Simple Mini Apple Pies

The time for feasting is upon us! Isn't it crazy how quickly time goes by? The older I get, the faster the years seem to zip by. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and the majority of people in the United States will spend the entire day cooking. Those of us that are smart (or lazy, not sure which) will look for ways that we can cut down on cooking time and the amount of dishes that need to be cleaned. These mini apple pies make great appetizers or even great desserts if you want something on the smaller side. The following video gives you my step-by-step instructions.

What you'll need:
1 tablespoon of melted butter
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 apple
1 can of refrigerated Philsbury crescent rolls

This recipe makes 8 servings but it's really easy to adjust it to fit how many pies you want.


The process:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice your apple into 8 slices. (8 because that's how many crescent rolls come in the can)
3. Roll out 1 crescent and brush on some melted butter.
4. Next, sprinkle on some brown sugar and cinnamon. I prefer to "eye ball it" and add plenty of both.
5. Place 1 apple slice at the widest part of your crescent and roll it to the top. Your apple doesn't need to be completely covered.
6. Brush on more melted butter to the top of your pie.
7. Sprinkle some cinnamon on the top.

Repeat this process until all of your slices have been rolled. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

I like to serve these warm but they're good at room temperature also. If you're looking for a good dipping sauce, I recommend using plain greek yogurt.


Bon apitit and happy Thanksgiving!

An Unknown Holiday: Family Volunteer Day

23 years ago, a volunteer service company called Points of Life started an awesome holiday called Family Volunteer Day. This day is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving to "kick-off the holiday season with giving and service." This year Family Volunteer Day falls on Saturday the 22nd. Personally, I am in love with this idea! Not only are we giving back to our communities but we're also teaching our children to be outstanding individuals. My daughter is only 19 months old so, sadly, I've got some waiting to do until we can do community service together. But I'm not letting that stop my giving spirit!

When I first realized that I absolutely hate my job and decided to go into business for myself, I knew 100% that I wanted to impact the world in some small way. Yeah yeah, being a business owner is the bee's knees sometimes but I knew that I wanted more than a fancy title. I have always admired companies that give back to the community and actually, Disney Change for Kids is partnered with GernerationOn for this year's Family Volunteer Day. Anyway, the idea hit me one day. I can do that with my business too! But then I had to figure out what exactly I wanted to help with. Since having my daughter, my heart strings have been on super overdrive and literally everything touches me emotionally. That's when I had my next great idea.

I decided that for each month of the year my business would donate to a different organization. Due to November being all about food, I decided that November's Charity of the Month would be Feeding America. For each product purchased I will donate $1 USD to help feed hungry families in the United States. Sure, it's not much but according to Feeding America's website just $1 can help feed 10 families through their network of food pantries!

I love that there is a Family Volunteer Day in existence. By doing a little community service as a family you're not only gaining valuable time with your kids, you're also teaching them how to be awesome adults and the world really needs some more of those! We were all born to do good in the world so I encourage all of my readers to grab the kids and embark on an adventure this Saturday.

Let me know what your family is planning on doing! I would love some future ideas. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures and use #BornToReign on your social media accounts!

You can find more information about my business at borntoreignfashion.com and don't forget to please like us on Facebook.

How To: Make A No Sew Tie Blanket

The colder months are finally upon us which also means that gift giving season is here. I've always believed that homemade gifts mean much more than something that is simply store bought. I'm sure that many of you would agree with me here but who has time to sit down and craft a bunch of gifts?! Maybe if you're the "Stepford Wife" type but then you wouldn't be reading this in the first place. Any project that I don't want little hands helping me on are done during nap times and we all know how short those can be when we have things to do! With time and level of difficulty in mind, I give you the simple no sew tie blanket!

Here is a YouTube video that I made to help you visualize what I'm describing. (There are a few times that I get my wording mixed up but hey, I did this at 2am.)

Supplies

• A good pair of scissors. You will be cutting through a double layer of fleece. Bad scissors will make this process absolutely horrible!
• 2 1/2 yards of two different styled fleece materials. You can do the same for both sides but I've always found it more fun to do a top layer and bottom layer that are different. Whether it's a child's blanket or an adult's blanket, I have always used this much. I like my little one to grow into her blankie. The final result will actually be a little smaller than this because we are cutting and tying.
• A 5X5 piece of paper or box. 

Steps

1. Lay your fleece on top of each other. Keep in mind that some materials have a "good" side and a "bad" side. For example, one side of my 49ers material was very blurring. I wouldn't want that side to be facing up because then that would be the side that I see on the blanket.
2. Put your 5X5 paper or box into the corner of the blanket. Cut around the box and remove the pieces. Do this in all four corners. This step is very important! These cutouts will insure that our blanket remains a rectangle after we tie the fringe. Skipping this will leave you with a somewhat circular blanket.
3. Cut your fringe around the entire blanket. Make sure that the height of your cuts are meeting with how tall your cutout is. Your fringe can be as thin or as wide as you would like.
4. Tie each top layer with it's matching bottom layer. I always double my knot and make sure that it is very secure that way it won't fall apart in the washer. There are several ways to tie them but just doing normal knots is the fastest. 

And there you have it! You now have a beautiful fleece blanket. I usually keep my fringe long but you can cut them to be shorter after you have tied them. I have put mine in both the washer and dryer with low heat and haven't experienced any issues.


Happy crafting!

Hello World!

My name is Jessica and welcome to my new blog, Savvy Mommah! Let's start out with a brief history so you know what this is all about.

In a History of Sports Media and Marketing class at Full Sail University I was assigned the fun task of starting my very own blog. Being a Sports Marketing and Media major, I naturally chose to call my blog JessInSports and really took off with my posts and even some YouTube videos. I was surprisingly gaining some popularity and YouTube even asked if I would like to monetize my videos because my viewership was going up pretty quickly. I was having a lot of fun with this and even ended up receiving an award in the class! I wanted to post more and more often on my blog but I noticed that there were other things that I wanted to talk about other than just sports.

Fast forward to the present and I am now in an Intro to Marketing class where I am again assigned to write on a blog. I'm currently in a marketing position so you would think that these ideas would not be new to me but for the first time I really sat down to think about the purpose of my blog. While sports are a huge passion of mine, my life is full of so many other adventures that I know many people can relate to.

Thus, Savvy Mommah was created! (Key in dramatic music here.) You will find all kinds of different topics here and hopefully get a little entertainment out of it. Consider this a "lifestyle" blog of sorts.

So why "Savvy Mommah" you're probably asking. That title came on April 12, 2013 when my beautiful baby girl, Savannah, was born! From then on I've always tried to be a "Savvy Mommah." I'm a 23 year old single mom that works full time, is a full time student, and for some crazy reason decided that I wasn't busy enough so I started my own business in September 2014. Like I said before, my life is full of adventure!

Through my posts you will:

• Find out how my 18 month old daughter learned to blow her nose (yes, really blow it into a tissue)
• Get tips on opening your own business 
• Learn ways to juggle your working mom (or dad) life
• Hear my not-so-expert sports opinions

And I can even explain the financial aid process of applying to college!


There's so much to learn here on the many adventures of Savvy Mommah! Should you have any suggestions on what I write about next don't be afraid to leave a comment!