4th of July: Food

As July 4th is rapidly approaching us Five Times the Funners decided to give y'all a little taste of everything! We will show you some great foods to serve at your 4th of July party, red white and blue themed clothing for the festivities, and some awesome crafts to make all this come together perfectly! So lets goooooo:

Food

Here are some super easy quick ways to give your 4th of July BBQ or party the little red, white and blue spirit it needs!

This first treat is an adaption of our previous post "Pretzel Buttons". For those of you who haven't seen that post we attached a link to it and we will also show you quickly{and very briefly} what to do :)

When you are at the store shopping for ingredients be sure to pick up 4th of July themed M&Ms and Hershey Hugs! The more themed the betterrrrrrr :) Do the recipe just like normal. Preheat the oven 200F. Line a cookie sheet with pretzels. Place the Hershey Hugs onto the pretzels. Bake 4-5 mins then remove from the oven. Take your M&Ms and smush them down onto the pretzels. Place the Pretzel Buttons into the freezer to cool. Tada yummy little treats!

The second treat is chocolate covered strawberries. Who doesn't love some sweet strawberries with chocolately goodness? Take your strawberries and wash and clean them. Melt your chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and use the "chocolate" setting on your microwave {if you don't have that setting just watch the chocolate so it doesn't burn} Hold the strawberries by their stems and dip them into the chocolate. Now here is where you can get creative. Either dip your still warm chocolate strawberries in blue sprinkles or you can let the chocolate cool and then apply zigzags and stripes to it with red or blue chocolate/icing.

And of course, you can't celebrate a totally American holiday without Apple Pie! We made a post called "Mini Apple Pies" which explain exactly what you would need for this yummy American treat! 

If you are looking for an even easier way to get the red white and blue theme, serve licorice, yogurt covered pretzels and blueberries. Or any other colored treats! Those were just some quick and easy ways to make your BBQ or 4th party a little more 4th themed :) Hope this helped you get in the spirit!

Mama's famous chocolate torte

A holiday favorite in our house is our mama's chocolate torte! This easy to make dessert is always a hit at any holiday party & is VERY easy to make.

Ingredients:

• Graham crackers
• 1/2 pound of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 pound of dark chocolate chips
• 5 tablespoons of rum {optional}
• 5 tablespoons of liquid glucose 
• 32 oz of heavy whipping cream
• Spring loaded pie tin {pictured below}

This easy to make dessert is always a hit at any holiday party & is VERY easy to make.

Begin by crushing the graham crackers in a zip lock bag to create the crust. 

Next, sprinkle the graham crackers in the spring loaded pie tin.

Combine chocolate, rum, and glucose into a bowl and melt the chocolate {be careful it doesn't burn!}

Whip the cream to a point where it is stiff, but not as fluffy as whipped cream.

Fold the melted ingredients and the cream together and then pour into the tin on top of the graham cracker crust.

Then freeze for 48 hours!

Bon Appétit

xo

Christmas Candle Craft

So here we go…. with another mason jar craft! This Christmas craft is perfect for a table centerpiece, a gift, or as a holiday decoration. All the supplies you need for this project you may have laying around the house {if you are crafty} or you can buy them and reuse them for a TON of seasonal projects. Once Christmas is over remove the candle, ribbon, and cranberries and create something new for the next season.

This adorable craft came to only $8.00 and took only about 5 minutes to create!

Materials you will need:

• Mason Jar
• To fill: Cranberries, glass beads, small christmas ornaments, pine cones, nuts {the options are endless}
• A candle
• To decorate with: ribbon, garland, twine {anything!}

To create the jar you need to place a few of your filler decorations {we used cranberries} to slightly raise your candle. 

Then, place the candle and add a few more filler pieces around the candle! 

Next, add your ribbon or garland to the top of the jar and add the spin top to finish it off! 

This is another cute way to do the Christmas candle mason jar! Show us your mason jars:)

Mini Apple Pies

This recipe makes 12 deliciously adorable apple pies in about 40 minutes!

In a bowl, mix together the cinnamon, flour, sugar, lemon & salt

Peel, core, and cut the apples. Make sure when you cut that the apples are in small pieces {because the pies are mini!}

Now add the cut apples with the mixed dry ingredients and mix. Make sure to mix well so that all the apples are covered evenly.

Cut circles out of your pastry and line your cupcake tins with the dough. Make sure the bottom layer of pastry is larger than the top so you can squish the edges together.

Next, pile the apple filling onto the dough. Make piles in the middle of the dough so that when the pies cook, the apple filling doesn't sink and cause depressions.

Cut out more circles of pastry for the top of your pies and paint on a small amount of whipped egg to the perimeter of the circle {this will make the top and bottom stick together}

Use a fork to create the edge detail {this assures that the pie is closed}. Then cut two small holes into the top of the pies so they can breath while cooking.

Dust the top of the pies with brown sugar and the whipped egg. The egg provides a glossy look and the brown sugar glazes the pies.

Cover the pies with aluminum foil for 15 mins and then cook uncovered for the last 5. This will allows the apples to cook through while not burning the pastry. Our house smelled DELICIOUS while they were cooking!

If you like your pies EXTRA full of apples we suggest preparing 9 apples {instead of 6} and warming the diced apples on the stove. After preparing the apples we put them into a pot to cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. We wanted them to get softer {but not completely soft} so when we put them into the pastry we could fit more into the pies. Remember not to cook the apples to much because they will still bake once in the over. Once you have cooked your apples {and tasted to see how soft they are} strain the water from them and combine them with the dry ingredients as usual!

Thanks for reading & happy baking

xo

Holiday Workouts

The holiday season is among us and with the holiday season comes visitors. The more people coming to visit, the less time you have for yourself. You might not have the same amount of free time as before, so making an effort to work off some of the food you've consumed may be harder than you think. So here are a few easy, at home exercises that will keep you active and looking good.

ABS

My target area for working out is always always always my stomach. I'm that girl who is always on pinterest searching for the next great ab workout. So after many hours of searching I found some perfect ab exercises.

1) 30 Day Crunch Challenge

This crunch challenge is quick and easy to do. Do it first thing in the morning or right before you go to bed! Its super easy to do and you definitely feel it.

2) Ab Workout app

 Download this app! You will not regret it! It is a free app that gives you great ab workouts. You can pick a few and do them during the day, while your watching tv or after school.

3) Other Workouts

BIG BOOTY
Another target area is the booty. Here are some quick and easy butt exercises that'll keep you in shape during the holidays

1) 30 Day Squat Challange

Pretty much the same concept as the crunch challange. I've done the squat challenge and it is super easy to maintain doing and you definitely feel the burn. I loved this one! Its a must try:)

2) Just Some Other Butt Workouts

 

Do one ab workout and one booty workout a day. You'll feel better and your body will thank you! I'm going to do the 30 day crunch and squat challange. I'll be posting about my experience at the end of the 30 days.

Running, Jogging, Walking

Since family members are coming to town there is a lot of talking and catching up to be done. Instead of sitting around the coffee table and talking up over treats, why not go for a walk? Our mom walks with her friends pretty much everyday of the week and before she knows it she has walked close to 40 miles. She is in great shape and its because she takes time out of her day to focus on her fitness. So get up, go out and walk! Walk with friends and talk:)

Another great idea for the holiday season is a 5-K. During this time of year many foundations put together events such as the "Turkey Trot" to donate to charaties. Get your friends and family together and go! This year our family signed up for the Turkey Trot in downtown Naples, so be prepared for the pictures to come!

For those of you who enjoy a quicker pace workout then walking, go for a run. Many of us are under the impression that running or jogging has to be for hours and at large distances. We are wrong! Getting up and going for a quick 20-30 minute run is a great way to get your heart rate going and for you to feel refreshed and rejuvinated. I recently downloaded the app RunKeeper. It gives you a training plan for whaterver your looking for Racing, Learning to Run, Getting Fit and Loosing Weight. The training plan gives you a great day-to-day workout plan that has instructions and motiation on what to do and how to do it. I've used this app a few times and it is a great way to go out, set a goal and just run, jog or walk when it tells you too. Its a great workout!

So get up! Go out! and Workout! Take some time out of your busy schedule and go exercise.