Author: Laura

Caprese Salad

Caprese Salad

Hello World,

These last two weeks I have been so busy, I haven’t made time to sit down and have a good ole crafternoon. This last weekend I actually went to two weddings, 400 miles apart. I am in the process of editing all the photos of my lovely bride friends, and a post with the deets on those weddings should will be up soon!

In the meantime, here is another simple recipe that is a refreshing and oh-so-tasty! For my photos, I only used one tomato and resulted with a smaller platter.

Caprese Salad

To make your own caprese salad, you will need:

  • Large ripe tomatoes
  • Mozzarella cheese (I prefer fresh versus the processed type, as it has more flavor and moisture.)
  • Fresh basil leaves
  • Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • Parmesan cheese

Slice your tomato(es) into disks and arrange on a platter. Slice your mozzarella in the same manner and arrange on top of the tomato slices. Either chop or tear your basil leaves and sprinkle over your platter. Drizzle EVOO on top, and finish by sprinkling grated parmesan cheese over everything. Serve immediately.

Caprese Salad

Cheers! The fair is this upcoming weekend in my area, and I entered five DIY projects I made this last year. Fingers crossed I win a ribbon! Did you enter anything this year?

Peanut Butter & Apple Snack Wraps

Peanut Butter & Apple Snack Wraps

Hello World,

When the weather is blazing hot, I love meals and snacks that are both refreshing and filling. Back when I was in college, one of my roommates would make snack wraps filled with peanut butter and apples. Sometimes she would dip the snack wrap in yogurt. I built upon her recipe, and made some snack wraps of my own recently, and they were pretty tasty!

Peanut Butter & Apple Snack Wraps

I love recipes that don’t have exact measurements. They are quick, easy, and you just add more or less of an ingredient to make it to your liking. To make your own snack wraps you will need:

  • Whole Wheat Tortillas
  • Peanut Butter
  • An Apple
  • Granola
  • Honey
  • Optional: Vanilla Yogurt

Simply just spread peanut butter on your tortilla, cut/chop up your apple, and place in the tortilla. Sprinkle granola on your tortilla, and drizzle honey over it. Fold your tortilla closed, and warm up your snack wrap in the microwave for 10 seconds. Eat it plain, or dip in vanilla yogurt.

I found that one apple can make two snack wraps.

Peanut Butter & Apple Snack Wraps

If you cut up your apple into smaller pieces, you totally could slice your filled wraps into smaller pieces, and arrange them on a platter as finger food for a party/BBQ.

Peanut Butter & Apple Snack Wraps

What’s your go-to summer snack?

Driftwood Jewelry Organizer

Driftwood Jewelry Organizer

Hello World,

I love the beach. Having sand between my toes, sun on my skin, and a beach bag full of found treasures makes me happy as a clam at high tide. Because I don’t live near an ocean, I collect rocks and driftwood instead of sea shells. (Fun Fact- I have never found a whole sand dollar, only bits and pieces. The Pacific Ocean is rough on those guys!)

Back to my driftwood collection- I have long ones displayed in a vase, other interesting ones decorating my shelves, and then a pile of make-something-with-mes sitting outside. Well, I finally put a little dent in that pile, and made two jewelry organizers:

Driftwood Jewelry Organizer

1. Gather your supplies: clean driftwood, screw-in hooks, a clear sealant (spray paint or polyurethane), acrylic paint, paint brush, stapler, staples, rope, and scissors.

2. If you want to decorate your driftwood, paint a design and allow it to dry.

3. Seal your driftwood and allow it to dry. This will make it darker and slightly glossy, but it will preserve it. (Note- be careful with woodworm. My piece of driftwood had shallow surface bites on it, but I kept it outside for months (away from other wood), where it could cook in the hot sun. When it doubt, throw it out or insecticide it.)

4. Screw your hooks into your wood. I followed the flow of my driftwood instead of placing them in a straight line.

5. Staple two short pieces of rope to the back of your wood- one on each end. This is how you will hang it. (You’ll probably notice that my wood is bright orange on the backside. This is because I sawed the back of it off, so it would be flush with the wall.)

6. Hang and enjoy!

driftwoodjewelry4

Driftwood Jewelry Organizer

 

For my second jewelry organizer, I used a flatter piece of driftwood and painted a more basic design.

Happy Crafting!