Dangerous Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Your every dream come true. Homemade chocolate cake only 5 minutes away any time of the day! (I'm a poet and I never knew it!)

1 coffee mug
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
Small splash of vanilla
3 Tbsp. chocolate chips, optional

Add dry ingredients to mug, mix well with a fork. Add egg, mix thoroughly. Pour in milk and oil and vanilla, mix well. Add chocolate chips, if using. Put mug in microwave, and cook for three minutes on 1000 watts. Cake will rise over top of mug--do not be alarmed! Allow to cool a little; tip onto a plate if desired. Eat and enjoy!

Black is Nice

Kate Hume

source unknown

source unknown

Benjamin Moore

Etsy Edition #8

This week's feature is the You Stink Soap shop on Etsy. She features her handmade soaps, body butters and polishes, perfumes and lip gloss! She's got many tempting scents to choose from!

Words of the Day

Better Homes and Gardens

Sara's Art House

Run Alice Run

Vinyl Vineyard

Vinyl Vinyard

Why not spend time laughing this weekend? :)

I will be away next week, but don't worry, I have some great posts lined up while I'm gone!

Pretty Organization

I'm hooked on pretty organization! I've got the Spring cleaning bug!

See Jane Work storage boxes

See Jane Work

Orla Kiely address book

Target

To see what others are hooked on go visit Hooked on Houses!

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

These are so tasty and go very well over rice.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

For the meatballs

1 lb ground beef
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
oregano, to taste
1 egg, slightly beaten
salt and pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons soya sauce

1. For meatballs: Mix all ingredients (minus oil) together. Form into balls. Fry in oil until golden then place on paper towel to drain. Set aside
2. For Sauce: In medium saucepan, fry onion in oil until tender. Add all other sauce ingredients and simmer 20 minutes. Add meatballs and cook 1 hour on medium. Serve and Enjoy!
3. *You can also place browned meatballs and sauce mix into crock pot.

An Inspiring Space

I'm loving the horizontal lines that are painted on the walls as well as the touches of deep pink!

All photos are from Design Inc.

Etsy Edition #7

It's so hard to just choose one Etsy shop every week. There are just so many neat and creative shops! Nevertheless, I chose Nella Designs for her beautiful prints and stationary. (Look at them!) She designs everything from invitations to the wonderful prints I have featured below. (I'm really drooling over the sunshine one! It would go great in a nursery, don't you think?)

From her profile:

"I am a graphic designer from SC who has always had the dream of designing my very own line of cards and other paper items. So I am very excited to get this show up and running!"

Drool Worthy Craft Rooms

How was your Valentine's weekend? Ours was great and relaxing! Hubby was playing in a soccer tournament all day on Saturday so I had the opportunity to have a special tea with my Grandma and my Mom. So fun! In the evening we watched Fireproof (finally) and I really enjoyed that.

Lately I've been wishing I had more than just buckets to hold all my crafting supplies so I've been admiring a lot of great craft rooms.

Nest Decorating

Country Home




The following photos are from Two Peas in a Bucket

May I Have Your Attention

After the encouragement of my husband, I've decided to start an Etsy shop selling my purses! I've been having so much fun! It's not much right now, but I have plans to add other items to the shop in the future. So, here you have it, Purely Delightful on Etsy!

Purely Delightful!

Also, I've been busy working on another project. A new blog! But this one is directed at Canadians and features deals, freebies, coupons and money saving tips. I felt there was a need to show Canadians how fun and easy it is to save your hard earned dollars. It's not 100% done, but I'm anxious to reveal it. If you could, would you mind letting all the Canadians in your life know about my new venture? I would be forever grateful! I would also appreciate Stumbles on Stumble Upon. Here it is:

Simply Frugal

Have a happy Valentine's Day!

Celebrating Valentines Day all Year

Who wants to celebrate their love only once a year? (okay, twice with an anniversary.) Not me, and I'm not even a romantic! Here are some ideas to keep the romance alive all year.

• Pray together for your relationship.
• Prepare your significant other's favorite meal.
• E-mail an unexpected love note.
• Leave love notes around the house.
• Clean yourself up: put some makeup on and get out of those sweats!
• Share in each others interests and hobbies. It's amazing how a little interest can build a relationship!
• Bake heart shaped cookies or cakes throughout the year.
• Always be polite to each other. (a tough one sometimes!)
• Go on dates as frequently as you can.
• Remember to apologize.
• Put the happiness of your significant other ahead of your own happiness.
• Kiss lots!

What are your ideas to keep Valentines day a year round occasion?

I'm adding this to Hooked on Fridays because I'm hooked on romance right now!

Chicken and Broccoli Pie

My mother in law sent this recipe to me awhile ago and we've had the chance to enjoy it several times! So easy too!

Chicken and Broccoli Pie

1 1/2 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen)
1 1/3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups diced cooked chicken
2/3 cups chopped onion (I omitted for personal preference)
1 1/3 cups milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup Bisquick mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pie plate or square pan. Mix broccoli, cheese, cooked chicken and onion in pie plate or pan. Beat milk, eggs, Bisquick, salt and pepper until smooth. Pour on top of chicken mixture. Bake 30-35 minutes or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I'm Loving...

Selina Lake

Selina Lake

Pineblossoms

Prairieblossoms

Boojiboo

What are you loving today?

Etsy Edition #6

This weeks featured Etsy shop is Love Art Works! All of her clay pieces are handmade and hand painted. She's got the cutest little bird bowls. (see below)

Taken from her profile:

"My name is Kristin Love and I am an artist and designer residing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. My father was in the Marines so I spent my childhood moving quite a bit, and when I flew the coop at 18, I ended up in Boston at the Massachusetts College of ART. I majored in Illustration and Photography and over the past 25 years I have traveled extensively throughout the United States and a dozen foreign countries capturing the diverse traditions of arts and images through my photos, sketches, and journals to use as inspiration in my own designs. I consider my work a celebration of the eclectic, colorful, and passionate world we all live in, and a joyful salutation to the artist in all of us."

Valentine Links

Here are some links that I enjoyed over the past week. They all feature a neat valentine idea. Enjoy!

Try out this tasty looking recipe for Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies from Bakerella.

How about some free printable Valentine cards from Oliebollen?






Looking for a cute iron on pillow transfer? This will totally complete your Valentine dreams. From Creature Comforts.

I found this great homemade greeting card at Taylored Expessions. Love it!

Need a Valentine cupcake recipe? Here's one at Cupcakes and Crinoline.

Have you seen anymore great Valentine ideas? I'd love to know in the comments!

Twenty and Under - Valentines Edition

The cutest poster from RollandTumblePress' Etsy shop. $20.00

$10.00 at SmileMoon's etsy shop

A colourful heart shower curtain! Target. $10.39

A fun towel for a child's bathroom! Target. $6.39

$16.95 at Hodepodgeia's Etsy shop

Some Bloggy Info

First things first, the winner of the handmade purse is:

Amanda of Faith, Food and Family! Congratulations!

I will be getting in touch with you through email right away.

Next, I would like to draw your attention to a couple of things on my side bar that you may be wondering about. If you've heard of Twitter you'll know that it's the neatest thing for staying in touch with bloggers. I have a button on the side where you can follow me and see what I'm doing each day. I'm Tayabit on Twitter.

Near the bottom of the side bar you'll see a colourful Swagbucks button. It's also the coolest thing. Swagbucks is an online search engine that rewards you for searching online! Something you most likely do everyday! Why not earn points to redeem for giftcards? Swagbucks has all sorts of neat stuff in their store. It's very easy to sign up for. There are no fees, no credit cards required, and no phone number or address requested. Only takes a minute!

These things make my life so much more Delightful! :)

A Valentine Treat

Today's recipe is so simple you hardly need a recipe! Kids will love this!

Jello hearts! My Mom use to make these for us when we were younger and they were always a hit.

To make these, all you need is some strawberry jello, a heart shaped cookie cutter and a 9"x13" pan. Prepare the jello according to the package then let set in the pan. After it's set, use the cookie cutter to cut the shapes. Carefully remove them with a spatula. Enjoy!

PS: In my browsing tonight I found this fabulous idea for chocolate dipped pretzels at Make & Takes. Go check it out!

Decorating with Red

msummerchick

Since Valentine's Day is only a week and a half away, I thought it would be fitting to feature the color red. Especially, how we can use it in decorating.

Red is actually my favorite color so I'm loving all the photos I found! I'll have to post some of my wedding pictures one day as red was my main color! (Along with ivory and chocolate brown)

My favorite way to use the color red is in accessories around my house. Since having an entire room painted in red can be a bit overwhelming, I appreciate smaller amounts of the color for a bit of drama. The following photos show a few ways to use accessories. In my home, I love to change the accessories for the seasons, a much less expensive alternative to replacing furniture or textiles!

How about pulling out all your red colored books to place on display?

*Cinnamon

Or create an edible centerpiece using strawberries or red apples.
Chennette

Pillows, pillows, pillows!

Better Homes & Gardens

Or, if you can, how about a red accent chair?

Better Homes & Gardens

Some other ideas I use are: candles, cloth napkins or dish towels as a table runner, or red flowers.

Here's a really neat child's bedroom. Love the wallpaper!

Better Homes & Gardens

The following photos are ones that I really liked using paint and accessories.

Better Homes & Gardens

Better Homes & Gardens

Better Homes & Gardens

What are your ideas for decorating for Valentine's day?

Come back tomorrow to see a great Valentine's day treat for kids!

Go here to enter for a chance to win a handmade purse!