SPA-IN-A-JAR

I was inspired by a few different “pampering jars” or “spa-in-a-jar” that I saw on Pinterest, so I made my own for a law school graduation gift for a friend. This would also be a great Mother’s Day gift. It was so fun to make and I got everything fairly cheap at Target! The jar had Burts Bees hand cream,foot cream, cuticle cream, lotion, and chapstick. It also had face masks, Essie jail polish, nail clippers, files, fuzzy socks, and OF COURSE–> chocolate! The best thing about this gift is that I got to keep the leftovers of whatever didn’t fit!

Note: I didn’t end up putting the loofa or the moroccan oil. I also didn’t use the Revlon black kit; Instead, I just put the file, cuticle stick, and nail clippers in the jar by themselves. I used two of the four face masks.

-I made these labels in Word. I had never made labels before, but I think they turned out great! If you want me to send you the PDF of the labels to use, email me at partyowlnight41@gmail.com.

 

 

Sincerely,

L

Veggie Breakfast Casserole

This is a veggie version of the breakfast sausage casserole. I’m not the biggest fan of breakfast sausage, so this one is more my style. For Christmas morning tomorrow, we are having the veggie casserole, breakfast sausage casserole, and cheesy grits. If more family was in town, we’d thrown in some monkey bread or cheesy hash browns. We LOVE breakfast. It’s definitely my favorite meal of the day. I think this one looks very festive for Christmas because of the red and green. 🙂 Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 package of fresh spinach
2 red peppers, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
6 slices bread, crusts removed
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese
5 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Instructions:
1. Butter bread and cut into cubes. Place in 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
2. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté the onions, peppers, and spinach until the spinach looks wilted. Add a dash of salt and pepper.
2. Sprinkle your skillet mixture over the bread in the baking dish. Top with the cheese.
3. Beat remaining ingredients together (starting at the eggs) and pour over your mixture. Chill overnight.
4. Bake uncovered in the morning at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. (I normally do 50 minutes, but the originally recipe says 45. Just evaluate if the eggs look fully cooked.)

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

This is the perfect casserole for a holiday family breakfast or brunch. You make it the night before, which makes it so easy in the morning. My aunt gave my mom this recipe. We always make this with monkey bread and cheesy hash browns when all of the cousins are together. It is quite the spread, but somehow, it’s always all gone by the end of breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 pound bulk pork sausage, cooked, crumbed, and drained
6 slices brea, crusts removed
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
5 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Variation: 2 cups diced ham may be substituted for sausage.

Instructions:
1. Butter bread and cut into cubes. Place in 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
2. Sprinkle with the cooked sausage. Top the sausage with the cheese.
3. Beat remaining ingredients together and pour over sausage mixture. Chill overnight.
4. Bake uncovered in the morning at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. (I normally do 50 minutes, but the originally recipe says 45. Just evaluate if the eggs look fully cooked.)

Crunchy Marshmallow Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Thanksgiving is a great time to try out new recipes or to try twists on the classics! One of my favorite thanksgiving dishes has always been mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on them. My mom tried something new with them this year. She was inspired by this recipe from Southern Living, but she changed it up a little so here is her variation! She did not use eggs, and she added nutmeg. Also, she boils her potatoes the night before instead of baking them. See below for her version of the instructions. This is so delicious! (I made sure to take all of the leftovers with me back to school.)

Ingredients:

4 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Instructions:

The night before:
1. BOIL sweet potatoes for 1 hour or until tender. Keep in the refrigerator over night.

2. In the morning, peel and mash sweet potatoes. The peelings just fall off so easily when you boil them the night before like this. Zap in microwaved for about two minutes to get the chill out.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
3. Beat mashed sweet potatoes and add the next six ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spoon sweet potato mixture into a greased 9 x 9 or 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

4. Combine cornflakes cereal, pecans, brown sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Sprinkle over casserole in diagonal rows 2 inches apart.(See picture for idea).

5. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

6. Sprinkle marshmallows in alternate rows between cornflake mixture; bake 10-15 minutes. (We like our marshmallow super golden!) Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Yellow Brick Road

My school hosted an event, and the theme was “There’s No Place Like Home.” I stumbled across this idea on Pinterest, so I do not claim credit. However, it looked SO awesome, and I have to recommend it to anyone who is having a Wizard of Oz themed party/event! It took about 40 rolls of yellow duct tape, and 7+ hours of work….. but it was worth it.

We used painter’s tape to measure a three foot width so that the size of the road would be consistent throughout the hallway as we worked.