Out To Lunch

I made this on my "lunch hour" (naptime) yesterday.

I decided my daughter has been embarrassed long enough. After losing her lunchbox a couple of months ago she's been carrying The Backup Lunchbox. It's big and it's ugly and doesn't even have a strap anymore so she has to carry it by that mesh thing on the top.


I think she likes this one better.
It's insulated and everything. And washable too.


I sort of copied the mini bucket bag pattern from this book, but made my own dimensions of 16x12 and then tapered to make it a bucket bag and added the layer of insulation. I also made my straps longer and will add a velcro closure.

I just love how the letters are all uneven and crooked. It makes it look so homemade and cute. (Not really. That's just what you say when it doesn't turn out exactly how you planned it. ☺)

Oh Christmas Trees!

This project is fast and finishable (meaning you don't get tired and walk away from it and then pull it back out next year and chuck it because you've lost the excitement for it).





Tree form, ribbon and trim from Hobby Lobby.
Inspiration here.

Genius

So, Jill saw this idea that I think everyone has now seen because it's so smart and super simple. Take a headboard, cut the legs off, paint it and add some hooks.

Here's Jill's take on it.
The before (with the legs already cut off).

And all done.



So jealous. I'm on the hunt for the perfect headboard now.

Peanut Butter ♥'s Chocolate

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
(Tastes like a candy bar)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat, add sugars, peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well. Press into 9x13 pan that you have lined with wax paper or foil. Melt chocolate chips and spread over top. Cool and serve. Best kept in the refrigerator.

Chicken Scratch

I found this recipe scribbled on a piece of paper, barely legible. I don't remember where I copied it from but decided to try it since I needed something fast for a treat for the kids.

Dutch Triple Fudge Brownies

1 small box cook 'n serve chocolate pudding
2 cups milk
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food)
1 bag chocolate chips

Cook pudding using the milk and according to directions. Blend in cake mix. Spread in a 9x13 pan and sprinkle with the chocolate chips (and nuts if desired). Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350°. Easy peasy and oh so good!

*I wonder if you could just make it with regular instant chocolate pudding or if the cooked pudding makes a difference. Maybe I'll try that sometime. It would save even more time.

Transformation

This is little sister, Jill's boring master bedroom BEFORE:







Bring in big sister Marilyn and she turns it into THIS:



Jill is renting so you know how that goes. No painting. Luckily the wall color was already a nice neutral tone so it went nicely with the new decor.

Jill fell in love with the color in the 2 side table lamps. As far as she knew that's all that was going into that room because it was all done in secret, a While You Were Out kind of thing.

Marilyn took some of Jill's existing thrift store finds and gave them some TLC.



Of course she made the bedskirt and all but 2 of those pillows on that bed. She made the window valances and the picture frame shelves.

Oh yeah, and she made the headboard too. Maybe someday she'll provide us with a tute on how she did it. I have a door headboard in my master bedroom too, but now I think I'm going to order me some tin and add to it.


Such talent our sister has.

I've been planning a While You Were Out for my girls' room for awhile. Helping put Jill's room together has lit a fire under me to get going faster on it.

A Favorite

These homemade cookies are really easy to mix up in a hurry, and not made from a box.

Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
handful of oatmeal
chocolate chips (about half a bag)

Blend together the shortening and sugars, then add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add a mixture of the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Mix til well blended. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop scoops on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. It's closer to 10 for my oven. Don't overbake. They're perfect when their flaky and crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. The recipe makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

In Love

I love this idea so much!
Wish I could claim it as mine but I can't.
Here is the link with the instructions.
I think it turned out so cute.
I {heart} it. ☺



There are also instructions on how to do a valentines topiary.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Found this recipe on Allrecipes, started making it yesterday, didn't have everything, finished it today. Worth the wait. ☺

Chocolate Banana Bread

1 cup margarine, softened (I used butter)
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
6 bananas, mashed (I used very ripe bananas)
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

The Big One

This is a recipe from my husband's grandma who passed away about 2 1/2 years ago. A wonderful lady who lived a very full life. Much of her life was spent in the kitchen cooking up something delicious for her family. These cookies were always in her freezer, among other yummy treats.

I think they're called Monster Cookies for several reasons. Monster size, monster batch of dough, monster calories....

Morning sickness still plagues me to a degree but it's much better. I don't feel like I want to go pick out my casket anymore. I actually tasted a small bite of these and didn't feel the need to dry heave afterwards.

Here is the recipe in her own words (with my translations).

Monster Cookies

6 eggs
1 # brown sugar (2 1/4 cups)
2 cups white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp Karo syrup
4 tsp baking soda
1/2 # butter or oleo (2 sticks, softened)
1 1/2 # peanut butter (3 cups)
9 cups oatmeal (quick rolled oats)
1/2 # chocolate chips (about 3/4 of a bag)
1/2 # M&M's
coconut (if desired - this would make the cookie more chewy)

Blend everything together, but stir in the the oatmeal, chips and m&m's. Scoop large amount onto baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread. Smash the dough down a little before baking at 350° for about 15 to 20 minutes. Depends on how soft you want them.
What's interesting is this is a half batch recipe. Using a 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie will yield about 20 cookies this big:

Party Decor

A couple of ideas we used for a church party this past weekend.

Some of the table centerpieces were these winter trees. You make them by stripping the leaves off good-sized branches, then pot them using fast-drying plaster of paris. Then we randomly hot-glued a few red berries on. My neighbor (and friend) had the brilliant idea of using some plaster to add "snow" to some of the branches. They turned out way cuter than the pictures show. I waited too late in the afternoon to take them.

These are especially cute to do in the spring time, using silk flower buds instead of berries and snow.





This other idea came from Lowes and you can find the instructions here. We did the snowflake that they did, but then we went crazy and did several more. I'm not gonna lie, these are time-consuming so I don't recommend waiting until the last 5 days before your party to make them. If you are an artist they'll go much faster. It just took a long time to plan out the shape and make patterns on butcher paper. We loved the result though, so it was all worth it! ☺

Here are a few.







Jen, you can no longer pretend you're not crafty. The secret is out!! ☺

Tradition

I haven't been able to post any new recipes lately. Morning sickness (more like random sickness) and food, particularly sweets, don't agree with me at all.

Thank you Walmart for a $7 evening of entertainment.

The Little Things

I borrowed this idea from Amy a few years ago. It's just one of those little touches that brings more Christmas into the house.

You can make your own using berry garland, or you can take it easy and use candle rings. Using Christmas ribbon, tie one on the back of each of your dining room chairs. Simple and cute!

BROWNIES!

Brownies with Chocolate Mint "Frosting"

2 boxes prepared Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies
(or as I like to call them "Why Would You Make Homemade When You Can Make These?")
2 small pkgs Andes mints OR 1 pkg Andes mint chocolate chips

When the brownies come out of the oven, immediately top them with the mints or chips. Let them melt enough to spread them. Let them cool and serve 'em up.

Seriously, the brownie mix is the best just by themselves. And it has to be the Double Chocolate ones, the other kinds just aren't as good.

♫ Goin' to the Chapel ♪ ♫

Saturday was all about the wedding cake (after a rousing game of kickball first thing in the morning). This cake would take a professional about an hour (or less) to put together after baking the layers. I'm going to pretend I am a professional and it only took me that long. And I'll use professional lingo and refer to my friend and her son (the groom) as "clients". ☺

The clients (I'm cracking myself up) chose an unusual topper with the bride and groom in a sitting position and just kind of hanging out. It was very cute and I thought of a few ways to make it funny, like have them chilling in a beach chair or something, but in the end they were perched on the edge of the top layer, looking like they're ready to slide (or take the plunge, ha ha). There were no other requests, just a mention that they like strawberry cake.
Strawberry cake meets white fondant and the rest is history.

I know this isn't a recipe, but sometimes we professionals have other things to do over the weekend. ☺

(Cell phone pics, that's all I've got.)

Sneaky

Got a picky eater?

Try this trick I learned from my good friend, Jennifer, a long time ago when we didn't live on opposite sides of the country. :( It's a great way to get tons of vitamins in your little one in one sitting.

The trick is to simply add a generous handful
of this to your smoothie ingredients.


This particular smoothie is just orange juice, frozen strawberries, banana and spinach. We go through phases of favorites but one we ALWAYS love is orange juice, pineapple, mango, kiwi and of course, spinach. Sometimes I add a little bit of Splenda if it needs a little sweetening, but usually the juice is sweet enough.
Another favorite lately is apple juice, blueberries and a few strawberries.



Blend it all up and they'll never know.
The taste doesn't change, just the color
(not a pretty color).


I usually just eyeball it but the ratio is probably about 12 ounces of juice to 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit. A good tip is to use all frozen fruits then you usually don't have to add ice, so it's truly a SMOOTHie. I buy almost all of my fruit frozen, but I peel and cut kiwis and bananas and freeze them.


Not exactly a winter drink for most people, but here in Florida we drink them all year round. And you don't have to feel guilty for feeding your kid pretzels and a "smoody" for dinner. ☺