“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to”--John Ed Pearce

Michael Buble said it best:


I'm finally home! Sung-as-a-bug-in-a-rug! (Did anyone else say that when they were little?) Anyway, all my exams are finished up and I'm back in my real house! I'm posting as I sit on MY bed in MY room in my little town and I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to get my bake on since I'm back for real! Keep your eyes open for my Christmas and Holiday treats. That Sandra Lee on the FoodNetwork had a Holiday Special recently that I had a recipe for sugar cookies I cannot wait to copy! She showed how to make the most divine looking royal icing and decorations!

Finally school is over and I have a wonderfully long break until AFTER my birthday in early January. It kind of hasn't hit me that I'm home for a really long time! I've been SO ridiculously busy between winterizing the room, packing, studying and getting ready to come back that I have literally had zero extra time. I'm exams were balanced out by one another- Organic Chemistry for Nursing was one of the toughest exams I've ever taken and Statistics wasn't bad at all, thankfully. I can't wait to have a relaxing night and watch Glee on time for the first time in awhile! Special thanks to Gracie Beth for adding me to her exam prayer circle--she's so thoughtful!

I hope everyone had good days while I was so MIA! I can't wait to catch up with my reading and commenting. I tried to comment a little last night and work on my following new bloggers, yay!

As I relax a little more I'll have some fuller posts but I just wanted to tell everyone that I was back! I know I've missed you guys!

xxKatie

Holiday Treats!

So the T-Giving Holiday break escaped as fast as usual and I can't wait to be back home. This week I have to study my BUTT off for finals so I won't be posting...yikes. I have 2 finals--one Monday and one Tuesday and then I head home ASAP Wednesday since no flights corresponded with when my Tuesday exam ended. I came back today, tears included, even though I'm going back in 9 days. There are always tears involved since I'm so far away, just departing from the fam as usual!

Enough about school (I find that I tell myself a lot when I write posts, haha!) but back onto my holiday treats! We ended up making the M&M Pretzels, Onion dip, and P's in B's, and then I made some Funfetti cookies to round out Gameday. I didn't have too too much time Saturday so I decided not to cook the other goodies, but all the ingredients are still chilling in my refridge.

While we were shopping for all the ingredients, my mom found some cool breast cancer M&M's which were all pink. Some were dark pink and some were light pink so we decided to go with those instead of the traditional M&M's. Here's how they turned out:

The Funfetti cookies also were another hit! I am a HUGE gigantic cupcake fan, but if you're pressed for time, need a lot of cookies/gifts/etc, or just like cookies, these are a wonderful recipe! My mom even said that these were the best thing I ever made. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. 1 Box of Funfetti Cake Mix (buy the Pillsbury Funfetti)

2. 1/3 cup of oil (I use canola all the time)

3. 2 eggs

4. Frosting of choice (I use a whipped frosting from Pillsbury with the Vanilla flavor, its super duper light and not too sweet. I dyed 2 frostings, a pink one with 4 drops of neon pink coloring and a green one with 1 drop of green frosting and 5 drops of neon green coloring. You can buy a "neon" pack of food dye from McCormick and that's what I had.)

Preparation:

From the Pillsbury Website, but you can find this recipe on the side of every Funfetti Box

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. With bottom of glass dipped in flour, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness. For this I recommend using a melon baller, whatever size that is, and forming the dough into that small circle. That way they're all similar in shape and have a good size for decorating.

2. Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets

3. Spread frosting over warm cookies. Immediately sprinkle each with candy bits from frosting. Let frosting set before storing. Store in tightly covered container. I piped my frosting during this step. I made 24 cookies and that was only half of the dough. I had to throw the rest out because it was too late to keep cooking! I probably could have put it in the refridge, but I decided not to.

This is how they turned out:

Here are a few of my favorites zoomed in:

My house was quite the baking haven this weekend because I don't have a kitched readily available in my dorm, so I take advantage of cooking whenever I can!

Sorry about not posting for awhile, but look for a huge update Wednesday! Good luck to my fellow college bloggers taking exams!

xxKatie

Clemson Game Menu

Hey everyone! Since I'm not the Thanksgiving maker (heck, I'll probably be in charge of desserts! ) I'm going to post all the things I'd like to make for Saturday. I'm gonna change it up and post the goodies that I'll be making for T-Giving tomorrow or so. My mom makes a DEEEEE-lish Turkey soup that I actually like more than the traditional T-Giving dinner, but that's ok. Saturday I was to make a big gameday menu so this is what I'm thinking:

1. Pigs in a Blanket

P's in B's are one of my all time FAVES! I absolutely love them and literally can eat about 20 at a time, I kid you not. My extended family even has served them at wedding receptions since we all like them so much. I love mine dunked in ketchup! I make them with regular refrigerated Cresent Roll dough and the "Lil' Franks" that Hillshire farms makes. I've tried making them with Boar's Head mini franks, but they're gross and don't make a good "roll" with the Cresent Roll dough.

2. Onion Dip and Spicy Nacho Doritos

It may sound gross, but I think its great! This is is a "recipe" that I stole from my aunt Megan. She serves hers with regular nacho Doritos, but I love the spicy nacho ones personally, so this is always a staple at parties. Just give it a try, I promise it's good!

3. M&M Pretzels I found a website called foodgawker.com and it has the most blogged about/most commented on/overall best online recipes and good ideas for cooking. This recipe I think looks so delish and so easy to make! I'll either make this OR a Chex Mix recipe called Muddy Buddies. That will be my sweet tooth fix!

4. Pizza Bites I mean they're even called party food on the website! I can't believe it! These are like those Totino's Pizza Rolls (which I happen to LOVE) but homemade. It doesn't get much better than pulling them apart? Am I right? Yet another recipe from foodgawker. Seriously one night, I just spent awhile adding them to a "FOOD" bookmark tab on my Safari!

5. Fried Mozzarella Balls I think this will be a little difficult, but so yummy! I've never really fried anything, so I'm not sure if I'll do this or just grab the ones from Friday's in the frozen food section. Again, I got this from foodgawker too. If you have time, check it out. There are literally 100's of chocolate chip cookie recipes as well as tons of homemade Chinese food recipes!

I'm sure this will end up being tougher than I imagine, but there are 2 fun games on that day. Carolina/Clemson and Navy/Hawaii! I can't wait to see how my teams do! What are you guys making for the Thanksgiving games? I'll do another post about my Thanksgiving desserts (Mom, I'm taking over dessert, FYI! Haha!)

What are your Gameday staples? Any snack that's specific to your family or has a cute tradition?

xxKatie

A Taste of Pink!

If pink had a flavor it would taste just like Cotton Candy Jelly Belly jelly beans. This flavor is the epitome of pink for me! They are sold in bulk at some specialty stores and gourmet stores. There's an old general store that sells them close to me as well as a Fresh Market that just opened up (I'll have to make another post about that because it is a FAB grocery store...note to self.)

In real life, the color is a bit more refreshing looking and has a cuter shade of pink. For all you cotton candy skeptics out there, my mom and the ladies that I work with have all had this flavor and they love it! It doesn't taste like cotton candy really and it just tastes truly like PINK! It has such a bright and cheerful flavor you can't help but grab a handful and snack away. Are there any snacks for you that are very pink (or any other fabulous color for that matter)??

Now that I'm writing about these JB's, I think I'll have to go get myself some for Easter and to take back to school with me! I'm at home and I am so so so excited to sleep in my own Queen bed. Right before I came home I almost didn't because I have so much work but then a few of my tests got postponed or moved, so I could come home! I am very happy I decided to so I can see my best friend Emily and I haven't seen her since Christmas break! Not to mention I love relaxing with my family and just being in my house. I have my Easter dress all picked out for Sunday and it is a very bright pink shift with little pea-sized kelly green polka dots. I got it from Hecht's (do they even exist???) like a million years ago and I love it. I have some great green jewelry that matches perfectly and it will all be very cute on Sunday.

I hope everyone has wonderful weekends and now go get some deeeeeeee-lish Cotton Candy Jelly Belly jelly beans, trust me, you WILL want more!!

xxKatie

A Post for Me

Hi all! I'm sitting here watching the clock and counting the seconds to spring break! It is just about the only thing on my mind these days and I can't wait! I saw this post on another blog "In the Pink", so I thought I'd copy it and do it myself. I think these little introspective posts are fun sometimes, so definitely post it yourself!!

If I was a month, I would be late May or June. 

If I was a day of the week, I would be Friday.

If I was a time of day, I would be dinner time.

If I was a planet, I would be Momma Earth.

If I was a sea animal, I would be a giraffe!

If I was a direction, I would be East like the water.

If I was a piece of furniture, I would be a bean bag chair (90's throwback style).

If I was a liquid, I would be Cherry 7-Up.

If I was a gemstone, I would be a pearl.

If I was a tree, I would be a Magnolia Tree. 

If I was a tool, I would go on Tool Academy (haha...).

If I was a flower, I would be a Gerber Daisy.

If I was a kind of weather, I would be an Annapolis summer day minus the humidity.

If I was a musical instrument, I would be a electric guitar.

If I was a color, I would be PINK!

If I was an emotion, I would be happiness.

If I was a fruit, I would be an apple.

If I was a sound, I would be steel drums.

If I was an element, I would be Krypton (Kr).

If I was a car, I would be a navy blue Honda Civic (I miss you Little Car).

If I was a food, I would be a sugar cookie.

If I was a place, I would be home.

If I was a material, I would be printed cotton.

If I was a taste, I would be cupcake.

If I was a scent, I would be Lilly Pulitzer Beachy.

If I was an object, I would be a shell.

If I was a body part, I would be a heart.

If I was a facial expression, I would be a big goofy open mouth laugh.

If I was a song, I would be "On the Street Where You Live" by Willie Nelson--that's my new favorite, from the Valentine's Day soundtrack.

If I was a pair of shoes, I would be platinum Jacks--my signature!!

Now it's your turn!! Try one out for yourself! I had a lot of fun with this one!!

Here's the fam last spring break! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU GUYS!

xxKatie