Ingredients:

• For Graham Cracker Crust:
  • 9 graham crackers (full sheets)        1/4 cup sugar     1 stick cutter

   

• Your favorite brownie recipe.  (If you’re interested, I used this one by Alton Brown.)

•  1 bag of mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Make graham cracker crust

• To make graham cracker crust:
  1.  Crush graham crackers
  2. Melt butter
  3. Combine graham crackers, butter and sugar
  4. Place in pan and spread so that it covers the bottom of the pan
  5. Refrigerate while mixing brownies

2. Mix your favorite brownie recipe batter

3. Pour batter on top of the graham cracker crust

4. Bake as directed by your brownie recipe of choice

5. After the brownies are done baking, throw some handful of marshmallows on top.

6. If you haven’t already, turn the oven off and place the brownies back into the warm oven until the marshmallows puff.

7. After taking the brownies out of the oven for the second time, use a knife to spread the marshmallows like frosting.

You can serve these warm, but they will be very messy! Yummy, but messy.  I suggest putting them in the refrigerator for a little while.  They’ll hold together better that way.

If you try this recipe, don’t hesitate to let us know!  Do you have a favorite brownie recipe?

Luckily, we were able to get a direct flight to Dublin, Ireland. Sadly, we were only there for about two and a half days, so we only got to experience a fraction of what this city has to offer!

If you ever get a chance to go to Dublin, I would recommend taking one of the hop on, hop off tour buses that drive around. It’s a great way to see the sites and learn about the city. Plus, the nice thing was our ticket was good for two days, so we were able to tour around the city and figure out what we wanted to see and do and then go to various sites.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

St. Stephen’s Green

St. Stephen’s Green is located in the center of Dublin. It’s a beautiful park that’s very calm and peaceful. It’s an oasis from the hectic city. Don’t forget to stop by and see the beautiful swans and other wild life.

Book of Kells and Trinity College

The Book of Kells is located at Trinity College. Also, when visiting the Book of Kells be sure to check out the Long Room. Its said that the Long Room was the inspiration for Hogwart’s Dinning Room in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings. Also the current exhibition, Emperor of the Irish: Brian Boru was very interesting and I would recommend checking that out as well! (It is currently running until October 2014.)

Also, the campus of Trinity College is beautiful, so be sure to take time to walk around and enjoy it! For more information about The Book of Kells and Trinity College, check out: http://www.tcd.ie/visitors/

Phoenix Park

My husband and I discovered Phoenix park when we were riding the hop on hop off bus and knew immediately we would have to go back and visit. The park is awesome! According to the tour information on the bus, Phoenix Park is twice as big as Central Park in New York City and six times as big as Hyde Park in London. I can confirm that it is a huge park and we only got to explore a small part of it.

One of our first stops was The Dublin Zoo. There’s a large variety of animals to see and spent a good amount of time exploring the zoo. It was fun to see all the animals.

I’m a very big tea drinker and was excited to see a tea house! (Apparently, there are several through out the park.) Besides tea, they also serve yummy treats. I had a snickers muffin to go with my tea.

After enjoying the zoo and tea, we walked over and checked out the Wellington Monument. It is considered to be the second tallest obelisk in the world. (The first is the Washington Monument.)

To learn more about Phoenix Park, check out http://www.phoenixpark.ie

If your like me, when traveling deciding what sites you want to see isn’t a problem, deciding where to eat on the other hand seems to be a little tougher. One of my favorite things to do is try the local restaurants and local cuisine. Luckily, there seems to be a lot of excellent choices in Dublin. Good thing I did a lot of walking so I could work off all the calories!

A. I have one of the world’s biggest sweet tooth and am an ice cream fanatic. So, it should be no surprise that one of the first things I ate was gelato. This one was from Gino’s Gelato. Yum!

B. It was interesting that most of the time when I ordered a soda at a restaurant it came in a bottle (with a glass) vs. here in the US where it is normally served in a glass.

C. I’m lucky enough to have a good Irish restaurant/pub near where I live. One of their best things on the menu is their beef stew, so of course I had to try some while I was in Ireland! This one is from Harry’s on the Green.

D. Lots of traditional breakfast were eaten! This particular one was from Bewley’s. As I mentioned before I’m a big tea drinker so it was nice that the breakfasts often came with a pot of tea. It’s also interesting to note that during my time in Europe, fresh squeezed orange juice was served at breakfast, every time except once. Which is kind of ironic since I live in Florida. (It’s definitely something I think US restaurant should start doing more of please!)

E. When we were getting restaurant recommendations from one of the desk receptionist, she happened to mention that chicken wings were a big trend in Dublin. We decided to try some as an appetizer one night.

F. Irish Cream is one of my favorite drinks. I was very excited to have some while in Ireland.

G. When I was growing up, my mom use to make corn beef and cabbage every St. Patrick’s Day. So that was another dish I was interested in trying while in Ireland.

H. As I said before, I have a huge sweet tooth. If there’s a bakery, candy store or ice cream place around, I’ll find it! This mint chocolate cupcake was delicious and was from Johnnies Cupcakes.

I. These caramel toffee squares and hot chocolate from Butler’s were awesome! I wish I had had more time in Dublin just so I could have tried more items on the menu. Everything looked so good! Plus we were able to get a piece of chocolate to try. Score!

So if you’re looking for someplace interesting and fun to travel to, you should definitely add Dublin to your list. You won’t regret it!

It can be tough to lug souvenirs home, especially if you’re traveling internationally! Check out these awesome artist and their work. Maybe you’ll find the perfect item for yourself or someone special without having to worry about lugging it through an airport!

(Note: These are affiliate links.)

Wellington Monument Tote Bags by ValeriesGallery	Old Ireland Poem Card, Blank Inside Card by Olivia A. Kneibler	Kilkee Ireland White 24 Pane Open Window Poster by WindowToTheWorld
Celtic Knot Shamrock Shirt T-shirt by mazireland	St. Patrick’s Day Poem with Clovers and Rainbow Card by Ron Magnes	Green Irish LOVE Scarf Wraps by flagnation
Golden Retriever Travel Friendship Posters by AugieDoggyStore	Just put one foot in front of the other card by L.L.	Blue and White Stripes Bon Voyage Party Custom Invite by MarianCatesDesigns
Ireland Map T Shirt by MaigiDesign	Happy a beary nice St. Patrick’s Day-Bears, Irish Flag, St. Patrick’s Day Card by Lisa C. Weber	Celtic Knot Monogrammed Coat Rack by HoMeArts
Celtic Dog Hip Flasks by wheresmymojo	Irish Blessings Card by Great Scott Designs©	Irish Cheers Flag of Ireland Green Proud Patriotic Throw Pillows by alleyshirts

Not to long ago, I made cookies for a bake sale. However, I didn’t want to make the same old, same old. I thought about it for a while and wondered what would happen if I made a cookie using chocolate hazelnut spread instead of peanut butter.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Put butter and sugar into mixing bowl and beat until fluffy

3. Add eggs and hazelnut spread to bowl and combine with the other ingredients in bowl

Helpful Tip: It’s helpful to spray your measuring cup or spoon with cooking spray before placing something like hazelnut spray, peanut butter or honey in it. This helps more of the ingredient go in your batter and less stuck in the measuring cup or measuring spoon.

4. Add the flour and baking soda to the bowl and combine with the other ingredients in bowl

5. Chill mixture for about 10 minutes

6. Scoop onto greased baking sheet

Helpful Tip: I used an ice cream scoop to get the cookies to be a uniform shape and size

7. Press the center of the cookie down

8. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit

9. Let cool

10. Enjoy!

Unfortunately that means I haven’t been updating about The Sock Challenge as much as I would have liked to. However, I’ve finally gotten around to doing a design based on the socks I wore on February 2, 2013! Here’s a picture of the socks I wore:

Photo Credits: Valerie Waters 2013

I know, white socks. Not overly exciting. (I was traveling at the time and when I travel, I usually bring white or black socks to keep things simple.  This way, no matter what I wear, I know I’ll have a pair of socks that goes with it without having to bring a lot of extra things.)

However, I did come up with what I think is a cute design:

Polar Bear Eating Ice Cream Napkin by ValeriesGallery

Chocolate Ice Cream Cone T Shirt by LittleThingsDesigns	Parfait Perfection Happy Sweetest Day Card by Olivia A. Kneibler	Cute Kawaii Ice Cream Postage Stamp by Supercutekawaii
Guilty Penguin and Crying Polar Bear Greeting Cards by curiosityshop	Happy Holidays- polar bear photo card with lights and tinsel card by Maria Dryfhout	polar bear mug by greendeer
Pink Ice Cream Cone Children Play Date Card Business Card by DizzyDebbie	ice cream social invitation card by asyrum	Strawberry Ice Cream + Sprinkles + Your Text iPad Mini Cases by TrastoFino
Ice Edge Polar Bear iPhone 5 Case by Bluestar48	Polar Bear Christmas Card by makiko kimura	Polar Bear Leap Note Card by FalconsEye
summer joy pins by almawad	Cats Eating Ice Cream Birthday (Bud & Tony) card by Betty Matsumoto-Schuch	Cute Ice Cream with Pink Daisies Tees by Amethyst_Mouse
TEE Polar Bears Custom Jewelry by teepossible	Big Bear Hugs For Granddaughter On Valentine’s Day Greeting Cards by Tammy Moody	Polar Bear Electronics iPhone 5 Covers by AnimalParade
Kitten Socks Tee Shirts by fstasu51	Missing Sock Funny Father’s Day Card by NobleWorks Funny Cards	Make Socks Not War Knitting Design T Shirts by Sideview
Neutrino Flavors Physics Fun Shirt by Pastimedesigns	good luck card by brenden howard	So Sweet Ice Cream Shirt by RoseFleurDesigns
Ice Cream Pattern Pillow by JenHoneyDesigns	Polar Bear Cubs T Shirts by fstasu	Save Me Polar Bear Shirt by ValeriesGallery

There are very few things that I love more than taking a basic cake mix and dressing it up to seem fancy! In this case, I took a simple vanilla cake mix and turned it into a delicious cookie and cream cupcake! Yum! Here’s how:

Ingredients

1 box vanilla or yellow cake mix

Any ingredients required by your cake mix (in my case it was 3 eggs, 1 cup water and 1/3 cup vegetable oil)

1 package chocolate sandwich cookies

1-2 tbsp flour

Directions:

1. Mix the ingredients for your batter as instructed on the box of your chosen mix

2. Place chocolate sandwich cookies in a sandwich bag.
The amount will vary depending on how much cookie you want running through your cupcakes. I like a lot, so I used about 20 cookies.

3. Smash cookies until you get the size pieces you want

4. Pour cookie pieces into a small bowl

5. Add 1 tbsp flour to the cookies and stir until the pieces are coated
The flour will help prevent your cookie pieces from sinking to the bottom of your batter. This trick also works well with other things like fruit and chocolate chips! It also works with other batters like pancake for example.

6. Add cookie pieces to cake batter. Mix them together.

7. Repeat steps 2-6 as desired
I started out using 10 cookies, but found that wasn’t enough for my taste. I repeated steps 2-6 a second time.

8. Put batter into cupcake tins.
I prefer not to line them with paper, but I do use cooking spray.

9. Bake as directed

Cookies and Cream Frosting

This frosting was super simple to make! I just took a can of vanilla frosting and stirred in some cookie piece. Voila! A delicious and simple frosting that seems fancy!

If you’re interested in more ways to dress up vanilla cake batter, check out my squidoo lens Vanilla Cupcake Batter – 3 Ways.

And a huge thanks to Mind Design Grafx for featuring items from my 5 Yellow Birds, Big Ben Glows and Monster Bear Lines on the blog (4/18), Zazzle Your Home! If your looking for home decor items, you should definitely check it out!

I’d love to hear what you thought about this recipe and if you tried it! Feel free to leave a comment!