxy sticker in the bottle cap and viola, you now have a unique chic necklace to go almost with any outfit.

*If you want a more traditional style necklace tie on a jump ring and clasp.

Strawberry Delight

Perfect for tea time or just a plain dessert, Strawberry Shortcake Scones hold nothing back for your taste buds. A dense yet light snack, these scones will leave you wanting more.

 

Ingredients for Dough:

12 diced strawberries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
8 tbsp cold cubed butter
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup half and half

Ingredients for Icing:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 half and half

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. Add the diced strawberries to the flour mixture. Toss the strawberries until they are lightly coated with the flour mixture. Fold in the half and half until the mixture resembles a dough.

 

Put the dough on a lightly floured surface. (Make sure to flour your hands as the dough is very sticky.) Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough into triangles. Place dough onto baking sheet and cook for 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the scones are cooking, whisk together the icing ingredients and place some parchment paper underneath your wire rack.

After the scones are done cooking, place them on the wire rack and let them cool for about ten minutes. Drizzle the tops of the scones with the icing and enjoy your delicious homemade dessert!

Veni. Vidi. Amavi.

“Once a year go somewhere you’ve never been before.” ~Dalai Lama

When you have an adventurous spirit like I do, traveling is fun and exciting. It’s hard to keep track of all the places I’ve been. But what about the places I haven’t been? I’ve never once been outside of the states, but it doesn’t stop me from dreaming about it!

We all have a bucket list of sorts. I have tons of things on my list, but in this post, I want to talk specifically about what’s on my travel bucket list.

1. Step foot in all 50 states. I’m almost halfway there!
2. Visit Australia. I don’t know where yet specifically in Australia. I just want to go.
3. Visit where the Berlin Wall once stood in Germany. I’ve always wanted to go to Germany since I was a kid. Germany is probably at the very top of my travel bucket list.
4. Visit the City of Lights, a.k.a Paris, France.
5. Visit the Titanic Museum in either Pigeon Forge, TN or Branson, MO.
6. Israel. As a history buff, I would be in historical heaven with all of the biblical and general history that there is in Israel.
7. Float in the Dead Sea. While yes, this is technically in Israel, this is a more specific destination. And plus, how could you go to Israel and not float in the Dead Sea?
8. See the Aurora Borealis. Besides being a cool thing in life to witness, it offers AMAZING photography opportunities.
9. Greece. Maybe I can finally get a tan.
10. Niagara Falls. Either the NY or Canadian side is fine with me. Again, AMAZING photography opportunities.

 

This list wasn’t in any particular order. It’s also not necessarily my top ten destinations.

(I do not necessarily share the belief of the person cited, but this is a good quote nonetheless.)

Let me know in the comment section down below your travel bucket list.

 

World Famous Cookies

On cold days like today, an ooey gooey chocolate treat is delightful and comforting. I have the perfect recipe for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (You may need just a little bit more depending on your preference.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of Toll House Semi-Sweet chocolate chips

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place softened butter in bowl and mix until fluffy. Add sugars and vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time until well mixed and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

Mix flour mixture in gradually until desired consistency is reached. When all of the flour has been added, stir in the chocolate chips.

Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheet and bake 8-11 minutes. Once cookies are done, let them rest on the pan for about 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

 

 

*Note: I only made half a batch as I was short an ingredient.

Snowflake

High school dances are something we remember for the rest of our lives. From the music, to the friends we hung out with, to the guy or girl we danced with, and even the hilarious photos we took.

Besides graduation, nothing can compare to winter formal or prom. We can spend a night not having to worry about passing an upcoming test or senior deadlines that are fastly approaching. The only thing we have to stress over is “Do I look alright?”

At my most recent formal, the dj spun an abundance of tunes, covering that of pop, country, and rap. I’ve listed links to some of my favorites played that night and a few I was surprised to hear.

Journey~Don’t Stop Believing
Metallica~Enter Sandman
Dan + Shay~Speechless
Nirvana~Smells Like Teen Spirit
Queen~Bohemian Rhapsody
Abba~Dancing Queen

 

 

Fun Fruit Fusion

Looking for something more interesting to drink other than water, but is healthy at the same time? Well look no further. The solution is fresh fruit-infused water.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to infused water. From cucumbers to a lemon and blueberry combo, there are many ways to give water a satisfying punch.

Fruits and vegetables have many properties that are beneficial to our body.

Cucumber is an antioxidant and helps with hydration.

Lemon is also an antioxidant and helps with hydration. Likewise, lemon is high in vitamin C.

Blueberries are superior to most other fruits and vegetables when it come to antioxidants. Blueberries can help with lowering blood pressure, reduce the possibility of cancer, and preventing heart disease.

Strawberries are again an antioxidant. Strawberries aid in many things related to health. They aide in lowering blood sugar, reducing the possibility of cancer, and heart disease.

Mint aids in digestion, pain relief, and can boost your concentration. Mint also makes your breath minty fresh.

Oranges are great for your heart, skin, immune system, and many more things.

These are just a few fruits you may want to start with.

To start, fill your pitcher or glass with very cold water. Add whatever fresh fruit* your heart desires. Let the fruit infuse in the water for at least 30 min. A prepared drink will last for about 2-3 days.

 

*Note: If you are using a citrus fruit, peel the peel as it will make the water bitter.

 

 

https://www.healthline.com/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/

 

 

 

 

A Delicious Oreo Treat

Looking for a sweet snack but not sure what to fix? Well I have a remedy for that. Cream cheese and Oreos are great individually, but mixed together, they taste so much better! This Oreo dough also doubles as melted snowmen, a cute Christmas snack*!

 

Ingredients:

1 package Oreos (don’t forget to save a few for snacking 😉)

1 package (8oz) Cream cheese softened

Optional*:

White chocolate

Sprinkles

Supplies:

Blender

Spoon

Directions:

Put half of the package of Oreos in blender and mix until fine crumbs are made. Do the same with the rest of the Oreos.

Cut softened cream cheese into small pieces. Add pieces to the blender and mix until a dough is formed.

*If you want to make melted snowmen, refrigerate the dough until firm. Roll into 1 inch balls and dip into melted white chocolate. Add sprinkles and let dry.

Bon appetite!

A Harvest

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” ~William Blake

Time Out-There’s Snow

Not everyone enjoys the cold and not everyone enjoys the hot weather. (I myself prefer the cold.) But at some point, we all enjoy the cold just a little bit more than normal. Today I think is that day for me.

As a teenager, I love snow days and I know other kids do too. It means that school’s out. No school work, no irritating, confusing geometry to work on, and perhaps most importantly no getting up before I’m ready.

I know many adults have to love snow days too. I mean come on, NO WORK. While not everyone likes the cold, surely most everyone enjoys the prospect of no work. Staying at home, relaxing, watching tv, and binge eating.

So what’s the point to this post? Taking a time out and celebrating the little things that remind us to slow down and smell the snow- I mean smell the roses.

 

Photographic  reflections of my snow day.

 

 

 

On a side note, I would like to give one of my favorite radio thinkers, Rush Limbaugh, Happy Birthday wishes.