No-Machine Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream Pie

Oh my Pumpkin Spice season!
Living in California can kind of put a damper on the ideal "sweater weather." While the leaves eventually change to their picture perfect colors, it doesn't really feel like fall. It can be rainy one day and 85 °F the next, BUT that doesn't stop us from adding the flavor of fall to everything we eat! Two words... PUMPKIN SPICE. Prepare yourself for a few spectacular words... No-Machine Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream PIE! Yes, oh yes, you read that correctly. Pumpkin Spice flavored Ice Cream, made with NO ice cream machine, in a pie. Okay, okay, there is a catch. This isn't really "ice cream" per-se; it's whipped cream with canned pumpkin and sweetened condensed milk that's been mixed and frozen.
I found the no-machine pumpkin spice ice cream on Pinterest  on Eazy Peazy Mealz but I've made a few alterations to the recipe.  (Click HERE to be directed to the original ice cream recipe).
Keep in mind this is a quick-ish version way to make this and I'll explain the more "Homemade from Scratch" as the instructions go on.

Ingredients:

Ice cream (makes about 4-6 quarts, there will be left overs after pie crust is filled)

• 3 cups of heavy cream
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 10 ounces canned pumpkin, not canned pumpkin 
• 2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice.
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 
• 1 cup sifted powdered sugar (aka, icing sugar)

Crust

• one 9-inch pie crust
  

Caramelized Walnuts

• 1 cup walnut halves
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp butter

Chantilly Cream

•  1 cup of heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

How to:

*Pre-note: The first time I made this, I didn't have to much time to make the crust from scratch, so I made the caramelized walnuts, chopped some and put them on the bottom of the store-bought crust. The 2nd time I made it,  I added the finely chopped walnuts into the graham cracker mix, before pressing into the pie pan.

1.  In a small nonstick pot or pan add walnut halves, sugar and butter.
   Leave on medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar has turned light amber brown.
   Transfer to parchment paper or silicone mat.
   
2. In a medium bowl, mix together canned pumpkin, condensed milk, sifted sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Set aside.
   
3. In a Large bowl, whip 3 cups of heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
   
   
   
   
4. Mix the pumpkin mixture by halves into the whipped cream, mixing until just combined.
   
5. Chop walnut halves, set 2-3 tablespoons aside and put remainder on the bottom of the pie crust. 
   
6. Pour whipped pumpkin mixture into pie crust. Freeze for at least 4 hours or over night.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Presentation: Whip Cream, powdered sugar and vanilla to make cahntilly cream until stiff peaks. Transfer to piping bag with a tip and pipe shell border. Sprinkle remainder caramelized walnuts on the whipped cream.

DIY Cake Pop Stand

        Soooooo, This week I had an event where I was requested to make cake pop's. I had only made them once before and from what I can remember it was a disaster. I also remember having trouble finding where to put them when I finished dipping them (I used glass cups to stand them in while they solidified.) I decided I wanted to make a cake pop stand for myself to use, and though I don't make them often I would have the stand available to my use, if needed. I also did some research on cake pop stands that most people use and they used a styrofoam slab, but styrofoam is pretty dang expensive; I want mine to be more durable!

Before we began, let me tell you about my hunt for wood at Home Depot and Lowe's. To find your perfect size wood, you basically just have to walk around the store and browse different thicknesses and lengths of wood. The best thing I could find was a long piece of wood that is used for stairs. The piece is about an inch in thickness which is good support for the pops' sticks and it was long but we just asked them to cut it in half for us. It does have a rounded edge on one side but that didn't bother me. If it bothers you, there is no harm in just chopping it off. As far a color, it was unfinished Knotty Pine, so I went ahead and bought grey wood stain. I also knew I wanted to add some handles to make this Cake pop Holder have that IT factor. Lets get started,…

What you'll need:

• 1-Slab of wood of choice, (at least a 1 inch thickness)
• A Pencil
• A Ruler
• An Electric drill with the drill head that fits the size of your sticks, nice and snug.
• Sand Paper
• Wood stain *optional
• Stain Brush *optional
• Old towel/ Paper towels *optional
• Handles (from the cabinet section of the store!)

Instructions: 

Step One: 

        With your ruler and pencil, draw out a grid that measures out how far each hole will be. I did an Inch and a half apart per stick. 

Step Two:

        Drill where each corner of the square on your grid is but making sure you don't drill all the way through your board; if you do drill all the way though when you pick up the cake pop stand the sticks will fall all the way though. 

Step Three: 

        Sand down the board to be smooth if needed. You're technically done after this step but if you'd like to add a little something more to your stand, please continue to read! 

Step Four: 

        Using your stain, give as many coats as you need to achieve desired colors. What I did for my board is i would do one coat, then rub off access with a paper towel and let that dry completely. i wasn't sure if i wanted a second coat because i really liked the grain of wood that was visible after one coat so i placed (not attached) the handles to see how I felt about it. I decided to give it a second coat after all and see how i felt about it. Aaaaand, I LOVED IT!!!! J'ADORE!!!! 

Let dry completely and a coat of finishing wax and screw on some handles if you'd like then you are DONE!!! Below are pictures in between coats and photos of the first time I put cakepops on the stand (you can tell i didn't have time to screw on the handles)! Lovely! 

Baby Fever

         Alas! Feast your eyes on this delicate beauty! Months ago I took photos for one of my Best Friends' newborn, AKA my beautiful God Daughter. She was one month and I had been itching to do some newborn photos since my friend had told me she was pregnant. I had wanted to her to have a boy since she already has a daughter. The anticipation of finding out the sex of the baby is such along wait, so to keep myself occupied, I went on the Pinterest hunt for baby boy poses and props. There were so many cute poses for baby boys that link them to daddy. AND THEN... we found out the baby was a girl! AHHHH! I was in shock. I really thought she was goint to have a boy but at the same time I was incredibly excited for her to have a girl because I have 3 nephews. Buying girl stuff would be such a refreshing change. Tutus, Bows and sparkly EVERYTHING! How can it get better. But of course, I was going to be happy with whatever God would bless her family with.

        As Preparation for the photo shoot, I bought (& brought) quite a list of things. I'd read to make sure to have something to use as light reflectors (I had car windshield heat reflectors; the silver side would have worked if I had ended up using them but the lighting was perfect naturally!) I also read in colder weather to have a heater going to keep the room cold to prevent a fussy baby. I also got a cream-colored knit blanket and a furry bath rug from target. I even went as far as painting my own back drop. I asked a guy at the farmer market if i could have a crate, which I sanded down smooth and slightly stained. I got a chalk board plaque from michaels($2.99) and wrote "Alexia is One Month."  Aaaaand, just like that the itch for the baby photoshoot was gone & I think the photos came out just too dang adorable!!

Atheist vs Christian view on life

I had seen this a while back ago and have been wanting to post it but I couldn't bare infecting my neatly organized  Instagram with such hideous quality of an image. The message however was touching. So here my friends is a more girly, visually easy on the eyes version of "Atheist/Christian View on Life." Share it and let it inspire people who have doubts in faith! Even if it touches the heart of one person to come to the Lord, it's one more through the gates of heaven!

DIY Leather Scarf Cuff

I first discovered this fabulous yet simple scarf accessory on Etsy by a seller named, ThreeBirdNest. She makes and sells beautiful scarfs and accessories. I found myself completely and positively inthralled with a teal scarf that had a leather cuff around. I loved how a piece of leather can make a scarf that's already bold, BOLDER. It's like, literally, an accessory for and accessory and I loved that. The only downfall was my pesky conscious that prevents me from buying anything that I feel is over-priced. I said to myself, "self, you can make that." AND SO I DID, and this is how…

What you'll need:

- 2 strips of Leather trim. I found mine at Michael's for about $3.99 a trim.

- a button 

- a pair of sharp fabric scissors

- an xacto knife (unphotographed)

- a needle

- thread 

- a thimble (unphotographed) 

MAKE IT:

1) First thing you'll want to do is measure a 3-4 inch long strip of leather that's as wide as your button is. Cut that small strip out of one of the leather trims, making a small snip of the corners to make them rounded (thats optional i suppose, but i like the fact that the edges of the are consistant.)

2) On the other larger strip of leather, sew the button in the middle of one end of the strip.

3) Using the xacto knife cut a slit, as the button hole, on the small baby strip of leather. Cut it as long as you need until the button fits into the slit. 

4) Sew the baby piece on the large strip (sew it on the opposite side to the button) I sewed mine so that the two leathers were attached by an "X stitch", just because I knew it could be visible so I want it to look nice. 

5) THEEEENNNNNN….Attach this to any scarf you'd like! I put mine on chunky infinity, knits, etcetera, etcetera, ETCETERA! 

How to Pray for a Friend.

While I lay here in bed at approximately 4:17 am, I am mentally walking on a plain of what to write. I know what I want to say, but how do I translate it so that others may understand...

Let me start, in short, by saying that a really great friend of mine texted me and asked for a prayer. I prayed of course, but still felt as if there was a slight gap in my prayer.  The Lord knows what I mean to say, what's on my mind but I wanted to discover it for my own.

I went on Pinterest and searched the words "how to pray for friends" and this brought up several things. How to pray for your husband. How to pray for your children and specifically, how to-literally- pray for friends, i.e pray that The Lord bring friends to you. While that wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I re-typed the words to say "how to pray for a friend." This brought up very similar pins that the other search did, along with some picures of inspirational people, friendship quotes and even some humorous photos of animals with their paws together in Prayer. Still, not what I was searching for.

I thought, "Wow. Out of all the things there are on Pinterest,..." There aren't many posts about how to pray for a friend. So in my feeble attempt, I would simply like to share a prayer with you that can be used in all occasions as far as friendships go.

"Heavenly Father, 

I pray to you at this moment, Lord, for my friend.

Thank you,

for this friend whom 

you have crossed my path with. 

You have brought them fourth 

for reasons 

that will change me forever. 

I pray, 

that we be influenced by each other 

in the way you intended us to be.

I pray,

that every decision we make in our friendship 

be in line with your grace.

I pray,

that we act as your puppets

And understand that 

you are the puppeteer.

I pray,

that when their ship of faith

goes astray,

you grab that wheel

And steer them back to shore. 

I may not know

all of their struggles, 

but you do, Lord. 

And in those struggles,

I pray,

 that they find 

comfort, 

joy, 

peace, 

love, 

guidance, 

&

reassurance 

that they will be carried by you and your will, Lord.

Father, I pray for my Friend.

Amen." 

Diet Bet

        Let me tell you, … Just let me tell you about DietBet. This is probably the best motivation I've found for weight loss! Diet bet is basically exactly was a it sounds like; its a diet that you bet on. Basically, you create an account and depending on which diet bet you chose to do, you will have to pay about $25-$35(?) to enter. Lets say you enter a One-month challenge, you have that one month to lose 4% of your starting weight. At the end of the game, if you've lost the 4% but the end of the game, not only do you win YOUR money back, but you also win some of the money from the people who also entered but dint win. 

        HERE IS THE CATCH: You can't cheat. You take pictures in the beginning and the end of the challenge, of yourself in "airport attire" and they also give you a keyword to place by the scale while you stand on it. Snap those pictures and submit it to be reviewed by official referees.  I did the 4% challenge a while back ago when ShayCarl (Youtuber; Shayloss) did one and I lost because my Aunt Flow decided to visit me during my last weigh in; Needless to say I was so excited for her visit. 

        This time, I'm doing the 6-Month, 10% challenge. Same rules apply but you are to lose 10% in 6-Months with a $25 monthly bet. So, if I don't win this one, I'm a schmuck and lose a lot of money; And if money isn't motivation enough to keep up with physical exercise and my running goals, I don't know what is… *cough, cough* Ryan Gosling…