Twice Baked Sweet Potato Recipe

Last night I was planning to make a large chopped salad for dinner and thought I needed a something to go with it;  so while I was at the market I decided to grab some sweet potatoes and thought I'd figure out what to do with them when I got home. I personally love sweet potatoes because they remind me of fall and have many health benefits! So I came up with this easy recipe for twice baked SWEET potatoes and they turned out to be super delicious!  Hope you enjoy!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon chopped dried cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons chopped almonds
• 1 Teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Step 1: Poke your two sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place on a microwave safe plate covered with a paper towel and place them in the microwave for 7 minutes. 

Step 2: Remove your sweet potatoes from the microwave and slice each of them in half. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the inside of one of the halves and place the inside of the potato in a medium sized bowl. Clean out the inside of the potato half leaving a thin layer of potato along the inside of the skin. Repeat this process with the remaining halves. Place your empty halves on a cookie sheet. 

Step 3: Use a fork to mash up the inside of your potatoes that you placed in the medium bowl, mash potatoes until they resemble a smooth texture. Add in the butter, cranberries, almonds, cinnamon and stir mixture until ingredients are all blended together.

Step 4: Take your mashed sweet potato mixture and using a small spoon, scoop the mixture into each of the empty halves on your cookie sheet. Scoop the mixture in the halves until all of the mixture is gone.  Once your potato halves are filled, you can refrigerate them (for up to 24 hours) to cook later or place them in a preheated 350 degree oven to cook. Cook the potato halves for 30 minutes. Once they have cooked, serve and enjoy!  

Sweet Potato Health Benefits:

Massive amounts of Antioxidants

Contain twice the amount of fiber compared to regular potatoes

Rich in Vitamin C & E 

Potent source of Maganese (helps stabilize blood glucose levels and appetite for hours)

High levels of B6 and Potassium

The tubers also contain iron, magnesium and Vitamin D

Soothing for the stomach

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Recipes from my Pumpkin Carving Party

This weekend myself & my roommates had our second pumpkin carving party. We set up tables covered with plastic table cloths (makes clean up super easy), tea light candles for our guests to put in their pumpkins, plastic gloves so our guests don't have to get dirty when cleaning out the pumpkin guts and we placed many decorated paper bags that contained carving supplies in them. All we asked of our guests is that they bring their own pumpkin and we provide everything else including yummy gluten-free treats and cocktails! Once everyone was done carving their pumpkins we had a bonfire in the back yard with s'mores. It's perfect since the nights have been getting cooler. Thought I would share with you some of the gluten-free favorites from our party,  hope you enjoy!

Something Salty...

Warm Chili Cheese Dip Recipe

  Ingredients:

• One big block of Kraft Velveeta Cheese (32 oz)
• One Can of Hormel Chili with Beans
• 3/4 pound of drained, cooked turkey meat
• Tortilla Chips

Directions:

Step 1: Cut your Velveeta cheese into small squares and place in a crock pot.

Step 2: Open can of Hormel chili With beans and drain just a little bit so the juices on top drain out. Pour the can into the crock pot on top of velveeta cheese. 

Step 3: After you have drained and cooked your turkey meat place it in the crock pot with cheese and chili. Place the crock pot lid on top of the ingredients and turn crock pot on low; be sure to stir the dip often(about every 40 minutes) and check that it's not burning on the sides! 

Step 4: Once the ingredients have cooked together and the cheese has melted to become a smooth, dip-like consistency it's ready to eat!  Keep crock pot on low or turn it off for your guests to enjoy warm and yummy dip. Serve with tortilla chips & enjoy! 

Something Sweet...

Mini Caramel Apples

  Ingredients:

• Miniature Organic Granny Smith Apples from Trader Joe's, they come in a bag containing 10 for only $2.49
• 1-2 bags of square caramel candies
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 1 wooden skewer
• 12-15 lollipop sticks (4.5'')
• Parchment paper
• Cookie sheet or large serving platter

Directions:

Step 1: Unwrap all of your caramel candies and place them in a double boiler pot on top of the oven on medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of milk to the caramel. Carefully continue to stir the caramels. 

Step 2: While the caramels are cooking, take your mini apples out of the bag and remove the stems. Once all the stems have been removed, insert the wooden skewer into the top of the apple where the stem was, pushing it deep into the apple;  remove the skewer and place a lollipop stick where the skewer was. Place your apple with the lollipop stick to the side. Repeat this process with remaining apples. 

Step 3: Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place your apples with lollipop sticks on to the parchment covered pan. Once your caramels are completely melted into a liquid consistency, pour the caramel into a tall bowl. Take your apples and dip them into the caramel shaking them to remove the excess caramel layer thats at the bottom of the apple. Place the caramel covered apple onto the parchment paper covered pan. Repeat this process with remaining apples until all apples are covered in caramel. If the caramel becomes thick near the end place it in the microwave for 30-60 seconds so it becomes thinner and easier to dip the apples in. 

Step 4: Once you have dipped all your apples in the caramel, carefully cover the apples on the pan with plastic saran wrap and place the apples in your refrigerator so the caramel hardens onto the apples. When you are ready to serve them, remove the apples from the parchment paper and place on whichever plate you desire to serve them on and enjoy! 

& Something Bubbly..

Champagne + Spiced Cider

Ingredients:

• Brut Champagne
• Spiced Cider from Trader Joe's
• Empty clear wine bottle 
• Funnel

Directions:

Step 1: Right before your guests arrive pour champagne through the funnel into the clear glass bottle. Be patient as the champagne bubbles out, fill the clear glass bottle 3/4 full. 

Step 2: Shake up the spiced cider, using the funnel pour the spiced cider into the clear glass bottle entirely filling up the bottle to the top. Do not shake the mixture! Pour into glasses and enjoy! 

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Gluten Free Pumpkin Nut Bread

I love the fall season & everything about it! My favorite thing about fall is being able to bake in the kitchen without over heating the house and filling the house with delicious smells! Growing up I always remember my Mom would make pumpkin bread. It smelled delicious while it was baking in the oven and was perfect for breakfast or dessert! She would heat it up in the microwave for 10 seconds with a little butter on top and it tasted fresh out of the oven! So today I pulled out the family cook book and decided to make it, but substitute a few things so it was gluten free! Hope you enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (I used Trader Joes brand)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Cup pumpkin puree
• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 Cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 Cup butter or margarine softened
• 1/2 Cup chopped pecans 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Step 1: On a sheet of waxed paper or in a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; set aside. 

Step 2: In a large bowl combine pumpkin, granulated sugar, milk, eggs and butter, beat until well blended.

Step 3: Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, beating just until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans. 

Step 4: Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar if desired. Slice and enjoy!

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Gluten Free Skinny Pancake Recipe

I stumbled across this recipe and had to share it with you! I love breakfast but most gluten free pancake mixes I've had are heavy and very filling. These pancakes are super easy to make, delicious, gluten free, dairy free and healthy!

Gluten Free Skinny Pancakes

Ingredients: 

(For one serving of 3 small pancakes)

• 2 egg whites

• 1/2 cup uncooked oats

• 1/2 banana

• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:

Step 1: Place ingredients in a blender, and blend for 30-60 seconds until all ingredients are well mixed into a batter consistency

Step 2: Pour 1/3 of batter onto greased griddle or large pan on medium heat, flipping over the pancake until both sides are slightly brown. Repeat until all batter is gone. 

Step 3: Serve with desired toppings and enjoy! 

Note: I placed my batter in a plastic baking squeeze bottle to make my pancakes pretty and have a fun design! 

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DIY Halloween Banner

Last year my roommates and I had a pumpkin carving party. Out guests brought their own pumpkins and we provided all carving supplies, along with yummy treats and fall cocktails! It was a ton of fun and we decided to make it an annual event! The other day I was browsing hobby lobby and came across this plain brown paper mâché banner that said "Halloween" as soon as I saw it, I thought it would look great hovering above our appetizer/cocktail table at the pumpkin carving party, but I needed to jazz it up a bit...so I did exactly that! Read below to see how I made my plain banner festive and fun!

Follow the blog to watch my pumpkin carving party come together, so that you too can have your very own pumpkin carving party for friends and family!

Supplies:

•Paper mâché banner from hobby lobby

•Light orange acrylic paint

•Extra fine copper colored glitter

•Mod Podge

•Small paint brush

•Medium paint brush

•Paper plate

Directions:

Step 1: Layout the banner across a covered surface, I covered mine with an unfolded paper grocery bag. 

Step 2: Squeeze a decent amount of your orange paint onto the paper plate, Using your medium paint brush, paint even strokes covering each of the letters, avoid painting the string that attaches the letters together. Paint as many coats as you find necessary (I did 3 coats per letter) After you complete your coats rinse your paint brush, ridding all of the paint from the bristles. 

Step 3: After the paint has completely dried on your letters (about 30 minutes) Use the small paint brush, dip it into the jar of mod Podge and paint the edges of your first letter. It's okay if it doesn't look perfectly straight! That's the point! After you finish painting the edges of your first letter, generously sprinkle the extra fine glitter where you painted the mod Podge, ensuring you don't miss any spots. Repeat this process with every letter.

Step 4: After you have finished completing step 3 on every letter, carefully pick up your banner and sprinkle all of the loose glitter off of it. Once all your loose glitter has came off, use your medium brush to paint a layer of mod Podge over each letter, sealing in all of the glitter. Let it dry for 4 hours or until mod Podge layer has dried clear.

Once your letters have dried, your banner is now ready to hang and beautifully display! 

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DIY metallic & glitter mason jars

As lame as it sounds I love storage and organization. In my bathroom I have large glass canisters you would typically find in a kitchen for storage but I use mine to store cotton balls and the other to store Q-tips. I use these items daily for cleaning up makeup, applying toner, etc.  so it's essential that I can access them easily! I've been staring at these boring jars for awhile and decided I needed to do something different, so I took a trip to hobby lobby and purchased some new jars. I ended up finding some large, wide mouth mason jars for only $2.49 each...what a steal! But I decided to jazz my mason jars up and ended up making one metallic silver and the other dazzling with silver glitter. I love how they turned out, the jars hide my cotton balls and Q-tips but look super cute and add a touch of sparkle to my bathroom :) You could use these jars in many different ways; I find them perfect to store pocket change, makeup brushes, hair barrettes, etc. However you decide to put your dazzling jars to use... I hope you enjoy this post!

Supplies Needed: 

• Two large, wide-mouth glass mason jar (or whichever sized mason jar you choose to use)
• One bottle of metallic silver acrylic paint (or color of your choice)
• One medium sized paint brush
• One foam brush
• Bottle of glossy mod podge
• Silver glitter (or color of your choice)

Directions for Metallic Jar:

1. Take the lid off of your jar and squeeze some paint into the bottom of the jar. 
2. Using your paint brush, brush the paint all around the interior of the jar, coating all the sides and areas of the jar in even strokes. Look at the outside to see if you missed any spots. 
3. Once you have completely coated the inside of the jar with paint, let the jar dry for 4 hours. 
4. Check on your jar after the 4 hours and if you still see spots missing paint, repeat steps 1-3 again. Then your jar should be completely metallic colored and ready to use! 
5. **If you are using your Jar to store food, you will want to spray the inside with a clear protective glaze like this one by Krylon (<-- click here)**

Directions for Glitter Jar:

1. Using your foam brush, dip it into the mod podge and spread an even coat of mod podge all over the outside of your other jar. Be careful to not paint mod podge on the mouth of the jar!
2. Over a covered surface take your glitter and sprinkle it all over the outside of your jar, covering all spots of the mod podge. Rinse out the mod podge from your foam brush and let it dry.
3. Once you have completely covered the outside of your jar, let it sit for 45 minutes. After you have let it sit for 35 minutes, pick up your jar and shake off any loose glitter.
4. After shaking off the loose glitter, take your foam brush and paint an even coat of mod podge over your layer of glitter covering all spots of glitter. After you have covered the entire outside of your jar let it sit for 4 hours or until this layer of mod podge dries clear.
5. After you have let the outside of your jar dry clear, your layer of glitter is now sealed shut and your glitter jar is ready to use! 
   

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