Game Day Food: Jalapeno Bacon Poppers.

Do you like my bright green plate? I only use it for preparing or holding meat. 

I love football. I get really pumped up for games, I scream at the t.v., and I get pissed if my team loses. I can't help myself. Since football season officially starts today I figured I'd share a game day recipe. This recipe is not my own, I've seen it all over pinterest, in many different forms, so I'm not even sure who to credit it to. It was however, a huge hit when I made it last weekend for the college games.

Ingredients:

Jalapeños - I have a ton in my garden and people keep giving us more. I needed to use them up.
Cream Cheese
Bacon
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Ground Mustard, etc.
Toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise, remove the seeds.
Mix the cream cheese with any extra seasonings you'd like to use. I used garlic powder and mustard because that is what I had on hand.
Fill each jalapeño half with cream cheese mixture.
Wrap bacon around jalapeño and stick a toothpick through it to hold bacon in place. It usually took about half a strip of bacon to reach around the pepper.

Bake at 350 for around 45 minutes or until bacon is fully cooked. Be sure to use a cookie sheet that has sides as there will be lots of bacon grease sizzling in the pan. Save that bacon grease and use it to make dog biscuits.

I just have to add, GO JETS!! J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!!

Spicy Dilly Beans.

Green Beans were really inexpensive at the grocery store the other day so I bought a few. Now I am wishing I had purchased more. I decided to make Dilly Beans but I only had enough for two jars. That's okay though, I was excited to use some of the jars my Aunties gave me.

For the most part I followed this recipe from Food in Jars, but at the last minute I decided to make them extra spicy so I added more cayenne pepper.

I don't generally go for spicy foods but I'm really excited to try these when they're ready. I have a feeling Jake will love them. Hopefully I'll see another deal on green beans soon so I can make some that are less spicy as well. It's kind of a waste for me to just make two jars of something like this because I know they'll go so quickly once we decide to eat them.

I've linked up for Tasty Tuesday.

Cherry Berry Pie.

Doesn't it look like an evil face with a creepy beard?

We made sure to pick enough berries that we'd be able to make jam and still have enough for pie too. I've never made a pie before (aside from the kind made with chocolate pudding, yum!) and after making two batches of jam and removing all of the cherry pits by hand, I was tired, so I opted for store bought crust. This pie was so good that we immediately ate all but 2 slices. Yeah, we're piggos.

Ingredients:

4 cups fruit (cherries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, whatever suits your fancy)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. lemon juice
1 T. butter
your favorite pie crust, homemade or store bought. You'll need a double 9 inch round. I used Pillsbury because my mom said that sometimes the off brands dry out really badly.

Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl.

Add fruit, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Stir until you can no longer see any sugar or flour and it looks like you have wet fruit.

After placing your bottom pie crust into a 9 inch pie dish, pour fruit mixture into pie crust.

Dot the top of the fruit with butter.

Add the top pie crust. Squish the edges together, make slits in the top.

Here is a slideshow on decorative pie edges. Side note: Why does Good Housekeeping's website look like it hasn't been redesigned since the 1970s? Not feeling the color combo.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hr. It might be good to place a cookie sheet underneath just incase your pie bubbles over. Mine did a little tiny bit.

Let pie cool for a bit and then dig in and enjoy!

Ours was made from cherries, black raspberries, and raspberries. I want to go pick more cherries to make a cherry pie. Cherries are my favorite!

I'm linked up at FTLOB for Tasty Tuesday. 

DIY Chalkboards.

I have made several different chalkboards for the house and I'm a little bit obsessed. I love chalkboards. I love how they're not permanent decoration and I can change them whenever I want to suit my mood.

This particular chalkboard is 2x3 ft. We went to Home Depot and bought a 2x4 ft. piece of MDF and had them cut it to the size I wanted it. Then I bought a can of chalkboard spray paint from JoAnns (using my 50% off coupon). This was my first time using the chalkboard spray paint and I'd have to say that I am not a huge fan. I felt like the chalkboard surface isn't as smooth as when you use a can of paint and a brush which is what I did when I made my other chalkboards. To hang this we used a drill bit that was bigger than the screws to bore a hole into each side of the board so I can easily put it up and take it down to change it.

I have two chalkboards like this made from a picture frame. I simply removed the glass and painted it with chalkboard paint and then reassembled and hung it. The only issue I have with using a can of chalkboard paint is that the brush kind of leaves little lines on your chalkboard. Perhaps using a small roller would be the best way to go about it. This piece hangs in my kitchen so I can easily add to it when I'm cooking and notice I'm running low on something. You can see where Jake has erased the word "chickens". I really want to raise hens and Jake is against the idea. He'll come around.

So for those of you who have made chalkboards, how do you apply the paint and which kind of paint do you use?

Pizza Crust.

Just because I enjoy cooking does not mean I want to spend all day making a meal. I've wanted to make homemade pizza for awhile but a lot of recipes call for time to let the dough rise and I'm impatient. I finally found a crust that is quick, easy and delicious.

Ingredients:
1c. warm water - you want the water really warm, not lukewarm
1 Tbsp. white sugar
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast - that is how much is in 1 packet
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour - I used half wheat and half all purpose.
spices - I used basil, oregano and garlic. Use whatever you'd like but don't skip it or the crust is a little bland.

Preheat oven to 425.

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a bowl until dissolved.
Add the olive oil, salt, and spices.
Add flour, stir until mixed well.

This will be a stickier dough than if you were making bread but it shouldn't be too moist either. Add more flour if you need to.

Let dough sit for at least 10 min. while you prepare your toppings.

Sorry the photo is so dark. My camera was not cooperating. 

I did not roll the dough with a pin. I spread a little olive oil on a baking sheet, put olive oil on my fingers and spread the dough out with my hands. If you added more flour you could probably use a pin without it sticking but it really isn't necessary.

Next add your sauce, cheese, and toppings of choice.

Bake for 15 - 20 min at 425. Mine was done in 15 and was amazing. The whole house smelled good, the crust was really filling and so yummy. I'd eat the crust alone just dipped in olive oil and vinegar and it'd be amazing.

I'm linking up at For the Love of Blogs for Tasty Tuesday, Beauty & Bedlam and This Chick Cooks. Check them out, there are lots of great recipes. 

Pickled Asparagus.

Jake loves pickled asparagus and since asparagus is in season, I thought I'd give it a try. I had never even heard of pickled asparagus until I met Jake but it's a childhood favorite of his and now I know why, it's freaking delicious. I love pulling out a spear and just munching on it. 

There are tons of recipes online so I just read a few and kind of took all of the ideas and suggestions and did my own thing. I love adjusting things to my own personal tastes. Most of the recipes were very similar and differed only in the amount of vinegar used. I made some jars with more vinegar and some with less just to kind of see what we would end up liking. After devouring a few jars, we're of the opinion that more vinegar and less water is better. 

The ingredients I used are:

Dill Seed

Garlic

White Onion

Red Pepper Flakes

Pickling Salt

Mustard Seed

Asparagus

White Vinegar

Water

I cut the asparagus so it would fit in the canning jars then cooked it in boiling water for 2 min. You don't want to cook it for longer because it will be cooked again in your water bath when you seal the jars.

I basically put all of the spices and the onion in the bottom of the jar, packed the jar very tightly with cooked asparagus - if you don't pack it tightly the asparagus will overcook in the canning bath. 

Boiled the vinegar and water together, filled the jars, and then processed for 10 min. 

There are more detailed instructions here, here or here.

Friday Randomness, Again.

Jake and I are going out of town this weekend to visit his dad. I still had some leftover strawberries after making jam earlier in the week and I wanted to use them up before we left so I popped over to one of my favorite sites, Food in Jars, and found a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Butter. Let me tell you, this stuff is delicious. It was lucky that I had extra vanilla beans hanging out from making vanilla extract earlier in the week to use in this recipe. If you decide to make this though, be advised that it takes a very long time. I was able to wash the dishes, fold a few loads of laundry, mop the floor, and scrub the labels off of some glass bottles and it still wasn't quite ready yet. I'll definitely make it again though, even with the time commitment.

I've been working on this blanket for the past few weeks when I have spare time, like at the VA waiting room. It's my first project as I've only recently learned to crochet and the only other things I've made are some "coasters" for Jake which were basically just me practicing different stitches and they're the ugliest coasters ever but he doesn't mind. This blanket is intended as a gift but I kind of want to keep it for myself. Jake says I have to make one either for him or for our bed next. I'm going to go with bed so I get to enjoy it too. Deciding on the colors/pattern is so difficult though because I like everything.

Also, I started a compost last night. Any tips? I've never tried composting before. I've got to say, I love Jake for going along with all of the things I do. Sometimes he thinks my sustainability/green living ideas are a little odd or "gross" but he always supports me and goes along with it. Now if I can only figure out how to convince him that we should get chickens.

Have a great weekend!

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

I've been really busy the last couple of days. I mean, super crazy lady busy. I pickled asparagus, which was a lot of work because I had a lot of asparagus. Then yesterday I decided to use up some of the rhubarb that is taking over a corner of my backyard. I've never tried rhubarb before but Jake was super excited for a strawberry rhubarb pie, which I'm going to make tomorrow. I decided to try out the Strawberry Rhubarb Jam recipe I found on Barefoot Kitchen Witch which is an awesome blog full of recipes and gardening tips. I used her exact recipe for the first batch and it was so easy and tasty. For the second batch the only thing I changed up was that, after adding the sugar and stirring it all up, I decided to add about 2 Tbsp. of ground cinnamon just to give it a little something different.

All you need for the jam are strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, pectin and your regular canning items (giant pot, jars, etc). I won't copy the entire recipe but if you click on the link in the first paragraph it takes you right to the Kitchen Witch's funny post on how to make the jam. She posts a zillion pictures too which is so helpful.

Having never dealt with rhubarb before I had a lot of questions and did a lot of googling. I wasn't sure if you needed to peel it or not, you don't, but you can pull off any little strings if you want. Just be sure to wash it. Cut off the leaves and throw them away as they are toxic. If you're growing rhubarb in your garden, only trim a few stalks off at a time and your rhubarb will continue to replenish itself so you can keep cutting from the same plant.

In addition to the jam, I started a batch of vanilla extract that I'll be giving as gifts to my family. An 8 oz. bottle of pure vanilla extract goes for $20 at the grocery store but you can make your own at home for so much less. I've seen a lot of posts on how to do it all around the web but Kristina from Lovely Morning posted about it the other day and inspired me to get my butt in gear. Kristina used 2 vanilla beans per cup of vodka but I've read other posts that used 3 so I went down the middle and used 2.5 beans per cup of vodka. I also cut them down one side but did not break them open. Check out her post for some great ideas on finding beans at a decent price.

I'm linking up today at For the Love of Blogs for Tasty Tuesday.

Pickled Eggs.

Jake and I colored eggs last weekend. It was really fun and there was a lot of laughing involved, especially since we both drew almost the exact same design on an egg without seeing the other's first. Nerds.

I made some deviled eggs, because that's what you do when you have a zillion hard boiled eggs to eat but I still had an abundance of eggs. So I made some of Krystina's amazing breakfasty sandwiches which you should definitely try because they are delicious! Even after that, I still had eggs. It's like they're everywhere. I then decided to try pickling them. I've never pickled eggs before but it's really easy. There are tons of recipes online but I chose one that included beets, as suggested by Jake.

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs
1 15 oz. can of red beets (the whole beets, not jelly or slices)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
4 whole cloves
1 small cinnamon stick

Heat beet juice (from the can) over medium. Stir in sugar, vinegar, water, salt, cloves and cinnamon stick. Let cook for 8 minutes.
Add beets, let cook for 2 minutes.
Put the peeled eggs in the bottom of a jar that has a tight lid. Pour the beets/juice mixture over the eggs.
Store in the refrigerator, ready to eat in 5 days.

And that, my friends, is how I got rid of all of my Easter eggs.

Spring Green Risotto.

One day I was looking at recipes and came across this one for Spring Green Risotto from the Barefoot Contessa on the blog Fly With Me. I don't watch cooking shows, not because I have anything against them but because I know I'd want to attempt to make every single recipe which would just be ridiculous. For the full version of the recipe click on the link, I only used what I already had lying around and am going to copy the version I made below. I was really excited to make this because one of the ingredients is leeks and I had never tried them before. What type of slacker vegetarian has never tried leeks? They have a scary name, leek = leak = scary.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 - 2 cloves minced garlic
2 leeks, chopped
1 1/2 c. Arborio rice
2/3 c. dry white wine
4 to 5 cups simmering vegetable broth
1 bunch thin asparagus
10 oz. frozen peas, defrosted
1 Tbsp. lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
3 Tbsp. minced chives

Cut asparagus into 1.5 inch lengths. Blanche for 4 to 5 min. Drain and cool immediately.
Heat broth in pot to be used later.
Whisk lemon juice and mascarpone together in a bowl, set aside to be used later.

Heat olive oil and butter on med. in a medium saucepan. 
Add garlic and leeks, saute for 5 - 7 min, until tender. 
Add rice, stir to make sure everything is coated with oil and butter. 
Add white wine and simmer over low heat. Stir constantly until almost all of wine has been absorbed. 
Add broth 2 ladles at a time, stir constantly until broth is absorbed before adding more. This takes about 30 min. 
Once the risotto has been cooking for 15 min, add asparagus, peas, lemon zest, salt & pepper. 
Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring constantly. You want to continue to do this until your rice is firm and edible but don't let it get gummy. 
When done, turn off heat. 
Stir in lemon/mascarpone and the Parmesan and chives. 
Serve and enjoy!

All risottos take what seems like forever to make. The reason it feels like that is because you're constantly doing something, usually stirring, so it's a little more labor intensive than other dishes but so worth it. I love me some risotto.

I'm linking up at For the Love of Blogs for Tasty Tuesday. 

Crock Pot Spinach & Ricotta Lasagna.

Real Simple magazine printed a recipe that had delicious and easy written all over it. It's for Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna made in the slow-cooker. To be honest, I've never made lasagna unless you count the kind that comes in the freezer section that you put in the oven after remembering to remove the plastic wrap. It always kind of seemed like a pita to make. Well, I made it the other night (in the crock) and it was so so good. Jake, the guy who hates leftovers, ate it three days in a row. I did change a few little things so I'm going to post the recipe below with my changes.

Ingredients:
Two 10 oz. packages of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove the extra moisture. The store I went to only sold 16 oz. packages and that was plenty.
1 c. ricotta (you can find this near the sour cream and cottage cheese)
3/4 c. grated parmesan
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
3 c. marinara sauce (one 26 oz. jar is about 3 c.)
6 lasagna noodles (not no boil - I used 5)
1-2 cloves minced garlic

In a bowl mix spinach, ricotta and 1/2 c. of parmesan.
In another bowl mix marinara, 3/4 c. water, and garlic.
Spread 3/4 cup of the sauce mixture in the bottom of the crock pot.
Top with 2 noodles, break them so they fit well.
Add 3/4 c. of sauce, half of the spinach mixture, and 1/2 c. mozzarella.
Repeat. (sauce, noodles, sauce, spinach, mozzarella, sauce)
On top place 2 more noodles, the rest of the sauce, mozzarella and parmesan.
Cook on low until noodles are tender 3 1/2 - 4 hours. Mine was done in about 3 - 3 1/2.

This is so simple and is amazingly delicious.

I'm linking up at For the Love of Blogs for Tasty Tuesday.

Ghetto Tuna Casserole & Other Mac n Cheese Options.

After the long drive back to Idaho and unpacking all day, I had no energy to cook dinner but I felt bad for Jake. The poor guy can't cook to save his life and had been subsisting off of hot pockets, burritos, and corn dogs. I had received more than one text consisting of, "honey, I miss you and your cooking, come home now please!" He said mac n cheese would be good for dinner but since I felt bad I decided to try and jazz it up a little.

Sometimes you just aren't up to cooking an entire meal for your family, or you're pressed for time and there are a lot of ways to fancy up mac n cheese. For Jake I made a box of Kraft and then turned it into ghetto tuna casserole.

1 box mac n cheese, prepared normally - use a little less milk than normal
1 can tuna
1/2 can peas (or use frozen peas)
1 c. shredded cheese - I used pepper jack

Make mac as normal, add extra cheese and stir until it melts, add all other ingredients.

Some other options are:

• Mac with diced tomato, onion and pepper jack or if I don't have pepper jack I'll add extra cheddar and some hot sauce.
• Another option is to add a can of chili. 
• The ever popular mac with chopped up hot dogs. 
• Mac with corn or broccoli. 

Also, it's super delicious with a little bit of garlic too!

The possibilities are endless and so simple.

Broccoli Casserole.

My older brother and his family came over last night for snacks and dessert and my mom and I made broccoli casserole which is my favorite. My mom always makes it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's definitely a family favorite that we always talk her into making for us. I mean, what's better than broccoli and cheese?

Ingredients:
1-2 bunches broccoli depending on size. One big bunch would do.
1 can cream of mushroom soup (do not add the water)
1 c. mayo
1 onion chopped - my mom likes to use half an onion, I like to use a whole onion.
2 eggs well beaten
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 c. bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350.

Cook broccoli, chop into little pieces.
Mix eggs, mayo and soup in large bowl.
Add broccoli, cheese and onions, mix well. Add salt and pepper if you'd like.
Pour mixture into greased baking dish.
Spread bread crumbs over the top.
Bake for 45 min.

I love the crunchiness of the bread when it comes right out of the oven. Although it's good the next day too when it's kind of squishy. 

My eyebrows are all puffy because I just had them waxed for the first time in 6 months. I know that's a really long time to go without getting your eyebrows taken care of but one time this lady pulled off a layer of skin when she waxed my eyebrows so now I'm deathly afraid to go to anyone other than to one lady back home who leaves my face intact.

Idaho Finger Steaks & Cocktail Sauce.

Have you heard of finger steaks? I hadn't until I met Jake. From what I've heard, "they're an Idaho thing." People think of potatoes when they think of Idaho, but according to Idahoans, we should be thinking of finger steaks. These things are one of Jake's favorite foods ever, I mean, as soon as we moved to Idaho this is the first thing we had to go get.

After several trips to the local diner for finger steaks I decided I would make them myself. Jake was pretty dubious about my finger steak making abilities. I looked around on the internet until I found the supposed original recipe from the Torch Cafe in Boise.

The batter is really thick and smells delicious. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. salt (all of the comments recommend to skip this step or it ends up too salty, I skipped it)
2 Tbs. seasoned salt
3/4 Tbs. Worcestershire
2 1/2 c. flour
oil for deep frying
3 lbs. beef tenderloin cut into small strips

Mix first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Slowly mix in flour until you have a nice thick batter. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Heat oil in a pot. You don't have to use a lot, just enough to completely cover the strips of meat. I heated mine to medium, if the oil is too hot it'll cook the meat too quickly and burn it.

Cover the strips in batter, gently set in the bottom of the pot to cook. Be sure to wear long sleeves so the oil that splatters won't burn you. Cook them in small batches so they don't stick together. It takes about 5 min. per batch.

I ended up cutting larger pieces with a knife and going back and cutting them into smaller strips with scissors.

Now, if you're going to have finger steaks you must also have either bbq or cocktail sauce. Jake wanted cocktail sauce so I decided to try my hand at making that as well.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. grated horseradish root (I just used creamy horseradish I had in the fridge)
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. fresh lemon juice
6 Tbs. ketchup

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and refrigerate. Adjust the amount of horseradish to your tastes.

I asked if these were as good as the ones from the restaurant and Jake just nodded as his mouth was stuffed with finger steaks. He's been asking me to make more ever since, definitely a keeper.

Tropical Tenderloin.

I bought this giant 3 lb. beef tenderloin to make finger steaks for Jake (more on that Tuesday). I used about half of it for the finger steaks and I'll probably end up making more but I needed something for dinner last night so I found a "tropical" marinade recipe online and made that. The only problem was that I didn't have some of the ingredients so I just subbed in whatever I happened to have.

1 c. vegetable broth
3/4 c. orange juice
1/4 c. ketchup
1/4 c. pineapple juice (I didn't have any so I left this out)
3 Tbs. packed brown sugar
3 Tbs. lime juice (I used fresh lemon instead)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbs. minced ginger
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. rum extract (I subbed 3 Tbs. Malibu Rum)
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
8 4 oz. beef tenderloin medallions

* I think this would be nice with a little bit of coconut flavoring as well.

Mix all ingredients together in medium bowl. Put meat in a Ziploc bag or small dish, add about 2 c. of the marinade, let sit in fridge for two or more hours. Put aside the leftover marinade to be used for basting.

Cook on the grill (be sure to spray with non stick cooking spray) for 8 to 10 min per side, basting occasionally. I ended up cooking mine in a skillet since we left the grill in Utah. I'm pretty sure that was Jake's sneaky way of getting a new grill. I cooked them on medium for about the same amount of time, maybe a little bit longer and I did baste them.

The marinade was super delicious (I tasted it since I don't eat meat but was curious how it would taste) so I decided to make it into a fruity gravy. I put about a cup of marinade into a small skillet over low heat and added cornstarch (you can mix the cornstarch with water first so it doesn't clump up in your marinade) or you could add flour. Start off with just a little bit and be sure to whisk it asap. Add more cornstarch until you reach your desired thickness. With this particular marinade it was delicious but I wouldn't recommend it with a marinade made mostly of soy. Yuck. Just spoon the thickened marinade over the meat and serve.

Jake devoured this in 3 minutes flat. I'm not even joking. I've never seen him eat anything so quickly. He said he thinks he'd prefer the marinade on a different cut of meat better though, or maybe on chicken. Overall, it's definitely a keeper and something we'll be eating in the future.

My Awesome New Spice Jars.

I posted a few weeks ago about how when we moved my spices disappeared. Most of our boxes have been unpacked and all of them have been searched. I'm fairly certain the spices were left in Utah. Sad. I had one coupon for $1 off any McCormick spice. Other than that, I was going to have to shell out the money to replace them. I went to the grocery store to confirm that spices do indeed cost anywhere from $2 to $8 for a little bottle. That is ridiculous. I used my coupon and bought a couple random off brand spices but knew that I would eventually need more. I do want to start an herb garden but I'm not there yet so I still have to buy them from the store.

After I grabbed my few spices I walked down the aisle and noticed that at the end of the aisle that has Mexican and Asian food items there was a display that housed big packages of dried peppers and guess what!? It also has these little packages of herbs. I know I've passed them all the time and never even thought about it. This time I took a closer look and realized that in addition to some Mexican spices there were lots of my regular favorites, Thyme, Nutmeg, Paprika, Italian Seasonings, Allspice, etc. It was all there for 83 cents per bag. Seriously, 83 freaking cents. On a side note, in the past, I did buy some spices at WinCo in the bulk section but we don't have a WinCo here. The closest one is over an hour away.

The only problem with this is, the bags aren't resealable and they're a little awkward to use. I looked all over etsy for cute jars and didn't really find anything I was in love with. There are sellers on etsy who sell spices in jars but I don't want to pay for spices I'll never use. I want to pick and choose exactly which ones I want. Anyway, I needed little jars and after looking in the local thrift shops I came up with nada. Then I remembered some jam my sister gave me last year in these cute little canning jars. I went to Bi-Mart and picked some up. They're the perfect size and they even come with cute little labels.

I think with the cost of the spices and the jars I came out to about what I would've spent if I had bought them prepackaged but I can use the jars over and over which makes them better for the environment and my budget.

I have these jars from Ikea and they would work great too, I just don't like how the lids sometimes screw on funny. They're great for holding my craft embellishments though.

Even though I technically posted this on Thursday, I'm still going to link up over on The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday since I think it fits the criteria, minus the Friday part of course.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

I was in the mood to bake bread the other night but I wanted to try a new recipe so I googled bread recipes and found one for Kalacs (Hungarian Cinnamon Swirl Bread). It was really simple to make and was delicious although it didn't seem any different than just making a basic bread recipe and adding cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins. I did make some very tiny changes so even though I've already linked the original recipe, I'll repeat the recipe below but with the changes I made.

Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour - I used 2 cups all purpose, 2 cups wheat
1/4 c white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 (.25 oz) packet of dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp.
1 egg
1/4 c melted butter
1 1/4 c warm milk (110 degrees)
1 t vanilla extract
melted butter for brushing
1 T ground cinnamon - more or less depending on how cinnamony you want it. I think I used more.
1/3 c brown sugar

I made this without a mixer because I don't own a stand or a hand mixer, although I've been pinky promised one for my birthday this year. If you click on the link near the top of the post, there are the original instructions on how to use a stand mixer, not that you couldn't figure it out yourself. You know, when I say mix I mean either by hand or with your mixer, whichever you have.

Mix the warm milk, sugar and yeast together. Set aside while the yeast activates (or wait about 10 minutes before adding other ingredients to your bowl.
Mix egg, vanilla and melted butter into the yeast bowl.
Slowly add in the flour and salt. Continue to mix until you get a doughy consistency. I did this with a whisk. The key is to add the dry ingredients very slowly or else it's very difficult to stir.

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel and let sit in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours while the dough rises. Some good places are on top of a warm oven, on the counter above the dishwasher or my favorite place - on top of the dryer, while it's on of course. Only problem is, we don't have a dryer right now. Sad.

Once it's risen to about double the original size you'll want to punch it down. Seriously, just punch it a couple times. Sprinkle some flour on your counter and split the dough into two equal parts. This will make you two loaves. If you want to make smaller loaves, split it into 3 or 4 or however many little loaves you want.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape. You want it to be about 1/3 in. thick. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together in a small bowl. Brush the rolled out dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with the brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Add any other items you'd like (raisins, nuts, etc.) and then roll the dough up, tuck the ends under and place in a greased bread pan. Repeat with the second loaf. Cover with a damp towel and let rise somewhere warm for 45 min.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush tops of loaves with melted butter, then bake until golden brown. The recipe says 30 minutes, mine were good to go in 25 so be sure to check them.

Let cool, cut, and enjoy!

After you eat 80% of it when it's all warm and delicious, slice the rest up and toast in the morning for an awesome breakfast!