Cream Salad!

I know it's a little last minute but I did want to share one of our family holiday traditions! Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we always have... Cream Salad!
I know there are a million different variations of this, but this one is the one we've used since as long as I can remember. I'm sure my grandmother clipped it from a magazine or something at some point but I couldn't tell you where she got it. It's super simple, super yummy, and super awesome!

Cream Salad

What you'll need
1 pint container of heavy whipping cream
2 packages cream cheese softened
1 or 2 jars maraschino cherries Depends on how much you love cherries
1 can of crushed pineapple
1 bag of mini marshmallows

That's it!

So what you'll want to do first is drain your cherries, but save the juice in a bowl and set it aside. Drain the crushed pineapple too but you don't have to keep that juice.

In a medium bowl pour your whipping cream and whip that cream with an electric mixer until it is whipped into submission! It will have the consistency of soft whipped butter, slightly thicker then whipped cream you buy in the store. It'll take you like 10 minutes. Literally. Pop it in the fridge until you need it.

Your cream will look like this

In a large bowl, whip up your cream cheese. You just want it mixed a bit so it's creamy.

Then add the cherry juice, a little bit at a time, and whip until it's pink and creamy.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese until it is all mixed up. Although I get lazy and just stir it up instead of folding it, it all works the same. Don't over stir though, your whipped cream will start to separate if you go too crazy on it.

Add your remaining ingredients, if you want smaller cherry pieces you can cut them in half or quarters, we used to do that but we stopped because it's ridiculous unless you have small children. Throw the cherries, pineapple, and marshmallows in and fold all of this until it's all mixed up and awesome.

That's it! Now you can sit back and love yourself a bit more because you made something so delicious and it took you like 20 minutes!

 

YUM!

As always,
Enjoy!

 

 

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving!
and if you don't celebrate, then have a fantastic Thursday! 

Ipsy November Glam It Up Glam Bag!

This month I cheated and sneaked a peek at what I would be getting in my Glam Bag. I normally don't look, because I receive the email the exact same day my package arrives in my mail box. Why spoil it when I would see it in an hour or so? But I couldn't resist when I saw that gold bag. I received the exact colors of everything I was hoping for so Ipsy must be paying attention to my reviews and quiz! Straight out of the bag I LOVE everything except the hair spray. I'm not a huge hair product user or fan. My hair is pretty much unruly no matter what I do with it so I either straighten it into submission or let it go crazy. I'm not picky. Almost everything surprised me in this bag. The thing I thought I would love the most is one of my least favorite, the thing I was most excited to try turned out to be a dud, and the thing I was least excited about turned out to be amazing!  And then you have the Star Looks eyeliner, which of course is fabulous. Everything I get from Star Looks is always crazy amazing.

The bag itself is gold with an alligatorish texture, and it has a huge loop/handle which you could hook on your wrist and use as a little purse for holiday parties. It has a hot pink zipper and inside as well. It's very cute!

EM Michelle Phan Pillow Plush Cushiony Lip Balm in Berries $15
You can find this HERE.
The color of this in the jar is gorgeous! It's a deep dark wine which is beautiful for fall and winter. You get a generous amount at 5g and the jar is thick and sturdy with a twist top. The balm itself is soft and easily applied with a finger. This would be perfect for in your purse or traveling. Because it's so pigmented in the jar, I assumed it would be pigmented on my lips, I was wrong. It's extremely sheer, thin, and had a gloss feel. I actually had a pretty hard time building up any color at all, it just kept wiping away or getting pushed to the outside of my lips. Most tinted lip balms I've tried have felt almost satiny on my lips, left no glossy top coat, and soaked in to the point where I forgot I was wearing it. Which is why I say this felt more like a gloss to me. It was very shiny, sat on top of my lips, and moved around constantly, even the heat of my mouth was melting it and making it slip a little. I was also put off by the smell of this. It's like wax, like unscented dollar store candle wax with a hint of something underneath but the wax smell is so overpowering the other scent can't come through. At the very least, for a balm that costs $15 + shipping I would expect it to smell a little better. Scent can take an otherwise amazing product and make it feel cheap at even the best of times so this just added to my disappointment. It feels like the packaging was more thought out then the product inside.

The left is pretty much caked on where I attempted to layer it and build up some color the right is a single swipe

On my lips, I globed it on pretty thick to get this amount of color but it's still not nearly as dark as I hoped it would be

Overall I was very sad about this product. I had really high hopes for it, and I'm a huge Michelle Phan fan! I was so excited to see samples of her new makeup line in the past 2 glam bags and I really hope she continues with it. I feel like if this were labeled as a gloss and put in a tube with an applicator I would have been ok with it. I would have expected it to be the way it is now and it would have been fine. But as a tinted lip balm it fails completely with me. To use this as a gloss in the packaging that it is in now, is difficult. Applying it over a lipstick, with my finger or a brush, that I've spent time making look perfect is not ideal. I attempted to layer this over Hot Damn (below) and it really just pushed the color around while not adding anything but mess. I don't see myself using this very often and that is such a shame.

Be A Bombshell Lip Crayon in Hot Damn $14
You can find this HERE.
This is something I thought would be difficult to use, because it is so large. But much like the lip balm above, I was wrong. This color is so fantastic! It is a bright siren red with a super slight glittery shimmer to it. The crayon tip is perfect for my lips and less time consuming then using a lip pencil. I do wonder what will happen once the tip is gone from use, as it twists up and I have no way to sharpen it. I suppose that's when I start to use a lip brush. Which is sort of inconvenient but that's the way lipsticks are so I guess I should judge them all the same right? This went on super smooth and slightly sheer. I was able to build the color up to and got an opaque red in about 3 swipes. I got about 9 hours of wear out of this, no primer, no liner, no setting it with powder. It didn't feather or wear unevenly, and it didn't fade away after 9 hours, I actually wiped it off before I settled into a giant pizza with my family. I was unable to see how large a full size lip crayon is but mine is 2.5g which is a little small but it's possible that this is full size. MAC lipsticks are 3g and Urban Decay's are 2.8g. I have a few Revlon lip butters but they don't have a size on the packaging and I was unable to find a size on the Revlon or Covergirl websites, 2 popular drug store brands, to compare with. I wore this out and about shopping, I must have been stopped 6 times with women wanting to know what color lipstick I had on and men telling me I looked beautiful, it was ridiculous. Obviously it really is a delicious shade of red! Which is funny because this is not something I would have picked for myself, color wise or product wise. I'm all for red lipsticks, but I prefer mine a little less bright and a little more cool toned, which I feel go better with my blonde hair. Much like Jon Snow, I guess I know nothing. (tehe! GoT humor)
Because it's such a chubby pencil this should last quite a while, even at the size it is now I feel that it is totally worth the $14 price.

Just Be A Bombshell's lip color, no liner, gloss, or primer

Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Subtly Suntouched $18
You can find this HERE.
I was so excited to try this, I love a nice subtle bronzer but hate buying them because they are ridiculously priced. The last really lovely one I had was from almost a year ago. I save it for special occasions because I'm down to only a ring around the edge and I refuse to pay $30 for a bronzer. Strangely enough, I didn't even get into bronzers until a couple years ago. I always thought I would end up looking like I belonged on The Jersey Shore, Snooki's new BFF or something. I never knew how to use it so I just avoided it. Once I finally tried it and realized it's magical properties, I was hooked.

All you can see on my skin is the shimmer, I tried all sorts of random editing techniques to get this to show up a little better but it was hopeless. Which is sad because it really is a beautiful colored bronzer that some how magically works for me.

Subtly Suntouched is a medium/light taupe brown with some full on shine in all of my swatches. I thought for sure this would work better as a highlighter. It's also almost the exact same color as my skin tone when applied, which means it's about 10 shades lighter when applied then it is in the pan. I had a really hard time swatching this because it just wouldn't show up. I didn't think this would work very well with my skin tone, but once again, I was wrong. It is probably one of the best bronzer colors I've ever used! And that shine, it disappears once you blend it in. So you could use it as a highlight if you applied it with your fingers and didn't rub it at all but not if you're planning on blending.

From the left, 1st swatch is 3 or 4 swipes, 2nd is 1 swipe, and 3rd is 2 swipes. I don't know why I didn't put them in order, I'm a rebel that way confusing everyone all the time.

Star Looks Gem Pencil in Topaz $14
You can find this HERE.
Topaz is a gorgeous shimmery silver eyeliner. I ended up using this all over my lid and blended it out. It was literally like I put silver foil on my lid. It is so shiny, bright, and the pencil is super pigmented. I'm in a delicious silver liner overload here. Ok, this went on opaque with 2-3 passes, it blended easily with a finger or a brush, and dried in a short amount of time. I wasn't racing to blend it but I wasn't waiting for it to dry either. The pencil was smooth and creamy, it went on without skipping or snagging on my lid. I got at least 7 hours of wear out of this without creasing or fading without primer, before I ended up washing it off so I could go to sleep. I'm already planning my holiday make up around this. It really is a freakishly beautiful liner. I would highly recommend this.

 Nailtini Straight Up Nail Polish in Champagne $13
You can find the straight up nail polishes HERE. I was unable to find Champagne on the website though. I'm not sure if it isn't for sale anymore or if it's new and just isn't up yet.
So Champagne is a frosted rose gold color. It is a perfect color for the holidays! It is very sheer, I applied 3 coats and you could still see some of my natural nail tip through the color. Champagne went on smooth, even with 3 coats, and dried fully in about 5 minutes.
Nailtini's are designed to wear alone of be layered over other nailtini products. For example, you could use a base coat (designed to lighten or darken) under this, then pick a top coat that will add shine, multicolor glitter, or a colored sheen. You can also pick a "garnish" which is a stencil to add a design on top. They also have drink themed sets which would be very cute as a shower or birthday gift.

Tresemme Extra Firm Control Hair Spray $6.97 depending on which store you buy it from
You can find this HERE. You can find a store that carries it from there as well. The average price seemed to be $6.97. Although Target had it for $3.99. I ended up using this to tease my hair for a costume and it smells divine! Hands down, best smelling hair spray ever. It dried quickly, wasn't overly liquidy when it was sprayed on, and held it's shape for 10 hours several of which were filled with dancing and general merriment. It also snowed that night, so the air was pretty damp, which didn't affect my hair style at all in the slightest. If I used hair spray more often I would defiantly switch to this one!

As usual, if you would like to receive your very own Ipsy Glam Bag you can sign up HERE! It's $10 a month and each monthly glam bag has a theme of it's very own, right down to the mini make up pouch. You also take a beauty quiz when you sign up to help personalize your glam bag. To personalize it more you can review the items you get in each glam bag, stating if you like the color, item, or brand, or if you hate it completely.  

Enjoy!

*Ipsy Glam Bag is a monthly beauty sample bag that I paid for with my very own money. I do not get paid to give good reviews*

Nerdy Craft Time! Coasters!

This summer I went to Home Depot to help my mom pick out some tile for her new bathroom and ended up leaving with a bag full of single white tiles. I promptly put them in my closet and forgot about them. Until now that is!

So the promise for this one is that you draw on a mug with a sharpie, pop it in the oven, and then it should be permanently stuck on there. Well I have an abundance of tiles, not plain white mugs, so coasters it is!

Because I've been a bit hooked on Percy Jackson and The Olympians lately, we are going with a God/Goddess theme. I love the books, Percy Jackson is adorable, and I love all the mythology fun. If you haven't picked up this series yet I highly recommend that you do. If you have read them and you're dying for more Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan has another Olympian themed series out, Heroes of Olympus. It introduces new demigods while keeping Percy Jackson around as well, and fleshes out the new great prophesy. I haven't read them yet because I need something to put on my Christmas list. But you can bet your boots that I'm going to read the crap out of those ones next! The last book won't come out until October next year but at least there are 4 to tide me over. I totally get that they are geared towards middle school children and I'm 28, but I still love them. They are super easy to read with fun stories. Rick Riordan did an awesome job with Percy Jackson. (minus a couple inconsistencies that I swore not to mention farther then this. They don't stop me from reading the books and I'm done.)

(Top left to right) Zeus, Poseidon, Hades
(Bottom left to right) Apollo, Artemis, Hermes 

I decided to create coasters for my favorite gods, minus Zeus because he seems like a jerk and I didn't really want him in my coaster collection, but I felt I needed to include him because I included Poseidon and Hades. We have Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis.

I used regular and metallic sharpie markers (permanent markers) and .39 cent ceramic tiles from Home Depot. Mine have a glazed surface which worked out really nicely because I could wash off any mistakes I made. I found that if you made a small mistake you could wipe it off with a wet paper towel if you did it right away. After it dried it was stuck. You could scratch it off with a finger nail, but even that didn't work too well. I also found that certain colors never "dried" and I could always wipe the marker off. So if you allow yours to dry overnight before popping them into the oven make sure not to stack them on top of each other.
I also sprayed mine with a clear coat after firing them and letting them sit overnight. Some of my metallic marker was raised up and didn't have a smooth texture so I felt it would be better to clear coat them. I could totally see that snagging on my cups or whatever else and chipping away. I wouldn't recommend clear coating them without cooking them in the oven because it might over saturate your maker and cause it to run.

Some colors changed after being in the oven, Yellow turned brown and over all the colors weren't as bright coming out as they were going in. It isn't a huge deal but fair warning.
Also, sharpies don't make the smoothest looking solid color surfaces. You'll pretty much always get lines. Go with it and don't get discouraged.
You could use craft paint and clear coat the tiles instead of putting them in the oven if you are crazy about making it look solid colored instead of textured. Just don't mix markers and paint.

As always, I'll remind you that these are your nerdy craft time coasters. Mine aren't perfect and I don't care because I like them. Make what you like and love it.

Other then that, I don't really have a lot to say about this one. It's pretty straight forward and easy peasy.  I put individual pictures at the end.

On to the directions!!

 

What You'll Need

Plain white ceramic tiles (with a shiney glaze on top, don't use the rough unfinished ones)

Permanent markers (I used Sharpie brand)

Spray paint clear coat (I like Rustoleum, they never let me down)

An Oven (like the oven in your house, you need one)
Newspaper or cardboard

 

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Make sure your tiles and clean and dry. Draw your design on each tile and set aside to dry. Do not stack them on top of each other. Allow to dry for at least 10 minutes.
3. Once your oven is at 350 degrees, place your tiles on a cookie sheet (either an old one or one coated in foil, they shouldn't ruin your baking sheets, this is just a precaution) and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Set a timer!
4. After 30 minutes, turn your oven off, leave it closed with the tiles still inside, and allow the tiles to cool.
   This will keep them from cooling too quickly and they have less of a chance of cracking.
5. Once your tiles are cool to the touch remove them from your oven.
6. Allow to set overnight.
7. In an outdoor or well ventilated area (I used our garage since it's like 20 degrees here right now) lay out your cardboard or newspaper, place your tiles on top, and spray them with a thin coat of clear spray paint. Allow that to dry completely and if you'd like to add another coat you can do so.
8. Allow it to dry overnight. If it is cold where you live now, like it is here, you can bring them inside to dry. Just put them in a large open area. Don't let them sit in the cold overnight, your tiles or the clear coat could crack and that would just suck after all that work.
9. Done! Admire your beautiful creations!

 

It sounds like it has a ton of steps but trust me, it is super easy. If you aren't comfortable drawing free hand on your tiles, use a stencil. You can make one by printing a picture off your computer and using an x-acto knife or scissors to cut it out. Bam! Stencil.

 

I hope you're inspired to make your own nerdy coasters! Just remember that these aren't going to soak up any condensation from your glasses, like Thirsty Stone coasters, so be aware of that.

 

As always,

Enjoy! 

Believe it or not, Zeus' lightening bolt was yellow before I started. I'm not sure what happened in the bottom left hand side of the lightening bold, it looks like the yellow bled into the blue, this was the only coaster that did this. My only thought is that I didn't line the yellow completely and it mixed into the blue some how.  It is the only coaster with a solid color background, so maybe that's what happens when you color that much? But the green didn't bleed into the blue in Poseidon's coaster and the black didn't bleed into the purple on Hades' coaster so I really have no idea.

If I could do this over again, I would have painted Poseidon's coaster. I love the metallic marker but his trident could have been so much better.

I can't draw helmets. But I did find this nifty picture of Hades holding a staff that looked a bit like this. Because Zeus and Poseidon had backgrounds I thought it needed something else. So we have the purple river styx because it can't be blue and a cypress tree because I read somewhere they were sacred to Hades. I should have left the tree out but whatever. This is my favorite coaster. I might actually make 3 more like it and use them in my house.  

Hermes is one of my favorite gods with my least favorite symbol of power. I'm pretty sure his snakes are both green but it was hard to see them intertwining if they were the same color.  They have the giant loop and then smaller ones in all of the pictures but on mine it looks unintentional.

The goldish bronzey lines in between the orange were yellow when I started. I still like how it turned out. I think Apollo's sun is pretty cool.

It is much harder to make a decent looking crescent moon then you think, especially when you're going to stick an arrow through it. But I'm glad I ended up finding a silver marker and Artemis' moon is just fine. I actually went over this twice, I colored it once, cooked it in the oven, and then went over the sparse areas again. This worked well for the metallic markers but started to remove paint when I tried this with the regular sharpie markers.

 

Nerdy Craft Time! Food Edition Part 1!

For this nerdy craft time I'm going to combine my 2 favorite things (aside from my child and my dog that is), Food and stuff I nerd out to!

I had several ideas for this Nerdy Craft Time food edition, so I decided to split it up into 3 separate posts. 7 recipes in one post just seemed like A LOT to go through all at once. It still killed me to split it all up. I just wanted to make it all at once and gorge myself on delicious nerdy food! But, for once, I exhibited self control. In Part 1 we'll visit Harry Potter. I found a decent sounding recipe for Butter Beer that I changed to suit ingredients that I already had in my house. I also thought of a super fun way to bring Acid Pops to life, such an underrated sweet from Harry Potter, who wouldn't want to burn a hole in their tongue? 

Acid Pops!!

So many exclamation marks around here! Because my general area doesn't sell pop rocks unless it is Halloween (which it isn't anymore. *tear*), I had to improvise with sour powder from a Sour Baby Bottle Pop. Yes, they totally still make them!

I am well aware as to how horrible my pan is. No, I don't make cookies on this pan. Yes, I'm covering it with foil. No I'm never going to throw it away.

I concocted this recipe because I can't just take regular premade suckers, dip them in pop rocks, and call it a day. You'll need a bag of Jolly Ranchers and a Sour Baby Bottle Pop or two, depending on how many suckers you're making. I found one Bottle Pop covers about 7 or 8 suckers, depending on how coated  you want them.You'll also need some sucker sticks, which I didn't have and was too lazy to drive all the way out to our 30 minutes away Walmart just to get them. I used wooden skewers and cut the pointed end off.  But Walmart and Target both carry sucker sticks for like $3, just fyi.  You will also need a large cookie sheet type pan, tin foil, and something to grease it with, butter, cooking spray, olive oil, whatever.

Before you start, line you cookie sheet with tin foil, now you won't ruin your cookie sheet on the off chance that you mess up. Wooo for not having to buy more ridiculously priced cooking things! So you line your cookie sheet, next you'll want to grease it down. You don't want like pools of grease all up in your pan, just give it a quick spray. You can avoid all of this if you use non stick aluminum foil. Just saying.  I so would have used it but again... the closest store that sells that is 30 minutes (one way) away from my house.

Now pick 2 or 3 Jolly Ranchers and place them on your pan side by side. Like an equal sign, =.  And bam, you've got a sucker! (almost) Make sure the candy is touching and keep a good couple of inches in between each sucker because it does spread. However, you can make little square forms of tinfoil by just taking a piece and creating a square with higher sides then you think you need (like a little square boat) and just place your Jolly Ranchers in there. You could totally fit more suckers on your tray if they aren't going to spread out. I like them all funky shapes and different.

Now with your oven on 275 degrees you'll want to pop them in for pretty much exactly 6 minutes, until they are melted together. Pull them out, immediately place a stick on each sucker, and press down slightly.

While you're waiting for them to cool, pour your Baby Bottle Pop powder into a bowl. Peel your suckers off the foil once cooled and  dip them quickly into a cup of water, allowing the excess to drip off, you don't want it swimming wet but just slightly moist. Then sprinkle your sucker with sour powder.  Eat, enjoy, done! You have a super sourery sweet sucker to melt your tongue! I know they aren't impressive to look at, but they are delicious.


You can also use regular Baby Bottle Pop powder, I think the strawberry powder on these is divine! It isn't sour but it's super sugary sweet with a tiny tart kick from the Jolly Ranchers.

Recap!

What you'll need

Jolly Ranchers
1-2 Sour Baby Bottle Pops

Sucker sticks

Cookie Sheet

Tin Foil

Cooking spray (or use non stick foil)

 

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.
2. Line your cookie sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray
3. lay 2 - 3 Jolly Rancher candies on your cookie sheet and place in the oven for 5-8 minutes
4. place a stick in each still hot sucker and allow to cool
5. Pour the baby bottle pop powder into a bowl
6. wait until the suckers are cooled and peel them off the sheet, dip them quickly into a cup of water and allow the excess to drip off.
7. sprinkle the suckers with the powder
8. Enjoy!

 

 

On to our Butter Beer! Oh my goodness this was so delicious! I found this recipe on the Food Network website HERE. I strayed from it a bit though. I don't keep sweetened condensed milk in my house, I can't think of a single time that I've used it. See above as to why I didn't run out to get it. So I improvised with whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar. We are also simple non fancy folk who only have stick butter in our house and with the ridiculous price of butter I completely refuse to go out and buy some whipped up crap just so I can use a tablespoon of it. To be honest, you could probably leave the butter out, I didn't taste it and I have no idea why it's in there. It was just one thing I kept in the recipe from the original. Now that I look at it, I pretty much changed everything from the original recipe except I kept cream soda and butter. Could I claim this as my own recipe then....  Well I also used butterscotch chips because I could only find that magic hardening butterscotch topping in my grocery store. I'm actually totally weirded out by those toppings that harden, like why are they smooth but not warm and then they get hard when they are cold? Why? What's in them that does that? I suppose I could figure it out if I looked at the label. Plus I don't like a crunchy coating on my ice cream. My point here is that what my grocery store did have was butterscotch chips for, I don't know, cookies or something. I'm sort of grossed out by chunks of butterscotch in cookies but hey, to each their own right? If you couldn't tell, I am not a fan of butterscotch. It reminds me of the candies in the bottom of my grandma's purse that she would fish out for us and we'd have to eat them to be polite. You know, full of sand and dirt and god knows what else had settled at the bottom of that lovely woman's giant handbag. I love her, but man am I glad she doesn't carry candy anymore. Because I'm not going to type commentary through the entire recipe, it's all pretty straight forward, I'll just throw up some photos and the recipe will be below. Recipes with photos are always much more interesting, to me at least.




(left to right) Heavy whipping cream, Cream soda, Vanilla, Butter, and Butterscotch chips in the front

Because I used a non stick pan I poured my half melted butterscotch chip cream into a bowl to whisk it and let the chips melt completely.

I just used the same pan that I used to melt the butterscotch to heat the cream soda. If your cream soda is room temperature you don't have to heat it. You just don't want it ice cold.

I have absolutely no idea how I ended up with these Coca-Cola mugs, but I found a full set of 6 in the back of my cupboard. They are the only clear glasses I have (my every day glasses are blue tinted glass) so I had to use them. What makes them even more awesome is the fact that they are off kilter a bit, see how the one on the right seems to be leaning? Yeah it's totally made that way. The one on the left is leaning toward me so you don't notice it as much, but they are all like that. I love it!

It's not quite as frothy as I wanted it to be, but it was still super delicious!

 This makes about 2 glasses of butterbeer. If you notice, mine weren't totally full, add about 1/2 to 1 (cup or tablespoon whatever the ingredient measurement is) to each ingredient and you should get at least 2 full full glasses. Or you could use mugs.

What you'll need

1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream

2 T Vanilla

1 T Sugar



1/4 C Butterscotch chips (like chocolate chips but butterscotch, not butterscotch candy chips)

1 T Butter

2 C Cream Soda

 

 



1. In a sauce pan combine the whipping cream, vanilla, sugar, butterscotch chips, and butter. Cook on medium stirring constantly until chips are almost melted. (About 5 minutes, your chips should look like tiny chunks and your cream should have turned a carmel color) Try not to let it boil. If it does just turn your heat down and continue stirring.
2. Pour into a heat proof bowl and whisk until smooth
3. In the same sauce pan pour your cream soda and heat on medium until warm, stirring occasionally. It doesn't have to be boiling or anything, just warm it up. If your cream soda is room temperature you can skip this step.
4. Divide your butterscotch mixture into 2 glasses, top off with the cream soda, and stir to combine.
5. Enjoy!

If it's too hot and you want to drink it right away, add an ice cube and stir it up. It will cool it down enough to enjoy without scalding your throat but it will still be warm.

 

Yum!

So I really hope you try these! Next nerdy food edition will be Game of Thrones!

 

As always,
Enjoy! 

Booya! (It's a food I promise!)

So right around this time the church up the road from us starts selling my most favorite Midwestern food. Booya! Booya of the past was roughly a community stew, where everyone would contribute something, veggie, spice, wild game. It was a way to use up the stuff you had left over before hunting season started, cleaning out your freezer and eating like a king in the process. My grandma has the best story about Booya that I'll share in the end because if you heard it now you wouldn't even attempt to look at the recipe. But it's good. Stay tuned.

My family isn't really filled with hunters, so we just purchase this every year and enjoy it until it runs out and we have to wait an entire year to have more. NOT ANY MORE! I adapted this recipe from a random Food Network recipe I found that turned Booya in to a Southwestern style stew. I don't understand that, you can't say it's a Midwestern recipe and make it Southwestern. Then it's a Southwestern stew. That drives me crazy. I see so many Midwestern recipes that they spice the crap out of and make it more southern or southwestern. We like our flavors a little more subdued and more meaty. It isn't for everyone.  So I adapted this recipe to the flavors I tasted in our church's booya and my reward was The Most Amazing Booya Ever! Not to toot my own horn but... Toot Toot! It is even more delicious then the booya we buy. Booya now is normally made with beef, pork, and chicken. However, you could use deer, turkey, grouse... whatever wild game you like as well. Stay away from fish because it has a distinct flavor. Make a seafood gumbo with your left over fish instead!

I like to save up our left over meat from other meals until I have enough for a batch of booya. As a family of 5 we generally end up with 1 steak, or 2 slices of pork roast, or 2 chicken legs left over here and there. This would normally go in the trash after it sits in the fridge for a week, so I like that this also helps us waste less. When you put already cooked meats in the freezer you'll want to protect it a little more. I put it in a ziplock, squeeze out all the air then wrap it in foil and cover all of that with another ziplock bag. It might be a little overkill but I've never had an issue with freezer burn or the meat tasting odd afterwards. It should keep for at least 6 months. Chicken especially needs to be protected because it can take on a weird and disgusting taste after it's reheated. I like to use chicken that's in a sauce which further protects it from drying out and getting gross. Just keep a little bit of the sauce in with the chicken when you freeze it. If you don't want that sauce flavor in your booya just rinse it off before you throw it in. Done.

All of the ingredients are diced up  or shredded in to soup sized pieces. You can make yours thicker or smaller, none of this is set in stone. If you're dying for a carb, you can serve it over rice or add some noodles. homemade dumpling noodles would be amazing in this, just add the noodles to your pot last. You'll want to either thaw the meat or nuke it in the microwave until it's easy to cut apart. You can also use raw meat but you'll have to cut it up before adding it to your stew and just make sure it's cooked through. I like to add some cooked hamburger in mine pretty much always, I just roughly break it up so there are still some chunks left.
The veggies are completely interchangeable as well.  I like to add black beans to mine. If you don't like any of the veggies I used you can remove them and replace them with anything else. Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, chunks of winter squash... you name it, you can chuck it in here. Although the broccoli and cauliflower should be added at the end and cook it until it's just soft, or else it can break down into nothing... Which has totally happened to me before. You do need the onion though, it's a running joke that onion is a spice here, because that's how we use it. Use onion.  Also, cooking the tomato down is not an option you can skip over. I know it's annoying and takes forever. (about 20 minutes lol)  But it gives the stew this sweet onion and garlic spiked tomato flavor that's punched up with all the other ingredients, heaven. Don't skip cooking down your tomatoes. Also if you end up with large tomato pieces, you can either use an emersion blender or a potato masher and just break them up a bit. Unless, of course, you like giant chunks of tomato then rock on.

extreme close up of the deliciousness!!

Booya

 

 

What you'll need

 

• 4 Tablespoons of Butter (cold or soft it doesn't matter) 
• 5 Celery ribs (diced)
• 2 medium sized onions (diced)
• 5 carrots (diced)
• 4 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 jars of tomato puree (I use the stuff I can at home but you can use 3 of the small cans of petite diced tomatoes or you can use 1 large can plus 1 small can of stewed tomatoes.)
• 4 Cups Chicken stock or broth (I just use a couple heaping teaspoons of the powdered chicken soup base with 4 cups of water and call it a day)
• 4 Cups of water (in addition to the 4 cups of chicken broth)
• Chicken, Beef, Pork leftover or raw, diced or shredded
• Corn (the amount depends on your taste)
• 2 cans of Black, White, or Red beans, mix and match. Drained and rinsed
• Thyme, Oregano, Garlic salt, Onion powder, and Cumin I used probably about 2 teaspoons of each and 3 teaspoons cumin but it's all to your taste.

 

1. Melt the butter in a pan (I use a dutch oven, use the pot you'll be cooking your soup in)
2. Sauté on medium heat the onion, carrot, and celery in the butter until soft, about 20 minutes, keep the lid on and stir occasionally.
3. Add tomato and garlic. Cook on medium heat with the lid on until thick, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add your seasonings and give it a really good stir. 
5. Add chicken base, water, and meat. Cook on low for 1 1/2 hours stirring occasionally.
    I also cook the hamburger meat in a different pan at this point and throw it in the pot so it gets about an hour of cook time.  
6. Add corn and beans. Cook on high until everything is heated through. About 10-15 minutes. 

 

 

And you're done! So it takes about 3- 3 1/2 hours from start to finish but it's super yummy and filling! One of the very best things about booya is that it gets even better as left overs, something about sitting in the fridge for a couple days makes the flavors so much more fantastic. It's amazing. This also freezes and reheats really nicely. If you're going to freeze it though, don't add rice or noodles as they tend to get soggy and develop a weird texture when frozen and reheated.

Grandma story time bonus!
So, where my grandma grew up, they used to do a big Booya cook off in the park and this one family would cook theirs in a giant pot for a couple of days outside in said park. They won for several years until everyone discovered that the army worms in the trees were falling into their pot as they cooked it. That kind of ended things.
So just throwing that out there too, army worms are a delicious addition to your booya I guess. *shudder* could you imagine....

I really hope you try this!!
But without the army worms
As always,
Enjoy!  

 

 



Dr. Scholl's Active Series Shoe Inserts

I loved so many things about these inserts, they are different from any others that I've tried. I think I like them more then my memory foam shoes.

First, you can find these at your local Walmart, Target, CVS, and most stores that sell shoe inserts. Our local grocery store has them in the pharmacy section! But online you can find the website HERE along with a $4 off coupon. The inserts are roughly $20 per pair. In addition, if you click on the Dr. Scholl's homepage you can find a quiz to find what insert is right for you!

On the box it says, "During athletic activity, the foot is subject to the shock of impact of 2-3 times your body weight with every step.  Active Series insoles reduce shock by 40% and, for those with Shin Splints, Runner's Knee, and Plantar Fasciitis, helps relieve and prevent the pain."

On that note, as someone who constantly has heel pain and has suffered from plantar fasciitis before, these shoes were amazing. My heel pain is non existent when wearing these and any residual pain from plantar fasciitis is completely gone.



Bottom of the inserts with the 3 zones of comfort

One thing I love about these are how it has "triple zone protection" basically meaning that the ball of your foot, your arch, and the heel of your foot have different needs and comforts. That translates to 3 different feeling areas on the insert.
The ball is cushioned but isn't super soft or thick, it's supposed to "improve cushioning and help distribute pressure."
The arch is stiff plastic feeling, meaning it won't wear down the longer to wear them and you get to keep all that wonderful support. It "improves transition of weight from landing to push-off."  As someone who's suffered through plantar fasciitis let me tell you that arch support is so super important.
Finally, the heel has a cup feel to it but an extra soft cushion to "absorb impact with every step".

All of these things do exactly what they say they do. I hiked 6 miles, on uneven terrain, the first time I wore these and felt minimal pain in my feet. All of that achey tiredness just wasn't happening this time. I normally wear memory foam shoes when hiking, but these have replaced the foam! I also didn't feel every single step like I do in normal shoes, so it was definitely absorbing the impact.



Top of the inserts

I also love that it has "SweatMAX" technology that helps eliminate odor. Lets all face it, feet sweat, and insoles take the brunt of that stink. Anything that helps with that and keeps my insert lasting longer is a plus. Although these do have kind of a funky smell when you first pull them out of the box, not the typical rubbery foam smell, but more of a chemical type scent that isn't pleasant. It isn't, however, strong and doesn't linger so don't worry about it. Just fair warning.

As will most Dr. Scholl's products, I like how their measuring guides are pretty spot on as well. I wear an 8 1/2 size women's shoe, my inserts went from 8 1/2 - 11, so I trimmed basically down to the blue "ball of the foot" zone and it fit perfectly in my shoe. Just saying, Dr. Scholl's doesn't recommend you do this, they suggest that you remove the original liner in your shoes and cut around it on your insert to make sure it has a proper fit. I hate ripping out the liner because I find that shoe inserts don't stay put as long as if you keep them in. So I normally just guess, trim, check, trim again, check, trim again... and so on. Go Dr. Scholl's!

I only had a few issues with these. First, I wish the arch support was a little higher but I understand that's all personal preference. I also wish that the ball of the foot cushion was a little more padded. It works just fine, but I feel like it could be a little better if it were cushioned a little more.

Overall, I loves these, everything works exactly the way they say it should! They help improve tired achey feet so you can keep moving and doing what you love!

*I received 1 pair of Dr. Scholl's Active Series shoe inserts complementary from Influenster for testing purposes. These are my true and honest opinions, I do not get paid to give good reviews. *


If you would like to sign up with Influenster or learn more about them you can find them right HERE.