EASY Candied Pecans

I thought I'd share my candied pecan recipe in case anyone is interested. 

It is super easy and they are delicious!  Little jars or bags of these make great gifts for anyone.  It is a relatively inexpensive gifts to make, too, at about $2 per jar.

Recipe:

1 lb pecan halves

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 egg whites

1 Tablespoon water

1 gallon ziploc bag

In the ziploc bag, mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Beat the egg whites and the water into a froth. Add the pecans and stir to coat.

Toss the pecans into the ziploc bag and shake it around until they are covered with the sugar mixture.

Pour into shallow baking dish (I used two 9x13" pans) and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Once cooled, put them into six small mason jars, tie twine or yarn around the lid and attach a little gift tag with the recipe on it.  I used store bought tags that I got after Christmas last year, but you can be more crafty than me and make your own tags!  Or, you could print these from the Pioneer Woman... 

Enjoy!

Spring Craftiness

I used to be crafty.  I suppose I probably still AM crafty, I just haven't utilized my craftiness in a while.  School and baby have taken priority... but now that Eliza is getting a little more independent and I've got summer ahead of me, I'm starting to think about things to do to work out my crafty muscles again.  I can't wait until Eliza is old enough to do little crafty projects with me.

So I thought I would start off with a couple of easy Easter projects... (now, whether or not I actually DO these is another matter, but a girl can hope - and plan!).

First, look at this cute Easter egg garland made with paint color samples.  What a great idea!  Seems simple enough... right?

DIY Paint Chip Easter Garland

The next one is a little more involved, but totally cute and would be so much fun to give away for a little Easter treat to friends and family - they are real eggs that you hollow out (by cutting a hold at the bottom of the egg, the only iffy part IMO), sterilize, color, and then fill with candy.  Then you glue them - hole side down - to a little muffin cup.  So what you get is a sweet little candy-filled egg that the recipient gets to crack open.  How cute is that?

Easter Surprise Eggs

Anyone else have any fun little spring project ideas? 

Project!

I'm all set to make a pair of these for Eliza - hopefully I'll get some time this week when daddy is home (he took a week off work - soooo excited!). I want her to wear the booties on Christmas, and then I'll make them into a Christmas tree ornament. I read about a family doing this for each of their kids and thought it was a sweet idea. I think I'll embroider her name on the soles, too.

Hope I get some time this week! I'll post a pic (IF they turn out...).

I still need to work on a Christmas stocking for her... I better get busy!!