Nutella Truffles

I have been incredibly lazy about cooking lately. I went to Sam’s Club at the beginning of this month and bought a ridiculous amount of prepared food. My fridge is stocked with breakfast sandwiches, turkey and veggie burgers, country fried steaks, brown rice, and random assortments of vegetables. AND IT ALL CAN BE MADE IN THE MICROWAVE! …Except the rice. When I tried to cook rice in the microwave I caused a small kitchen fire that fill the house with smoke, twice.

After such a long affair with the microwave, I knew there was only one ingredient that could make my oven forgive me. It had to be the patron saint of all things delicious, Nutella.

I know I just posted Nutella Bites, and these aren’t really truffles, more like cake balls really, but I’m still writing about them because they are that good.

Don’t take my word for it, go and make them yourself!

What you need
1 box of brownie mix and whatever the box says you need to make the brownies
1 jar Nutella
1 box confectioners sugar
Assorted sized chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to the temperature suggested on the box

Follow the box to make the brownie batter. Mix in as many chocolate chips as you’d like (I put in maybe a full bag)

Bake the brownies until a tooth pick comes out almost clean. You want it to still be gooey, but not so gooey that it still has the consistency of batter.

Let the half-baked brownies cool, at least until you can comfortably touch them. You can let them cool down all the way, but I’m not patient enough for that.

Remove the brownies from the pan and place in a large bowl. Crumble up the brownies until you have a bowl and delicious chocolate-y crumbs.

Start adding Nutella to the bowl and mix in into the brownies. You are going to be rolling these into balls, so you want enough Nutella that the truffles are dense, but not enough that they can not hold their shape.

Once the Nutella and brownie crumbs are mixed, start rolling the mixture into balls and set on a seperate tray to cool (if you didn’t let the brownies cool earlier).

This part gets messy… Roll the balls in confectioners sugar so they are completely covered. I poured the sugar into a medium bowl to make it easier to coat the Nutella balls. Before you put the sugar coated truffle back of the tray shake off any excess sugar. If you didn’t let the balls cool before coating them, the sugar may start to dissolve. If this happens, just roll them in the sugar again to add another coat.

Cake Mix Cookies

Finally, we are getting some snow in Baltimore. I think it is the perfect excuse to start a fire and bake all the things that I pinned and then forgot about. The first thing I want to make is cake mix cookies. I tried making red velvet cookies last year for valentines day, but my friends and I got impatient waiting for the oven to heat up and we ate the batter instead. The only thing I have to do today is sit by the fire and watch every episode of 30 Rock before the season finale next week; that should keep me entertained and relaxed enough to resist the glorious cookie dough.

Check out this blog!

Hey everyone!

My brother just started a blog to share his artwork. He is posting everything from T-Shirt designs to murals. Be sure to check it out here, wlhart.org! 

xx, Megan

Lilly Letters

Now that it is 2013, I have no use for my 2012 Lilly Agenda. I felt bad throwing it away, but I don’t have a use for it and it is filled with homework assignments and test schedules that I really don’t need to be reminded of. Before throwing it out, I obviously took out the sticker pages. I may not be a kid anymore, but that doesn’t mean I stopped loving stickers or don’t need a lollipop after I get a shot at the doctors. I’m actually quite upset that my doctor thinks she can stick a needle in my arm without the promise of a sugary treat.  I also went through all the prints for each month of the year and realized they were way too cute for the trash. I saw an instagram picture of Lilly patchwork letters and thought this was the perfect way to use the patterns that the Lilly print designers are so great at making. So if you are a fellow Lilly Lover and need something to personalize your room, or rep your sorority, or just want to craft, try making your very own Lilly Letters!

Bacon Sweet Potato Bites

I never really liked sweet potatoes until I went to college in Memphis. Growing up I think sweet potato fries looked too much like carrots for me to give them a try. After trying the fries at Young Avenue Deli in Memphis, I became obsessed. I went to Sam’s Club this weekend and bought sweet potatoes in bulk; I eat them so often that this is actually necessary. Usually, I just wrap them in foil and throw them in the oven, then stuff them with cheese, spices, and fruit, but I wanted to try something new.

On another note, I make a lot of bacon. A lot. A lot, a lot. I like to cut bacon slices into little squares and cook it, making bacon chips. I then eat those instead of tortilla chips because pork belly is obviously healthier than something with grains in it. Or at least I’m going to keep believing that. I always keep the bacon fat for cooking grits or vegetables, but I had never thought of cooking sweet potatoes in it. I have put bacon in my stuffed sweet potatoes before, but for some reason using the bacon fat never dawned on me.

Until Yesterday.

If you like bacon, sweet potato, rosemary, and happiness– you have to try these bacon sweet potato bites!

Echo Palm Beach

Maybe it is because of the freezing weather in Baltimore, but I keep wanting to write about my trip to Palm Beach. I used to be one of those people who said they could never live somewhere it’s warm year-round because they like seasons, but I’m starting realize that some seasons are terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I love the snow, but snow seems to hate me; it’s avoiding me like I’m a stage 5 clinger. I don’t understand why, all I want to do is love it and collect it and put it in my freezer so I can use it to make snowballs to throw at my brothers even after its melted away. That’s normal, right?

Getting {grilled} Cheesy

There are few things more comforting in this world than the combination of bread and cheese. I wrote about French Onion Soup as my favorite comfort food almost a year ago. But today, instead of talking about delicious bread soaking in a brandy-beef broth with gooey cheese melted over it, I will be talking about an equally delicious and gooey food– the grilled cheese.

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It’s no secret that my family loves grilled cheese; my little brother eats one every day for breakfast. I  jumped on the grilled cheese bandwagon and started eating them myself a few weeks ago and have been playing around with a few variations, mostly based on what leftovers were in my fridge. Now I’m eating one almost every day. They are so easy to make and with so many choices, I never feel like I am eating the same thing! So defeat your lunchtime boredom with these 20 ways to fancify your grilled cheese!

Red Cross Beach Bash

Do you know what’s terrible? When you come home from somewhere warm and can see your breath the moment you step off the plane. That’s what happened to me when I arrived in Baltimore after an amazing weekend in Palm Beach for the Red Cross Beach Bash.

Besides tickets, we won a 2 night hotel stay, so we had time to explore Palm Beach and revisit all my favorite places..

exploring one of the alleys off Worth

Worth Avenue was beautiful as always.

And we’re off!

It’s finally here! I am on my way to Palm Beach for the Red Cross Beach Bash with my brand new Lilly tote!

DIY Chindi Reindeer

This isn’t just the story of my incredibly cute Christmas decorations. It is also the story of how dangerous hot glue guns can be. And it’s the story of how I learned my family thinks I am a walking disaster.

Here’s the bottom line, do NOT use a high heat glue gun with low heat glue sticks (which are apparently a thing). The glue will come out too fast and spill all over your hand and before you know it, your skin is blistering under the glue and you can’t peel the glue off or the blisters will open and you realize you really are a walking disaster.

So anyway….