Breakfast Muffins

My husband and I have a Sunday ritual.  We get up and go to breakfast at a local sports bar, The Silver Star Saloon, every Sunday morning possible.  When we walk in the door the waitress, Sarah, grabs our drinks and then asks us if we want our usual.  It's like Cheers, except I'm not sure she actually knows our names, just our order.

If you ask my friends and family, I am a great cook.  Although, my hidden secret is that I hate cooking breakfast.  To me, breakfast just isn't that creative and I am terrible at cooking hash browns.  I also despise pancakes and waffles.  I can't explain it.  I know it's weird.  

If we are home Saturday morning for breakfast, I usually just eat leftovers from the night before.  But,  for the past few weekends I have been making these Breakfast Muffins.  (I also made biscuits and gravy but that is another blog.)  These are super simple and take minimal effort, I promise.

Breakfast Muffins

6 eggs

1 lb cooked and crumbled sausage, bacon, or ham (cooled)

1 cup of shredded cheese

1 roll of refrigerator "grands" biscuits

Salt and Pepper

(You could also add veggies or really anything you wanted to.)

Preheat over to 350.  Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the meat, veggies and cheese.  Season with the salt and pepper.

Spray a muffin tin with baking spray.  Open the biscuit roll and separate each one.  My roll had 8 in it so I used 4 whole biscuits and then split the other 4 in half.  Flatten out the biscuits and put them in the bottom of the tin and up the sides.  Once all the biscuits are in, pour or scoop the egg mixture into the pan.  I used a 1/3 cup measure but a 1/4 would be more suitable.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.  Extract and enjoy!

Painted Furniture

One of my new favorite things to do is painting furniture!  I just love finding a new piece and giving it new life.  Right now I am less than 2 weeks away from my next show (where I sell furniture pieces...along with many other items) so I have many pieces in progress.  Who am I kidding, show or not, I ALWAYS have many things "in progress".

My painting station (aka my dining room) currently has 2 dressers and a coffee table "in progress" and awaiting their new lives.  The coffee table has been one of those projects where I go from plan A to B, C and now D.  I think I have painted the base of that thing like 6 times now!  But I have settled on this color/finish and I am going to stick with it….I think. 

Here is the coffee table "in progress".

I paint all of my pieces with chalk paint.  If you haven’t tried this stuff, you need to.  It saves so much time in sanding and prepping.  Plus that is the stage where I usually get frustrated and walk away from a project.  I usually just fix any divots or imperfections with putty and sanding.  But I never just leave it with a solid color...that would be way too boring for me!  Yes, I am that person that doesn’t like white walls in her house!  So I always add a design.  This is the fun part!  I usually do a google search to get an idea then I either draw it right onto my piece or if it is more intricate I will use my projector and trace it on.

 This little chest of drawers is just about finished - just need to add new knobs.

Some of my finished pieces.

Don't be afraid to try something wild and crazy.  After all, you can always re-paint it!

Button Craft Baby Gift

I made this super simple button craft as a gift for my cousin's Baby Shower.  The hardest part of this whole thing was finding the right color spray paint.

I must confess I am a button hoarder.  I just think they are so cool and there are tons of ideas on Pinterest for uses.  My sister made a really neat one of these for my nephew's wall.  She is much craftier than I am but I am happy with the results.  Here is how I did it.

Her nursery theme is Under The Sea Creatures so I first painted the entire canvas blue and let it dry.  Then I went over it with a lot of paint on my brush in a wave pattern.  It is a subtle pattern but effective.  I laid out the pattern in buttons so that I could make sure it would all fit right.  Then I searched for Lime Green spray paint.  We went to 3 different stores before my brilliant husband thought of the auto parts store.  So off to NAPA we went and low and behold, there it was, the perfect color, for an engine apparently.  So I set the buttons in a shoe box, painted one side, flipped them and painted the other.  I did 2 coats on each side.

The next part of the project was the longest.  I set the buttons back up in the shape and then sewed each one on the canvas.  My sister had done hers with glue and we discussed that sewing them on would be best.  I also found these really cute fish buttons at JoAnn's.

And here it is hanging next to the vinyl and wood sign my sister made. (See, I told you she was craftier!)

Jolly Rancher Vodka

Damn you Pinterest!  You give me too many ideas.  I don't have time for this stuff.  BUT...There is always time for Vodka.

Jolly Ranchers and Vodka are a fantastic combination and the process is so easy.

Take 30 Jolly Ranchers of your favorite flavor.  I used Watermelon and Green Apple.  Take off the wrappers and put them in a jar.

Pour a bottle of vodka over the candy.  My bottle filled these pretty evenly.  Secure the lid and shake around just a bit.

This is what they looked like after only 30 minutes.  I kept shaking mine, just for fun but you don't have to.  I would recommend shaking before serving.  Just to make sure.  I took a shot of mine and WOW.  This stuff is dangerously good.  You can't taste the Vodka at all.  I used it to make Trash Cans in a bucket for Girl's Weekend.  IT WAS AWESOME!

My Battle With My Rice Cooker

I've already told you about my love/hate relationship with my Crock Pot.  Another appliance that I have similar feelings for is my Rice Cooker.  I have mostly used Minute Rice my whole life.  It's easy, cheap and you can't screw it up.  And then the price of Minute Rice went from $4 a box to nearly $9.   We got a Rice Cooker for our wedding in 2005 and had used it a couple times but not consistently.  I pulled it out about a year ago and we started using Calrose rice.  My problem was, I could never get it right.  I love sticky rice but it's not appropriate for all meals.  So I set forth to make the perfect fluffy rice.  Here is what I found out.

1.  For my Rice Cooker a ratio of 1:1.25 is perfect for fluffy rice where the grains separate but are still cooked through.  (1 cup rice with 1-1/4 cups water)

2.  Wash your rice.  I take mine and put it in a mesh strainer, rub it against itself and the sides of the strainer until the water runs clear.  I use a lukewarm temp water.

3.  As soon as the lever flips to warm from cook, take off the lid, fluff the rice and turn off the machine.  I found if I left it in for too much longer, it got crispy on the bottom.

Do you have any pointers?  What other appliances do you have a love/hate relationship with?