Finals: Crafts, Cooking, and Baking

Normally, this is the week of the semester that I get less sleep than I have throughout the semester, stay up until 2 am finishing papers, projects, and studying for exams. It's normally one of the most stressful weeks of the year. This semester, not so. Wednesday I went for a run and hung out with my dear friend Maggie... she's my person, if you don't understand what I'm referring to click here. Then I came home and took a nap, it was delightful. Thursday I went to class, gave a presentation, went to daily mass, did a majority of my Christmas shopping (this is a huge deal, I don't remember the last time I did my Christmas presents before Dec 23), then I came home and decided I wanted to cook and bake. SO I scrolled pinterest, picked a soup recipe, and a cookie recipe and hit the grocery store. I came home and cooked buffalo chicken chili and while that spent time simmering I baked peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. Then I served 2 of my 3 housemates dinner and dessert. It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to serve them. Today, it is snowing here in good 'ol Columbus town OH - and they have been anticipating this weather since Wednesday. My university actually cancelled classes this morning because most of the students are commuters, which is funny because campus "reopened" at noon, but the snow started about 1 pm.... makes a lot of sense, right? Well, I'm not complaining actually, I slept in and relaxed this morning. Then I worked out. And watched some more tv when I got home. But then I decided I needed to start working on a Christmas present project. My mom and I sometimes go on these kicks where we make fleece blankets, so she's making some, and I'm making some for Christmas this year. So I decided to get started on that. So I have spent my evening listening to Michael Buble holiday pandora station and crafting.. quite a delightful night. I actually had to take a break to rest my poor wrist (and I needed to eat food), but ultimately, I wanted to share with y'all my adventures, and my recipes.

Buffalo Chicken Chili
http://www.traceysculinaryadventures.com/2013/10/buffalo-chicken-chili.html#.UqJkLPRDua9

I used this recipe, but I want to change/add a few things. I would add some beans - probably black beans because those are my favorite, but maybe a can of white beans too. I would add edemame beans, maybe a sweet potatoe.. and instead of ground chicken I would could a chicken breast and then shred it to still get the chili texture, it would be healthier to use lean chicken breast..

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/13276/

Add another stick of butter and these are delightful!

No Sew Fleece Blankets

Supplies:

• yard stick
• 2 sheets fleece fabric
• really good scissors

For fleece, the yards vary depending on how big you want your blanket to be. My mom and I are making blankets for adult men, and we want the blankets to be big enough to cover their bodies, so we got 2.5 yards. If you want it for girls you could probably use 2 yards, toddlers 1.5 yards is suggested. 

1. lay the fabric on top of each other and trim edge so they are as close to even as you can get them, they don't have to be perfect. 
2. next cut 6X6 squares out of each corner, it will make your life 1000x easier, trust me. I didn't do that the first time I made these blankets and the corners are just awkward. 
3. then lay your yard stick at the 6 in point where you cut your square out, and cut 1 in strips across the edges

1. loop your strips, or form a knot using the loop method. This worked a lot better as well, my first blanket I just tied the strips, it makes a cleaner edge if you loop-knot the ends

1. I did one side entirely, and then took a break because my hand hurt.. 

if you want pictures, I found my method here. 

That's all folks! Happy crafting, cooking, and baking. Keep up for more of Holiday shenanigans - i have more free time this break than ever before, so anticipate more project and cooking posts!