Tag Archives: Arts

Homemade Mocha Light Frappuccino & In Need of Some Time Wasting?

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I really hope procrastination is something that I will grow out of…but I am having a pretty bad feeling that it will just be a forever charming trait of mine. The other day as I was being productive on Pinterest (as everyone ALWAYS is), I stumbled across another great website that truly will increase my knowledge and broaden my horizons. Yes. Iwastesomuchtime.com. Very appropriately named.

One of my favorite pictures I saw was this one.

Wait for it…

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(Source)

So if you are ever in a crunch and need to waste some time, I have the hook-up for you! Iwastesomuchtime.com, trust me, you’ll regret clicking, but then you’ll be happy you clicked it, but angry, but happy. It’s a vicious, emotional circle of feelings.

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On a side note, I have more to share with you than a leaping sheep (that appears to be on the same road that Forrest Gump ran on).

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I happen to be a pretty big Starbucks fan. Starbucks, also known as that place where all your money magically disappears. I am here today to help that little disappearing money dilemma. Also, you don’t have to put a real bra on, turn your car on, brush your hair and do all those laborious tasks that are necessary to go to Starbucks, instead you can make these babies in the comfort of your own little kitchen!

We got this little individual serving blender from some family friends for Christmas and let me tell you, this baby is a gem! I love it!! So perfect for me (the only coffee drinker in the house) when I want to whip up my own little frap. You can, of course, also make your frap in a regular blender if that is what you have in your house, either way it will taste the same.

One last thing, to make this frap extra wonderful, you are going to want to pick up some of your own chocolate syrup. Not the Hershey’s kind of syrup, it’s like the kind of syrup Starbucks uses when they make their fraps, so be sure it is the syrup that is thinner and more of a liquidey consistency. You can find these syrups on-line, or in World Market, or Walmart. I believe other places sell them, but those are the ones I know for sure. In addition to the chocolate syrup, we have bought the vanilla and peppermint. Vanilla is great because it is actually cheaper than vanilla extract, so it rounds out the recipe, and the peppermint is awesome to get you in the wintery spirit. Plus, I am a total peppermint junkie, so I can see myself enjoying it all year long.

Mocha Light Frappuccino [at home!]

(Makes 1 serving)

1 cup ice

1/3 cup brewed coffee, cooled down

1/4 cup milk (I used skim)

2 shots of mocha syrup (I used the sugar free)

1/2 shot vanilla syrup (I used the sugar free)

  1. In a blender combine all ingredients and blend until you don’t hear the noisy ice being crushed, and the frappuccino is a smooth consistency. That’s it! Enjoy :-)

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Random Fact of the Day: An iceberg contains more heat than a lit match. That doesn’t make sense.. hm, I trust the internet. That’s where I met my french model boyfriend.

 

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A Super Easy Infinity Scarf and a Dilemma

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I have come to the horrible realization that next year, I will not be having the same type of access to a kitchen and ingredients that I have been enjoying all my life. For those of you who have been frequent, long time readers, you probably already know that I am a senior in high school and will be heading off to college next year.

I am super excited to move onto college life, but cooking will definitely be a new challenge and keeping up with the blog will for sure be difficult. I have not made my final decision on where I will be going next year, as I have not heard back from all the schools I have applied to, yet , so it is hard to say right now what kind of access I will be having to a kitchen. Even if I do have optimum kitchen time, it will still be difficult to buy and pay for all of the ingredients.

Now I know this whole introduction may not be the most exciting thing for you to read, but it really would help me if some readers would participate in my poll that I have in this post.

Because cooking and baking will most likely be a challenge next year, I need your help in figuring out what else should be shared on Beautiful Disasters. Now, I have been doing a TON of sewing and actually started crocheting over the past couple weeks, so sharing projects and tutorials could become an option. In addition to sewing, some more pinterest-esque DIY projects could be shared on here with tutorials. I could also share some of what is going on in my weird, boring life. I could share funny pictures that I find as I am wasting time being super productive, more on that later this week! Or maybe you just like my cooking or baking recipes and are like “BAKE OR DO NOTHING CASEY!”. Or..I..could…stop….blogging *tear* :`(

So please, cast your votes. Participate, because contrary to popular voting belief, Your vote DOES matter!!! :-)

P.S. You can select more than one option in the poll AND I know I spelled the second tutorials wrong in the poll..

AAaanndd here is the infinity scarf tutorial! Please cut me a little slack because this is my first time doing one of these sewing, craft tutorials, so I may have forgotten to mention some helpful details. Feel free to ask plenty of questions!

Here is the original post that I based mine off of from Sweet Verbena

Here are some things you should know before you start, size of materials and what the dotted lines mean on my little diagram that comes next.

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And now here are the steps to making your infinity scarf!

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This is what the final product should look like when you have turned it right side out. Sorry for the low quality pictures, not too easy trying to take a picture of yourself at 6 in the morning!

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Random Fact of the Day: In Singapore, it is illegal to sell or own chewing gum. They are extremely clean there!!

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Week in Review (3/26-3/30)

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Ahh, what a relaxing week I had this week. So nice to take a break and spend the week in beautiful Florida for spring break!

Monday I shared with you guys my SRC post which featured Homemade salsa! Such a yummy and handy thing to have in the house. I’m so happy I made this and was so shocked at how easy it was! Once you have all the ingredients prepped, you are literally less than a minute away from fresh salsa. YUM

Tuesday I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine in Florida and started my day off with a nice run a little over 6 miles. Such a good feeling. Then…Then, I went up 14 flights of stairs. Yes, 14. FOURTEEN PEOPLE FOURTEEN! That’s insane! But you know what? It motivated me to where I ended up doing that the rest of the week.  FYI: It never got easier..

Wednesday I shared with you guys the sights of Ft. Lauderdale…this place sure has proven itself to be one ca-razy, unpredictable place!

Thursday was just another lovely day spent in sunny Florida. Ran. Laid out. Ate dinner. Repeat. Pretty much the same thing everyday, but hey, that’s how I like it! So nice getting a break from the busy school-soccer life and just veg out for a week.

Friday I showed you guys a post that I dug out from months ago! It actually made me a little proud of myself to see how far my photography has come. But the main reason I pulled this guy out was that I have been meaning to post it but it just kept slipping my mind and so it was just perfect timing to share it while I was out of town and soaking up the ray on spring break! :) Besides…you can never go wrong with any post that involves peanut butter!

Oh and another great thing that happened Friday? Well, we had our BEST, BEST, BEST meal of the week. We went to the Chart House, yes I do know it is kind of a chain. But ohmygawd after a week of on and off, kind of disappointing food, we had our BEST food that night.

We decided to try an appetizer, and we ordered the Oysters Rockefeller, which were fantastic. For the main course, I ordered grilled swordfish, and it was fantastic. It had the perfect char on it from the grill, but still was super moist and maintained it’s awesome fishy flakiness. There was delicious rice on the side as well as yummy green beans. Yes, yummy green beans, they do exist!

To finish off the meal, we ordered two lava cakes. (We always have a separate section reserved in our tummies for desserts!) The lava cake was awesome! Perfectly warm, and super chocolatey. It was topped with vanilla ice cream and bits of chocolate and chocolate sauce. I can not even put this dessert into words. I might try to recreate it, but if I fall short, I may just cry. It was so good. The whole meal was just the best possible way for us to end the week. I would not have changed a thing. Great food. Awesome service. Beautiful restaurant and view.

Best picture...now you can't tell me you don't want some of that!

Today I am sadly coming home. It’s such a bittersweet moment leaving lovely Florida. I’ll miss the beach, sun, and fish, but it sure will be nice to get back home and in the kitchen!

Random Fact of the Day: The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles per hour.

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Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Bake

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OMG scariest thing ever just happened to me the other night.


I was face to face with a big ‘ol fly in the shower. Me and bugs don’t mix. I have clearly illustrated this before and you can see it here, if you have not seen it before. I’ve also talked about it here. 

Anyways, for some reason this is not the first time that this situation, where a fly is in the shower with me, has happened. I don’t know why. Maybe flys are weirdly attracted to me. EWWY!

For some reason, when I spotted Mr. Fly in the shower, I thought it would be a good idea to splash water at him. Because flys aren’t waterproof right?! WRONG.

Mr. Fly went bizerk. He zoomed here, there, and just about everywhere! This is the main reason why I can handle ants. Ants don’t have wings. Lady bugs, flies, and those occasional flying spider this…those are just plain UN-fair!

When I got out of the shower, Mr. Fly magically disappeared and has not been seen since. This is a little freaky for me, but hey he’s out of sight and some-what out of mind.

Oh, and I also made these delicious cheesy, chicken tortilla bake thing-a-ma-jigs. They’re awesome. These chicken tortilla guys are like a mix of an enchilada, burrito, taco-ish type thing. They were perfect with some spanish rice I cooked up, but I’ll be sharing that with you later! ;)

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Bake

NOTE: This recipe may be prepared ahead of time. I made mine earlier in the day, and just covered it with foil and then a few hours later when I was ready to bake it, I baked it for 30 minutes in a 375 degree F oven, covered and then I took the foil off and finished it for 10 more minutes, uncovered. This may be refrigerated up to 24 hours ahead of time or you may freeze it for up to 1 month. If you freeze it, be sure to let thaw overnight in the fridge and then bake the same as you would for the refrigerated version as stated previously.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 cup salsa

3 cups milk (I used skim)

1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

1/2 cup sour cream (or mayonnaise)

1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican-Blend Cheese

about 3 Tablespoons parsley flakes

about 10 tortilla

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray baking dishes with cooking spray or grease with oil. I used a 13 x 9 inch dish and an 8 x 8 inch dish.
  2. In a large heavy saucepan, whisk sour cream and flour. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture thickens up into a nice sauce consistency. Add about 1 cup shredded cheese-stir and cook until melted. Take sauce off heat and set 1 cup of sauce aside.
  3. Mix in chicken, salsa, and parsley into the sauce in saucepan. Spoon about 1/2 cup of chicken-sauce mixture onto each tortilla and roll up (I like to roll mine similar to how this guy rolls his in this video, minus the foil). Place rolls, seams-side down into prepared baking dishes. Top each roll with sauce that was set aside earlier (I had to mix my sauce around with a spoon because the top has started to set) and top with remaining cheese.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and rolls are heated through.

Random Fact of the Day: There’s a prison in Uruguay named “Freedom.”

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Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful day today. Enjoy and appreciate your family no matter how much they may drive you crazy, you know you will always have them and they will always have you. Remember what is important today and enjoy your company, food, and the gift of your life that you have been given!

(from left : My brother-Jack, my mom, my doggy-Harry!!, my sister-Brooke, ME :) , my dad)