DIY Make up Brush Holder

Hello, everyone! Happy Friday! Well if you're looking at this after the day I publish it then I don't know what to tell you. Happy week! Back to the DIY!! the other day I was organizing my makeup and I was thinking that I need something to hold all my brushes in. So I was just thinking and I decided to try this and it worked!!!! All I did was cut the bottom of a water bottle then put duct tape around it! sorry I don't have pictures of the whole thing! I forgot to take them! so you guys should try this out! it's very helpful and cute!

Crack Dip

Our kitchen is still torn up and I needed to bring an appetizer to a party last week...so I went on the search for another quick, cold, no-cook appetizer (click here for my last quick, cold, no-cook appetizer - no stove or oven for the time being!) and I stumbled on this recipe for "crack dip"...it's apparently named that cuz it's so addicting you can't just eat one chipful!

Author: An Affair from the Heart

Recipe type: Cold Appetizer/ Dip

Ingredients

• 2 cans Mexicorn, drained
• 1 cup real mayonnaise
• 1 cup real sour cream
• Tops of 3 bunches of green onions, sliced
• 1 can green chilies, diced
• ⅓ cup of jalapenos (the jar kind), chopped
• 8 ounce package of Shredded Mexican Blend cheese
• Tortilla chips for serving

Instructions

1. Combine all of the dip contents together and place in the fridge. I suggest making it 12 hours ahead, or even the day before. The flavors just keep getting better and better! Serve with tortilla chips!

Recipe by An Affair from the Heart at http://www.anaffairfromtheheart.com/2014/12/award-winning-crack-dip/

I didn't add the jalapeño because I'm a baby and didn't want it too spicy, I did however had a few dashes of Tabasco for a little flavor.  Delish - and she's right, very addicting!

original recipe found here.

Andes Mint Cookies

I re-organized all the cupboards in my kitchen and made space to have all of my baking supplies in a deep drawer and couldn't wait to put it to the test to see if this new system will function as well as I hoped...while cleaning everything out I came across a full bag of Andes Mint Chips that I forgot I had, so decided to whip up a batch of cookies following the recipe on the bag. These are very simple to make, and after you chill the dough for an hour they bake up very quickly. I used my one tablespoon cookie scoop, baked them for 10 minutes, and got 66 small cookies out of this dough. Oh, and the drawer idea works great - I'm SO happy!

• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened

• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 eggs

• 1 package (10 oz) Andes® Creme de Menthe Baking Chips or Andes® After Dinner Mints, coarsely chopped

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and eggs until mixed.

Stir in baking chips or chopped candy and then flour.

Chill at least one hour in refrigerator.

Measure out approximately 1 ounce of dough.

Raise oven rack one level above middle and baking on non-stick cookie sheets.

Bake at 350-degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes.

Cool on pans for two minutes before removing.

Breadcrumbs

I bought way too many hawaiian rolls for pulled pork sliders (click here for that recipe - so good!) and stored the extras in the fridge...I knew I needed to find something to do with them when I opened the fridge, grabbed one and ate it standing in front of the fridge with the door still open just cuz they were there. Not even hungry - ok, they gotta go. I thought about feeding them to the seagulls but have you ever seen a flock of hungry seagulls when a person is feeding them? It's like watching "The Birds" and being attacked by a flock of seagulls is not cool.

Bird feeding is out. That leaves throwing them away or making them into breadcrumbs so I can at least use them in some way in the future, and eating a handful of breadcrumbs from the freezer isn't nearly as appealing as standing at the fridge shoving whole rolls in my mouth ;).

This is a long post to basically just tell you that I ground up some rolls in my food processor, put them in a large baggie and stuck it in the freezer. Hey, it's what I "made" today...they can't all be wine cork crafts ;)

St. Patrick's Day Paper Shamrock Wreath

Super easy quick craft for St. Patrick's Day - you could pin this up somewhere, make into a card and send to someone, use as decoration for a party, prop in the windowsill, make a few of them and put at everyone's place setting for your corned beef dinner...really it's just a little thing that can be used numerous ways. Have fun!

I punched out little hearts from white, darker green, and silver glitter paper (all from Stampin' Up but use whatever you have!). Lightly trace a circle on lighter green paper, lay out the hearts in patterns that look like overlapping shamrocks and glue down on the circle so it looks like a wreath. Mine ended up being 4 leaf clovers more than shamrocks cuz I messed up on the placement and it was lopsided! Whatever, it's still cute ;) Embellish if you want with sequins, I added a little ribbon because it was just laying lonely on my craft desk and caught my eye. Sometimes it's hard to say "enough is enough" and I just keep adding things!

Sending this to Ronda for her seasonal display table, we'll see how she uses it!

Grilled Ahi with 2-Sauces

This is based on an old recipe from Roy Yamaguchi (of Roy's restaurants) that I've altered a little bit thru the years. The original recipe is called "Roy's Original Blackened Ahi" but since I've changed it I thought I better also rename it!

I'll give you his recipe and then tell you how I modify it:

Blackened Ahi:

• 1 T. ground cumin
• 1/2 t. paprika
• 1 T. salt
• 1 T. chili powder
• 1/4 t. white pepper
• 2 3oz. pieces of ahi

Mix dry ingredients well. Coat one side of tuna with the spices and pan sear to desired temperature. Slice into 1/4" thick pieces and arrange on plate. Ladle one side with Hot Soy Mustard Sauce and the other with Beurre Blanc.

Hot Soy Mustard Sauce:

• 3/4 cup dry mustard
• 3/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

Blend mustard with a little water until pasty. Add rice vinegar and soy sauce. Blend. Strain through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.

Beurre Blanc:

• 1 cup white wine
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 T. white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• white pepper and salt, to taste
• 1/2 lb. butter, softened

Reduce wine and shallot until one tablespoon is left. Strain out shallots. Add vinegar, cream, salt and pepper. Reduce until thick; whip in butter. Whisk continuously until butter fully melts. Do not let boil.

beurre blanc on left, mustard soy on right 

Now my version:

-Cooking the fish: I rub a little olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with steak seasoning. Dave grills until well done because that's how I like it, he prefers way less done but is a good sport about cooking it thru for me.

-Hot Soy Mustard Sauce is really hot. I do not like really hot. So I use maybe a tablespoon of the dry mustard mixed with a little water, then add about 1/4 cup rice vinegar and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Not usually necessary to strain it. If still too hot then add more vinegar and soy sauce.

-Beurre Blanc: I usually cut the amounts in half and leave out the shallot. At the end I only add about 3-4 tablespoons of butter.

-To serve I make sticky rice and put down a big spoonful in the middle of the plate, shaping it into somewhat of a circle, then top with grilled ahi. Spoon mustard sauce on one half and the butter sauce on the other half of the plate around the rice, they'll meet in the middle. Top with wilted spinach or grilled asparagus if you want - that makes this a complete dish, don't need any other sides. This is SO GOOD!!!!!

Cream Cheese - Feta Dip

Really I don't need to write much more than the title. That's all it is. And it's good.

I needed a last minute, quick, no cook appetizer and found this online. Mix together 8 oz. light cream cheese and 6 oz. feta cheese (both at room temperature so softer). Done.

I ended up putting them in a mini food processor and adding a splash of half-and-half to get it smoother but that's cuz I didn't have time to wait for the cheeses to warm up and blend easily. Served with crackers, fig jam, jalapeño jelly, and sliced salami. Super easy. Super fast. Super yummy.

Click here for original post, I forgot to take a picture so you can check out bakelovegives photo! My dip was smoother and creamier than her photo but it's going to taste the same!

DIY Decorated Phone Charger by Brooke

Hello, everyone! For this Friday I have a DIY phone charger for you guys! it's super easy and fun! So I have many siblings and they always steal my charger! it makes me so mad. All of our chargers look the same. boring and white. So I finally got so sick of people stealing my charger, I decided to decorate it. I took some pretty nail polish then painted a side then let it dry. painted another side. then let it dry! it took a long time but now no one steals my charger. so you guys need to try this out if you don't want people stealing your charger or if you don't want your charger plain and white!

Two-Bean Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup red wine vinegar or cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 pound haricots verts, roughly chopped

3 ribs celery with leaves, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)

1. Mash garlic and salt using a mortar and pestle or small bowl and wooden spoon. Transfer to a medium bowl and whisk in vinegar, mustard, and pepper. Add olive oil in a thin stream, whisking continuously.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil; blanch haricots verts until crisp-tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and shock in a large bowl of cold water.

3. In a large bowl, mix haricots verts with remaining ingredients. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and toss. 

10 servings. Per serving: 422 calories, 3g protein, 41g fat, 15g carb, 291mg sodium

My notes: I did not mash garlic and salt, just used a teaspoon of chopped garlic instead. I made the dressing in my cruet thing that has lines on the side for vinegar and oil - just put in all the ingredients and shake it up. I left out the bell peppers, onion and jalapeño and didn't miss them. This has lots of flavor with all the other veggies, salt and pepper. I bought haricots verts (small thin green beans) in a microwavable bag, cooked them for 2 minutes and then ran under cold water. Lastly, I used frozen corn and it worked just fine. Canned corn kernels would be softer and not add the crunch like fresh or frozen. 

Julie's Key Lime Pie

I'm finally starting to wear people down - I'm constantly reminding (reminding is sort of a nice word for it - I'm a little bossy about it really) people that if they make any yummy recipes or fun crafts then please send me the info and pictures so I can blog it...there are days I don't have time to share so the more guest bloggers I can get the better! So Julie sent me pics of the pie she was making to bring to a party we were all attending later that day, she thought I might like to share it with you guys. Yes! I've never made key lime pie and after tasting this one it I knew I wanted the recipe, seems pretty easy and it's really good.

She followed a recipe she found online,  didn't change anything other than she used limes from a neighbors tree instead of key limes - don't know how it would change the flavor but it's really really good this way! Thanks for sharing, Julie!!

I don't have a juicer, this would certainly make juicing easier tho!

graham cracker crust in a 9" pie plate

mixing together the filling - it takes 3 cups of sweetened condensed milk! no wonder it tastes so good...

Julie texted "remember to have a drink while baking"haha!

Ingredients:

1 9" prepared graham cracker crust
3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 Tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350'
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice and zest. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 5-8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of the pie. DO NOT BROWN. Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

Julie's notes: grate a tablespoon plus of lime zest, add some to the pie mixture and then after pouring into the pie crust add more zest on top for garnish before baking. Very scrumptious and yummy for the tummy :). And it's EVEN BETTER the next day!

recipe found on allrecipes.com - click here for the original recipe.