How to: Make Festive Oreo Pops

I've made these to gift as Christmas presents, and they are always a total hit with friends and family! They are pretty easy & cheap to make, are sugar-coma delicious, and they look like you spent all day on them ;) 

Ingredients

-Double Stuf Oreos

-White chocolate melting chips

-Peppermint candy canes

-Sturdy holiday paper straws

-Bakers Twine

-Treat bags, small & clear plastic

Directions

1. Heat up the white chocolate melting chips in your fondue pot.

2. Cut your festive holiday straws in half, and then pinch the end flat, because you'll be putting into the oreo.

3. After separated the cookie, slide the pinched side underneath the oreo cream. Then place the other half of the cookie back on, and make sure it goes seamlessly back together. This is why you bought double stuf, to make sure the straw will fit!

4. Instead of dipping the cookie, I used a spoon to drizzle the fondue chocolate onto the cookie. This is to make sure your cookie doesn't fall apart.

5. Place your oreo pop on a sheet of parchment paper. I bought peppermint candy canes and crushed them myself, but I've heard you can just buy them already crushed. Regardless, this is the step where you sprinkle on the peppermint candy cane deliciousness. You have to do this right after you drizzle on the chocolate & while it's still hot, so the candy will stay on the cookie.

6. Let your oreo pop cool on the parchment paper for about 5-7 minutes. 

7. Wait until fully cooled, then peel the oreo pop off. 

Optional

8. Place the top of the pop into a treat bag.

9. Tie it up with some adorable bakers twine.

10. Voila! Amazingly delicious & cute Christmas gifts!

Pricing

This is the price for all of the materials used for only one package of double stuf oreo cookies {30 cookies}, and this is the final price per pop!

1 package of Double Stuf Oreos from K-Mart: $3

1/2 pack of holiday straws from Jane.com: $2

2/3 package of plastic treat bags from Wal-Mart: $1.50

1 small roll of bakers twine: $3

1/2 package of peppermint candy canes from Wal-Mart: $2.75 

1 pounds of white melting chocolate from Winco: $3.75

 Grand total: Under 53 cents per Oreo Pop!

This is starting to become my Christmas gift tradition because they are so easy to make, but they take some time and are made with love! I've gotten rave reviews from every person I've given them to; because how can you really go wrong with an oreo, chocolate, and candy?! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments so I can edit the post or email you back with a response. Hope you & your friends/family enjoy these!

Not Apologizing

{A reese's cheesecake recipe I made this past weekend, yummmm}

I know that some bloggers will apologize for being absent from the blog world for an extended amount of time. In my younger days I saw other bloggers do that and thought "Oh, I guess that's just blogging etiquette?" PSH, lies. Now that I've been around for a while, I feel like I know better.

I'm sure you were able to continue breathing and living without a Breezy Days blog post? Life goes on, and I'm sure as heck not going to apologize for playing N64 Paper Mario with the husband or being busy with school when I "should" have been blogging {according to those posting-everyday-standards.} This is my place of refuge, and I'm more than happy to share a little piece of my life with you. So I'll let you in on a little secret...I've been eating pizza and wearing sweats all weekend and unless you want to hear more about that, I'll more than happily take blogging breaks until I actually put on some real clothes :)

happy monday.

a berry smoothie in the morning

Since Ryan & I are trying to eat healthier by eating more homemade meals, fruits, veggies, and smaller portions...this smoothie is the perfect "blend" of it all!

{Bahaha, so punny}

It's super easy, pretty dang cheap, and makes me feel all healthy and good inside.

Such a good start to my morning because with only half of my cup filled, my whole stomach is now stuffed with berry yogurt deliciousness!

Recipe 

-2 scoops of Honey Greek Yogurt

-Around a half cup of milk

-1 to 2 cups of frozen assorted berries

You can alter this recipe to fit your fancy! 

You can add: probiotic supplements, honey, cinnamon, other frozen fruits, or anything else you can think of!

Directions

-Let the frozen berries thaw out a bit, then throw all the ingredients in the blender

-Blend everything together and voila! Enjoy!

Enjoy your smoothie!

Strawberry Cheesecake Pops

This weekend was one of the first in a while that I wasn't working, so I definitely took advantage of it!

I tried out a couple of new recipes, Stuffed Bell Peppers and Strawberry Cheesecake Pops.

So the actual recipe I found on Pinterest {...of course} is called "Raspberry Cheesecake Pops", but I couldn't find any dang raspberries at Winco and already had  truckload of strawberries at home so I decided to improv :)

ingredients 

8 oz. of raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, or cherries!

1 tablespoon of water

4 oz of low fat cream cheese

3 tablespoons of fat free milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup of powdered sugar

directions

-In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook your berry of choice with the 1 tablespoon of water for about 10 minutes or until the berry starts to fall apart

-Transfer berry & water mixture into a food processor or strong blender and puree until there are no more lumps left, then put the mixture in the fridge to cool for around 30 minutes

-Then in food processor/blender, puree the cream cheese, vanilla extra, milk, and powdered sugar until smooth. {I did a single batch, but next time would do a double batch of the 'cheesecake' mixture, just cause I wish I had more in each pop!}

-In popsicle molds, layer the berry puree and cheesecake mixture, then put into the freezer for at least 2 hours

-Enjoy at 85-90 calories a pop!!!

{Delish AND healthy, LEGIT.}

<3 Bri

Spinach Artichoke Recipe

My brother Jesse made this delicious dip when he was visiting a week ago.

I probably should have gotten a picture before we all dove into it, but hey. 

Just because it looks demolished doesn't mean it tastes any different.

It's still mega delish.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

1 (8oz.) pkg. Cream Cheese

1 can (14oz.) Artichoke Hearts, drained, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup Spinach, frozen chopped, or steamed

1/4 cup Mayonnaise (do not use Miracle Whip)

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup Romano Cheese (you can use all parmesan)

1 clove garlic; finely minced

1/2 teaspoon dried Basil OR 1 tablespoon Basil Fresh

1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1/4 teaspoon Garlic salt

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature

3. Cream together mayonnaise, Parmesan, Romano cheese, garlic, basil, and garlic salt.

4. Add the artichoke hearts and spinach (careful to drain this well), and mix until blended.

5. Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray, pour in dip and sprinkle with cheese.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the top is browned. Serve with toasted bread or pita chips!

<3 Bri

Shoes & Shrooms

Sup errbody!

If you thought I was referring to drugs in my title, you are a horrible person.

Bahaha! I kid.

 I just wrote a guest post on "For Love of a Cupcake", listing the:

"Five Essential Shoes Every Woman Needs"

Have fun looking at shoes!

{Cause really, who doesn't love looking/lusting after shoes}

And I wanted to share one of my favoritest recipes EVER.

Have fun!

...............................................................................

Growing up I was never one of those natural home-maker type of girls.

Granted I did love decorating my room and getting all dressed up, but cooking?

Mehhh, not really my thing.

Although I do have two younger brothers who would ALWAYS eat. 

So....whenever they would make something, I would ask if they could make some for me.

Thus, I never cooked.

Then it turned for the worse...the boys thought that I couldn't cook.

Eek.

But now being married to a football player, I make a lot of food, all the time.

One of my all time FAV recipes are the stuffed mushroom caps :)

Super easy and mega delish!

And even if you don't like mushrooms, you WILL like these. 

Cause who doesn't like cream cheese and bacon slathered on MORE food??

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Ingredients

Mushrooms

Cream Cheese

Parmesan

Bacon Bits

Directions

1. Set oven to 350 degrees to preheat. 

2. Take the stem out of all the mushrooms and throw away. Clean off all the dirt, then set on a foiled cookie sheet. 

3. Melt the cream cheese in a bowl, mix in desired amount of parmesan and bacon bits.

4. Put desired amount of mixture in the mushroom cap, sprinkle more parmesan and bacon bits on top. 

5. Put in the preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Pull out when they are nice and brown.

VOILA! Eat 10 of them! 

Enjoy the "Imma stay in my bed in my sweats and watch netflix all day" weather!
<3 Bri

Peace, Muffins, and Super Smash

Oh gosh. 

This morning I woke up barely in time to get ready for my class.

Raced down to school, barely made it in time because of traffic.

Couldn't find a parking spot, finally found one after 20 minutes of searching.

Get to class 15 minutes late after trekking up TWO flights of "I'm gonna pass out and die" stairs.

Showed up all sweaty to class.

{That's always fun, trying to meet new people in classes when you feel all sweaty & gross ewww}

Skirt: Anthropologie. Sweater: F21. Tights: Simply Vera. Boots: Magic Step.

I realized that I was wearing a yellow sweater, and slapped a red coat on top...

Heeellooo Ronald McDonald! 

But you know what came out of all the craziness today?

Peace.

Last year was a crazy year. 

Chalk full of the emotional roller-coaster and trials of life.

The beginning of this year has started out that way. 

I've had that constant pit in my stomach stress that finally went away today.

Just a wave of peace came over me today, like floating in the pool. That kind of calm.

I haven't felt like that in a while and golly it sure was nice to feel that again.

But that came only:

After much researching of my options.

After being committed to doing good & hard work.

After finding some different jobs.

After some help from friends & family.

And finally after much kneeling & praying.

We really are blessed, and I am just one jolly happy nugget :)

Andddd it helps my peace&calm&ego that after 10+  years I still ROCK at Mario Tennis on the N64.

We are so old skool with our N64 :)

{Mario Party, Super Smash Brothers, Diddy Kong Racing, and Paper Mario anyone?}

I also made some jewelry that I hope to get in a salon here in Provo/Orem area soon.

{This is another one of my New Years Resolutions. To get my jewelry biz off the ground!}

This is my fav necklace and I'm gonna figure out a way to wear it tomorrow.

It's so dang festive I can't even take it.

I can't wait to make Valentines decor, jewelry, treats, and Valentine grams!

{Eeeeeep!}

And finally these delicious muffins, I hope you enjoy them :)

Brown Sugar Muffins

• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar {I would add a littttle more than this}
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla {yet again, maybe add a little more}
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Directions

• Preheat oven to 435 degrees
• In a mixer, beat the: shortening, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla together until smooth.
• Then add the: flour, milk, and baking soda. Beat again until smooth.
• Fill the muffin tin 2/3 full
• Bake for 10-12 minutes {I would stay on the 10 minute side of things}

And voila!

<3 Bri

1, 2, 3 Update

I'm just stopping in real fast to share a few things with you:

1. A quick n' easy lil' recipe

{Turkey Croissants}

Ingredients:

Honey smoked turkey

Cream cheese

Croissant rolls

Directions:

1. Heat up the oven to 375 degrees

2. Roll the turkey and a little bit of cream cheese into the croissant

3. Place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for 11-13 minutes until golden brown

4. Voila! Eat with any kind of jam. 

2. There is a giveaway going on tomorrow on Gentri Lee's Blog.

Check out my new "Shop" tab to see what's up for grabs!

3. And finally, I just wanted to thank you for being a reader and follower of Breezy Days.

With all your encouraging and kind comments, it makes me excited for the many blogging days to come! 

Wish me luck on finals!

<3 Bri

Blogging Hiatus

I'll tell you why I've had to take a few day break from the blogging scene.

I had one of those:

"Why the heck am I blogging" phases.

Just the whole, do people care what I write? Am I just doing this for the heck of it? Do I even know why I'm blogging?? What is going on with my life? I need a nap.

 I decided to take a breather. Take some pictures just in case I wanted to start sharing again.

And now I'm back on here. 

I've come to the realization that sure, I'm not gonna get a bazillion followers in one month who love everything I wear, eat, say, and breathe. 

But hopefully, steadily, I'll get the few 100-200 followers that will be loyal and love my sarcastic snottiness, my obvious learning on how to take decent pictures {I'm not a photographer or a graphic design major fyi}, and my outlook on life's trials. 

So there. 

In the meantime, I made sure to take some pics of a couple easy & yummy recipes I conjured up the past couple of days. 

COLLEGE KIDS. PAY ATTENTION. EASY. CHEAP. FOOD.

Enjoy.

Blueberry & Strawberry Smoothie

I liked this recipe because it filled me up, and also made me feel like I was being all mega healthy and what not. Delishhhh.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of frozen blueberries

1 cup of frozen strawberries 

1 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of yogurt {can also use frozen yogurt}

Directions

1. Puree in blender till smooth and then gulp it down!

Brown Sugar Beef

This is one of my favorite recipes EVER. 

It's super easy to make and a total crowd pleaser. 

Ingredients

3-4 lbs. of beef chunks

1 cup of brown sugar

3 Tbs. soy sauce

1 jar of mango salsa

Directions

1. Throw all the ingredients into a crockpot for 5 hours on high or 7 hours on low.

2. Shred the meat and use how you would like!

Note: You can experiment with the amount of brown sugar, soy sauce, or different types of mango salsa. I like mango salsa cause it makes the meat sweeter. But you can try out what you like! 

Garnishes & Extras

Taco Lettuce

Tortillas

White mexican cheese {the cheese that is round. I can just sit and eat this whole round of cheese.}

Sour cream

Now that you have some wonderfully delicious and easy recipes to check out, I just wanted to show off my creations this week! 

Here are some Christmas baby headbands I started making. 

I gots: snowflakes, candy canes, berries, you name it, I got the Christmas-y fabric to make a flower out of it. 

These are going into a salon soon to be sold. So email me if you want one! 

Happy almost done with finals! 

<3 Bri

Warm & Fluffy Potato Soup

Look delicious?

Cause it IS. 

Potato soup that is warm, filling, and creamy.

What's even better?

I found a recipe that you can do in the crockpot.

SCORE.

Ingredients

The biggest crockpot you can find

5 lbs. Bakers/Russet Potatos. (That's about 7 bakers potatos)

1 large yellow onion (diced)

10 cloves of garlic (1 bulb. It can be diced, minced, or whole)

8 cups of chicken broth

16 oz cream cheese (2 packages)

1 tbs. of pepper or all purpose seasoning 

Garnishes

Bacon (um, of course. it pretty much goes with everything.)

Cheese

Green onions

Directions

1. Wash (don't peel) the potatos and cut into 1/2 in. cubes

2. Throw the potato chunks, diced onion, garlic, seasoning, and chicken broth into the crockpot.

3. Cook on High for 6 hours or Low for 10 hours

4. Puree the crockpot mixture in a blender and then put in a separate pot. You can only do about 1-2 cups per time so repeat until all the crockpot stuff is pureed.

5. While putting the pureed crockpot mixture in the pot, start to stir in the cream cheese until it starts to melt in with all the crockpot stuff. 

6. Place on garnishes and VOILA. Done. Deliciousness.

<3 Bri

Brownie Fruit Pizza Yumminess

I am in LOVE with brownies. Just the pure, delicious, fudge kind.

So when I found this recipe I was so STOKED to try it out! Here is the step by step :)

Ingredients 

1 box of brownie mix

1 package (8oz) of cream cheese

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups of sliced strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1 cup raspberries

1/2 cup apple jelly

1. Set the oven to warm at 350 degrees {325 for dark/nonstick pans}, grease the bottom of a pizza pan.

And sidenote, DONT put foil on your pan. It makes the pizza stick to it :/

2. Mix up your brownie mix like you regularly would with the eggs, water, and oil.

I like the Betty Crockers Fudge Brownie kind, it's $1 at Wal-Mart.

3. Stick the brownie pizza into the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Take out and let it cool completely for about 30-45 minutes.

4. Mix cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until soft and smooth.

Then spread on the brownie pizza.  

5. Place your fruits on top of the pizza.

Mix apple jelly until smooth.

Then brush the apple jelly on top of the fruit. 

6. Place in fridge and let it chill for an hour.

Cut up into pizza slices then serve! 

Way easy to make, it totally fills you up, and it is very much 'guy' approved.

{Even with the fruit on it}

 Have fun!

<3 Bri

Bean There, Done That

Being the typical newlywed, Ryan and I are always on the lookout for new recipes and concoctions that we can do on the cheap.

This bag of beans from Costco cost around $20, and even with just the first batch we are already starting to get our moneys worth! 

Preparation:

1. Put the amount of beans you want to make in a glass pan so you can see most of the beans at once

2. Sort out and throw away any beans with imperfections {shriveled up, weird color, etc.}

3. Put the beans in a colander and wash beans until there is no more dirty water coming out the colander

4. Soak the beans. Put your beans in a big bowl and put triple the amount of warm water in the bowl

 {3 cups of beans=9 cups of warm water; 4 cups of beans=12 cups of warm water}

5. Put a cover on the bowl and let them soak for 6-12 hours 

{the more the better, leave them soaking overnight/all day if you can}

6. Drain out the beans with the colander, and now you are ready to start cooking! 

Cooking:

1. Put beans in the crockpot and cover with water. 

2. Add pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder all for taste 

{this you can mix and match and put in what you think will taste good}

3. Put on high for 6-8 hours at least, or low for overnight

{These babies aren't done until they are nice and soft}

Now you're ready to make something delicious for cheap! 

Burritos, refried beans, dip, tacos, as a side dish. 

This batch of 4 cups=$1.25

{And the 4 cups fills the whole crockpot, a TRUCKLOAD of beans!}

<3 Bri