Housewarming Gift Idea

As if the holidays don't bring enough things to do and gifts to buy! I have 4 birthdays to acknowledge this week, all of whom are people I am very close to. If you happen to be reading this, any of you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Also, two family members are moving this month. I wanted to put together a little something to help get them through those first few days of decorating and opening boxes. I purchased everything from Lowes, they had some great deals.

This kit was all of $20 and includes:
Scissors
Indoor extension cord
Picture hanging kit
3M Command hooks
Level
25' Measuring Tape
Paint brush and bucket for touch ups
Masking Tape for guide to hang pictures

Maybe I should have added some Red Bull or Advil. I tend to go through a lot of that on moving days!

CPK Inspired Quinoa + Arugula Salad

This is not a recipe for CPK's salad. It is a loosely based copycat, therefore inspired by, Cpk's Quinoa + Arugula Salad. You'll find their salad on their 'New Adventures' menu.

Now that that is out of the way, let me just tell you all, in case you don't know already, some of my favorite things to eat are quinoa, arugula, and salad. Imagine my happiness when I stumbled upon this little ditty at CPK. I knew it would be fairly easy to recreate especially since they are so helpful by giving a description of exactly what they put in it. The description reads "Our super grain salad with asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, toasted pine nuts, Feta tossed in our house made Champagne vinaigrette."

My version is slightly different, based on what I had and what I like. I omitted the asparagus, added roasted red bell pepper, replaced the sun-dried tomatoes with fresh tomatoes, and mine was more quinoa based than arugula based.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, cooled quinoa

2 Tbs. toasted pine nuts

1 small chopped tomato, or a handful of chopped cherub tomatoes

1 Tbs. chopped red onion, or 1/8 sliced red onion

1/4 c. chopped roasted red bell pepper

1/8-1/4 c. crumbled reduced fat Feta cheese

1 handful Arugula

1-2 Tbs. Champagne Vinaigrette (I used Trader Joe's Lite)

 

Combine all ingredients and enjoy.

This will hold up just fine in the fridge overnight as long as you don't drench it in dressing.

 

BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza

 

This is a great way to use your leftover pulled pork and corn on the cob. That is, if there ever is any!

 

 

Ingredients:

Pizza Crust ( I used Boboli original crust)

1 ear of corn, cooked, and shaved

1 cup BBQ pulled pork

1/4 cup BBQ sauce ( I used Harris Teeter's Original Sweet and Tangy)

1/8 cup diced red onion

2 sliced smoked provolone, chopped

1 c. shredded mozzarella

 

Spread pizza crust with BBQ sauce.

Cover almost every inch with shredded pork.

Sprinkle with chopped provolone, onion, and corn in that order.

Drizzle with a bit more BBQ sauce.

Cover with mozzarella.

Bake according to pizza crust directions.

 

I baked mine right on the rack, that way,

the crust stays crisps and is able to hold the weight of the toppings.

The measurements of toppings are estimated,

and of course, you can adjust to your liking.

Cake Mix Cookies

Folks, you are gonna hate me for these! Five minutes of work never tasted so good! And if you're too tired to make them, they're easy enough for your kiddos to make for you. Let their creativity go wild! I used a box of yellow cake and semi-sweet chocolate chips. These cookies came out nice and puffy, just how I love them! They were slightly crisp on the outside and as soft as a pillow on the inside.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (any flavor)

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup chocolate chips

If you choose to add in fruit or nuts, I would start with a 1/2 cup. These may seem oily as you are mixing them up but don't worry, they will come out perfect.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You don't even need to pull out your Kitchen Aid! In a medium bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix cake mix with oil and eggs. Mix in your chocolate chips. Scoop by the tablespoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. I found that with my particular pan I had to rotate the cookie sheet from the middle rack to the top rack after 5 minutes of baking. This ensured that they didn't burn on the bottom. I will be trying and posting more combinations I'm sure!

Portable Cupcakes

In addition to a very long week of daily pampering and gifts for Chloe's teacher we sent in some cupcakes for her this morning. For these portable cupcakes you just need a package of Wilton clear party bags, size 4 x 9.5 inches and a package of 9 oz. clear plastic cups. The 'Thank You' tags are the same ones I used last year. They were made by Skip To My Lou. You can find them on Tidy Mom's blog. Just bake your cupcakes in liners as usual. Then you can experiment. You can remove the cupcake from the liner and add  it to the cup and frost it or you can keep it in the liner and add it to the cup.  I added either tissue paper, decorative liners, or a regular liner to the outside of the cup and placed it in the bag. Tie the spoon on with a ribbon, add your tag with a bit of hot glue and your set!