Dana's Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake bars!

My sister and her husband visited last weekend and she made these DELICIOUS Raspberry Lemonade Bars and they were SO good! They had a layer of crust, a layer or raspberry lemonade, and a layer of cream cheese glaze.

She got it off Handle the Heat. You can get it there. Or here! She made her own cheesecake topping though. I think the topping really made it great.


Make it. Eat it. Love it.

~Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars~

Ingredients:

for the crust:

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• pinch salt

for the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 2/3 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 cups of frozen raspberries, defrosted -OR- fresh
  

for the cream cheese glaze:

• 1 block of cream cheese
  
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
  
• 1 t. lemon juice
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8×8″ square baking pan with a strip of parchment paper that covers the bottom and overlaps on either side (this is so after it cools, you can pull out the entire pan of lime bars and cut them neatly).
2. Cream butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer. Mix in flour until just incorporated. Flour hands and press dough into 8×8″ square baking pan, so that it comes up about a 1/2 inch around the sides.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. While it cools, prepare the filling.
4. Whisk sugar, egg whites, egg, lemon juice and zest, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Pour raspberries into a sieve and press through to extract all the pulp and juices. (Dana didnt have a sieve so she left the seeds and it still tasted great!!) Discard any remaining seeds. Whisk into lemon mixture and pour into crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes until filling is completely set.
5. Let cool completely then place in the fridge to chill.
6. Once chilled, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon juice. If it is too thick, or you need to spread it a little further, add a little extra powdered sugar and milk to your desired consistency.
7.Then spread ontop the bars. Let chill to harden a little. Serve!

SPOT THE DIFFERENCES- ANSWERS!

You guys guessed 3, NICE!

If you didn't read the comments, here were the differences...

1) Those UGLY UGLY UGLY stenciled early 90's flowers have disappeared, YAY!!! Justun ran wires for something or another a while back, and had to drill out a piece of the wall, so we took it to Home Depot and the did a paint match on it. 4 bucks later, we had enough to patch some nail holes and cover the stencils!

2) There was a pot on the window! I've been dreaming of one day having a plethora of raspberries in our back yard, so Justun got me a raspberry plant for Mother's Day! It gets watered and gets great sun there... at least for now. Soon we will be transplanting it outside.

3) We got a new range/oven/stove!!! Long story short, the old one had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel since it was built in 91, so it was no surprise when it started beeping like a fire alarm, the month after we bought our house. After 8 months of arguing with our Home Owners warranty company, they finally cut us a check for a new one! We paid out of pocket about 50 extra bucks to get this nice stainless steel smooth top one, plus a few extra dollars for Justun to convert our hookups from gas to electric (I know, he is AWESOME). It's so much nicer and easier to clean!



4) There is a clock on the wall now! I got that a few years ago at Robert's for 6 bucks. I know it doesn't match the red, but little by little we are replacing red things and lots of other things in our open floor plan are orange so it looks okay! Trust me!

5) I fixed the faux wood drawer under the sink. I'll embarrass myself by telling you I broke it by pulling on it thinking it would be like our friends whose comes out and has a little spot for sponges, etc. It was a quick fix and is still not a drawer, but next time we go to home depot, I'm going to make sure it we get the parts so it will be!

hopefully in the next few months we can save enough money for the supplies to redo our cabinets! This oak is just killing me! And the white handles!

having your cake and eating it too!

I have a confession. I am obsessed with everything in glass jars. Our milk is in glass jars (ok, jugs), I made cute jams in glass jars, I decorate with glass jars, and now.....

DID YOU KNOW?!?!?!?
That you can bake cupcakes in glass jars!?

Well you can, and they are the CUTEST things, if I do say so myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Lets begin!~~~~~~~~~~~~

First you need to bake a cake. You can make one from scratch if you like, or if you are anything like me, a Duncan Hines will work every time. (Hey! I am NO Paula Deen!)

I just threw everything in the mixer and 1 minute later the batter was ready. Oh, and I chose lemon because it was a Sunday night and that was all that was in the pantry.

Next you'll want to take your empty glass jars, spray the inside with a little pit of PAM, and fill them about 1/4th of the way full with batter. DO NOT OVER FILL! You will be sorry. You can use ANY KIND of jars! I used sterilized baby food jars. I had tons and for some reason have an obsession with things that are small and cute. Dont worry, They had been scrubbed with GOO GONE to get the glue from the label off, hand washed, boiled, AND put through the dishwasher! They are clean, I swear it!


To make them stay put so they don't totter on my oven rack, I just sat them in a muffin tin.

Next, just put them in the oven! The box said 350 degrees but I was nervous they might break so I cooked them at 335, just to be safe. They worked great! Don't believe me?! Here they are baking away into cute little tastynesses (?)

After about 15 minutes, they were done (use a toothpick to make sure)

how cute!

Finally, add your frosting (cream cheese please!), and whatever else you like. Sprinkles, nuts, etc. I used chocolate chips. Then add a cute little fabric top so boys wont puke when they see Gerber on the lid.

These look like paper towels but they were white fabric squares that i just hot glued and pinched around the lids. Next time I would like to make them a lot cute by using different fabric and maybe sew a stretchy elastic in so the lids are easier to reuse but if i wasnt up til 1am making them, I might've attempted it.

Here they are in all they're glory!

they are super cheap to make especially if you reuse jars you already have! Plus they transport a lot easier than regular cupcakes and are MUCH cuter, don't ya think?!
YUM!

glazing PART TWO!

Just like the headboard.... but not!

One day my friend Jess and were shopping and although we went to the DI for something else, we found this AW.FUL. mirror for 8 bucks so I had to have it!

I must have deleted the pictures of how it looked just white (no glaze) after painting it. But VIOLA! Here she is all painted and glazed and everything! I chose white because I sort of wanted it to match the bed and the colors in the room it's going in are black, white, and red...

My flash was on so that's why its sort of really bright looking! Also, between trying to not get myself in it, or any shadows, or the construction of the rest of the room... these are the best angles I could get

As soon as it's hung, and the room is put back together, I'll post pictures of the whole room!

The End!

Can you spot the differences?! (kitchen)

There are 5! I wish I could say my cabinets and handles are one of them, but that is a whole 'nother time and post.

Hint... the fact that I am missing paper towels is NOT one of them. We need to make a Costco run...

** Also, click on the picture to make a new window, then click on the picture to make it bigger!**

from tile to ???

In my previous post, i had a picture of a couple of these cute little things, promising to show you something fun i thought up. Well I'll give you a hint....

1) They go on tables
2) You can sit your sweet (herbal/caffeine free) tea or hot chocolate on them
3) They are COASTERS!

Okay, maybe i gave it away
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When we moved into our house last year, the seller left a really nice, expensive (albeit very "cabin-ish") dining table and chairs. And although it wasn't exactly to our taste, or decor, to keep it in good condition we needed some coasters so we didn't get ring stains. I looked EVERYWHERE for some cute coasters that weren't too expensive. My friend and I were at home depot and came across these tiles!

9 for about 4 bucks!

Well I didn't like the natural grey color so after a lot of different color decisions, Justun (the husband) picked out this nice light brown tannish color. FOR 2 BUCKS!

They have these sample containers all ready-made and they cap is a brush when you unscrew it! PERFECT! (FYI, one container covers 9 square feet)

I painted all of my tiles with 2 coats each

Be very careful, i don't know if one had a crack or I am just a klutz or what but it broke so I was down to 8.

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After i painted them, they looked great, but were just plain boring brown. I had some leftover black vinyl from a Halloween project last year, and decided I would add some kick -A design. You could go the hard way and cut it yourself using scissors or an exacto knife OR you could become best friends with someone who owns a Cricut! I chose the latter. -- By the way, we were friends BEFORE she got the Cricut. No, i am not using her! We really are best friends!

I couldn't choose just 1 design, so I opted for 2

cute damask design


"M" for our last name

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After we cut the designs out, I applied them on top of the painted tile.

Then I applied 3 coats of modge-podge (let it dry between coats) This gives it a nice smooth clear finish

VIOLA! All finished!

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The breakdown:

tiles = 4 bucks

brown paint = 2 bucks

vinyl = I had some laying around but initially it was 10 bucks, i only used half so really 5 bucks

modge-podge= 8 bucks but I used only 1 buck worth and can save the rest

TOTAL= 12 bucks

Divide that by 8 and it's only 1.50/tile. Not too bad for something you love!

I know the numbers aren't exact, but the key is always to try to make it as cute as you can, by making it as inexpensive as possible. The best way i can do this is by using what I have.

The only things I didn't have were the tile and the paint so this time I only really spent 6 dollars and i really love the coasters and was able to make them my own!

I'm still trying to find a cute way to display them so until then, here they are!

UP TO MY EARS!

Just wanted to inform my loyal readers (do i even have loyal readers?!) that i have LOTS of things in the making and I am almost done with all of them so there will be blog updates very soon! Just like everyone else, i have a baby and also work a full time job so life gets busy! Plus the hubs and I took advantage of this past Saturday and got some spring cleaning in and some house projects finished. What's a girl to do?!


To keep you a little entertained and guessing, you can look forward to something cool from these cute little things .... any wild guesses?! There are more than just two, by the way!

Bed - before and after!

(nap time means craft time!)

In my ripe old age of 26, I've refurnished several pieces of furniture. A kitchen table, a side table, a few mirrors, etc... but i have always just painted them one color and wondered why they looked so plain! Well, I've figured it out! Say hello to GLAZING!

Back in February, I got this everyday run-of-the-mill brown headboard for FREE. My grandma bought a house that was fully furnished, and lucky for my sister and me, she shared her treasures with us! Well here it is, exactly as we found it.

Well, right away i knew the brown HAD TO GO! We were not living in the 80's. What to do with it though? paint it, of course! My husband got me a sander a while back, but a sander wasn't going to work with all of these edges, so I opted for some spray primer and spray paint. It didn't take me long to know I wanted it bright white!

Here's what I chose

This is the result after the primer and paint. lots better huh!!! I was a little nervous but knew for the first time I was deciding NOT to end it here! I was reading allthingsthrifty.blogspot.com and saw glazing and knew I HAD to do it. That headboard needed brought back to life!

I headed straight to Home Depot knowing exactly what I needed- glaze tinted with black paint. Well much to my unpleasant surprise, they WILL NOT tint it for you. You have to do it yourself. I left with a pint of glaze, a sample of black paint, a stir stick, and nervousness mixed with excitement!

To mix it yourself you need:

1 part paint to 4 parts glaze

I used 1/4 cup paint to 1 cup glaze, but then added a little more paint because I wanted it EXTRA dark.

I was a little nervous I would ruin it, but I'll be darned if it was going to stop me from tryin'!

I just used a paintbrush, and worked a section at a time brushing on the glaze/paint mixture, and rubbing if off. You'll probably need several small pieces of rags. I used parts of an old Jersey bed sheet we didn't use anymore, it worked great!

There are 2 steps to glazing:

1) brush on

2) wipe off

It's that easy! The result is splendid!

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This is my guestroom (It's a work in progress)

I'm so happy with how it turned out and now I am scavenging my house looking for things to glaze!

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The breakdown

Bed: FREE

Primer/paint: 7 dollars

Faux glaze: 13 dollars

black paint: 3 dollars

paintbrush: already had one

TOTAL: 23 dollars

AND I still have plenty of paint and glaze leftover for the next project (stay tuned for that!)

I don't think I could EVER find a pre-painted headboard that I loved for that price. Even if you had to buy a used for 10-20 bucks, it would still be cheaper, and in my opinion better because you get to choose your own colors!

Here's a how-to video that I made, in case you want to try your hand at glazing! It includes some good tips! (Please don't look at my garage! That's a different project for a different day!)

Extreme Couponers! (I am so jealous!)

Want to coupon better?! So do I! I seem to do okay, but there HAS GOT to be a way to do better. I'm convinced southern states have the best grocery stores.

Utah has THE WORST couponing Ive ever seen! None of our stores that I have shopped at have double coupon days, only one store lets you "stack coupons" with their coupons and they have to mail you the coupons (which I've yet to see any in the mail) and only Wal-Mart lets you compare prices with an ad, and they NEVER put stuff on sale. DUMB! Plus I swear stores out here purposefully do not put the items on sale that have manufacturer coupons out, this saving you nothing!

Well lucky us, TLC has a new show out! EXTREME COUPONING!!!!

I'm really hoping one of these women is from Utah and help me save even more than i i know how to now!

Check out this link for some great ideas and videos on how to become an "extreme couponer".

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/extreme-couponing

And don't forget to tune in tonight to their show!

***p.s. did you know that SAM'S CLUB and COSTCO take coupons?! It's true. I do it all the time.

What do a book, a Tide box, and a frame all have in common?!

This!

Cute framed paper roses PERFECT for my "Casablanca" guest room!

Wanna make your own?! Here's how!

First you need a paperback book. Any ole one will do. I used one called "The Life and Times of Einstein" or something like that. Sorry Albert! For 25 cents at a secondhand store, I couldnt pass it up! You'll want to cut off the binding, or if your book is as old as mine was, the pages will sort of just peel right off the glue, like this....

Next you will want to take 1 page and fold it in half

Then you'll cut a circle (or as close to a circle as you can -egg shaped is fine) trying to use as much of the paper as possible. The circles WILL NOT be connected, but you'll want to hold them together.

Next, you need to cut a spiral shape, all the way to the middle. I always started at the bottom and worked my way around. Don't worry about what the very middle looks like, you'll just be cutting that part off anyway!

After it's cut (still try to keep the pieces together), start rolling from the outside, toward the middle, like this. Roll as tight as you can for about the first 5 or 6 rolls. Make certain that the bottom is smaller than the top, like this picture. The bottom (the smaller part) will be the bottom of your flower, and the top (the larger part), the top of the flower. Make sense? This might take you several times of practice but after a few times, you will be able to roll them in your sleep!

After that, just keep rolling, almost until the end. It should look something like this by the time you are almost done. If the edges start to flare out, its fine! It's just making the "petals" more lose, which makes a bigger rose.

When you get to about this point, it will begin to be difficult to roll. Just cut off the rest, like so...

This is what is should look like!

Now you are almost done! Just let go, and here is your paper rose! If its still a little too tight for your likin, you can just loosen it up with your fingers, or cup it in your hands and shake a little bit.

Now, after several minutes (or hours, or days!) you will have LOTS of delicate paper roses!

Now all you need is a frame. Find your favorite one, and don't worry about the color. You can just spray paint it like i did! This one cost me about 2 bucks at the DI (Utahs version of Goodwill) We struck gold the other day when we found about 10 cans of spray paint in our garage from the previous owners of our home, so i threw on a coat of red and viola! Here is the before picture...

After it dried, i needed a backing to put my roses on. My frame came without anything so I had to think quick. That's where the tide came in! I had very little powder left in the box, so i set it aside, and cut the size I needed for the inside of the frame. Not only did I make the perfect fit, it smelled wonderful! If your frame has glass or cardboard in it, then you're all set. If not, just look around your home and find something that you can cut to size. I hot glued the cardboard in, then one by one, glued in my roses! It was a lot of fun and VERY CHEAP!

The breakdown...

The book: 25 cents

The frame: 2 dollars

The spray paint: FREE!

The cardboard: FREE!

Gluesticks: 2 dollars.

TOTAL! ... $4.25!

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Something like this at Pier 1 or the mall would cost you WAY more than that, AND this way you can personalize it to your liking!

Who said you cant decorate for cheap?!

I was inspired by my friend Laura at work, who found a wreath made of the same roses when we were craft blog stalking last month! She has WAY more patience than I do, and made the wreath. Cute huh?! She's got more cute plans to hang this bad boy! The possibilities for the roses are endless!

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getting to know you! err... me!

okay so I think my problem was that I am on a Mac. And it's huge. So not only am I not dealing with "windows", the actual window that I am on is so big, that it's throwing things off. I am going to pray to the heavens that whomever is reading this, does not see a huge black bar at the top. If you do, please tell me! Also, please help me figure out how to make it disappear...

So, moving right along.... A little bit about me. I probably don't have enough time to blog, but I'm going to. And hopefully often. And probably while I'm at work. Don't worry, I get my work done! You will be relieved to know that I have not always "pinched my pennies". I was a paycheck to paycheck kinda gal up until I met my husband. Well actually up until we tied the knot, and even then I was reluctant to learn new ways. We got married in Tennessee where I lived, then on our way out to Utah, we stopped in at a bank in Illinois that I had previously used, to close my account and collect what I thought would be several hundred dollars that had been earning interest, only to find out that a certain un-named gym (Murfreesboro Athletic Club) had been pulling out monthly instalments for a membership that I had been guaranteed ended 5 months back. As you can guess, we left owing about 300 hundred dollars in overdraft charges, thus handing over ALL of the cash that we had gotten in our pretty Hallmark wedding cards. After crying over it for several minutes, I wiped my tears and put on my hindsight 20/20 glasses and figured I could learn a few things about saving.

After 4 years of marriage and lessons from a money nazi (or so I thought for the first few of our hitched years) I am confident when i say I am now an avid wallet watcher who still enjoys crafting, eating, being the mommy, and wifey-ing it up!

And for a little bit of trivia... my husband and I have lived in 4 different apartments, bought 3 cars, paid for 2 years of college, and purchased our 1st house AND neither one of us has had a credit card. EVER. Not even to Target or ANYTHING! And we still dont. That's something to be proud of I reckon.

I used to be a little peeved at the hubs when I couldn't buy certain things I wanted, but now I'm grateful for it every day.

AGH! My first post is that I cannot figure out how to get the heading on my blog right! In fact, I cannot figure out how to get any of it right! I configure the layout and the colors, cross my t's and dot my i's, and line up all my ducks, but once I hit save, it WILL NOT CHANGE! You will soon find, that although I am considered IT at work, and I fix other peoples' mistakes on our programs, I am by no means, computer savvy. Now, off to see if I can get this thing all prettied up so youre not readin' in black and white.

Welcome ya'll!