peppermint + chocolate = a winning combo!

peppermint and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations.  

peppermint bark is something that I get really excited to make when the holidays roll around.

here's a peek at my first batch of the season...

I usually put my peppermints in a plastic bag and go at them with a hammer, but this time I used the food processor... requires much less effort, but much more cleaning.

bottom layer.

top layer.

tasty!

our first Christmas.

So Thanksgiving came and went and it was a glorious feast... now I need to run 100 miles this week to make up for all the junk I ate.

My brother's mother-in-law gave us an "our first Christmas" ornament this weekend and it was so nice.  I was excited because I wanted to have one to hang on our tree... when I pulled it out of my suitcase to show the mister, it fell off of the hook and shattered.  Sad day!!

So I decided to throw together an ornament for us to have on our tree.  We happened to have some clear balls (ornament balls, sickos!) and some old programs from our wedding.  So I cut up a program (minus the front piece with the birds and the date) and stuffed the ball with the cut up program.

it was a fast project... and sentimental!  Can't beat it!

Oscar loves sewing

he needs to learn how to replace the bobbin.

DIY burlap stockings

too soon???

nahhh.

I decided to hand embroider names on the stockings... 

you know, just to be more difficult and time consuming.

I found a pretty font, printed everybody's name and traced it with a pencil on fabric.

It's not too difficult to make your own template for a stocking.  So I got 3 pieces of card stock, taped them together, drew a big fat stocking and cut. it. out.

hand embroidery time!

using the template, I cute out 8 pieces of burlap and 8 pieces of lining

using pinking shears, I cut squares of the names I embroidered 

I sewed the names on the unfinished stockings, then sewed the stocking together inside out, turned it right side out, put a ribbon on it and...

aw.

aren't we a cute family of stockings!

apple cobbler cookies

recipe here.

They taste more like an apple crisp than cobbler, but who's asking all these questions when all a girl wants to do is eat cookies.  It's basically oatmeal cookies with chopped up apples instead of raisins.  Why do people ruin oatmeal cookies with raisins anyway?

and of course you could eat these and call it meatless monday!

Oscar loves polka dot pj pants

pinterest made me make a quesadilla

inspired by this pin.

I am determined to not be a person who just sits around and pins things and doesn't make the things they pin.  So here we are.

next time, I may need to use pre-shredded mozzarella.

it was juicy juicy.

I love cheese... don't judge me.

I love that golden brown.

makes my heart smile.

I wish it was time to eat again.

DIY gold striped platter

I am really in love with stripes right now... and I thought it would be really super cool to have a pink and gold striped platter.  So I made a big and a little.  Here's the DIY.

you can buy clear glass plates and platters pretty cheap and you can do a lot of cool projects with them

(um, hello?  Christmas presents!)

Tape off the platter with painters tape to make stripes.  You could do a gingham pattern, too... or even Chevron if you're feeling fancy!

spray it.  (notice I paint on the underside so I can still put food on the platter :)

wait for the paint to dry and peel tape.

Spray with contrasting color.

cool!!  Don't look too closely.  The lines aren't perfect, but I'm keeping it so it doesn't matter so much :)

breakfast for din din.

pancakes for dinner?  you know it!  I used this recipe.  It kept me from going to the store to buy any ingredients... score!!

Did you know that if you put white vinegar in milk, it sours it like buttermilk?  Pretty cool.

I used an ice cream scoop to measure out and pour my batter.  It keeps things even.  I like things even.

yum...

yum...

and yum.

oscar loves Whole Foods

...and chalk.

Whole Foods does have good bags!

cranberries!!

I felt like I wanted to practice a Thanksgiving recipe this weekend and this pin inspired me.

cranberry salsa.

I food processed mine a little more than my pin, but it was so delectable.

even the husband liked it.

we devoured it.  I was so happy that it was so tasty that I jumped up and gave my husband a big hug.  ha!

veggie paella

A few years ago I went to a wedding and the bride's brother-in-law made a huge pot of paella to feed the guests at the reception.  It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  I was so sad that it had meat in it because I really wanted to partake in this beauty, but instead I just stared at it, enamored, chewing on celery sticks and carrots (and wedding cake... who am I kidding?)

waiting to be chopped.

yay for meatless mondays!!

I took this recipe from an old Vegetarian Times magazine.  I'm sure you could probably search for it online.

oscar loves his daddy.

this happens most mornings.

this particular morning, I was already up and moving and I hear, "Al, Oscar loves David!  Oscar loves David!" coming from the bedroom.  So here ya go, hun.  

Oscar loves David.

the mister.

I took some pics of David the other weekend.  Here's just a few...

ah there's that awesome lemon tree!

we don't usually keep our piano in the backyard, but he thought it would be cool for pics... so we did it.

In other news, he now has a blog that I haven't blogged about yet.

check out the mister!

pumpkin. protein. fail.

I am on the hunt for the perfect protein bar recipe.  I feel like it's so difficult to find a protein bar with no artificial sweeteners and not a ton of sugar.... like super difficult.  So I found a recipe for pumpkin protein bars sweetened with stevia and loaded with vegan protein... yay!  I was so excited.

I was so excited to make this... this is after I baked it.  It was just a big rubbery failure.

sad face :(

the protein bar search continues...

mummies!!

okay so Halloween's over... but I wanted to squeeze this post in.

My sweet little niece turned 5 yesterday and she had a Halloween birthday party.  My sister-in-law asked me, the vegetarian, to make these pig in a blanket mummies.  So here's my meat post.  The easy part was not eating them as I made them ;)  

uncooked mummies.

has this ever happened to you?  it just exploded out of the end!

snuggle bunny mummies.

leftover dough... it looked like a scary Halloween face, so I snapped a pic!