tuesday things

Hey, friends! How are you? Ok, a few things today! 

1. I realized I never posted about my change in sponsorship status! Whoops! You can find all the details here, but quickly, I am now charging for ad space. I will no longer be accepting swap sponsors. I have some very reasonable rates for monthly ads. You DO NOT have to be a blogger to advertise with me. Own a shop? Scentsy consultant? Want to advertise a service? You can do that here! I am on track to hit 100,000+ pageviews this month and I have some prime real estate for you! 

2. Mad man Tony Horton just about killed me last night....in a good way. He lives in my TV and he makes me workout. It's glorious. 

3. Pinterest inspired nails! Dark plum with a chunky glitter top coat.

And now, continuing with our Lent tradition:

A Lenten Prayer for Tuesday

Father of my soul,

Mother of my heart, 

I know your love for me is limitless beyond imagining. 

You care for me as a loving parent. 

Through my smallest Lenten sacrifices, 

help me to become less selfish 

and more aware of your ways. 

Fan the flame of my desire 

to draw ever closer to you. 

Guide me to seek your love.

Pepperoni String Cheese Roll Ups

Weekend lunches are always tough for us me. Mainly because I'm not used to making lunch for everyone during the week. Most of the time, I forget to even buy anything, but when I saw these on Pinterest...I was inspired. Good job, Pinterest...doing what you were made to do. 


I cut the calories and fat count down from the original recipe by using turkey pepperoni (I promise you won't notice a difference) and reduced fat crescent rolls and cheese. There are 2 rolls in one serving for a total of 325 calories without any dipping sauce. 

Pin It



Pepperoni String Cheese Roll Ups


Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package reduced fat refrigerated crescent roll dough
4 reduced fat cheese sticks, halved
1 (3.5 ounce) package sliced turkey pepperoni
optional - marinara or ranch sauce for dipping


Garlic Butter Glaze
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasonings
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 


For the rolls:
Take each triangle of crencent roll dough and place about 6 pepperoni on the bottom of the triangle. Place half of a cheese stick on top and roll up. Place seam side down on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown.


For the glaze:
While rolls are cooking, combine the melted butter, Italian seasonings, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. 


When rolls are done remove from the oven and drizzle with the garlic butter glaze. Serve with marinara or ranch for dipping.


 Please visit my link parties page to see who I linked up with this week!

Gorilla Bread {recipe}

As soon as I saw this, I knew we were meant to be.

This is actually a Paula Deen recipe that has 653 reviews and a 5 star rating. Count me in. The original recipe calls for a bundt pan and I don't have one of those. The original recipe also uses 2 cans of biscuits and well, a family of 3 doesn't need all that food. So, I halved the recipe and adapted it for use in a 9 inch round cake pan. 

Gorilla Bread

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake: 350 degrees for 30 minutes 

Cool: 5 minutes

Yield: 5 servings (2 biscuits per person)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese
• 1 (12-ounce) can refrigerated biscuits (10 count)
• 1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9 inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon. In a small bowl, microwave butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved; set aside. Cut the cream cheese into 10 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. 

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the cake pan. Place prepared biscuits in the pan, seam side down.

Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar, pour melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on remaining nuts.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.

  

Family Bake-off and Pumpkin Granola {recipe}

Heeeeyyyy! Remember me?? Yeah, so life gets in the way of blogging sometimes. Remember that annual family bakeoff I told you about? I have been meaning to share some photos and a recipe from it! The women in my family (8 of us this year) get together and bake, and bake, and bake until there is no butter left.

Here goes!

Here is my nephew packaging up some almond brittle. Yes, he washed his hands. 

My sister! She made these super cute ornaments from Pinterest!

My brother! I'm getting him a pair of scissors for Christmas. 

My mom! She is the artsy one of us all. Need a tiny pair of felt elf boots? She's on it. 

We were frantically trying to finish the ornaments. This meant dull scissors and lots of hot glue.  

Whoa. Monster Baby. 

Nope. Try again. 

Perfect. 

Like I said, we package it all up and send them out as gifts. I made the Cowboy Cookies (seen here, Pinterest inspired packaging!) and 3 batches of Pumpkin Granola (recipe below).

In addition we had Lemon Squares, Chex Mix, Pistachio Seat Salt Bark, Almond Bark, Pumpkin Bread, Puppy Chow, Hello Dollies, Peanut Butter and Maple Rice Krispies Treats, Tarts, and Pecan Muffins.

Pumpkin Granola

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake: 325 degrees for 20 minutes 

Cool: 20 minutes

Yield: 6 cups granola

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and brown sugar.

In another bowl, combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the oat mixture.

Toss the mixture until all of the oats are coated. Spread the granola onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 20 minutes. Take the granola out and stir it around. Bake another 20 minutes or until the granola gets crisp. Take the granola out and mix in the cranberries and almonds.

{This Week on Pinterest}

Happy Friday! Woo-hoo! Its been a long and weird week and I am really looking forward to this weekend. I anticipate a full weekend of relaxing and taking care of some much needed chores around the house. Did I really just use the word chore and relax in the same sentence?

My love with Pinterest continues and I have highlighted a few of my favorite pins from this week.

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Hello!! How useful!

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I need this. So cute.

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I'm such a loser, I think Jim and Pam are real. Sigh...

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I didn't really have much of a wedding, so I just like to pretend. :)

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DIY Dishwasher Tune up. Yes. 

What are your weekend plans? Are you on Pinterest yet?? If not, shoot me a message and I will send you an invite!

Glitter Nails {Pinterest Inspired}

I have created an entire board for Nails on Pinterest. I think I love the site so much because I have always always always needed a place to keep and store ideas that looks amazing.

When I went to go get my nails done last week, they looked at me like I was C-R-A-Z-Y when I showed them this photo:

My natural nails are horrible. I mean just awful. But I do wear my acrylic nails short, so I thought this look would work. Here is the final product:

Overall, I am happy with them. I wish they would of had a polish with chunkier glitter, but this works well. Its a nice clean look and alternative from my usual "marshmallow." I have several other fun ideas saved and I look forward to sharing them with you!