Salted Caramel Bites

Happy Monday! Today I'm going to share a recipe I shared on Steph's blog a few months ago. In case you missed it, these salted caramel bites are worth mentioning again and again, and again. 

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 small can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
dash of salt
3/4 honey or white corn syrup (I used honey)
Sea salt or kosher salt
*Candy thermometer
*Wax paper
*Glass pan, buttered (you can use a smaller pan for thicker caramels, it doesn't really matter what size you use)

DIRECTIONS:

Add all ingredients (except sea salt) to large pan on medium heat. Stir constantly. Once the mixture starts to boil (about 10-15 minutes) stick the candy thermometer in. Once the mixture reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit  give the mixture one last stir and pour into buttered pan. Let cool (I stuck mine in the fridge because I'm impatient). Once the caramels are almost cool, sprinkle with sea salt. (This is not necessary... I just like the flavor the salt creates against the sweetness of the caramel)

Once cool, cut into small pieces. Roll up in wax paper if desired.

Then eat the whole pan yourself ENJOY!!

Oreo Marshmallow Brownies

I don't even think this requires a recipe post, but I'll do it anyway. This is the easiest twist on brownies you'll ever see. If you want a gooey-oreo-y block of chocolatey goodness in your mouth, this is the right place for you.

What you need:
Box of brownie mix (any!) + ingredients listed on the box
1 cup marshmallows
about 10 oreos (I used chocolate creme filled)

What you do:
Mix up the brownie mix according to directions on the package. Put oreos in a ziploc bag and smash them up. This part is fun. Pour oreos and marshmallows into the brownie mix and mix well.
Cook according to directions on brownie package.
Enjoy, obviously.

The marshmallows melted, I'm not sure if that's supposed to happen, but it was delicious. It made the brownies gooey and just even better. The oreos speak for themselves.

I think I'll go have another now.

Double Chocolate Cake Cookies

Have you had cake cookies before? 

They're cookies made from cake mix and are light, fluffy, and always have the perfect flavor. I always have cake mix on hand, so when I needed to make a quick and easy dessert to bring to family dinner, I was able to whip these up with everything in my pantry.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (any flavor, obviously I used chocolate to make these "double chocolate"!)

1 cup chocolate chips

1 stick butter (softened)

2 eggs

1 tsp vegetable oil (not pictured, use more/less to consistency)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Stir together cake mix, butter, eggs, and oil in medium bowl until well mixed. Add chocolate chips, mix in. Use cookie scoop or drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Enjoy!

High Five for Friday

Oh Hey, Friday!

I'm so glad you're here.. please be nice. I'm just using you to get to the weekend.

What a week this week was!

{1} This is not a "high" but is definitely worth mentioning.

Hurricane Sandy hit and we are lucky it didn't hit us too hard. We kept power and there were some trees/branches down but no major damage.

Not everyone was so lucky, and everyone affected is in my thoughts.

If you want to donate to a great cause, check out Dani's blog. She is offering donation sponsor spots, meaning she's donating all proceeds from her $4 buttons to Save the Children. Save the Children is a wonderful organization with many program areas to protect children, educate, and provide relief to those in need. They're providing emergency relief for families with children who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Obviously, this organization touches near and dear to my heart. Although I don't yet have children of my own, I'm spending my career serving and protecting children and I feel so passionate about this. Thanks, Dani for this wonderful idea.

{2} We MOVED!!!

I thought I'd never see the day.

We got word last Wednesday that we would be able to pick up the keys on Friday. Yep, that left about two days to pack. We thought we'd be moving but had nothing set in stone so we weren't ready at all. We finally got everything moved in (it was a mess and exhausting) and we're still setting up and unpacking but I'm so happy to be in the new apartment without the nightmare neighbors living above us. 
Thanks to everyone who helped us move- love you all!

Here's our wonderful new view...

And a sneak peek of the mess apartment ;)

{3} Food always gets included in my highlights.

We made this awesome casserole...or something. It was amazing.

I'll be posting that recipe soon!

Peanut butter M&M cookies...

Pineapple pizza while moving! Yum!

{4} Although this isn't from the week, I haven't been around blog land too much so wanted to include Girls Night from last weekend :)

A few friends and I went to dinner at Gordon Biersch for dinner. We didn't know, but the restaurant was brand new and wasn't officially opened. We got to go in, have free dinners and $1 drinks! It was so random and amazing to say the least.

 The pomegranate margarita was insanely good.

We then saw Pitch Perfect. So funny!!!

{5} Last but not least, I have major news!

You might remember me mentioning some "life changes" a couple times over the past several weeks.

I'm changing jobs after almost 4 1/2 years.

I'm so sad to be leaving my wonderful co-workers, many who have turned into good friends. I know we'll still see each other, but still. It's strange to think I won't be seeing their faces every day.

I'll miss the kids I work with so much. That's the hardest part.

I'm nervous, excited, anxious, happy, sad...all of the above! It'll be a huge change but the new job is more along the lines of what I want to do long-term. My last day is next Friday and I get a week off before starting my new job. It's happening so fast...I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this soon.

Maybe soon I'll be able to talk about it without crying???

Since I have the best co-workers ever, they got Charm City Cupcakes for me and another girl who is leaving soon...

Then we went to a goodbye Happy Hour.

{we like to eat sweets and drink, what can I say?}

$5 margaritas, holllaa!

So, as you can tell, it's been an eventful week. Good, bad, and lots of in-between.

I'm so glad we have internet again and I'm back in blog-land. I missed you all!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

This time of year, I just love pumpkin in anything.

These cookies are no exception! They're light, fluffy, and have the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor.

Ingregients (Yields about 5 dozen cookies):
1 stick butter
1/2 cup shortening (I use Crisco)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Mix butter, shortening, sugars, pumpkin and egg with electric mixer until well incorporated.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix well.
Chill dough in fridge for ~30 minutes.
At this time, I would preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Roll dough into tsp size balls (I use a cookie scoop).
Mix about 1/2 cup white sugar with 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (I made my own):
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves or allspice (I prefer cloves, but whatever you have on-hand)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Roll dough balls in this mixture, place on cookie sheet.
Bake 8-9 minutes until slightly browned.

Adapted from this recipe

Enjoy!

Influenster

What is Influenster?

Influenster is a community of people who review and answer questions about products and experiences. Members can get exclusive deals for products, promotions, and more!

I joined a few weeks ago and am working on a few "Expert Badges" which match my blog's focus: "Pop Culture", "Sweet Tooth", "Beauty Queen" and "Fashionista". You can earn badges and improve your score by completing surveys, answering questions, and completing reviews. You can unlock 5 badges, so pick categories you're interested in. There are 16 Expert Badges to choose from.

I haven't gotten into it too much, but I'm loving the ability to review products and give my honest opinion, as well as answer other people's questions.

So if you're interested in sharing products, experiences, and have an active social media life, head on over and see what it's all about! 

It's Friday...

Happy Friday!!!

I'm so excited to be off work today and Monday, making it a 4 day weekend!

The best part....we hardly have any plans and are just going to do whatever we feel like the whole time.

I wanted to go away this weekend, but have hardly been home lately. It feels like a vacation to just be sitting on the couch. We might just do some day trips and other fun stuff.

5 of the best things from my week are...

1. Take-out sushi from Wegman's. Not only is Wegman's my favorite grocery store ever, the sushi is the bomb. And the ginger helped my stomach which has been upset all week! Win-win

2. Lots of candy. Okay, Target had a "buy 2, get a $5 gift card" deal. Naturally, we bought two huge bags. There might be a LOT of trick-or-treaters and we have to be prepared!

In all reality, I'm sure we'll just eat it ourselves

And look at that adorable glass pumpkin candy bowl! Target, $5.99

(it holds a lot of candy, too!)

3. Pumpkin Pie spice coffee creamer. I need coffee right when I wake up in order to function. I look for this every year around this time and it's so good.

4. That versatile blue blazer! It's my new favorite item of clothing. It has so much potential! (Kohl's, Elle Brand)

5. New slippers! Again... Target! $9 (on sale!)

They're so comfy and warm, and totally cute. I don't buy expensive slippers. The last time I did, they wore out the same way as cheap ones. Especially when I wear them outside and every moment of the day when I'm at home. Cheap slippers like this are the way to go for me. Do you agree?

6. I get to add something else today.

We've been through some really hard stuff lately. It's been really difficult to stay positive. It's also been really hard to keep up with blogging. I'm trying to do it all, so if I'm not around as much, don't be surprised. 

I haven't had time for original posts. I can't even remember the last time I posted a recipe. I hate that, but once my life gets back to "normal" (ha, what is that?) I'll get back with things.

I love blogging, but I had to cut down on the sponsors/giveaways this month. I hope you understand and keep reading because I truly love all of you and interacting every day!

On the bright side, things are slowly starting to look up for us and I'm taking things day by day.

I hope everyone has a great, relaxing weekend!

Linking up with Lauren :)

High Five for Friday!

I feel like I'm living for the weekend lately! 

There definitely were some fabulous things about this week, though.

I hope you all had a great week and have some fun weekends planned! 

{1} Salted Caramel cupcakes. Almost 2 years ago, I was baking these cupcakes and dreamed up this little blog. I didn't really keep with blogging until a few months ago, but those cupcakes will forever be tied to Sugar, Spice, and a Dash of Advice! :)

{2} This is totally not a highlight but Chris and I both got sick this week... he got hit a lot harder. I took a trip to Target and stocked up on stuff to make us (mainly him) feel better. 

Can we talk about those Edy's pineapple popsicles in the back there? Freaking amazing. I've been eating popsicles like it's my job lately. (I WISH it was my job.)

{3} Staff Retreat for work- this is why I made the cupcakes (like I needed a reason?). Normally I don't talk about work but I just had to say that I work with an amazing group of women. No matter what, we are a team and are supportive of each other. I've been very lucky!

Totally wish I could post a picture because we took some silly ones, but I doubt they would appreciate their faces showing up on my blog. Haha!

{4} Impromptu date night

Chris and I had a random date last night. He wanted to take me out to cheer me up about some crappy stuff that I've been dealing with.. how sweet :) 
We went out to dinner at PF Chang's and then to the mall to buy this game we saw the other day. I am not a huge game person but we played it the other day and he really wanted it. It's a lot of fun and cool to do something different.

PF Chang's was amazing, by the way. Of course, we got lettuce wraps. We were so hungry I didn't think to snap a picture. This was my fortune, though...

Luckily, I already had thanks to some amazing people in my life!

{5} Smell of cinnamon in my house...

Thanks to this cinnamon broom. I didn't even know these existed before dating Chris. His mom always has these in the house around the holidays. They literally fill the house with amazing cinnamon smell for weeks. Naturally, I had to get one as soon as I saw them at Wegman's. I used some leftover fall flower stuff from my fall wreath to decorate it!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! :)
Linking up with Lauren as usual!

Pretty Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Did you see these pretty chocolate covered pretzels in my weekend update post a couple weeks ago?

I wouldn't just leave you a pretty picture without explaining!

(Or maybe I would! I'm just now getting to post this...Vacation threw me off!)

Here's what you need:

White chocolate or any other chocolate (I used a mixture of a Ghiradelli baking bar and white chocolate chips- just what was in my cabinet)

Pretzels- as many as you want to use!

Sprinkles

Vegetable oil

+

Sauce pan

Glass bowl

Baking sheet

Wax paper

Here's what you do:

Melt chocolate. 

Chris introduced me to this method of heating chocolate without the risk of burning it!

He says this is what they do on the Food Network.

So I thought, it must work.

It does!

Boil water in a saucepan.

Position a glass bowl over the boiling water and place the chocolate in the bowl like this:

The chocolate will begin to melt...

Then add about a teaspoon of vegetable oil to thin the mixture (use more or less depending on what the consistency is like)

Throw in the pretzels and make cure to fully coat them.

Use tongs to place covered pretzels on a wax paper covered baking sheet.

Sprinkle with sprinkles right away!

It doesn't have to look neat. We got chocolate all over the place!

Stick them in the freezer for 10 min or in the fridge for 20min so the chocolate can harden.

Patiently wait....

That's the hardest part.

Then, Enjoy!

These are easy, fun, and the combinations are endless. 

I'd love to hear your ideas for different variations!

Weekend Update!

Well, that weekend went fast!

I got so much done... I always feel so behind when I come home from a trip. This weekend consisted of catching up on cleaning, laundry, and some diy projects I've been wanting to do.

I was on-call for work this weekend, so couldn't really do much else but it was so nice to just chill.

I can't wait to show you what I made- the yellow flower is a hint! 
I also made a couple bracelets... I used to love making jewelry and haven't done it in a few years so I decided to get back to it.

I went shopping... and found an adorable lace top that I'll no doubt be wearing to work this week. I've really tried to cut down on the shopping this month (and done a decent job) but I found clothes I actually liked at Kohl's and just had to.

Can you believe the amount of sprinkles I got on my soft serve? I ate the whole thing... of course!

Sunday evening I baked some fluffy chocolate chip cookies that were amazing! I used this recipe found on Pinterest... usually I don't like to stray from the regular Tollhouse recipe, but I decided to try this one and am so glad I did!

I finally feel like I'm back in one piece after a relaxing weekend.
This week will be a short one... the Baltimore Grand Prix is in town, and my office is located right downtown... so I'll be in the office the first half of the week, working from home on Thursday, and off work on Friday! 
Chris bought us tickets to the practice rounds on Friday... I'm hoping to either meet Patrick Dempsey or Arie from the Bachelorette. I probably won't, but I'll be stalking them down  keeping an eye out! Kidding, kidding, Chris...
(That's how he got me to go last year. Told me Patrick Dempsey would be there. I looked and couldn't find him anywhere... It was sad)

That's last year.

I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Chris' life thus far. Hoping this year will top it!

A couple bloggy notes...
In case you missed it, I'm taking ad's via Passionfruit. Check out my sponsor page for more information.
Don't you love my new banner? Dani made it! She's the best! 

Of course, I am linking up with Sami, Dana, and Leeann for Weekend Update!



How was your weekend? I hope it was great!

Meet Dani and her Whipped Cream Carrots!

Happy Friday!
I'm still on vacation but wanted to leave you all with a special something from one of my bloggy favorites, Dani!
Dani lives all the way across the country from me in Washington. 
That's too bad, because if we lived closer we would probably hang out all the time and drink wine and bake. At the same time, obviously.
Anyway, here she is!

~~~

Whipped Cream Carrots.

Doesn't that sound appetizing? 

No?

You're mistaken then, because it's delicious.

That word....delicious...I feel like I've been using it a lot lately.

Maybe I've just been eating/cooking really good food. 

First of all, let me introduce myself to you all.  My name is Dani, and I ramble blog about my life over at Inspire. Motivate. Love. 

There is no single focus.  

Just my life. I never thought people would find it interesting, but since I find others lives, like Alyssa's interesting, I thought I'd share my own too. 

Thus...I blog. 

And met Alyssa.

And am now going to share this ridiculously yummy dessert recipe with you all while she is gallivanting around Disney World. 

I'm not jealous. At all. 

That's a lie. 

So...on to this delicious concoction.  

My mother has always made weird stuff with jello.  Most of the time, I like it.  I never would have thought to put fruit in my own jello, yet it comes in cups at the store, right?  Well, lets take that a step further.  Fruit isn't so unheard of, but vegetables? I thought I had misheard her the first time she told me. My other half, his grandmother does the same thing.  

And oh my goodness....these recipes are amazing. You would never think. 

I grow my own garden. It's full of goodies.  You can head over and click through if you want. 

This year, I have an over abundance of carrots. 

So....I went searching for a carrot salad recipe, and I found carrot jello. 

I'm sorry, what? 

Here you go:

1 (6 ounce) package orange flavored gelatin mix

2 cups boiling water

1 package Neufchatel cheese, softened

1 cup finely grated carrot

2 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

1 (8 ounce) tub Cool Whip, softened.

Start by boiling the water, and then dissolving the gelatin in a large bowl. 

In the mean time, cube the cream cheese, or Neufchatel, whichever you prefer, and whip it in your food processor or blender.  I have a small food processor, and since you're going to add your gelatin liquid, I have found it works better in a blender. 

Add the gelatin, and cream together until the cheese is all blended in. 

Pour back into your bowl. 

Add carrots (I grate mine in the food processor), pineapple, and cool whip, and mix together. I just use a wooden spoon or plastic spoon.  The cool whip may be a little lumpy, but it's ok. Once it's set, it's like marshmallows. (Ohh...those might be good to add.....)

Let sit in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  I usually cannot wait for this to be done, and dive in after two hours.  And then proceed to not share the whole thing, and eat it over the next few days. 

I promise. You will love this. 

Unless you don't like carrots, or pineapple, or orange jello. 

Then you might have a problem. 

Because who doesn't like cool whip?

I personally much prefer the real thing to cool whip on my occasions, but for things like this, it's acceptable. 

I hope you all enjoy!

~~~

Isn't she the best? 

I never would have thought to put carrots in a dessert but she makes it work. I can't wait to try this recipe!

Thanks, Dani!

Don't forget to go give her some love at Inspire.Motivate.Love. :)