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Christmas Tree Alternative

I'm Scrooge when it comes to Christmas.  It isn't until the day before or even sometimes the day of that I get into the Christmas spirit.  If it was up to me, I would have skipped having a tree last year all together but my girlfriend demanded I put up a tree.  After a whopping five minute adventure through my apartment storage, I realized, I didn't even have a tree....and there was no way in hell I was going to buy one.  A quick pinterest search for alternative Christmas trees and voila.

This picture however doesn't do the tree justice.

I ended up grabbing a plastic star that lit up from Target for $8.  

Banana Cream Poke cake

This is a moist delicious cake that is way easier to make than a banana cream pie.

Original recipe: very-yummy-dessert.tumblr.com/post/53301002618/banana-pudding-poke-cake

As long as cake is still in one piece; the more holes the better!

Ingredients:

- Banana

- Cool Whip

- Nilla Wafers

- Yellow Cake mix (and corresponding ingredients)

- Banana Cream Pudding mix ( and corresponding ingredients)

Directions: 

1. Prepare cake to box directions specifications.

2. Prepare two boxes banana cream pudding to box specifications.

3. Once cake is baked and cooled used opposing end of wooden spoon to poke holes in cake.

4. Pour pudding mixture over top of cake.

5. Place cake in refrigerator for two hours or until cake is set.

6. Put Nilla Wafers in a ziplock bag and use rolling pin to smash and create crumbles. I left some decent size chunks in my bag for texture.

6. Add a layer of cool whip to your desired thickness.  Top with wafer crumbles and fresh bananas.

If you are not expecting to eat the entire cake in just one sitting,
consider waiting to add Wafer crumbles.
The longer they sit in the fridge the softer they get

Grilled Green Beans, George Foreman Style

I love grilled Asparagus, however I always seem to crave it in the dead of winter.  The problem here is, one, they are out of season in the winter and extremely hard to find.  And two, because I don't want to stand outside over my grill and freeze my tushy off (unless it's for steak).

Fast forward to grilled green beans, inside, with George. Problem Solved.

Ingredients

• Fresh Green Beans ( I normally only get a half pound but I am only cooking for two)
• 2 Slices of Bacon
• Quarter of an Onion (your choice)
• Minced or chopped garlic
• Oil (vegatable, olive, ext)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat George Foreman Grill to 300 F

2. Chop bacon into inch size bits. Cut onions to preferred size

3. Place both the bacon and onions on George Foreman Grill, leaving the top open

4. Wash Green Beans and cut off ends. Toss with oil and about a tablespoon of the garlic. Some of the garlic may burn off, so we will add more as the green beans cook.

5. Add green beans to grill with bacon and onions. 

6. Toss and stir occasionally leaving grill open. I used tongs and tossed ingredients about every five minutes while the rest of my dinner was prepared and cooked. Add garlic ass needed and to taste.  I love garlic. Probably used about a 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup.

7.  Cook green beans down to desired texture, I believe most people prefer theirs with just a hint of crunch.

8. The last three minutes or so, I closed the grill to give the beans the nice grill marks.

Penny Wall Art

This was one of my first Pinterest projects. Penny art is cheap, flashy, and easy.

Original post: http://www.thecraftedsparrow.com/2012/01/loose-change.html

I pretty much followed instructions exactly on this one. I choose to paint my cardboard letters black instead of copper. Downtown lights at night was my inspiration for the black/copper combo.

What you need:

-Cardboard/paper mâché letters

- Paint

- Pennies (I used about 250)

- Glue (I used gorilla glue)

Directions:

1. Paint the letters the color of your choice.

2. Once the painted letters are dry, practice laying out the pennies. Notice there are two layers of pennies that are going to be placed on the letters. I spread out the pennies on the bottom layer to cover space and used the top layer to fill the black space in the middle.

3. Once you are happy with the layout, glue the first layer of pennies. Let that layer dry completely before glueing the second layer.

My mom would say to use Modge Podge (or deco podge as I called in growing up) to seal the pennies on and make the whole thing shine.  I havent yet but I probably will after a little time.  The gorrile glue, however, is amazing.  These pennies are STUCK.

"See a penny, pick it up.  All day long, you will have good luck," I chose to place all my pennies "heads up"