Apple Pecan Cake

  I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this recipe today or one of the other dozen recipes that I have saved as drafts including one for delicious raw brownies, but I picked this recipe since it would be a simple breakfast cake for the holidays. Last week my mom reminded me that it was once again time for me to find a recipe to bake for the church breakfast for Sunday. So far when I have made something it has been these pumpkin muffins which were a hit so I've brought them many times, this zesty lemon blueberry bread, a buttermilk blueberry cake,a cream cheese coffee cake, and a few other treats that I never took pictures of which meant no blog post.

  I wanted to make something with apples since they are in season and one of my favorite snacks. The orange zest and fresh juice gives this cake a slight tang while helping cut through the richness of the cake. I cut a small corner slice from the cake when it was still warm, tasted it, went off to give my mom a small piece and we both felt the same way about this cake..we loved it! I was tempted to keep the cake for us at home and pick up something from the store before church for everyone else, but I didn't.

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.