Peaches N Cream Breakfast (or Dessert)

The other morning I was wanting something tasty for breakfast, but didn't want one of my 'regular' breakfasts. (i.e. scrambled egg whites + spinach + laughing cow, greek yogurt + honey + cereal, green monster, steel cut oats, etc.). I wanted something different...

So I opened my fridge and peered in and what did I see? 3 peaches that needed to be eaten in the next 3 days and left over cream cheese from making something a couple of weeks ago. I turned to the counter and saw the whole wheat english muffins I had purchased and knew I had some cinnamon sugar mixture in the pantry.




And an idea was born. And that idea yielded something tasty and made me happy all the way around, so I thought I'd share. It's simple and barely qualifies as a 'recipe' but at least it counts for another blog post! Ha ha...

I took an english muffin and lightly toasted it in my new Toaster Oven. (I just got this at Kohl's which has become my absolute FAVORITE store - I love the deals I get there... Sale + XX% off + Kohl's Cash make me very happy! I ended up getting this $100 toaster oven for ~$35.00 (it was on sale for $59.99 and I had a 30% off coupon plus store credit for something I returned... yes please!)



Once the english muffin is slightly toasted, spread liberally with cream cheese (I used reduced fat because I had it on hand from baking - I think this would work great with fat free as well though!) Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix (you can make your own, but the mix uses super fine sugar that melts more quickly, so I prefer it). Slice 1/2 a peach into 6 slices. Layer on english muffin. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture lightly. Place back in toaster oven on 'light toast' setting and wait for the 'DING!'

Then sit down with a cup of coffee (or iced coffee if where you're living hasn't gotten the memo that it's now officially FALL!! Hi Houston!) and sink your teeth into a breakfast that could honestly be a dessert. A little creamy, a little fruity and lot yummy!

Enjoy!

Tuesday Toodles - September Stamp Camp

A new post - two days in a row! Stop the presses!

We had stamp camp this weekend and I had a great time... thought I would share some of the projects!

First of all, I won one of the door prizes (actually two, but the other one is a stamp, not a project). Anyways - this pumpkin is made by punching 6 1" circles and then folding them in half, gluing them to each other and then to the project. How cute is that?!?! The curls are made of paper too and are simply VERY thin strips of paper that were curled around a pencil to give them their shape. Super easy, super impressive = my kind of project! Love it! (It's filled with a bunch of scallopped shapes that I can use in other projects - good scraps to have on hand!)




And now for the Thanksgiving cards:

This one is pretty simple - just stamping, layering and ribbon placement to cover up where they meet. Easy enough!

This one is my favorite one of the day - I love all of the colors together. When I was stamping it, I was a little leary, but when I saw it start to come together, I loved it! I think I lost a button from the upper right side of the tree - I need to look in my bag to see if it fell off...

This one is kinda funny - the flower is actually made from pages of a Twilight book - let's just say it was salvaged from the trash can for good reason! ha ha! I actually did this type of flower for a baby shower invite and then for a general card this summer - I'll post pics of those soon, but it's a simple set of die cut flowers that you layer and then 'fluff' to get the flower effect.

I like this one a lot too - we used the masking technique and then watercolor painted the pumpkins and leaves. Also neat was that the words came from a wheel that my SU Demo cut off of the wheel and then in half to be able to use it in more ways than just in 'wheel form'. Not all wheels lend themselves to this, but this one was perfect for it! Love the versatility! I also love this stamp set (Autumn Blessings?), but I know I won't use it enough to purchase it. I have a hard enough time making Christmas cards, no way I can make Thanksgiving cards too!

This one was just an easy card that took less than 5 minutes to make. Gold embossing, a little bit of punching and then putting it together... Easy enough!

My SU Demo and another friend of mine that's also a SU Demo both have websites I thought I'd share - feel free to click on over for ideas, etc.

Dorothy - just getting started... mainly info for now, but will have ideas, etc posted shortly! And if you want to come to stamp camp with me (in NW Houston), let me know - we'd love to have you!

Kaitlin - lots of ideas lately, including a REALLY cute way to make a pumpkin without stamps!

And that's it for this time... I'm going back through my picture files to see what I missed over the past few months and I'll get some more posts up...

Monday Munchies - Meredith's Shower

Now that my friend Meredith's little girl Morgan is almost 6 months old, I figured it was time to post some of the goodies from her shower. They're LONG overdue, but alas, here they are... (que sounds of Holly and Meredith rejoicing! Ha ha!)

For the shower I decided to just keep it simple and do desserts - we were on a sugar overload at the end of it, but it sure was tasty!


The menu included:

Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing

(Somehow I didn't get a pic of this cake, but was as tasty as always - my go-to strawberry cake for sure!)

Mini Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ball

(I'm sorry the picture is so bad - I didn't realize it was that dark until it was too late for a re-do. But regardless of what it looks like, it tastes AWESOME and that's what really matters!)

Recipe:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into a ball. Wrap with plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.

Roll the cheese ball in finely chopped pecans before serving. Serve with graham crackers.

Peanut Butter Bars

(Somehow this is another picture that eluded me, but boy howdy these were so 's-o g-double o-d' good (name that jingle). If you have a peanut butter lover in your life, do not pass go, do not collect $200 - make these now and secure their love FOREVER!) The recipe can be found HERE.

Brownie Pops


These were pretty basic - I mixed baked brownies with some chocolate ganache I had left over from another project. Shaped them into balls, stuck a stick in them and put them in the freezer while I melted the chocolate coating. Dipped them when it was ready and added sprinkles. These were a chocolate lovers delight!

Dipped Pretzels


It's as easy as it looks - used the rest of the melted chocolate from the Brownie Pops and added sprinkles when they were done. Voila!

Decorated Sugar Cookies

A simple cookie with Morgan's initial were the party favors...

Another successful shower! Complete!

Hope y'all enjoy. Hopefully I'll be back sooner vs later!