Saturday, June 21, 2014

Homemade Rice Krispies Treats



One of my favorite things to do is bake because baking for me is a stress reliever. I bake with or without excuses and for the most part always from scratch. This week I actually had an excuse. Its summer now and in my house that means tournament season. My sister plays softball and she needed to bring some sort of snack this week. I have been chomping at the bit to make Rice Krispies Treats. They’re not hard to make and they are very hard to mess up. So it is always a treat to make them because I enjoy eating and baking them. I also have the recipe written at the end.
            I didn’t go crazy and kept the recipe simple. I made two different batches each with different marshmallows. The first was just regular mini marshmallows and the second I used brownie marshmallows. You only need one 10oz bag of them. Before starting anything else, you should spray your baking pan so nothing sticks. I choose to use Pam for this. A 9 by 13 pan is a good fit for this recipe.
The next step is to go to the stove. You need a medium sized pot and you should put it on low heat. First you are going to melt about 3 tablespoons of butter. Salted or unsalted does not matter, in my case I used unsalted. While that is melting you should stir the butter around the pot to evenly distribute it. Then once it is all melted, add the whole bag of marshmallows. You should continuously stir the marshmallows even when they begin to stick together. Once the marshmallows are all liquid, you can take it off the heat. Then mix in about 5 or 6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal and stir gently until it’s all mixed.
            Then you take the mixture and pour it into your baking pan. It will be pretty sticky so you can try and use the spatula to push it around a little. A trick I got from watching Nerdy Nummies was to use wax paper to help distribute the Rice Krispies throughout the whole pan. I tried to make the Mario Star treats and failed (they did not want to stick to the lollypop stick). Then you can chill them in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. It is easier to cut them after that because they are a little less sticky after they're cool. Then you can just cut them into squares or whatever shape you like and enjoy! If you have gotten creative and made different kinds let me know. I always like trying new things.
And finished product:

 
Recipe:
5 or 6 cups of Rice Krispies Cereal
3 Tbs of Butter
1 10oz bag of Mini Marshmallows (or your choice)
Tools:
Rubber Spatula (or whatever you have)
Medium sized Pot
Pam
9 by 13 Baking Pan
A sheet of Wax Paper
Directions:
1.      Start by melting the 3 Tbs of Butter at low heat in a medium sized pot until fully melted.
2.      Add whole 10oz bag of Marshmallows and continue to mix until liquid and no bumps of marshmallows are seen.
3.      Take it off the heat and add the desired amount of Rice Krispies Cereal and stir gently until mixed completely.
4.      Don’t forget to spray your Baking Pan and then pour the mixture into the pan. Try and push it around with your spatula.
5.      Then take a piece of Wax Paper to push the Rice Krispies evenly throughout the pan.
6.      You can then chill it for about 20 to 30 minutes. Making it a little easier to deal with and cut. After you cut them, they’re ready to eat. 

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Favorite Summer Nail Color



So it is almost officially summertime though for me school has been out since May. The weather is finally starting to warm up except the weird random cold days, which usually is accompanied by rain. Yet it allows me to shift my color palette to summer inspired colors. By palette, I usually mean my nails. I have a serious nail polish problem that is worse than my music problem. Don’t believe me, here’s a picture:

That is not even all of them and it continuously grows. I seriously look at nail polish and ask myself if I have this shade or one quite similar. It is a hard bargain with myself...yesterday I put back two. Last summer my favorite shade was a toss-up between Bikini so Teeny and Tart Deco by Essie. One a very light yet vibrant blue and the other a bright orange pink. Essie released their neon collection and I waited about two months for it too finally appear in my area. If you like nail polish as much as me, you know how hard a wait that was. Especially when it took another week for them restock it.
My favorite…I’m addicted. A bright vibrant blue that just calls out to you. 

 My color palette is contains quite a bit of blues. Mostly because I feel it compliments my skin tone and hair color quite well. Blue-violet is my total clothes power color. So blue clothes and blue on my nails is not that far-fetched. I personally love this color, it’s this blue that just reminds you of the ocean. Summer to me has to involve at least one beach trip…no matter if I usually get sunburn at least once. Even if you don’t normally wear the bright colors; this one is perfectly acceptable. It is a nice pop of color to brighten any day.