DIY ~Guitar Pick Necklace~

Where is my pick!? 

You know those people that wear the funky, but cute guitar picks as a necklace?  I always thought they were for decoration but actually you can really use them!  So here goes!  Do it yourself, Guitar Pick Necklace!


You will need:

• Thin plastic guitar pick
• Hole puncher
• Chain, string or ribbon
•  Jump Ring (optional)
  

  1. Punch hole into guitar pick.  This takes muscles!  Drink milk!

  
   2. Add Jump Ring to hole
  
  
  3. Slide up the Chain! Done!
  
  

Brownies

This is for all the girls in my Bible and Life group Class, especially Emily!  You ate FIVE of them Emily!  Apparently this was a hit so I'm letting everyone have the recipe.  These are a little different though.  You don't mix the ingredient and just pour them into a pan and bake them in the oven.  Instead you cook them half way on the stove and the half in the oven.  They have a Cake like texture but look like fudge brownies.

~Brownies~

• 1 cup of Butter
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 (12 ounce) bag of chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of flour
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 
  2. Melt butter in a medium Sauce pan.
  3. Add milk, stir for one minute
  4. Remove from Heat and add chocolate
  5. Let sit for two minutes to cool
  6. Crack eggs in a small bowl and add a small amount of chocolate-butter mixture to eggs.  This makes the eggs the same temperature as the batter; This cuts the risk of the eggs scrambling in the batter
  7. Add vanilla, salt, and sugar
  8. Gently Fold in Flour
  9. Pour into 9x13 pan
  10. Bake 30-35 minutes
  11. Enjoy!
      
      
      ~Love Jade~

      

Starbucks Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappacino ~Home Made~

I went shopping with my friend Cassie and we decided that we wanted something to sip while we were walking around.  Of course, I chose Starbucks.  As we were walking in I saw a big sign that caught my eye, " Try our new Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino".  Right then and there I fell in Love.  I had to have it!  I mean, How could I not?  Chocolate and cookie Frappe with chocolate whip cream on top.  I ordered it and it was very depressing when I came down to the last sip.  I craved it the rest of the week and I'm sad to say I went back again and ordered a Grande... again.  While I was drinking my Second Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino I thought to myself, I could probably just make this at home!   So here I am, making it at home.

     ~Frappuccino~

• 1 cup of Ice
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 shots of espresso or 1-1/2 espresso powder
• 3 pumps of chocolate syrup ( If you go a little over board it's okay, I do it all the time!)
• Teaspoon of Vanilla
• 3-4 mini crunchy chocolate chip cookies
  
  Blend all ingredients until smooth.  You shouldn't see or feel any big chunks when you stir it together. 
  
  ~Chocolate Whip Cream~
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/8-1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of Coco powder

Whip cream until you've Incorporated some air.  Add coco to powdered sugar.  Slowly add sugar until Whip cream is whipped.  Whip cream is done when you stick a spoon in and out and form soft peaks.

Add chocolate whip cream on top of Chocolate-cookie Frappuccino.  Top off with chocolate syrup and Cookie crumbs or chocolate chip powder

Drink and Make again and again!

~Love Jade~

Semi-Home made/ White chocolate Macadamia Cranberry Cookies

Thank the Lord for Pre-made Cookie batter.  I know... The homemade cookies are WAY better but who am I kidding?  I don't always have time to whip up a batch of cookies.  Instead I can just pop a a batch of pre-made cookie dough unto a cookie sheet.  So I looked in the freezer and discovered "White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies".  I decided that these cookies needed a "Jade Flare"  I looked around and decided that dried cranberry's would do the trick!

• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Batter
• Dried Cranberry's

Add cranberries to Batter.  Bake as directed.  Eat!

 

~Love Jade~

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Chocolate Sugar Cookie Espresso Bars

I was bored.
Bored of regular Sugar cookies.  I wanted Chocolate.  I wanted a sugar cookie.  I wanted Espresso.  How would I combine all of these together? Hmmm... *light bulb* I got it!  Chocolate Sugar cookie Espresso bars!  How was I going to do that?

I’ll Explain


Chocolate Sugar Cookie Espresso Bars:
1. Sugar cookie Mix
2. 16 oz. of vanilla frosting
3. ½ cup of melted Chocolate
4. 1-2 teaspoons of espresso powder
5. Chocolate shavings (optional)

• Mix sugar cookie mix adding normal ingredients
• Add unto a 8x8 lined pan
• Bake according to packet
• Cool Sugar cookie crust
• Mix melted chocolate in frosting (makes chocolate frosting!)
• Add Espresso powder to chocolate frosting
• Pour chocolate espresso frosting onto the sugar cookie crust
• Add chocolate shavings
• Cut into bars
• Indulge

Thank you Robynn Katzeff for being in the kitchen with me and helping me think of this wonderful creation.  Thanks for eating most of it too!  Love you!

~Love Jade~



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Iced Mint Tea

Ahhh...This is very refreshing.  Yumm!  On a hot day I want to be able to sip something throughout the day that refreshing and tasty.  So what’s a better taste than Mint?  Healthy too!   Mint has a cooling after taste that is great for a hot summer day.  I decided that instead of having HOT mint tea on a summer day I could make Iced Mint Tea.  YAY!  If you don’t like to drink water (like me) and want something with a extra taste, this is great!

This recipe makes up to 4-6 cups of tea

• 2 mint tea bags or 8 dried mint leaves
• 2 cups of hot water
• Fresh mint (optional)
• Cold water
• Ice

1. Brew mint tea bags in hot water
2. Steep for a few minutes
3. Add ice to serving pitcher
4. Add hot tea (disposing the tea bags)
5. Pour in the cold water
6. Add mint leaves
7. Drink and Enjoy! 
   
   It’s very easy and easy “go to” when the unexpected guests come over!  I just ran outside to the Garden and picked some mint, enjoying the tea now!
   
   ~Love Jade~
   
   
   
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Quick Beach Waves

I love the wavy beach look on my hair.  Sometimes I don’t have time to keep my hair in braids all day or style it with my curler.  So I discovered this nifty idea on pinterest and had to give it a try.  Have fun!

1. Twist hair into two parts and secure with a tie
2. Spray with hair spray
3. Glide over your hair with a straighter, 2-4 times
4. Undo the tie and unravel hair gently
5. Add hairspray if needed
6. Done! 

Here's photos of the steps in order.  Click to englarge

~Love Jade~

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My Top Favorite Kitchen Tools

I use a lot of tools in the kitchen and I thought it would be cool to show you which ones are my favorite.  These make cooking so much fun and so much eaiser!

1. Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
I love this thing to death!  It whips thing so I don't have to do it by hand or with a hand held mixer.  Plus!  You can buy a special tool that goes on top and it mills grain.  My mom grinds the grain and makes flour a few times a week.  With our flour we make fresh whole grain wheat bread every week.  So good!
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

2. Egg separator
This makes things sooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier.  I have to separate twelve eggs when I make butter cream frosting and well...that can be aggravating.  Now I have a egg separator.  Plus mines really cute!  It's in the shape of an egg and has cute little eyes and a tiny beak.  Ya, I really like it.
Egg separator
3. Toaster Oven
It's. So. Amazing.  During the summer, it's way to hot to turn on the oven (especially if you live in Florida like me)  this niffy tiny oven can cook just about anything that you would put in a regular oven.  It also cooks much faster.  I read a lot about how micro waves are bad for your health and if you where always on the go (eh hemm, that's me) this would be a great investment.  It is!  It takes a little longer than a microwave but faster than a regular oven.  So best of both worlds, Right? Right.
Toaster Oven

4. Silicon Pans
One of my friends introduced these to me.  It's a flexible pan made out of Silicon.  It's so nice cause it just pops out when you turn it over.  The really fun part is that they can come in all sorts of color shapes and sizes.  I have a regular 8x8 in blue, heart shaped one, and a muffin pan.
Silicon Pans
5.  Four-in-one Cake display
My mom and I got this for Christmas.  It's a cake display, punch bowl, Food storage display, and food organizer.  They say "Six-n-one" but its really only four.  I still love it!
Four-in-one Cake Display

6. Disher/ Batter Scopper
I recently bought one of these.  What did I do with out it?  Basically it looks like an ice cream scooper but doesn't Scoop ice cream, actually it fails at scooping ice cream....BUT!  It's great for scooping cake batter or muffin batter into little cup cake pans.  I used to use a spoon and that would make a HUGE mess... yeah...  I would defiantly recommend buying one of these if you like to make cupcakes or muffins on a normal basis. 
Batter Scooper
~Love Jade~

Culinary-Music-Me

Hi!  I'm Jade!  This is where you can see a little bit of my everyday life.  What I like to do and all my random stories.  First off, I love to cook and bake!  I love it so much that I want to be a professional chef and major in culinary.  Secondly I love music and will probably minor in music.  Before I can do any of that I have to survive high school first.  I love my family and friends.  I couldn't do anything with out them.
          
~Love Jade~