Sewing table

One of my many goals for this year is to do more sewing/ crafting.  In order to motivate myself, I went out and bought a new sewing table.  Considering the top alone weighed 61 pounds, it was quite an adventure getting it into my friends small car and up to my apartment this weekend.  Now that its all set up I'm so excited to get started on some projects.

Ta-da! Here is my sweet new set up. I have room to keep my sewing machine out as well as room to work on projects.  Since my dream job is a forensic scientist I went with the fingerprint patterned table top.   I love how it looks.  

Here is a close up of the cool pattern on my table. 

I also decided to make myself a cute little pin cushion box to go with my table.  I've already had a few requests for these, so that should keep me busy for a bit.  Perhaps I'll turn the next one I make into a tutorial. 

Queso Fundido

Once a month I have potluck with a group of my female friends.  We pick a theme, each bring a dish, and drink plenty of wine.  It's  a wonderful time I look forward to monthly.  This months theme was mexican.  There were pulled pork tacos, pomegranate guacamole, spicy quinoa salad, skinny girl margaritas, and I provided some queso fundido.  Everything was amazingly yummy.  Next month I'll be hosting a tropical themed potluck.  I'll be sure to post the pineapple bbq sliders I'll be making, but for now try this spicy queso fundido. Sadly there is no picture of the finished product as I was a bit to occupied socializing.

Queso Fundido

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mexican blend cheese (cheddar and Monterey jack)
• 12 oz shredded quesadilla cheese
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 12 oz. cooked chorizo

Directions:

1) Cook the chorizo in a large skillet.

2) Chop the onion, jalapeno, and garlic.

3) Add the these to the chorizo.

4) Cook the mixture until the peppers and onions are tender.

5) Drain the mixture thoroughly.

6) Heat the oven to 400.  In a small casserole dish layer the cheese and the chorizo making sure the top layer is cheese.

7) Pop it in the oven for about 20 min or until bubbly and wonderful.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

I recently finished my 2nd Super Mario Galaxy game.  I found it to be quite challenging (especially the last star), but its also a whole lot of fun. Similar to Galaxy 1 you guide Mario through a series of galaxies collecting power stars need to rescue his special one, Peach.

One new addition is a portly purple luma that bears a striking resemblance to the McDonalds character Grimace. His only real purpose is to give you words of encouragement and ask you if you need a break when you reach the game over screen.  By the end of the game I was pretty tired of hearing that.

After finally getting the last star, which requires a perfect run through the last level, it was time to head to McDonald's to claim my reward...

... a juicy Bigmac.   If you haven't played the game give it a shot!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bark

So...I've been slacking a bit with this blog.  I meant to post this a month ago and failed. I cut back on the amount of sweets I made this year for Christmas, but I had to make my favorite treat.  It's sooo yummy and as a bonus it end up looking pretty cool as well.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Bark

Ingredients:

• Graham crackers 

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 

• 3 oz white chocolate

Directions:


1) Line a  9x13 baking sheet with foil, making sure to cover handles. Layer grahams onto sheet, covering as much space as possible.

2) Melt semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in the microwave, and stir until smooth.

3) Pour melted mixture over the graham crackers and spread until smooth.

4) Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and dollop over the chocolate.

5) Using a knife, swirl the chocolate into whatever pattern you like.   Refrigerate until firm.  Once firm, break it into pieces. 

Very Merry Bead Sprites

While I have been pretty good about posting recipes and holiday things, I feel the video game portion has been slightly neglected.  I shall remedy that now with a very cute yet very nerdy set of Christmas decorations I made.


This is a Christmas set of bead sprites I made.  As you can see I adapted each one to be slightly more festive with antlers, santa hats and Christmas colors.  I then put them in some red and green frames I got from IKEA. You could do this with any character and they look very nice hanging on the wall. You could also thread string though the tops and use them as ornaments.

Festive Cranberry-Apple Salad

I make this dish every Thanksgiving.  It can be a side dish or a dessert depending on what you serve it with.  Its pretty easy to make and its a nice change from the traditional canned cranberries.

 

 

Festive Cranberry-Apple Salad

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple, undrained

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) or 1 pkg. (6 oz.) JELL-O Raspberry Flavor Gelatin

1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce

1 Apple, chopped

2/3 cup chopped pecans

 

 

Directions:

 

1) Drain pineapple juice into large container (at least 4 cups).

 

2) Add enough cold water to the juice to measure 3 cups.

 

3) Pour the juice into saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add dry gelatin mix. Stir until completely disolved 

 

 

 4)Stir in cranberry sauce.

 

 5) Pour into a large bowl and refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until slightly thickened.

 

 

6) Stir in pineapple, apples and nuts.    

 



 

7) Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm

 



Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  This scares me a little since the end of Thanksgiving means the beginning of the Christmas season.  I'm just not ready for Christmas.  Things just need to slow down a bit while I get my life in order, or at least take down my Halloween decorations.  Anyway.  Here is a dessert that is super simple and will look great on your Thanksgiving dessert table.  I give to you....

 

 

Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

 

 



 

 

Ingredients:

1 graham cracker pie crust

1 gallon pumpkin ice cream

1 cup caramel sauce

1/3 cup chopped pecans

 

Directions:

 

1) Spread softened ice cream evenly into the pie crust. Cover and freeze for at least an hour.

 



 

2) Spread top of pie with caramel sauce and top with chopped nuts.  Cover and freeze for another hour.



 

3) That's it!  Two simple steps.  Serve it up and let the compliments roll in.