St. Patrick's Day 2012

Every year we get together and have a St. Patrick's Day dinner, this year was a little more special. It was Maybelline's first St. Patrick's Day. 

We waited all day and was tortured by the smell of yummy corned beef and cabbage, not really knowing what we were going to bring I remembered a fun little snack that I saw on Pinterest. I showed this to Jim and thought it would be a great snack before we eat the delicious corned beef and cabbage. 

 Corned beef made by my Mom

Veggies(cabbage, carrots, and potatoes) made by my Grandpa

and here's the little snack that me and Jim made. Strawberries, oranges, pineapple, kiwi, blue berries, grapes, and the pot of gold (Reese's mini peanut butter cups)

rainbow fruit skewers

What do you do on St. Patrick's Day?

Easy Diaper Cake

I wanted to make a diaper cake for my Sister's baby shower, but I wasn't too thrilled to roll each diaper and wrap a rubber band around the diapers. So I found an easy way to fit that. 

Materials:

1. Diapers

2. Large Rubber bands

3. Ribbon

4. Items to decorate cake

5. Large lotion or Wash bottle

6. Cake pan

7. Pins

Step 1: Put Baby lotion in middle of the cake pan, then wrap diapers around bottle and put one large rubber band around diapers.

Step 2: Second tier wrap diapers around bottle

 Step 3: Third tier diapers are wrapped around the bottle cap.

Step 4: Wrap ribbon around each tier. Use pins to secure ribbons. 

Step 5: Put decorations on cake

Diaper Bassinet

Cinnamon Stick Candles

Cinnamon Stick Candles

Materials:

-Candles-Season scented

-Cinnamon Sticks

-Ribbons- Christmas

-Hot Glue Gun

-Hot Glue Sticks

Yep, it's that simple. ;-)

 Start Gluing on the cinnamon sticks

Then tie on the ribbons

and Ta-Da! Cinnamon Stick candles

Preparing for Baby

So when you get pregnant you get into to this mood where you have to sign up for everything that's free, look up every baby website that is known to man and visit these websites and continue to look for free stuff up until it's time for the baby to come. 

I've found that my two favorite websites are thebump.com and babycenter.com

One of the nice things about the bump is that they have a checklist for what you need to do during that week to prepare for the baby. Well, my preparation for this week was making freezable meals. So when you have the baby you already have meals ready to go, just heat up the oven and hello dinner. 

Now, there's not much that I pay attention to on these list, but as you continue with your pregnancy the crazier you get about getting ready for the baby. But I thought this was an excellent idea, so me and my husband spent one Sunday evening making dinners for ourselves. 

First on the list:

Baked Mac & Cheese

This is what I made while my husband made the chili

I don't have a recipe link for this one, it was all him. ;-)

Next,

Chicken Enchiladas

Probably one of the easiest meals I've made. 

And last,

Ham and Peas Casserole

We're going to take another evening to do this again. I'm so blessed to have a husband who 1. Likes to cook 2. Puts up with my craziness and 3. Is so ready to have our little girl here with us. 

I hope these recipes are helpful for you.

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to make them for a family gathering. They turned out wonderful and was declared the best cookies I've ever made. 

A very nice reward indeed!

Ingredients:

2/3 c. butter, softened
1-1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. sour cream

Directions:

Blend together butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time; blend well.  Add vanilla; beat until light.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with sour cream; mix well.  

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto non-stick or lightly greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack; cool.  Frost with Browned Butter Frosting.  Makes 2 dozen

Browned Butter Frosting
1/4 c. butter
1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. Milk
Cinnamon As much as desired

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it turns golden.  Watch carefully as this will happen quickly. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar and enough milk to make a spreading consistency.

Enjoy!

Thank you Susie QQT pies Scraps of Life for the recipe.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

I am not taking full credit of this idea, I got this idea from Pinterest, who then directed me to this blog.

• Homemade Chocolate Syrup
• 1 1/4 Cup sugar
• 1 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and cocoa powder. Add water and salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes, until thickened, continuing to stir. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes, then add vanilla extract. Store in air tight container in the fridge.

To make chocolate milk, add 1 tablespoon of chocolate sauce to a cup of milk and stir until combined.

Thank you 52 Kitchen Adventures for this recipe, it will save me tons of money on my Chocolate Milk Cravings. ;-)

Fall Wreath

I'm really getting into making wreaths and hopefully I'll only get better at doing it!

Materials:

1. Foam wreath (JoAnns $4.99)

2. Hot glue gun/sticks

3. Orange paint/paint brush

4. Leaves

5. Decorative pumpkins

First-

Paint the wreath orange

Then, hot glue the leaves on. I started from inside out of the wreath.

Now, glue on your decorative piece and there you go!

Easy Fall Wreath

Boo Wreath

Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays and I LOVE to decorate for it, and now that I have a home to decorate I feel like this is going to be the best Halloween, thus far. 

Anyhow,

How I made my Boo Wreath:

Materials:

1. Halloween fabric 1.25 yds {Hobby Lobby} 

2. Foam wreath {Hobby Lobby}

3. BOO letters {JoAnns}

4. Black and Orange craft pain {JoAnns}

5. Paint Brushes

6. Hot Glue Gun

Next,

Paint the wreath black and the letters orange, with the letters I painted them twice and added purple glitter to them.

While the paint dries

Cut your fabric into strips, I cut mine about 1in wide and around 13ins long. This really depends on how thick your wreath is. 

Now,

Tie the fabric around the wreath, make sure to double knot.

Hot glue the letters together and then glue the letters onto the wreath. 

Happy Halloween!

Classic Chicken Pot Pie

If you're wanting something tasty and easy for dinner, this would be a good choice!

Ingredients

Crust

1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 can (14 oz) chicken broth

1/2 cup milk (I have made this without milk and you couldn't taste any difference)

2 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 cups of mixed vegetables

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425*. Make pie crust as directed on box for two crust pie using 9 inch pie plate.

2. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and mild, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.

3. Stir in chicken and mixed vegetables. Remove from heat. Spoon into crust lined pie plate. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.

4. Bake 30 to 40 Minutes or until crust is golden brown. ( I normally cooked it for 30 mins)

 Step 3- Spoon filling into pie crust. 

 Step 3- Cover pie with second pie crust, cut slits into top crust.

 Step 4- Cook pot pie for 30-40 Minutes

Step 5- ENJOY!!