Pretzel Hugs

I love to make pretzel hugs. They are simple and quick to make, and I especially like if there are kids around to help unwrap the hugs - other than how many they end up eating before putting them on the pretzels, it's a big help to not have to unwrap them all!

You'll need:

• baking sheets
• pretzels (I used to use the small circle pretzels but they are hard to find - I now use butter snaps, they are small squares)
• chocolate hugs (or kisses)
• m&m's

Heat the oven to 200' and then turn it off.

Lay pretzels on a baking sheet and top each one with an unwrapped hershey hug (or a kiss if you prefer - and peppermint hugs are good too) and put them in the warm oven for just a few minutes until the hug softens but isn't melting - maybe 6 minutes or so. Watch them to make sure they aren't melting.

Remove them from the oven and put an m&m in the middle and push down very lightly to settle it into the softened hug.

 Refridge them still on the baking sheet until the chocolate firms up. That's it!

Sweet Sunrise Mocktail

For breakfast this morning we had the other breakfast pie (click here to see that post) that I made and froze in December, and Brooke made us these yummy morning mocktails using orange juice and grenadine - they made our breakfast pretty fancy I gotta say...









Pour orange juice over ice in a small glass.

Add a couple tablespoons of grenadine, Brooke poured the grenadine in very slowly using a spoon against the side of the glass so it wouldn't get mixed in - the grenadine sinks to the bottom so you have pretty layers. You can stir it up if you like, we decided to leave them in layers - no one wanted a maraschino garnish but that would be a good finishing touch if you want.

This is a virgin version of a Tequila Sunrise. I bet you can figure out what to do if you want to make a non-virgin one...;)

Making Homemade Playdough starring Brooke

Watch Brooke make homemade playdough in this new video, what a cutie! I love her facial expressions, especially when the playdough is still too hot to handle, I laughed out loud watching her ("hot hot hot hot hot..."). And listen for my favorite line in the video - "if it's too watery, you did something wrong" - helpful, right? Ha!

I don't know where she got the recipe - she does tell you what ingredients and amounts to use but I'll break it down for you so you can reference the directions easier:

2 cups water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
one Koolaid packet in the color/flavor of your choice.

In a pan on the stove bring to a boil the water and oil.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt, and koolaid packet.
When the water boils add it to the dry ingredients and mix well. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of aluminum foil and let it cool. When you are able to handle it, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and not sticky. Store in a covered container to keep it from turning hard.

She has some good tips (don't put it in the fridge to cool it down, store in tupperware) and is a natural at this whole 'making videos while creating projects' thing - I have a hard time talking and creating at the same time!

Ready for Guests!

We have company coming today for a few days and while I was getting things ready this morning I thought I'd share a couple pictures of how I organize the guest room closet and bathroom...plus I don't have time to make anything today cuz I'm crazy busy so at least maybe you'll get an idea or two from this :)

Our guest room has a large closet which is great. We put up shelves on the side and that's where I store all the sheets, blankets, beach towels, etc. Each shelve holds a different size (queen, twin for the air mattress, etc.) and I labeled them so I can remember which is which (ok, ok, I can remember just fine - I'm just a label freak).
I also have a hanging closet thing in there for clothes we don't wear very often - cocktail dresses, Dave's suits...there is still plenty of hanging space for company.

In the bathroom we have one of those over the toilet free standing shelf things that I got at Target and put together, it adds a lot of storage space for towels, etc. I like to get lots of bars of soap and put them in a big glass jar in the bathroom - it makes the room smell pretty, fresh, and clean. I get the bars at the dollar store since I need like 10 of them to fill the jar.

Under the sink I put a standing shelf - underneath is extra towels, hair dryer, etc. On top of the shelf I have a bin of all kinds of things, if I get samples for anything they go in there for guests to use. Same thing for the little toothpaste, floss and tooth brushes the dentist gives out (Dave used to not take the free bag of dental things but now he knows that they go in the guest room!). The other thing on the shelf is a small divided box (labeled health, first aid...) filled with advil, bandaids, etc. I also like to put command hooks (the stick on and easily removable kind) on the back of the cabinet doors and hang things like a mirror, brushes, etc.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas if you haven't already organized for company! Gotta run, lots to do before making the airport run :)

Displaying Recipes

Here's a quick little decorating idea that takes seconds to do - frame a recipe and display in your kitchen.

I had this frame that I found at Hobby Lobby and wanted to use in the kitchen because the colors are so good and I love the look - so I went thru some handwritten recipes that were passed down to me and found one for my all time favorite sweet treat...doughnuts! Perfect to put in the frame and show off on my kitchen counter. I have no idea who Ruth is, and I haven't made her doughnut recipe because I will eat every one of them all by myself if I do - but I love how her handwritten recipe looks in this very cool frame.  

                                             

Here's a close up of the recipe in case you want to try making Ruth's doughnuts. Let me know if you do and if this recipe is great. On second thought, tell me if you make them but don't tell me if they are amazing please...;)

Honey Lime Dressing

We were invited to a friends house for chili the other night and I was asked to bring a salad - I don't usually have salad with chili so I wasn't sure what to make but then I thought of a chopped salad with sort of mexican flavors and searched online for an interesting dressing. I found this one from Self magazine back in 2003 and it is so good. My friend said this is the best salad I've ever made :), guess that means this is a keeper recipe!

It's very easy to put together with just a few ingredients:

Honey-Lime Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (or more to taste)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tsp chopped jalapeño pepper (use canned for less heat)

Toss all salad ingredients in a large bowl. In separate bowl, mix dressing
ingredients. Pour dressing over mixture and toss again. Season with salt
and pepper to taste. Makes 4 servings.

I used bottled lime juice and doubled the recipe; the cilantro really adds a lot of fresh flavor so I wouldn't skip that. Put whatever ingredients you want in a large bowl - my salad was shredded romaine, fresh corn (frozen, thawed or canned would be fine), tomatoes, sliced jicama, and avocado - toss with the dressing right before you serve it.

 

A good tip for when you are measuring out honey is to spray the measuring cup first with non stick spray - then the honey will slide right out. 

Stamped Floor Mat

I ordered a "Larger than Life" alphabet and number stamp set from Stampin' Up and the first project I wanted to do with them is make this cute floor mat for under Sarge's food and water bowls. Look how cute it turned out! Next I'm thinking to use these on towels and pillowcases...I'll let you know how that turns out.

I used a super cheap throw rug from IKEA (I had no idea if this was gonna work so didn't want to risk using a decent rug!) that has a very low pile, I don't think it would work to stamp on something that has a deeper or fluffier pile.  I had to stamp over each letter twice to get the ink dark enough - with these photopolymer stamps it's easy to do that since you can see thru them. If you have the wooden block kind it will be a little harder to line the letters up to stamp them more than once but you can make it work if that's what you have. I did words but you could stamp a design or symbols - I'm thinking dog paws, birds, whatever! This could also be cute for other things than a dog dish mat, maybe in front of the back door or craft/laundry/kids room? Use your imagination :)

these stamps come stuck to a heavy piece of plastic, peel the one off you want and stick it to a clear stamp block.

the stamp will be backwards, when you turn the block over to stamp it will be facing the correct way.

decide what you want to stamp and where you want to place the words, then stamp away! I used black ink and just eyeballed where I wanted the letters to go. 

after stamping each letter I stamp the excess ink off on a piece of paper, then clean it with a wet paper towel or rag and put it back in its place in the stamp set. 

what a cute face! I wonder if he's thinking "this is what you do all day?" or maybe just "what the...?" hahaha! 

I don't know what will happen to the ink when I need to wash this mat - we'll see! Another good reason to experiment with an inexpensive rug...

I just signed up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator -  if you want to order this stamp set or anything else just let me know - I can help :).

Citrus Scented Lamb Stew

I have no idea where this recipe came from, I've had it for a long time...ok, I just searched for it online and found it in a Food and Wine magazine from March 2004 (see, told you I've had it for a while!). Anyway, I'm not a big lamb lover but this stew is one of the exceptions - it doesn't have strong lamb flavor, it's similar to beef stew although it's a little sweeter with the addition of cinnamon, allspice, and the citrus.

I change the way I cook it tho from the recipe - instead of doing it on the stove top I make it in a cast iron enameled pot and after step 2 put it in a 350' oven for a couple of hours. Add the peas during the last half hour. I made this for Sunday supper and was worried that it wasn't hearty enough so added a couple chopped potatoes, not sure it was necessary but the addition was great. Served with crusty bread and a leafy salad my friend Janis made that had dates, onions, and toasted broken pita chips (almost like croutons) in it, I didn't get the recipe from her but I know she'll share it if anyone wants me to post it. All-in-all a great dinner with friends!

For the 3" strips of lemon and orange zest I use my vegetable peeler to remove a long wide piece (make it big enough so you can find it to remove before serving).

The recipe calls for boneless lamb shoulder - if you can't find boneless the grocery store usually has semi-boneless and ask the butcher to de-bone it for you (or just cut it out yourself if you want!). There is usually quite a bit of fat on the roast, I try to cut off what I can to make it less greasy - leave some for flavor but remove the big sections of fat.

Click here for the recipe.

Don't be scared off if you see "lamb" and think you won't like it - trust me, it's delicious!

Dave's Cosmopolitans

Mary sent me a picture the other day of her drinking a cosmo with friends, and it reminded me of the good old days when we drank them all the time! For whatever reason they haven't been on my radar in forever, guess after Sex & The City ended I just forgot about them ;).

We call these "Dave's Cosmos" because even tho he didn't make up the recipe (have no idea where it came from of course), he makes them the best. Or maybe they are the best because he makes them for us while we just sit around waiting to be served? Either way, I asked him to make one for us for old times sake.

Put some ice in a shaker (check out the shaker that our friends gave us, so cute!) then add:
4 ounces cranberry juice
3 ounces orange liquer (we use Triple Sec)
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce lime juice

Shake for 30 seconds to mix well and get it nice and cold. Pour into pretty glasses. Enjoy!

*I'm sure you could make this non-alcoholic by substituting orange juice for the triple sec, omit the vodka and add a splash of club soda or sprite.

Kids Craft - Brooke makes a pencil holder

I asked Brooke if she has any fun crafts she would like to share on my blog, and she does! Told her she can be a regular guest blogger if she can keep coming up with projects - I wondered where she gets her ideas and she said "I just think them up". Awwwww, so cute. So now I have a new "kiddo" category, hope you enjoy and get some fun ideas.

Here she is making a cute holder out of a few basic supplies, some crayons, and a glue gun. Not sure if she has learned the lesson on her own or if she's listened to me for years telling her to be careful when using the glue gun, but she cautions everyone to be careful a couple times on this video - good for her!

Normally when we use the hot glue gun (or melt soap, candle wax, etc.) I have a bowl of ice water nearby if she accidentally gets anything on her that burns - she knows to just stick the burned finger in the water...I see she left that out of this craft session but she looks like she knows what she's doing and is being careful so I'll leave her alone about it this time :)

Supplies:
-empty toilet paper roll
-handful of crayons
-scissors
-hot glue gun
-glue sticks

Basically she just glues the crayons to the outside of the toilet paper roll - pretty easy and a cute idea.

Idea for Painting a Side Table

When my bestie Mary moved away (insert sad frownie face here) she left me a few things (mostly so she didn't have to pack them I think, not for sentimental reasons!) and one piece that has been in my garage for a while now is this cute side table. I think the bottom part is for holding magazines?

Well she painted it years ago (my clue to when she did this is the fact that it is a country squares pattern in brown and blue - doesn't it seem like it was done years ago haha?), and while the bottom part is cute with its distressed painting, the top with the checkerboard had to go. Nope, I didn't ask permission to paint over this so hopefully it wasn't some treasured family heirloom that I was supposed to keep in its original 80's country chic style...

I just put a little paint on a paper plate and
rolled a small 4" foam roller in it. 

I'm reminding myself again that I'm a little bit like my Grandma who made beautiful things for us kids but they were always weird colors - I realize now that just like me, she got the itch to make something but didn't want to go to the store so just used whatever she had on hand! I don't have very much paint and most of it doesn't match the bottom of this table, so I used the creamy color that is leftover interior trim paint for the house. I didn't sand the top or anything, just wiped it down and rolled 3 coats of paint over top of the checkerboard pattern.

Technically not how you are supposed to do it but it looks just fine to me and if it doesn't hold up forever, who cares. I'll repaint it again. This took just a couple of minutes to paint on each coat, I set up a fan to dry it before painting another coat.




Looking at Sarge I'm thinking crafting is either exhausting or super boring for him...the top picture he is facing away and the bottom picture he has tipped over asleep on his side. Rough life.

Make a Dry Erase Message Frame

My niece gave me this cute easy idea, I think she saw it on Pinterest - I use this frame all the time, mostly to display a dinner menu or itinerary when we have guests. Sunday Suppers are starting back up (now that the holidays are over and football is winding down our Sundays have freed up - we have friends come over every Sunday and I make whatever homey thing I feel like, I do the main course and friends bring munchies and dessert) so I'm using that menu as an example...

This is super simple and takes seconds to put together. I used an 8x10 frame that came with a mat (you don't have to use the mat if you don't want it), remove the back and put in a piece of lined paper, put the back on. This would also be cute with colored paper.

That's it. You can now write on the glass with dry erase markers, and when you are done just take a lightly damp paper towel and wipe it off. Be careful to not get the marker on the frame if it's a light color, it might stain it.

Chopping Vegetables

This weeks Tuesday Tip (maybe that should be a new category haha, I'll put it under FYI for now) is about chopping vegetables (or anything really) and being careful! I have so many scars from chopping (or grating, seriously graters are dangerous for klutzes like me!) food over the years - you'll thank me for this tip. 

With the knife in your right hand (if you're right handed) hold the food you are chopping with your left hand keeping your fingertips bent down on the food and resting the knife against your knuckles. Keep the tip of the knife on the cutting board and just lift the bottom of the knife up and down to chop, pushing the food forward towards the knife as you chop. This picture shows the knife tip up but that's because I couldn't hold it down and take the picture at the same time!

I just looked up if there was a better way to describe this and found this in an article about knife skills - click here to read more:

The grip shown here is called the "claw grip" and as you can see, by keeping the fingers curled inward and gripping the food with the fingernails, the fingers stay out of harm's way. The side of the knife blade actually rests against the first knuckle of the guiding hand, which helps keep the blade perpendicular to the cutting board.

DIY: Parachute Cord Dog Collar

I made Sarge a new "necklace" out of two colors of parachute cord and added a length of chain to it to jazz it up. I'm calling it a necklace instead of a collar because I don't trust the plastic clasp on this to hold him with the way he pulls on the leash so hard, I use a thick slip-over-his-neck collar when we walk - so this is just for decoration :) If I had a nice gentle dog that doesn't pull like a madman then I would be ok with using it as his collar. You can attach a D-ring if you want to have someplace to clip the leash to.





Search online for the instructions for how to make these, parachute cord projects are everywhere - you can make bracelets, etc. too with the same directions. I had the soccer girls make keychains using this technique (click here to see that post), it isn't hard but I'm not going to try to explain making the knots when other people have already figured out how to teach it haha! One useful tip I have is to clip the top of the piece to cardboard or something, and then clip the middle two strands that are stationary (you make the knots over the two middle strands using the two outer strands) at the bottom of the cardboard - it helps to not have them moving all over when you are knotting.

-Measure your dogs neck, or the length you want a bracelet or whatever to be.
-The directions I was following online said to cut the cords one foot for every inch you will be knotting but that wasn't correct for me. I made Sarge a 14.5" collar so cut 16' of cord and had a ton left over. I used approximately 9 feet of cord (each color).
-Put both of the cords thru one end of the clasp, pull them thru the length you want your project to be plus a couple of inches. In my case I pulled about 18 inches thru. The short cords are the 2 middle strands and clip them to the bottom of a piece of cardboard. The long strands are what you will knot over the short strands.


-Make knots until you get a couple inches from where you want to end, thread the other end of the clasp on (make sure the clasp is facing the same way as the other end, they bow slightly) and fold the short ends back on themselves. Continue making knots over the short ends to weave them in.
-Get as close to the clasp as you can, then tie off. Clip the short ends off that are now sticking out of the collar.






























-Trim off the excess long strands, I left long tails on Sarge's cuz I think it's cute to have them hanging down. Using a lighter or match, carefully melt the end tips of the cord (wherever you decide to cut them off. If you don't want tails, clip the cords close to the collar and melt them there) so the cord doesn't fray.




I decided he needed to be a little fancy and attached a chain to both clips so it sits next to the collar.

Best Meatballs Ever!

Pretty nervy to title something the 'best' right? But really, these are the best I've ever had! 

They are SO so good...I really hope you'll try them and love them as much as we all do. I followed this recipe from Fabio (a cute Italian chef on Top Chef a few seasons back) I saw in a magazine, and I'm super glad I did!  I made a couple changes - I had one pound each of beef, lamb, and pork on hand because I thought I was going to make meatloaf last week; I used that instead of all beef and added an extra egg since I was using a half pound more than the recipe. One other change is that the recipe calls for grand Padano cheese (another one I had to look up, it's a hard italian cheese like parmesan), I just used parm instead. I can't say if they will be the "best ever" if you follow the recipe exactly but I'm thinkin' they'll still be delish.

Friends came over a few nights ago to watch football and I made these into sliders along with broccoli slaw as our side. I formed the meatballs using a large cookie scoop (I'd say it holds at least a quarter cup), 3 pounds of meat mixture made 29 large meatballs - the recipe calls for making them normal sized and says the yield is 65. I baked them for 25 minutes and then put them in a large pan on the stove in marinara sauce to finish.

We then put them on hawaiian rolls with a small piece of provolone cheese and a romaine lettuce leaf, top with more sauce if you like (I like, so I ate mine with a fork instead of trying to pick it up!).

A couple nights later I warmed up the leftovers and put them over "zoodles" - have you had those yet? Zucchini put thru a vegetable spiralizer thing and it makes long noodle shaped strands...so they're "zoodles"- less calories and carbs then if you use actual noodles. And after eating all those sliders we needed a night of lower calorie zoodles haha! You can get the spiralizer thing lots of places now, I found this small hand held one at a cooking store. I just warm up the zucchini in a large saucepan for a few minutes, don't over cook them or it gets quite watery. You can also microwave them for a couple minutes instead.

This version came from BHG magazine.