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Easy Baked Brie Recipe With Agave & Pecans

When we’re not going out for brunch, girl time turns into “cheese and bread and wine night”. But there is nothing better than after a long, cold day than sitting down to gooey, delicious brie – cheese is one thing I could never give up! This is my favourite easy baked brie recipe with agave and pecans, you cannot go wrong with serving this to your guests!

Can you tell I get excited about cheese?

And truthfully, I wouldn’t want to make it unless it was not an easy recipe. I need it to be simple to make and delicious to eat!

And it took me a while to figure out how to make the brie wheel gooey all the way through and not just on the outside… I wanted to eat it so fast that I may have increased the temperature and burned the outside.

Similar to anytime in the kitchen- impatience is not a virtue.

As promised here is my easy baked brie recipe with agave and pecans:

Easy Baked Brie Recipe With Agave And Pecans

The perfect cheesy appetizer for friends to share!

Print Recipe

Total Time 20 mins

Ingredients

1 wheel of brie cheese
2-3 tbsp agave
1/3 whole or chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place wax paper over baking sheet
3. Unwrap brie and place it on the covered baking sheet
4. Pour agave on the top of the brie
5. Add pecans to the agave on top of the brie
6. Bake brie for 10-12 minutes
7. Let it cool for 5 minutes
8. Serve with crackers and enjoy!

Notes

Can substitute agave with honey, maple syrup, or jam.

If you like this post, check out my Perfect Gin & Tonic recipe before you go!

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The Holy Roller | Must-Try Edmonton Whyte Avenue Restaurant

There are awesome new Whyte Ave restaurants popping up all the time – which is awesome for our city and YEG living, but it’s hard to keep up with sometimes! This past weekend I tried for the first time The Holy Roller – the decor and hype, that I’ve heard so much about, did not fall flat.

The interior reminds me of another beautiful, new restaurant in downtown Edmonton – Drunk Ox Sober Cat, on 104th street – it’s a blogger’s dream to photograph. The Holy Roller’s decor is a combination of old and new, with luxurious, classic textures combined with graphic art.

When I visited it was between a wedding ceremony and reception, so I didn’t order any main meals off the menu but I did try the charcuterie board completed with the Chef’s choice of meats and cheese. It did not disappoint! The meats were savoury, the cheese was delicious, and the bread freshly toasted and butter. Yum!

Now that I think of it, I definitely need to make a list of my favourite places to order charcuterie boards in Edmonton!

During this visit to Holy Roller I did not order any alcohol, though their drink menu is extensive, and I’ve heard their drinks are innovative combinations!

I highly recommend you try The Holler Roller if you’re looking for a YEG date night restaurant or a Whyte Avenue restaurant! I look forward to coming back and trying much more of their menu.

Have you tried The Holy Roller? Where are your No. 1 favourite, must-try Edmonton Whyte Avenue restaurant?

If you like this post, check out my Everything Edmonton section before you go!

Best Beginner DIY Project: How To Use Rustoleum Milk Paint On A Coffee Table

I am a DIY nut these days, dreaming up new designs and projects to start in our new home – this month’s project? Repainting an old partisan table with classic white Rustoleum milk paint! It turned out to be a perfect addition to the sun room.

If this is your first time to my blog, Honey & Betts, welcome! I’m Hannah, you can find me at @honeyandbetts on Instagram + Facebook + Pinterest + Twitter. What you don’t know about me is that my husband and I raised 3 little girls in a 2 bedroom + 2 bathroom apartment in downtown Edmonton while he was finishing university. Once we was finished school we moved out to the suburbs of Edmonton and now live in St. Albert in a beautiful house we call home now (you can see our whole house in the post)! And now that I have a house to nest in I have gone to town in the DIY project department.

Our first project were these brilliant white wall mounted shoe organizers, it’s one of my most popular posts right now!

Once that project was finished I wanted to furnish and style our sun room – I inheritted two arm chairs from my great grandparents and knew we needed a similarly styled table but in white. Unfortunately, an antique coffee table in white is hard to come by… so I set myself up on Kijiji (it’s a Canadian Craigslist, but better in my opinion) and watched for unique wood tables that I could repaint.

It didn’t take long to find a table that I loved for a reasonable price! You can see in the first image of this post the dark stained appearance of the table when I picked it up.

I got to work right away sanding the dark finish away, and I mistakenly used too high of a sandpaper grit and it took me forever to do the whole thing! What a rookie mistake! I did not ask my husband for help, and once he realized the grit I was using he set me straight.

I had researched how to strip the stain from a DIY blogger I had never seen used, I used the exact grit she recommended and it bit me in the behind! Next time I will certainly cross reference my findings and ask my husband before I spend an entire day striping a dark wood table.

It was an embarrassing mistake that left many blisters on my hands!

So, that leaves us with what happened after the table was sanded, I wiped it with a tack cloth and mixed my white Rustoleum milk paint.

Here are a few things I learned from using the Rustoleum milk paint:

Preferably, use a paint brush. I used a paint roller and it applied it way thicker than it should have been. I’m happy with the results but it doesn’t look like true milk paint. Milk paint applies thin and requires many layers by brush to build an intricate colour. By using the roller it evenly applied it and comes off looking like chalk paint. Like I said, I’m happy but I read online (seriously, cross reference what you read online peopel!) you can successfully apply it with a roller. I am saying, don’t do that.

Let it sit for as long as possible. I believe the Rustoleum milk paint jar’s instructions read you need to let it sit for 15 minutes, if you can wait 30 minutes then wait the 30 minutes. I separately mixed the first and second paint coats, and saw better paint texture when I waited longer the first time (30 minutes) than the second time (15 minutes).

Protect it. I read over and over and over the differences between milk paint vs. chalk paint because I wanted to make the right decision for this DIY coffee table project. One of the biggest struggles was how to protect the surface once it was painted. Milk paint is fairly new on the main market, and mostly everyone (online) says use wax but I didn’t want the mess of wax. So I ended up using the Rustoleum Clear Ultra Matte Protective Topcoat For Chalked Paint. It mattifies and adds that extra level of protection to the high traffic surface of the coffee table.

Over all I am going to have to use Rustoleum’s milk paint again on our next DIY project, as I have some left over. It is packaged in a powder that you add water to, so it stores very nicely and applied odorless.

Hopefully on my next repainting project I can apply the lessons I learned from this coffee table!

Are you using Rustoleum’s milk paint on your next project?

If you like this post, check out my DIY Project section before you go!

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9 Stylish Stay At Home Mom Capsule Wardrobe Essentials

So many of you reached out on the latest style blog post saying how unready you are for the huge milestone of your 1st baby’s first year in school! I am right there with you! It’s an emotional jumble of “YAY they’re finally ready for school” with the dread of having to get everyone ready for school drop off. Should I be the mom who is wearing her highschool sweat pants and hoodie (because that is honestly my plan A) or should I utilize my stylish stay at home mom capsule wardrobe and put a smidgen of effort into starting the day off right? Let’s see how long the latter lasts!

You know my rule! If you choose 2/3 things to get ready you are ready. Whether that is A) make-up, B) outfit, or C) hair. I always prefer make-up and outfit – my hair is tied into a top knot for a reason and it’s not because it’s a “trendy” choice.

I am in love with H&M’s women’s line this fall – even though it August brands like to roll out their fall lines at least a month – so you know I have been drooling all over it since it’s launched.

One of my favourite things about H&M is that they’re making a conscious effort to take steps away from fast fashion and take steps toward sustainable fashion. I adore H&M’s Conscious Collection because they provide “high-end environmentally friendly pieces, aiming to move H&M’s fashion and sustainability development towards a more sustainable fashion future.” Here’s hoping a lot more brands jump on this trend for sustainable fashion!

All the beautiful items you see above (from trench coat to tops to bottoms to accessories) are from H&M – how convenient, right!? Not only is it nice to shop for your kids in one location but the same goes for shopping for yourself!

Truly this capsule wardrobe reflects my sporty, minimal personal style – but H&M also has a gorgeous basics line for building yourself a clean, simple wardrobe that you can build on. Or they offer whimsical boho pieces. They have something to offer everyone!

What’s stopping you from putting your best self forward this new school year? Have you tried a minimalist capsule wardrobe before?

If you like this post, check out my Mom Style section before you go!

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DIY Project | Front Entrance White Wall Mounted Shoe Organizer

How To Make A White Wall Mounted Shoe Organzier! The Best Solution For A Messy Front Entrance.

Pin this idea for later!

In our new home we have a small entry way with no closet – cue the piles of shoes from the 5 of us. It was not a pretty sight! So I planned for our second wood DIY project to be a white wall mounted shoe organizer.

I had this large mirror waiting in storage and I knew I wanted it in our home’s entry way but did not know what we were going to do to organize the mess of shoes.

The front entrance gets beautiful, natural light all day long so I wanted to keep the look light and bright – I wanted something white and off the ground for storage. I may ask Matt to build a mini version of the wall mounted storage bins because it would be awesome for storing mittens, hats, scarves, etc for the girls to grab on the way outside.

We like to wing it when it comes to DIY projects, but I found exactly the design I wanted to use from the DIY blog Remodelholic and was so thankful that they had figured out all the supplies for us to follow along. Then I sent Matt on his way to buy wood, cut the wood, screw it together, and then I helped him paint it.

Our home is old, it’s from the 1960’s and the dry wall is fragile. Naturally we had to screw and anchor the DIY shoe organizer into the studs – this was a really interesting experience for us since our stud finder was on the fritz and was telling us the entire wall was a stud… so we had to go out and buy a new one that actually works.

We used 3 screws for each DIY organizer when putting it on the wall, 2 at the top and 1 through the middle of the bottom. We did it that way so we hit a stud with each screw, we did not want any accidents because our kids are not gentle or careful with things.

Then Matt was concerned that the warped wood and the screws showing would make the whole DIY project look bad, but I wasn’t because those are superficial things I could deal with. Once we painted it white I was really happy with the look and functionality!

We ended up painting the wood after we put it together with white exterior paint so that we would could wipe down the shoe organizer when it got dirty from shoes, because it’s inevitable that it will get dirty.

How do you like it? I am in love with no clutter and being super organized!

If you like this post, check out my DIY Project section before you go!

Make sure to pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later.

On The Go Style | Affordable School Drop Off Outfits For Moms

Great deals at H&M for stylish, affordable school drop off outfits for moms!

If this is your first year of school with your child, not only does your child need to go back to school shopping for clothes – but as a mom you do too! There are going to be days where you need to feel more like a woman and less like a mom. And I found some great deals at H&M for stylish, afforable school drop off outfits for moms!

Depending on what your style is going to be at the school drop off, finding clothes that are A) comfy, B) stylish, and C) affordable are going to be top on your list. I was pleasantly surprised at the flattering styles for women when I stopped into my local H&M location for buying Annaliese her first back to school clothes.

At the time H&M was having a huge summer sale in-store and I picked up these beautiful ripped boyfriend jeans for $15. $15 CANADIAN! And they are nice denim – not too stretchy (but let’s be honest, we all need a little stretch in our jeans) and feel like they will last a long time.

I personally love these jeans that are on sale right now, hurry they are selling out fast!

High Waisted Embroidered Jeans

Shaping Skinny Jeans

Ripped Boyfriend Jeans

Black Boot Cut Jeans

Black Embroidered Mom Jeans

What is your go-to mom outfit for school pick up?

If you like this post, check out my Mom Style On A Budget post before you go!

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Hannah is a Canadian Mom Blogger from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who shares her life around motherhood to 4 kids, on-the-go beauty for moms, healthy and delicious recipes, bohemian home decor, family travel, and local Edmonton businesses.

Road Trip From Edmonton To Drumheller | Explore The Dinosaur Capital Of The World

Quick Weekend Road Trip From Edmonton For The Whole Family

This summer we took our kids – Annaliese, Abigail, and Adeline – from Edmonton to Drumheller, AB which is the dinosaur capital of the world! It was a quick 3 hour road trip from Edmonton to Drumheller (quick is relative to the other road trips we have done in the past), and it all started with an early morning wake-up call!

Once we arrived in Drumheller, AB it was a quick 10 minute drive from the town’s centre to the world-renowned Tyrrell Museum. When we visited on Saturday morning there were people from all over the world visiting (naturally you notice license plates, chat with people in line, and take note of their apparel that states where they are from), and that’s when you know you’re at a world renown museum!

Though the Royal Tyrrell Museum rates are more expensive, the rates are worth your while. If you live close and your kids love dinosaurs an annual membership may be something to invest into!

When we entered the Royal Tyrrell Museum exhibits – immediately, we were transported into the past and you could see the wonder and awe in Annaliese and Abigail’s eyes. The dinosaur bones and dinosaur pictures are huge, they are beautiful, and they are completely mind-blowing.

Annaliese could not stop running from display to display asking for the entire write-up to be read to her, though her overall favourite part was finding the prehistoric mammal. She thought it was the coolest thing ever!

I remember visiting the Tyrrell Museum when I was in junior high school on an all day field trip – it was my first time there and made its mark as the most fascinating field trips I ever went on! And I’m glad we made time this summer to build family memories together on our road trip from Edmonton to Drumheller.

My tips for visiting the Tyrrell Museum with kids:

Bring lots of snacks and water bottles!
Wear running shoes because the Tyrrell Museum is an extensive walk for toddlers and kids.
If you have a toddler, bring a stroller! Double strollers that are side by side are hard to navigate when it’s busy, so try to bring a single stroller.
Go during the week rather than the weekends, that is when all the tourist buses charter people in and it can be overwhelmingly busy.
Plan to walk the hoodoo trails outside the museum, they are unique and lots of fun for kids!

Have you planned your visit to Drumheller, Alberta’s Tyrrell Museum?

If you like this post, check out my Top 3 Family Beaches In Alberta For Kids post before you go!

And make sure you pin this family travel post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!

Free admission was provided for an honest review of the experience. All opinions are 100% my own.

How To Decorate Like Anthropologie On A Budget | 6 Cream Boho Throw Pillows

As many of you have seen on Instagram (soon, I will do a home tour!!) I am decorating the sun room – its an add-on to our home that has the most beautiful natural light. I have a couple bohemian living room inspired DIY projects planned for it, including refinishing a coffee table with white milk paint.

I should mention, that the sun room is not insulated so any furniture we put in there will not be used during the winter (which is at least 6 months of the year in Edmonton, AB) because the sun room will be too cold.

To remedy the lack of use the sun room I plan to furnish and decorate it on a budget – first I inherited my great-grandparent’s arm chairs, then I found a table for $75 to re-finish from Kijiji, and I plan to find a love seat from Kijiji as well.

By finding all of the sun room’s furniture cheap I am able to add pillows, throws, candles, poufs, etc. to complete the room’s boho, modern aesthetic.

If you’ve ever wanted to decorate like an Anthropologie store (wouldn’t that be a dream?) it’s expensive!

Decorating with cream boho throw pillows can cost a fortune or you can find cheaper options and put redirect the money you save towards quality candles and furniture. I always want to buy all the Anthropologie tassel pillows but that would leave no room in the budget for anything else (or I wait until the best sales – Black Friday and Boxing Day – to buy them).

Some of the cutest cream boho throw pillows I have found in Canada were at Michael’s, surprising right? Either use one of their 40% off coupons by signing up for their newsletter or just keep an eye on their sales!

Though recently, I found these 6 gorgeous cream, bohemian throw pillows – they are to die for and I needed to share them while they some of them are on sale!

Cream Accent Throw Pillow – $40

White Polka dot Throw Pillow – $55

Cream Pleated Throw Pillow – $64

Cream Bubble Throw Pillow – $62

Cream Tassel Throw Pillow – $55

White Tassel Tufted Throw Pillow – $80

Do you like adding flare to your living room with throw pillows? Or do you decorate with different home decor accessories?

If you like this post, check out this How To DIY Wallpaper Your Desk Tutorial before you go!