Rice Crispy Valentines

 I saw this yummy and easy treat idea at Mel's Kitchen Cafe the other day (see post HERE) and decided to try it out and add my own spin to it. Can I just say that chocolate dipped rice crispy treats are heaven sent! Who knew something so simple could make such a difference? We ate about half of the treats I made, but the other half went to my kid's friends for Valentine's day. I put two hearts in each goodie bag (found at Wal-mart) and added the saying, "You make my heart go SNAP, CRACKLE, POP!" I came up with that saying right out of my own little head... :) Happy Valentine's everyone!

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I'm back everyone! I took a little break from blogging to deal with all the Christmas chaos but I made a resolution to keep up with this blog so here goes. My baby turned one this month and we had a little party at an ice cream shop to celebrate. I made these pom poms for decorations and they were super easy. This would be a great way to use up recycled tissue paper... or am I the only one that keeps tissue paper?? Anyway- The original instructions are from Martha Stewart, go HERE for those.

All you need:
1 package of tissue paper
Floral wire (I used twist ties)
Scissors

 Pull the tissue paper right out of the package and straighten it out, all 8 layers stacked on top of each other. Begin folding it like an accordion, each fold being about an inch and a half.

 It should look like this when finished. Pinch it in the middle and either tie your wire or cut the edges to be rounded or pointy. I rounded my edges with the scissors and then tied my twist ties in the middle.

 After that, begin gently pulling out each layer of the tissue paper one at a time forming a ball.

 That's it! Super easy. They are pretty big too, at least a foot and a half across.

We tied ours to the ceiling with fishing line. In retrospect I would have made more, but they added a little extra fun to the party anyway. Afterward, I hung them above my daughters crib and they look so cute!

Halloween Party Ideas

If you're looking for some party ideas for Halloween, you might find some new ideas here! We had a party last week for our kids and it was a huge success. This is what we served for food... My neighbor made the cookies, strawberries, and pudding. I made the sandwiches, juice boxes, veggie tray, and favors.

 Sandwich idea from Pure Joy Events.  There are tons of ideas on that blog!

 Juice boxes wrapped in white electrical tape. Idea from Parents.com

Pumpkin bowling was a huge hit! Idea from Be Different, Act Normal.

My neighbor made this totally awesome bat pinata! The kids had a ton of fun with that. She said it wasn't too difficult either. Instructions are at Martha Stewart. Also at Martha Stewart was a craft that we did... Check that out HERE. There are lots of great ideas there.

I forgot to take a picture of our ADORABLE favors, but here they are with a FREE printable. CLICK HERE.

Our easy and cute invitations were also FREE using a printable! CLICK HERE to see those.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Grilled Pizza

Summer is starting to fade and I am trying to get outdoor meals completely out of my system before it does! I have seen grilled pizzas on several food websites and decided to try it myself. It is now my new favorite thing to make. It takes far less time than oven baked pizza and tastes sooo yummy. You have to try it ASAP.

First get all your ingredients ready to go. You will need quick access to them because you have to work fast when getting them on the pizza. You need to have your meats cooked and ready to go. My favorite dough recipe is from Pioneer Woman... find that HERE.

I prefer to make mini pizzas rather than one large one, it's harder to flip a giant one.

Get them all ready to go and generously spread oil onto one side of each one.

Throw them on. Close the cover. Your grill needs to be at medium to medium high. Let them sit for about 5 minutes. Check them. If they are starting to bubble up and are sufficiently brown on bottom, spread some oil on the top and flip them over.

Now you have to work fast to get all the ingredients on. I just throw stuff... it makes for a great surprise when I'm eating. :) Close the grill cover when you have all your ingredients assembled.

Let them cook for another 3-5 minutes until browned on bottom. Pull them off and enjoy! Seriously so yummy, fast, and easy. I'm making this tomorrow! Just looking at the picture is making me hungry. I apologize for my crazy instructions... that's how I cook. If you want more detailed ones, go HERE to Our Best Bites. They have good instructions for grilling pizza as well.

Stay tuned because next week I am posting my all time favorite pizza recipe!

Bowtie Brocolli Pasta

One of my favorite dishes of ALL time, no joke, is this pasta. I found the original recipe at Favorite Family Recipes and their version, which is actually Bowtie Asparagus Pasta, is a little bit different but equally good. I decided to make my own version of this recipe for several reasons.

1: It was incredibly fattening! An entire cube of butter and cream... yowza. I could only eat a little, which was basically impossible. So I would eat a ton and get sick. No fun. My husband thinks it tastes better with the extra calories but I like it both ways.
2: Asparagus is expensive in the grocery store. It was $3.99 a pound at one point in my grocery store. If you have asparagus, I would recommend trying both versions of this recipe because they are both amazing. Also- pine nuts don't come cheap either so I omitted those.

Bowtie Brocolli Pasta
Adapted from Fav. Family Recipes

1lb. bow tie pasta
1/2 CUBE butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or I use a few shakes of garlic powder
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 cup corn starch
2 cups milk or half & half
salt & pepper, to taste
1lb. broccoli, or however much you like
6-8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Boil pasta until al-dente. Boil broccoli in separate pan until crisp tender. Melt butter in a large skillet, add the garlic and saute. Add Parmesan Cheese, bouillon, and 1/4 cup cornstarch. When the bouillon cube is dissolved, slowly stir in milk and salt & pepper. Add cooked pasta to sauce and toss until pasta is well covered. Add blanched broccoli. Sprinkle with bacon. Serve immediately. Enjoy! Everyone I have ever served this to loves it so I implore you to try it TODAY!

Using Yeast

I have never had much luck when it comes to using yeast. That is until I sat down and read all I could about yeast to figure it out. I am still an amateur at best but I thought I would share my tips and tricks to inspire any of you out there that are also afraid of yeast.

I found this little bit of random info about yeast interesting..."Yeast... is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked, the yeast dies and the air pockets "set", giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture. The use of potatoes, water from potato boiling, eggs, or sugar in a bread dough accelerates the growth of yeasts." -Wikipedia

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has an awesome tutorial on baking with yeast and it helped me sooo much! Go HERE to see that. I highly recommend it. I also found good tips at The Reluctant Gourmet.


Some of the tips I have learned and found most useful from these places and from my own practice are the following...

1) Instant yeast is a good option for beginners. I love not having to wait for my active dry yeast to proof before adding it.
2) Get your water at the right temperature. If it's too hot, it will kill the yeast. If it's too cold, the yeast won't work. My rule is to test using my wrist... I like it to be warmer than bath water but not hot enough to burn.
3) The amount of flour used in a recipe is just a basic guideline. I always thought you should follow the recipe exactly but when it comes to bread, it's important to not over flour your dough.
4) Good supplies for bread making... If you plan on making bread a lot, a mixer is a lifesaver! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Bosch. I never knew just how wonderful it really was until I made bread. I also think that having silpat liners are wonderful.
5) Kneading the dough is very important. It takes a lot of kneading to develop the gluten. That's why the bosch is so handy! Kneading by hand can be quite therapeutic though.
6) The main ingredients for bread are... Water, yeast, flour, salt. Many recipes call for extras like eggs, milk, and vital wheat gluten. Want to know what happens to your bread when you add these? Go HERE to find out!
7) Let your bread rise in a warm place. Ben used to warm up our oven on the lowest temperature and stick it in there... it was way too hot and started cooking the bread. I put mine in a sunny place in my house with no drafts.
8) I make a batch of bread that is usually 4-6 loaves and then place the rest in plastic bread bags and freeze.

Since learning to use yeast, I have made the following: Lion House Rolls (my favorite!), bagels, bread bowls, another roll recipe, three different recipes for whole wheat bread, breadsticks, and pita wrap bread. Can you tell how much I love Mel's Kitchen Cafe? :) I loved all these recipes and have decided to try making all of our families bread items from now on. No more expensive old bread at the grocery store for us! Yay! Baking bread has become one of my favorite new hobbies. I hope these tips and tricks helped inspire you to try it out as well. Happy Baking!

Homemade Samoas

Oh my goodness I love samoas! I wish they sold them in stores because I have never been lucky enough to cross paths with an actual girl scout... I know, it's weird. :) My mom used to buy these when I was a teen and my self-control pretty much went out the window whenever they were in the house. They are really that good. Anyway... I found this recipe for them at a cute little food blog called A Bicycle Built For Two. That recipe HERE... Her cookies are much better looking than mine. In fact, mine don't even look much like real samoas... but I promise they tasted good.


Start with the cookie recipe... (Makes about 12-15 cookies)

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and roll out like sugar cookies. Use a small cookie cutter (I recommend something 2 inches or smaller because these are rich cookies) and cut out dough. Using a pencil eraser or your finger, make a smaller circle in the middle. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes on a greased baking sheet.



Now for the topping...

3 cups shredded coconut
12 ounces of caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
8 ounces chocolate chips

Toast your coconut at 350 for about 15 minutes. (You can do this while making the cookies) Stir throughout and keep an eye on it. Unwrap your caramels and place them in a microwave safe dish with the salt and milk for about 3 minutes. When the caramel mixture is done, add the coconut to it and stir well. Pour this onto the baked cookies.


Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe dish or on the stove top. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate or just spread it with a knife and place on parchment paper. Then drizzle remaining chocolate on top of coconut.

Like I said, hers cookies looked a lot more like the real thing. My problem was that I made them too big and I didn't have enough caramel to make the topping runny. I just ended up covering the little holes I made with coconut and chocolate.
My daughter didn't seem to care though... :)

Blueberry Muffins

I have been craving blueberry muffins sooo much lately! (Yes I realize I am not pregnant anymore) We had a pretty good recipe but I wanted something extra special so I searched a little and stopped right when I came to this title... "To Die For Blueberry Muffins." Sounds good enough for me! They really are the best blueberry muffins I have ever had. The recipe is HERE at All Recipes... or just scroll down.


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. I just used liners...

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Wooden Doll Cradle

My husband made this beautiful doll cradle for our daughter for Christmas. I found the idea for it at Makebabystuff.com. I LOVE that little website. It has tons of ideas for homemade toys and other baby items. To find the instructions for this doll cradle, go HERE.

We didn't want brackets showing on the crib that we made, so Ben used a nail gun to put the pieces together. This proved to be a challenge because the wood was so soft and it cracked on us so use caution with the nail gun. We used a little wood glue to fix that and it still looks better without the metal brackets I think. We also adjusted our boards to be 16 inches instead of 18.

Yoga Mat Bag

Well I am finally jumping back into the blogging world after having a baby! I am now back tracking to post all the Christmas gifts I made last year. This yoga mat bag was for my brother-in-law.


The tutorial for this bag is by Laurie Wisburn. Go HERE for her instructions. I didn't follow her instructions exactly, but close enough to get some good ideas. For the inside material, bottom, and handle, I used ripstop fabric. That made it really durable. I also used something similar to a shoelace for the tie. Trying to make a tie out of fabric was a pain. (click on the picture for a closer look) My main pieces of fabric were longer and wider than the 17in.X27in. that she recommended. Mine was probably more like 20inX30in. I wanted plenty of wiggle room.

My brother-in-law loved it and to prove it's manly enough, I made my handsome husband model for me. :) Thanks Ben!