Candle In the Microwave

It just doesn't have the same ring as "Candle in the Wind" does it? Well, either way, here we are... I'm going to warn you in advance that I don't have a picture of the finished product. Because I left it at my in-laws. Because I am special... We'll see them again at Thanksgiving, so I'll update with a picture and a new addition to my expanding repertoire of awesomeness.

I've had a growing fondness for the tea-lights that I've seen around Pinterest, so I dove right in and decided to try my hand. Without reading the directions, of course... 

Down to business! You will need... 

An awesome something to hold your candle-- I picked this one out for my aunt!

A big bunch of microwaveable wax, dye bricks, and scent if you like-- plus wicks so you can, you know, burn your candle..

First, you'll fill the wax up to the desired level 

I went with about halfway up the seashell to start, but...

After a suggested 60 seconds in the microwave (the container IS microwave safe!), it was still chunky...

And had melted down juuust a tad. 

So I threw in another handful of wax, plus this palm full of dye (which I didn't think would work, but it did!) and kept on microwaving until I got this:

But then I noticed the wick was kind of floating off to the side... I know people have some super fancy ways of stabilizing and centralizing wicks, but as we all know I make a habit of being unprepared for these things, I feel it keeps me sharp. Anyways, I MacGuyvered this little contraption together:

Why yes, my dental floss DOES make the difference!

Until Thanksgiving you'll have to take my word that it turned out alright, just a little bit shorter than I'd hoped. The small amount of dye shavings made me skeptical like woah but it turned out nice and white! I'll probably add a little more wax to see if I can get the level up and then gift it to my Beachy Keen Aunt!

Caprese Breakdown

We still had some tomatoes and mozzarella left (the basil decided to peace out, the little twerp!) after those caprese bowls/balls/bakes and I love that caprese salad so I thought to myself, "Now that you have some balsamic vinegar, you could make a REAL variation on caprese!"

Yeah, anyone notice something wrong with this picture?

Correctamundo, dear reader, the Red Wine Vinegar and the Balsamic Vinegar have a nearly identical label and I did not manage to notice this until AFTER I'd started dashing a decidedly NOT dark substance on my deconstructed caprese!

Before that, I chopped up the tomato...

And pulled out some mozarella balls to be quartered...

Then tossed it all together with the salt, olive oil, and red wine vinegar...

Gotta love the glow of olive oil on mozarella! And the red wine vinegar actually wasn't a bad addition-- you have to super like sour stuff, though, because it was on the tart side. Thankfully, I adore sour/acid so it was right up my alley. I ate the tomatoes first and let the cheese soak up some of the liquid... superb!

Rating: Easy Peasy
Cost: Cheap-- it's leftovers!
Conclusion: Delish! Definitely a great "re-hashed" leftovers sort of deal

Baked Caprese, Caprese Bowls, Caprese Balls...

OK, so I'm not starting this off right since this one didn't originate from a specific Pin, but there were so many awesome Caprese salad variations I just went for this one on a whim! I was still INSPIRED by Pinterest, so it counts, right? OK, fine, I'll get around it by pinning it myself!

All you need is a few fresh tomatoes with the top half scooped out, some mozarella (I used mozarella balls from the farmer's market) and some basil! I topped it off with a little kosher salt and some olive oil, then popped them in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. Next time, however, I will poke some holes in the bottom of the tomatoes because the juice almost got in the way of enjoyment. I didn't have any balsamic vinaigrette, but I picked some up the other day and will be adding it to round 2: deconstructed caprese! 

Rating: Easy Peasy
Cost: Cheap
Conclusion: Delicious-- if you like caprese salad, you have to give this a try! People will think you're super fancy!