Nifty Novice

Homemade Laundry Needs for PENNIES!!!! (Detergent, Color-Safe Bleach, & Fabric Softener)

2012-01-14T09:01:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone!! I apologize for the delay in posting anything. The Christmas season found me up to my eyeballs in brownie balls (HA! That sounded funny!)!! I'll say that Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Peppermint Frosting (that came out for the season) combined with Wilton Candy Cane Colorburst Melts tasted like an after dinner mint - many people loved it!! And I made them half-size and they were perfect for Christmas!!

OK... Back to the topic at hand!!! This is going to be a long post, but bear with me!! This is where the "crafty" aspect of Nifty Novice comes into play!! The time it will take to read the post is worth the DOLLARS you will be saving on a regular basis!! I'll admit that none of this was made up by me... But I'm combining all of them together for you to hopefully save you from having to search!!! I will tell you this - these are so insanely easy and cheap, you'll only be upset that you hadn't started earlier!! (Actually, when I first found the "recipe" for the laundry detergent, I wanted to try it so bad, I was washing everything in sight - some things, numerous times! I just wanted to use up all of the expensive store bought stuff!!)

Also, I BELIEVE the items should be safe for those of you with allergies to detergents. I'm not sure on the laundry detergent because of the bar soap that is used... But I think everything else should be ok... (Please comment below and me know if you have any issues... We don't have allergies to the soaps in my house, so I don't know for sure...)

Now I have started shopping with coupons as of last year. I do my best to match up coupons with sales... But some things just do NOT ever seem to have coupons (at least, on my schedule! LOL), and the coupons just never seem to take a big enough dent out of what I need... So while browsing Facebook one day, a group I belong to posted about homemade laundry detergent. SAY WA?! Surely this isn't going to work!! I was sure of it!! It sounded too easy!! So I browsed online to find other "recipes" and they all seemed to be the same, so I dubbed the "recipe," LEGIT!!! :-)

Note that it might cost a bit when you first buy everything, but take note that you don't always need the whole box/bottle... So while something may cost $5, you will use it 20 times before you need to buy it again... So it's really only like $0.25 each time. I will posts prices of things using Amazon prices (since, for the soap, I bought the items a while back - and for the bleach and fabric softener, I had everything already, so I can't get you the prices I paid).

I've used headers to help you search for the sections you need. I really wanted to keep it at one post (to ultimately make it easier on you to search for this post in the future), so please bear with me!

So... are you ready to save some money?

Laundry Detergent

Price Comparison

Tide Original Scent with ActiLift, 32-Load Bottles (Pack of 2): $7.54 per bottle (this would be about accurate at the grocery store with an AMAZING coupon...). In our house, a bottle of detergent lasts about a month since it is just my husband and I. This comes to about $90.48 a year in detergent (again - with a great coupon).

VS

Twenty Mule Team Natural Laundry Booster & Multi-Purpose Cleaner-76 oz. (aka "Borax"): $10.18, however you only use 1/2 cup per batch, which means about 19-batches out of this box. Since I just had to make our second batch of detergent, I know that a batch of the homemade detergent lasts about 3 months. That means that if you ONLY use the Borax for laundry detergent (because it can be used for regular household cleaning as well!!), it could last nearly 5 years!!! (Although I'm sure you should replace before then! LOL) This comes to about $2.14 a year for the Borax.

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOTE: This is not regular Arm & Hammer!! Make sure it is the Super Washing Soda!!): $8.67, however you only use 1/2 cup per batch for this as well, so with this being 55-ounces, you get about 14-batches out of this box. This means the Arm & Hammer can last almost 4-1/2 years - if you don't use it for it's great household cleaning powers as well!! This comes to about $2.52 a year for the Arm & Hammer.

Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap: $3.91, however you only use 1/3 of the bar for a batch. So in a year, you will would use 1-1/3 bars of the soap. This comes to about $5.21 a year for the Fels-Naptha.

Water: Whatever your water company charges you - unless you are lucky like we are in that we live an apartment where they pay for the water!! :-)

So let's do our comparison here: For one year, I can either spend $90.48 for store-bought bottles of laundry detergent, or I can spend $9.87 - and I have soaps that can be used for household cleaning as well!! I definitely am willing to spend some time in the kitchen to save $80.61 a year!!!!! And, for everyone concerned about the environment? No bottles of laundry detergent to deal with!!

The Process
I found the "recipe" for the laundry detergent here. This may take a while, but as we saw, well worth it cost-wise!

First, collect your ingredients...

1. Borax

2. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

3. Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap (Although you can use any comparable laundry bar)

You will also want to get a knife to cut the laundry soap apart with, 1/2 cup measuring cup, and a grater (I just used a regular grater for the kitchen since I was going to put it in the dishwasher after. A tip would be to use one that will grate the soap into smaller pieces...you need to melt them, so the smaller they are, the quicker they should melt). Also, you will want a large bucket. The original author of this used a 2-gallon bucket and said it was a bit too small. I believe my bucket was 5-gallon? (In any case, it was purple, so it didn't really matter! LOL)

Cut the Fels-Naptha soap into 3 equal pieces.

Now, you are going to grate it. Since I wanted to save myself time, I ended up grating all 3 sections at once. I would grate one section, put it in a small baggie, grate the next one, put that one in a baggie, put them both into a larger baggie, and label and date it. That way, for the next 2 batches, I just have to grab the bag of the already grated soap and not pull the grater out again!

Be sure to monitor small children when you are grating the soap. It looks a LOT like grated cheese (in fact, to be honest with you, it put me MAJORLY in the mood to have pizza afterwards!).

Next, heat 6 cups of water on the stove and stir in the 1/3 bar of grated soap. You want the soap to melt, but do not let it boil.

Next, add 1/2 cup of Borax and 1/2 cup of the Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda.

Stir until it is all dissolved. Then, continue to stir until it thickens to the consistency of honey. (Side note: I love honey, but I totally blanked on the thickness level and doubt my hubby would appreciate me squeezing honey into the sink to determine the consistency to see if it matched. LOL I would say: make sure it is nice and thick, but don't kill yourself standing at the stove for a half hour like I did!!) Once it is thick enough, remove it from the heat.

Now, grab your bucket. Pour 4 cups of hot tap water in. Add the soap and stir. If you want to add a scent (like lavender), feel free to add a few drops of essential oil in. I didn't have any (a crafting accident a few Christmases back that made my solid wood kitchen table smell like lavender for the next year made me a bit hesitant to do that! Maybe in the future, I'll give it a shot!)...

Next, add 22 cups (1 gallon plus 6 cups) of hot tap water to the bucket. Mix it for a few minutes more. This is when the large bucket is nice. I really got into the stirring. There is just something fun about stirring so much liquid and knowing it won't splash out!!!

You are going to leave it overnight. We covered ours with a pizza box (don't tell me you didn't see that one coming after my statement about the grated soap! LOL)... Covering was more so to keep 2 very nosy kitties out of it!!

The next day, depending on weather and soap you used, the detergent could be runny, gel-like, or thick and watery on the bottom. At this point, you can consider yourself done... Just scoop out 1/2 cup for each load. However, the original author went a bit further, so I decided I was going to copy her...

I used a beverage immersion blender to help blend the soap up a bit.

Then, I funneled it into a cute little container that I got at Wal-Mart for like $8 I believe... I think it was maybe 2 or 2-1/2 gallons?

A few notes about the laundry detergent... It WILL settle. So you may have to shake it up between loads. That is why the handle is so nice. I just slide it off the shelf, shake, shake, shake, and put it back and we are all good... Or if I don't feel like sliding it off and back on, I just slide it back and forth on the shelf real fast. It also may still be chunk-like if the blender didn't help break up the final pieces. A little squeeze on the sides will help it come out.

Use about 1/2 - 3/4 cup per load.

Color-Safe Bleach
*Note that at the time of this posting, I am not sure how long a batch lasts for us with the homemade version. I just made my first batch. I will update the bottom of the post once I have an idea of how long it lasts for us. However, for "sake of argument," I am going to figure it will be at least 2 months per batch, considering the laundry detergent lasted 3 times longer than the store-bought detergent and we use color-safe bleach in every load.

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!! PLEASE READ!! The color-safe bleach results in a clear liquid!!! PLEASE!!! Be sure to label it properly and keep it out of reach of children (or thirsty family members!)!! It looks IDENTICAL to water!! We don't want anyone getting the two mixed up!

Price Comparison

Clorox 2 Liquid (16 Load): $5.69 per bottle. I think this is actually a smaller container than what we normally get (I believe our bottles are 32 load and cost upwards of $8), but it probably works out to about 1 of these bottles a month (maybe less, but we'll go with it). This comes to $68.28 a year.

VS

Hydrogen Peroxide (16oz): $0.98 per bottle. This price is pretty accurate depending on where you buy it at. I got mine for like $1.09 at our grocery store. You actually use the entire bottle for each batch, so considering 2 months per batch (see note above), that comes to $5.88 a year...

Water: Again, if you have to pay, it's whatever you get charged... Or for us, nothing. :-)

THAT'S IT!!! I verified this over and over because it seemed too good to be true!! But it IS!! To make it be color-safe, it uses an oxygen-based cleaner (think Oxy-Clean, but in our case, it is the hydrogen peroxide and water)... I think this made me the maddest - that I was paying so much for something that was so cheap!!

So again, $68.28 or $5.88? That's $62.40 in my pocket!

The Process

I found the recipe here. I didn't take many pictures of the process because, quite frankly, there isn't much of a process! Ha!

First, collect your ingredients...

1. Hydrogen Peroxide (hint: get the 16oz bottle and then you can just dump the entire bottle in and not have to measure!)

2. Warm/Hot Water

OK... Here's where the directions get tough. *winks*

Pour 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide into a container at least one gallon in size. Again, if you get the 16-ounce bottle, just dump the entire bottle in.

Technically, the next step says to "add enough water to fill to one gallon," but if you are using a larger container like I was and your husband doesn't point out right away that there are actually faint markers on the container that actually show one gallon, just know that if you had 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide, a gallon is 16 cups, so you just have to add 14 cups of warm-to-hot water.

Cover your container.

Shake to mix.

And your done! Tough, hey? $62.40 for roughly 2 minutes worth of work? Well worth it to me!!

Again, shake before use. Since it is clear, I can't tell if it separates, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

Use just under 1/4 cup per load.

Fabric Softener
*Note that at the time of this posting, I am not sure how long a batch lasts for us with the homemade version. I just made my first batch. I will update the bottom of the post once I have an idea of how long it lasts for us. However, for "sake of argument," I am going to figure it will be at least 6 months per batch, considering the laundry detergent lasted 3 times longer than the store-bought detergent and we only use liquid fabric softener for washing shirts (for everything else that goes in the dryer, we do use a Downy Bar in the dryer...).

Price Comparison

Snuggle Exhilarations, 3x Concentrate Fabric Softener, 32-Loads: $6.08 per bottle. We end up having to buy maybe 1 bottle every 3 months. This comes to $24.32 a year.

VS

Hair Conditioner: $1.25 per bottle. I am not connecting a link to this as I did not find one on Amazon that was price-comparable. I got my bottle for $0.89. You can usually find a bottle for $1.00. Don't go buying Garnier Fructis or another good, more expensive brand! Just a cheap, nice smelling conditioner will be good enough. For the batch I made, I got White Rain Ocean Mist Conditioner... smells so fresh! Get a bottle at least 16 ounces (I used 18 ounce) and you actually use the entire bottle for each batch (yes...I used the extra 2 ounces. I figured it didn't do any harm), so considering 6 months per batch (see note above), that comes to $2.50 (at most!) a year...

Heinz Distilled White Vinegar 32 oz: $2.39 per bottle (Although I think you can get it even cheaper than this!). You only need 3 cups, so considering doing this twice a year, for $3.59 a year, you would have all of the vinegar you need for this!

Water: Again, if you have to pay, it's whatever you get charged... Or for us, nothing. :-)

So I ask you, $24.32 or $6.09? At a savings of about 75% (if not, more!), I'll take the $6.09 any day!

The Process

I found the recipe here. Like the color-safe bleach, I didn't take many pictures of this because of the ease of the recipe.

Your ingredients:
1. Nice-Smelling Hair Conditioner (I recommend getting a bottle that is between 16 & 18 ounces... then you can just use the whole bottle)
2. White Vinegar
3. HOT water

Pour 2 cups (-ish! LOL) of conditioner (or the entire bottle if it is 16-18 ounces in size) into your container.

Add the 6 cups of HOT water (it doesn't have to be boiling... But I would make sure you have steam coming from the faucet when getting the water).
Cover your container and shake to mix until the conditioner has dissolved.

Add 3 cups of white vinegar.

Cover and shake to mix.

DONE!!! Easy, hey?

Again, shake up between use.

How much you use depends on how much clothing is in the load. Personally, I use a Downy Ball and throw it in with the clothes. The spigot on the container works great for getting the soap into it!

Conclusion

So ultimately, if you do all 3 of these, and have the same amount of usage as my husband and I, you will only spend about $21.84 (verses $183.08 - a $161.24 savings!) on your laundry needs for a YEAR!!! And if you do more than we do, you can just watch your savings skyrocket!!

I managed to buy thinner versions of the detergent container to hold the fabric softener and color-safe bleach, so now, the OCD-side of me is happy! I also printed labels for each container labeling what it was, how much should be used, and how to make it again (so I do not have to continuously go online - although I would love for you to visit this page often!!).

I have to admit that I am giddy about having made this post. I hope that all of you can find this as beneficial as I do. I would love to hear your results!!

UPDATE: On April 29th, I finally had to make new bleach (I did a double batch for this next time since the container is (almost) big enough!). On April 30th, I made new fabric softener, but I probably could have went another week or two with what was in there...

Mozzarella Sticks (9-17-11)

2011-10-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

While on Pinterest.com, I found a great picture of mozzarella sticks. Someone had written underneath about baking them instead of frying them. So, I followed the original link to here to get the initial set of ingredients. Then, I did various browsing online to find out how to bake similar items. Since it was a lot of browsing and random clicking, I don't have the original link, so bear with me. Although - to be honest, the fried sticks tasted better. Just sayin'!

Ingredients:
~ 12 pieces string cheese
~ 12 egg roll wrappers (OK. Side note here... I spent FOR-EV-ER (in my world. To most people, this would be more like 2-3 weeks) trying to find these in the freezer section like all the stupid websites said it would be in... No. They were by the tofu in the produce section.)
~ Cooking spray
~ Egg for sealing the egg roll wrappers (although water works just as good. Save the egg for a cake! LOL I read that the egg would be better at sealing the egg roll wrapper... Let's see how well that works!)

First, prep the items... Line the cookie tray with foil and spray with cooking spray. If necessary, unwrap the string cheese. Mix up the egg.

Next, roll up your cheese sticks. I had them on a piece of wax paper. Be sure to moisten some paper towels to lay over the open egg roll wrapper package. (Side note: To preserve the egg roll wrappers if you do not use all of them, wrap them in a moist paper towel to keep them from drying out and put them in a Ziplock bag. They will stay good for about 2 weeks.) Don't forget to tuck in the sides!! And at the end, use your egg wash or water along the tip before pressing it against the stick. It will (in theory) help it stay closed.

Spray the top of the sticks quick with your cooking spray and put in the oven at 400 for 15 min... Or not...

I ended up pulling mine out after about 10 minutes I believe. This is why:

Yes. The cheese erupted. Which is why I questioned the "sealing power" of the egg wash. But, alas, it did not stop me from eating it with some yummy pizza sauce (OK... I know it's usually marinara sauce, but the pizza sauce in the squeezy bottle is just so much fun!!).

Update: On 10-9, I tried the frying idea... I wrapped the cheese sticks up the same as before, using water to seal. Then I put it in a pan of hot oil (I'm very proud of myself - this was only the second time I've done something like that! And this time, I didn't try to throw the food in from like a foot away!). Roll them around every few seconds so that they are equally browned, and then pull them out (after probably 60 seconds total) and put them on some paper towels to help absorb the oil. The cheese tried sneaking out of a few of them, but I grabbed them out in time. My hubby was very impressed by the frying skills!! I may try that again some time!! They tasted super yummy!! It's amazing what happens when the cheese stays in the wrapper! :-)

Skip the baking. Go for the frying!! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Pizza Muffins (9-17-11)

2011-10-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

Oh yes! You read that right! PIZZA MUFFINS!!! As I've mentioned before, I've become quite addicted to a site called Pinterest.com. It can be very inspirational, and I decided that I was going to stop browsing and put a few things into action!! These are really easy to make and can easily be done with children!! The original post can be found here.

First, get the ingredients together...
~ Cooking spray
~ 1 Tube of refrigerator biscuits (like the original poster, I used Reduced Fat Grands. You won't want to use a "Flaky Layer" type biscuit)
~ Pizza Sauce (I used a squeeze bottle...less waste and easy to manipulate)
~ Mozzarella cheese (I used sliced)
~ Pepperoni slices (or whatever you want for a topping, but keep in mind that you don't have a ton of room!)

Preheat the oven to 375 and coat the muffin tray with your spray.

Undo the biscuits (be careful... I don't care if they fixed it so it doesn't pop on it's own... When I poked it open and it popped, it still startled me! LOL). Cut each biscuit in half (suggestion - go the long ways - from side to side...not from top to bottom. Then, it is already in a round shape...or...at least... it should be. May help to not use a chopping knife for it as well. That tends to eliminate the round shape. *cough* Oops! LOL).

Now, pull the biscuit half into a large circle. I found it to be easiest to turn it on the side so I could pull straight down. Work with gravity. It will save on the frustration.

Now, you are going to start making the biscuits.
1 - Line the muffin cup with your pulled dough circle. It is best if you have enough that it can drape over the edge/onto the top of the tray... Otherwise, you are fighting gravity again if you don't work fast enough... the dough will slide right down!
2 - Pour a little bit of sauce in. Just enough to fill the bottom about 1/4-1/2 inch.
3 - Sprinkle in some cheese!!
4 - Put your topping in.
5 - Sprinkle just a bit more cheese for good measure.
6 - You'll have a beautiful tray of pizza muffins! Note that there are only 8 biscuits in a tube. So for some, instead of having biscuit halves to waste, I just put an entire biscuit in the muffin cup. Makes it a bit more cramped, but still do-able.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. You'll want to let them cool a bit (I can't be held responsible for others burning their mouths... I don't even like taking responsibility when I do it to myself! LOL), but this definitely isn't a "freeze-until-later" type of meal.

1 - Done in the pan!
2 - They pop right out!!
3 - BEA-U-TI-FUL bottom!!! Nothing burned! SCORE!!!!
4 - Yummy inside!! (But be careful... The sauce at the bottom tends to like to spurt out at you. Not that my hubby and I would know! *cough* LOL)

Update: On 10/9, I used a large muffin tin (like this one: Baker's Secret Basics Nonstick 6-Cup Texas Muffin Pan) and put an entire biscuit in each cup. I think I'll do it this way in the future. It made it seem a bit less "bite-size" and more of a nice snack.

1 - Nice in the pan!
2 - Still turned out fantastic on the crust! YAY!
3 - And still super yummy on the inside!!

I definitely will not be losing this recipe!!! HIGHLY recommend for a movie day!!

Raisin Snickerdoodles (9-17-11)

2011-10-20T19:52:00.000-05:00

This is an alternative to the previous Snickerdoodle Cookie post. After I made the Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies, my hubby asked if I could make Raisin Snickerdoodles... So... here are the short notes for them!

Have your 16.5 oz roll of refrigerator sugar cookie dough sliced up. I also had about 1 cup of raisins and the 1/3 cup sugar (Splenda in our case), 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg blend (i.e. "Snickerdoodle Spices").

To blend the raisins into the cookie dough, I just grabbed a bunch and smooshed it into the dough (yes - "smooshed"... We get real technical here at Nifty Novice! LOL).

Roll each one up into a ball, roll it into the "Snickerdoodle Spices" and place on your sprayed pan about 2 inches apart. You'll notice 2 cookies on the far left side of the picture... My hubby asked me to put some coconut flakes on there, hoping the toasted coconut would taste real good...

Baked at 350 for 10-13 min until golden brown... Although... I couldn't really tell about the edges of the cookies... Since it turned into one huge cookie!

It did, however, split up easy enough to go on the cooling rack.

The toasted coconut didn't turn out quite as he had hoped. There was a bit of a toasted coconut taste to it, but not quite enough. Maybe next time, I'll give him a bit more coconut. ;-)

The cookies actually tasted pretty good. I just wish there was a way to get them to hold their shape like the Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies did... I'll have to figure out what the deal is with that. And, while the "Snickerdoodle Spices" tasted ok, I think we'll skip them next time and just have raisin cookies. (But, check out the bottom of that cookie!! PERFECTION AGAIN!!!)

We're getting a bit more creative... Definitely getting interesting! LOL

Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies (9-10-11)

2011-10-20T18:44:00.000-05:00

Here is another recipe from the wonderful book: The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book - Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients:
1 16.5oz Roll of Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
1/2 teaspoon Gound Cinnamon
1 Cup Raisins

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Break up your cookie dough into little pieces in a bowl and let it sit out for 10-15 minutes to soften. Although, I'm not sure it really needs that much time... You're going to be working the dough, so use your best judgement...and listen to your tummy... Your tummy will tell you when it's time to move on! ;-)

Stir in the cinnamon and raisins! And if a few extra raisins pop in, hey... I won't tell a soul! ;-)

OK. Now you can either mix it with a mixer (paddle attachment!), wooden spoon, or the Nifty Novice way - gloved hands!! Get in there!! FEEL THE DOUGH!!!!! Connect with your inner child!! You know you wanna!!

When it's all mixed, you should have a nice, moist hunk of dough.

Take a spoon and spoon out your cookie servings.

Roll that teaspoon amount of dough into a ball (or, in my case, an oval-shaped hunk of dough)!!!

Put them on the sprayed pan 2 inches apart. (Ignore the previous burnt cookie stains that show up so stinkin' well in this picture. I'm a little bitter from that excursion of my hubby's... He's still not allowed to touch the tray! LOL)

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until just set and golden at edges. However, apparently, my view of "golden at edges" is a bit off...

I was happy they didn't expand as much as the refrigerated sugar cookie dough... I wouldn't say it was incredibly tasty... It lasted a few days here...and that's a long time for us! Oh... and... ummmmm... raisins and chocolate...not a real swell idea to overindulge on both at the same time. Just trust me.

As you can see though, the instructions are SO incredibly easy!! And I was so happy that it didn't involve crazy ingredients!! I may actually try it again, but maybe leave it in the oven a little bit less...

Sorry!!

2011-10-20T06:20:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone!

I just wanted to post a quick apology for my absence. I had gotten very into Pinterest.com (many of my upcoming ideas are from there!), and then started doing mystery shopping... So unfortunately, while I was taking pictures and doing some activities for the blog, I just wasn't finding the time to post... BUT, over the next few days, stay posted!! I have SIX - yes - SIX blogs that I need to write up and post here for you! I hope you enjoy!! We've had some success, some failure... But I guess that is all the name of the game when it comes to becoming an expert, right?

Love you all!

Easy Snickerdoodle Cookies (8-27-11)

2011-08-27T18:56:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone!!!

Feels like it has been forever since I've posted - even though it has just been a few days! Hope everyone's having a great day!!

Let's give you the background here... I had a quota to meet on one of those book-buying sites (kind of like the "book version" of Columbia House), so I bought a bunch of baking/cake books. One of which is called The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book. This book has 745 recipes that start with refrigerated cookie dough, cake or brownie mix, or ready-to-eat cereal. It has so many great ideas in there! I have a feeling that this book and I will become very fast friends!!

One of my favorite cookies is the snickerdoodle. I don't know why, and it's only been over the past few years that it has entered the sacred category of "Favorite Cookies," but I find them MMM-MMM GOOD! As a side note, please do not mistake this being a snickerdoodle with what my mom calls her snickerdoodles which are Snickers baked into a cookie dough (I may feature that as a future blog as well). This is for actual snickerdoodles.

So... HERE GOES!! Easy Snickerdoodle Cookies!!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda which can be used in place of it at a 1:1 ratio)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 16.5oz roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough, well chilled

I actually didn't even use the silver spoon or the butter knife.

First, mix in the sugar/Splenda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I used the teaspoon measuring spoon and just mixed it all up together using that.

(It would have been nicer if the nutmeg was a bit more "ground"... O:-) )

Next, I sliced up the cookie dough. The recipe said to do it into 22 slices. Seriously? That would be like a MINI-bite cookie. I have a big mouth. I don't do mini cookies. So, I did 12 slices.

(Ignore the fact that you can only see the end of the tube on one side. The other side stayed in the wrapper when I cut it and...ummm... I had to...ummmm... taste-test it! YUP! It was still good! O:-) )

Next, take each slice and roll it into a ball. I thought it would be a bit firmer, but it was super easy to squeeze it and roll it into a ball!

Now, take each ball and roll it into your sugar mixture.

Be sure the baking sheet is either non-stick or you spray it with a non-stick spray (or use some sort of other liner). Here's what the finished pre-cooked balls looked like:

Now, put them in the oven at 350 for 10-13 minutes (until edges are golden and centers are just set - per the book. I don't really know what "just set" means though...).

Next, I did what probably few people do. I realized I have never (that I can remember) really watched a cookie bake. Watch it go from the ball shape into the flatter cookie shape. So, I pulled the chair out, turned on the oven light, and watched. Please excuse the drips down the glass. I hadn't thought about doing this until I put the cookies in, so I could clean the outside, but not the inside.

Let the cookies cool in the pan for 2 minutes and then put them out on the cooling rack...

(The brown on the top of the cookies isn't burnt cookie. It's extra cinnamon/nutmeg.)

Here is the top and bottom of the cookie. LOOK, MOM!! I DIDN'T BURN THE BOTTOM!!! Check out that perfect brown on the bottom!!

And since I am one of the most impatient people EV-ER, I had a cookie after only about 2 minutes on the cooling rack. In case you are wondering, 2 minutes does not result in a cookie being "completely cooled." This results in the cookie curving a bit in the first pic! O:-) I probably should have left the cookies in a bit longer. The insides weren't completely cooked thru. It wasn't like it was raw, just "soft." I'm sure now that it has had some time to cool, it is finished all the way.

Update: After cooling for almost 2 hours, it was the same amount of "softness" in the middle. Again, not horrible, but I probably could have left it in the oven for another minute or two.

Definitely happy I made these... Now, have to get to flipping thru that wonderful book for an idea to use with the refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough I bought!!

Brownie Balls! (8-13-11)

2011-08-19T22:32:00.001-05:00

OK... Everyone who loves chocolate, raise your hand!!!! This blog is for all of you!! The only way I can describe the end result is: It's a piece of chocolatey heaven!

We make a lot of brownies here at the Nifty Novice home. My hubby loves brownies, and I tend to make pretty good ones, so I make them for him. He has made, I think, one good batch in all of the times that he's tried (which, to be honest, isn't that much because I can't bear to see something go wrong with an entire box of brownies). He came home from work on Wednesday and said that they were having a luncheon at work and he wanted to bring brownies. I told him I would make them on Thursday before going to my best friend's house.

I did not take pictures of this process as it is a regular for us. However, I DID do something different this time... To ease the removal of the brownies from the pan, I lined the pan (actually, there were two pans... I made two boxes of mix) with aluminum foil. I had read that a lot of people do that and it sounded perfect to remove it AND it saved the pan! DOUBLE WIN! The problem is that I had never done that before... So while I sprayed the bottom of the pan with oil spray, I thought the foil would stick on the side, so I sprayed the sides as well. This is a baking no-no - as I was told by my baking idol, Jaime. If you spray on the sides of the pan, the mix doesn't rise because it's sliding back down the surface (when I make a cake, I spray the entire pan, but then I put a dusting of flour over all of it. That helps keep it stick-free but still allow it to rise). Sure enough, BOTH pans came out with the brownies not even an inch high (oh - and I had followed the directions to add an extra egg for "cake-ier brownies"...Cake-ier my foot! LOL). My hubby was kind enough to not tease me about them, but they also didn't get taken into his work the next day. So now, I had two 9x13 pans with 1/2-inch brownies. And this is where my journey begins...

I'm sure you've heard of cake balls or cake pops. It's "all the rage" and definitely something I will be doing and blogging about more in the future... I believed I saw a few mentions somewhere about making brownie balls or brownie pops. Since I wasn't confident enough in what I was doing to make the pops (and didn't want to waste the pop sticks - not that I could find where I had them either but that's not the point!), I decided to make brownie balls.

Yup... That's how thick the brownies were. That may have also aided in the SUPER chocolatey taste - since they were so condensed...

First, take the brownies and cut off the edges since they tend to be harder. Great to eat straight, but not as easy to work with to make the balls. Then, I divided out the rest of the brownies into quarters. I read in a book that it is how I am supposed to do it to help break them up (take the quarters, rub them against each other and it will create the crumbs). However, I think because the brownies aren't real "airy," that didn't work. Oh well... made it look like I knew what I was doing! LOL

When you crumble, you don't want any chunks. Try to get them as crumbly as possible. I think that, again, this would be easier with something not as dense and moist as brownies - I had some chunks and whenever I moved the pile of crumbs around to keep smooshing, the crumbs would mash together and become a clump. And no - I did not suddenly join The Blue Man Group! I wear gloves. :-) This process is probably easiest to just dive right in there with your hands verses trying to do any tools.

Next, add store bought frosting (BTW - I would probably say it is perfectly acceptable, even from the anti-box-mix crowd, to use box mixes for the cake/brownie balls/pops, as well as store bought frosting... Just makes the process a lot easier). The tubs come in like 16-ounces. What I was reading was to use about 12 ounces for one cake. I figured that since I had two batches of brownies, but combined, they would equal the size of one cake, that I would just use the entire 16-ounces and call it good. Honestly, it worked pretty good... I would probably have liked another scoop or two of frosting, but I could still work with what I had. I used fudge frosting (to go with the fudge brownies!).

Just start mashing it into the brownies with the front and back of your spoon. It can be a bit tough, but eventually, you'll see it all come together. You want it to not be TOO frosting-like, but have enough frosting to be able to squish it together and have it keep its shape.

Next, I used the cookie scooper my mom got me for Christmas. It was its maiden voyage! Scoop, roll to make into a smooth ball, place on wax paper on cookie sheet.

They look so neat and organized! LOL You may be able to see a few that aren't completely smooth all over. I believe this is a result of the lack of frosting. But it didn't affect anything in the long run (that I noticed at least!). Put the pan in the FRIDGE to firm up. Don't do the freezer. I guess a lot of books say to use the freezer, but then all of the blogs and people making them say to use the fridge. It does just as good of a job and you won't have the condensation issue that you would as they defrost. And the condensation is a BIG issue when dealing with the Candy Melts that we use to coat. Any moisture and the candy melts will seize up and be good for nothing. I prefer the bags of the candy melts because they are 14 ounces... For this batch, I used an entire bag as well as about 1/4 of a bag that I had sitting around from a while back.

This is my setup. I had a second cookie tray set up to put the dipped balls on. Then, the space they created off of tray #1 would give me space on that tray to put more (since I knew I wouldn't be able to place them as close together as I did with just the plain balls). The black cup contains Heath - Bits O Brickle Toffee Bits (just the toffee bits - not the ones with the chocolate bits as well). You can top it with anything you want - or nothing at all! (But it gave me an excuse to buy one of my FAVORITE baking treats - EVER! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! And I just saw that SKOR bits exist too!! MUST get my hands on those!!) I had a toothpick to help when I put the covered ball down, run the toothpick along the bottom of the ball so when the candy melts harden, you can take the ball off the sheet and it won't have a big "skirt" around it. However, I used two spoons and were able to manipulate them to get as much of the excess candy melt coating off so that there were no real skirts created...

To cover the balls, drop the ball into the coating and then use the spoon to spoon coating over the balls.

I scooped the ball up with one spoon, scraped excess coating off with the other spoon, then rolled the ball over to spoon #2 and used spoon #1 to scrape. Honestly, I probably should have added some shortening to the candy melts. It would make them a bit runnier and then the coating, I believe, would be smoother.

Put the finished ball on the wax paper. If you want to put a topping on it, you would do it now while the coating is still wet to hold onto the topping. You can probably dip like two or three before it is too late to put topping on, but I would just do it right after each one to be on the safe side. Maybe have someone (kid?) help you with this part! The pops would be better for the topping because you wouldn't waste as much - you'd just dip the pop into the topping and call it good. However with the balls, you need to sprinkle the topping, so you have a bit more mess.

I did about 1/2 to 2/3 of them with Heath bar topping. I left a few plain (hubby said he liked them even just plain!), and did the rest with just the plain coating - no topping.

I put them in the fridge to harden up a bit more and here's the end result....

It's definitely sweet and VERY chocolatey. But so yummy!! And definitely a two-biter. I have a big mouth and I have the need to bite half of it, admire the middle, and then pop the rest in! LOL

I do have a lesson learned from this. It's taken until this morning for me to figure out the problem. After I put them in the fridge to firm up at the end (with the coating on them), I noticed that for some of them, if brownie was exposed (this was especially a problem on the bottom since the chocolate kind of goes out and leaves brownie there), it was "weeping". It didn't even seem like enough to say that it was "sweating"... just some moisture seeping out. Didn't change the flavor at all. I have done some searching and it appears that after the initial balls have firmed up, before coating them, bring the balls back to room temperature. They may have been too cold and while the condition would have been worse if they were frozen, it was just like condensation. For us, I just put a layer of paper towel down and put the balls on top of that. Works perfectly and no one is the wiser (except for now that I have exposed the secret! LOL). I have a feeling this may not be as much of a problem with the pops because you can more thoroughly coat them and not leave any space for cake/brownie to be exposed.

This is definitely something I will be making more of in the future. Everyone has really loved them! While, considering wait times, it can take a while to finish them, its really not all that labor-intensive!

Update from 10-26-11: When making the candy melts, I read about adding vegetable shortening (i.e. "Crisco") to the melts. It will help thin out the coating so that it won't be so "heavy" in contrast to the brownie, as well as spread out the use of the melts. I waited until the candy melts were about 75% melted and then added a tablespoon or two to the mix (about 1/2 of a bag of melts) and stirred it up... I kept heating and stirring until the shortening melted, but if you get impatient, you can scoop out the unmelting shortening and toss it. Make sure you keep stirring during use though...

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake (8-6-11)

2011-08-15T20:42:00.000-05:00

My hubby loves pineapple upsidedown cakes. I had bought one with everything in the box, but hadn't taken pics of it. However, he liked it so much, he asked me to make another one. The issue that we ran into was that the box mix that was on sale, wasn't the one with everything included. It was just the pineapple cake - and at that, it was about twice as much mix as the first one... So, come with me as I make this mix into a pineapple upsidedown cake - Nifty Novice Style!!

First, I assembled all of the ingredients and tools based on what the box needed, as well as what I needed for the top of the cake (THANKFULLY, I had done the other one first...so I knew there was a topping that went down before the pineapple, so I could do some quick research online to find out what that would be - it's brown sugar.) Also, you may notice that I used crushed pineapple instead of the standard pineapple rings and cherries... A few reasons for that. #1, the first box used crushed pineapple so it was what I was used to and #2, it's easier to disguise when you've sneaked some of the pineapple (and cherries if I had them there!) if it's crushed. Ummmm...er...ahhhhhhhh... NOT that I would know. Really! You don't believe me? Yeah. I wouldn't either. LOL O:-) (I HAD to taste-test the pineapple to make sure it wouldn't poison anyone... It passed the test! LOL)

Next, I took some butter and dotted it on the pans. Because this had more mix than the other brand of mix I had used in the past, I ended up making TWO round cakes.

I put it in the oven to melt a bit. I ended up putting it in too long (darn that taste-testing! Takes so much time! LOL) that the butter ended up caramelizing a bit... I know butter shouldn't caramelize, but it wasn't really burnt, but definitely not straight up like it should have been. I drained out the burnt parts and put 2 more dots of butter in and put those in for just a few minutes - keeping a better eye on things!

As that was going, I started making the cake mix. I tend to prefer to put eggs into a smaller dish first and then put them in the bigger dish... Something about shells constantly breaking off and having to fish them out... VERY annoying. Again, not like I would know myself! LOL

I took the pineapple and drained it a bit into my measuring cup to use in place of some of the water. I couldn't really get a good strain on it, but I got about 1/3 of the water requirement out of pineapple juice. I guess that is a downfall in using the crushed pineapple. It's a bit harder to get the juice out - at least with our can opener which opens the top of the can from the outside (so it doesn't fall into the can).

I mixed everything up. Yes. I'm using the wisk for a handheld mixer. Yes. I am not using said handheld mixer. I love using wisks. I feel it helps really mix stuff up and gets out the clumps.

Next came putting the brown sugar in the pan on top of the butter. OK. DON'T LAUGH. I had to pretty much chisel the brown sugar apart. My mom has gotten me those darn bear things that you put in the brown sugar that keeps it from clumping like two or three times. I can never find them. Goodness forbid, I put them right into the container. I may just have to buy new brown sugar. Anyways, I thought that the sifter would help to break it apart and make sure there weren't any clumps anywhere. Ehhhhh - Not so much. Actually, the chunks were pretty easy to break apart with my fingers once I realized I was getting no where with the sifter.

Next, add the pineapple... Get a decent layer going and you can go to the edge if you want.

Add the batter...

The juice you see around the sides? From the pineapple that I didn't fully strain. I wasn't feeling very optimistic about these cakes. And I didn't want to spread the cake mix out too much because I was afraid it was "picking up" the pineapple and wouldn't work right... so I left it like this.

I cooked it for the time it said on the box, and as soon as I brought it out of the oven, I flipped the pan over onto a glass dish, leaving the pan over it for a couple of minutes. Then, it should lift right up and you have your cake.

Finished cake. Not as great to look at as the ones with the slices, but at least I knew I'd have pineapple in every bite - and that was far more important to us! :-)

I asked my hubby to pass me the cake so I could take the picture. I have such a goofball for a hubby!! :-D At least I know he was excited for the cake!

And, a shot of the inside of the cake...

So... There ya go! It really wasn't too bad!! I really did actually shock myself with this one that it turned out so well! And it was great using the crushed pineapple to have a taste of pineapple in every bite.

Strawberry Cake (7-17-11)

2011-08-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the slight delay! Hope everyone has had a good couple of days! Just cleared out the camera, so I have two posts to make - and a third one when I finish up the project!

So I was dying to make a cake after a very long dry spell (like 3 month-long!). So for my hubby & I, I made a two-layer strawberry cake. He suggested that, rather than putting vanilla pudding in the middle like I tend to do, I should put canned strawberry pie filling in the middle...

First, I made two beautiful (if I must say so myself!) strawberry cakes... one box of batter into two 9-inch pans.

LOOK AT THEM!!! Don't they look freaking BEAUTIFUL!?! The white stuff on the side is flour. I spray the pan with cooking spray, use a paper towel to help spread it around and make sure I get in ALL the crevices and up the sides. Then, I put flour on the bottom and sides. The flour on the sides help the cakes to rise...otherwise, if I just had the spray on there, they would "slide" back down.

Next, I made the buttercream frosting. I don't have any "action-shots," but here's a pic of all the ingredients...

I use Wilton's standard buttercream frosting. I get compliments all the time. I think people like the frosting more than the cake!! But they say how it's sweet, but not TOO sweet. You can find the recipe here: Wilton Buttercream Icing ... Or, just do this (Electronic mixer would be best, but I used a handheld - not as good...hoping to get a KitchenAid before the end of the year) : Cream 1/2-cup vegetable shortening and 1/2-cup softened butter (one stick). Add 1 teaspoon CLEAR vanilla extract. Add 4-cups (apx 1-pound) of sifted powdered sugar - one cup at a time - beating on medium speed. Once the icing appears to be well-mixed but dry, add 2-tablespoons of milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

I sliced the tops off of the cake to make it a smooth surface. This was wrong point #2 (the first one was the not-so-perfect icing since I couldn't get it super fluffy because of using the hand mixer). I didn't cut it straight. I tried to eyeball it. NOT the right thing to do. I have a cake leveler, but it was a cheap one and I don't like it because it was "tearing" cakes up... So I have my eyes on another one... Wilton Large Folding Cake Leveler It looks like it has the serrated-edges and seems pretty nifty! So of course, a nifty novice needs something nifty! LOL

I put the first cake down on the cake pan, put a "dam" around the outter edge of the middle and put the pie filling in. This was wrong point #3. I did the wrong tip on the cake decorating bag. I forgot until it was too late, that I don't normally put a tip on... I just leave the coupler on and use that to make the dam. So.... the dam was too small to help protect the deep strawberry pieces from falling out of the cake.

Then, I put the frosting on. However I really wasn't "in sync" with it, so it really wasn't a good frosting job...and then with the seeping strawberry gel, it just got worse. When I was done, to just "finish" the cake, I put some of the remaining strawberries and gel that I DIDN'T cram into the cake, on top.

See? It's not smooth. You can see the cake crumbs. It's really not good. And this is the GOOD side!!!

Here's what it looks like in the inside...

So yeah... That is my strawberry cake. We'll see how long it takes before I can let go of the imperfections I see and make another cake like this.

I am learning though that boxed cake mix IS super moist - but it's not always the best for the cakes I make... I'll have to figure something out... make some sort of cake mix myself and then use a simple syrup. I heard that should help with the moisture issue.

Help Needed: Lentils

2011-08-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

OK... quick question here and slightly off topic... I know it's been a few days, and I have a few posts that I just need to type up and I'll get on here... But I need insight/help here.

As I mentioned, I am trying to lose weight. I've been tracking numerous nutrients and noticed I tend to be below my recommended amount for fiber. So, my wonderful hubby bought lentils.

I had them for the first time today. Maybe it was because I had the texture envisioned as being like peas. But they were NOT smooshy like peas. And he even said he cooked them longer than he should have... They were, perhaps, one of the most disgusting foods I've ever eaten.

Anyone out there know any good ways to get lentils in food without having to really taste them? (BTW - I'm really not a huge veggie person...) I would really appreciate it. I know these can be healthy, but unless they taste better, I am NOT eating them again... LOL

What Sets This Blog Apart?

2011-08-08T06:24:00.000-05:00

Some have wondered what sets this particular blog apart from others. Why make another craft/food blog? There are so many out there...

Here's what I've noticed with the ones that are out there that I have seen...

They all show you the perfect result. They don't necessarily show you the mistakes that got to that perfect result.

While I AM a perfectionist and it's a bit difficult on me to show mistakes, I want everyone to learn with me. I want to not only become an expert in these categories... I want you to too!! Seeing everyone's perfect results every time can be disappointing if you can't get that same result. At least - that's how it is for me... I have to assume that I'm not alone!!

Learn with me! And if you have any tips that will help (like I said - I tend to do things the hard way), I'd love to hear them! Share your expertise and we can share it with others!!

"Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster." ~Weston H. Agor

Pie-In-A-Jar

2011-08-06T18:40:00.010-05:00

I have a friend on Facebook that I've known since I believe 3rd grade. Her name is Jaime. I think it's safe to say that she's my "Baking Idol". She bakes all the time and everything always sounds so wonderful and looks so great. One time, she posted a link to Our Best Bites which is a blog similar to this one - only bigger (currently! Maybe one day, I'll pass them! LOL)...they have crafting and baking ideas on there. I found and fell in love with: Pies in a Jar...

So here's the quick scoop on how to make these:

Get wide-mouth mason jars. (Here's a link to some on Amazon, but more and more grocery and big-box-type stores are carrying them now... Ball Regular Mason Canning Jar 1/2 Pt., Case of 12 It's very important to get the WIDE-MOUTH jar...

Next, make the pie crust. You can use a store-bought crust, but I think you lose some of the level of creativity available when you do that. LOL Our Best Bites had a recipe for a Galette. It's a panless pastry. But the crust is all I'm interested in... 2 cup flour, 11 Tablespoons real butter (no exceptions!), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 4-5 Tablespoons of ice water. Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut COLD butter from the fridge into smaller chunks and put them on top of the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour until the butter is in crumbly pieces. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time while stirring the mixture with a fork. It'll be able to form up into a ball.

You do NOT need to spray the jars or put anything in them to make the sides and bottom greasy. You have butter in the yummy crust that will help with that! Take pieces of your crust and line the jars on the bottom and sides with the crust. You should go to the top of the jar - or darn close to it!

For the filling, you CAN use a canned fruit, but if you have the time and patience (or a great hubby like I had for the first round of this), I'd go for fresh fruit. In this case, I made an apple pie filling with chopped apples. We had a lot of apples, so while the recipe just calls for 3 Tablespoons of flour, I mixed in a bit more flour with the apples. Then, add sugar to taste - up to 1/2 of a cup. I believe for these, I used very little sugar. Since I was using apples, I also mixed in a bit of cinnamon (nothing measured... just mixed til I had a pretty color) and some lemon juice to save the integrity of the apples (at least - I believe that's why! LOL). Mix all of that up with your fruit.

Divide your filling out amongst your jars. I had enough that I could do all 12 jars. (If you're going to go overboard, do it right! LOL). I filled the apple pies a bit too much and there ended up being some overflowage after baking. I would stop with like a half of an inch to go at least. Then, dot some butter on top of the fruit. (Finally, I have some pics from this point forward!)

Next, decide how you want to top your pie. Remember to leave some sort of opening for steam to escape while you are baking. Since I made an apple pie, a lattice top just made sense! I laid a snake of dough on top of the lattice to make it look a little more eye-pleasing, brushed some melted butter on top, and sprinkled it with Splenda (since we didn't have sugar - Splenda is a great fill-in!).

At this point, I STRONGLY suggest putting the mason jar top on and putting them in the freezer. We had some right away and compared to the ones we had after they were in the freezer for a while, they weren't as good. The freezer helps build up the moisture and created sort of a "sauce" in the pie. Was definitely worth it to freeze it.

When you are ready to make them, remove the lids and put the jars on a cookie sheet (always be prepared in case of overflowage!). It's ok to put the jars right in the oven rather than defrosting them... If you are real concerned (like we were), just put the jars and sheet into the oven before preheating and then they will warm up with the oven. Put them in the oven at 375-degrees for 50-60 minutes (baking them fresh, only leave them in for about 45 min). The top should be a nice golden brown.

O. M. G. Isn't that the most yummy-looking pie ever?!?! To eat, you can either eat it right from the jar or you can pop it out of the jar... The greasier crust (since we used the extra-buttery, extra-yummy crust recipe!) helps it pop out with a bit more ease... although we did use a butter-knife around the sides to loosen it up a bit.

And just so you know - this hot apple pie and whipped cream? You'll think you would have died and gone to Heaven!

The best part about these pies-in-a-jar is that if you and your family can't fully agree on the best pie, you can make many different options (easier, of course, if you use the canned pie filling!)! It's just a matter of putting in the different fillings! And then you can use a Sharpie marker to write on the mason jar top what kind of pie is inside!!

3rd Wedding Anniversary

2011-08-06T18:01:00.007-05:00

My hubby and I were married on February 1, 2006. It was a small wedding with a delicious cake with pineapple and strawberry fillings.

We didn't keep the cake til the 1 year anniversary...more like 1 week (Really - how many of you that froze your cake for a year, enjoyed the taste of it?)...

So come our 1st anniversary, I went out and bought a small cake from the same place with the same fillings... I believe I actually did that for year 2 as well... But it was getting expensive and we didn't like what they put on the side of the cake as decoration when you got these smaller pieces... So I decided to try making pineapple and strawberry flavored items.

Just before our 3rd anniversary, I found this picture and recipe in a magazine:

EASY PEASY!!!! Take some pound cake, cut it in cubes, make the canned flavored frosting a bit runny, dip the cake, put it on some wax paper, and sprinkle with jimmies. So, I made my strawberry frosting and since I couldn't find pineapple flavoring, we had banana...

*Facepalm* So you remember how I said I don't always read directions carefully? This would be one of those times.

I did the strawberry ones first. Despite me following the directions of how to heat the frosting, I apparently didn't make the frosting very runny, so at the end, it was getting a bit rough. The banana ones, I felt I had learned from the first batch and I made the frosting more runny. As you can see, it's a bit better of a coat job. Then, I topped both off with heart-shaped jimmies (if there's one good thing about having a wedding anniversary so close to Valentine's Day, it's to have a ton of heart-shaped stuff!).

Issues I encountered:
#1, I re-read the directions when typing it out for a friend (venting about how they didn't turn out right even though I "did what the directions told me")... Found out I should have frozen the pound cake - that would have helped with cutting it so that the pieces wouldn't be falling off in the frosting.

#2, While I re-read the directions, I was supposed to use some sort of gel in the frosting. Still not sure about that one, but I guess it would have made it smoother. Maybe they were talking like Wilton Gel Icing Colors...

In any case, since then, I have yet to attempt that again. I've done other strawberry-pineapple experiments like Jell-O (safe, but not as fun) and cupcakes... I think our anniversary cake for our 6-year anniversary will be a bit more creative... I hope! LOL

Novice?

2011-08-04T14:25:00.003-05:00

Some people may ask what makes me a novice. Especially those that have known me since I was little.

When I was a kid, I LOVED to bake with my mom. Of course, decorating Christmas cookies was my favorite time, but my mom had cookie cutters for every holiday, for every season... She also had chocolate molds... and she's become known over the years for having THE BEST Rice Krispie treats (it's all about finding the perfect blend of Rice Krispies and marshmallows!). And, everything was made from scratch. She'd pull out the mixer, make all of the doughs, and I'd get to lick the beaters... It was all good!!

I am just now trying to adapt her love of starting from scratch. Well...ok... Let's be honest here. I'm not. I make my buttercream frosting from scratch. Other than that, the cake is usually compliments of Betty Crocker or Pillsbury! I'm lazy. I'm hoping to change that with this blog. Slowly reach out of my comfort zone...which currently, mainly consists of going to the grocery store and getting some premade cake. (Yes... Sometimes, a girl's just gotta have her cake and have it now!) My goals are to spread my wings a bit. Yes, some recipes may use a cake mix...but the question is: how can I bring my creativity to that mix?

This blog also won't just be about food, although that IS planned on being the main premise. I also craft. Again, I think I lost some crafting skills as I grew up (ahhh...for the innocence of childhood!). Since a kid, I've done ceramics (still a fave!), pottery in school (I know-you do a lot in school art, but this is a craft I especially enjoyed!), latchhook, cross-stitch, beading (even have a business! Although some of that may have been more of the drive to get the items out of the house, than for a true love of beading)... But there is so much I want to learn!!

I will warn you of a few things:

1. While I don't believe in horoscopes, I will tell you that oftentimes, I live true to my sign of Gemini - I can't stay focused on anything and I get bored quickly. This could make this blog get very interesting. LOL

2. I may not always come up with the idea on my own (in fact, I may not come out with a lot on my own... but I WILL try to do a spin of it to make it more my own). I will do my best to give credit where credit is due... But sometimes, I just forgot where I saw something. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to short anyone credit... I just have a horrible memory.

3. In my life, I have come to accept one big thing... "There is always an easier way to do what I'm doing." I tend to do things the more difficult way. I have been known to break nails trying to open something - and then find the "pull tab" on the other side. I've also been known to not FULLY read directions... I THINK I read them... Become CONVINCED I read them correctly... And then as I'm venting to someone that something didn't turn out, I realize I missed a crucial step. Ah well... Keeps life interesting! LOL

4. I talk a lot. This blog will not only be to share various baking and crafting projects, but thoughts on the topics as well...

I look forward to sharing my crazy ways as I go from "Novice" to "Expert".

Hi There!

2011-08-02T21:13:00.000-05:00

Hey there, everyone!!

So here I am... Attempting another blog! :-)

I'm hoping to use this blog to bring all of you into my baking world (although we may have another crafty-and-such-blog-posts in there too!), as I try new things and try to spread my wings out from under others.

I've just recently gotten into cake decorating. However, I am also trying to lose weight. This is the baker's nightmare! LOL So I have all of the fun gadgets and just want to put them to use!

I'm married to a great man, Jonathan. He cooks FANTASTIC meals. However, he doesn't do the baking thing. He tries - hard... But the flexibility that can make a great cook (a little of this...a little of that... change the temperature... etc), doesn't always make a great baker. This was made evident the other night when he tried to make refrigerator dough chocolate chip cookies...but put them in at 440 with the roast he was making... While he cut down the cook time, the extra 75-degrees burnt the bottom of the cookies! I always say that with him cooking and me baking, we are able to take care of all of the food categories! LOL

I also have 2 cats, Meira & Mycella. They definitely make life interesting. One of my baking endeavors 2 Christmases ago was to bake kitty treats for all of our friends and family with cats...complete with a handpainted Michaels book-shape box that we put all of them in. Our cats loved the raw dough (mainly of the tuna & something else balls). None of the cats loved anything once they were baked.

Well... I hope to be back here often posting all the nifty things I can come up with!!

Have a great day, everyone!