Best Pizza Recipe EVER

I love pizza, it's a thing most people like. Pizza can be from a restaurant or it can be homemade. In this case (as well as every other case in this world) homemade is better by far (it you now how to make it).

The thing I love about homemade food is (for the most part) you always now what your eating. You don't have to worry about preservatives, or if the chicken nuggets your eating contain horse meat (yuck!). 

But this……. Yum, there is no horse meat in this :). 

Ingredients:

• 1 c. water
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt 
• 2 tbsp oil 
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast 
• 2 1/2 C. flour 

Steps:

• Combine water, sugar, salt, oil, and 1/2 of the flour.  
• Add yeast and remaining flour and mix well. 
• Allow the dough to rise for approximately a 1/2 an hour. 
• With oiled hands, roll dough onto either a large greased pan or a pizza stone. 
• Add pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and toppings. 
• Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. 
• Enjoy! 

check out these other recipes: 

s'more cookies

strawberry shortcake cookies

Mint Chocolate Cookie Recipe

I love cookies. and mint. and chocolate. and lots of other things. Today I'm sharing a SUPER yummy recipe for mint chocolate cookies.

They are so delicious and they are stuffed with Andes mints. Yum…….

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup shortening 
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 well-beaten egg 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 2 1 ounce squares chocolate, melted 
• 1-2/3 cups flour
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 cup sour milk 
• Andes mints 
• melted chocolate chips

Steps: 

• Thoroughly cream shortening and sugar. 
• Add in egg, vanilla, and chocolate. blend well. 
• Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk to creamed mixture.
• Let dough chill in the fridge for 1 hour. 
• Roll dough into small balls and stuff 1 Andes mint (broken in 1/2)  inside. Push down. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. 
• Add melted chocolate chips to top of  cooled cookie. 

Check out these recipes:

lemonade cupcakes

red velvet cookies

Peppermint Ice Cream

MADE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

Today is my second "this summer I….." post. Today I'm sharing a recipe for delicious homemade peppermint ice cream. Yes I realize its not peppermint ice cream season, but hey, that didn't stop me. 

I absolutely love peppermint ice cream, it's a personal favorite of mine.  It's the easiest ice cream recipe ever and it only takes about 5 minutes of actual work, the rest of the time is just allowing the ice cream to stir. 

doesn't it look delicious. Yah it got a little melty while I was taking pictures, the Arizona heat can do that to you ice cream. 

 Another thing on my list done, 500 more to go, just kidding :).

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of heavy cream/ whipping cream (they are the same thing)
• 1 cup of whole milk 
• 3/4 cup of sugar 
• 1/8-1/4 of a teaspoon vanilla extract (depending on how minty you like your ice cream)
• crushed up candy canes 

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, except the candy canes, in a bowl and combine until well blended. 
2. Pour mixture in to ice cream maker and mix until mixture thickens (about 20-25 minutes)
3. Add in crushed candy canes and mix for an additional 5 minutes 
4. Enjoy 

** If you want to the ice cream to thicken even more put it in an air tight container in the freezer**

Also check out these posts: 

S'more Cookies

Lemonade Cupcakes

White Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies

I'm going to be honest with you, I have never been one of those people who loves red velvet. Actually, the first time I tried it was about a month ago (don't judge) and I honestly didn't think it was that great. Then (yesterday) I wanted to make cookies with my sister and the only thing I could find was a red velvet cake mix. I decided to try cake mix cookies, they were DELICIOUS.

I also added in some white chocolate to make them a little more dance, but even with that there were only 5 ingredients in the whole recipe and it only took me about a half hour to make them all.

here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• one red velvet cake mix 
• 1/2 a cup of vegetable oil 
• 2 eggs 
• powdered sugar (for rolling)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips 

DIRECTIONS:

• mix cake mix, oil, and eggs in mixer. 
• add in white chocolate chips
• scoop out cookies and roll in powdered sugar 
• put cookies on baking sheet and cook 8-12 minutes at 350 
• allow to cook on pan for a few minutes and allow to cool. 

You might also like these:

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

S'more thumbprint Cookies

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Ever since I made my S'more Thumbprint cookies last week, I've been toying with the idea of using the same concept to make strawberry shortcake cookies. My idea was to make a basic shortbread cookie to replace the cake (I guess these should actually be called strawberry shortbread cookies :) and top it with some cool whip and strawberries. I was assuming they'd be more of a cute creative dessert rather than one of those delicious, I'm going to make this everyday desserts. 

They actually turned out quiet delicious. There perfect for those hot summer days when you need something refreshing. the best part is they are relatively healthy for you (as far as cookies go) there is only a half a cup of sugar in the shortbread cookies and then who knows how much in the cool whip.

They're just the perfect combination of sweetness, crunchiness, freshness (it just perfect). The recipe is super simple too, probably all things you have at home (well except maybe cool whip) 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 cups flour 
• cool whip
• sliced strawberries
• optional: powdered sugar 

Directions: 

1. In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar 
2. add in vanilla extract and mix until incorporated 
3. slowly add in two cups of flour 
4. take dough out of mixer and roll into a disk shape. wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until hardened (about one hour)
5. preheat the oven to 350 degrees 
6. take dough out and shape into small balls, place balls on cookie sheet and press them down
7. put the sheet in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown on edges 
8. allow cookies to cool completely and then top with cool whip and strawberries (for the cool whip I put it into an icing bag and put in on the cookie like icing) 
9. to make it look a little fancier, sprinkle powdered sugar onto the top of cookies. 

check out these other recipes:

s'more thumbprint cookies

cookie dough popsicles

mini ombre cake

S'more Thumb Print Cookies

Ok here's another confession: I LOVE not only cookie dough, but also S'mores. No not REAL s'mores silly, s'more treats. S'more popcorn, cookies, bars, etc. There right up my ally. But real s'mores, sorry not a fan I rather eat just the chocolate. So now that I've made that confession let's look at this amazing recipe for today.

S'more thump print cookies. Yum, just yum.

Yes, here's another angle. Are you convinced yet???

Ok here's yet another picture of this heaven.

Ok, ok here's the recipe you've all been waiting for:

INGREDIANTS:

1

cup butter, softened

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

1

egg

1

teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3

cups all-purpose flour

1

cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs (16 cracker squares)

1/8

teaspoon salt

miniature marshmallows (about 1 1/4 cups)
chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 325°F.
2. In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour, cracker crumbs and salt; on low speed, beat about 1 minute.
3. Scoop dough out in teaspoon fulls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. With thumb, make indentation in center of each.
4. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are firm and edges are just beginning to brown. Lightly press 3-4 marshmallows in center of each cookie; bake 2 to 3 minutes longer. Top marshmallows on each cookie with 5-6 chocolate chips; let stand 2 to 3 minutes. With tip of knife, gently spread chocolate over marshmallows. Let stand until chocolate is set.

Here's some other great recipes:

Yummiest Green Smoothie Ever (30days contributor post)

Cookie Dough Truffles

reese's peanut butter cup popcorn

Cookie Dough Truffle Eggs

Yes, if you've been following along for a while you know of my love for cookie dough, and recipes involving it. I honestly didn't even realize I was going to be posting something with cookie dough until I started editing the pictures (I know, I'm awesome). So for those of you who don't like cookie dough, I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist NOT sharing these.

Don't they just look delicious, and they are in egg shapes too, just in time for Easter. Another great thing is the cookie dough inside is eggless, so you don't have to worry about eating raw egg. :)

I mean, just the outside looks delicious, but imagine everyones surprise when there is COOKIE DOUGH inside, I think it makes it 100 times better. 

Ok so here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1/2 a cup of butter (softened)
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar (packed)
• 2 cups of flour 
• 2tsp vanilla 
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk 
• 1 cup of chocolate chips 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cream butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about two minutes) and add in vanilla. 
2. Slowly add in the two cups of flour
3. While the mixer is still running slowly add in the can of sweetened condensed milk 
4. once every things combined add in the chocolate chips
5. scoop out the dough and form it not on inch ovals/eggs. Place on wax paper and refrigerate over night.
6. Melt the chocolate and dip the cookie dough in it. Let it harden.

check out these other cookie dough recipes:

cookie dough popsicles

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn

What do you do when your having a movie night with friends and you don't know what to make? I mean they need food, that's half the reason they come (just kidding, but it does help :). Anyway, so this weekend a lot of my friends came over and had a late night since none of us can have sleepovers. We watched movies on four layers of sleeping bags and a featherbed (it was VERY comfortable). I knew I has to make treats, but what? I mean there are so many treat options out there, what do you make? I decided to go with the universal movie treat, popcorn, but add a little twist. I made white chocolate thin mint popcorn (found on Lolly Jane) and made up my own version of Reese's peanut butter cup popcorn. Both of them were AMAZING and were eaten up by the end of the night.

I'm not really a popcorn person, I NEVER eat popcorn (especially movie theater popcorn, eww), but I actually really like this stuff. It's yummy and chocolatey and has mini reese's on the top of it.

Yah, it's really good.

Wanna make some? 


Ingredients:

• 1c. white popcorn kernels 
• mini reese's butter cups
• Reese's peanut butter chips
• milk chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Pop the popcorn. You can use and air popper, the stove or another method you use to pop popcorn. 
2. Melt the whole bag of reese's peanut butter chips in the microwave. 
3. Coat the popped pop corn with the melted peanut butter chips 
4. pour the coated popcorn onto a jellyroll pan or wax paper 
5. sprinkle the popcorn with the mini reese's butter cups 
6. melt the milk chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle over the popcorn

Candy Cane Heart Pops

Hi everyone! You may have noticed the 30 handmade day creative team button on my blog. That is there because (yes) I'm now part of the creative team! I'll be posting over there once a month and so far I'm LOVING it! Make sure to go over and check it out: Thirty Handmade Days. 

Well, I think this will be the last Valentines project for this year :(. Although it's sad to say goodbye to this fun holiday, I'm excited to get on with other tutorials. I have some GREAT posts lined up for you!

Today I'm going to share a great project. Not only is it cute, but it's super fun to make (it's fun for little hands too). 

MATERIALS:

• Mini candy canes ( I saw them the other day at Michael's for around 50 cents a box :) 
• Candy melts (preferably two colors) 
• lollipop sticks 
• spoons 

Steps:

1. On a baking sheet,  place two candy canes next to each other with a lollipop stick in-between so it forms a basic heart. 
2. Place the baking sheet in the oven at three hundred degrees for 3 minutes. The trick about this is you want them to be bendable not melted. 
3. When they come out of the oven immediately shape them onto the stick and into more of a pretty heart shape. 
4. Once the candy canes have hardened,  carefully spoon candy melts into the center of the pops and then drizzle a contrasting color over it. 
5. Allow it to harden (I found it helpful to put them in the fridge). 

Chalkboard Mug Christmas Present

Happy {almost} Christmas everyone!! I hope you are enjoying this season as much as I am. Today I wanted to share this cheap little gift I made for some of my friends who I exchange gifts with every year. I think it cost me $4 bucks for each gift. Pretty great right? Ok I'll stop blabbing and show you some pictures of what it looks like.

Yep, they're CHALKBOARD mugs. I seem to be having a christmas chalkboard addiction. So here's the story: A few months ago in Pinterest land (that's an addiction for another time ;)) I found some super cute chalkboard mugs. I thought they were the cutest things. So I decided to try them out, well the tutorial I found on Pinterest used porcelain chalkboard paint, which is pretty pricy. I decided to try the mugs with normal paint and they seem to be doing quite well after use. the only thing you need to remember is NOT TO PUT THEM IN THE DISH WASHER. 

   

They are actually very simple to make. 

supplies: 

- mug ( I found mine at the 99 cents store)

- primer

- chalkboard paint (I used Martha Stuart brand)

-chalk 

-painters tape

Steps:

1) tape about 3/4 of the way from the bottom of your mug.

2) Paint the bottom part of your mug with primer (This helps the paint stick and makes it easier to write on) and allow it to try.

3) Keep the tape from priming on and paint two coats of chalkboard paint on the primed surface. 

4) let your mug dry for 24 hours. Once its dry dust the surface with chalk. 

5) If you're giving these as gifts, add a bag of hot cocoa to the bottom of the bag and make these to stick in the top. Then wrap it in cellophane and tie the top with one of these tags and a piece of chalk. That's it!!

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