Pizza Hut Cheese Bread Sticks

Living in a small town that doesn't have many options for eating out and Pizza Hut being one of my favorite restaurants this recipe is dead on, if you follow it with no substitutions. I was looking online for something simple to make for just myself one night when I found this recipe online. I was excited..OOHHH SO EXCITED..and I just happened to have everything on hand to make them!! This makes quite a large batch so of course I had to share, as any good sister would I immediately texted my brother who shared in my excitement and as always was game for the taste testing. He agreed they were a dead on match for the Pizza Hut restaurant Cheese Bread Sticks.

They take about 15 minutes to prep and 20-25 minutes to bake.

Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cups Warm Water
· 2 tbsp Sugar
· 1/2 tsp Salt
· 1/2 cup Non Fat Dry Powdered Milk
· 1 tbsp Yeast
· 3 cups Flour
· 1/2 cup Melted Butter..Divided in half
· 8oz Package Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
· Grated Parmesan Cheese
· Garlic Powder
· Salt
· Pepper

1. In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes undisturbed.
2. Add the sugar, powdered milk and salt to the yeast mixture and combine.
3. To the yeast mixture add enough flour to make a soupy like mixture, making sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Add the rest of the flour, enough to make a stiff dough. You may need more or less than the recipe calls for in order to ensure the dough is not sticky.
5. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's smooth and elastic.
6. Using a rolling pin roll the dough out into the shape of your pan..I used a regular rectangular cookie sheet to make these on so I rolled it out to that size.
7. Spread half of the butter onto the bottom of your baking pan.
8. Place the dough onto the pan. Let rise in a warm, draft free place for 15 minutes.
9. Once it has risen spread the remaining butter onto the top of the dough.
10. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
11. Top with parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
12. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Cut into bread sticks and serve with marinara sauce.

DIY Braided Headband..for FREE!!

This is something I really like making because it is cute, so simple and you can make it in a few minutes for literally next to nothing. They are very simple to make all your need to know are very basic sewing skills and how to braid tightly..my daughter can even make them, and she does. I think I have made one for just about everyone I know because they have asked me to and they are amazed at how simple and quickly I can put them together. This is another great option for a DIY Christmas gift for a teenage girl or for any woman really because you can really customize them. The materials are things you already have laying around your house, you don't need to purchase anything to make these that is the best part!! No more suspense here goes...

Materials:

• 3 different old T-shirts (or cotton fabric scraps)..2 of them MUST be cotton or spandex based  the third can be any other material
• An Elastic Hair Tie
• Needle and Thread
• 4-6 Straight pins to hold things in place
• Embellishments if you desire however I do prefer them plain most of the time

The base of these can be made in two different styles a single braid and a double braid. I generally make a double braid because I like that look better however if I am adding a fabric rosette or gems I stick wit the single braid as it becomes too much. I am going to show you how to make the double braid, obviously for the single braid you would omit the second braid and also I do make my fabric strips slightly thicker about 1" wide each for the single braid.

1. Take the old shirts (or fabric scraps) and cut them into strips. This part is really about your preference. Since this is your first time making one start with a strip that is about 1/2" to 1/4" wide (I do not measure them and they usually are not all the same width I like the look it gives  that way) you want them about 14" long for a cotton strip and 25" long for a non cotton or spandex based strip. The reason being the non cotton or spandex based materials like rayon for example have no stretch to them therefore will not produce a long enough braid.
2. Pin all three strips together and tightly and closely braid them together stretching the fabric taught as you go so that it makes it longer.
3. once you have braided it all the way to the end pin the end so it is secure, and begin the second one repeating the same process.
   
4. Hold the two braids together so that the ends are even. Take your elastic hair tie and wrap the ends around the hair tie and secure with another pin.
5. Repeat the same for the other side only do not hold the ends together this time. Instead make sure the braids are together so they are even. **One end may be longer than the other when you go to wrap it around you may cut them even after you pin them together. The most important part is that the headband does not have one braided part that is higher/looser than the other.
   

Baking Soda Microdermabrasion Facial

It sounds simple and it is. The results are amazing and well worth the 5 minutes of standing there doing nothing..which some find easy to do but for me was the biggest challenge of my day.
My skin doesn't need microdermabrasion..to my knowledge anyway..however I am 31 and so I do need to start researching these things as I assume I will be in need of them at some point.

I defiantly benefited from this somehow because my skin was literally glowing when I finished massaging my moisturizer in and 5 hours later it still is :) so for that benefit alone I will probably do this at least once a month. It was SUPER simple and like I said only took 5 minutes.

Materials:

• Small Bowl
• 3Tbsp Baking Soda
• 2Tbsp Water (Maybe less)
• Good Facial Moisturizer

1. Wash your face as usual.
2. Mix the baking soda and water in the bowl until it forms a paste. You want it a little like the consistency of glue not runny but not dry and clumpy either.
3. Take a small amount and massage onto skin in an upward and circular motion, never go downwards that creates dragging of the skin and aids in wrinkling.
4. Once you have massaged your entire face (avoiding eyes) apply the remainder to your face like you would a mask and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. I am not sure if this was just me or if anyone else has ever experienced this but I did feel a slight burn..nothing major or concerning..while this sat on my face.
5. Rinse with cool water and pat..do not rub..your face dry with a clean soft towel.
6. Follow with a Facial Massage..yes you can do one yourself. It is not as nice as having one done in the salon however after a procedure like this it not only feels nice but your skin really needs it.  
7. Start by applying the moisturizer to the tips of your clean fingers then massage in an upward circular motion across your face and neck using moderately firm pressure. Once again do not go downward as this will create dragging of the skin always go upward in a circular motion. Once you have done this a couple of times you will find yourself using this method to apply your moisturizer every morning. It's great for your circulation and can help to improve the look of your skin.  

This is the approximate consistency of the baking soda mixture that I used.

Sorry that is where the pictures end..no goofy pictures today of me in a baking soda mask HaHaHa...maybe on the next one?!?

"Amazing" Homemade Facial Toner

I am normally not a big fan of any added steps to my normal skincare routine. Call me lazy but I call it comfortable. Wash & moisturize, morning only..that's it. Worst of all go to bed with my make-up on. Yes, crucify me now, as a licensed Cosmetologist I know better than to do this, however it has worked my entire life and any alteration to this regime does cause me to mildly break out.

My daughter however has not been so lucky, she had a mild acne problem that was only on her forehead. As a tween-ager this was a MAJOR problem..I mean daily melt down delima! So I tried all of the over the counter everything I could find and nothing was working. Everyone in my family was telling me "Use Proactive it's the only thing that works". On my budget that is just not possible. So while trolling through Pinterest one morning I found a recipe for a Facial Toner that seemed easy enough to make and I figured why not try it at the worst we will have another failure...I found a gem in this toner!!

With less than a week of her using it twice a day her acne was COMPLETELY GONE!! Yes, you read that correctly GONE, and no scaring either! I was beyond impressed and she was a very happy girl. It also has not returned after 2 months of still using it! I am not saying this will work for everyone but it did for her and hopefully it will for some of you too.

It's main intention is to tighten pores as any toner does and because of the lime juice in it when in the sunlight it can cause lightening of the skin, I have not noticed any in her or myself but just in case make sure you are wearing sunscreen as you should be anyway.

I did modify the recipe that I had found slightly and this is what I will stick with since it is what worked for me. This is for Oily skin, in order to make it for Dry/Normal/Combination skin omit the Alcohol. I have Combination sin and do use it in my T-Zone only at times as is with no problems.

Materials:

• Clean Empty Plastic Bottle
• Funnel
• Strainer
• 1/2 Cup Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
• 2/3 Cup Witch Hazel
• 1 Cup Water
• 2 Tbsp Rubbing Alcohol

1. Juice the lime and strain any pulp and seeds from the juice. You should be able to get 1/2 cup of juice from one good sized lime, if they are smaller you may need two.
2. Funnel all ingredients into the clean plastic bottle. Shake well.
3. Apply to CLEAN SKIN twice a day. Make sure you shake the bottle before each use.
4. Store out of direct sunlight as it will diminish the effectiveness of the toner.

*My first batch I made a half batch (cut all of the ingredients in half and mixed them) to see if it would work. That was a little over 2 months ago and it's almost time to make another batch so there is nothing wrong with making this in a smaller quantity.

*I am not a scientist and I do not know why this works. I am only passing on to you what I have found to work for me in hopes that it will work for some of you.

*Witch Hazel can be found at any local retailer..I bought it at Wal*Mart in the Health isle where the peroxide and rubbing alcohol is, I also have purchased it at Tops. If you cannot find it ask the Pharmacy Staff they will be able to help you locate it.

Sharpie Tie-Dye

This had to be one of the simplest DIY projects I have done yet.
I needed a way to cover a stain that my daughter had gotten on a basically brand new white t-shirt..I seriously don't think she has worn it more than twice! So Pinterest to the rescue!! I found a pin on tie-dying with sharpie permanent colored markers and it was so simple. I did modify it a bit from the one I found so here is how I did it.

Materials:
Assorted colored sharpie permanent markers
White Garment
Rubbing Alcohol
Bowl
Medium Sized Paint Brush
Blow Dryer

1. Place area to be tie-dyed over the bowl.
2. Draw your pattern on. The pattern will smear together however do not leave too much white space or else you will have large white gaps in your tie-dye.
3. Once you have an area done dip your paint brush into the rubbing alcohol and starting from the center dab it onto the marker to make it bleed. Make sure you cover all of the marker with the rubbing alcohol.
4. Blow dry that area so you can move onto the next section..this takes about 30 seconds as rubbing alcohol evaporates quickly. You don't want to skip this as it will cause the pattern to bleed onto other areas of the garment if not dry.
5. Place the garment back over the bowl and repeat steps 2-5 until finished.
6. Was as normal before wearing.

What Happens When You Cook Ivory Soap In The Microwave?

In my many many journeys through Pinterest I have stumbled upon the Pin of putting Ivory soap into the Microwave and watching it grow into a large soap cloud. This seems fun and for the 2 minutes it's in the microwave it is pretty entertaining. However I could not imagine doing this and being left with a hard cloud from what once was a perfectly good bar of soap. So I searched on to find out what we would do with this cloud after we cooked it..the end result....messy hands for me and a lot of laughs and priceless memories, it was well worth it!!

Here's what you will need:

Materials:
Bar of Ivory Soap (no substitutions)
Food Coloring
Small Cookie Cutters (will make aprox 3)
Waxed Paper
Old Bowl
Microwave

1.Cover your microwave with waxed paper you want the piece big enough so that  you can take it out with out touching the soap as it will be hot.
2. Place the bar of Ivory soap inside on top of the waxed paper and set it for 2.5 minutes..you may not need to cook it the whole time.
3.Stand back and watch the cloud grow!!
4.Once it's done growing place it into an old large bowl and allow to cool.
5. Now let the kids smash it into powdery chunks of soap. This happens fairly easily as the cooked soap turns mostly into powder.
6. This part I advise you do not allow the children to do as it is extremely messy and clean up is not easy..divide the soap into 3 equal amounts and add a small amount of water (1tsp or less) and food coloring to each batch. Mix thouroughly with your hands and press into the cookie cutters.
7. Allow a 3 hours to dry and then you should be able to press them out to finish drying overnight.
8. There will be dye from the food coloring released when this soap is used. It will not stain your tub, sink or skin because of the soap mixture. However it will make bath time more fun by coloring the water and giving them something cool they made themselves to play with.

Plastic Bead Sun Catchers

Over the past few years my daughter has received quite a few bracelet beading kits as gifts from family and friends. She has used up the materials with in those kits that she desired and was left with all of these small plastic translucent colored beads. As I was on Pintrest..as I always am..I stumbled upon a pin showing show to make sun catchers out of these exact beads that she has laying around her room! No more stepping on them or listening to the cat at 3am playing with a stray bead that I missed when I was cleaning..we were using them up today!!
The project seemed simple and came out quite beautiful. We had enough beads to make 3 of these in all (I told you she accumulated a lot of them!!). They are rather thin when they do "pop" out so you must be careful not to crack them.

Materials:

• Translucent plastic beads (do not use glass or seed beads they will not melt)
• 8" Round Cake Pan
• Fishing Line, Twine, Ribbon or other string to hang it with
• Bamboo Skewer

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spread plastic beads into the cake pan.
3. Place into oven for 20 minutes.
4. This will smell like melting plastic so make sure your oven fan is on or a nearby window is open for ventilation.
5. Remove from oven. Immediately make a hole in the sun catcher while its hot and the plastic is pliable with the bamboo skewer so that you can later thread through your string.
6. Allow to cool in the pan for approximately 15 minutes and your sun catcher will pop right out of the pan if you flip it over.
7. Thread string, twine, ribbon or fishing line through and hang.

Rainbow Crayon Melts

Another simple but fun craft I like to do at the end of the School year is Rainbow Crayon Melts. It is a very simple and very resourceful way to  recycle all of those broken crayon pieces that are brought home at the end of the School year.

Materials:

• Broken Crayon Pieces
• Muffin Pan
• Cupcake Liners
• Sandwich Bags for sorting (if preferred)

1. This is the most tedious part of the project, luckily the kids like helping with this. All of the crayons that are going to be used must have their wrappers peeled off and discarded.
2. I prefer to sort my crayons by color and place them into sandwich bags as we remove the wrappers. This time I did: Orange/Yellow, Red/Pink, Purple/ Brown & Blue/Green..we had a lot of blues and greens for some reason so it made two.
3. Break the crayons into small pieces.
4. Line your puffin pan with paper liners, this is very important as cleaning crayon wax from a muffin pan is NO fun. And your next batch of cupcakes are not very tasty.
5. Carefully dump your crayon pieces into your cupcake liners. They will melt down but do not fill them too full.
6. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees and place your muffin pan inside for approximately 20-30 minutes checking after 15 minutes. It is done when you no longer see any hard lumps and all colors are swirled together.  
7. Let cool for about 20 minutes before removing from pan. Make sure they are completely cooled before removing paper liners and allowing your children to color with them.

8. They will produce a nice rainbow effect when drawn with.

Salt Dough Ornaments

My daughter and I are always looking for things to make during the rainy days of summer. Unfortunately this year we haven't had many, however we have had a few day's where it has been way to hot to be outside. So we got creative and got out our craft supplies to see what we could make.

The first thing that came to mind was a craft that we had done years ago as Christmas presents, Salt Dough Ornaments. However this time we became a little more inventive and made them a little fancier since it has been 7 years since the last batch was made and her art skills have improved quite a bit since then. This is an activity that we also did a few weeks later with my 3 & 5 year old cousins children so it is very versatile and van really be done with any age group. It is also extremely inexpensive and would work well for large group craft projects like church groups or Girl/Boy Scouts.

Here is what you need to assemble to begin:

Salt Dough Ornaments

Materials:

• Cookie Cutters (plastic ones work fine if you are working with younger children)
• Cookie Sheet
• Rolling Pin
• Bamboo Skewer
• Cup of Water
• Paint Brush
• Ribbons, String or Twine
• Clear Glossy Spray Paint
• Heat Proof Decorations (Shells, Glitter, Sea Salt Glitter [Instructions Below] Pebbles, Marbles..anything that will not melt in the oven when cooked)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Salt
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1/4 Cup Water (maybe less)
• Food Coloring 

1. Mix Flour and Salt together then add water and food coloring until a dough forms. Knead dough until food coloring is mixed through thoroughly.
2. Roll dough to about 1" and cut out shapes and place on cookie sheet.
3. Poke hole into shape where you will later be stringing a ribbon (or string/twine) to hang it. Make sure your hole is large enough to accommodate your ribbon or string.
4. Using the paint brush and a small amount of water wet the cut out dough shape and then decorate with your heat proof decorations. Make sure you press them into the dough so they will stay.The water will help they glitter adhere to the dough when it is baked. I do not advise mixing the glitter into the dough as you do not get enough of a sparkle effect.
5. Place cookie sheet into the oven at 200 degrees for 3 hours. This will dry out the dough. If they are still stuck to the cookie sheet place them back into the oven for another 30 minutes do not try to remove them.
6. Let cool completely. Then spray with one coat of a glossy clear spray paint. Make sure this is done in a well ventilated area and do not let the children assist with this step. This really makes a big difference in the finished appearance though so I do not advise skipping it.
7. Finally thread your ribbon/string/twine through the hole you had made and tie into a knot.

These make great Christmas/Birthday/Father's/Mother's Day Gifts and the possibilities are endless with them.
*You can make very large ones and use them in your garden as stepping stones decorated with mosaic tiles.
*You can imprint the image of your babies hand/foot print into them and use them as a baby's 1st Christmas Ornament.
*You can paint on them after they are baked too. However make sure you spray them with with glossy clear spray paint to seal in the paint. I recommend acrylic paint, we have used nail polish to decorate them also after baking.

Here are some of the ones that we made this time:

This is what they look like once they come out of the oven.

This is after they have been sprayed and the ribbon has been added.

The bear and the fish have marbled dough because we mixed the remaining colors together to get a tie-dye effect with the left over colors at the end.  

The frog with the heart in the picture at the top is simply two salt dough ornaments that have been hot glued together.

Sea Salt Glitter:

Ingredients:

• Coarse Sea Salt
• Liquid Food Coloring
• Cake pans

1. Place a small amount of Sea Salt into a cake pan with a couple drops of liquid food coloring and mix together until the salt is completely colored and is the color you desire.
2. Place into a 350 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes, until the food coloring dries out and salt is dry again.
3. Color will look dull however if you coat with a clear coat of paint or clear spray paint it really sparkles and looks quite nice.