Baked Kale Chips

I've wanted to make Kale Chips for a while. I'm not sure why I waited so long. These were so easy to make and they are delicious. I paid $1.69 for a big bushel of kale at the store. Kale itself is not the most delicious thing on it's own. However, by baking it you get this "chip" texture which cancels out the leafy green/healthy texture. It fools your brain into thinking you're eating a potato chip. Anything to fool my brain into eating more veggies is worth it to me! 

WHAT TO DO: 

1. Wash your kale. Also pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Use kitchen scissors (my favorite kitchen utensil) to cut the leaves off the stems. Cut them into medium size pieces. They will shrink a bit in the baking process. 

3. Place in a bowl and drizzle some olive oil on the leaves. Mix with your hands. 

4. Put the leaves on a baking sheets. Sprinkle sea salt, cayenne pepper (for some spice), or chili powder (for some more spice). 

5. Place in the oven to bake for 2 hours at 250 degrees. 

ENJOY! 

Adventures in Pinning: Quinoa Pizza Bites

I pinned this a while back and figured that it would be simple to make. I love quinoa, it's so filling and healthy for you too. I didn't have mozzarella cheese so I used pepper-jack. I didn't have pizza sauce so I used a can of diced tomatoes, added some herbs to it and stuck it in the magic bullet. I think people can really stress themselves out by having the perfect measurements and exact ingredients. 

I say, use what you have and have fun! 

Here's what I did:

Cooked the quinoa. (1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water. Bring to rollin' boil then set to simmer for about 12-15 minutes.) 

While it was cooking I...

diced 1/2 cup of white onion

minced 1 clove of fresh garlic

added 1 egg

grated 1/2 cup pepper-jack cheese

added couple shakes of dried oregano and basil

added a dash of salt 

added 1 drop of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Mix all of that together with the cooked quinoa. 

Spray a mini-muffin pan with olive oil and scoop it in. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

 Obviously, my first batch was a fail. They stuck really bad to the pan and fell apart when I took them out. 

It was tough to eat the first batch. They fell apart and were kind of dry. I added a little bit more EVOO and the second batch came out great! 

YAY for pinterest success! I let them cool a little longer in the pan before I took them out. They were still kind of dry but with the warm pizza sauce on them they were delicious! 

Cooking will always be a learning process for me. 

Creative Christmas Cookies

 Decorating sugar cookies is always a family tradition at my house during Christmas time. It's fun to color frosting and get out all the sprinkles and just go crazy with creativity! 

 Last weekend I got together with all of my friends and we had a cookie decorating party. My youth group leader hosted it and we had so many good laughs decorating and watching Elf! 

We had some very creative cookies by the end of the night. 

My four cookies! The M&M cookie was AMAZINGLY delicious!!! My sprinkled mitten ended up looking like an easter egg and the red and green snowflake ended up looking like the Mexican flag.

My friends unicorn cookie! 

A CHRISTmas cookie. No cookie decorating party is complete until Jesus arrives. 

If you're looking for a great sugar cookie recipe go here! 

DIY:Homemade Banana Ice Cream

As an ice cream fanatic recently converted to a frozen yogurt fanatic, I understand that if I continue my frozen yogurt everyday habit two things will happen. My wallet will be empty and my pants will be a little snug. So I found a fun way to create an "ice cream" right at home. It's perfect for an afternoon snack or even after dinner treat and it's really good for you! 

I make this in my magic bullet (best costco purchase ever!) It's just the right size for one person. 

I never measure when I make this so just eyeball it. 

But for those who are wondering...

• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon (depends on your taste of course, personally I think it tastes better with more cinnamon) 
• 3/4 cup of milk of your choice (almond milk is my favorite to use, we didn't have any) 
• 1 cup of frozen banana slices
• Blend it up! 

DIY- Unicorn Cake

So most of my friends know that I am not the greatest baker. I can make an amazing rice krispy treat but that is really about it. I would like to blame my oven for my poor baking abilities but I don't think I can do that. Well I recently had about 20% success, the other 80% I would like to credit to my best friend Abeni over at AbellaBakes. 

Our best friend Hannah was having a 23rd birthday party and due to pinterest we got inspired to make a unicorn cake. We followed the instructions here. 

Here is the step by step. 

TA-DA!

So after this fun and horrifying experience, here are a couple things that we learned. 

• All mistakes can be covered with sprinkles. 
• The cake doesn't have to look perfect, it just needs to taste good. 
• If your cake is still moving when you remove it from the oven, it's not done baking. 
• Bethany should stick to making rice krispies. 

DIY Projects

Many people have been finding inspiration via Pinterest and the same goes for me! Here are three DIY projects that I have done over the past week.

Try your hand at making something this week!