Two Toned Swirly Frosting by Brooke

Watch Brooke frost vanilla cupcakes using this cool trick for making 2 colored swirly frosting - so clever! I'm very impressed :)

I don't have any pics of the cupcakes but here is a cake she did using the same technique:

Sweet Potato "Toast"

After Mickey got me hooked on "dippy" eggs and avocado on multi grain toast she then told me about having eggs and avocado on sweet potato "toast". I was confused when she told me how she does it - she said she runs the slices thru the toaster a few times to get it toasted enough...wait, she puts sweet potatoes in the toaster? What? Well that's exactly what she does - I looked online and sure enough this is a thing! Slice the sweet potatoes into about 1/4" slices (I like them peeled but you don't have to) then literally put them in the toaster. I don't have a regular toaster so used my toaster oven, Mickey uses her plain old pop-up toaster. You have to put them thru a few times to get them cooked thru, my toaster takes about 4 cycles but play with yours until the potatoes are a little browned and not crunchy anymore.  I'm surprised to say they don't make a mess at all - no drips or anything. Of course it doesn't taste like toast (since it's not bread haha) but it's a great toast substitute and my "dippy" eggs and avocado taste great on these sweet potatoes - another winner Mickey!

Mini Bundt Brownies

Sheryl made these brownies and they are fantastic (unfortunately she left me 6 of them and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to eat them all at once and get them out of here so I can start over on my diet tomorrow hahaha!). She just used a Ghirardelli mix and didn't do anything different to change them...so it has to be the mold she used that made them better than my Ghirardelli brownies from a mix!

She baked them in mini bundt molds and it made them the perfect texture - crunchy on the edges isn't the right word, what am I trying to say...do you know what I mean? The edges are set and firm, and the inside dense and chewy.  Yum!! Also, she presented them on these pretty Wilton papers so they looked as good as they taste!

I don't own a mini bundt pan but I'm going to very soon...;) I didn't see hers but I assume it's something like this: 

Sliding Side Lunge

As promised (or threatened depending how you look at it haha) here is a leg and butt exercise to try and negate some of those calories from Super Bowl Sunday! I don't have these slider things so I just use paper plates instead. Be careful to not let your knee go past your toes when you lunge, if you push your butt back like you are going to sit in a chair it helps keep your knee from coming too far forward (and be careful to not slip while standing on the sliders...um, not that it happened to me or anything LOL). Obviously don't do this if it hurts or is uncomfortable, I'm not a trainer people so don't get mad or sue me if it doesn't work for you (!) but this is a good move (in addition to other types of lunges and squats) for your quads and booty! 

Oh, and if you aren't into today's post just wait for tomorrow's - mini bundt brownies! I'm such a hypocrite hahahahahahah.......

Slider Side Lunge

Sculpts outer booty and quads!

Begin with your weight shifted into your left leg, right foot on a slider. As you lower your booty down, push the slider out with your right leg so that you’re in a side lunge position. Make sure your left knee doesn’t go past your toes. Drag the slider back as you return to start.

Complete 14 reps, then switch sides x3

Heart Dot Art

Cute, easy, quick Valentine Craft - so easy this would be a great kid craft (unless they're gonna get paint everywhere haha, use your judgement and have them wear an apron!). I made these two different ways - cut out a heart template from light cardboard, I made one cut on the bottom of the cardboard to cut out the heart and then taped it back together; for one I put the heart down on white cardstock and held it in place (if a kid is doing it maybe lightly stick it down to keep it in place) then using a pencil eraser dipped into craft paint dot all around the heart - I did thicker and darker next to the heart and lighter as I stamped away from the heart. For the other one just use the cardboard that you cut the heart out of as a stencil and put the eraser dots on the inside of the heart. Easy.

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

I don't usually post a recipe that I haven't tried but I'm sharing this one because I'm making it today and assume it'll be good - no boil crock-pot macaroni and cheese. How bad can it be? It sounds good, and it sounds easy so....hopefully it'll be yum. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it too, I'll let you know later how it turns out!

Click here to see the original post.

NO BOIL CROCK-POT® SLOW COOKER MAC AND CHEESE

Author: Cookies & Cups

Serves: serves 6

INGREDIENTS

• 2½ cups milk
• 1 (12- ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika)
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• ¼ cup butter, cubed
• 4 ounces Velveeta, cubed
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl whisk together milk, evaporated milk, salt, pepper, and paprika.
2. Pour the uncooked macaroni into your 5 quart Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker. Top with butter and all cheeses.
3. Pour the milk mixture on top and stir to combine.
4. Do your best to press all the macaroni into the milk mixture. It won't be completely covered, this is ok.
5. Cover your Crock-Pot® Slow Cooker and cook on low for 2-3 hours, stirring once after one hour.
6. The mac and cheese will be done when all the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is cooked.

2/9/17 Update - the mac and cheese turned out great! I kept it on warm in the crock pot for hours, eventually the sauce wasn't creamy anymore but still tasted great and some people really liked it after it cooked down like that. This is a keeper recipe for sure!

Super Bowl Party Games

I posted yesterday about game day recipes, today I decided we need some fun games to play for people who don't have to be glued to the tv and wish everyone would shut up so they can just watch the game (no names but cough...Dave...cough). In addition to commercial bingo (click here for yesterday's post) and a traditional squares pool I've got a few other things we can do:

-Flick Football. Make an origami football out of a standard piece of printer paper then take turns flicking it to see who can get it to overhang the table edge of the opposing side of the table. If they get it to overhang in 4 flicks you get 6 points and then flick it thru goal posts (opposing player holds up fingers like goal posts) for the extra point. First player to 35 wins. Click here for how to make an origami football (I bet you all have made these at some point in the past, when I started following the directions I totally remembered them - super easy) and also for the actual "rules" on how to play.

-Football Charades. Just like regular charades only with football themed words and phrases to act out.  For instance: touchdown, field goal, cheerleader, helmet, football, team, quarterback, goal post, halftime, mascot, referee, coach, announcer.  I'm just going to write out the words on pieces of paper, divide everyone into two teams, play like regular charades.

- Don't say it.  Make a list of however many words and simple phrases you can think of that might get said on-air during the game and commercials. I'm shooting for 100 different things. Then everyone gets a copy of the list and chooses 25 things from the list they think have the least chance of being said during the game. If the words do get said, mark them off from your list. The person with the highest number of words left at the end of the game that were unsaid (from their list of 25) wins. For example: from the list I choose 25 different words that I think have the greatest chance of not being said during the game - maybe that's some random players name, a type of play, an assistant coach, words that could possibly come up in commercials like "transmission" "hot tub" "cheeseburger" etc. Have fun with it :). Person with the most words unsaid from their 25 choices wins.

- Football Toss. I saw this idea online and it looks easy - Using different colors of Goldfish crackers as markers (or anything you can think of that has multiple colors and you can toss - m&m's, coins, etc.) everyone chooses their color and takes turns tossing their marker onto a football field that you have either on a tabletop or the floor. If you land on the 50 yard line it's 2 points, if you land on any other line it's 1 point.  Play to whatever score you want, or have it be a timed event. I'm either going to use the felt runner I made (it's just a long rectangle of green felt with white duct tape lines and numbers stuck to it) or a plastic green tablecloth if I can easily find one and put tape on for the side lines and center line. I'm keeping this simple since it's just for people to throw crackers at hahah.

Enjoy the game, have fun, good luck, and since I'm sure I'll feel "guilty" for all the junk food I'm going to eat I'll find an exercise or healthy recipe to balance it out next week ;).

Super Bowl 2017

Figuring out what to make for Super Bowl on Sunday - told Dave I'm thinking pulled pork (again) and he said he just read something that had a breakdown of what is most popular to make for Super Bowl by state and Michigan's number one thing is pulled pork. Haha, so at least I come by it honestly LOL. This year I'm going to try a different version instead of my usual recipe, my sissy did this last year and raved about it so I'm gonna make it her way. See below for her recipe.

Not sure what else I'll make - usually guacamole and chips, and mini pigs-in-a-blanket. Click here for last years Super Bowl post to get some fun football themed ideas and my standard pulled pork recipe.

table runner made from green
felt and white duct tape

Root Beer- BBQ Pulled Pork

• 7 pound pork shoulder roast
• 1 liter root beer
• Half large onion, pureed
• 2 bottles sweet baby rays bbq sauce
• Lawry's seasoned salt
• Hawaiian rolls

Rub pork with lawrys, put in crock pot. Purée onion and dump over pork, pour root beer over top till full (about a liter). Cook all day 8 hours. Take out of crock pot and shred it up and take out all the fat. (It was very fatty so ended up with a lot less meat). Dump crock pot juice into a big bowl. Put pork back in with a cup of the juice from the crock pot and the BBQ sauce. Save another cup of the juice. Put all in fridge. The next morning put that extra cup of saved juice on top and heat it all up. 🐷😊 served about 40 Hawaiian rolls.

I found these commercial bingo cards online (click here) - you look for the things on your card during commercials only, first one to get "bingo" - five in a row vertical, horizontal, or diagonal wins. I'll get a small "prize"  for the winner.

Preserved Lemons

Sheryl gave me a ton of canning jars (Dave carried the big tub in and immediately said "where are you going to store these?" and then asked if she was hoping I'd return them filled with those highly addictive sweet dill pickles!! click here for that post - they are SO good!)...and a big box of Meyer lemons. I've never had preserved lemons before but after she told me about a friend that makes them and how good they are I had to try making them. This is very simple and easy, it's just lemons and salt layered in a jar. I googled a bunch of recipes and there are lots that also add some spices so I made one jar of plain with just salt and another with a cinnamon stick, a few allspice and peppercorn berries, and a bay leaf. You do not need to hot water process the jars, seems the acid and salt do the preserving.

I used a couple different sites for instructions (click here and here to see the recipes). You can either quarter the lemons or leave them whole (but cut a cross in them almost to the bottom). I found it easier to put the quartered lemons into the jars - depends on the size of your lemons. If doing quarters - add 1/2 Tablespoon to the bottom of a clean jar, put one layer in the jar and sprinkle with 1/2 Tablespoon salt, then continue layering and salting, pushing down pretty hard on the lemons in the jar so they release their juice. If you do whole lemons - open the lemon up between the cross you cut into them and put 1/2 Tablespoon salt inside the lemon. When you get to the top make sure there is enough lemon juice to cover (add fresh juice if the ones in the jar didn't produce enough) and top with 1 Tablespoon of salt. Put the tops on tightly and place in a dark place (mine are in the pantry) for at least a week to ferment, shake every day to mix up the juice, and then put in the fridge (The Epicurious site says to put in pantry for 30 days and they don't need to be refrigerated). When the peels turn translucent they are ready.  I read that you can take the top off every few days to release any gases that are building up but not everyone does that, I will just watch my lids and see if they are bulging, if so I will open them and then seal back up.  Use the peels in sauces, dressings, marinades - different comments about whether to use the flesh and juice or not, seems it's so salty and bitter not everyone uses that part. One commenter likes to use the liquid in Bloody Marys :)

I'll let you know in a couple weeks how they turn out - make some with me and we'll compare notes later!

look how many jars Sheryl gave me! Woohoo!

if using whole lemons cut a cross into the top of the lemon but don't cut all
the way thru. open the lemon up and add 1/2 T. salt before putting into the jar. 

now I just have to wait till they are ready!

Triple Berry Muffins

Brooke and I made these muffins so my sister (and her houseful) would have an easy wedding morning breakfast - I was planning to make a big breakfast casserole but then realized no one was going to eat that so muffins seemed perfect. I had some frozen blueberries and raspberries in the freezer so googled for muffin recipes using berries, found this Ina Garten recipe that sounded good and yep, it is. I made double berry muffins instead but otherwise followed the recipe - she adds the sugar to the berries instead of to the batter, and for some reason that makes the muffins almost have a crunchy top sort of like if you put streusel on them...yum. Really really good!

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries
• 1-1/2 cups sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl.  Stir with your hand to be sure the ingredients are combined.  In another bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and melted butter.  Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the well, and stir until just combined.  There will be some lumps but don’t overmix the batter!  Add the blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and sugar and stir gently to combine.

Using a 2¼-inch ice cream scoop, spoon the batter into the muffin cups to fill the liners.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean and the tops are nicely browned.  

Copyright 2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, All Rights Reserved