Toffee Blondies {Desserts in Jars}

  Today I started my first college class! My other classes are for the Spring, but my computer class somehow got switched to be a wintermester class {which is only  4 weeks long instead of average 12-16 weeks} so I'm going to be busy studying for the next month.

I also set up a tumblr blog {curiouscountrycook.tumblr } this weekend. My tumblr blog is just another place where I can share my food posts, recipes from other blogs, and food styling tips. It's basically the tumblr version of my pinterest food boards. 

I used regular chocolate chips since we didn't have any mini's.

I'm actually not a fan of toffee, but these blondies were really good. My dad hates toffee, but he ate 4 pieces without realizing that he was also eating the crunchy candy. The good thing about this recipe is that you could just make the batter and use whatever type of add-in's you {or the person you might give a jar to} prefer instead of the toffee and nuts. Or if you are a huge toffee fan {like my mom}, you can skip the nuts and double the amount of candy. .

Homemade Pecan Butter

  You know those days when nothing goes right...I mean absolutely nothing and even the smallest of tasks seem impossible. That was how the last few days have been for me. I woke up feeling sick on Saturday (and later realized I was having a lupus flare up), had no energy, but I was a little productive because I made a chinese chicken stir fry for lunch on Sunday and made oven baked chicken on Monday night for dinner {both recipes will be posted soon}.

DIY Vicks Shower Disks & Other Tips

Not the best pictures, but I didn't feel good so that also means I don't want to spend the time to take good pictures.

   With  the sudden weather changes we've had since switching seasons came with a few downsides like feeling a little sick. One day I woke up feeling stuffed up and having some chest pains (my asthma, maybe), but the next day I felt worse and so I wasn't too thrilled to go to work. I had the classic sinus headache, stuffy nose, the horrible dry couch and I just wanted to spend the day in bed.And it seems to be getting worse as the days go by.With work, some big upcoming events at church soon, and a big family dinner (over 20 people) the last Sunday of this month with some new relatives we just met, the last thing I need or want it is to get sick.

  I remembered pinning a link on pinterest to make your own shower disks that smelled like Vicks vapor rub. I quickly found the link and made a batch. I was excited since we had everything in the house to make the disks.

The little trouble makers sunbathed while I was making the shower disks.

DIY: Coffee Sugar Scrub & In-Sync Exotics (Big Cat Rescue)

I've noticed that I haven't posted any DIY posts in a while so I'm posting this before I post my pumpkin oatmeal recipe {It's fall so be prepared for more pumpkin recipes} or a recipe for delicious (but healthy) breakfast cookies. 

My mom is drinking coffee again which means I can stop using my mini coffee maker. I have noticed a lot of  DIY recipes using coffee grounds floating around the web and decided that since we were just throwing away the grounds to save a batch and make something with it. Here is a list of 21 other ways to use leftover coffee grounds. 

Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub (DIY)

  I was actually going to share a recipe for banana date popsicles with ya'll today, but then I logged onto pinterest and found a great DIY recipe. It's been a while since I shared a DIY recipe so I decided to share this post first.

Gus Gus loves TOMS

Spiced Apricot Jam

  I love fruit, but my favorites are stone fruit: peaches, plums, and apricots. They are juicy, sweet, and perfect during the hot summers. After getting a big box of apricots, I decided to make apricot jam. It's not uncommon for my dad and I to finish off a jar of jam in a week or two so I thought it was a good idea.

  For a few years, I went up to Kansas with my grandparents for harvest in the summer and stayed with the family who farmed the land. Bob, who was like another grandpa to me would always save a small amount of wheat so he could make his homemade wheat bread, which tasted nothing like the stuff you get from the store. One of the guys who worked for Bob had a small patch of land that they had in town to use as a small garden for the neighborhood and his wife made the most amazing peach jam from the peaches she grew and it went perfectly with Bob's homemade bread. I could have lived off that bread and jam for the entire 2 weeks
I was there and still have wanted more.
  I plan of learning more about canning so when it's time for the farmer's markets to open, we can made more spreads, pickle, and preserve summer's best so we can enjoy it all year around. 

Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

  Like I talked about earlier, I am trying to keep posting at least 3 times a week. I actually have several recipes saved as drafts, but I wanted to make something today.

 Tonight my mom and I are getting our hair done by a good friend, Linda who was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. Linda was sick for a very long time since she went without the proper diagnosis for so long. I decided that since we haven't seen her in a long time, that I would make something to snack on for tonight since she only works 3 days a week and she is always booked up. Linda is a social butterfly and since she only works a few days a week, she usually can be found still working and talking long after everyone is gone (like 12am!)

Pumpkin PB Dog Treats

 It's been a while since I have made any homemade dog treats so I looked up and found a really good recipe. These are actually okay for a wide variety of animals. I split 1 4'' heart treat between our 2 goats & chicken, and another treat for our 2 horses and they all enjoyed their little snack.

When I was making these, I had 4 of our 6 dogs in the house with me because we had some guys come out to remove a few dead trees on our property. Marley and Oddball {my dogs} are the rambunctious ones, especially when they get to come in the house, but they are generally good when I'm in the kitchen cooking or baking. Once they figure out that i'm not going to give them anything they usually go to take a nap, but that doesn't mean that they won't sniff around to see if they could grab a bite.

DIY: Drying out Citrus Peels & 2 Sugar Scrub recipes

DIY projects are an easy, fun, and a budget friendly way to give great homemade gifts for the holidays or any ocassion really. You could even just make a batch of this to keep around the house for those times when you may need to relax and have a mini spa experience.
This year, I decided to make some body scrubs to give as gifts.
There are so many recipes online for homemade body scrubs, but most of them involved fancy oils which I don't have on hand so I decided to make a simple recipe. You can subsitute the extra virgin olive oil for cocunut oil,  vitamin E oil, almond oil, or sometimes baby oil. Some recipes I've seen add vanilla extracts, brown sugar, and even food coloring, but I kept mine simple.Just sugar, oil, and 1 add in ingredient per scrub.

Citrus Sugar Scrub

Drying out your own citrus peels are good to add into a hot bath to help relax or to add into serveral different recipes like homemade candied citrus peel or into teas like mandarin orange peel tea. This lists some of the benefits of oranges and orange zest for the body.