January 31. National Popcorn day.

Popcorn always makes me think of movie theaters. It's the number one snack that people get when they go to the movies. Most people eat either popcorn or chips when they watch TV at home. But in our house, we don't just eat it when were watching movies. Someone is always eating popcorn everyday. My grandma LOVES it. It's her favorite snack. So bad that we would take our leftover popcorn from the movie theater home and she would get out of bed and eat it - no matter what time it is.

We always have a big box of popcorn at home just because of my grandmother. 

I easily get sick of it after awhile though so I usually like tossing mine in cheese seasoning. Try it, it's good! They have this in barbecue and other flavors too. 

(a little tip: try it on fries too, right after taking them out of the oven,

 just put them in a Ziploc bag and shake shake shake!)

When my mom wants to be "good", she eats kettle corn when she craves for sweets. 

Kettle corn has a mixture of sweet and salty flavors.

We also have this sweet colored popcorn that my aunt sent us from Australia. 

For sweet popcorn though I like caramel corn. But of course I like Peterbrooke's chocolate covered popcorn the best. I'm sure you all agree with that. ;)

And yes, I took all these pictures today. We really have this much popcorn at home. 

January 30. National Croissant day.

Aaahhh Croissants... Flaky buttery layers of goodness. A Croissant is a crescent shaped pastry that is made from dough layered with butter. It has a flaky texture similar to puff pastry. Croissants are a pain to make from scratch and takes a long time. I also didn't want to just get pre-baked croissants. I wanted to make something. So I got a tube of crescent rolls, some smoked turkey, and smokey cheddar cheese.

I rolled out my dough and put a layer of turkey and strips of cheese in them, and rolled them out into crescent shapes.

Baked them in 350F for about 17 minutes, 'til they are golden brown and voila! My yummy, flaky, and buttery turkey and cheese croissants!

The kids wanted some mac and cheese for dinner and the croissants went well with it!

January 29. National Corn chip day.

Today's challenge is very easy. National corn chip day. A Corn chip is a snack made from fried cornmeal that is usually shaped like a scoop. They are crunchy and are often heavily seasoned with salt.

Fritos is one of the most popular brand of corn chips. My husband loves 'em. I'm not a big fan of the regular fritos chips, but I like frito pie. Have you ever had one of those? It's like nachos. It's basically just fritos chips topped with chili and cheese. You can also add onions, sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, or whatever you want. Try it, it's good! If you have an Orange Tree near you, go there. They have it. 

Anyways, like i've said, i'm not a big fan of the regular fritos. So I went and looked for another flavor.

 Found these and got 2/$1. It has much more flavor than the regular one.

I actually like this one better than the original flavor.

But then again, the regular ones make good frito pies.

Go make one! Order one! You gotta try it!

Happy Corn chip day!!

January 28. National Blueberry pancake day.

My kids love fruits. And berries. They eat a lot of it. If they could just eat fruits and berries all day, everyday, they would.

Most of the time, my son asks me to make pancakes for breakfast. So can you just imagine how excited he was when I told him that I was making blueberry pancakes for breakfast today? Mmmm... blueberry pancakes... Yuuuuuuup! He was veeeery happy. Oh yes he was.

My daughter of course started to munch on these while I got my batter ready.

Lots of blueberries in the batter!!

Here we go!!

My kids were very happy with breakfast today they pretty much licked their plates clean!!

These were amazingly good! 

Happy Blueberry Pancake day!

January 26. National Peanut brittle day and National Pistachio day.

Brittle is hard candy that is cooked and then broken into flat pieces. It usually has nuts like peanuts, almonds, pecans, etc. Today is not only peanut brittle day, but also pistachio day. So what did I do? Well, I got some pistachios and made peanut-pistachio brittle!


Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup peanuts
* I actually used 1/2 c peanuts and 1/2 c pistachios
- 2 tbsp softened butter
- 1 tsp baking soda

you need:
- candy thermometer
- greased pan

Combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt in a small sauce pan.

Bring it to a boil and then add the nuts.

I usually just use regular peanuts, but since it's also pistachio day, I used half peanuts and half pistachios.

Watch it carefully to make sure you don't burn the sugar and the nuts.

When it reaches a temperature of 290 F, turn the heat off.

Quickly mix in your butter and baking soda, and then spread it out on your greased pan. 

I use a silicone mat, it's just better and way easier.

Break into small pieces and enjoy!!

January 25. National Irish coffee day.

Irish coffee is a cocktail that usually has coffee, Irish whiskey, sugar, and thick cream or whipped cream.
I didn't have the whiskey part but I found something in my pantry and decided to make my own version.

First of all, I didn't use regular coffee. I used my awesome white chocolate caramel cappuccino.

And obviously this isn't Irish so it doesn't make it an "Irish" coffee. But like I said, I'm making my own little version of Irish coffee. Whatever! It's somewhat similar! haha!

Here you go! My own little version of an Irish coffee - minus the whipped cream.

It was actually good! Try it!!

January 24. National Peanut butter day.

Peanut butter day!! I did so much today and I was so tired that I told myself, I'm just going to make it real easy on myself and just make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I have been out all day and I didn't really get to start my challenge for today 'til about an hour ago. So I was like, yea, sandwich. Definitely. Easy, simple, yummy, and it's peanut butter! Good enough, right? Wrong! haha of course crazy me couldn't just make a sandwich!

So I got my peanut butter out.....

...and I made Peanut Butter crunch truffles!!!

I wasn't able to take very many pictures..

 I really just wanted to make these and then go to bed. 

But look, I still managed to make them pretty! :)

Gooooooooooooodnight!!!

January 23. National Pie day.

National Pie day! A Pie is baked pastry dough that has either a sweet or savory filling inside. There are actually 2 for today; pie day, and rhubarb pie day. So since there are two, and I already have stuff to make apple pie, I just decided to just skip the rhubarb and just make apple pie.

I started by making my apple pie filling.

I then rolled out my pie dough. I wanted to make something different and not just a regular pie. 

So I cut them into circles.....

...and made apple pie pops!!

My son thought that was cool.

So here you go, Apple pie pops!!

Happy Pie day!! :)

January 22. National Blonde brownie day.

A Blondie, or a blonde brownie, is a dessert bar similar to a traditional brownie, baked the same way and cut the same way, but made with brown sugar instead of chocolate or cocoa. It kinda tastes like butterscotch. This can be made with nuts or chocolate chips too.

I had some chocolate chunks so I decided to put some on top. Why not? Blondies are already good by itself, but with chocolate?? uhhh..yah! Oh and just for fun, I used a round pan and made my blondie look like a giant chocolate chunk cookie!!

My Blonde chocolate chunk giant cookie brownie!!

Happy Blonde brownie day!!

January 21. National Granola bar day.

A Granola bar is a breakfast and snack food that usually consists of nuts, honey, and rolled oats, that is usually pressed and baked until crisp, and then cut into bar shapes. Some add chocolate chips and dried fruit too.

I don't normally give out recipes of stuff that I sell.. but I guess this one's not in my usual menu so i'm going to share my easy and yummy granola bar recipe with you guys! I will be sharing some more easy recipes every now and then, so keep checking everyday for new stuff! :)

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup canola oil

1 egg

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups trail mix, chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, or whatever you prefer in your bars

- pre heat your oven to 350F

- start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl

- combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl
- fold wet mixture into dry mixture

- mix in your chips, nuts, or dried fruits

-I used a little bit of everything. My mix had peanuts, raisins, almonds, cashews, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, vanilla chips, and peanut butter chips.

-This is what it'll look like after mixing everything together.

- grease and flour your baking pan and spread and press your granola mixture in.

- bake for 15-20 mins or until brown on the edges.

- let it cool completely on a wire rack and then you can cut them into bars or whatever shape you desire.

Happy baking!

my mistake.

Okay so I checked my list to see what I needed to make for today... and saw that my post and two challenges that I made last night were wrong! haha Apparently there is nothing for January 17-19 and the next one is not til the 20th. So my recent post is supposed to be for the 20th! ha! Oh well, I don't have to do anything til the 21st! haha oops!

January 17. National Buttercrunch day and National Cheese lovers day.

Buttercunch is kinda like the English toffee that I made recently. And because I just made toffee, I decided to make something different. I'm actually making a couple trays of brownies for my mom to take to work today, so I made an extra tray for us, for this challenge, and made Peanut butter-crunch Brownies. Haha soo I kinda cheated a little bit. But I had to make something other than the regular toffee since I just made it last week.

making my brownie batter.

My tray of awesomeness that only took forever and a day to cool before I could cut it.

And here you go! my Peanut butter crunch brownies!

I gotta tell you, my fudge-like brownies, the gooey layer of  marshmallows, 

and the peanut butter crunch on top, ugh! soooo goood!! I could eat the whole tray!!! 

Okay let's move on to the next one for today.

Cheese. Mmmmm... Who doesn't love cheese?? Pretty much anything with cheese is good! 

I made a couple trays of my famous cheese rolls for my mom to take to work with the brownies.

We were also going to get some Cheetos, which goes pretty fast in this house, but saw these were on sale for $1/bag so we got these instead. 

I planned on making some mac and cheese too but I just didn't have time today. 

Can I just tell you how much I love this day though?? Chocolate and Cheese? Can you say yes, please??

January 16. National Fig Newton day.

Fig Newtons are a trademarked version of the ancient Egyptian fig roll. Figs then were highly priced so the Egyptians baked the figs in a pastry so they would stay preserved longer.

I used to not like these but i have learned to love them. 

It's one of those things you either love or you absolutely hate.

I haven't had these in awhile. 

There are so many different flavors and kinds now too that I would love to try. 

Maybe next time.

Yup. These were good!

January 15. Strawberry Ice Cream day.

My husband doesn't like anything strawberry if it just has "fake" flavoring. Unless it's made from scratch and from fresh strawberries, he won't eat it. So I was excited today 'cause I was going to make my own strawberry ice cream from scratch. Except I couldn't find the ice cream maker!! waaaahhhh! So I went to the store to go look for a nice cheap one, but they were either cheap but CHEAP, or nice but expensive. Two stores later and an hour of walking around and thinking, I then texted my husband and said, ahhh forget it, i'm getting ice cream. hahaha!

Of course I got the best kind! I just got a tiny one though 'cause I know it'll just sit in the freezer. It was good. Ice cream is ice cream and ice cream is always good! 

I had a little taste and then my son inhaled the rest of it.

January 14. National Hot Pastrami day.

Pastrami. Beef. Yummyyyy!!!!!! Went to the store yesterday to get some pastrami for today's challenge. I didn't wanna just get the pre-packaged ones. So I got some freshly sliced pastrami from the deli. Had a little taste. Mmmmm-mm was it goooood!

Of course it was a little more expensive by the pound, but it's fresher, sliced the way I want it, got the perfect thickness, and it's way better! so I got a half pound!

I was actually going to make a sandwich for lunch today but I was out running errands and just didn't have time. So I just made it for dinner! We had some provolone in the fridge so I made my husband and myself a nice grilled pastrami and provolone sandwich for dinner!

*buuuuurp*

Yup. it was good.

January 13. National Peach Melba day.

Mmmmm... Peaches. We love peaches. Canned or fresh. Try putting it on vanilla ice cream. Even better.
Peach Melba is basically vanilla ice cream with peaches and raspberry sauce. Doesn't that sound good? It is. The family and I went to a buffet for lunch after church today, so I got to make myself a nice little bowl of peach melba!

they didn't have raspberry sauce so I had to make mine with strawberry sauce.

It was still good! yummy!

January 12. National Marzipan day.

Marzipan. Marzipan is a confection made out of sugar and almond meal. It is commonly used to fill chocolates or glaze cakes.
It can be expensive to make as almond meal is expensive. Almonds are expensive. So instead of making it myself, I just went to the store and got some chocolate covered marzipan.

only cost me $2.34 and I didn't have to make it!

I'm not a big fan though.. but guess who likes it?? 

My little man almost ate the whole thing!