S'mores Oatmeal

It has been getting a *little* cooler outside, and it makes me wanna bake and eat oatmeal. I don't care much for oatmeal but I have been doing a lot of experimenting and as long as I have some sort of chocolate in it, I am happy. Last night I saw marshmallows, chocolate chips, and oatmeal in the pantry. So I decided that I would try to make s'mores oatmeal in the morning.

It turned out really tasty and is about 300 cals for a serving :)

All I did was use old fashioned oats, added 1/4 cup marshmallows(leave a few out to top the oatmeal with), stirred till they were melted, added 1 tbsp chocolate chips(leave a few out for the top), then topped with the leftover choco chips, marshmallows and added a crumbled animal cracker on top. I would have used 1 square off a graham cracker if I had any but they animal cracker worked :) 

Yesterday, we went to get Ray shoes for fall and winter. I am not a huge fan of Kmart but they do have good sales on shoes. We got 3 pairs for him and boots for myself for only 50.00! Also, I discovered that my child wears size TEN. Talk about big feet! He is only 2.5! He has been doing so well with potty training. Within 10 days he was staying dry at naptime and pooping on the potty. It feels weird not having to wash cloth diapers anymore. He uses pull ups(cheap off brand of course) for bedtime.

David goes to the field tomorrow for a couple weeks so we won't be getting to the pumpkin patch till he comes home for a weekend. Then he goes back out for 3 weeks and will be back in time for my birthday :)  

Our plans to go to Tuscon in December will probably not be happening, as money always gets tight around this time of year. We *might* get another chance before we leave El Paso. Which is hopefully soon. 

Time to go do some laundry and spend time with the hubby before he leaves. Have a good day all!

Hobbies...A List.

So my hubby has been trying to find a hobby. I started running off ideas to him and realized that there are probably a gazillion(okay maybe not that many)hobbies that one can do. I decided to start a list here for anyone that may be searching for one :)

1. Painting
2. Drawing
3. Scrapbook
3. Cardmaking
4. Make Candles
5. Crocheting(my personal fav!)
6. Knitting
7. Sewing
8. Make Soap
9. Woodworking
10. Baking
11. Cooking
12. Breadmaking 
13. Make Jewelry
14. Learn how to build a computer/upgrade a computer
15. Do book reviews, movie reviews, restaurant reviews
16. Write a novel
17. Build model airplanes, boats, etc
18. Make a comic book

I will add to this list as I think of ideas...or if anyone wants to contribute, shoot me an email!

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!

Mmmmmm! These were so delicious. Don't mind the glaze...I was too lazy to take out my mixer to whip the frosting. These things are damn tasty but are a bit of work. Worth it in my opinion!

I found the recipe here. My husband LOVES Cinnabon so I knew he would love these. There are a couple things I messed up on but they STILL came out amazing.

Pictures of the process for comparison if you decide to try these :)

The dough before it rose

The dough after it rose

Slicing the roll...I was gonna take a picture of the rolled out dough with all the luscious cinnamony goodness but forgot amidst the drooling :)

After rising a 2nd time and ready to go into the oven

Enjoy!!

I don't know if it's just my oven or what, but a few of these were really doughy on the bottom. This has happened to me before with canned ones so any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Now onto my latest crochet endeavor:

An Angry Birds hat for my Godson! Took awhile and had me cussing a few times but well worth the finished product!

Back to enjoying my wine and to watch hubby play Resident Evil! Goodnight all!

Pepperoni Rolls

This pay period has been quite long, and when that happens our kitchen is pretty bare. So one needs to be creative :)  I had Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Minis and some American cheese. I also ALWAYS have yeast. I buy the jar and keep it in the freezer(a tip from my brother!) so it lasts how ever long I need it to. Anyways, the idea popped into my head to make some sort of pepperoni bread. I decided to use THIS recipe for dinner rolls and tweaked it.

I added the pepperoni in the middle(about 5 pieces), then some cheese. I left a couple without cheese on purpose. 

My little guy was of course helping mommy :)

Then I pursed the top of each roll to cover the cheese and pepperoni. Cooking spray went on top, along with basil and oregano, followed by a little bit of shredded cheddar. 

12 minutes later....

Yumm! They turned out very tasty. The top of the rolls tasted like Subway's italian herb and cheese bread. I recommend using regular sized pepperoni though and some more cheese. 

Now for my son's fall and Halloween art because I love showing him off :)

Thanks for reading and have a great day all!!!

Halloween Decor

I am in the fall and Halloween spirit! Time to start decorating :)

Awhile back I found a picture that had empty wine and beer bottles with yarn wrapped around them. I decided to try it myself using modge podge. I wish I had a picture because they were really cool looking but my lovely son broke both of them :(

Anywho, I had a couple wine bottles saved and was gonna wrap them in fall colors. Then I saw this awesome idea: spray painted wine bottles that look like ghosts and pumpkins! I didn't have spray paint, but I had orange yarn and black felt. Ding ding ding! Here is what I came up with:

I love it!! The black felt just clings to the yarn, so no adhesive is needed. I am in the process of making a ghost one as well. I will post when it's finished :)  This took me only an hour to do.

Homemade Bread

                       I have been trying to make bread and I finally got a loaf that turned out good!

It's a recipe for Classic Sandwich Bread, and although it doesn't look much like the picture on the site, it tastes wonderful! I don't have a loaf pan so I had to use a rectangular dish. I gotta make sure I buy one! Be on the lookout for some more bread recipes...I am enjoying making it. 

We have started visiting restaurants that we can only go to here in El Paso. We won't be here for too much longer so we are really wanting to get everything in! The last place we went was Kiki's. It's a little Mexican restaurant that serves AMAZING food. We heard about it on Food Network's "The best thing I ever ate". David had the brisket machaca and I had the chicken machaca. It consists of rice, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, a cheesy yummy sauce, spicy peppers, meat, and a fried egg on a tortilla. We are gonna miss that for sure!! Chico's Tacos is also featured on that show so we gotta go there soon! 

Baked Potato Bar

It's no secret that I am very frugal when it comes to food. I HATE wasting it. So we have a big bag of potatoes and I decided we would have a baked potato bar for dinner :)  It worked out really well!

To choose from I put out: black olives, pizza sauce, provolone cheese, shredded colby jack cheese, sour cream, real bacon bits, dried chives, parmesan cheese, butter, and nacho cheese seasoning. I always microwave potatoes for 5-15 min depending on how many I have. Then I put olive oil on them and sprinkle the skin with garlic powder(learned from Brandi!) Then I put them in a preheated 475 degree oven or if you don't wanna wait just use your broiler...but watch the skin so it doesn't burn. I like it crispy on the outside.

We had fun putting our potatoes together and here are the finished products:

Ray(on top)had a pizza potato with black olives, shredded cheese, and sauce. David(lower left)had pretty much everything. lol. And I had sour cream, chives(I LOVE chives), bacon bits and cheese. YUMMMMY! 

What do YOU put on baked potatoes?