Because I like to keep this blog focused more on food & design (rather than myself), I thought it would be fun to switch things up a bit and do a little Q&A on my dream home. I’ve been scouring Craigslist lately looking for a future place (yeah, sketch I know). So today, I bring you a little glimpse into my dreams brought to you in partnership with Stockland.

Office image credit // Green Chair // Clock

What kind of home are you looking for right now?

Right now, I am mainly looking for a 1 bedroom studio apartment with the biggest kitchen you every laid your eyes upon. Ideally, it would come with a built in KitchenAid mixer and every infomercial kitchen gadget ever made, but I’ve been told that is not a normality when searching for apartments.

Many decorators find inspiration from visiting display homes in communities like NSW. Where do you find your home decor inspiration from?

Because I’ve done the whole college living the past four years, I’ve never been able to fully get my decorating on. And unfortunately  dorm rooms & campus apartment complexes aren’t exactly show-room type of places. But ideally, I would love to find a place where I can incorporate some vintage elements with fun & vibrant colors. Whether that be with painted walls or a mountain of patterned throw pillows, I’m really looking forward to being able to make a space mine. I love the sleek look of furniture from places like Ikea and Vitra Interiors, but I also like the aged & rustic look from yard sale & thrift shops.

Tell us about your dream home that you’d love to own one day.

Don’t get me started on this one. When I win the lottery, my perfect dream home will be out in the country where I can sip on lemonade & be away from city life. It won’t be too big (maybe 3 bedrooms/2 baths) and will ideally have a cozy country feel to it, without feeling like “Farmer Joe” threw up all over it.  It will have a big sun room/office with beaming natural light and will have the biggest-baddest kitchen you have ever seen. Because I will be living in the kitchen 24/7 (mixing up weird stuff with my future Kitchenaid mixer), it will have double ovens and will also come with a personal human dish-washer. The kitchen will have an abnormal amount of drawers, because we all know I hoard kitchen gadgets. The rest of the house really won’t matter because let’s be honest…I won’t leave my kitchen.

 Some people want to live in the Highlands; others in New York City. Where is your dream home located?

Everyone asks me if I would consider moving to New York (this is a hub of graphic design careers). This is a hard one because my first answer is, “No way.” Not because I have anything against the city, mainly because I just don’t think I would like the fast-paced city life. My dream home would probably be located in either the midwest, Texas (don’t ask…just have this weird thing of wanting to move there), or Ireland. Or somewhere in England. Or Australia. After visiting Ireland last semester while abroad, I want to go back. And never leave.

There ya’ have it! Thanks again to Stockland for throwing these questions at me. Stop by tomorrow for a huge life-changing announcement. Okay, so I might be being a tad bit dramatic. But seriously, this is pretty exciting.

Missed day one of grad-week? Download yesterday’s free congrats cards here!

This post was brought to you in collaboration with Stockland Homes and may include affiliate links. Like always, all views expressed are that of my own.

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So today, I am featuring some free printable congrats cards. Because everyone knows someone who does congrats-worthy things, right? I designed them to be bright & fun, while keeping the typography bold & simple.

If you’re like me, I’m finding more and more needs for Congrats cards nowadays. Graduations, bridal showers, weddings. Everyone I know seems to be doing either of those 3 three things all of a sudden. I have officially hit that “after-college-wedding-every-weekend” phase.

And when those times arrive, I like to make my own cards/gifts. I’ve said it before, but I have a hard time forking over $4-$5 for a generic card that will most likely be tossed out. Don’t get me wrong, when I’m in a time crunch,  I’ll do it….but I always at least try to strive to include something personable in the gift.

You can print these off fo-free at home and save yourself a few bucks in the process. More money in the bank for everyone. Win-win situation right here.

Stop by tomorrow for a look into my future apartment must-haves, places to live, and dream kitchen hooplah!

The post Free Printable Congrats Cards | Graduation Time! appeared first on Design. Eat. Repeat..

Thank you I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! for sponsoring this post.
Visit www.icantbelieveitsnotbutter.com for more information about Breakfast After Dark.

If you’ve been following along for a while now, you may remember a while back when I talked about my mealtime identity crisis. It’s a slight problem, and one that I definitely picked up in college. After a long day of class or work, it’s just easier to pour a bowl of Honeycomb or whip up a egg-white sandwich, than to cook a feast. Because ain’t nobody got time for that.

Now that I’m a soon-to-be college grad (2 days!), I may need to start reevaluating my living habits. I mean, living off of granola bars and cereal isn’t what normal people do? I’ve been told not. With more free time in my very near future, I’m excited to be able to cook real-people meals (that’s what I call them anyway) and be able to explore all the culinary options of the real-world. But that’s definitely not to say that my breakfast for dinner will be going extinct. No, no. That cannot happen. Breakfast after dark is here to stay.

Like I mentioned above, one of my favorite simple things to make are egg-white sandwiches. I usually buy liquid egg whites, fry em’ up, and throw them on a piece of toast. It’s a pretty quick, simple, and healthy way to tackle a late-night dinner. But after a year or two of making these boring sandwiches, I got to thinking. Maybe I should start experimenting with other options to sandwich the egg-white goodness.

I have always been a little hesitant to make homemade biscuits. I tried once a few years back and it was an epic fail. I’m talking dry dough that never even quite turned to biscuits. When culinary trauma like that hits, it takes a while to recover.

And in quite honestly, I’m usually perfectly content with the canned biscuits. BUT I hesitate to buy those because they are addicting and are not the healthiest bun in the bunch. So I set off to attempt to make a biscuit that was lighter than the buttery-delicious-biscuits we are all used to. I’m a real butter type of baker, so the risk of trying substitutes is always hard for me to do. To me, butter is butter. “Substitute at your own risk”, is my way of thinking. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I know everyone has their opinions on substitute versions of products (spreads included), and I respect those opinions. Some people say real butter is better for you, some people say real butter will kill you. We aren’t going to start a debate on that one…it will be buttah for all of us.

All that aside, I decided to use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Light Spread to lighten up this recipe. With 50% less fat and calories than butter, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot in the biscuits. I had seen it used in a few other breakfast recipes as part of their Breakfast After Dark webisodes. Italian Skillet Eggs, Breakfast Burritos, and Breakfast Pizza just to name a few.

I was a bit skeptical at first, but after seeing them bake up to perfection, I let out  a sigh of relief. My second biscuit making experience was a success. Where they as flaky and buttery as I’m used to? Not as much. But after a little extra swipe of the buttery spread on top of the hot roll, I was satisfied. Besides, breaking me from my buttery ways is not going to be easy.

And just like that, I took my boring ol’ egg white sandwich up another notch. Egg meet biscuit, biscuit meet egg. We’re all about to become real good friends.

 Do you have a go-to Breakfast After Dark “recipe”?

(I use the term “recipe” lightly because my bowl of cereal doesn’t quite scream gourmet.)

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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You see, it all started back in high school during my waitressing days. The after-dinner mints that we gave customers was that unlike any other. They weren’t those nasty red peppermint pinwheels that you find at a majority of restaurants. No, oh no. They were much better. They were these chocolate buttermints that we had to stare at all night long. Okay, well not just stare at. We definitely had our fill of those bad boys throughout the years. In fact, it’s actually quite surprising that I still like them today.

Having been done waitressing for almost four years now, I haven’t gotten my hands on anything equivalent to those restaurant mints since shipping off to college. So, you can probably imagine my excitement when I saw that chocolate butter mints were an option for the Sugarwish blue box. Now, for all of you unfamiliar with Sugarwish, let me explain what the amazeness they do. Basically, you can purchase a box of candy for someone, and they will send that person an email saying they got a Sugarwish gift. That person then goes to their website, picks out their candy, and gets it mailed to them within a few days. It’s like the savior of all long-distance birthdays. When my lil’ bro’s birthday was a few weeks ago, I sent him a Sugarwish box since I knew I would never have time to get a real gift out the door. It was probably his favorite thing to arrive at that doorstep since his star wars lego set from eBay.

Anyways, knowing of my mint addiction, the wonderful folks over at Sugarwish agreed to send me my very own box of candies to use as recipe inspiration. And in true Sugarwish fashion, I got to choose each candy that was included myself.

My top four choices were: Sour patch apples, bubblegum taffy, blue sixlets, and the infamous mint chocolates. Now, the fun part could begin. To come up with a fun recipe that incorporated one of these candies. It was like Iron Chef America, except…I had no opponent. So, well, I guess it wasn’t much like Iron Chef at all.

As soon as I broke open that bag of chocolate mints, I knew what I was destined to create. Some type of mint chocolate creation that I could smother those candies all over. I recently found a killer brownie base recipe over at one of my favorite food blogs, and I knew it would make a great base for these melt in your mouth nuggets of heaven.

After baking up the mini brownie bites, I whipped up one of my favorite mint buttercream frosting recipes and let the piping begin.

And now, the fun part began. The part where I could take out all my stress and frustrations of college life on the candy. I got out my rolling pin and crushed away.

I sprinkled on the bits and pieces and called it a day.

Kidding, I would never dare calling it a day without a little taste test first. The result? The most moist, flavorful brownies I have every laid my hands upon. No joke. Carrie knocked it out of the park with the brownie recipe, and the mix of chocolate mints & buttercream leant for a melt-in-your-mouth bite.

With graduation & Mother’s Day just around the corner, I can assure you that these little morsels will be making another appearance very soon!

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Anyways, that’s completely off topic. Back to uhhh…cookies. Yes, that’s what I’m here for. Having been inspired by this childhood fave, I decided it was time to take a little spin on this old time recipe. I knew that one of my top favorite candies was Sour Patch Kids, I just didn’t know how the heck I was going to take that and make it into a recipe. But then, it came to me. That old recipe from years past was to be the base for a modern day creation.

I don’t know when my love for Sour Patch Kids began. In fact, I’m pretty sure I”m allergic to them. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but my face gets abnormally tingly when eating them. And not just your typical sour candy type of feeling. Like, a I’m-probably-going-to-break-out-in-hives-type-of-feeling. I have yet to get hospitalized from it, so until then…I’ll do as a I please. It’s a risk I am willing to take.

The cookies are made from one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie bases. Except, in this case, we are leaving out the chocolate chips and substituting in the good ol’ SPK.

The dough uses instant vanilla pudding mix to give it a soft texture, as well as a tablespoon of cornstarch to prevent the cookies from flattening out. I have yet to be failed by this dough and it really is my go-to for most cookie bases. I’ve been failed by one too many dough recipes to look back now.

Here are my little friends before their run-in with the kitchen shears. To prevent large pieces of gummy, as well as the effort to spread them out, I cut the kids in half (yes, that sounds horrible). Disclaimer: No children were harmed in the making of this recipe.

Most people are a bit skeptical when seeing sour candy in cookies. And I totally understand that, I was too. But the sourness tones down a lot after baking and they actually have a nice fruity taste. Everyone that has tried them said they were pleasantly surprised. So if you’re in doubt, give them a try! I dare you.

 And there you have it. Just another way to get in that dose of one of my favorite sweet treats.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Sour Patch kids and was not paid to create this post.
I’m just mildly obsessed, that’s all.

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Thank you Werther’s Original Sugar Free Candy for sponsoring this post.

As a little kid I can specifically remember going to my Grandma’s house and always seeing a jar of golden wrapped candy on her coffee table. Always. Now you would think that a lonesome jar of candy would get devoured in .29 seconds with a bunch of kids around. But no, for some reason unknown to me, we had in our little crazy heads that we didn’t like them. For the longest time, I thought they were some type of mysterious coffee candy. Fast forward to now, and Werther’s hard candies are one of my favorite candies of. all. time. As of recently, it’s more of an obsession. I could eat them like potato chips, I swear. So when they asked me to try out their new sugarfree products & come up with a recipe using them, I was more than excited to give them a go.

Not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical. Sugarfree? Umm…yeah, I usually pass on that one. Most things I try that are sugar-free are just not my thing. Most people have a sugar tooth, I have sugar teeth. 32 to be exact. I mean, my extent of sugarfree usage dwindles down solely to gum. So a sugarfree version of one of my favorite candies was going to be a tough sell.

I was literally munching on my sugar-filled Werther’s & getting carried away with a current blog design when the box of sugar-free samples came to my door. Not only did a few bags of the original caramel flavor show up, but also samples of the new caramel coffee, caramel cinnamon, and caramel apple. All sugar-free. Say wha? Those things exist? Apparently they do.

So, I opened up that box and popped em’ in. First up? The original flavor. This was going to be a tough sell, especially since I had just been eating the real version minutes before. My first reaction was that the sugar-free version was a tad bit smaller & had a lot more of a butterscotch taste than the original (sugar) version. It was less “straight up caramel-y butter tasting” and more of that of a butterscotch candy. It was good, but different. Not better and not worse than the kind I grew to love, but dang good for not having any sugar inside. Next up to try was the Caramel Apple. So good. Tasted like those caramel apple suckers. Then there was the Caramel Cinnamon flavor. I was a little nervous to try this one since I’m not a big cinnamon candy fan to begin with. But it was actually pretty good & tasted a lot like Big Red gum. Last up was the Caramel Coffee flavor. Since I despise the taste of coffee (yeah, yeah, yeah, judge away), I gave this to a friend to rate. I didn’t tell them it was sugar-free and they said they liked it. So, for whatever that’s worth, I’d say it’s worth a try! Out of all the flavors, I’d personally rank them Original #1, Caramel Apple #2, Caramel Cinnamon #3, and Caramel Coffee #4. So, with the ranking out of the way, I then started brainstorming what to make with them.

The idea to create a ice cream sauce came to me after wishing I could just liquify Werther’s and drink it up. It would probably save a few chipped teeth, and I could get my fix in much faster. Wouldn’t that be just heavenly? So, I set off to find a solution. What it turned out to be was a simple combo of hot cream & crushed candies to get the job done. Pour it over some ice cream and you instantly have a sugarfree caramel butterscotch ice cream glaze.

My favorite part is that it’s not one of those corn syrup-y thick sauces you usually find at the store. In fact, I would actually call it more of a cream glaze, since it’s not thick and gooey. I poured it over some chocolate ice cream, and it gave it a subtle butterscotch taste. Not too sweet like many of the corn syrup caramel sauces out there. It was Werther’s perfection, and the possibilites of what else I could use it in came rushing to my head. Pour it on cakes or whip it into buttercream frosting were just a few of my ideas. Or drink it straight from the bowl. Not like that thought crossed my mind or anything…

Whatever I end up concocting with it next is a mystery. But what I do know, is that sugar-free has never tasted so good. And with it being so easy to make, I feel like it’s only a matter of time before you see another Werther’s recipe pop up in these parts. And after stalking comments on the Werther’s Facebook page, I realized I’m not the only one who is a converted sugar-free fan. Suga’ suga’.

Come back on Wednesday for another one of my favorite candies worked into a recipe! Hint: It will leave you feeling sour.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The post Werther’s Sugar Free Caramel Ice Cream Sauce appeared first on Design. Eat. Repeat..

Now that those days have passed, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane by creating little printable bingo cards. One of the best things about playing at home, is that you don’t have 200 sets of eyes glaring at you the second you yell that magic word.

I created the set to come with four different cards, heart squares to mark your spots, and pieces numbered from 1-75 that you can place in a bowl to draw from. I also included a sheet of blank cards in the printable, in case you have more players! Simply, write in random numbers in each square for a little handmade card.

Or if you’re SO over the old school method of cutting paper, there are a lot of Bingo Number Generator apps that you can use instead of cutting out all the numbers. My favorite is this one for Android, but there are tons if you just do a quick Google search. And if you’re SO SO over any form of handmade bingo cards (what has this world come to!), there are tons of apps & sites that you can actually win real moolah /prizes playing bingo. (Bingo Bash for iPad, FoxyBingo for all my UK friends, and tons and tons more.)

So back to my childhood Bingo days real quick. Can I just tell you that in the oh’, million years I played, I only won once. One time. $15 bucks. Which I suppose was equivalent to working 3 hours at my pool concession stand job, but STILL. My luck may have something to do with breaking around 8 mirrors in my lifetime, but looking back and realizing I have only won once is a bit of a buzzkill.

Yeah, you see that line-up below? Happened once. One time. 

Let’s just say that the next time I go to Vegas, I’m planting myself at a Bingo Hall for 3 days until I win. I don’t even care about the money at this point, I would just like to say that I won bingo more than once before my days are over. Although, I wouldn’t turn down some dough…just think of all the student loans I could pay off Kitchenaid mixers I could buy.

 In the words of Honey Boo Boo, “Dolla make me holla.”
And I’m pretty sure she’s referring to Bingo when using that phrase…

(Don’t judge, we didn’t have TV in Italy and watched one too many episodes of Honey Boo Boo.)

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With all the food on the blog lately, I thought it was about time for another “Inspiration in Anything” posts, as well as a  free printable. If you’re new to the blog, “Inspiration in Anything” is a series in which I draw design inspiration from everyday objects, as well as my latest favorite fashion finds. Today’s post focuses on bringing out inspiration from one of my latest obsessions  and results in free “Happy-Anything” printable floral cards. So what’s my obsession as of recently? Oh, I’ll tell ya. It’s these tan crochet Toms from Tucci Store. And I’m. In. Love. With spring just around the corner, my craving for new sandals and flats is in full force. You want to hear something ironic? I went to put on my favorite boots today (that I wear everyday) and the zipper broke. It broke! If that’s not a little hint to Spring to hurry on up, I don’t know what is. If I can no longer wear my boots, then there’s no absolutely reason for it to be cold any longer. It just wouldn’t be fair.

Anyways, back to the flats. If you’ve been a long time reader, you probably have heard me mention that my hobbies are similar to your 80 year old grandma. Baking, knitting, crocheting, you name it. Consequently  I am mildy obsessed with anything crocheted. My obsession branches anywhere from crocheted blankets to clothing, and it appears that now this obsession has expanded to trying to figure out what color of crocheted Toms shoes I want. My answer? Every color. My reality? One. I must pick one.

So while I’m pondering on what color to splurge on, I figured I might as well make a post out of it. A free printable inspired by the gems themselves. With Mother’s Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to design a little card incorporating floral that could not only be used to celebrate Mother’s Day, but also something that could be used to celebrate any occasion.

I will leave it to you to fill it the blank. Not only does it allow to be a little more personalized, but it’s also meant to be a printable that is versatile. Some of your options can include, but are not limited to:

Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Father’s Day (if your Dad doesn’t mind a little floral!)
Happy BirthDay
Happy Everything Day
And my personal favorite…Happy Taco Day (which I just found out is an actual holiday. Umm…yes, please.)

The printable includes four 3.5 x 5 inch cards total, with the ability to print off as many copies as you need! Two of the cards are designed with text and two cards with just the flower (for more versatility). They also fold in half so you can include a personalized message inside.

Have fun with them and and use them for any occasion you please! Just fill in the blank and you have an instant “anything” card.

 What occasion would you use them for?

The post Free “Happy-Anything” Printable Floral Cards appeared first on Design. Eat. Repeat..

I pulled this recipe deep from my archives and it is hands-down my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe to date. I’m usually more of a chocolate type, but I also like to mix things up every now and then. These white wedding cupcakes with buttercream frosting are a close replica to a delicious bakery cake that you would find at a wedding. So moist, so easy, and of course…so very scrumptious. But then again, I have only come across one cupcake in my life that I didn’t like (banana chocolate something). So, I suppose it’s not a shocker that I love this one, too.

Having a cake mix base, this recipe is kick-started for you so you don’t have to worry about leavening agents. I prefer to use an “extra-moist cake mix” to ensure they come out as perfect as possible. Because dry cupcakes = no bueno.

So you might be thinking, so what’s so different about this recipe if you are using a boxed cake mix? Well, I will tell you. The secret is sour cream and egg whites. Yes, sour cream ain’t just for your baked potato anymore. It is used to moisten many types of cakes/batters and any time I’ve used it, the result has always been amazing. And the egg whites? Since you are removing fat content (by taking out the yolk), you need to use the sour cream to balance that back out to produce a soft & moist cake. And can we just talk about how cute the little straws are for a second? And the turquoise sprinkles (that I miraculously dyed that color myself). I have a design project in the works that I ordered them for and I just had to experiment with them the second I got them. More on that to come…

With Easter just a few days away, these would make for a fun spring time treat to take to your Sunday gathering. Or, if you’re like me, feel free to make these in the comfort of your own home and keep to yourself…

Do you have any fun Easter baking plans for the weekend?

I’d love to try out some new reader-approved recipes!

The post White Wedding Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting appeared first on Design. Eat. Repeat..

I thought & thought about what I would make. I wanted something simple, yet delicious that I could package into treat bags for a friend’s birthday the next day. My first thought was the traditional ol’ puppy chow, but if I was going to make it, I wanted to experiment with it.  And that’s when the idea came to me. Since Cadbury eggs are covered in a sweet candy shell, why not use white chocolate instead of the usual milk chocolate in the puppy chow? And then add in crushed Cadbury mini eggs? It would be the perfect combination.

I wasn’t sure about it at first. I had never altered the traditional puppy chow recipe, and I wasn’t sure how the white chocolate would taste. Was it going to be too bland without the milk chocolate mixed in? That was my initial concern.

But as I was mixing up the peanut butter & white chocolate mixture, a quick swipe of the spoon erased all my doubts. I mean, what the heck was I thinking anyways? Of course anytime chocolate & peanut butter are mixed together, it’s going to taste pretty darn delicious. And that it did. It was like a white chocolate Reeses peanut butter cup, only in liquid form. If that’s not enough to get me hooked, I don’t know what else would.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any more dangerous, it does. Real dangerous. After mixing up the puppy chow, it was time to add in the Cadbury eggs. Prior to starting, I had placed the eggs in a plastic bag & started pounding them with a rolling pin to break them up. Not like I was opposed to throwing them in whole, but if they were crushed, it would make for more CPB (chocolate per bite). And of course, I was all for that, so the crushing continued.  It was almost like I was giving them a good beating for all the hours of the gym they were about to bring upon me. If they were going to give me a fight, I was going to throw it right back at them. Needless to say, they didn’t survive.

So into the bowl they went. After a quick shake, they were good to go. Now, the only problem was that I had a huge bowl of puppy chow in my presence, and one more day until it was going to be given away. Luckily, I resisted spoon feeding myself with it, and it made it to the next day. Minus a handful…or two.

I’d like to believe this combo was a win-win for everyone. I got to get rid of those temptation eggs, and the recipients got to feast of this big bowl of goodness. All I know is that it’s a good thing these things only hit the shelves once a year…because things could turn ugly real fast. It’s really just a love/hate type of relationship. (Way more love that hate, of course.)

Anyone else share this dangerous Cadbury Mini Egg addiction?

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