Dairy Free Date Balls

On Saturday night, after a week of healthy eating, I was really craving something sweet. Mike and I ran out to Price Chopper to pick up some treats, but no rice milk chocolate bars or dairy free oatmeal cookies could satisfy my sweet tooth. That's when I decided to whip up a batch of date balls. I saw a few sweet recipes that called for dates, such as Chocolate Covered Katie's Samoas Fudge Babies, but I decided to go ahead and create my own concoction!

Dairy Free Date Balls

Ingredients:

8 oz dates 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup dairy free butter

1 tsp vanilla 

1 cup rice krispies 

1/4 cup coconut flakes 

Directions:

Blend dates. In a saucepan, melt dairy free butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir in dates and some coconut. Remove from heat and mix in rice krispies and vanilla. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Shape the mixture into 10 individual balls, then roll them in coconut flakes.

Voila! My sweet tooth was satisfied! These date balls about 175 calories each. They are great for a quick energizing snack if you are on the go, but probably not the best to have around if you are a mindless snacker (like me) But luckily they are so thick, rich and flavorful that I couldn't even eat more than one in one sitting.

Link ups:

Picking a Paint Color

This weekend Mike and I prep and painted the master bedroom ceiling. We also browsed the paint section to try to decide which color to paint the walls. How exciting! Here are some Instagrammed images of the paint chips at Lowe's... :) Can you tell which one is the original?

I picked out my three favorite colors... 

Do they remind you of anything?

Yes! These are the rocks I collected in Cape Cod back in May 2010 when I decided to redo my bedroom! These were my color scheme inspiration... and I still have them in my bedroom.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday. I'm going to drink lots of tea and hope for snow. Toodles!

Inside the Exterior: The House With Yellow Countertops

My mom sent me a home listing from Zillow.com the other day and now she won't stop talking about it. She says she would buy it but the property tax would be too high... this bad boy sits on over 12 acres in Armonk, NY, which according to Wikipedia "is a hamlet... located in the town of North Castle in Westchester County, New York."

Oh and Westchester IS the best chester.

The Specs: Price: $1,312,000 3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms, 4,476 sq feet, 12.24 acre lot, built in 1978
[via zillow]

What I Have Bookmarked

I am just so tired, I barely have any energy to blog today. I kicked my butt at basketball last night, and I am planning on whooping it some more on the treadmill after work... I am on my wedding diet! Hehe jk, my best friend Maria is getting married at the end of February in Orlando. I need to get my summer body ready a few months early this year so I can enjoy mimosas by the pool with the bridesmaids :)

Today I invite you into my computer to see what fun sites I have bookmarked. On my bookmarks bar I've got Apartment Therapy, HomeDsgn, Pinterest, Houzz, Tumblr and Etsy.

Under my "Home/Crafty... I'm a Dork" tab, I have your main stream decor sites, like House Beautiful, Country Living, Coastal Living and CasaSugar. I also have Dornob, Dwelling Gawker, Ready Made, Dollar Store Crafts, Hus o Hem and Toxel.

Under my "Food and Such" tab, I've got TasteSpotting, FoodGawker, Finding Vegan, Skinny Taste, Hungry Girl and The Whole Gang... a gluten and dairy free cooking blog! Love it.

I hope I introduced you to some new sites you'll enjoy. What interesting sites do you have bookmarked?

Inside the Exterior: Waterfront Home

I like to browse the real estate for sale in Connecticut, like every other 23 year old girl... You can find this crazy expensive home over at SothebysHomes.com.

Waterfront Compound
Location: Old Greenwich, CT, United States
Price: $14,500,000

Specs:
6 bedrooms, 6 full baths, 4 half baths
Interior: 7,816 sq. ft.
Acreage: 0.90 acres

[via Sotheby's Homes]

I Love: The Color Yellow

Do you have a favorite color? According to this article over at Care2.com, your "favorite color" can say a lot about you, your past and your personality. Personally I think my favorite color attests more to my desire to keep the child in me alive. When I was younger I decided yellow was my favorite color, and I haven't abandoned it since. I mean, my blanky is yellow! How could I not love that!

[via care2]

Care2.com's assesment of yellow-lovers:

Yellow: The color of happiness, wisdom and imagination, Yellow is chosen by the mentally adventurous, searching for novelty and self-fulfillment. Yellow usually goes with a sunny and shrewd personality, with a good business head and a strong sense of humor. It is the color of intellectuality and all things to do with the mind. Yellow folks are usually clear and precise thinkers who have a good opinion of their own mental capacities and who have lofty ideals. They may at times tend to shun responsibility, preferring freedom of thought and action.

So what do you think? Do you think that sums me up?! HA! I love it. I hope everyone has a LOVELY hump day!

Thrift Store Find

I bought this purse for $3 ... Right now it's my favorite "going out purse." I was just so proud of it I had to share it. Okay that's all!

Blondies Before I Go Brownie

Last night I whipped up a batch of blondies for my office. I promised my coworker that I would make him some such a long time ago, and I had to follow through sooner or later. I'm also thinking about dying my hair brown again, but I haven't decided quite yet.

I followed this recipe from Sunny Side Up in San Diego. I used 3 different types of chips. YUM!

After we sampled a few blondies last night my roomies and I broke out the crock pot. After -5 degree weather this weekend we want to make some nice hot soup for the coming weeks. I might also make slow cooked pulled barbeque chicken for Mike one day soon, I found a very simple recipe with chicken and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce... Our favorite! I can't wait!

Snow Shots

It finally snowed like crazy up here, and just a few days after I got my snow tires on! Talk about perfect timing. I realize now that the winter was waiting for ME! How sweet.

With the snow came plunging temperatures in the single digits. Last night it was actually neg 7... But the snow looks pretty! Here are some of my iPhone pics of the winter wonderland that is Vermont.

Discovery Road, Essex, VT

Lake Champlain, Burlington, VT

If look closely you can see fog on the surface of Lake Champlain. It was 5 degrees when this picture was taken! 

I hope everyone is staying warm! Meanwhile I am going to hang out inside and finish crocheting a scarf... 

My First Crocheted Hat

I am so proud of myself! I finished my first crocheted hat this week! Thank goodness for my besite Elly who has been guiding me through the art of the crochet hook.

A little bit about Elly: She loves arts and crafts and all things fun. She is great at giving instructions and being patient with nut cases like myself, which makes her a wonderful kindergarten teacher/human.

Check out her just launched blog over at Whimsic Elly. She plans to feature a weekly craft project. I think her first featured project should be the awesome hat she finished last night, it has the cutest chunky bow!

So here is the beginner's hat I finished this week:

Here is me modeling the hat at bed time:

I'm so proud of it, even though it's a bit pointy in the back haha... The pattern I used is from Bobwilson123's YouTube tutorial. She also has a blog called Clare's Addicted to Yarn. Thanks Clare!

Balls! Glorious Cake Balls!

I did it! I made cake balls! They were supposed to be cake pops but Shaws didn't have any lollipop sticks... busted!

My version of the cake ball recipe:

Ingredients:

Box of Funfetti cake
1 can of Diet Cherry 7-Up
1 tub of cream cheese frosting
bag of white chococate chips
sprinkles of your choice

Instructions*

Mix Funfetti cake with a can of Diet Cherry 7-Up and bake a cake. Let the cake cool, then mash it up!  Mix with a tub of cream cheese frosting, and chill for about an hour. Then roll into ping-pong size balls.  Pop them in the fridge for another 30 minutes to an hour. Melt the white chocolate morsels and clumsily dip and coat your balls. Lay the dipped balls on wax paper, add sprinkles, then pop into the fridge to harden overnight. Bring them to the office and become instant cake ball celebrity. * Take pictures as you go and post on your blog the next day.

I went ahead and made a "Skinny Funfetti" cake, which is essentially 1 box Confetti Cake Mix and a can of Diet Cherry 7-up...

Balls:

Cake Balls!

YAY! I am so happy with the way they turned out :)

Diet Coke Brownies

So I heard the concept of making baked good with a can of diet soda instead of that other junk, like butter and oil and eggs... so I had to try it for myself, especially after Aunt Peg tried it and said she couldn't tell the difference!

Confession: I took a can of diet coke home from the office fridge... sorry Wyatt Research. I owe you a batch of DC brownies.

I made mine with a gluten free mix...

We put some Hershey chocolate syrup on the top, and sprinkled some gluten free, dairy free, soy free "chocolate chips" in the batter as well.

And the verdict is... they're awesome! Elly and I WILL do this again.

Now we also want to try "Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes," which is essentially 1 box Confetti Cake Mix and 1 (12 oz.) can diet cherry 7-up... Happy snacking!

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Great Weekend!

I had such a great weekend! I am so excited I got my first pet!!!! My best friend/roomie/6th sister Elly and I bought ourselves beta fishies and super cool light up tanks! It's my new night light :) btw my 6 sisters = Katie, Rachel, Lillian, Trisha, Bri & Elly.

I named my fishy after the street I live on here in Winooski... Niquette! I decided his name is kinda girly, so I think I'll call him Barbara Streisand for short.

On Saturday I rearranged and tidied up my wonderful bedroom and put the tank on the blue shelf next to my desk.

OMG He's looking at me right now, he is such a thug! I also put the Cape Cod calendar up next to his tank so he can remind me when my appointments are.

The tank is so sweet, it changes colors!

Sidenote: I love my bed...

This is the first regular 5 day work week in a while, so everybody hang in there! Let's hope it flies by so we can enjoy yet another wonderful winter weekend. Good Day!

Clean and Revamped Room

This morning I awoke with a crazy urge... Settle down boys it's nothing like thatttt! For some reason I woke up wanting to rearrange my room! I pushed and shoved my HUGE queen size captains bed to the other wall, only to find I didn't like the way it looked, so after crying a little and sneezing a lot, I moved it back.

I ended up moving my rocking chair to the other corner, and brought my blue shelf to the opposite side of the room, hopefully the mini change-up will be enough to satisfy my urge. Urge is a funny word...

I also got the chance to vacuum every inch of my bedroom :) which is good cuz I'e been coughing up a storm lately. Sometimes you just have to go cleaning crazy and purge your dust mites! I had the urge to purge! Purge is a funny word too, it rhymes with urge.

My clean bedroom:

Blue shelf moved to the other side:

My rocking chair in my new knitting corner!

Now take a deep breath... in and out. I hope you are all having a nice weekend!

Wishing for Snow

Happy New Year everyone! It has barely snowed here in Vermont so far this winter, I haven't even put my snow tires on Suzy yet! The first snow fall came in November, just before I drove down to NY for Thanksgiving. I just found my picture on VPR.net! Check it out: Snow, Wintry Mix Makes For Slippery Roads, Knocks Out Power

I'm Tcbasket22! And this is my picture of Mike's backyard!

Here are some more snow themed pics from my Instagram:

Last night we had a big bonfire in Mike's firepit to bring in 2012, it was great! Even though it was about 35 degrees out, the 15 foot high fire kept us toasty! And my awesome new boots (featured above) kept my toes nice and dry when it started to rain around 1 am.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve... Now GO GIANTS!