Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

It took me probably 4 or 5 times putting this on my menu plan before I finally remembered to take our pork tenderloin out of the freezer to defrost in time! But honestly? That was the hardest part of this recipe, haha. It was SO easy, and so good! The only thing I would do differently, is to double the glaze amount. I used it all to baste the pork on the outside, and had none left to drizzle on the sliced meat once served, which would have taken this dish from good to absolutely amazing. The flavor on the outside of the pork was delicious, and the inside was tender and juicy, but it really needed extra glaze to take it over the top, and make it pintastic!!

Roasted Parmesan Sweet Potatoes

I've made this recipe a few times now. They taste fantastic, but it's really tricky to get them crisp but not burnt, especially if you cut them quite small like I did (I had to halve the cooking time, but I wanted them small for my baby to eat as finger food). Watch them VERY carefully. And if you want them crisp at all, you will probably burn the edges of some of them, but most will be ok if you catch it at the right time. My husband hates it when I set off the smoke detector, so personally I think I'm just to give up on crisping them and skip the broiling step. They taste great whether they are crisp or not - definitely pintastic! Original recipe can be found here: http://www.teeniecakes.com/2010/12/roasted-parmesan-sweet-potatoes/

S'mores Snack Mix

This was a treat I made for Spiderman and a couple of the neighborhood kiddoes.  I already had the chocolate chips.  The mini marshmallows were only a couple dollars, as were the teddy bear cookies.  Once again, I like bang for the buck!  It only took a few minutes to make, and the kids were VERY impressed(chocolate, grahams and marshmellows are all wins). 

The only thing I would caution is to leave PLENTY of cooling time.  It took forever, and I ended up tossing it in the fridge.  The issue was that I used chocolate chips that you'd use for making cookies.  The chocolate is designed to stay kind of melty after baking.  Next time, I will be sure to use candy melts.  Also, the teeny marshmellow bits are NOT with the marshmellows.  They are over by the hot chocolate mixes(save some search time).  You can find full instructions here---  http://cookiesandcups.com/smores-snack-mix/  PINTASTIC!!!

Candy Corn Math

I have been "homeschooling" Spiderman with another kiddo his age this Fall...  I am always looking for new ideas, especially ones that cost VERY LITTLE.  Repetition is key, right?  So, I stumbled upon this idea, and I love it!!  It was very simple.  Took only a couple minutes.  The kids loved it.  We are working on "4."  So, I made 4 of them with 1, 2, 3, and 4 on them.  We practised some subtraction by having them count how many were left when they ate a candy corn.  The blog has a ton of great ideas.  Find it at notimeforflashcards.com.  PINTASTIC!!

Halloween Candy Wreath

So...  I am all about a big bang for my crafting buck(and time).  I pinned this, I think, last year.  However, I never found the time or energy to get it done.  We moved into a new home this year, and when I looked through my Halloween Board, I knew this one was perfect for Spiderman(my son) and I to take on...  It's also good for letting the neighbor kids know where the fun house is. 

I grabbed a foam wreath for a couple dollars and one of the BIG bags of candy at Walmart.  I chose the one with no chocolate so that I would not be tempted.  It was less than ten dollars, all told. 

We sat down and hotglued candy all around.  I started with the big stuff, and then filled in the holes with the smaller stuff.  It took about an hour, and it was a BLAST for Spiderman and I. 

The neighbors have all commented on how much they like it, and the kids?  Well...  I have a stash of leftovers to keep them from picking at it.  LOL  The project went well and looks great.  Just be sure to use enough candy and really get it filled in.  This one is PINTASTIC!!! 

North Pole Breakfast

Last year I was looking for a way to introduce the Elf on the Shelf tradition in our house. So, of course I turned to Pinterest and found the idea for the North Pole Breakfast. This blogger did an amazing job and I just tried to do the best I could.

I did the breakfast the weekend after Thanksgiving. We usually decorate the house Thanksgiving weekend so I knew we would have everything up. I started purchasing all the knick knacks in November. We talked it up so Henry knew that the Elf was coming at the breakfast.

It was like Christmas morning when he came down the steps.

We read the book about Elf on the Shelf and he named him Donald. After the breakfast we decorated our tree.

It was a fantastic morning and I highly suggest making this a tradition in your house.

Ornament wreath

Here is how the wreath started:

You take a wire hanger and ornaments that do not shatter and thread them onto the hanger. I went to the Dollar store and just picked through what they had. I bought about three different sizes and used red, green, silver and gold. In the tutorial they say to hot glue the tops on but I couldn't get them off to glue them. I did lose some ornaments later when I was moving them around but only about three popped off. I couldn't see a hole so I just let it go.

This is what the wreath looked like when I ran out of ornaments:

Back to the Dollar store I went hoping they still had some more ornaments that I had bought. Thank goodness they did and here is what the finished wreath looks like:

I just used a command strip to hang the wreath over the fireplace. I know it turned out great when even Charlie is impressed with my work. He even brought Henry over to look at it.

The whole project probably cost me under $10 and maybe took me less then an hour. I used close to 80 ornaments but they were all in packs of 5's or 7's and then the really small ones I used as fillers were packs of 14.

I'm really happy I decided to do this craft. It was fun, easy, cheap and looks great!