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DIY Butterbeer

November 21, 2013 by

I was thinking about the Butterbeer Starbuck’s offers and figured out the EASIEST solution to making your very own at home without worrying about going to Starbucks.

butterbeer

Starbucks recreated this drink by mixing a bunch of syrups together. I enjoyed it, but it was way too sweet to finish. By making it yourself, you can control how sweet it is and make it into hot chocolate, latte’s, frappuccino’s, smoothies, etc.  Butterbeer tastes like butterscotch, right? So…

butterscotch syrup

Problem solved! I found this on amazon and will be buying some shortly. I have a variety of their syrup’s and they are all very good. I did a quick search for some recipes and most use butterscotch ice cream topping. I say, get this, it’s made for drinks. Making this is just as easy as making your own pumpkin spice latte!

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Starbucks Butterbeer

November 20, 2013 by

Usually when I get on Facebook, I’m faced with endless political opinions and funny memes, but I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered an article posted by one of my friends talking about the Secret Menu at Starbucks.

Starbucks Butterbeer

This is the ultimate nerd drink and I love that Starbucks jumped on board to provide it for us. Of course it’s only for a limited time. I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous ordering it. I’d talked to people that had ordered it and they said their barista’s didn’t know how to make it. I did a screen cap of the ingredients just in case I needed to refer to it when I placed my order.

Starbucks Print Screen

Luckily, I didn’t need to.  I simply asked the woman at the cash register if she knew how to make Butterbeer. She laughed and smiled, nodding that she did. I said, okay! Give me a grande. She gave the cup with the sticker to the guy making the drinks and said, “We have an Ask Me for Butterbeer.” He said really loud, “REAALLY?! Wow!” So apparently, I was their first customer to order it.

The drink is REALLY sweet if you order it their way (as you can see, it’s a total of 6 pumps of syrup in a grande) and basically tastes like liquid butterscotch. I asked her to hold the whip and if I ever ordered it again, I’d do only one pump of each syrup and get an extra shot of espresso. I thought I ordered mine with a shot, but after looking at the sticker, I don’t think I did. Either way, espresso or not, it was divine, but WAY too sweet. I only drank close to 1/3 of it. Oh well, it was worth trying.

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Twice Baked Potato

November 12, 2013 by

Twice Baked Potato

Probably one of the simplest ways to dress up a potato, I’d eaten them out, but never made them myself. I’m so glad I did. Not only did they taste amazing, they were a huge hit at the house.

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Wanna Buy Stock in Twitter?

November 7, 2013 by

APTOPIX Twitter IPO

If you’re into stocks and trust social media, maybe consider buying stock in Twitter! Shares of Twitter traded between $45 and $47 in their first hours on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, under the ticker symbol “TWTR.” On Wednesday evening, the stock had a starting price of $26. However, with trading underway, it’s on track for an 80% jump in stock price!

It was only fitting that Patrick Stewart ring the NYSE bell, since we all know he’s a huge twitterer.

twitter-opening-bell

So, would you buy stock in Twitter?

What about Facebook?

Technology is always iffy when dealing with stocks because it changes a lot. My husband and I had money invested in internet companies in the late ’90s. Sadly, they went under and we lost it all. Do you think social media will ever fail the way so many other technology driven sites have?

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Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

November 5, 2013 by

If you ever been to Cafe Rio, you know this dressing. It tastes like heaven when you add it to your taco salads. Well, I no longer live near one so I decided to make my own.

Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

This is the EASIEST recipe ever. I’ve seen a lot of recipes online that add hot peppers and tomatillos or green salsa, but I used none of it and I still think it turned out delicious.

GET:

MIX:

EAT:

 

56ef2bfe457e11e39b6422000aa80460_8

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‘Tis the Season: Change Your Wallpaper

November 4, 2013 by

I heart chevron. I always have. I’ve been on a huge chevron kick, using it for my background for my phone for months now.

holiday background

During the months of September and October, I had candy corn chevron and now that it’s November, it’s time to get into the Christmas spirit. For me and my family, Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a season. We love to decorate every room with lights and trees. By the time we are finished, we don’t need regular lights, we just use all the holiday lights. To make it easier, we put them all on timers so we don’t’ have to go around and turn them all on. But that’s another post. If you love chevron and the holiday season as much as I do, I thought I’d pass along these two images I found and edited to fit my phone and my style.

Image 1.

IMG_3469

Image 2.

IMG_3468

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Star Wars, Harry Potter & Other Nerdy MBTI Charts

October 31, 2013 by

If you’ve ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test, you know it can be fun to see what your personality type is according to the test and how well it matches up to you. Well, recently I’ve seen a few of them pop up on tumblr and even on Facebook, so I thought I’d compile the list of the ones I’d found and put them here. My results changed from the last time I took this test because up until 2012, I never considered myself an introvert. I’ve definitely become one now.

I tested at INFJ — Counselor.

If you don’t know, take the test here then get your score and see who are you!

Star Wars

Star Trek

Myers_Briggs_Star_Trek_Edition_by_loqutor

My Little Pony

tumblr_ljxa4kAUzY1qha245o1_1280

Harry Potter

iRCaD4u

Orange is the New Black

OITNB-MB-AFTERELLEN1

SIMPSONS

Check out the FRIENDS one here

If you like that, check out this tumblr where the owner takes characters and writes up their test results.

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After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse

October 30, 2013 by

Beware, this post may contain the disgruntled thoughts of an upset Sookie Stackhouse fan. Viewer discretion is advised.

AfterDead

Earlier this year, we were given the last book in the Sookie Stackhouse series…or so we thought. However, as soon as the book released, fans found out another book would be released fully finishing off the story that is Sookie. Translation: epilogue. Is that what we got? Hell no. So what did we get with After Dead?

Basically, with After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, we got an address book of the series’ cast of characters. For $18 USD (or $10.80 if you buy it off Amazon like I did), you get 195 pages of characters, most getting no more than a paragraph summing up the rest of their life, but some getting no more than a sentence.

ONE SENTENCE!

after dead 1

To make matters worse, I don’t even remember 1/2 of these characters and I could care less about them. You almost have to read ALL of the books and then go back and read this to fully appreciate the characters. The characters she put thought into (Bill, Eric, and Sookie), we get a bit more than a paragraph for an explanation of their lives, but it still left me unsatisfied and wanting closure; closure the last book did not provide. The only character in this book it sounds like we might hear more from is Barry the Bellhop, who worked with Sookie in the past. I’m not sure why, I always found his character to be annoying.

The best part of the book is the illustrations. They give us one last glimpse at the characters we will never see again.

SAM & SOOKIE 

Sookie & Sam

I still hate this and think Sam is all wrong for her. Team Eric.

The story started with a vamp, it should have ended with a vamp.

ERIC NORTHMANEric

For me, his story was the most depressing. His love for Sookie will live on.

BILL COMPTON

Bill

For Bill, he still talks to Sookie, and TV and book merge.

Below is Bill’s wrap up/summary. It leaves a lot to be desired. I still don’t have closure and I guess I never will.

Bill Compton

If you read Felipe de Castro, you discover Bill buys Louisiana from him and ends up being a great king.

Bottom line – Don’t waste your money on the book. Take a trip to Barnes and Noble or Books a Million, get a nice coffee or tea, and read it there. It will take you all of 10 minutes. Thanks Charlaine for getting my hopes up as a Sookie fan and then crushing them into tiny pieces once again. I finished this book feeling disappointed. It seemed more like a ploy to get money from fans than anything. A pyramid scheme in disguise of a book. The product we think we are getting is NOT at all what we get.

Yes, this is harsh, but I bought the book, I read the book, and I’m allowed to be disappointed in the book. RIP Sookie. I’m going to go read fanfic now, it’s probably a million times better anyway.

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Caramel Apple Cupcakes

October 25, 2013 by

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Thanks to Wegmans, I spied with my little eyes something that looked delicious when I went to get groceries and even though I didn’t know of a recipe to make at the time, I picked it up.

Here is the culprit:

Caramel Apple frosting

Since I’ve been baking a lot since we moved, I tend to keep either a white , butter, or yellow cake mix on stock in my cabinets. The recipe I found to make these yummy apple cupcakes called for white cake mix, but I had butter cake mix so that was what I used. They still turned out heavenly. I would have made the icing from scratch, but since this icing is what inspired the whole baking bit, I decided to go ahead and use it. I will tell you – it’s very sweet. It tastes delicious, but next time, I will make my own caramel buttercream frosting. Homemade is so much better.

Caramel Apple Cupcake

Print
Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Ingredients

    For the Biscuits
  • **Substitute with Bisquick following box directions & add cheese to make it even easier!
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 3/4 cup milk
    • Brush on Top:
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder.
  3. Use 2 knives to cut in the butter until small pea-sized crumbs form.
  4. Add the cheese and toss until coated with flour.
  5. Add the milk and stir until just combined - DO NOT OVERMIX!
  6. Drop by 1/4 cup fulls onto the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
  7. Bake 14 - 16 minutes until golden around the edges. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine melted butter with parsley and garlic salt.
  8. Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush butter generously over the tops while hot.
http://natashaneagle.com/caramel-apple-cupcakes/

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Simple Cinnamon Rolls

October 24, 2013 by

Simple Cinnamon Rolls

Every teacher knows if you want a peaceful year, there are two groups of people you need to wow — the custodians and the secretaries. Of course, everyone else is just as important, but those two groups of individuals can make your work day run so much smoother. The very first year I taught, I made a batch of these and gave them to those two groups, they loved them and knew I appreciated all their hard work. My husband had a pot luck now that the government is back to work, so I decided to make some of these.

Print
Candy Shop Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups water
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • hot fudge sauce (don't warm it up, you want it really stiff)
  • 2-3 mini Milky Way candy bars, cut up or crumbled
  • Chocolate Caramel Frosting

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups with paper bake cups.
  2. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Fill muffin cups 1/3 full with batter.
  3. Spoon 1 level tablespoon hot fudge sauce into center of each cupcake and cover with remaining batter.
  4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake portion comes out clean. Remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Top each cupcake with Hershey's Chocolate Caramel Frosting and Milky Way crumbles.
http://natashaneagle.com/simple-cinnamon-rolls/

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