Fresh Fruit Salad

 

Dinner tonight is to celebrate my mother in law's birthday that is this weekend. In celebration I will be sharing the side dishes I made in the next couple days here. This is a recipe my husband thought would be fantastic.  It is rather good I ate some (for scientific research of course) before putting it in the fridge last night.

Here is what you need:
3 apples-  I picked three different kinds to add different textures. Fuji, golden delicious and  red delicious. 
3 pears
2 limes
2 peaches- They are out of season right now so I used 2 cans of peaches. 
1/4 cup mint
1/4 cup honey 

Then you can chop up the peaches. This is what one can looks like in my bowl.

At this point you want to add some lime juice 1/2 a lime to the pear/peach mix to stop everything from browning while you work on the rest of the salad.

 This is what it will look like after you add all the pears, apples and peaches. Some thoughts on the apples. I like to cut mine in half, peel them to remove the skin and then chop them up omitting the core as I go.


Now you want to add the rest of the lime juice. You should have 1.5 limes left to go!

Time to add the sweet stuff. Add your 1/4 cup honey. Is my honey bear not the cutest thing ever? Once you add make sure you give the salad a good mix. This would be a good time to add any seasonings you want. I add a dash of salt to mine to bring out the flavors.

Time to chop up that 1/4 cup of mint. You can add or take away as you see fit. I am a mint lover so I tend to add a lot to my salads. This really ramps up the freshness of the salad and pulls it all together. You can really add mint to any fruit salad. In the summer I love the way it pairs with watermelon.



Then you want to mix and make sure that the mint is evenly distributed throughout the salad. 

Here is the finished product. Looks fantastic and ready to be shared by the family tonight.














I hope you can make this salad soon and take advantage of all those fall apples and pears that are in season right now. Remember fruit salad is so versatile you can omit or add all kinds of fruit.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Making the perfect bar cart.

Today we are going to talk about booze. 

Last year my husband (Ryan) and I decided we needed to have our things to make drinks upstairs where we host our parties. We had a full bar in the basement but it did not make sense for people to go into our basement to make a mixed drink and then have to come upstairs again. What is a girl to do to fix this you ask? I have a wonderful family and my mother supplied the cart minus the glass that was in it originally as that had long ago broke. My father in law makes butcher blocks and he made me two custom pieces to fit perfectly in the cart. We then proceeded to stain them in the bathroom since it was winter and I swear I almost died from the fumes. I also hand painted the cart itself and wheels because the cart was chipped/aged from sitting outside on my mom's porch for years. I think the cart itself turned out fantastic. 

But onto the booze!

Now that I had this amazing cart I had to stock it with everything you need to make some excellent drinks. 

 Here is what you need for staples-
Vodka- Smirnoff is a good option that is not crazy expensive. 
Southern Comfort- I use this to make my old fashions and add to hot drinks like cider. 
Gin- You need a good quality gin do not skimp and get the cheap stuff. Tanqueray is my favorite and I can buy a giant jug (seen here) at Sams Club for a decent price.
Whiskey- Our whiskey in this picture is wearing a packer cheese head. Can you tell we live in the land of green and gold? People will drink this on the rocks or with coke a lot of the time. We have a bottle of Kessler's currently. 
Brandy- I have a bottle of honey that I add to punch. 
Rum- This is a staple for people to mix with coke. 
Things not shown that you should think about having-
Tequila- People love this with juice or for shots. I am not a big fan so I do not regularly have it. 
Bourbon- Did you know this goes fantastic on ice cream? 

 Utensils that you will need-
Shot glasses- You may think you can make the perfect drink without it but some people need these to measure. (cough cough) me.
Shaker- My shaker works double time to hold all my mixing spoons when not in use. If you want a solid martini you need a good shaker. I have a great one that allows you to measure based on the drink you are making and has a built in strainer. 
Straws- I found this little gem of a straw holder at an antique show. 
Mixing spoons and stir rods- As you can see I have a bunch that I have accumulated. I know it is October but my snowmen get used year round. 
Ice bucket- To hold ice. I am not a fan of people digging in my freezer to get ice. I have an ice maker but it is in my freezer which is silly I know. I found this bucket in the same place I got the straw holder. What a steal! 
Wine opener- I have a great electric opener I received as a wine gift. I try to hide it in the corner of the cart because it is boring looking.

 This is an image of my bottle opener and an old school shot measure stick (I am not sure if that is the technical term for that item but I will call it that anyway).

 This is a good image of the total cart. Why is there a sugar bowl you ask? That is for the most delicious old fashions of course. Plus it looks cute on the cart. 

Storage is important on a cart and you want to use the space wisely. The bottom of the cart houses the glasses we use the least. The majority of our glasses are in the kitchen. As you can see margarita glasses take up a ton of space.

I hope if you take the time to make your own bar cart or bar in general this will be helpful to you. 

XoXo Emily

Time.

Time is an interesting thing. It trickles by so fast that before you realize it you have had a year pass you by. I need to get back into crafting and blogging.

So.. Let us start with a general life update before we start with my millions of craft updates shall we? 
#1: I am married now to my wonderful supportive husband for two years now. what what!
#2: I went on a life journey and lost 50 pounds. I eat pretty healthy now and am addicted to Zumba.
#3: I got a new car. HELLO Duke. Pictured below.  He is a 2014 MINI Cooper S. I am also slightly addicted to him.

 Crafting/cooking/baking. Get reading for a ton of fun new posts on these topics. I have started having more time since summer settled down to start doing things again. yippy!
XoXo Emily

Happy Birthday America!

Fourth of July nails.

Boy, do I love fireworks and GLITTER!

DYI Cake Stand

 

 

I found the best DYI project yet. I went thrifting today with an amazing friend Katie and we found the best plates for this!

This is what you need:
plates
candlesticks, goblets or wine glasses
E6000 glue

 

Super easy, this is what you do.

 

Step one: Wash your plate and candlestick
Step two: Using a qtip apply a thin layer of glue onto the rim of the candlestick. Make sure it is not a lot of glue. A little goes along way.
Step three: attach the candlestick to the plate. Be mindful that everything is lined up.
Step four: Place something heavy on top of the plate. Let it sit for 24 hours before using your gorgeous creation.

 

Beautiful right!!! Hope this inspires you to do some crafting of your own.

Until next time, happy crafting.

XoXo Emily

T-shirt Scarf

I  adore these easy inexpensive scarves. I got the t-shirt for this scarf at goodwill for $2. Have to love those super sales they have. I changed this scarf up by braiding some pieces. LOVE.

If you would like to know how to make your own look at the above video. HAPPY crafting!

 XOXO Emily

Lemon Bar Yumminess.

I am going to let you in on a dirty little secret favorite recipe of mine.

This receipt is for lemon bars. So good you can't eat just one. Below is what you need.

1 box of angel food cake mix
1can of lemon pie filling

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix above ingredients together with your hands. I know it feels and seems nasty but it is the easiest way to mix together. Spray your pan (I use a 9x13 pan) with some Cooking oil. You will thank me later for this extra step. Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar!

Love it!

XoXo Emily