Mother's Day Gift Guide

Mother's Day is in just about two weeks! It's the perfect time to order something cute for Mom online so I've put together a gift guide of some items she's sure to love. How do I know? My Mom owns a few of these things (like the apron and the Essential Pepin cookbook) and loves them!

1.) Cooking Guide Apron 2.) Essential Pepin 3.) Enamel Plate Jewelry Stand

4.) Painted Garden Infinity Scarf 5.) Poco Dolce Chocolate Tiles

6.) Freesia Kitchen Tea Towel 7.) Chevron Clutch

Chocolate Coffee Rice Krispies Treats

I have a confession to make. I've never made rice krispies treats. I've never really liked them very much because they usually aren't chocolatey and if I'm going to eat something sweet, it pretty much has to be chocolate. So when I found this recipe for rice krispies treats loaded with chocolate and coffee via Shutterbean, I knew I had to give them a try. Ohhhh man, these are delicious! I'll definitely be making them again.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter
• 2 bags (10 oz. each) mini marshmallows
• 5 cups rice krispies cereal (I used the generic brand to save money, it really doesn't matter)
• 2 teaspoons ground coffee (not instant)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I crushed up a chocolate bar because I didn't have enough chips)
• cooking spray

Melt the butter over medium/low heat. Add half of the marshmallows (one bag) and melt. Remove from heat.

Stir in the rice krispies.

Add the chocolate, coffee, and salt. Stir together. Lastly, mix in the remaining bag of marshmallows.

Line a 9 inch square pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Spoon the mixture into the dish and press into an even layer. Let cool completely. Cut into squares to serve.

Be careful! They're hard to put down!

On taking a break...

If you've followed the blog for a while, you might have noticed that I don't post quite as much as I used to. During my first year running this blog, I posted just about every day. Every single day! I can't even fathom that now. I did some thinking a while back and realized that the blog had turned into another job. I stressed myself out trying to think of something new and interesting to post each day. I took a step back and thought about why I'd even started it. The answer was clear... for FUN. I started the blog to share photos and recipes and projects for FUN, and to put it simply, I wasn't having any.

Now that I don't post as much, I tend to wonder if my readers think I'm just lazy or if I don't like the blog anymore. The truth is, I like the blog more now. It's so refreshing to post whatever I want whenever I want. 

My reason for writing this post is... if you're a blogger and find yourself in the same creative rut that I was in a year ago, take a step back. Think about why you're blogging. If you're not having any fun, what's the point?

I'm pretty active on Instagram so feel free to follow me there! Also, check out what Kewpie's up to every day with my 365 day project. 

Coachella 2013

I'm still recovering from this weekend. I have a ton of bug bites and blisters. My legs are ridiculously sore. I haven't managed to comb all of the knots out of my hair. And I have two words to say about it all... WORTH IT.

This was my second time going to Coachella and I can't wait to go back. I didn't bring my good camera (with good reason... it was very windy and dusty this year) so my photos aren't the best but that's alright. You get the idea.

Finally!

In 2010 I went to Coachella and had the time of my life. I'm finally heading back this year and I'm SO excited! I'll try to take a bunch of photos. See you guys next week!

Recently

1.) Baking on my day off.

2.) A cupcake filled with rainbow sprinkles. A delicious April Fools' joke!

3.) My first burger after lent.

4.) Playing The Rifleman board game with my dad.

5.) My first time at Bruxie!

6.) Making lemon poppyseed pancakes. 

7.) Coachella countdown... 5 days!

8.) Estate sale hunting.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

I've made a lot of cakes in my day but one type that I've never attempted is a pound cake... until now! I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. I altered it a bit (decreased the sugar and added vanilla) and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• a pinch of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan. Cream butter and sugar.

Add sour cream and eggs.

Sift the flour and baking soda over the mixture and mix until combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This cake tastes best served fresh and warm (as do most cakes, I suppose). Enjoy!

First Quarter Favorites

It's April! Do you know what that means? We're already a quarter of the way done with 2013! Where does the time go? Anyway, I usually try to do a little monthly recap at the end of each month but I've been really bad about it recently so I went back to the beginning of the year and picked out a few of my favorite posts...

I shared a little tour of my kitchen back in January. Check it out here!

These baked jalapeno poppers were the perfect Super Bowl treat.

I took a few photos one morning around my apartment. It definitely inspired me to start doing photo an hour posts again.

I experimented with baking a cake in a can... and it worked!

My mom and I took a tour of Rancho Los Alamitos a few weeks ago and I took lots of photos.

A few weeks after Christmas, I tried out one of my presents... a donut maker! I love how these little guys turned out.

My mom passed down her old slow cooker to me and I've been using it a lot. One of the first recipes I tried is pictured above... spicy chicken and beans!

I've found some really cool stuff at estate sales recently. That mail holder is one of my personal favorites.

Last but not least, I attempted my first chocolate silk pie. This recipe isn't simple but it's well worth the effort.

Here's to another productive (and tasty) month!