Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Thanksgiving is over and now 'tis the season of baking and decorating and celebrating! There is so much to be thankful for, but now it's time to stir up that holiday cheer! My new favorite, super easy, delicious, moist, and festive cookie is a Red Velvet Crinkle Cookie. There are 4 ingredients and it makes about 3 dozen cookies - perfect for giving away or having on hand to give out when you have company this holiday season.

My husband's work always has a Baked Goods Drive for the Single Soldiers who live in the barracks on post. So, I am making these cookies for them! 

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

- 1 box red velvet cake mix

- 2 eggs

- 6 tbsp. butter, melted

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Mix cake mix, eggs, and butter together until smooth.

2. Place powdered sugar in a small bowl.

3. Form 1 inch balls with the dough and cover in powdered sugar.

4. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 min. (mine took 8 minutes)

Red Velvet batter, cookie ball, cookie ball in powdered sugar, baking sheet of cookies!

 Baked Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Festive and delicious!

Enjoy!

Brittney

Christmas in November

I feel that Thanksgiving is coming so fast this year and Christmas will be right around the corner after we eat some turkey! So, to help get ready before it's December and I'm scrambling to decorate our house - I have already started. I have decorated a holiday wreath and hung our stockings on a decorated mantel. I also bought my son a Christmas Kiwi Crate and we made the two crafts in the crate together.

I did a review on Kiwi Crate back in June, obviously I'm still a fan! First of all, I absolutely love the packaging of the crate and all the tiny pieces and instructions that go to each craft. This specific box was the "Little Christmas" box and I had gotten a 25% off coupon I used to order it off www.kiwicrate.com The two crafts inside were "My Little Tree" - a Christmas tree made out of pipe cleaners on a stick, and "My Folded Ornaments" - paper ornaments that needed to be decorated and glued together to create a cool 3D ornament. My son had a ball crafting and I even got to color an ornament!

The first craft was "My Little Tree." Turned out super cute and we can't wait for the glitter paint to dry so we can put it in my son's room!

The second craft was "My Folded Ornaments." The Kiwi Crate came with felt stickers, crayons, and a glue stick to decorate with. We can't wait to hang all four on our Christmas tree!

For my mantel above my fireplace, I bought cardboard letters that would say "BE MERRY" when placed in order. They were $2.49 each at Hobby Lobby. I used a 9 ft. long evergreen garland with lights behind the letters. I bought the garland at Target 3 years ago for $10. I re-used Christmas ribbon I found in our Christmas "stuff box" that my mom created a gorgeous bow with and attached it to the left side. I also purchased a can of Gold Glitter paint at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 and used it to spray paint all my letters to add some 'pop.' Then we hung our stockings. 

"It's starting to look a lot like Christmas...!"

Lastly, my Holiday wreath. I am loving all the burlap everywhere that seems to be making a comeback. So I found some awesome wired, red and tan burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby that I just had to have. Made a bow and attached it to my "go-to" Christmas wreath of a plain evergreen wreath and a gold initial "B" I had painted 2 years ago for this wreath. Simple and pretty. 

Enjoy!

Brittney

Kid Approved Quick Dinner

My almost 3-year old used to eat anything I would place in front of him. These days he's a little more picky and a little more opinionated! One thing he can't get enough of is pepperoni. If he could have pepperoni for breakfast, he would. This recipe is simple crescent roll pizzas. Easy to put together and very yummy for kids and adults alike! (Of course you can pair it with some nutritious broccoli and grapes and it's a well balanced meal!)

Crescent Roll Pizzas

Ingredients

- package of crescent rolls
- 4 cheese sticks, halved
- pepperonis
- pizza sauce

1. Roll out crescent rolls.
2. Place about a tablespoon of pizza sauce 3 pepperonis, and half a cheese stick on the dough.
3. Roll up the dough and place on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until crescent rolls are golden brown.

 Pizza sauce, cheese sticks, crescent rolls, and pepperoni

 Pizza sauce, 3 pepperonis, and half a cheese stick on dough

Ready to bake!

Ready to eat!

 Kid- Approved

Enjoy!
Brittney

I Am Thankful

It's November! 'Tis the season  to be Thankful. Many of my friends have jumped on the bandwagon to share what they are thankful for daily on Facebook. This isn't my style, but I found a way to participate without making my list 'public.' A simple DIY project that requires an 8"x10" frame, a free printable, and a dry erase marker.

I found this printable from someone I follow on Instagram - Crafty Texas Girls. Their website is super fun with great ideas! So take the time to make your own "I am Thankful" frame and change what you are thankful for daily, weekly, or every other day! Here is mine:

Enjoy!
Brittney

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tonight we are headed to a "Halloween Party" at a friend's house, complete with a costume contest! My boys are going to be minions from the movie, "Despicable Me." I sure hope they win! We were all asked to provide a side dish or dessert tonight, so I went with the later. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies with Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips. To. Die. For. They are super moist and soft in the middle with the best tasting chocolate ever! Here is the recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies *Makes almost 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

- 1 cup pumpkin in a can
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 2 cups flour (plus 2 tbsp. flour at high altitude)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. taking soda
- 2 cups chocolate chips

1. Mix pumpkin, oil, sugars, egg and vanilla together in your Kitchenaide mixer.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda.
3. Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12  minutes. (Mine took 9 minutes)
6. Store in a sealed container.

 Pumpkin Mixture before mixing together

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

 Cookie Dough

Baked Cookies

To. Die. For.

Minion Brothers!

Enjoy!

Brittney

Product Review: Beaba Babycook

With my first child I worked full time so making baby food was not one of my priorities. Second baby came around and I decided to try making his baby food. I bought a gently used Beaba Babycook on eBay for $55 and started pureeing. I love this product! It is so easy to use and make baby food with. We have pureed squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli and peas, carrots, pears, peaches, apples, and spinach with banana. My baby loves his food and my older son enjoys 'cooking' the food (pressing the button)!

The Beaba Babycook steams your food that you cut up or place inside the steamer catch. Once your food is ready, you empty the water that has collected at the bottom into a cup, place your steamed food in the food processor cup and puree away! Now you can add none, some, or all of the used water that you put to the side into your food to make it more liquid-like. I don't usually use the water for pears or peaches, since they are super juicy already. But for the sweet potatoes and green beans the water is a must because those veggies are much thicker.

Once I puree the food I place it in little containers that I freeze or in my Beaba Multiportion Freezer Tray I bought on Amazon. I wait for the food to freeze then I easily pop the food portions out and place them in a freezer bag, which I label with what type of food it is and the date. The frozen food is good up to 3 months in the freezer.

One thing I LOVE about the Beaba Babycook is that it also defrosts the frozen portions of food. You set the Beaba up the same way you would steam food, only you place a frozen portion in a microwave safe container and let the Beaba do its magic and defrost the food. You can also place frozen portions in little containers and into the fridge to defrost if you aren't going to need that food right away to feed your little one.

I am very pleased with this product and strongly recommend it to anyone looking to make their baby's first foods! If you are interested in other baby food recipes I have looked to You Tube and Weelicious for ideas and a step by step process to make the baby food. Super easy to do!

My Beaba Babycook, Top 100 Purees Cookbook and OXO Tot freezer set

 My son 'cooking' Spinach with Bananas

 Beaba Multiportion Freezer Tray with Pears 

 Frozen carrot portions in freezer bag with the date

 Defrosting Sweet Potatoes set-up

Beaba Defrosting Magic!

Enjoy!

Brittney

You've Been Booed!

My fabulous photographer posted a picture of her son "Boo-ing" his neighbors... so naturally, I had to do the same! However, I don't really know my neighbors... so we "booed" our friends! Hopefully they keep the tradition going in their neighborhoods - since maybe they actually know their neighbors better than I know mine!

I found a cute printout on Pinterest that was just the right size to cut out and attach to the $1 pumpkins I bought at Target to place our goodies in. We made some ghost cookies, included some ghost marshmallows, candy corn, a glow stick wand, Reese's pumpkins, and a little pumpkin with Skittles in it. Here are the pictures of us prepping to "boo" my son's buddies. I didn't get any pictures of him in action, as it was super cold and raining - but Kinley had a blast yelling "BOO!"

Printout - Directions on how to "boo" 2 of your neighbors and a sign you hang in your front window so you aren't "booed" a second time

 Baking the ghost cookies

 Candy Corn and Ghost Marshmallows

 Putting baked cookies in bags

Boo Treats!

Enjoy!

Brittney