French Breakfast Muffins in the NuWave Oven

After searching around on Pinterest I found this great recipe.  Sometimes the most basic and simplistic recipes are really good.  Nothing difficult here.  I made a few changes and adapted it to use in my NuWave Oven.  Excellent with coffee.  It is adapted from a recipe on the Velvet Lava Cafe.

About 2/3 of a large ice cream scoop in each muffin cup.

Into the NuWave on the 1" rack.

Set the timer for 17 minutes.

Before the topping.

After topping.

Yummy!

Ingredients:
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk
Mix wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another.  Then stir together until just mixed, do not over mix.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full w/batter.

Topping (after muffins are baked):
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.
Brush the butter on the top of the muffins and sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon on top and shake off the excess. 

Makes approximately 10 muffins.

Cheescake & Pumpkin Muffins in the NuWave Oven

These muffins were surprisingly easy to make.

Drop about 2/3 full into each muffin cup.

Add about a tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture and swirl slightly with a chopstick. Do not mix completely.

15 min. in the NuWave oven.

Done.

Yum!  You actually get a bite of cheesecake or muffin, instead of a pumpkin cheesecake mixture.

 

MUFFINS:
One 15 oz can pumpkin 
1/4 cup  vegetable oil 
2  large eggs 
1  teaspoon vanilla
1  cup sugar 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1  teaspoon baking powder 
1/2  teaspoon baking soda 
1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 1/4 teas. pumpkin pie spice
1/2  teaspoon salt

By hand, mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, then mix them together.

FILLING:

8 ounces cream cheese,  room temperature 
1 large egg yolk 
5 tablespoons sugar 
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat w/mixer until mixed.

Baked in NuWave on 1” rack for 15 min.

(my variation of original recipe from Scoochmaroo, Intructables)

DIY Benetint-like lip/cheek stain recipe

Here's my easy, quick, and inexpensive version of Benetint.  I like knowing what the ingredients are as well as saving money so I make my own.

Here's what you need:

distilled water & vegetable glycerine (from the health food store)

food coloring

small dish, measuring spoon, dropper for dispensing into the container, & 1 empty lip gloss tube

Mix 1 teaspoon of distilled water, 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin, 8 drops of food coloring in the dish and use the dropper to fill the lip gloss tube.  This amount filled this lip gloss tube completely.

Use on your lips or as a blush.  I apply a few strokes on my cheeks and blend with a blush brush one cheek at a time.  It lasts all day with a soft pink tone.

Yay, Trader Joe's on Vacation!

I guess it doesn't take much to excite me, Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store and to just happen to find one on one of our shopping trips on vacation was neat. "Two Buck Chucks" was $3.79 each in this upscale neighborhood in Beechwood, Ohio. Still a bargain though.

We sat along the sidewalk enjoying the weather and flowers.
I loved the giant chess set.

DIY Acrylic necklace

What you need:
One pack small clear faceted beads, approximately 1/4" in diameter.
Two packs of larger clear faceted sort of flat beads.
Stretchy cord.
Super glue.
Directions:
Thread the beads directly onto the stretchy cord.  Alternating the smaller round beads between the larger ones.  After they are strung and tie off the stretchy cord.  Stretch it out to isolate the knot otherwise the beads will glue to the knot.  Add a couple of drops of super glue to the knot or it will un-knot itself.  After it's dried, trim the ends of the stretchy cord.
The finished necklace modeled by my daughter.
It's lightweight and fun. Love!

Garage door revamp

I fell in love with this black painted garage door at Thrifty Decor Chick
and knew I wanted to do this to our boring garage door. My problem was our garage door is not a paneled door like hers.

So I decided to paint the door to look like it. First, I painted the door with Behr paint in bitter chocolate, eggshell finish. Next, marked and taped off the panels. Then I accentuated the light areas and shadows with acrylic craft paint that I custom blended with light gray, brown, and black. I stenciled the "welcome" in the center of the door and used a stamp for the fleur de lis in copper craft paint as well. I finished the entire door with Valspar Antiquing Glaze in Asphaltium, wiping it on and off to give just a hint of a darker color which added depth and took the brassiness off the copper paint making the whole door appear more realistic look.




I think it worked and I'm happy with my "faux" paneled door.

Full length mirror refurbish

I saw this trumeau mirror DIY on Susie Harris' blog and just loved it. I was at a local thrift shop and saw this ugly brown mirror but fell in love with it's detail and thought it had the same trumeau look and all I'd have to do is paint it, yay!
I taped off part of the mirror and started painting:




And morphed into this! I am very happy with the results and it looks great in my bedroom with the rest of the white painted furniture.