What better way to celebrate the holidays then through decorating!!

Christmas is a time to spend with family and friends; enjoying the obnoxious Christmas music and over indulging in cookies and fudge. The fun thing about this Christmas is that it is my first Christmas with my husband!  We worked hard on making our apartment our own.  We wanted to make sure that the apartment was decorated the way that we dreamed it, not how our parents decorated our houses growing up. 

Taken at Grandma's House by Jason Plante

The next couple of pictures are from out holiday this year.  We went to my grandmother's house and decorated cookies with her and my sister.  The lower pictures are of our apartment; minor things that we done to share our holiday cheer!

Gingerbread man!

I am not Jewish but the holidays do not only mean Christmas, but Hanukkah as well...

I had bought my decorations from Target after Christmas last year, therefore, I only spent $15 in all for my decor!

Our yearly cookie decorating with Grandma...

The wreath was made by me, using left over ribbon from my wedding and left over bulbs that did not have room on my tree to adorn.

I hope that everyone has a great Holiday season!  Be safe, be happy, be merry!

Fabric Softener!

The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...but what they don't mention is the static that is in the air during the holiday festivities!  There is a simple answer to static problems.  Though, it might not help with your static hair, this recipe will help your clothes stay static free and soft on top of it all! I honestly don't see the point in buying fabric softener or dryer sheets when I already have everything in my house to make my own fabric softener.  Therefore, here is a recipe that I found online for fabric softener.

Ingredients: Water, White Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Essential Oil

In a pot pour in 1 cup of baking soda

Add 6 cups of vinegar...make sure to stir in between eat cup because it will fizz up.

Stir it all together...

Combine 8 cups of water to the mixture...

15 drops of essential oil...I used Lavender oil...

Mix it altogether, then pour the mixture into a gallon sized container...I use glass because it keeps things better than plastic usually does.

Voila!!!  Use 1 cup of softener with each washer load...

This fabric softener keeps clothes from being static and there is no need for dryer sheets!  I also have a friend that said that she uses plain baking soda or vinegar instead of adding it all together like I just showed you.  Either way, it is a cheaper alternative to buying name brand softeners that do the exact same thing to your laundry.

This recipe is from frugal-living-now.com

My first Loaf of Bread!!!

Simple Whole Wheat Bread!!

I joined this website called The Fresh Loaf.  It is a website where they give you lessons on making artisan breads and I signed up to learn how to make bread!  This is my first loaf of bread and I wanted to share my experience with y'all!
Simple Loaf of Bread!

 

The Ingredients...

Mix the flour and salt.  I then took 1/4 cup of the water and warmed it in the microwave so that I can disolve the yeast in.

Mixed flour and salt...

I then took 1/4 cup of the 1 1/8 cups of water and warmed it up to help dissolve the yeast. 

 

Warmed 1/4 of the water...

2 Tsp of yeast in the warm water...

Let it stand for 5 minutes and the yeast/water mixture will start activating.  You know that the yeast is activated by the bubbles!

Activated yeast!

Then, I added the yeast mixture to the flour and salt...

After adding the yeast I added the rest of the water.  I then started kneading the dough for 10 minutes...

Knead for 10 minutes...

Let the dough rise for an hour and a half...

After the bread has risen, punch it down, knead, and let rise again until it is twice its size.

I then formed the bread on the shape that I wanted it to bake, then covered it with a cheesecloth to rise again before I placed it into the oven.

Scored dough...

Score the bread so that the loaf doesn't crack while in the oven.  Set the oven to 375 degrees and allow to bake for 45 minutes.

Bon Appetit!

Ingredient:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/8 cup water

*This recipe was from the first lesson on The Fresh Loaf website...

Skillet Apple Pie

Awesome Skillet Apple Pie!!

I got this recipe from Southern Living Magazine. I adapted it to what I had on hand though and use pre-made apple filling and crust.

The Ingredients!

Melt 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter in a 9 inch skillet

Then add 1 cup of brown sugar

Mix it all up so that it can caramelize while in the oven

Place one of the pie crusts on top of the butter/brown sugar mixture

Add two cans of the apple pie filling!! I love apples!

At this point I cut the other pie crust into strips to make a lattice top crust...

Bake the pie at 350 degrees...

For 1 hour!

Voila! Delicious Apple Pie...and I didn't have to dirty a bowl to make it!

 Ingredients:
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
2 pie crusts
2 21 oz. cans of apple pie filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a 9 inch. cast iron skillet. When the butter is melted add the brown sugar.  Incorporate until the mixture is smooth.
Place 1 of the pie crusts on top of the brown sugar mixture, then add the 2 cans of apple pie filling. Place the 2nd pie crust on top of the pie...I made mine into a pattern but you can do it however you would like.
Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 1 hour!
When the pie is done, let it cool then sit back, relax, eat a slice of pie, and marvel at how great of a baker you are!!

Photos from Europe!

Three years ago I went on a trip to Europe for the summer.  I went with a group of 40 people(don't recommend).  I was also a photography minor, therefore, I took 1000s of photos and took a couple 100 with a film camera.  I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite photos that I took while on my adventure through Europe.

London, England 

"Mind The Gap" from "The Tube"

Outside of the Covent Gardens

I love coffee...I had to take a picture of my first cup of coffee in Europe!

The shop where I bought my first cup of coffee

Tower Bridge, London, England

King's Street Station Ceiling, London, England

Paris, France

Night photo-its a little dark-sorry

Versailles Palace

Bottom of the Eiffel Tower

Of course I had to take a photo of my coffee!

The Netherlands- My favorite part of the trip!

Learned how Gouda Cheese was made...

As well as how wooden shoes are made!

Windmill- you can't go to Holland and not take a picture of one.

I also have this thing for taking pictures of food.

The Ann Frank House

 

 

Germany

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Castle

Outside of the Black Forest, Germany

Our hotel outside of the Black Forest

Exterior of our hotel

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

The reality that is Dachau...

The watch tour at Dachau

The walls of Dachau

Upperclass prison

Italy

The Coliseum

The Vatican

Florence, Italy

Venice, Italy

Venice

Venice

Tiramusu

I also had a chance to go to Greece but my photos from Greece arn't as good as the rest of my photos.  I hope that you enjoyed my gallery from my trip.