Decoupage Easter Eggs

I came across this idea and thunked myself on my forehead for not thinking of this myself - what an easy, fun, slightly messy (in a fun way), inexpensive Easter idea! 

You'll need plastic easter eggs, mod podge, paper napkins, scissors, and a paint brush. 

Cut the napkins into small pieces. Brush mod podge onto an egg, stick on a napkin square and cover it with more mod podge. Continue sticking on squares and covering with mod podge until the entire egg is covered and then give it a top coat of mod podge. Let it try and you're done. 

Notes: 

• mod podge is basically glue, and while you will definitely get it all over your fingers it washes off. 

• while I was applying the squares my fingers got stuck to some and pulled/tore them off - I just applied more mod podge and stuck the edges back down. Can't even see where that happened. So just have fun with it and don't be too concerned about keeping all the squares perfect. 

• once the eggs are dry the color of the plastic egg shows thru - choose light colored eggs to minimize how much color shows. After I did the yellow egg and saw how yellow it ended up I tried to coordinate the napkins to match the eggs - next time I'll use paler eggs. 

• instead of cutting the squares you could just rip up little pieces, and it's also fun to skip the brush and apply the mod podge with your fingers haha!! 

Oh, and I realize the paper plate I'm using has colors on it - I didn't use paint for this project, I just use the same plate for different projects! Don't let that confuse you...

Click here to see how easy it is to make your own version of mod podge if you don't have any on hand and are itching to make these pretty eggs immediately! 

4.9.21: garlic parmesan wings

4.9.20: 3D flower card

4.9.19: tipsy tuesday: make a grease container
4.9.18: don't throw away old or broken candles...make new ones
4.9.17: JAR pot roast (short ribs and vegetables)
4.9.16: refrigerator jam and easy ice cream cake

Goat Cheese Nicoise Salad

I came across this inspiration photo on my computer from 5 years ago - no time like the present to finally make it! It's a take on 'nicoise salad', which is traditionally tuna, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans and hard boiled eggs. This salad replaced the tuna with flavored goat cheese - yum, I love goat cheese so it was a no-brainer meal I wanted to make. I had all of the ingredients on hand other than watercress, and I decided after 5 years that I wanted to make it immediately for lunch and wasn't waiting for watercress. I could have put it over lettuce or arugula instead, but I only had iceberg so decided to skip the green base, there's enough going on that I didn't miss it. I didn't have marinated rosemary goat cheese so used plain goat cheese and made the dressing out of olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.  The other change to the recipe is that I added capers instead of black olives (you guessed it, I also didn't have black olives hahahha). This salad is SO good and I didn't even need or want tuna in it! This is a keeper salad recipe for sure - I'm only sorry it took me 5 years to try it. 

I don't know what magazine I found this recipe in, I took a picture of the page but it doesn't show the magazine title. Here's the recipe as printed:

Spread 2 cups watercress on a platter. On top, arrange 1/2 lb. each cubed cooked yukon gold potatoes and steamed green beans; 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes; 2 quartered hard-cooked eggs; and 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives. Spoon on cheese from 1 jar (7.1 oz) rosemary Chevoo (or 5 oz. plain fresh goat cheese). Season oil in jar (or 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil) with 2 t. lemon juice and 1/4 t. each salt and pepper, and spoon over salad. Serves 2

4.8.21: fire breathing dragon kid craft 

4.8.20: wacky nail polish

4.8.19: mug rug

4.8.18: ham pasta salad

4.8.17: coleslaw dressing

4.8.16: Brooke has a tip

Air Fried Pickles by Jen

Well here I am with a crazy blog post.  This one I’m sure will get me mocked by my sister but it’s a risk I’m gonna take (if she wants my posts then she has to take what she can get..) ..

So everyone at this point knows I’m not the chef of the family.  I’m ok with that. What I do like though and am usually good at is inventing something I deem “healthy”.  Taking a recipe I see that looks delicious and trying to change it to make it healthy but still edible. HAHAHA.. 

So this time I saw a recipe for air fried pickles.  Of course they still were rolled in egg, dipped in flour etc.  yes that’s not going to be terrible for me because its not fried after that however I’m a fan of all things rolled in shake n bake and baked or air fried.  So far I have been pretty successful so I decided to give that a try with pickles.  Shoot they are juicy enough the shake n bake should stick without egg or anything else.  Turns out I’m right.  Well sort of. 

 

So first I took shore lunch (breading for fish) because I had some in the cupboard.  That didn’t stick super well but I sliced the pickle and rolled some in that. then I took the other half of the pickles and rolled them in shake n bake.  That was WAY better.  It did indeed stick to the pickles and made a nice little coating. 

 

So what I did was slice whole dill pickles into spears, rolled in the shake n bake until semi coated, placed on aluminum foil lined air fryer basket and cooked on 400 for 10 minutes.  They came out with a pretty yummy coating (not super thick which I liked since it wasn’t overpowering the pickles).  It made a nice little afternoon snack that I would call semi healthy!  Yeah yeah... next time I should just eat some fruit but in the meantime yay for pickles!

Jill here - me mock my sister? well I never...;)

4.7.21: banana oatmeal cookies

4.7.20: Natalie makes crepes

4.7.19: around the campfire 🔥
4.7.18: swedish fish cocktail
4.7.17: DIY phone case 
4.7.16: how to repair a wall clock

Quinoa Tabbouli Salad

Dave has been nice about going the grocery store as long as I give him a list, so I sent him the other day to pick up ingredients for enchilada suizas (tortillas, salsa verde, and cilantro). He comes home and tells me a story about using the self-checkout register but needing help because the scanner wouldn't let him ring up cilantro, he called for help and the person told him he couldn't ring up cilantro because what he was buying was, in fact, parsley. He argued and said no, it's cilantro and it won't let me ring it up...

...I wasn't totally listening to his rambling story until I looked at what he brought home and it's parsley. Not cilantro. Then I made him repeat the story and asked why he bought the parsley when the cashier told him it's not cilantro? He had no answer. And I'm laughing out loud writing this ridiculousness down. What the? 

Moving on to the point of this post. I love tabbouli (also spelled tabbouleh), traditionally made with bulgar wheat, tomato, lemon, fresh mint and (ding-ding) fresh parsley. So guess what I made since I found myself with a big bunch of parsley? :)

I didn't have bulgar wheat on hand, so googled to see if I could substitute cooked quinoa since I have a big bag of tricolor quinoa and sure enough, found a bunch of recipes. I loosely followed one found here but you can customize this easily by adding scallions or onions, garlic, more or less quinoa, tomato, herbs...Quinoa is gluten free, easy to prepare, is a good source of protein, and has a nice texture - I'm happy to report the 'cilantro' incident turned out so good! 

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 big bunch of Italian (flat-leaf, not curly - looks similar to cilantro!) parsley, stemmed and minced
• 1 small bunch of fresh mint, stemmed and minced
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, or to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 t. coarse salt, or to taste

Rinse uncooked quinoa in cold water using a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Drain. Put in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the moisture is gone. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for a few minutes until it begins to turn golden brown. Remove from heat. NOTE: you can skip toasting the quinoa first but it does add a nice flavor. 

Place toasted quinoa in a saucepan along with 1 cup water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for approx 10 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Stir and let cool to room temperature. 

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive and salt in a medium bowl. Add minced herbs, diced tomatoes, and cooked quinoa, stir to combine. Season with additional lemon juice or salt to taste. Serve at room temperature, or chill in the fridge. 

As I'm putting this salad together I look down to see these cute, sparkly, obviously hungry eyes LOL


4.6.21: TT chili sauce

4.6.20: at home spa day

4.6.19: vodka bolognese 

4.6.18: diy heating pad

4.6.17: emergency kit 

4.6.16: stuffed mini sweet peppers

Tip-sy Tuesday: freezing meals

Last week I shared one of the frozen meals I made ahead of time for our camping trip (lasagna casserole, click for that post) which reminded me that I learned a good tip for freezing meals - line a baking dish with foil before adding the prepared meal, wrap with more foil and pop into the freezer. Once frozen, remove the food from the dish and pop it into a big freezer bag. Do the same with additional meals. They stack up easily in the freezer this way, and when you are ready to eat one of the meals it fits right back into the baking dish. 

Note, if you want to microwave the meal in the baking dish,  either remove the foil before putting it into the freezer bag, or remove it before putting it in the microwave. 

4.5.21: MSIH ham lentil soup

4.5.20: 🔥 week 14

4.5.19: retouching photos

4.5.18: low carb pizza (cauliflower crust)

4.5.17: Lisa's bunny bait

4.5.16: binder clip key holder

Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken

Mark and LeDonna made this delish looking chicken and sent me pics and what they did so I could share it with you (and make for myself - 'cause, yum!). Check it out:

At Costco we saw some bacon wrapped stuffed chicken in the freezer section.  Well Mr. French thought we could make our own version.

2 chicken breasts rinsed and slit with knife to open up.

Spread Costco artichoke/jalapeño dip (or other) and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the slit open chicken.

Close chicken and coat with shake n bake for chicken.

Wrap bacon strips on breasts (I used 2 per breast)

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30 mins. 

We liked the meal! 👍

side dish: sautéed asparagus and baby bella mushrooms

4.4.21: 🔥week 14

4.4.20: virtual Sunday supper

4.4.19: thousand island dressing

4.4.18: april challenge - water

4.4.17: using up postage stamps

4.4.16: how to make refrigerator pickles

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 14)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

3/27: 🔥week 13

3/28: Easter porch decor

3/29: TT chocolate hug cookies

3/30: lasagna casserole 

3/31: fruit skewers and dessert dip

1/1: april fools'

1/2: shortcut tiramisu 

We had a very busy end-of-camping week and between closing things up and driving home there was no time for cooking so I don't have menu ideas for you this week! I read a few of the "In Death" series books by JD Robb but nothing that needs a review - there's like 50 of them and the plots kind of run together hahahha. 

Stop back next week to see more crafts, recipes, projects, whatever else I can think of to make at camp now that I'm out of a camper and back in my craft room! Woohoo! Bye :)

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

4.3.21: Easter white chocolate bark

4.3.20: neighborhood messages

4.3.19: sheet pan pork chops

4.3.18: peeling potatoes tip

4.3.17: K-cup bunnies (fun Easter craft!)

4.3.16: chicken soup

Shortcut Tiramisu

I made this easy cheater tiramisu while camping, mostly because I felt like 'baking' but don't have an oven and it was too hot to turn one on even if I had one haha. I don't have a lot of gadgets or appliances because of space issues, but I did buy a hand mixer to get the cream cheese and pudding smooth figuring it might be useful in my camping future (I returned it tho because the lowest speed was like turbo-high and the splatters were crazy!). I do recommend using a mixer tho, it's hard to get cream cheese super smooth without one. 

• 1 (8oz.) block cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 small box instant French Vanilla pudding mix
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip, thawed
• 1 package crispy lady fingers
• 1 cup cooled strong brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

1. Whisk together the pudding and milk. Let set until slightly thickened. 

2. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and whipped. 

3. Add the pudding to the cream cheese, beat until completely mixed together. Gently fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip. Set aside. 

4. Mix together the cold coffee and bourbon. Quickly dip the lady fingers into the mixture one at a time and place in the bottom of a round glass 2-quart bowl or 10" square baking dish (or whatever you want to serve it in). 

5. Once you have the bottom covered in lady fingers, spread half the cream cheese pudding mixture on top and lightly sprinkle with cocoa powder. Repeat with another layer of cookies, spread with the rest of the cream cheese pudding mixture, top with the remaining Cool Whip on top in an even layer, sprinkle the cocoa powder on top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 

4.2.21: godzilla rampage

4.2.20: cowboy pasta

4.2.19: stringing beads tip
4.2.18: yarn and tulip wreath
4.2.17: BBQ chicken stuffed sweet potatoes
4.2.16: cleaning glassware

April Fools' Day

Why is April Fools' even a thing? Who woke up one April 1st and thought 'today is a good day to prank everyone and maybe it'll catch on and pretty soon everyone everywhere will be pranking each other and it'll be hilarious'. I don't get it. 

It's never occurred to me to question the reason why, but now I want to know. Hmmm, I wonder if I ask Mr. Google will there be a legit answer or will I get a prank response hahahha. Whatever the reason, it is what it is - so instead of being a bigger fool than I usually am, today I figure I'll just share these cute meme's to maybe make you laugh :)

4.1.21: meatloaf cake 

4.1.20: American Sign Language alphabet

4.1.19: microwave bowl cozy 

4.1.18: Easter and how to make a jelly bean tree

4.1.17: perfect baked sweet potatoes

Fruit Skewers and Dip

Last week I shared our picnic 'ants on a log', here's another easy-fun-delicious-finger-food that everyone loved: thread bite-sized pieces of whatever fruit you want onto 6" wooden bamboo skewers, serve with marshmallow cream cheese fruit dip. I've made this dip for years, I'll share the original recipe but one change I've made over time is to just use a bit of orange juice instead of concentrate. Yum. 

• 8 oz. block of cream cheese, room temperature
• 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme (fluff)
• 2 T. frozen o.j. concentrate

Combine the cream cheese and orange juice until smooth. Fold in marshmallow fluff, mix smooth and fluffy. Serve with fruit skewers, chunks of fruit, or fruit salad.

3.31.21: chocolate peep pops

3.31.20: chocolate sheet cake

3.31.19: 🔥

3.31.18: chocolate covered strawberry 'carrots'

3.31.17: Brooke made a candle holder

3.31.16: creative photography class