Apple Pie Breakfast

Hey all, Jen here!  So, if you follow me on Pinterest, you would know that I go on crazy pinning sprees every few days.  I came across this super yummy looking breakfast a few days ago-Apple Pie Breakfast.  Sounds amazing, right!?  If you like apple pie anyway, and seeing how my oldest uses the saying "I love you more than apple pie" constantly, it's safe to say they we loves some apple pie!  So, I decided to try my hand at this breakfast. It's really not complicated, so I didn't take 'step' photographs.

Here is the original Pin photograph and the LINK

Photograph is from the Cooking With Jax website

The original Pin said "throw it all in a slow cooker and let it cook over night".  This excited me. How great would it be to wake up to the smell of apples and cinnamon!?  When I went on to read the directions for this recipe, it says you have to stir it every hour. ha. ha. I am not getting my butt up out of bed to stir something. Sorry. Anyways...

Ingredients:

1c steel cut oats

3 diced apples

1c apple juice

3c water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Now, the directions said to throw all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook it for 2-4 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low, stirring every hour.  It ALSO said that you can cook it on the stove top for approx. 30m, but you might have to adjust the amount of liquid in the recipe so it would be the right consistency.  

What I did:

Instead of using steel cut oats (because I didn't have any on hand, and I had everything else) I used regular old rolled oats or whatever they're called.  I threw everybody in the pool and cooked it on the stove top, stirring occasionally.  Here's what it looked like prior to being cooked:

It smelled amazing, I was very excited to try it. Then I did. . . and my taste buds were filled with disappointment. It was pretty bland. I added a little sugar to sweeten it up a bit, and that made it a tad better.    Here's what it looked like fully cooked and ready to go in my tummy:

My oldest loved it, and had 3 servings.  All in all, it's a pretty decent, cheep, semi fast, filling breakfast.  After I ate mine, I had the idea of adding some lemon juice to give it the tart kick apple pie has, but my in-laws didn't have any. So, I will have to try this again when we get back to Virginia and add the lemon juice, and update this post with my findings.  Total approximate cost for this breakfast:  $1.85. Yes, $1.85.  I would say it yields 4-6 servings, depending on your serving size. 

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Old Mirror to New Chalkboard!

Ok, I don't have all the steps photographed for this project, because it's actually one I did a few months ago.  I'm trying to finish up two classes right now, but I wanted to go ahead and share a project with ya!

There are sooo many things that I like and pin- but one of my faves is chalkboard paint.  It seems so forgiving since it has a grittier texture than regular paint, so I thought it would be a good place to start.  This is the pin that inspired me:

Source: etsy.com via Leigh Anne on Pinterest

I got lucky because not long after I saw it, my mom offered me this mirror:

Not the best picture, but you get the... picture.  Anyway, I've always loved this mirror, but the glass in it was realllllly old, and I'm not into that look.  So, I went out and bought some chalkboard paint- I think I paid around $15 for the paint, but I've completed several projects with it so far.  Then I looked for paint chips in a color I liked and I bought two of the sample shades you can take home.  Those were around $6 together.  So let's say I have $9 invested in this project.

The first thing I did was I removed the mirror from the frame.  Pretend like there is a picture of this process.  It should look something like this:

Me struggling to remove staples circa the year my mother was born, resulting in a small amount of bloodshed.  

Once I got the mirror out, I was going to measure,etc., and have a piece of wood cut to fit the frame.  The back of the frame was actually a piece of wood though, so I decided that I would just paint it instead.  Pretend like you are now viewing pics of me painting the wood with chalkboard paint. About 3 coats.  I used a sponge roller and that made it super easy, and super quick.  

Next, I started painting the frame with the paint samples that I purchased.  I used foam yet again.  I just really think it makes painting so much easier, especially when you have zero patience like I do.  As a matter of fact, I have so little patience that I decided not to waste time removing the old white paint, or priming it.  If you are a person who needs things to be perfect, then I'd suggest not bypassing those steps like I did.  If you are lazy like me though, priming is not necessary :).  Again I used two or three coats of paint to get the level of coverage that I wanted.

Once everything was painted and dried, I dug around in my parents garage for some small nails and I just hammered the chalkboard into the frame.  Thank God I'm not building bridges.  Because I was lazy and skipped some steps in the painting process, I decided to "distress" it, which basically consisted of beating around on it with a hammer, and voila!

This is what I ended up with:

I chose orange like the actual pin because it's what worked for me, but I would love it in any color!  This is what it looks like in my house now:

I also refinished the cabinet below it, which should have doors.  If you know how to reattach said doors, feel free to come by.  It's also attached to the wall with some heavy duty velcro, because the old hanger was just a piece of wire and I cut that off.  

Not bad for a beginner!

LA

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Pizza Bread

When I seen the idea for the Pepperoni Pizza Bread, I immediately thought 'lunch'.  I love pizza, and creating little pizza's is the best option for my kids, because God forbid everyone want the same thing on their pizza.  Anyway, here is the link to the Pin.
Here is the image from Taste of Home, where the Pin originated from:

Now, something that should be known about my children: they all have different tastes, and like different stuff on their pizza, like most I'm sure.  My oldest doesn't like pepperoni, I think there might be something wrong with him..I'm joking (kind of). So, just doing what's pictured above wouldn't work for us.  So, I changed up the recipe a bit.. here's my take on the Pepperoni Pizza Bread:

Ingredients:

Mozzarella, Italian Bread, butter, garlic salt, pizza sauce, and your favorite pizza toppings-I used pepperoni and canned mushrooms

The Process:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cover one side of the bread with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt

Flip the bread over and cover with pizza sauce-I use a decent amount because the bread with absorb some of the sauce leaving your mini pizzas kind of dry if you don't use enough sauce.

Now sprinkle on the cheese and put on your toppings.  When it comes to the pepperoni's, it's my preference to use kitchen shears and cut up the pepperoni's before putting them on the mini pizzas, otherwise it's too much pepperoni for me.  

Now pop em in the oven until the cheese is melted and the bottoms have a golden brown color

Enjoy!

The butter and garlic salt on the bottom gives the crust a garlic bread taste...so yummy!!

I made 9 mini pizzas and the total cost was $2.45! Nice cheap yummy lunch.

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