Barnyard Pancakes

Hey everyone! I got this great pan as a gift at the wedding from two of my bridesmaids! and last night, I made Barn Yard Animal Pancakes for dinner! Yum!

Here is everything you need.. the cute barnyard pan. You can get this at Macy's! & They have a zoo one which I would love to also have! Also pictured above is a "batter bottle"! These are new to the cooking arena but its so smart and easy to pour the exact amount of batter you need and store the left overs!

On Pinterest, they have great ideas to make your own batter bottle, cleaning out an old ketchup bottle and using that like this:

source

Also with a batter bottle, you can do awesome designs like these:

source

and 

source

Amazing right? I think those hearts actually take a lot of patience...

Anyways back to our regularly scheduled program... Batter bottles are awesome. For example, tonight I had left over batter and I was able just to put it in the fridge. Maybe I can make pancakes for the hubs for breakfast sometime this week.

I know some people are super advocates of making things from scratch- which usually that's me... but Bisquick has already mastered pancakes so I always use Bisquick when making pancakes! haha. I mix all the ingredients and pour it in the batter bottle.. Voila!

Make sure to grease the pan.. and fire away. Kids will love these pancakes.. possibly as much as my husband  ;)

and then you have to flip them. I ended up using a butter knife to flip them and gently flipping each one. that's the hard part!

See the cow and the sheep? so cute! It makes eating pancakes that much more yummy!

Serve with some fruit (cantaloupe & grapes) & whip cream... and it almost looks restaurant prepared...

key word: almost

Well I just thought my new kitchen gadgets were neat and wanted to share! You should go purchase your own and let me know what you think... and I'm not getting paid to say that... I just think its that great. I wish I had animals in my pancakes as a kiddo!

Well I'm off to go do some homework! Thanks for stoppin by:

xoxo Jen.

Linking up:

Reasons to Skip the Housework

Not just a Housewife

the Vintage Wannabee

Mommy by day, Crafter by Night

the Kurtz Corner

the Southern Product Queen

Ploctopia & Be Something New Giveaway Winner!

and the winner is: 

winner was selected by random.org

Congratulations BellaJade! 

and Thank you to everyone else who entered!

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Here is the I have a dream speech in celebration of MLK:

That's all I got for now! Thanks for stoppin by,

In the silence...

Hey guys and gals! Sorry I've been M.I.A. since last Wednesday! I started an internship working 20 hours a week and I have 5 grad classes.. so I'm busy about 40 hours a week now.. Arrrghh. but hopefully the blog won't be put on the back burner-- I just have to get organized but I wanted to share a few things tonight with you all that is abnormal from a normal craft, DIY or recipe post...

First, I got a new sponsor! Her blog is so cute and she has been so patient with me because I was supposed to put her adorable ad up a while ago! Aunie Sauce (previously Simply Aunie)

Go check out her blog here and send her some Spicy Love!

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Ok so now for not normal post. I just wanted to share something today that has been applied to my life lately and came up at church today...I share this out of my life and love for Christ. I do not want to push my views on anyone but I will be sharing Christian ramblings from time to time because I am a follower of Christ. Just wanted to let everyone know just in case.. but anyways,

Today in church, our first reading was from 1Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was.
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."
Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me."
"I did not call you, " Eli said. "Go back to sleep."
So he went back to sleep.
Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli.
"Here I am, " he said. "You called me."
But Eli answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."

At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD,
because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.
The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time.
Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me."
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."
When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!"
Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

Lately, with the start of my internship, Grad school classes and married life -- I've been forgetting to be quiet. Sometime we all just need to shut up and spend some time in the quiet.

Whether you are a Christian or not, you probably feel this way.

In the silence and in the stillness is where you can catch your breath to deal with life

this joyful, 

sorrowful,

exciting, 

busy

unorganized,

chaotic,

happy, and

beautiful

life.

So I've realized that today and everyday, I need to take 5 minutes to reflect and let the Lord come to me in the silence. There is an old praise and worship song that goes: 

"in the stillness, you are there"

ok well I stayed up way later then planned tonight! I love you all and thanks for everyone's support! I love blogging and can't wait to see you all tomorrow & announce the winner to the giveaway! :)

Thanks for stoppin by,

xoxo Jen.

Wordless Wednesday

This is my favorite of all my wedding pictures! I love how happy he is here! I love him so much and feel so blessed that I am his wife! He is the kindest person I know.

(This one is good too. sorry its a lil blurry due to resolution...my bad)

I can't wait to share all the wedding fun, pictures & planning tips with you all soon!

(For all my new friends-- we just got married on December 31!)

Don't forget to enter the giveaway going on here.

Thanks for stoppin by,

xoxo Jen.

Linking Up:

The Paper Mama

Baby Baby Lemon

and then, she {snapped}

Parenting By Dummies

Jenni from the Blog

Giveaway!

Hey Everyone! Today I'm starting a week-long giveaway... It will end on Martin Luther King Day [Jan. 16]!

I've been in contact with 2 Etsy shops who were so gracious to do a giveaway here...

Shop #1 is Ploctopia:

This shop specializes in handmade yummies, repurposed clothing, and so much more! Here are a few items for sale:

{cotton candy cake pops}

{blue berry muffins & white chocolate chip!}

{maple marshmallows}

All looks soo yummy huh?

Now for shop #2: Be Something New

This shop has unique hair accessories and gorgeous headbands:

{woodland flower headband}

{golden leaves of love headband}

{tribal trim headband}

Aren't all of her headbands so cute?

OK so now for the giveaway part.. Thanks to these 2 wonderful shops, I'm giving away one $10.00 coupon off of an item more than $10 Ploctopia & one $10.00 coupon off an item more than $10 at Be Something New so you can get some yummy goodies and hair accessories all ready for Valentines Day next month!

How to Enter?

1. Become a Follower of my blog, Leave a comment and let me know that you are a follower! You must be a follower to enter the rest of the giveaway.

2. Like Ploctopia on Facebook here & Check out the shop here, Leave another comment letting me know that you liked Ploctopia on FB & your favorite item in this shop!

3. Like Be Something New on Facebook here & Check out the shop here, Leave another comment letting me know that you liked Ploctopia on FB & your favorite item in this shop!

4. Follow me on Twitter @Spicy_theblog, Tweet this giveaway, Leave me a comment letting me know that you did so.. tweet tweet.  

That is 4 opportunities to Enter! 

Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by,

xoxo Jen.

Linking Up: 

Skip to My Lou
Polish the Stars
Polly want a Crafter?

Hawaiian Pizza

So I made some Hawaiian Pizza for my husband! 

He love pineapples and ham on pizza so I thought I'd surprise him!

Here's what you need: 

Pizza dough

All purpose Flour

Ragu Pizza sauce

Mozzarella Cheese

cut up Pineapple

cut up Ham

(and you don't need a rolling pin.. originally, I thought you would.. turns out, you don't!)

Now the first step is to let the pizza dough rest from the fridge for about an hour.

Then you have to stretch the dough... I had a really hard time with this, I should have had Noland take pictures because it was funny! 

Here are a few videos that I used as reference: 

and if that one doesn't help you, here is another great one at this Chow site!

Now spread out the sauce...

Now add your toppings: Pineapple & Ham... yum

Now add the Mozzarella Cheese on top of all the ingredients! and its ready to go in the oven...

Now cook it in the oven on 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cheese looks golden on the edges!

And there you go. 

Pure delicious-ness!

That's all for now, I'm off to chow down on some Hawaiian Pizza!

It definitely tastes better than it looks. I need to work on my presentation! :)

xoxo Jen.

Linking Up:

Nifty Thrifty things

DIY Show off

Polish the Stars

Skip to My Lou

Polly want a Crafter?

Guest Post Palooza: the EdiTORIal

Hey Everyone! Today, we have Tori from The Editorial! Check out her Fashion tips! Show Love.

Also, This is the last day of Guest Post Palooza! Back to blogging tomorrow & so excited to share new things in the new year!

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Hey y'all!

I'm Tori from The Editorial

I'm tickled to death that I can be here on Jenna's blog while she is hearing wedding bells :)

She asked me to share some of my "fashionista" tips with all of you- so here is a post from one of my newest segments, Busting Fashion Myths.

Who said black couldn't be worn with blue? And who said that horizontal stripes make you look heavy? And what about the real dummy that said that we aren't allowed to wear white after Labor day? Seriously?!

Fashion myths are dumb.

Dumb. Dumb. DUMB!

I'm all about breaking the rules, and sticking it to the fashion man this year.

So, today I'm going to share with you...

Drumroll, please...

Okay... I've always ignored this rule, but I've heard of some people that really obey it like the law. 

So ridiculous, if you ask me...

and you are :)

Chanel, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent had "winter white" are covering the runways with this blank, bright, and beautiful shade. Of course, a white linen dress isn't the best decision for those 40-something days. Here are some rules to help you conquer white this winter.

1. Stay away from lightweight fabrics. Like I said before, white linen may not be the best decision for the winter weather, but find your white in a thick knit sweater, or maybe a white fur scarf!

2. Avoid wearing white from head to toe after summer ends. Although your all white outfits may have looked super stylish and fresh in June, no one wants to blend in with the snow! Stand out by balancing out your outfit with a dark wash jean, or maybe a holiday red touch.

3. Try off-white hues. You can still achieve the same bright glory by using similar tones.  A light cream colored coat will provide the same effect in a more subtle way.

4. Accessorize! Adding accessories to your winter white can really help bring your outfit into season. Adding a sparkly belt or a bright scarf can not only pull your outfit together, but stay away from the "I'm wearing summer clothes in the winter" look.

5. Wear it with confidence. Rules or no rules- always know the best way to look good in a trend is to be confident!

Whether it's cream or stark white- I wouldn't be caught dead storing away my whites this holiday season.