FriendlyIam

Everywhere I look, I see apples and pears...What to do with them? Here is your perfect Fall staple. Apple Pear Sauce . Just like applesauce, but softer, and spiced with vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks. This is a great sauce to have in your fridge, delicious on its own (children and adults love it!) or served alongside roasted potatoes, or even sliced brisket. There's nothing like the homemade version, it's really so easy, and here's how... Apple Pear Sauce 4 or more apples, any variety, peeled, cored and quartered 4 or more pears, any variety, peeled, cored and quartered 1 cinnamon stick 1 vanilla bean pod, split down the middle 1/4 cup water Place all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature to Medium. Cook, covered for 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on how many apples and pears you have used. The more fruit, the longer they will need to cook. Check with a fork to determine if they are ready. They should be extremely soft, almost falling a...

My baby turned three this past week, and we decided to celebrate by honoring one of our favorite Disney characters... M I N N I E  M O U S E ! Thanks to pinterest, I found some really cute cupcake ideas. I found these polka-dot wrappers at Michaels. The ears are mini Oreos, and the bows are fashioned with Fruit by the Foot. I made Mickey and Minnie ears for our guests. I bought cheap headbands at Dollar Tree and wrapped them with black ribbon (hot glued the ends). The ears are made out of fun foam. It was so fun to see everyone wearing them...even the big tough men kept their Mickey ears on all night! :) I'd share pictures, but I'm pretty sure I'd regret it.   I used some big hurricanes and apothecary jars to decorate the table. One was filled with red Dollar Tree Christmas ornaments, and the others were filled with red licorice and marshmallows.   And....here is the Birthday Girl herself! It was a fun night! --Tammy

I really wish that I could seriously take credit for this idea. But, I can't. This is the most perfect, delicious, quirky dessert- I fell in love with it even before I could dig my spoon in. I love the new, individual, bite-sized approach to food. I think it's really neat to go to a party and be handed tuna tartare in individual spoons, gazpacho in shot glasses, or seared meat on mini plates...So, why not attempt it with desserts? My cousin Natou did last week- handing each one of us an individual decomposed lemon meringue pie , each nestled in its own deliciously-mini glass jar, with matching lid....to die for. Let me just say that it's one thing if the dessert looks unbelievably delicious, but it's a whole other ballgame when it actually tastes as good as it looks. Right? Well, these babies do. Here is my adapted version of this delightful dessert- in place of lemon curd, I 've used chocolate filling to create the Decomposed S'more. Decomposed S'mores 12 m...

One of my favorite freshman-year memories is coming home from a hard day of classes and finding my roomate, Saralyn, donning her apron. That meant cookies were coming our way! These were some of our favorites. The best part about these cookies is that they only have . ..get ready for it... THREE ingredients . For reals. They are also GLUTEN-FREE for all my GF friends out there. {Magic PB Cookies} 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 18 Hershey's Kisses for tops Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar, peanut butter, and egg.   Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. {I usually use a small cookie dough scoop, which leaves them with a rougher texture but is much quicker!} Bake for 10 minutes. While baking, unwrap 18 Hershey's Kisses and set aside. When you remove cookies from oven, immediately press a Kiss into the center of each warm cookie. Wait about 10 minutes for the chocolate to melt, and then pop one of these babies into your mouth wh...

I have received so many emails from people asking me for an " incredible"  break-fast dish.." something unique ", " something really special "- that's what you've been asking for. Well, there is one dish that I serve EVERY single year at break-fast, the once-a-year dish that my guests wait for all year round. But I am sorry to disappoint, because it's not that  unique , nor is it too  special . However, it is delicious, and there are never, ever any leftovers: Blintz-Souffle. There you have it. My sister, Jordana gave me a similar version of this recipe years ago. You've probably tasted a version of it before, or perhaps even made it yourself. It's simple, takes 5 minutes to prepare (about 50 in the oven), and is actually embarrassingly made with store-bought frozen blintzes (that happen to be delish, might I add)...Yet, my guests keep asking for it, so I must please them! Truth be told, it is truly delicious, easy, and can be prepared ...

OoOoOoOoh, spooky ! Want to make your own ? All you need are some basic crafty supplies that you probably already have laying around. I found two gold frames at Savers thrift store back in March of this year and I grabbed them with this very project in mind!  Once October arrived, I knew it was time to put them to use. I sponge-painted the frames with black craft paint , allowing some of the gold to still show through. I then printed out this skeleton head : and cut out the skull, jaw, eyes and nose with an exacto knife . I then taped it onto some burlap and sponge-painted the areas I wanted to be black. Once the paint was dry, I cut a large oval around the painted image and hot glued the burlap directly onto the back of the frame . (Does anyone else hate working with burlap?  Yuck, so itchy and messy!  Why do projects with burlap have to turn out to be so cute?) Once the burlap was secured to the back of frame, I tied 2 bows out of orange and wh...