Pizza time

 

I am grateful when my kids are excited to help with dinner.

Sweet and Sour

I am grateful for homemade lemonade......is was SO good and SO easy.

The ratios go like this....

1 Cup water

1 Cup Sugar 

(I dissolved the sugar in the water on the stove before adding it to the mixture)

1 Cup Lemon Juice

Start with that and then add more water if needed (ours was super sweet but with the extra added water, there was enough for our everyone in our family of 6 and then some). 

And the kids keep asking me when we are going to make it again.  =)

Meringue Hearts

I am grateful for light fluffy meringues.

Get the recipe over at Pikadilly Charm.

Serves me right for not pinning it.....cause now I can't remember where I got the recipe from.

But these are mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins with cream cheese frosting in-between them.

I made them for a Relief society activity and they got great reviews!

I am grateful for the delicious smell of these muffins when they are cooking.

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

So I saw this pin on Pinterest a while ago and decided to give these Thin Mints a try.

Everyone LOVED them.  They didn't turn out as minty as the Girl Scout version, but they were still scrumptious.

I must say that I am grateful for when I find a recipe on Pinterest that is as good as it claims.  =)

I got the recipe from Baking Bites

Homemade Thin Mints
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick – if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp – and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate.

Chocolate Coating
10-oz  semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt on high power in the microwave, stirring every 45-60 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Chocolate should have a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup and fudge for a thin coating.
Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm.
Reheat chocolate as needed to keep it smooth and easy to dip into.

Makes 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I found a yummy No-bake granola bar recipe that is super quick and easy to make!

And the  kids loved it!

I found it at lauren's latest but here's the recipe from her blog. Oh and I did use rolled oats instead of quick cooking oats (because that is what I had on hand) and it turned out fine. Enjoy!

No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Barsyield: 10 bars
 Print This Recipe
adapted from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan {about 12x8x1} and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. {If your pan isn’t small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together.} Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Recipe Notes: If your granola bars don’t seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have made them too thin or you didn’t pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together. {Be sure not to keep them in there too long or else they’ll become super hard!} The next time you make them, try reducing the butter to 3 tablespoons and really packing them down

All Nat u ral

Today we made fruit leather.

I am thankful for delicious and nutritious things !  I think we'll have to make a bunch more!

Here's the how to:

Take your strawberries ( we had about a pound of them) and put them in your blender.

Blend them up until it is all nice and smooth.

Then I added a little bit of cinnamon (I think it was about 1/2 a teaspoon) and blend that into the strawberries.

Then pour it thinly on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (NOT wax paper).

Set your oven to the lowest temperature, put the cookie sheet in the oven, leave the oven door cracked open, and check it in a couple of hours to see how it is coming.

When it is done it should not be gooey looking.

Take it out of the oven, let it cool off, and then you can peel it off the paper and eat it.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Yum yum!  =)

Peanut Butter Bars

My hubby has been wanting me for years to find a recipe for peanut butter bars just like the ones that he used to have in school growing up.  I never had them in school.....I know.  I was a deprived child.  lol.

But I am thankful that I finally found some that are almost just like the ones he used to have.  The frosting isn't quite the same, but I think I can fix that.  The peanut butter bar part is exactly like he remembers them.  Woohoo!

They are super yummy so I thought I would share where I got the recipe. 

I got it at Tried and tried again.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/2 C Flour

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ C Butter

¾ C Sugar

¾ C Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated.Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Lemon Bar cookies.

Now when I first made these I left out the lemon zest because I didn't have any lemons and my family still loved it.

I am thankful for cookies that have no eggs in it....then I feel a little better about letting my kids eat the dough.

I got this recipe from sophistamom


chewy lemon snowdrop cookies


1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
zest of 2 lemons
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons lemon juice
about 1 cup powdered sugar, for coating

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour and salt.  Set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, lemon zest, sugar, and agave nectar. Mix until very smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides.
3. In a small cup, combine the lemon juice baking soda. With the mixer on low, add in flour mixture and lemon juice mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula and mix the dough by hand a few times to ensure an even distribution of the ingredients.
4. Roll the dough into balls, one inch in diameter. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets , and then toss in powdered sugar to coat.

St. Patricks Day

At bed time, last night, Little A realizes that we didn't make a Leprechaun trap. And she was SO worried.

I told her that maybe if we didn't try to catch the Leprechaun he may leave us a treat.  She was happy with that answer.

And as I was tucking her in her covers she says 'Oh my goodness!  It smells like a Leprechaun in my room! He must be hiding in here!'

Sure enough, in the morning the girls found some chocolate gold coins in their rooms.

And only 1 trick from the Leprechaun....

They were happy that he did NOT turn our milk green this year (they always have a really hard time drinking green milk).

But he did turn the toilet water green.

After Baby Root beer went to the bathroom in the morning she ran to her sisters and told them to come look.  Little A runs in the bathroom and exclaims 'Oh my! The Leprechaun turned your PEE green!'

I'm so grateful for my kids.  =)

Hope you all had a fun St. Patricks Day!

Baby RB and me decided to make rainbow cupcakes.

She filled the cups and at the end it looked like one of those Spin Art papers.

And here's the end results.

We put several clumps of different colored frosting in the frosting bag and got rainbow frosting too.  Each cupcake had frosting that was different cause the colors never came out the same.

And for the rainbow....

I didn't use the sour airheads that are already rainbow in color.

My kids won't eat them so I tried to make my own.

I used airheads and cut them into strips and then just kind of squished/pushed the colors together.

Fun with the little ones.

Little A and I made our own sugar cubes today...just for fun.
I've heard that they are really expensive to buy.
I'm thankful that making them is SO easy and inexpensive.
I posted the instructions here at Pickadilly Charm

Yum

I made these today and I am super grateful for an occasional treat! =)

Here is the recipe.

Me? In the Kitchen?

I am NOT a fan of cooking so

I don't know what got into me today but I made cinnamon rolls from scratch!

GO ME!

I am thankful that my kids loved them.

Frozen Treats

Little A and I made banana pops today! Yum!

I am thankful for treats that are a little bit healthier.

Here is the link so you can make them too!!!!

A drink of many colors

To find out how I made this fun drink visit Pikadilly charm.

I am thankful for things that taste good.

Really truely

Yup.

It is what it looks like.

A meal worm on her tongue.

She came home from school and the first thing she said to me and little A is close your eyes and open your mouth. I sat there for a minute thinking. All the sirens were going off in my head that she was going to give me something really gross that she found on the way home from school. So I asked her where she got it from and she said she bought it on the school field trip they went on today. So I thought it can't be bad.

So

I closed my eyes and opened my mouth (and so did little A).

Little A ate hers. I tasted it on my tongue and thought that it was one of those chinese noodle things, but still couldn't bring myself to chew it. So I took it out of my mouth and I am SO glad I did.

yuck yuck yuck and double yuck! But she loved them and kept eating them. O.o

I am grateful that I didn't swallow that thing.....I know it would have just come right back up.

Oh and she wanted me to make sure to say that they are BBQ flavored!

Making me hungry

I think I need to make more of these. Even my hubby loved them.....and he isn't a big fan of the ones with the chocolate chips on top them. Theres just something about these chocolate hearts. Yum. You can find the recipe here.

I am thankful for the occassional chocolate treat.

A little something

I am grateful for fun treats for the kids.

Tiny eddible cornucopia

The kids and I made a fun little cornucopia today.

All you need is waffle cones and runt candies.

Then cut the cone in half and fill with the fruit shaped candies.

I am grateful for easy treats.

Mini Thanksgiving.

After looking through some of my mom's old things (she made the hat and sweater she's wearing in her 20's (I think)), then we had our own ealy little Thanksgiving meal. Thought it would be a nice meal to have before she left the next day.

I'm thankful for the smell of baking bread (even if it is Rhodes frozen rolls).