Home Delicious

Temple Prints you will love and a {Giveaway!}

2012-02-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

For Valentines Day this year, I gave each of my children a picture of their favorite temple to frame and keep in their bedrooms.
Ainsley loves the Snowflake Arizona Temple

Brandon loves the Manti Temple. He thinks this picture looks like a fortress.

And Alexa chose the Salt Lake Temple because it is where mommy and daddy got married!

I bought these prints from Kacy Hughes Photography. Kacy has such beautiful pictures, and her prices are great! She has offered to do a giveaway on my blog today! I am thrilled to give away an 11x14 print of the temple of your choice! You guys are so lucky!

Before we get into the details, I have even better news....

Kacy has offered ANYONE who enters this giveaway (locals only, of course!) $25 off a standard 1 hour on-location photo session! (Must be scheduled before June 1, 2012 to apply!) When you contact her to schedule your appointment, just mention Home Delicious to her!

To see her gallery click here.

Now for the giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Again, here are her links: http://photosbykacy.com and http://templeprints.wordpress.com
Good luck!!!

A little love for Brazil (and a recipe!)

2012-02-19T21:00:00.004-07:00

Do you know what is going on right now in Brazil? It's Carnaval! It's the most famous holiday in Brazil! I thought I would share some Brazilian love today, some thoughts and a great recipe!

Do you know why they celebrate carnaval? Lent is coming - a time for abstaining and repenting before Easter. So hurry and get all your sinning and craziness in now!

I remember a few things about carnaval. Men dressed like women, dancing in the streets, mostly.

This is carnaval in Natal. I lived there for a while and loved it.

image via wikipedia

This is in Recife, a place I also lived. I remember the big chicken!

image via google images

I have a great friend I met in Recife, named Damiana. I told her I was going to do a post on Brazil and asked her to share a favorite recipe. This girl is amazing and beautiful. I miss her! Every time I went to her house she, her sister and her mom would make us yummy food. And they would giggle at my portuguese.

Is she not the cutest thing?

So, if your husband, brother, sister, parents or even yourself went to Brazil and you want to surprise them with a fun and simple recipe to bring them saudades (make them miss it), here is one for you.

Supresa De Uva (Grape Surprise!)

Ingredients:

grapes (about 20)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 Tablespoon butter

about 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Pour sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan with butter. You can add a few drops of food coloring, if you want. Damiana likes it white, so I took her advice. I like it white, too! Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until it is think and doesn't stick to the pan any longer. It took me about 12 minutes. I know this sounds odd, but you will know when it's time. It just literally feels more like peanut butter all of a sudden.

see how thick it is?

Plop (isn't that a great word?) it on a plate with granulated sugar on it. This will keep it from sticking to the plate. Let it cool.

Take a small amount in your fingers and flatten it. Put the grape on it and roll it in your hands, making a ball.

Roll it in a little more sugar for a pretty texture. That's it! These are so delicious! I broke my no-sugar rule for a minute and was so glad I did!

Linked today at: Craftomaniac, Keeping it simple, skip to my lou, Sugar Bee, Hope Sturios, A2Z, Chef in Training, Mommy by day, Not just a housewife, Lil Luna, Ginger Snap, Its Overflowing, Blue Cricket Design, Rae Gun Ramblings

Happy Love

2012-02-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

I love you like a love song, baby! Have a LOVEly day!

Valentines Day - what we will be eating!

2012-02-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

I love love love having special food for Valentines Day. My kids get so giddy with excitement wondering what they will find in their lunch boxes, and what fancy dinner we will have.

I found a few ideas around the web I would like to spotlight. This is most likely what we will be eating tomorrow.

Breakfast:

Found HERE

If you pull out the stem of the strawberry instead of cutting it (like they did here) it looks more like a heart. And we will most likely be having strawberry milk with our breakfast!

Lunch:

If you haven't seen all the fun Valentines lunch box ideas at Lisa Storms website, hurry over there before tomorrow!

Dinner:

found here

We usually go fancy schmancy. It's the one day a year. But I think we will have twice baked potatoes. It's the kids favorite! Probably these with a little turkey bacon added and (of course!) greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

How about you all? Any special meals planned for tomorrow?

Chocolate Cherry Valentine Torte

2012-02-09T07:10:00.001-07:00

We have a traditional Valentines desert around here. We have had it every year since we were married 14 years ago! I love the chewy brownie bottom with the creamy top. I promise you will LOVE this!

Chocolate Cherry Valentine Torte Source: and old deseret news recipe from many years ago
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
1 can cherry pie filling
chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom of a 9" springform pan.
Stir together melted butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs and mix well. (Tip: Use a spoon, not a beater.) Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Gradually add to egg mixture. Mix well with spoon. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 25 minutes. Cake will look fudgey and test not done. That is OK! Cool pan on wire rack.
Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar in medium bowl until well blended. In a separate bowl, beat cream until stiff. Gradually fold into cream cheese mixture. Spread over top of the torte. Refrigerate several hours or until set. With knife, loosen cake from sides of pan and remove the side of the springform pan.
Just before serving, put chocolate chips in a heart outline on cake. Fill in with cherry filling. Serve with extra cherry filling on the side. Refrigerate any left overs.

Linking at: Lil Luna, Somewhat simple, House of Hepworths, Lolly Jane, Tater Tots and Jello, Every Creative Endeavor

Love in Any Language - Pallet Art

2012-02-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

I know that pallet art is all over these days. But I really wanted to make a lovey dovey sign for my hubby to hang in our bedroom. You know? Some sweet valentines love all year round.

I was inspired by Katie at Sweet Rose. Her pallet was beautiful. However, I wanted to do something relevant to me and my sweetie. Ryan speaks French and I speak Portuguese. Of course we both speak English. lol. So I love you in our favorite languages sounded perfect.

Anyhow, here are the details.

I went to Lowes and picked up 2 ten feet pieces of wood. They were not in the best shape ond only $3 a piece. Perfect! Yes, I have a table saw, but I don't know how to use it, so I had them cut me 6 three feet pieces.

Next, I used a vinegar and tea method of aging wood that I found on Pinterest.

Here is what my wood looked like before and after:

Cool, right?
First, you take some steel wool and soak it in vinegar over night. I used about 1 cup of vinegar and just put it in a mason jar with a hunk of steel wool.

The next day I was ready to go. But I forgot one problem. I don't drink tea! I found some green tea in my cupboard, but it didn't really work. I called my mom. She LAUGHED AND LAUGHED. Black tea, dear. Black tea. Oh. So I picked some up. and brewed it.

I took a paint brush and dipped it in the tea, then spread it on the wood. Then, I dipped it in the vinegar and brushed it on top. It was amazing and I was thrilled with the results! So much safer than some old pallet!

After it dried, I used wood glue and glued those babies together.

Then, I took the scraps and used them as braces on the back, screwing them in from the front. I liked the look of the screws. Honestly, how did I miss a pic of this? Click on Lolly Janes tutorial for a picture of theirs. Way cute!

Using my Silhouette, I cut out the text I wanted, then stuck it on there as a stencil

Painted, removed stencil and voila!

It fits perfectly and I adore it!

linked at: Sassy Sites, Hope Studios, Chef in Training, Home Stories AtoZ, Every Creative Endeavor, Not Just a Housewife, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Mommy by day..., Sugar Bee, Lil Luna, DIY by Design, Ginger Snap, Blue Cricket, It's Overflowing, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Lolly Jane

Family Photo Valentines

2012-01-31T19:28:00.001-07:00

One of our darling grandmas likes to give my kids cookie cutters at Valentines Day. We have a LOT of heart shaped cookie cutters! This year, we decided to make some decorations out of them, also using some of our left over Christmas cards.

Materials needed:
Cookie Cutters
Photos
scrapbook paper
elmers glue
glue stick
scissors
pencil
ribbon
beads

First, trace around the cookie cutter onto scrapbook paper and cut out heart.

Next, using glue stick, glue pictures to the hearts.

I tried to make this easy to see....

Knot the ribbon around the top of the cookie cutter. Thread the ribbon through the bead, to keep the knot in place. If you have a bead with a smaller hole, you may have to use a needle to get the ribbon through. This was the hardest part of the project, and the part I had to do, instead of the kids. bleh.
Knot the top of the ribbon together.

Dot elmers glue around the cookie cutter and place the heart on the glue.

Look at these cute girls working so hard!

Let them dry and you are all done!

Hang them on hooks, or from a frame.

And do you like these pictures! They were taken by the talented Katie at Sweet Rose!

Linked today at Lil Luna, Sassy Sites, Sugar Bee, Chef in Training, Mommy by day crafter by night, Not just a housewife, Funky polka dot giraffe, Hope Studios, Shwin and Shwin, DIY by design, Ginger Snap, Blue Cricket Decor Chick It's overflowing Somewhat Simple, Lolly Jane

Some new friends over at Lil Luna

2012-01-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

I have some exciting news to share.... I am going to be a contributor over at Lil luna! I'm sure you all know and love Kristyn already, but if you don't head over to her blog. She has so many amazing ideas! I will be contributing Kids Crafts and Kids Cooking ideas every so often, so keep on the lookout for me!

There are some other amazing women who will be contributing over at Lil luna and I wanted to introduce them to you. If you get a chance stop by their blogs and show them some love!

and Boxwood Clippings

Pinterest Gem: Sugar/Flour/Egg/Butter Free Cookies

2012-01-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to have a post every-so-often on something I found, made and loved via Pinterest. What's the point in such a lovely tool if I'm not going to make some of those goodies? Some of you may know I am doing a 90-day sugar free challenge. It is going awesome and I am already on Day 26! My kids have some withdrawals, however. No cookies again, ever? (And just to clarify, they are not on a sugar-free diet. I do not have cookies in the house, though. Too tempting for me.) When I found this recipe on Pinterest I tried it and...loved it! Ainsley loved! Alexa loved it! Brandon, not so much. ;)

image via pinterest

These were originally called Banana Pecan Granola Bars, but they have been evolving into cookies. I made them both ways and prefer them as a granola bar. So here is the deal-e-o with these babies. No sugar. They are sweetened with fruit. No flour. No eggs. No butter. I noticed the original recipe called for sesame seeds instead of almond meal. I actually ground up almonds in my Vita-Mix until it looked like flour. Worked for me!

Banana Pecan Granola Bars

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 cup almond meal

1/2 cup mixed nuts, finely chopped

1 cup dried fruit (I used craisins)

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 175.

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, nuts, almond meal and coconut flakes. Stir in allspice and cinnamon. Add dried fruit and stir until well and evenly mixed. Make sure the dried fruit does not stick together in big batches.

In another bowl, combine canola oil, mashed banana and vanilla extract. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

Spread the batter evenly onto the baking sheet, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch high.

Alternatively, use a large cookie cutter and press spoonfuls of the batter into it. Remove cookie cutter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. The granola bars tend to get brown at the bottom first. Make sure not to burn them. Let cool completely, store in airtight container and keep in the fridge.

I used heart cookie cutters for mine. These took longer than 20 minutes, though! Maybe my 175 is lower than hers? After 20 mins, I upped the temp to 250 and left them another 15 minutes.

Give these a try and let me know what you think! For more of my pins, follow me on Pinterest!

Heart Envelopes for Valentines Day!

2012-01-25T08:08:00.003-07:00

These envelopes are just perfect for Valentines Day! They hold little trinkets, candy, tickets, or little love notes! And they are super easy to make, even for kids.

Items needed:
Scrapbook paper
scissors
bone folder (oh where oh where is my bone folder?!? I can't find it!)
ribbon (optional)
I would suggest giving this a try with some scrap paper first, just to get the hang of it. :)

First, fold the paper in half and draw half the heart against the fold. The cut out the heart.

Next, fold both sides of the heart into the middle fold line. Use a bone folder for crisp lines. I used a popsicle stick since I couldn't find mine. I prefer the bone folder. :)

Fold the top of the heart down, as shown. Again, use the bone folder.

Fold up the bottom and tuck into the top section. It holds perfectly.

Now, if you would like to layer hearts, it looks really cute! As you can see, this is perfect for a couple of movie tickets!
And throw a cute ribbon through the middle to finish it off! Perfect!

Linked today at: Lil Luna, DIY by Design, Somewhat Simple, House of Hepworths ECE 30 Days, Loly Jane and Someday Crafts

Lace Hair Flowers

2012-01-20T12:09:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the beautiful lace hair flowers Jamielyn did at I Heart Naptime?
My girls saw them and LOVED them. In fact, Ainsley wanted to go to JoAnn's right away!
We went that night and there was a little issue.

That lace trim is stinking expensive.

And they didn't have many options in color. Maybe they had light blue? Total let down.
But then I had a brilliant idea! (Of course!) :)

Lace Hem Tape!

It's only $1.89 for 3 yards. They come in all sorts of colors. The only problem is it isn't ruffled. But that is an easy fix!

Here's what we did:

1) Cut the hem tape into 3 -1 yard pieces. (Yes, each package makes 3 flowers.)

2) stitched a straight line across one side of the hem tape to create a ruffle. If you need to watch a video tutorial on this, click here for one I found on YouTube. I promise it's super easy.

3) cut out a felt circle

4) Using a hot glue gun, glue the ruffle around the circle.

5) Glue a button, or pearl or whatever you like in the middle. I put one of those clear stones with scrapbook paper on one of mine. Why not?

6) Glue the hair clip to the back of the felt.

All done! Make a few for those cute girls you know for Valentines Day. They will Love it!

And in case you were wondering, this technique works well with ribbon, too! Look at this darling rainbow flower we made! LOVE!

Pinewood Derby

2012-01-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had our Pinewood Derby on Saturday! My husband and son were so excited for this event, we have been working on this car for a month!

He didn't win fastest, but his car was Out of This World!

He named it "Alien." It was complete with Krylon's Glow in the Dark spray paint.
Here's a better shot so you can see the cool fins.

Way to go Brandon! Anyone else have there kitchen and dining room overtaken by pinewood derby stuff?

Valentine {wreath}

2012-01-17T09:52:00.003-07:00

I wanted to add something pink and sweet to my door for Valentines Day.

I found the tutorial for making the balls here. Basically you punch out a million circles and glue them together. I used lots of clips to hold it together while it was drying.

Then I tacked them to the frame so they wouldn't slide around. I used a wide ribbon to hang it from the door but this prevented me from centering the middle ball. I decided to tie it to the wide ribbon and let it hang. It worked perfectly.

To hang the picture frame from the front door, first I put the wide ribbon round the frame and centered it at the top of the door.

Then, I simply pressed a tack in through the ribbon into the door. I have freakishly strong fingers. If you don't you may need a hammer. ;)

All done! Fun to make and perfect for my front door!

Today I linked up at: Funky Polka Dot Giraffe, Vintage Wannabe, Schwin&Schwin, Not just a housewife, MommybydayCrafterbynight, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sassy Sites

Family Goals 2012: Journaling

2012-01-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

How are your Sundays? Probably great. You all take naps and feel all spiritual. Us? Not so much. Our schedule is a little more like this:
7:00am PLEASE wake up everyone! Church starts in 1 hour!
7:30am GET OUT OF BED NOW!!! (spirit is now gone as mom yelled it away!)
8:00am always there on time
11:00am church ends
the rest of the day: completely destroying the house we worked so hard to clean the day before
fighting
begging for wii time
no naps
driving each other crazy
(with a little faith in God work interspersed throughout the day and possibly a trip to Grandma's to break up the monotony.)

So another goal I have this year is to make Sunday a little more special! Yes, of course it's easier when church is at 10 or 11. But if you can't change things, you may as well change your attitude. :)

One of the activities I am planning for every Sunday is journal writing. My kids (Brandon especially!) don't love the thought of this. But they said they are willing to try. I am envisioning our family sitting together around the table writing with loving looks on our faces. lol!

On Monday we got all of our journals decorated. I bought these at Target for 97 cents a pop. I'm sure they have them everywhere.
Then, following Jen's idea we decorated and talked about the importance of sharing our stories.

they are all hiding from the camera

First I got out all the scrapbook paper, stickers, glue sticks, etc. I could find. And I let them go at it. They are now quite excited to write in these babies!

Here's Ainsley - her front is simple, but the back is COVERED in stickers

Brandon's creation

Dad and Alexa

and of course mine!

So what do you do on Sunday (besides naps! That is a bad word here!) to make it a special day?

Family Goals 2012: Memorizing Scriptures

2012-01-09T11:44:00.001-07:00

Whew! The kids are finally back in school today and I am ready to post!
We (we meaning me) decided to make some family goals this year. I really feel like my kids have so much potential in memorizing. So we decided one of our family goals this year would be to memorize one scripture every month. We (this time we really means we) will be looking at it and reciting it after family prayer in the morn and scripture study at night.

Of course, being me, I had to come up with a cute way to display our scripture.

To make this, I simply took a piece of wood, painted it black and modpodged scrapbook paper on it. Then I used E-6000 to glue a clip on the top. That's it!

Our scripture for this month is Mosiah 2:17 "And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

This scripture comes from the Book of Mormon. If you are interested in more information or would like a free copy, please click here.

I displayed it on a little plate stand I got years back for like a buck. I hope this inspires you and your family for a little goal setting this year! :)

Linking this week at: Craft-o-Maniac

2011 - Favorite Projects

2011-12-31T08:05:00.003-07:00

2011 was a great year! I wanted to share my favorite projects from my first year of blogging. Of course some of my favorites came from the good old blogging days of Turbo Bubblegum. And although it was sad to say goodbye to that fun, I love Home Delicious. So how about 3 from each?

The number 1 top project of 2011 (by far!!!) was:
Bathroom Art
I created these from the Land of Nod catalog for my kids new bathroom and they were a hit!

Number 2:
Healthy Chicken Taquitos
Have you tried these yet? SOOOO good!

Number 3:
Personalized Clock
I made these for end of the school year and the teachers LOVED them!

The number 4 project is:
Chore Chart
This is also my most pinned project! (and I still swear by it!)

Number 5:
Spooky Silhouettes
My kids loved these and the Thanksgiving silhouettes so much they wanted some for Christmas! (I didn't do it, though.)

And the last project I will share of 2011 is:
Magnet Board for a Boy

I hope you had as much fun in 2011 as I did! And here's to many more fun projects in 2012!

Linking up today at Tater Tots and Jello

Are you losing weight this year?

2011-12-29T20:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Slim-Fast for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

New years resolutions and a goal to lose weight. They are one and the same. Every year I say the same thing.

Well this year I have a little more incentive. My husband and I were asked to be the Ma and Pa on a pioneer trek. Basically we will be the "parents" to 10 14 - 18 year olds while hiking for 4 days in the mountains. And did I mention the 700 lb. handcart?

So my husband got the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD for Christmas. I got the Wii Zumba 2 game. And we will be practice hiking once a week.

And now comes the diet. Can you hear the bum bum buh music in the background?

Last year I made the mistake of trying the HCG diet. Don't get me wrong. It worked. But It was a killer and I gained it all back. So this year I am shifting to a new mindset. Something I can do forever. Enter the Slim-Fast

The Slim-fast people have come up with a 3-2-1 plan.

This includes 3 snacks. These can be the 100-calorie bars, veggies, fruit nuts. Basically something healthy, and filling.

2 Slim Fast Shakes or meal bars

1 healthy, balanced 500 calorie meal.

For more info on this awesome plan, see the Slim-Fast website.

This is totally something I can do. And I am going to stick with it darn it!

So let's talk flavors. These snack bars come in yummy flavors like chocolate mint, chocolate nougat gone nuts (sounds like snickers, no?) I am most excited about those two, but maybe you would like the Double Dutch Chocolate or the Peanut Butter Crunch Time. And you can buy them all in the pharmacy section of most major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Safeway, Kroger, Amazon,com and even the Slim-Fast website.

These products are delicious and filling, I am personally going to start BEFORE New Years Eve so I am not as tempted to eat cookies and chips. :) And New Years parties always have the obligatory veggie trays, right?

So what are you doing to get in shape this coming year? Why don't we all start by liking Slim-fast on their Facebook page and making a goal! I have!

Reindeer Treats

2011-12-22T09:18:00.002-07:00

Today Alexa had to bring treats to school. She happened to be looking over my should the other day when I saw these cute reindeer donuts at Poca Cosa.
She was in love!

Yes, I know my tray is ugly! But aren't those reindeer cute?
Needed:
Hostess Donettes (face)
Pretzels (antlers)
Peanut M&M's (Nose)
mini M&M's (eyes)

So Simple!

Teacher Gifts

2011-12-22T09:04:00.003-07:00

So maybe your kids are already out of school? Mine aren't. We go straight through tomorrow. :{
So go ahead and pin this idea and use it later! :)

I decided to combine a few different ideas we used for the super saturday activity to give to the teachers.
I came up with these:

Magnet board picture frames!
To start, I used some wood cut about 10x6. To be honest, I bought this wood planning on making some larger magnet boards for wedding presents, but bought the wrong size wood! So I reused this wood.

I also used these bases (2 for .99 at hobby lobby)
candle cups (6 for 2.99 at HL) and finnials (3 for 1.47 at HL) and keep in mind these can be cheaper with coupons.

I also used the metal sheets and decorative nails from Home Depot. Info found here.

First I painted everything.

Then I sanded it to distress it a bit and added the metal.

I would suggest adding any vinyl lettering now, before you glue everything together.
Then get out the good old E-6000 and glue everything together.

Allow them to dry at least over night!

And add a fun magnet with a personalized note for decoration!

Linked today with Every Creative Endeavor, Somewhat Simple, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Junk in their Trunk Ginger Snap and Lil Luna

Cranberry Apple Pie over at Naptime Crafters

2011-12-21T07:18:00.001-07:00

Cranberry Ginger Apple Pie! One of our favorite pies EVER!

And I am sharing the recipe over at Naptime Crafters today. Stop by and check it out!

There's nothing like peeling apples to keep your 3 year old busy!

Neighbor Gifts

2011-12-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Don't you wish you were my neighbor? If you were I would bring you these sweet goodies...

My fridge is full of them. What is it exactly? cookie dough. The most delicious cookie dough ever. I will share that recipe in a minute.
But first, are you laughing at my labels? My Silhouette isn't quite working right so we went with the good old paper cutter. And the writing instead of printing. Well, it kept my 10 year old busy.

Anyway, on to the recipe. This is basically Nestle's recipe with crunched up Oreo's in it.
Oreo Cookie Dough
(We 8 x the recipe in our house yesterday!)
2 sticks of butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
about 10 oreos chopped up

Now don't be tempted to use margarine. You can use 1/2 margarine if you want. 1 stick of each. But don't cut out the butter entirely!
Stir the butter until smooth. We have a rule in out house. No electric mixers with cookies, just wooden spoons. I swear it makes them taste better.
Add the sugars and stir.
Add eggs one at a time and stir until smooth.
Add vanilla. And try to use GOOD vanilla. :)
Sprinkle salt and baking soda over the top and stir well.
Add flour and guess what. Stir.
Finally add oreos and chocolate. Try not to chop up the cookies too fine. Leave them kind of chunky. I use my pampered chef chopper and give it 3 chops. Perfect.

That's it! You can cook them at 375 for 10 minutes. Or share the dough. It is so good!

Mud Pie

2011-12-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com

My husband has been on a social kick lately. "We should have people over," he says to me like 4 times a month. Finally I gave in. "OK, let's have a holiday pie party and invite some neighbors." We have been here about 1 year and don't have many friends in the neighborhood. But then came the doubt. Will some people feel left out? I can't invite EVERYONE!

Finally, we decided to just DO IT!

We are so excited to share our home, food and show our holiday decorations with friends! Why we haven't done this before is beyond me! We asked our friends to bring a pie to share and to bring their appetite!

I wanted to share with you my kids most favorite holiday recipe. This is GOOD! My kids aren't big pie eaters, but this isn't really a pie.

Note: This is a make ahead pie. You must make it the day before!

Mud Pie, Sims style
Ingredients:
1 box Duncan Hines brownie mix (I used the yummy dark chocolate, but any flavor would work!)
plus ingredients for brownies
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
chocolate ice cream (please get the good kind!)
Toasted almonds, m&ms, oreos, or toffee bits for the top

Make brownies as instructed on box and cook in a springform pan for 30 - 35 minutes. Cool completely.

In a microwavable bowl, combine butter, cream, chocolate chips, and corn syrup. Cook in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. It took me only 2 intervals. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and stir until creamy and smooth. Spread 1/2 the chocolate mixture on the brownie, reserving the other half in the fridge. Refrigerate brownie 1 hour.

Using an electric mixer, beat the ice cream on medium speed until it is spreadable. Don't make it runny, though! Spread immediately onto the brownie and put in the freezer until a completely firm.

Finally, warm the reserved chocolate in the microwave until spreadable (but not hot) and spread on ice cream layer. Sprinkle desired topping. Place back in freezer overnight.

You will LOVE this! The fudgy layer in the middle and on top is SO delicious!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective

linked today at: House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor, Somewhat simple, sassy sites and bear rabbit bear

M&M Snack Mix

2011-12-07T07:49:00.001-07:00

Cold?

This little sweetie had her first (and last?) dance recital yesterday. It was the cutest thing ever.

What do you think about these tap shoes? I got these super cute hair clips in the mail literally minutes before we left and inspiration struck. I just clipped them to the ties to make it a little more festive.

We had to bring a treat to share. My older daughter needed 2 dozen sugar cookies for an activity later that day, but the little one doesn't like sugar cookies. Bummer. What do I have around the house that I don't have to go to the store for?

Then, I found this recipe and I loved it!

Always Bunny Ears

M&M Snack Mix

6 cups crispix or chex cereal (I used Crispix)
2 cups honey Teddy Grahams
1 stick of butter, melted
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups marshmallows
2/3 cups M&M's

Dump the cereal and crackers on a large baking sheet. Mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together.
Drizzle over cereal mixture.
Stir stir stir.
Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Cool.
Add marshmallows and M&M's.

Enjoy!

Linked today with Lil Luna!

Ho Ho Ho Holiday Fun with DownEastHome!

2011-12-05T15:19:00.001-07:00

Since I don't live in Utah, I thought I was out of luck when it came to Down East Home. Wrong! I was thrilled to find out that Down East Home is now available online!

DownEast Home sent me a few fun items to try out and I wanted to share them with you.

Aren't these birds so cute? You will not believe they were only 1.99 and 3.99.

Or maybe you would like a little more bling? I saw these swanky sequin pillows in many colors for only 14.99!

I really wanted a trifle bowl and can you believe it was only 9.99? I filled it with ornaments for now, but who knows what the future holds for this baby!

So what would you do with $500 to DownEast Home? I'm not kidding! DownEast Home is giving away a $500 holiday home makeover to one lucky winner between now and Dec 9!

Go to www.facebook.com/downeasthome for more information and to enter the sweepstakes!

My Friendship Bracelet Maker Winner

2011-12-05T06:55:00.001-07:00

Using Random.org, the winner of the My Friendship Bracelet Maker is number 25...

Heidi!

Congratulations Heidi! I will contact you shortly with the details!

Broccoli Soup

2011-12-01T21:34:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for the giveaway, click here:

Did you get a chance to see my guest post for Pink Senorita last week? If not, here is a repost:

Nothing says Fall to me like soup. It gets so stinking hot here, that until November we have a "no soup for you!" rule around the house. So all of a sudden, come November 1, we have soup every day. This is my kids FAVORITE recipe in the world. They would eat it every day if I would make it every day. But I won't. Because, I will be honest with you. It takes a little time. But it is SO worth it. Have you ever been to Archibalds Restaurant at Gardner Village in Salt Lake? It tastes just like that! But better service. (I can't stand how snotty that place is.) And can I note there is no cheese, no cream, and so many veggies!!

Whitney's Broccoli Soup
1 onion, chopped very fine
1 handful baby carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 stalks of broccoli chopped
3 Tbs bouillon mixed with 6 Cups hot water
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup non-fat evaporated milk

Spray large soup pan with non-stick cooking spray. Add first 3 chopped veggies and cook on low 5 minutes.

Add broccoli and 2 cups of broth and cook 15 minutes. Add rest of broth and boil. 5 minutes. While boiling, melt butter and add flour to make a roux. (This is my least favorite part, and make sure your kids aren't pulling on your legs while you do it.) Using a whisk, slowly add the 2 cups milk and cook until think. It only takes a couple of minutes, but whisk constantly. Take off heat and whisk in evaporated milk. Whisk until smooth. Add to soup and simmer 15 minutes.

Enjoy the best broccoli soup ever!

Giveaway Time! {My Friendship Bracelet Maker}

2011-11-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

This giveaway is now closed

Just in time for Christmas, I was sent this fun barrette maker to try out and review.

It's called My Ribbon Barrette Maker and it was definitely a blast from the past! Remember these from when we were little? I LOVED it the second I opened the box!

This kit was so cute and had everything we needed to make these adorable barrettes. It's this brilliant little case where on the inside it stores the supplies and the outside has the "maker." My 10 year old snatched it up and immediately began playing around. Not only are the barrettes cute, but this keeps the kids busy. Double bonus.

So want to win one? Actually, you can pick this, the My Friendship Bracelet Maker, or the clipboard!
Have you seen these at Costco? I have and the kids are always drooling over them! Remember when we had to safety pin them to our jeans or our shoes? And if you had on shorts and flip flops you were out of luck! lol! Gone are those days!

Note: This contest is only open to those with a US address.
Rules:
1)Visit www.myfbm.com and come back to leave me a comment telling me which item you would like!

Want additional entries?
2) Follow myfbm on twitter come back and let me know!
3) Like myfbm on Facebook come back and let me know!
4) Be a follower of Home Delicious. Leave me an additional comment telling me you are!
5) Like me on Facebook and come back telling me you do!

This contest will be open until Sunday, Dec 4 at 11:59 pm, mst. I will announce the winner on Monday! Good luck!

Gift Wrap

2011-11-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Since I am sick-o, I thought maybe you would enjoy this guest post I did for Sugar Bee Crafts a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

I am no good at making bows, so usually the gifts are either scribbled on with a Sharpie or I use a little piece of wrapping paper folded in half as a card. Are any of you guilty of this? So I decided to be a little more creative this year. And a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

All you need to make these cute gift tags is:
grosgrain ribbon
scraps of paper
photos

I printed off the photos at Costco.com as a wallet size. They cost 39 cents for 4.
Simply wrap around the ribbon, secure it with a glue dot or tape, and add the paper and photo to the top!

There is now no excuse for ugly presents. Remember: presentation is everything!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-20T07:24:00.001-07:00

I will be taking a little break this week -
I wish I had a laptop, but since I do not I will be back soon! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sugar Bee Crafts

2011-11-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

I'm guest posting today over at Sugar Bee Crafts! Come say hello!

Super Saturday: Bottle Cap Magnets

2011-11-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

A few of you asked me to share how we made these cute magnets at our Super Saturday, so of course!

Now this project was actually done by Jen from Jen's Brain Things. I have used some of her pictures, as well, with her permission (of course!)

Items needed:
Bottle Caps
3d Epoxy domes
scrapbook paper
magnets

First: Buying the materials.

Bottle caps can be found SUPER cheap. They are all over, but Aunt Christy's is 100 for $3.95.
The 3D epoxy dome stickers are 100 for $9.95. Not quite as cheap as the bottle caps, but not bad. Those were also at Aunt Christy's. I linked the actual item for you in case you want to check them out.
They sell all this at the craft stores, but they are super crazy expensive there.
example:
Hobby Lobby stickers 24 for 2.99. (OK not too bad.)
Hobby Lobby bottle caps 24 for 9.99 (Yowzers!!!)
Also, the pre-flattened bottlecaps can be found at bottle cap co, but they are $14 for 100. Any color. (even cheetah.) And the price goes down with quantity with free shipping over $25.

Magnets seemed to be strongest and cheapest at Hobby Lobby. 50 for $6.99. Now Michaels are same price and the magnets look identical, but they weren't as strong. JoAnn's didn't have any large packs at all.

Second: Tools!!
Jen has this cool tool called a cuttlebug. I'm not sure of another way around this. Maybe run it over with your car? lol. If you are reading this Jen, let us know!
1 inch circle paper punch
hot glue gun

Ready? Let's go!

First, take your cuttlebug and run the bottlecaps through. If you want a detailed description of how, go here. (Or buy the preflattened bottlecaps!!)

Next, punch out your paper circles.

Place them on the bottle cap.
Add the sticker. If you check out Jen's tutorial, you will notice she used a glaze instead of the stickers. But trust me - the stickers are so much easier. And if you are working on a large scale, they don't need drying time which is a BIG DEAL!

Use a glue gun to glue the magnets on the back. If you have E6000, that is a good option, as well.

Done! So easy!!

Jen did some cute YW values magnets I thought I would show you, as well.

Then she put them in a gift card tin. So cute!

Thanks Jen for letting me share your Super Saturday craft today!
And for those of you wondering how the cute picture frame things were made, tutorial found here at Shanty2Chic.

Gluten-Free Anyone?

2011-11-12T18:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Schar for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It seems that everywhere I look more and more gluten-free options are available! It's amazing! Restaurants even have them on their menus.

Now, I am not allergic to gluten, but I went gluten free for a while and decided that my body likes me a lot better when I don't eat it. It really surprised me!

So when I heard about the new gluten-free products from Schar Club I was totally taken back! Sub sandwich rolls. Ciabatta rolls. Baguettes. I am not even kidding! Maybe I live under a rock, but I didn't even know they existed.

My kids think baguettes are the best bread ever invented. They would take a small baguette to school for lunch if I let them. Just that. Nothing else. They LOVE it! So I was thrilled that I could make food for my whole family, including me! And can't you just imagine dipping them in some yummy soup? Again - gluten-free!

Schar Club is not only the leader in gluten-free food, but the are the bomb in my book for launching this awesome line of food.

Want to try some free? Click her for a Schar free sample. This website has recipes, giveaways, dieticians and Coupons for a Free Sample! All you have to do is sign up for the Schar Club. Super easy. (and worth it!)

What are you going to make with your gluten-free bread? A sub? Meatball sandwich? Turkey on Ciabatta? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanksgiving Silhouettes

2011-11-08T10:07:00.003-07:00

I know it hasn't been long since I did my Halloween Silhouettes, but I couldn't help myself. When I saw these Thanksgiving silhouette table settings at Martha Stewart I knew I had to personalize them, as well.

Just like my spooky Silhouettes, I took a side view picture of my kids and printed it out on regular paper.

Then, I drew the hats or feathers on the picture.
I did one thing differently this time, though.
Check this out:

After I cut them, I took them outside and spray painted them black! So much easier than using a Sharpie.

And they dried super fast.
Then, I just stuck them on card stock and framed them! Super easy!

Linked today: Somewhat Simple, Home Stories A to Z, At Home with K, Chef in Training, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sassy Sites, My World Made by Hand, Funky PolkaDot Giraffe, Not Just a Housewife, Under the Table and Dreaming, Everything under the moon, Lil Luna

Super Saturday Crafts - Magnet Board Tutorial

2011-11-06T22:04:00.000-07:00

For some CRAZY reason I volunteered my services at our neighborhood Super Saturday. We had a few crafts for the ladies to put together to hand out this year as holiday gifts. Whew! Who knew that a project so easy to make for 1 could be such a pain in the butt for 20? The project I chose was this magnet board:

We also made these awesome picture frames:

And some really cute apothecary jars:

Oh, and how can I forget the magnets?!?

These are going to look super great on the turquoise magnet board my mom and I made for my niece.

I have to give you the low down on finding supplies for this project. Lowes is my usual "go to" store, but not this time. Oh no. Home Depot was the only place for this magnet board. Lowes originally had some metal flashing sheets in their roofing dept. for about $1 that I was going to clip in half with some tin snips. I was NOT looking forward to this because I knew it would leave them a little jagged and that always makes me nervous with kids around. When I went to buy them, however, they informed me that they stopped selling them. So my only option was aluminum flashing. Well hello!!!!! Aluminum is not magnetic so no!! I already checked out Home Depot and they said they didn't have any either.

I was so disappointed. I had already collected the money from all the ladies and didn't know what to do. I searched and searched the internet with no luck (in my price range.)

I went back to Home Depot on a whim and did NOT ask for help this time. I just went straight to the roofing dept. and guess what!!! They sell the sheet metal for 64 cents a piece! Yeah! I was so excited. They had piles of them.

Magnet Board Tutorial

total cost: less than $10/per board

Items needed:

10" x 2 1/2' board. These come in 10" sections and they cut them for free. (They are about $16 a piece, equaling $4 each)

4 pieces of sheet metal from HOME DEPOT 5"x7" (64 cents each)

16 decorative nails (about $1.50 for 24)

Vinyl lettering

paint

sand paper

Step one: Paint the board. Front and sides.

Step 2: Sand the edges.

Step 3: Drill or punch holes in all four corners of the metal.

Now my friend Jen has this really cool tool called the "crop o dile" or something like that. It was awesome. It punched right through the metal. I have GOT to get me one of those. Otherwise, just drill little holes in the corners.

Step 4: Nail the corners on the wood. Just use a regular hammer and pound them in.

Step 5: Add your lettering to the top. I used Ma Sexy font. It was just a free one I found on the web and cut out using my Silhouette.

They turned out super cute and not bad for an under $10 project!

Linked at: Skip To My Lou Keeping it Simple, Lil Luna, Creations by Kara, Someday Crafts, Junk in their Trunk

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T07:10:00.004-07:00

After my 10 year old daughter spied on my while I was looking at this tutorial from MADE, look what I found all around the house...

and...

And a few others. That girl takes after her mom, I tell you.

Happy Halloween from the Sims!

(plus one in the dark)

Trick Or Treat Boxes

2011-10-25T14:23:00.001-07:00

What do you do when your 3 year old decides she doesn't want to go to dance class today? Sometimes I let her stay home, but 3 weeks in a row? And she really loves it! It's just that lazy day afternoon setting in.

So today we decided to make treats to share with all the little girls at dance class. It is the Halloween party, after all!

Using the Silhouette, we simply cut black cardstock into boxes using Adorable box 6
I folded them and she taped them.

At this age, it is all about what they can do alone. "All by myself!"
So she then glued the webs on with a glue stick. We cut those out with spiderweb 1042.

Finally, she painted over the web with glitter paint and we took turns writing her name on the bottom with a white colored pencil.

These little boxes are the perfect size for just a couple pieces of candy and a spider ring.

After talking these up all morning, she wouldn't put on her costume. OK, I can handle that. And then came the "I'm not going. No way."
In my head I was thinking, "Get in the dang car! I already paid for this class!" But my mouth was saying something about sharing our fun presents with all our friends. And....it worked! Yay! We made it to dance class with a smile on both of our faces.

Linked at Living Life Intentionally, Mom to 2 posh little divas, and Crafty Moms Share

Waffle Turtle Cookies and a little organization tip!

2011-10-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tervis for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website http://www.tervis.com to learn more about the world’s first smart cup.

While we were in Utah, my son and hubby got to go to a late at night football game. I knew that wouldn't be a good idea for my 3 year old, so we girls headed over to my friend Cassie's house for the night.
Cassie is one of those beautiful, organized, wonderfully nice people. And I love her home and her creativity.

You aren't going to kill me for this picture, are you Cas?

While we were there, she made last minute plans on Sunday morning to have someone over for dinner that night. Knowing she wouldn't be going to the store, I asked how she would manage that. Then she shared one of her secrets of life. ;)

Always have -on hand- ingredients for an extra dinner and dessert. Always.

This has already proven helpful for me. I keep an organized dinner menu.

BUT, there are days where I have extra kids, or less time, or I just don't WANT to eat what is on the menu for that day.

So, with no further ado, I want to share Cassie's Chocolate Turtle Waffle Cookies with you. This is the dessert she always has on hand.

First mix mix mix. Then, dallop on a heated waffle iron, close and cook.

Simple! The best part about this, is my kids can totally make it on their own. They both get a little nervous about taking things out of the oven, but even my 8 year old can use a waffle iron with no help from mom.

We served them with a little pumpkin ice cream!

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Tervis, visit their website http://www.tervis.com.

linked today at Chef in training, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not just a housewife, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, My World Made by Hand Home Stories A to Z Skip to my Lou

Birthday Winner!

2011-10-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

And the winner of the birthday package has been chosen via Random.org.
The winner is:
#1
Melanie at Bear RabbitBear!

Honestly, when does number 1 get chosen? She must be lucky!

Congratulations Melanie! I will send you an email today! Have a great Sunday!

Primary Program Invitations

2011-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't know, I'm a Mormon!
We have a program at Church every year completely put on by the children ages 3 - 11. I love it! This year, I get to make the invitations for this wonderful event!

I wanted to share the fun invitations I made using the picture found here and picnik. I just loved this artwork. Especially the cute banner across the top. Love!
I am going to print them off at Costco like a regular photo print and pop them in envelopes! Simple and cute!

It's my Birthday! {GIVEAWAY!!!}

2011-10-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! :)

Yes, it's my birthday!!! I am getting older and older. To celebrate, I decided to have a little giveaway.

Note: This giveaway is not sponsored by anyone other than MYSELF. Because I love you guys and want to have a party! The patterns, however, are left over from a HouseParty I hosted. The gift card is purchased by myself.

Up for grabs are:

2 patterns from Simplicity.
One is a learn to sew pattern with some cute skirts and the other is for some cute purses!

And
a $10 gift card to either JoAnns, Michaels or Hobby Lobby. You choose.

So, want to enter? Here are the rules:
1) Follow me on Google. Leave me a note saying you do. Or get my emails. Either way. :)
2) like me on Facebook and let me know you do.

That's it! If you don't have your email hooked up to your account, please leave me your email address.
Giveaway open until Saturday at midnight.

Good luck!

Sugar String Pumpkins

2011-10-18T07:08:00.002-07:00

Lil Luna has the Great Pumpkin going on... have you stopped by?

Last week my family spend fall break in Utah (more on that later) and got to do a guest post for Kristyn at Lil Luna. In case you missed it, here is the tutorial I shared.

Sugar String Pumpkins!

I was first introduced to sugar string by my sis-in-law Julee a few Easters ago. They are fun to make and look great! For the first time, I have Halloweened them up!

To start off, you will need balloons (I got mine from the dollar store), string, sugar and water.

In a microwave-safe bowl, put 1 cup of water and heat it in the microwave. Don't boil it, but it does need to be hot. Then add 2 cups of sugar. If you use less water, that is OK, just make sure you are using a 2:1 sugar/water ratio. Stir that sugar in the water until it is dissolved, then let it cool. You may notice I added a little food coloring to the water to see if it would dye the string. It didn't. lol.

The next step is to wrap the string around the balloon. Note: We did this OUTSIDE! It gets MESSY! We tried this a few different ways, but the best was to wrap the string all around the balloon while they are both dry. Just wrap wrap wrap.

Then, roll it around in the sugar water bowl. Roll and spread with your hands until the entire thing is wet. All the string must be wet for this to work.

Hang it outside to dry. Note to Arizona moms: If it is too hot outside, the balloon will deflate. We learned the hard way and they looked more like spider sacks than pumpkins. I dried a few in the house over the sink. These will drip, though. So make sure it is over something you can hose off or clean easily.

When they are dry (the next day), pop the balloon and remove. You will have the cutest pumpkin shape!

Embellish with ribbon or whatever you like. I used a twig for a stem on one, and an actual pumpkin stem for the other stuck on there with a hot glue gun.

As you can see, the more string the better! The black one is a little sad!

But it looks great with your fall decor! AND if you cut a little hole in the bottom, you can stuff them with white Christmas lights. Wouldn't that be cute?

TGI Friday's Entrees for one

2011-10-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of T.G.I. FRiDAY'S for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey, this is Whitney's husband Ryan writing about T.G.I. FRiDAY’S “Entrées for One” today. Whitney went to the store and bought me some Orange Chicken Stir Fry to try out. They have a ton of flavors like Prime Rib Stroganoff or Grilled Chicken Mac and Cheese. Why she picked Orange Chicken I will never know. Maybe she was trying to make a healthy choice?

Here's the cool thing about this dinner. It is in a bag! And you cook it in a bag! And, let me tell you, this is not your typical frozen orange chicken. It tasted really good...so good that my 3-year old kept sneaking pieces until she had eaten half of it.

Another great thing about this dinner was that it was only $2 (on sale, I think). My children are starting to get close to the teen-age years, and they've started acting like hungry bears just coming out of hibernation at dinner time (as long as we make something they like), so leftovers at our house are rare. That leaves me always scrambling to find something to take to work for lunch. This is definitely a great choice for that. I guess I could always go to that one restaurant chain that rhymes with Manda Dexpress when I want orange chicken, but this is so much more in the budget.

* Hey, that's my husband! Isn't he a good sport to post for me? Gotta love him!

I also wanted to add that Fridays also has this really cool contest going on where you get to decorate your Freezer and win lots of prizes. It's called the Fun Freezer contest and it's over on their Facebook Page. You have got to stop by and vote for your favorite freezer!

Spooky Silhouettes

2011-10-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I made the ~~cutest~~ spookiest silhouettes of my kids to put up on the mantel.

Aren't they great?

Here's the How to. First, take a profile picture of your child. Make sure you have a light background. Mine was a piece of poster board.

Next, print those photos off and color their faces in with a Sharpie. I added eyelashes to the girls.

Add on any spooky embellishments, or leave it alone. I added a witches hat to this one, but you will see another has medusa hair, and my son was turned vampire. These characters have nothing to do with their personalities in real life. lol.

Cut around the silhouette and glue it on to white cardstock.

Stick it in a frame! I was a little disappointed that mine were a wee bit bigger than my frame. So make sure you take that into consideration when printing the picture. I also thought that Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein would be great, too.

Most important, have fun!

Linked today to Todays Creative Blog, Sassy Sites, Not Just a Housewife, Chef in Training, Sugar Bee Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Centsational Girl, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Dot Dot Dot, At Home with K, DIY by Design The Idea Room

Back Porch - Delicious

2011-10-03T08:35:00.001-07:00

I did it! I organized that back porch!
Remember this:

Oh man, that whole entire porch was a disaster. And these chairs? Are you kidding?

I gave myself a budget of $10.
Not much, I know. But here is the result:

So here is the low-down. I gave away all the old furniture I didn't need. I had way too much. And with all the stuff I find for free, there are times where I need to make someone else's day, too. :)

I swept and cleaned.

I spray painted and recovered my chairs with left over outdoor fabric and spray paint I had around the house.

Money spent: $2.00 on the cute aloe vera plant for a splash of color. I bought it at Fresh and Easy on clearance. If you don't have a Fresh and Easy near you I am so sorry. I LOVE that store.
$3.50 on some balls that I put in the middle of the table. I bought them at Hobby Lobby. Not sure if I will keep them there or not, though.

BUT, I am not done. I will keep this project for another week to show you some other fun things I plan to do for free (hopefully!). So tune back in for some more color at the end of the week!

And what about you? Did you get any organizing done this week?

Block Party! (pinterest finds)

2011-09-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's finally starting to cool off a bit. Just a bit. And we are having a block party this weekend!
Guess who is in charge of games for the kiddos?

Thank goodness for Pinterest. They came to the rescue once again!

Here are some fun Fall games I found to help the kids enjoy the block party.

Source: marthastewart.com via Whitney on Pinterest

This looks SO fun, but I am a little unsure about kids and darts.

Source: marthastewart.com via Whitney on Pinterest

This is a definite YES! Donuts are always worth the money!

Source: bedifferentactnormal.com via Whitney on Pinterest

Bowling could definitely be fun. But I'm not sure I would use toilet paper. Maybe make ghosts out of water bottles?

Source: marthastewart.com via Whitney on Pinterest

Bobbing for apples has always grossed me out a bit. All that spit in one place?

Source: bhg.com via Whitney on Pinterest

Guessing Games are a hit for adults and teens, too.

Source: halloween.tipjunkie.com via Whitney on Pinterest

This tossing game looks easy and fun. I think it will make the cut!

So, do YOU have any tried and true games fun for a block party?

little monster shirt tutorial

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I shared this fun tutorial while guest posting on Jen's Brain Things. If you missed it, here you go!

A few moms in our neighborhood had some baby boys these last couple weeks, so I decided to share with you a fun idea I made for these little fall babies.

Remember those Martha Stewart eyeball T-Shirts from a few years ago? I took that idea and ran with it. I made some really spooky onesies and sweatshirts for this Halloween season.

First, gather together all your supplies.
You will need:
onesies, t-shirts, etc.
an old white t-shirt to cut up
Acrylic paint (or fabric paint)
Fabric medium (if you don't use fabric paint) This is about $1.99 at Jo-Anns and you can use it with any color acrylic paint you may have. Much cheaper than a bunch of different color fabric paints.

Next, cut out an eye shape out of the old white t-shirt.

I just "eyeballed" it (no pun intended!) but if you don't trust yourself, use a marker or pen. It won't show.
Mix your paint and fabric medium 2:1 ratio and paint on the eyeball.

When that layer dries, add the pupil. I added a small white dot for a sparkle.

As you can tell, this does NOT need to look perfect!
Now, lay the eyeball {face down} to the INSIDE of the shirt. See the label?

Then, sew around the entire eyeball.
Flip the shirt to the right side.

Using sewing scissors, cut around the inside of the stitching. Be careful not to cut through both layers of fabric! Leave a little extra at the top to look kind of like an eyelid.

As you can see, I put the eye on the BACK side of the sweatshirt, and the front of the onesie.

So, have fun and create!

Linked today at Lil Luna Someday Crafts DIY by Design Ginger Snap Crafts Eisy Morgan Night Owl Crafting Blue Cricket Todays Creative Blog

Backyard - NOT delicious

2011-09-27T08:04:00.002-07:00

One of my goals when starting this blog was to make MY home more delicious and bring you along for the ride.

I decided to just bite the bullet and show you the least delicious parts of my home, then work on making them better. Hopefully this will give you and me both some incentive to organize things around our homes!

This week I wanted to show you my back patio. This is SO embarrassing! (And sorry for the phone pics. The battery was dead on my camera!)

Do you see thick dust on the ground? And if it doesn't look bad enough, here is a closer up shot.

Ha! Lots of dust and scraps from our bathroom redo WAY BACK WHEN. And what is up with all the plastic totes, trashcans and buckets? I wonder what my kids are actually using for a cat dish?

OK, so now you have seen it. My goal is to clean this heap up and have an after picture for you by the end of the week! It is finally starting to cool off here (maybe just a bit) and I know the kids are going to want to be playing outside soon. Wish me luck!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

2011-09-21T07:14:00.002-07:00

I was dreaming about these the other night. The idea popped into my mind and wouldn't leave. It swirled through my dreams until I made them. It's just so hot here, I want to celebrate Fall, but can't imagine turning on the oven yet!

These did not disappoint! It brought fall to my home without the oven!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

1 pkg marshmallows
1/4 cup butter or margarine
6 cups rice Krispies
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring (optional)

Melt butter in a large plastic bowl in the microwave. Mix in spices and a few drops of food coloring. Add marshmallows. Microwave and additional 1 1/2 minutes. Stir until all are nice and smooth in color. Add cereal. Press into greased 9 x 13 pan.

Cut them up and yum!

Linked with Lil Luna, Someday Crafts, One Artsy Mama Vintage Gwen Idea room

Gorgeous Journal Tutorial from Jen's Brain Things

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hiya Home Delicious readers! I’m Jen from Jen’s Brain Things.

I was so pleased to be asked by my friend Whitney to be a guest blogger.

I’ve been a crafter all of my life. I enjoy creating things for my home, my friends and family. In fact my hubby’s first question when he sees me working on a project is, “Who are you giving that to?” because in his words, I never keep any of the things I make.

Lately I’ve been altering a lot of composition notebooks to give to the young women at church for their birthday presents. I try to specialize it to each girl’s favorite colors and other likes. The book I’m showing today is for a young lady that likes purple and zebra print. J

First I start by gathering all of my supplies.

I attach the paper to the front and back paper using rubber cement and let it dry thoroughly.

Then using a craft knife I trim around the edges. I go back with a good craft glue and catch any loose edges where the cement didn’t adhere the paper to the book cover.

Then I decorate up the cover using stamps, inks, die cuts, ribbons…..

… punches, embossing folders, glaze… whatever I have that fits the theme I’m working on.

These books are readily available at most any mass merchandise store, drug store or office supply. And they can be altered into a nicely personalized gift for any occasion. It’s also fun to add a bit of ribbon and fluff to personalize what would normally be considered an ordinary pen to go with the gift.

Hope I was able to inspire you to try something new.

Have a great day!

Aren't those great? Jen has so many crafty ideas, you have got to stop by her blog and check them out! And thanks Jen for coming over today!

Kick Off with Hass Avocados Recipe Contest and my favorite avocado recipe

2011-09-18T19:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hass Avocado Board featuring Hass Avocados for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love Hass Avocados. Growing up in California, we ate avocados all the time. The best part was taking out the pit, sticking a toothpick in it and putting it in a cup of water. We always thought it would sprout and we could grow our own avocado tree.

image via google images

So lately, we have been trying to introduce healthier fats into our diet. Enter the avocado! 1/5 of an avocado has only 50 calories and contributes nearly 20 vitamins and minerals!

So, I am super excited about this recipe contest ! They are having a weekly sweepstakes where they give away a box of avocados a week for 14 weeks! And a recipe contest where the winner gets a trip to the Rose Bowl Game®!

So let's get creative! Think outside the guacamole! The avocado central website has tons of avocado recipes to get that creativity flowing. One of our favorite ways to eat avocados comes from when my hubby lived in Africa. We mix chunks of avocado with crab and tomatoes and eat it over French Bread. It is so yummy! When I lived in Brazil we ate a ton of avocados, too! But sweet! Avocado icecream, pudding, and straight with sugar!

The recipe I want to share with you today is my BLAM. Tomatoes don't always go over well in this family, so instead of a traditional BLT, try this BLAM. Bacon, lettuce, avocado and mango. Oh so yummy! Avocado and mango together is a delicious combination, and it gives it that sweet addition.

BLAM

Ingredients:

Toasted Ciabatta bread (I throw it under the broiler)

2 Tbls honey Greek yogurt

1 lettuce leaf

sliced mango

sliced avocado

cooked bacon (I by the precooked kind so my whole house doesn't stink up)

Instructions:

Spread the yogurt on both sides of the bread. Layer all the other ingredients. Enjoy!

So here are the details on the recipe contest. I know you have an awesome recipe you want to submit!

The Kick Off with Hass Avocados Recipe Contest has this awesome Grand Prize package which includes the following for 4 people:

Round trip airfare, hotel accomodations, participation in a Rose Bowl Game® welcome reception, admission to the behind the scene Rose Bowl Parade ® decorating site, sight seeing tour of Pasadena, admission to the Rose Bowl Game® on Jan 2, 2012 and more!

For more information on how the winner is chosen, be sure to check out their facebook page.

So, make sure you head over to the Kick Off with Hass Avocados Recipe Contest and sign up for their emails while you are there! It's only once a month and you will get loads of ideas sent right to your inbox.

Guest Blogger - Emilee from Sweetly Made

2011-09-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to introduce you all to one of my sponsors and friends, Emilee from Sweetly Made. I have known Emilee for a long time and she has always been talented, it definitely runs in her family! I have never seen a more organized home than the one she grew up in. Her ideas on home organization are tried and true! So after you read her post and see her beautiful work, head on over to her blog and show her some love! (I think she still has a couple of spaces open for Christmas stockings! Get yours before they fill up!)

Hey bloggers...it's Emilee from "Sweetly Made (Just for you)."I was thrilled when Whitney gave me the opportunity to share with you my creations and my Etsy shop found {HERE}.My love for knitting started in 2005 when I decided that it wastime to learn how to knit. My grandma knitted all of our Christmas stockings and I knew that I needed to continue the tradition. So, I asked my grandma if she would teach me and she was thrilled.Next thing I knew, I knitted my very first Christmas stocking for my niece Emma.I kept going...and knitted four more that year (with the help of Michaels since I had moved a fewstates away from my grandma).I was on a roll! I started my blog found {HERE} in 2007 and started receiving orders.I even designed some custom orders such as

{Christmas Kitty}

{Sleeping Beauty & Cinderella}

{Snowboarder}

{The Grinch}

A friend told me about Etsy so I checked it out.

I haven't been too successful but I'm still learning and I receive most of my orders

through my blog.

However, my other creations are found on Etsy...

{Baby/Toddler slippers}

{12 days of Christmas}

{Button up Headbands}

{Women's hats}

{More button up headbands}

Overall, I love to knit. I have a passion to create. And, my favorite thing to knit are Christmas stockings

because they bring joy and happiness to other people's lives. And I know they will cherish them fora lifetime. Let me sweetly knit something "just for you." Thanks and have a wonderful day.

Thanks Emilee! Isn't she great? Now, be sure to see my guest post today over at Sweetly Made (Just for you)

Magnet Board (for a BOY!)

2011-09-14T08:38:00.001-07:00

It seems so many of the cute projects we have these days are for girls. Well, my son has some special papers and pictures he wants to hang up, too! So I decided to make a super cute board, perfect for an 8 year old lego lover.

First, I found this picture frame for about $7.50 at the Good Will.

I thought it was a great buy, but when I got home and turned the frame around I found:

It was really an old cabinet front.
So, an idea formed in my mind. First I got out the huge piece of sheet metal I am planning on using later for my command center. The big huge sheet was about $15 at Lowes.

I measured it and cut it with some tin snips I borrowed from a neighbor.
Then, using Gorilla glue, I glued it on the front of the cabinet/frame.

the heavy stuff I used to hold it down.

Now, if you ask my husband, Gorilla Glue isn't really glue. He hates the stuff. So, just to be safe and make sure the hunk of metal doesn't come crashing down on my son in the future, I used some cute decorative nails in the corners. These are like $2 a package from JoAnns and I used them for hanging my curtains into the wall.

While this was sitting and drying, I grabbed some E-6000 (the REAL glue!) and glued some flat lego pieces onto some magnets.

You have got to let these dry for about 24 hours. Trust me!

And voila! A super happy 8 year old and a cute magnet board!

Now, as an added bonus, here is a cool trick my lego loving boy instantly did with his magnet board.

First, he added a small lego to the magnet to make a "shelf."

Then he stuck his little dude on there for what he calls "figurine of the day." Fun!

Linked today with Lil Luna and Not just a Housewife, Ginger Snaps Todays Creative Blog House of Hepworths, Bear Rabbit Bear Someday Crafts, seventhirtythree Idea Room

Painted Door (and other stuff)

2011-09-12T13:02:00.003-07:00

I did. I jumped on that bandwagon. I painted my front door from the inside.

But I didn't just stop there. I also painted my door knobs.
Melissa over at 320 Sycamore tried it and they ended up looking terrible. But could mine possibly look any worse than they do now?

After a little research, what I figured out is that the shiny knobs need to be de-glossed. But look at these babies. There is no shine left. The Arizona sun has just eaten them up!
So, I went ahead and cleaned, deglossed and sprayed. I used primer for a few coats and then a few coats of Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze.

So far....

It's already chipping. So sad. It's only been 2 days! I did have all the supplies, so it was free.
And it DOES look better, if only for a while.
~sigh~
I will need to save up for some new hardware!

But on the bright side, the inside of the door looks fabulous painted gray!
Has anyone else tried this? And have you had any luck?

Chalkboard paint + dishes = Awesome Halloween Decor!

2011-09-07T15:04:00.002-07:00

With a little chalkboard paint and a few glass pieces from the Goodwill, I made the cutest Halloween decorations!

Items needed:

*Glasses/Carafe/vase (mine were .49 for the glasses and 1.49 for the carafe. The vase I already had.)

*spray paint primer

*Chalkboard spray paint

*tape and newspaper

First, I taped the glasses and carafe. I wanted a strip of chalkboard right across the top of the carafe, and I only wanted the bottom of the glasses painted.

I only had scotch tape, so that's what I used! I wrapped newspaper around the caraffe to keep the paint from spraying all over, but was less careful on the glasses. (Obviously!)

I primed, dried, and painted! Super easy! On the vase, I just flipped it upside-down and sprayed away!

I love how they turned out! I can't wait to serve witches brew to my little goblins!

Linked today at: Lil Luna, Blue Cricket, Someday Crafts, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, The Idea Room 504 Main Shabby Nest

Chore Chart That Works!

2011-09-05T08:04:00.001-07:00

Chore charts have never worked around here. And I have tried MANY! Recently, however, I came up with a system that actually WORKS! It has been running smoothly for over a month now, so I wanted to share it with you.

I have always been torn between paying my kids to do chores, and making them do them because they live here. I understand that they need money to learn how to save, budget, etc., but I also believe they need to do jobs simply because they are part of this family.

Enter my mixture of both.

I came up with 2 charts. The first chart is called our Daily Chore Chart.

On this are simple little things that need to be done daily. Make bed, pick up room, practice piano, do homework. You get the idea. For each item checked on this chart, my kids get 25 cents.

The second chart is our Weekly Chore Chart.

This has large (and some not so large) projects that are mandatory. For each item NOT checked off on this list, my kids lose 1 dollar. I call it rent.
I let my kids circle which day they are going to do each chore on this chart. They have always hated doing everything on Saturday. Fine! Do it whenever you like.

At first, they didn't love this idea. 25 cents doesn't seem like a lot. That was until they discovered how much they could earn every week. Up to $9.00! Wow! For an 8 or 10 year old that is a LOT of money!

Before you cringe and think I am WAY overpaying my kids, the average around here is $5 for the 10 year old and $2.50 for the 8 year old. She has made it up to $9.00 one week. Once. I about croaked. But one week she got $1.25 and he got 25 cents. Ha!

Do I still have to harp on my kids? Yes, but in a less bossy way. It's more like, "Check your clip board!" And we still have the rule of no wii, tv or computer until everything is done.

Small Details:
*My kids are responsible for checking off these boxes on their own. If they forget, they don't get paid.
*I add up the totals on Sunday morning. I have to make sure I have the cash to pay them. If I want them to be responsible, I need to be responsible in paying them.
*After getting paid, we split into save, donate and spend.
*My 3-year-old has a joint chart with mommy. She doesn't get paid. :)

*As a big kick off, I gave my kids each a wooden clipboard from the dollar store, a stack of scrapbook paper and a bottle of mod-podge. Then I let them go at it. They loved it!

Linked up today at: Tater Tots and Jell-o, Skip to my Lou, Lolly Jane, Home Stories AtoZ, Hope Studios, Todays Creative Blog, The Idea Room

How much is too much?

2011-09-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

How much would you spend on a piece of furniture from Craigslist? $50? $75?

First: The Dilemma
My 10 year-old has no closet in her room. It's "technically" a den.

Second: The Solution
I debated this solution from Young House Love. Which is to add a couple of small wardrobes to the sides of the bed. They used IKEA wardrobes and spent over $400. YIKES!

So I was looking on Craigslist and found this antique wardrobe for $200, non-negotiable. Oh, that is a lot of money.

It measures about 7' x 4 1/2'

The seller broke the mirror that covered the door, thus losing the value of this antique he inherited. His father bought it 30 years ago from an antique store in Los Angeles for $2500. It's date stamped 1906 on it.

What do you think? Am I a sucker? Did staring at cheap-o Ikea furniture for too long thwart my judgement?

I'm thinking (being that it is solid wood) of staining it a lovely dark brown. And maybe some cute fabric to cover the door? Share your thoughts and ideas with me!

Welcome!

2011-09-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog, Home Delicious! I am still in the process of getting this all under control, but look around and get comfortable! We're going to have a lot of fun!

Fun at DownEast Basics

2011-08-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, DownEast Basics hosted a super-fun bloggers night to show us their new fall line. I was thrilled with this because after all that school shopping for the kids, it's time for a little back-to-school shopping for mommy!We had a ball, running around meeting other local bloggers, but mostly SHOPPING! They have this great in-store promo - spend $50, get this purse for only $15! Hello! I snatched the yellow one, it was so needed! Kelli from Lolly Jane was laughing so hard at my previous purse, she said I needed to send it back to Italy! LOL!

They also have this great new kids line. My 10-year-old has been begging me for a tu-tu-like skirt. I keep telling her they don't make them in her size, but lo and behold. We bought a super cute one there!

Ours was in bubblegum, but you get the gist!

DownEast was kind enough to give us each $25 to spend!

SO, to make it EVEN MORE FUN, DownEast is hosting an in-store giveaway for YOU LOCALS!Visit any DownEast Basics store in the Phoenix metro area from 8/29-9/12 & enter to win a fall fashion makeover! 1 lucky winner receives $250 shopping spree + DownEast will donate $250 to a local school of winner’s choice!I am totally going down there! There were a few items on my list I didn't quite pick up yet. See you there?

White Bread

2011-08-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had this urge to bake bread. Not just any bread, but wheat bread. I found myself texting my mom late Friday night. My mom has everything.Me: Do u have a wheat grinder and wheat?Her: yesMe: Electric or hand?Her: ElectricWoohoo! So I swung by on Saturday to pick it up. This is what I found.

And here's another view.

ummmmmm. I think it's older than me. And I'm not young, friends. Hitting 38 soon here. At least it matches my Bosch, also older than me.

I happily switched my plans to white bread, as I wasn't too sure of what critters were living in that grinder. I guess all those spider webs that were covering it could be healthy, but we were having people over for dinner. Why risk it.

I wanted to share my never fail white bread recipe with you. A few of you have told me you don't think you can make bread. It's so easy! No kneading or anything that takes too much time or energy. That being said, you do need to make sure you are home to punch it down every so often. And it's definitely worth the effort as it tastes 1000 times better than store bought.

White Bread

yeild: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups warm milk

1/4 cup oil

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 Tablespoon salt

5 - 6 cups white flour

In your kitchenaid or Bosch or whatever you have (A big bowl?), put in yeast and warm water. The water should just be luke-warm. NOT hot. While that sits softening up, warm up the milk in the microwave just until luke-warm. Now add everything except the flour.

Ready for the flour? Add it one cup at a time. After 4 cups start to watch the thickness of the dough. Keep adding flour just until it comes away from the side of the bowl. It will be a little sticky. I added 5 1/4 cups to mine. That is my usual amount in Arizona, but I guess if you have more humidity, yours could need a little more. When you have enough flour added, keep it mixing until all the flour is incorporated.

Spray a bowl with Pam and transfer dough to bowl. Flip it over so both sides are covered in spray. Let it rise about an hour. Punch it. Let it rise again another hour . Split it into two loaves, and place them in 2 bread pans sprayed with Pam. Let rise once again about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Yummy!

Sprucing up those backpacks!

2011-08-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

School started today and I am doing the happy dance.

I LOVE it when school is out, but I also LOVE it when it starts back up. It's definitely time.

Has anyone else used their cricut/silhouette to spruce up their backpacks? If so, leave me the link! I'd love to see!

Back to School – Teacher Survivor Can

2011-08-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last night was Meet the Teacher night at school. The kids and I decided to make a quick survival can for the teacher's first week of school.

Supplies needed:

pop top can (I use something I can freeze for smoothies later)

can opener that doesn't "cut" the can such as a pampered chef one

treats to fill the can i.e. candy, gum, post it notes, etc

tissue paper

hot glue gun

scrapbook paper

ribbon to embellish

To start, flip that can upside down and remove the lid with the can opener. Wash and dry.

Fill the can with treats. Place tissue at the top to protect the items from glue.

Hot glue the lid on to the top

Take off the label and add some scrapbook paper. Tie some ribbon on the tab on the top and you are done!

Have a great first week of school!

Accessories when they are too old for “flower Clips”

2011-07-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

Being a tween is tough. You want so badly to be older, yet you are only ten. My 10 year old just won't wear those cute flower hair clips any more. Nor will she wear rosettes, bows, or girly headbands.Enter "the bobby pin." It all started when I bought these from Pick your Plum.

This prompted much begging for a trip to JoAnns to buy some more buttons (which happened to be 50% off.) Now, being a tween may mean you can't wear hair flowers, but apparently it doesn't mean you can't wear food. Especially treats you love such as candy and ice cream. And Bacon. Oh, how my 10 year old loves bacon. She made bacon out of shrinky dink paper and glued that on a bobby pin and some earrings, too.

We bought some earrings, too. They were under $3 for 24. All we did was clue the on using E-600.

Super fun, super cheap and best of all, happy girls!

Beat the Boredom – Fun Water Activities

2011-07-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the summer. The time where I am ready for the kids to go back to school, out of ideas and tired. Anyone else have the same problem?Well, today was a little cooler here in AZ. I think it was 104 and perfect for water games. Unfortunately, the public high school pools are now closed and our backyard is void of one.I came up with a few SUPER FUN water games for the kids to keep them busy. They are all using common items I have around the house. I think you and your kids will LOVE these!1. Shave the Beard.Materials Needed:Shaving CreamSquirt BottleYou can play this as a contest between two team, or just for fun!Squirt some lather in their hands and let them spread it on their face. (I would suggest not in the mustache area as it can drip in their mouth. Yuck!)

Using the squirt bottle, have their brother/sister/friend squirt it off their face.

2. Body PaintingSupplies needed:Bath crayons or bath paintLet them have a ton of fun coloring/painting all over their bodies.

Then, using a hose, spray them until it all comes off. For a little more added fun, I ask them to guess a color I am thinking of. Whoever guesses the color gets sprayed. They love this!

3. Soggy PantsSupplies Needed:Sweat pantsBucket of waterThe first person in line throws the pair of pants into the bucket of water (about 10 feet away). They run up to the pants, put them on and run back to the line. Repeat with the following kids.This can be done as a relay using two pair of pants, we just did it as one team for fun.

My little one needs to wear a hat all the time outside because of a scar, but she still had a ball and played with the big kids!

4. Duck Duck SPLASH

Supplies Needed:

Sponge

Bucket of water

We did this at a water scout activity a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was so fun!

Just play duck duck goose and instead of goose, the child wrings out the sponge over the chosen's head and yells, "Splash!"

5. Rainy Day RelaySupplies Needed:2 paper cups with holes poked in them all over4 buckets or large containers for water. 2 full, 2 emptyHave the kids line up in two lines by the 2 empty buckets. In relay style, have them run across to the other bucket (full of water.) Fill the cup, and holding it over your head run back to your empty bucket. Dump whatever water is left into the empty bucket. Hand the cup to the next person in line. Continue over and over. At the end of a predetermined time, see which bucket is more full!

I hope you all get outside and enjoy your summer!

Cornice How-to

2011-07-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Remember this awesome cornice I made in my master bathroom?

Well, I thought I would show you how I made it. You are going to be shocked at how easy this is. First of all, I found the idea here. If you are interested in hanging curtains underneath, I suggest reading her blog post. As this is a window above my bathtub, I went for just the cornice.
First, I started off with one of those 11" x 8 feet pieces of MDF board. You can see mine is already primed, but there is no need for that. For some reason my husband wanted that one. And when he is helping me with a project, I rarely contradict him. (yeah right!) OK, the truth is I sent him to Lowes and that is what he came back with, not seeing my vision yet. This board was only about $10.Anyway, I measured the width of my window and added 6 inches (3 inches to each side.) That is the long piece. As for the 2 sides, I cut them 5 inches each. Now I borrowed a saw from my neighbor because we were doing the floor, but they will cut for you for free at Lowes! Just bring the measurements with you when you purchase the MDF.I bought 4 "L" Brackets and screwed the sides onto the long piece.

Next, I cut some batting and fabric. I bought this cute fabric at Jo-Anns. It was 50% off, and I needed 2 yards. It ended up costing me about $20 but I had so much left over. The batting was super cheap. Maybe $3?

Pulling tight and using a staple gun, staple to the wood, all around.

To hang, we bought 2 of these "L" brackets. They are a bit more heavy duty than the others I bought. First we attached them to the wall, measuring out that 3 inches. Ours happen to line up with the studs, but if yours don't, you made want to attach them with wall anchors. We do that with curtain rods, anyway, right? Then, I held up the cornice while my husband screwed the bracket to the cornice. This was a little tight fit for the drill. But it worked. phew. I guess we could have made it come out more than 5 inches and made it easier on ourselves. Tip for future projects. :)

And here you go:

finished product!

And just in case you wondered, I recovered that stool! Doesn't it look great?

Ice Cream Sandwiches – Yum!

2011-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Our family has become very creative with ice cream sandwiches this summer. We have made the yummiest creations and I wanted to share them with you!
PB&JIngredients:Graham crackersStrawberry JamPeanut ButterIce cream (strawberry ice cream is really good with this)

S'moresIngredients:Graham crackersmini chocolate barmarshmallow (my kids stick it in the microwave for about 10 seconds first)icecream (cookies and cream is good, but really ANY kind non-fruity would be delicious!)

Salted Caramel (YUMMMMMM!)Ingredients:Ritz crackersDulce de lecheice creamDon't have a clue about dulce de leche? We used to eat this in Brazil almost every day. Let me tell you how to make it. Take a can of sweetened condensed milk and simmer it in a pot of water (covering it) for about 4 hours. Open can and pour into a bowl. Stir until smooth. Delicious!

Here are a few tips I have learned:*When putting ingredients like PB, jelly or dulce de leche on a cracker, freeze them open faced before you add the ice cream. I keep them in the freezer about 20 minutes.*Don't soften the ice cream.*Let the sandwich sit for about an in the freezer before you serve.I also saw some made out of mini donuts and some out of banana bread. How delicious! Be creative and share with us what you have tried!

Master Bath Redo!!

2011-07-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember me telling the tale of my 3 year old flooding my bathroom? Well, I should specify which bathroom, as she has flooded two. My Master Bathroom. This one was the real doozy. My 10 year old said, "Why is my carpet wet and why are there puddles in the guest bathroom?" Ummmm. That didn't sound good. I was thinking maybe a pipe burst in the wall. Nope. As I could still hear water running through the walls, I ran upstairs to find my master bathroom door locked and I could hear water running. Yes, the sink plug was pulled and the water had been running for a couple of hours. In case you are wondering, I teach piano and wasn't giving her my full attention. Obviously. Luckily the awesome CAT JONES has a mold company. And have we mentioned her connections to Bazzill? Yeah, I thought so. So they lent me a de-humidifier. I rented a few industrial fans from Home Depot. We drilled huge gaping holes in the walls to let them air out. And Cat and her hubby and boy came over a few hundred times to check the moisture levels. Phew! She is a life saver, I tell you!But the floors were toast. So were the base boards. My husband swears I did this on purpose so he would have to re-do the bathroom, but I SWEAR I didn't.Here are the BEFORES:

What did I hate? The walls were all that whitish color. I had this cabinet sitting on the floor in the W/C for MONTHS! The floor was linoleum dirty yucky and pealing. The curtains were ug. The light fixtures were crackly brown. The walls were bare. The cabinets were that orange-ish oak that I hate. It was just a boring builder-grade bathroom and it needed a little TLC. I think most people probably have a super boring bathroom like that.So what did we fix? Well, the floors are now that hand carved Antique Hickory fake wood that I love so much.I made a beautiful cornice for the window. More on that later.The cabinets were painted "cooled lava" by Valspar. And it only cost the $2.50 for the sample paint. :)The walls are now Alpaca at 50% by Sherwin Williams. And I actually bought a gallon for this project. (I know, that is a total surprise! but I had a coupon.)We used Ana Whites plans to make a couple of shelves.Of course, the base boards are re-done.I spray painted the light fixtures.

I love it. Every time I walk in there, I smile. My husband, on the other hand thinks we need to be on the Marriage Ref over my starting projects all over the house and him having to finish them. haha! I think we saved money by not having to pay the deductible of someone coming out to deal with the flood! If it weren't for the floors, it would have cost less than $100. So there is one thing I don't like. This bench right here:

I want to recover it, but I need your advice. Do you think I should use the geometric pattern on the left that the cornice is made from or the pretty fabric on the right? Leave me a comment and give me your thoughts!

Have a great day!

Flag Shirt

2011-06-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

All right, I had to do one more 4th of July project before the actual holiday. Remember the super cute onesies I made with the ruffle butt? Well, I figured I could update them a little for my daughters.

oh my I can't believe my house is that messy right now.

(really? Did she HAVE to wear the pink shorts today? Yep!)

Finally, a pretty good pose.

For the tutorial, click here, just use a t-shirt instead of a onesie. We used the Wal-mart $2.00 shirts. Won't they look totally festive with their matching flip flops (for the tween)

and ruffle sandals (for the toddler)

Have fun creating!

Litle Girls Patriotic Sandals – a fun redo!

2011-06-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

This is a true conversation last night (I woke up in the middle of the night, worried, then woke up my husband):Me: Do you think that it's OK to spray paint shoes?Ryan: No. That's why we have shoe polish.Me: But is it safe? I mean will the VOC's or whatever from the spray paint enter through Alexa's feet and cause her to have cancer when she grows up?Ryan: Just play it safe and don't spray paint shoes. Who spray paints shoes, anyway? And go to sleep.He didn't even remember this conversation in the morning. But I did. And after pondering it for a while, I decided it's probably fine. I mean, have you smelled shoe polish? It's paint, really!So here are Alexa's before shoes:

Aren't they ugly? I hate these Dora shoes. They are just about too small, so I figured what do I have to lose?

I took out some spray paint and sprayed away.Then, I ruffled some red, white and blue ribbon and glued them on in three lines. I used E6000, but I bet a glue gun would work. Maybe even better? I had to hold the ribbon on for a few minutes until it dried a bit and that bothered my impatient self a little.Here's the finished product:

Aren't they awesome? Yes, the toes are still a little worn, but overall, they will work for the month of July.

Jell-o infused Red, white and blue cupcakes

2011-06-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

I made the most delicious cupcakes yesterday. My kids were devouring them before I even put any frosting on them. So out of character! But they were SO good!

If you know me, you are probably wondering if I added greek yogurt to the batter. Of course! I add that stuff to everything!

This frosting recipe came from the girl who ate everything, and the cupcake recipe is on the same post and altered by me.

Blue and White Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix

1 cup greek yogurt (sour cream works, too)

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Separate the batter into two bowls.

Add blue food coloring to one bowl and mix until you get the desired color. The batter is thicker than usual cake batter, that is ok!

Put the white cake mix on bottom of the cupcake liners, the cover with blue. Cook according to box instructions. Cool.

After cooled, make Jell-o following the speed set method on box.

Poke a hole in the cupcakes and pour the jell-o liquid in the cupcakes. I used this old Pampered Chef tool I had, but it was really pointless. A spoon would have been just as effective. I just squirted until it stopped soaking in and started coming out the top. It's not really technical.

Put cupcakes in the refrigerator for at least an hour so Jell-o can set.Frost and serve!Frosting:3/4 cup butter3 cups powdered sugar1 tsp vanilla1/2 tsp coconut extract1 or 2 T milk, if needed.Mix with electric mixer. If you are really technical, like I am, (haha) put frosting in a plastic baggie, cut the corner and squirt onto cupcakes.

And don't you love these cupcake toppers? Kim from the Tom Kat Studio brought them as make and takes to the AZ Creative Night out last night. (More to come on that later!)

Super cute, super yummy and perfect for the 4th of July!!!

Tutorial - Flip Flops made cute! (It's that time of year!)

2011-06-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

All we wear during the summer is flip flops. We buy them in bulk. :) Ainsley, my 10 year old) and I decided to bling up those flip flops a bit to make them a bit more fun.

Items needed:Flip flops (obviously!)ribbon in various sizesfeltE-6000 (You could try a glue gun, but no promises!)Optional: Any bling you have lying aroundStep 1: Glue the ends of the first ribbon together into a circle. This would be the largest ribbon.Step 2: Glue the ends of the 2nd ribbon into a circle. Middle size ribbon.Step 3: Glue the two together.

Optional step 4: I glued a string of rhinestones on. If you look at the bottom of this post, you will see I did another pair differently.Step 5: Wrap a smaller ribbon around the ribbons and the shoe, gluing it together on the bottom. Hold it in place here for a minute until it dries a bit.

Step 6: Cut a small piece of felt on the bottom if you have sensitive feet.

We also threw a large rhinestone on top for good measure.That's it!! Super cute!!

We also did a pair of patriotic flip flops. Love them!

The best salsa recipe - Ever!

2011-06-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

This was my harvest from yesterday. Yum!!! Red and yellow tomatoes.

I know a lot of you don't have the Arizona sunshine yet, so I wanted to share my most favorite recipe of salsa ever. And the best part. Canned tomatoes! So don't worry about the snow, Utah folk! You can still pretend it's summer!(And don't boo me. I swear you will not think of canned tomatoes as a swear word ever again after you try this recipe!)Uncle Jack's famous Salsa. (Who is Uncle Jack anyway? This is my husband's family recipe and there is no Uncle Jack!)4 can's stewed tomatoes, Mexican style (or 2 large cans)1 can diced chiles1/2 jalapeno, seeded (or leave it out!)1 large green or red pepper, diced1 small bunch fresh cilantro1 clove garlic, minced1 lemon, juice only2 green onions, chopped1 Tablespoon cuminsalt and pepper to tasteDrain most of the liquid from the canned tomatoes. Mix the above ingredients in a food processor for 45 seconds or until chopped coarsely. Best is served at room temperature.

Come back and leave me a comment if you love it!

The First Day of Summer!

2011-05-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

The kids and I made a list of 70 things to do this summer. Today we chose make play dough. It was fun to make, and fun to play!

Here is our awesome recipe:2 cups flour4 tsp cream of tartar1 cup salt2 cups water mixed with 1 tsp food coloring drops2 T. oilCook over medium heat for about 3 minutes until it forms a ball. Remove from pan and knead it with your hands. Store in a plastic bag.Have fun!

Patio Potato Salad

2011-05-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else planning a Memorial Day BBQ this weekend? My hubby will be gone to scout camp, but we are still going to have a fun little party. I'm thinking of grilling some tenderloin (If you haven't tried this yet, what are you waiting for? SOOOO good!)We also have a family favorite potato salad. This salad has a little sugar in it, coupled with vinegar. Yes, I said sugar. It's kind of sweet and absolutely addicting. It's no secret I HATE mayo, so of course I switch it out for non-fat greek yogurt. It's healthier, yet keeps that same creaminess you need in potato salad. If greek yogurt isn't your thing, well feel free to use mayo instead!

Patio Potato Salad(from Taste of Home, tweeked by me)Ingredients:1/3 cup sugar1 Tablespoon cornstarch1 teaspoon ground mustard1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup milk1/4 cup vinegar (I wouldn't use red wine vinegar. I tried it once and it was weird.)1 egg1/4 cup butter, cubed1/4 cup finely chopped onion1/4 cup non-fat greek yogurt (Make sure it's plain and not vanilla! haha!)7 medium potatoes, red or regular. Both are good. (cubed and cooked)3 hard boiled eggsIn saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, mustard and salt. Stir in milk, vinegar and egg until smooth. Add butter. Bring to boil, cook and stir until think and bubbly. (about 2 minutes.) Cool. Stir in onions and yogurt.In a large bowl, combine potatoes and hard boiled eggs. Add dressing and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I would suggest at least an hour.Enjoy!Linked today at:Blue Cricket Lil' Luna Somewhat Simple Someday Crafts

Teachers End of the Year Gift: Personalized Clock (with some bling)

2011-05-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

With next week being the last week of school (yay!) I wanted to give the teachers a little gift to say thanks for a great year. I saw these clocks and decided to make them my own style. The great thing about this project is it can be used for any gift, really. I am picturing a cute baby gift with the name and birthday on it. Or a fathers day present for dad's office with a more masculine touch. Lots of possibilities! Best part: only $3.99. Yes, you heard me right. $3.99!

Time it took for project: 1st project was 1 hour. 2nd and 3rd were 15 minutes. Hopefully my pictures and steps will save you some time.Supplies needed:-clock from target. These are only $3.99 They have these in every color. -Scrapbook paper (we all have some laying around, right?-Any embellishments wanted. I used some old rhinestones I had lying around and some vinyl cut with my Silhouette, but stickers would work or you could simply print it with your printer!-glue stick

Part 1: Taking apart the clock

Step 1: Remove cardboard.Honestly, I felt so dumb. I was trying to cut off the cardboard, etc. Oops. There are these little screws for a reason. Remove them.

Step 2: Push the tab in with a flathead screwdriver or a knife or something to pop off the plastic cover

This is what you will havePart 2: Clock face

Trace around the plastic cover and cut out circle. Cut on the inside of the circle so it is a little smaller.

Cut out a small hole in the center. Cut a line about 1 1/2 inch coming out of the circle. This is necessary to get the hands of the clock through the hole.

Test the paper before you glue it to make sure it fits. Put the 3 hands through the hole and carefully put the ends in through the slit you cut. Mine was a little too big, so it was a good thing I checked. Trim it down if you need to.

Using a good, acid free glue stick, glue the heck out of the clock face

Slip the paper back on. Looks great so far!

Part 3: Embellish

Using e-6000, I glued some rhinestones on to bling it up a bit.

I also used vinyl letters and numbers

But ewwww! Look how horrible the middle looks! My other two did NOT have that problem. To fix this, I cut and extra "o" out of vinyl, and put it around the center. FIXED!

Be sure to stick a battery in and make sure it works right before you put the cover on. I had troubles with my "B" clock. I had to play with and adjust the hands a bit. Whew! I almost had to fork out another $3.99 for a new clock! (wink)Pop the cover on andFinished!

Here are the other two I made. I love them!

Cutest onesie ever (4th of July baby shower gift)

2011-05-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

My youngest is now 3, so I don't have any more babies to make fun things for. When I was invited to a baby shower I was so excited to make this idea that was floating around in my head! Inspiration from here and here.Materials needed:onesieRed ribbon (I used grossgrain, but anything washable would work)blue fabriccoordinating threadStep 1: Measure your ribbon to three times the size of the ruffle you want

Step 2: Sew (with matching thread) a line down the middle of your ribbon. Pull one thread to gather into a ruffle.

Step 3: Use fray check on ends or use a match to melt the ends. Be careful not to burn the ends or catch them on fire. ;)

Step 4: Pin the ruffle across the bum of the onesie. Don't go through both sides! I am not a pinner. I HATE pinning, but it really needs to be done with this. Trust me.

Step 5: Sew the ruffle onto the onesie.Step 6: Repeat with 2 smaller ruffles.

Step 7: Measure out a piece of fabric to about twice the size of where you want it to go.

Step 8: Sew a line down the middle, just like with the ribbon. Pull one thread, just like with the ribbon.Step 9: Pin onto onesie.

Step 10: Sew around edges.Step 11: Using your seam ripper, take out the middle seam you originally made. This will give it the cute ruffled look.

That's it! So cute!

I also made a cute ruffle for the front and a matching hair clippie.

Then, I rolled them up and tied with a ribbon.

I also added this cute onesie. I found the idea on the Silhouette blog, using heat transfer. Cute!!

How to: install shelves on board and batten and more secrets from my bathroom redo

2011-05-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Remember this wall? I promised I would show you how easy it was to install the shelves, but for some reason blogger was down last week. Better late than never, right?

Below is the picture of the wall after we nailed the 3" boards to the wall. In case you are wondering, NO it isn't real wood. It is pre-primed fake wood. :) It looks so real, though. There are a couple of other thoughts I wanted to share with you, as well. For example, when we took off the baseboards to install the floor, they were unusable. It seriously destroyed them. So we decided to use the same "wood" for the new baseboards. I have to say, I like it better. Also, I would recommend painting the wall and boards before you put them up. I think it would be REALLY difficult to do it all after.

First step is to nail the same 3" board directly on top of the top rail. We borrowed a nail gun from a neighbor and it was SO worth it.

Next, we purchased some crown molding. This was even less like real wood. In fact, it kind of melted when we cut it. I guess it's kind of a plastic? But it definitely looks like wood. This molding gave it such a nice touch!

Doesn't my hubby look young? We were at a soccer game and someone asked me who the younger man I was with was. HAHA! He'll never let me forget that one!

Next, we just used a ton of spackle and caulking. And that was it!We thought we would do this bathroom in one weekend. I'm being real. It took like 3 weeks! I felt so bad we had someones miter saw and air compressor that long! But it was worth it because the bathroom is just gorgeous.Helpful hint for painting cabinets: I did NOT remove the cabinet doors. I just taped the hinges and had at it. Saved me tons of time. Also, using the Sherwin Williams Adhesion Primer means no sanding. Just clean and dry the cabinets. Since it was a full gallon, I have a TON left over. Definitely enough for my kitchen when I get ambitious enough. And I did use a Minwax rub-on Poly that I already owned after I painted the color on.Another helpful hint. If you plan on installing knobs (like I did!) similar to Shelley at House of Smith's, make sure you remind your husband BEFORE he puts the panels on the wall. Because he may NOT remove the "wood" and may just tell you to deal with it. Even if you bought some super cute knobs at a boutique up the street and can't take them back.Here was the cost breakdown:FLOOR: antique hickory laminate flooring from Costco - $39/box. It took 3 boxes. Also needed was the $10 black waterproof underlay and a $10 laminate floor pull bar from Lowes (total about $140)PAINT: $35 for the cabinet primer from Sherwin Williams, $5 each for 4 different color to go sample from Sherwin Williams (total $55)

HARDWARE: $3.50/per knob or handle from Lowes (Total of about $25)DOOR KNOBS: $20 a piece at Lowes (total of $20)WOOD PANELING: about $75 (or maybe a little less.)Knobs that my husband wouldn't put in: $14. Wasted.Ways to save money:1. Borrow tools if you don't have them. I was surprised how many of my friends have things like miter saws and air compressors.2. Use the paint samples from Sherwin Williams. You can't beat the $5!3. Try using GiftCardRescue.com or a similar site to get a gift card to Lowes or Home Depot. I won a $50 credit from A Little Tipsy (yeah, I know. I win a lot.) and it really helped using that at Lowes!4. Recycle items you already own. I planned on buying a new shower curtain, rings and rugs. But then I remembered how expensive those items are! And I don't think they look too bad!

Please email me with any questions! And if you feel so inclined, Pin It

The Kids Finished Bathroom

2011-05-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to finally have bathroom #1 finished!

Here is a closer look at what my naughty one is doing while I am taking pics.

Do you love the walls? I know there are a ton of tutorials out there on them, but later this week I will show you how we did the shelves. My husband is pretty great! Oh, and sign tutorial found here.

Here's a couple of befores:

This is the sub-floor after my little one flooded the toilet. Yes, that is mold underneath.

Here is the BEAUTIFUL linoleum. So sad to see it go. The cabinets are primed here...

But this was their original color. Honey oak or whatever you want to call that builder grade beauty.

Total cost - under $300. No JOKE! I'll give you the low down with the shelf tute later in the week! And did I mention the little one flooded my other bathroom, too? Can't wait to show you that one. We're going a little more modern in that one...grey's, silver and black.

Book Marks (last minute Mothers Day or Teacher Apprec. idea)

2011-05-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

I am hosting a House Party this weekend for Singer and JoAnns and wanted to pick an additional sewing project besides the assigned one. This house party is for beginners who want to learn to sew, so I decided to make some super cute book marks. These are made out of scraps and super easy!

My 10 year old made a couple all on her own. Didn't she do a great job? If she can do this, so can you!

Project time: 15 minutes (for me, that is GOOD!)

Step 1: Grab a couple of scraps and cut them out. Mine were 11" by 3". The third piece of fabric was just enough to make a little stripe across for embellishment. You could also use ribbon. The purple strip on my daughters was just ribbon that we gathered.

Step 2: Embellish one of the pieces however you want. I took that little scrap and folded down the edges and ironed it. Then I sewed straight across. (It helps that Singer is lending me their super cool sewing machine. If I didn't have it, I would do a straight stitch with my boring one. In this case, however, I chose a decorative vine stitch.) Fold and iron the excess over the sides. I also added a button so it wouldn't slip down the book, but you can see my daughter added pearls on one of hers.

Step 3: Sew 3 sides, right sides in.

Step 4: Snip the edges, being careful to not cut the thread, and flip it ride side out.

Now I wanted mine to be a little thicker, so I cut a small strip of batting and just gently placed it inside.

Step 5: Fold the unfinished edges in and iron the whole thing so it looks nice.

Step 6: Top stitch around the entire thing. If you wanted to add ribbon to the top (like my daughters), stuff a couple pieces of ribbon between the unfinished sides before you sew.

That's it! A great (and easy!) present coupled with a favorite book!

Coconut Cake with the Best Frosting Ever! (An Easter Dinner Recipe)

2011-04-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

Coconut is one of those flavors. You either love it or hate. My family is split down the middle. Girls love it, boys hate it. But something about Easter just SHOUTS COCONUT! I decided to try a new Paula Deen recipe from her March /April magazine. I would type it out for ya, but REALLY the only part that is amazing is the FROSTING. Oh so yummy. You will love it.

Paula's recipe for cake was such a pain in the butt. It had you separate all the eggs, beat them all separately, fold them in, blah blah blah. It took SO LONG to make! Here is an easier coconut cake that tastes the same. No joke.Use a white cake mix and instead of the water, use coconut milk. If you really like coconut flavor, add a tsp of coconut extract in. That's it! Here is the part you have all been waiting for!!!Luscious Lime Frosting1 cup butter (super healthy, I know)1 tsp lime zest1/4 cup lime juice5 cups powdered sugar1 8 oz container of Cool-WhipIn a large bowl, beat butter, lime zest and lime juice until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Add whipped topping, beating until combined.

What I did: I made this a 3 layer cake by baking it in 3 8 inch pans until tested done. (about 25 minutes.) After it was cooled, I frosted it all and patted flaked coconut all around the cake. Decorate with peeps and all done!

Pork Tenderloin w/ a Peach Twist

2011-04-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

With Easter coming up, I really wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday recipes. I know pork tenderloin isn't what you first think of for Easter, but my husband hates turkey and I hate ham! So this is a great alternative! Easter is so late in the year this time around, it is already getting too hot to cook something all day in the oven. So BBQ it is!Again, this is a family favorite, even the kids love it!Peachy Pork Tenderloin(source: a ripped out page of an old Family Fun Magazine)Ingredients:1/4 cup salt3/4 cup brown sugar2 cups boiling water3 cups ice cubes2 pork tenderloins, about 2 lbs total1/4 cup peach preserves1/2 cup dijon mustard (but don't tell my kids or they will never eat it again!)pepper

1. Pour the salt and sugar into a glass baking dish. Add boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in ice cubes to cool the brine. Add tenderloins and marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

2. While they marinate, prepare grill for cooking. In a small bowl, mix together peach preserves and mustard. Set aside 1/2 of mixture.

3. Remove meat from brine and rinse. Pat dry with paper towel and season with pepper.

Place tenderloins on grill and cook them, turning occasionally, until their internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, about 20 minutes. About 5-8 minutes before the meat is done, brush on the peach-mustard glaze.

Move to cutting board, cover them with foil, and let them rest for 5 minutes. Serve with the reserved glaze.

Serves 6I used one smaller tenderloin and it served our whole family with about 2 medallions left over. This means: 2 adults, a 10 year-old that eats well, an 8-year-old that doesn't eat much, and a 3 year-old that hardly eats at all. :)Enjoy!