Make Your Own Vanilla Syrup

It’s no secret I love iced coffee. I spend wayyyyy too much on it. I like to mix up where I go between Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts. I usually get it as a reward for subbing or for working, but I need to give my wallet a breather. I know I wrote this post a while ago about why I stopped drinking coffee. Since being home though I’ve needed coffee to help me get through subbing and it’s so much easier to just go out and buy coffee than make coffee or tea at home. I don’t drink a lot of hot coffee so I usually go out to buy my iced coffee.

I recently bought some iced coffee at Bruegger’s and they didn’t have any coffee syrup. I had to mix in my own sugar and it got me thinking about making my own coffee syrup so I could make iced coffee at home. So, I did! I can’t wait to start experimenting with new flavors. I can’t drink flavored creamers because they just make me sick, so I love that I can be fine with the flavored syrups.

What you need:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla extract (use clear if you don’t want your syrup looking brown)

Directions:

1. Stir sugar and water together on medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Make sure you keep stirring or else your sugar could burn to the bottom.
2. Stir in vanilla extract.
3. Pour into bottle.*
4. Pour desired amount into your hot or iced coffee! ENJOY! :)

These would make great gifts for any coffee lover! You can always double the recipe with 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract if you think you’ll go through it fast or want to make large quantities for gifts! There isn’t a set shelf life for this. I wouldn’t recommend refrigerating, and for that reason just be conscience of any mold growing. I’ve read it can last up to 6 months and people have even had the same batch mold at different times. So, it just depends.

*I bought my bottle at K-Mart. A lot of places sell oil and vinegar bottles (Target, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond), but they didn’t have a cap and I was afraid of little gnats or ants getting into the bottle since it is sugar. You can also look online!

S’mores Krispy Treat

I have been absolutely terrible with keeping up with my blogging. I just haven’t had the motivation to turn on my computer. But hopefully I can get back in the swing of things. I have a ton of ideas for blog posts, I just haven’t gotten around to them.

Anyways, one thing I love about summer is s’mores. I haven’t made them this year because we just haven’t had a fire at our house, not that that has stopped me from making one on the grill, in the microwave, or even on a candle. I go to great lengths for my s’mores. The other day I made a s’mores krispy treat (like a rice krispy treat, but s’morey).

What you will need:

• 1 (10 oz) bag marshmallows
• 1 box (12 oz) Golden Graham cereal
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
• 6 Tbsp butter
• non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large non-stick pot on medium heat.
2. While butter is melting spray a 9x9 or 11x7 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Once butter is melted, add marshmallows to butter and stir together until marshmallows are melted completely and look creamy. HINT: Spray your spoon with non-stick cooking spray to keep your marshmallow mixture from sticking to the spoon.
4. Turn off heat and stir in cereal.
5. Stir in chocolate chips. They will have a tendency of melting, especially if you make it on a hot day like I did.
6. Spread mixture into your into your pre-greased pan.
7. Put in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to cool.
8. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Unfortunately, the next day my dad broke the glass pan and ended up throwing it away so my enjoyment was short lived. Probably a good thing for my waste line.

Matcha Green Tea Donuts

Don’t let the name scare you. I never make donuts because they seem like too much work. And matcha? I’m better off just drinking tea with some Hostess donuts. This was such a simple recipe.

Donuts
What you need:

• Vegetable Oil
• Pop ‘n Bake Buttermilk Biscuits (Yes, the one in the tube. I used Pillsbury)

Directions:

1. Pour enough vegetable oil into a deep frying pan that will allow the donuts to float and keep them off the bottom. Heat oil to 375 F, or as long as the oil bubbles when the dough is put in than you’re good!
2. Take the biscuits out of the tube. Take a bottle cap and place it in the center of the donut. Push down and twist enough so that the center comes out. Save the center of the donut to use as donut holes!
3. Make sure the oil isn’t on high or else you’ll burn your donuts (I may or may not have burned my donuts). I turned the burner to Medium. Place the donuts in the oil. Cook on one side for about 30 seconds.
4. Using a slotted spoon or tongs turn over the donuts and fry for an additional 30 seconds, or at least until you think they are baked all the way through.
5. Place them on a paper towel covered plate.

Glaze
What you need:

• 1 1/2-2  teaspoon Matcha Green Tea Powder*
• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/4 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Place Matcha Green Tea Powder and powdered sugar in a bowl.
2. Pour in boiling water and whisk ingredients together until smooth.
3. Dip donuts into glaze. Make sure to keep them on a plate or newspaper. The glaze will slide off and get messy, so you want something that will be easy to clean.
4. Done!

I don’t even want to admit how many I ate. They were so good. The next day the Matcha green tea taste really came out.

*The Matcha green tea is really hard to find if you don’t want to order online. SOME Starbucks MAY sell it, but I wouldn’t take your chances. You may be able to find it if you have a local Asian Supermarket, Whole Foods, or World Foods market (like Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati). My hometown has none of those, so I was really at a lost. I ended up finding it at Heinen’s, a local fine foods grocery store, but it was not easy!

Last Minute Wrapping Paper DIY

I bought my mom a Mother’s Day gift that came in the mail. I was just going to give her the package without wrapping it because I ran out of my spring-ish wrapping paper that I used for Haley’s baby shower, and I really didn’t want to go out and buy more. Plus, I hate wrapping paper because you end up throwing it away anyways. I thought about just using wrapping paper, but then I decided I would spice it up a bit. I ran several ideas through my head, but realized that this project would be the most simple.

What you need:

• Spray paint
• Newspaper – I chose paper with more writing than pictures
• Leaves, Flowers, any kind of silhouetted object

I chose the orange spray paint because I had it lying around. I used it for one project, but, let’s be real, when am I actually going to use bright orange spray paint again? It ended up looking more autumny , it’s all I had because we didn’t have too many flowers around our house and the daffodils died already. :(

Instead of spray painting on my porch I actually took the time to put down cardboard and I sprayed on the grass because at least if it gets on the grass it will eventually be cut. Then I put the leaves face down (makes them heavier so they won’t fly up while spraying. Then I lightly covered the paper with a coat of spray paint. I took the leaves off right away so they wouldn’t dry to the paper and let the paper dry for about 20 minutes.

Hint: You don’t need to tape the leaves down, but I would spray them before putting them down so that  they are heavier and won’t fly up. Make sure you don’t do this outside on very windy days or you’ll have a heck of a time trying to spray paint.

Then you’re done and you can wrap your gift! The best part? It was COMPLETELY FREE!

Milk Glass Vase DIY

This is a super simple DIY. I am obsessed with neutral colors and pops of color, so I love milk glass. Plus, finding milk glass vases when thrifting makes me so happy because they are very easy vintage pieces.


What you need:

• White GLOSSY spray paint
• Various jars and vases
• Newspaper or a drop cloth.

Make sure before you start that all labels are removed from the jars. I usually soak mine and scrub the labels. You can you rubbing alcohol to remove any left over glue. Make sure you wash your jars and let them dry completely!

Next, I laid down the newspaper and put the bottles on it to keep from spraying the porch (which happened anyways. Oops!). Between every coat I waited at least a half hour, but I would wait at least an hour. Make sure you coat the vases evenly. Follow your spray paint instructions for temperature and distance which spraying should be done.

Once your jars are completely dry they are ready to be used! I can’t wait to put flowers in them to add pops of color to my cocktail cart!