Homemade Vanilla Milk

Okay. Ready for a delicious hug in a mug?

It's super simple. So simple, it's actually kind of ridiculous.

All you need is milk, vanilla extract, and sugar (honey instead of sugar will work too!). Whipped cream and marshmallows are highly recommended, but not necessary.

Heat your milk in a saucepan. Add a splash of vanilla and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar (I'm just going to say add as much vanilla and sugar you want, to taste. I prefer sweeter, but that's just me.). Wisk until the sugar is dissolved. Boom. Done.

Pour into a big mug and top with whipped cream and/or marshmallows! I didn't have any marshmallows. Sad face.

Enjoy! Seriously though. A mug of this before bed, or on a cold day and whoa. It's like being wrapped up in a soft blanket with a fluffy puppy while wearing your favorite fuzzy robe.

❤️Sara

Photos taken by Sara and edited with Afterlight. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Chex Mix

Every year, there's some type of work shindig that requires me to bring food of some sort, and of course I lean toward the dessert side of things. I usually make this Chex Mix "Puppy Chow" or "Muddy Buddies", but this time I put a different spin on it.

I saw this YouTube video and instantly knew I had to make this. I mean, it has Nutella in it. Need I say more?

Here's what you'll need:
- 9 cups rice Chex cereal (You could also use corn and/or chocolate Chex)
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1/4 cup butter or margarine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Here's what you do:

1. Measure your cereal and put it aside in a big bowl.

2. Melt your chocolate chips, Nutella, and butter until smooth. You can microwave it in 30 second increments, or use a double boiler, like I did. Once everything is melted, stir in the vanilla.

3. Pour the mixture over your cereal and gently stir it together until everything is evenly coated. Be careful not to break up the cereal! My chocolate mixture wasn't smooth like it's been when I've made this before, but it still coated the cereal just fine.

4. After it's all coated with chocolate, pour it into a large zip lock bag, add the powdered sugar, seal the bag (this part is very important!), and shake to your heart's content!

After everything is coated with the powdered sugar, I usually pour the mixture out on some wax paper to let it cool down and to get some of the moisture out.

 

And voila! You're done!

 

This was the first time I've used Nutella instead of peanut butter, and I couldn't really taste a difference, but it was still delicious! Seriously, you'll be lucky if you don't eat it all before you take it to your party.

 

Enjoy!

 

 If you make this, show me! Post your pictures on Instagram and hashtag it #BTPuppyChow so I can see!

Until next time,
♥Sara



All photos by Sara and edited with Afterlight and A Beautiful Mess.

Avocado Summer Rolls

I love avocados, and I'm totally accepting the current avocado craze that's going on. I had avocado summer rolls recently, and they were life changing. I don't know how I'd never had them before, but all that matters now is that I have them in my life.

So naturally, because they were just so delish, I had to recreate them. Sure, they're easier (and a little prettier) when they're store bought, but what fun is that??

Recipe adapted from here



For the sauce
- 5 tbs. vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar, but rice vinegar would be perfect)
- 1 tbs. and 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
- 3 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. Sriracha (More or less, depending on how hot you want the sauce)
- A dash of crushed red pepper flakes (Optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together, and then let sit while you work on the wraps.

For the wraps:

- 20 rice paper rounds (You should be able to find these in the Asian foods aisle at any grocery store)
- 2 avocados, cut into thin slices
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1/4 head of red cabbage
- 1/2 English cucumber, cut into thin strips or slices
- 1 lime
- Lettuce leaves

Clean and cut/shred the veggies first. Then, slice the avocados and cover in lime juice - this will help prevent the avocados from browning. NOW, on to rolling.




Take two rice paper rounds and dip both sides in a shallow plate of water. Put them together and lay them flat. Add some avocado, carrots, red cabbage, and cucumber to the middle, and roll! I folded half of the paper, then tucked in both sides, and continued rolling, but feel free to tuck and roll however you please.

And that's about it. As you can see, my rolling skills need a little (more like a lot of) practice, but for my first try, I'm not ashamed. I finished with 9 rolls (I might've overstuffed a little), but I'd say you should get about 10 with the measurements above.

If you try these out, let me know how they turn out! I think next time, I'm going with a little less lettuce and more avocado! YUM!

Enjoy!
♥Sara

 

Strawberry Lemonade

When I hear "summer," I think baseball, the beach, hot dogs, and lemonade. Yesss.

I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly had a craving for strawberry lemonade. And when I get a craving, I pretty much have to take care of it right away, so I made my way to the grocery store to get some ingredients.

- 1 cup lemon juice (about 5-6 lemons)
- 1 1/2 cup simple syrup
- 3-5 cups water
- 1 cup strawberry puree (about a pint and a half of fresh strawberries and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar)

I started by mashing up my strawberries with a few tablespoons of sugar. You can use a food processor or blender, but I actually just used a potato masher and fork. I let the mixture sit in the fridge for about an hour before mashing it up a little more and running it through a strainer.

Next I made the simple syrup. One and a half cups of water. One and a half cups of sugar. Simmer until sugar is dissolved. Let cool completely. Done. Simple!

Now for the main attraction - LEMONS! Juice your lemons and strain (no one wants seeds in their lemonade), then add the syrup, water, lemon juice, and strawberry puree to a pitcher, stir, and voila! Strawberry lemonade! Totes delish! My only suggestion is to add the syrup, water, and strawberries slowly, according to your taste. Obviously, if you like your lemonade stronger, or more tart, you won't need all the water or syrup. I happen to like mine sweeter. :)

This can also be made with raspberries. That would be just as good!

 

If you guys have any good summer recipes, let me know!

 

♥Sara

Simple Vanilla Cake

So, let me just say this now..... I don't bake. And when I do, it's from a box.

But for some reason, I decided I wanted to bake a cake. From scratch (Truth is, I just didn't have any cake mix available).

Overall, this was really simple to do, and it didn't require many ingredients - I already had everything I needed around the kitchen.

I had a little issue trying to get the cakes out of the baking pans, but I think it turned out okay. I guess you can be the judge of that.

So let's get started!

Here's what you'll need (Enough for 24 cupcakes or 2 - 9x9 inch pans):

- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup milk

What you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour your 9x9 inch pans, or line your muffin tin with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and butter together. Once creamed, beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla.
3. Combine the flour and baking powder in a second bowl, add to the creamed mixture and mix well (I added my flour mixture in three batches to make mixing a little easier).
4. When the batter is smooth, pour or spoon it into your pans or paper liners.
5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes (20-25 minutes for cupcakes). The cake should be done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.

Now for the fun part - decorating (I cheated with this part)!

I found this can of icing at Target and HAD to pick it up!

It wasn't the cleanest of cakes, but it was certainly tasty! The cake wasn't overly sweet, and the icing added a nice touch. I would definitely recommend trying this out!

Let me know if you try this and how it turned out, or if you have any other good cake recipes!

♥Sara