Making Memories ... One Fun Thing After Another

"You Da Bomb" Candy Valentine

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

We just loved this cute Valentine idea when we saw it over on Make It Do. What a perfect gift for my kid's teachers, don't you think? Have you noticed that we are into all this corny stuff? I like the goofy sayings.

These were so easy to make (double bonus!) We used Rolos (my favorite) but then found Mentos on sale, so we used those for some of them. We wrapped them in red paper and used a small piece of a pipe cleaner for the wick. I glued them together at this point so they wouldn't fall apart. Then wrap a black ribbon around it and add a cute tag.

Boom! Valentine. (No pun intended.) =o)

You could write "You're Dynamite" or "You're the Bomb" or "You're a Blast".

I hope they like them!

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Gnome Sweet Gnome Valentine Kisses

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I just thought these were too cute to not make. Little Gnome kisses! The idea came from my favorite kid friendly go to craft site, Family Fun. I just love that site (but I've said that a thousand times.)

They were easy to make (minus the burns from my darn glue gun.) All you need is felt (any color), Hershey Kisses and googley eyes.

Cut the felt into circles and then cut into 4 equal parts. Make the circles as big as you'd like but not so big they completely cover the Kiss =o)

I tried to roll the felt and make a cone. Ouch. That was extremely unsuccessful. Perhaps because the only felt I had was super thick. I'm going to blam it on that =o) So instead I glued it like this:

Then glue the hat on and glue on eyes. That simple! (My daughter LOVED them!)

I'm going to put them in co-workers mailboxes as a friendly hello. The kids will probably take some to school for their teachers as well. Because who wouldn't love a gnome?

What great ideas are you doing for Valentine's Day? Do you make Valentine cards for your kids to give out or do you buy them?

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My Memories Giveaway

2012-01-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

Are you a scrapbooker? I am. I love it. I've been scrapbooking for years. It's totally therapeutic for me to sit there and "zone out" and get into my creative groove. =o) The one part about scrapbooking that I don't like, though, is the amount of "stuff" that you have to have. There's papers and ribbons and tape and brads and all the paraphernalia to cut and punch said papers.

When Liz at My Memories contacted me about digital scrapbooking I was totally intrigued. I could lay on the couch with my lap top and scrapbook??? Whoo hoo!!! And here's the best part. She is letting me giveaway their digital scrapbooking software to one of my readers. (Thanks Liz!)

My Memories Suite is the #1 rated scrapbooking software out there. And not only is is affordable and fun, it's also easy. That's important in my book!

Here are a few things you can do with this wonderful software:

Anita over at Aunt Nubby's Kitchen was having a My Memories Giveaway and she was kind enough to let me share her amazing creations with you. Thanks, Anita.

There is a Gallery page over on their site so you can see other ideas for this software as well. Here a couple of more examples.

Are you intrigued yet?

Here's how you can win the My Memories digital scrapbooking software...

Mandatory entry: Be a follower (on GFC) of Making Memories With Your Kids (that's me) and leave me a comment that you are.

Additional enteries (make sure you leave a separate comment for each one.):

1) Go over to My Memories and tell me which kit is your favorite.

2) Like Making Memories With Your Kids on Facebook

3) Like My Memories on Facebook

4) Because Anita was so sweet to let me use her layouts, go over to Aunt Nubby's Kitchen and follow her via GFC

That's 5 ways to enter!

If you don't win but would still love to try out this great software, the great folks over at My Memories are giving you all a code so that you can get $10 off the kit! How cool is that! When checking out, use code: STMMMS75179

Good luck! Giveaway will end on February 7th.

Trisha Yearwood's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love casseroles! I don't know what it is about them, but they rock my world. But combine this love with a small amount of pickiness and I have a hard time finding really good casseroles that I love.

When a co-worker emailed me this recipe I quickly read all the ingredients and did a little "whoo hoo". I liked everything. And I was so happy I made it! It is absolutely delicious! Really!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Source: Trisha Yearwood's Cookbook: "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen"

* 3-4 cups cooked rice

* 4 cups cooked broccoli cut into "chunks"

* 1 cup sour cream

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise

* 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

* 1 10 ounce can of cream of chicken soup

* 4 cups of grated cheese

* 4 chicken breasts cooked and chopped

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread cooked rice evenly in pan. Make a second layer with the cooked broccoli.

In a large mixing bowl mix sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, soup, 1/2 of the grated cheese, chicken, salt and pepper. Pour over broccoli.

Top with remaining cheese.

Bake 30-40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

It really is delicious! And it freezes great! I put a serving size in a tupperware container and freeze them. Then for lunch I can take out a container in the morning and microwave it at work for a home cooked, delicious lunch!

Enjoy!

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Valentine's Day Ideas

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

We're on the search for the perfect Valentine's Dad candy or cookie. Something to mail to my nephew. At Christmas time I told him that he was officially a member of the Dessert of the Month Club. That means Aunt Erin has to send a dessert to him every month. The only problem is, he lives in Chicago and I want a dessert that will mail okay and get there in one piece and not get stale. Hmmm....

Until we find that ultimate dessert, I thought I'd share some of our Valentine's Day ideas we posted last year.

Stained Glass Cookies

Milky Way Stuffed Sugar Cookies

Heart Lollipops

Candy iPods

Chocolate Emergency Can

Valentine Rocket

Puppy Love Dinner

Now for this year. We'd better get started!

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Bird Seed Biscuits

2012-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Aren't these Bird Seed Biscuits adorable? Well, if you were a bird and hungry you'd think so. If you would like to see how we made them hop on over to Passionately Artistic today to visit us. We're hanging out over there!

Valentine Cupid Arrows

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

It seems crazy that Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. Heck, it was just Christmas! I have a love-hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I love doing things with my kids and making crafts and things like that. But the adult part of Valentine's Day kind of makes me want to barf. I know. I'm sorry to all you Valentine's Day, mushy love kind of people out there. Being single for the last 6 years has skewed my opinion a little =o)

But regardless of my thoughts on the holiday, we love to make little treats for friends, class mates and teachers! This is a very easy and fun craft to make. I found this one last year on Disney's Family Fun site (I'm pretty sure.) It's not on there this year so I apologize if this is incorrect!

You will need:

* wooden skewers

* packs of gum (the stick kind works best)

* heart gummies

* red streamer paper

Skewer a pack of gum with the wooden skewer. Stick a heart gummy on one end and on the other end, glue the streamer paper and cut into strips. Easy, right?

And you have Valentine Cupid Arrows!

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Bacon Cheddar Pinwheels

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bacon + cheese + cresent dough = heaven in my book. These were so easy to make and they were so good!!! I was kind of amazed at just how good they were. I ate the entire batch. Really. I'm not just saying that. I ate the entire batch! Yikes!

I got this recipe from the Pillsbury website. They send me an email daily with recipes. It's awesome! They even send me a Pillsbury calendar every year. Again... awesome! =o)

Ingredients:

* 1 can of refrigerated Pillsbury cresent dough

* 2 Tbsp. Ranch dressing

* 1/4 cup cooked, chopped bacon

* 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the cresent dough and seal any edges pressing into a 12x8 inch rectangle.

Spread ranch dressing over the dough. Sprinkle on bacon and cheese.

Starting with the short side, roll up. Mine was a little messy. I think I doubled the amount of bacon and cheese. Because, you know, a little is great but a lot is awesome =o)

Slice into about 1/2 inch slices and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for approx. 12 minutes.

They are so darn good warm! This was my dinner =o)

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Scrabble Tile Coasters

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

I saw this great idea on Pinterest. Doesn't everything come from Pinterest these days? It's so easy and I absolutely love it! Okay, back to the idea. Scrabble tile coasters! How cute are these?!?! Do I say that about everything? I do. Apparently I'm pretty free with my love of food and crafts. Well rounded I'd like to call myself. =o)

Anyways, I digress..... they originally came from the site Incredible Things.

But really... aren't they cute?!?! You can make all different ones depending on your four letter words. (Snicker, snicker...) No really. Four letter words fit nicely. Or you could make them a tad bigger and use five letter words. For our project we went with four letter words.

My kids had a great time coming up with the words. We made these for their Grampa (hence the Papa.) But you can customize them to anything.

Adult coasters could read:
Brew, Suds, Hops, Beer
Cold, Stir, Iced, Lime

Be creative and let your imagination run wild!

We used Gorilla Glue (I'm not sure if I like that or not) to glue the tiles together. Once they were stuck together, I glued felt to the back and then sprayed it with a sealant. Next time we make these I will use a cardboard coaster under the tiles to help guide me to make them straight and give them a little more stability.

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Soft Pretzel Bites

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

My kids LOVE soft pretzels dipped in cinnamon and sugar. When we go to the factory outlet mall, that's our treat. We don't go very often though. And they ask for them... often! So I googled soft pretzel bites and found this recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod. It looked reasonable. (Not super easy but kind of easy. Does that make sense.) And I figured we'd give it a try. I've never made pretzels before!

I am so glad we did. The only thing I would do differently next time? Double the recipe! My kids gobbled them up so quickly!

We made some covered in cinnamon and sugar (for the kids.) And some with sea salt on them (for me.) WOW! Delicious!!!

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups warm water

* 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

* 1 package active dry yeast

* 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted

* 2 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

* 4 1/2 cups flour

* vegetable oil

* 3 quarts water

* 3/4 cup baking soda

* 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbls. cold water

* Coarse sea salt

Combine water, yeast, brown sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until combined. Let stand for 5 minutes for the yeast to proof.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth pulls away from the sides of the bowl. About 3 - 4 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and kneed into a ball.

Helpers are always a good thing =o)

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil. Add the dough and turn to coat. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit until double in size. About an hour.

Preheat the over to 425 degrees.

Remove the dough and place on a flat surface. Divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a snake about 22 inches long. We had a hard time doing this for some reason. It wouldn't stretch necessarily and it was supper slippery on the rolling mat. Heck, we're amateurs. So we just tried to roll it out but them ripped off small pieces and rolled them into a ball (or cut them with scissors into pieces.)

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add baking soda.

Boil the pretzel pieces in the boiling water mixture for about 30 seconds.

Place on a cookie sheet (sprayed with cooking spray.) Brush with egg mixture and sprinkle with salt.

If you are going to make cinnamon and sugar covered pretzel bites (and of course we did!) then don't add the salt.

The directions said to bake them for 15 minutes but that was way too long for our bites. We ended up cooking them for about 9 - 10 minutes only.

Remove onto a cooling rack and let cool a little before eating. They are amazing warm!!!

For cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites, dip each pretzel bite in melted butter and then roll in cinnamon and sugar. And then try to not eat them all! =o)

If you like to dip your pretzels in sauce (and who doesn't) here's a great cheese dip recipe!

* 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

* 1/2 Tbsp. flour

* 1/2 cup milk

* 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, grated

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the cheddar cheese until all the cheese is smooth and melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

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Soap Explosion

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! I can't believe the year is over and here we are. It's pretty cliche to say "it goes by so fast". But seriously... it does! We brought in the new year in style. We all have strep throat so we partied with our anti-biotics and watched a movie. =o) We did run out to get sushi, though. I just love that my kids will eat sushi with me. Can't get them to eat a casserole - but sushi they will do. Go figure!

You're totally not going to believe this. I didn't when I first read about it over on Toys in the Dryer. I ran out immediately to buy some Ivory soap because it sounded so cool.

WOW!!!! So much fun!

We went to the store and bought some Ivory soap bars. They were $1.74 for 4 bars. Not too bad.

Then we cut one bar into 4 pieces and placed one of the pieces on a paper towel and placed it in the microwave. We set the timer for 3 minutes but it really only took less than a minute for this awesome "thing" to happen.

I asked the kids what they thought was going to happen. All three (we had a neighbor friend over) all agreed that the soap would turn to liquid...

The anticipation was almost too much!

Nope, no liquid! It started to expand and became HUGE! I can't even begin to describe how cool this is!

It shrinks a little when you turn off the microwave. And it's not too hot so kids can touch it. It'll harden a little as it cools so they can break off pieces and use them in the bath or to wash their hands.

NOTE: Lindsi over at Toys in the Dryer warns to NOT put a whole bar of soap in your microwave at once. it gets way too big and will fill your microwave. Which would be a bad thing, right? My kids and I were seriously debating about doing it anyways. But we went with the warning =o)

Enjoy!!!

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Der Rheinlander Swiss Cheese Fondue

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since I can remember my family has eaten cheese fondue on Christmas Eve. My Grandmother made it when we all went to her house. Then when the Christmas Eve festivities moved to my Mom's house, she made it. Now that Christmas Eve is at my house... well... I can't break tradition. It brings back so many great memories for me.

I'm not sure where my Grandmother originally got this recipe. It might have come from the Oregonian (the Oregon paper) years ago when Horst Mager, the master chef and founder of The Rheinlander Restaurant in Portland, Oregon published it one year. However she got it, I'm so glad. It really is amazing!

I'm surprised by how easy is it to make.

Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 3/4 cup water
* 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
* 2 Tbsp. butter
* pinch of nutmeg
* 2 packages (24 ounces total) of processed Swiss Cheese. DO NOT use Swiss Cheese that you buy at the deli counter, it won't work! It has to be processed Swiss cheese. (Trust me on this one.)

I had my son (who loves, loves, loves this) help out. I have such great helpers!

In a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients except the cheese. Unwrap the cheese slices and tear them into pieces, adding a couple at a time. Stir until melted and then add some more. It looks pretty weird at first with so much liquid and not very much cheese, but it will soon look wonderful and the smells will make your mouth water! I promise!

Stir until well blended.

Cut up fresh French bread and start dipping!!! You can also dip vegetables (raw or steamed). Amazing!

If you don't have a fondu pot (gasp!) you can either use a small crockpot and put it on the lowest setting, or just keep it in the sauce pan. it will thicken a lot as it cools so you'll need to put it back on the stove often to keep it warm.

My son absolutely loves it. He's asking that this now be a New Year's Eve tradition as well. (I think he threw in a "and my birthday too" in there.) =o)

I hope you try this recipe out. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy!

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Borax Crystals

2011-12-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

I think this was one of the coolest things we've done in awhile. I'm still fascinated by how this worked. (And a little frightened by the wonders of Borax.)

This is so easy to do and it's so much fun to see the look on everyone's faces as the crystals grow.

Here's what you'll need:

* Pipe Cleaners

* Tap Water

* Borax Soap (found in the laundry detergent aisle)

* Pencils

* String

* Mason Jars or some kind of containers

Bend your pipe cleaners into any shapes.

Measure how much string you will need by hanging the pipe cleaner at the top of the container and have it hang so it doesn't touch the bottom of the container. Tie it to the pencil.

Fill your container up with very warm tap water (enough to cover the pipe cleaner.) You can use boiling water but I wanted my kids to be able to do the mixing, so I didn't want it that hot.

Slowly add the Borax. Stir and add more. You want to add enough so that you can visibly see the Borax (and not have it all dissolve.)

Now hang your pencil on the container and, here's the hard part... let it sit. My kids had a hard time just letting them sit. They had to check them... often.

This was after about two hours...

You can let them sit overnight if you do it in the evening. Or wait a couple of hours and voila! Borax crystals.

Just make sure that if you use a mason jar or something with a smaller opening that your crystal doesn't get so big you can't get it out of the opening =o)

What do you think? My kids LOVED them!!!

Thank you Homemade Mamas for posting this fun craft for us to enjoy!!!

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Meet Zachary - Our Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Santa sent us an Elf. His name is Zachary. Meet Zachary.

I can not begin to tell you how much fun it has been to have Zachary. The looks on my kid's faces in the morning when they search for him and then find him - priceless. Truly priceless.

He's a funny little Elf. He plays the Wii when we're not looking.

He loves to practice his math facts.

He had lunch with Barbie one day.

Apparently he likes to fish for Goldfish.

One day he got into the Band Aides...

Somedays he just needs to talk football with Santa.

He's a tad bit confused by all these electronics these days.

Somedays he's tired and needs to rest. It's tough being Santa's helper.

He loves to read.

He loves treats!

He loves to tell my kids that he's thinking of them too.

We're so happy to have Zachary come and stay with us! My kids look forward to it every year. (He first came to visit us in 2009.)

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Fun & Simple Christmas Gift

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Do I even need to explain why I wanted to make these for co-workers? I mean really, they are so stinkin' cute.

We gave them to the secretaries in the front office and the administrators. (I work in a middle school.) Cute right? And so simple! The idea came from One of a Kind Gifts but the "ding dongs" were the neighbors next door. Awesome right? We just adapted it to the counseling office.

I'm going to keep this idea for next year too. Maybe figure out how to adapt it for teachers =o)

We "Whisk" You A Merry "Kiss" mas

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I had every intention of making my kid's teachers Christmas candy bar wrappers as a little Christmas gift. I just love candy bar wrappers. But then I saw a version of this so cute idea over on Today's Fabulous Finds and knew this was what I wanted to make. I thought they were so cute!

We made them for their teachers (and the helpers in the class) as well as the secretaries. We didn't want to forget about them!

What do you think?

Malted Chocolate Tart

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the blog Betcha Can't Eat Just One. Oh man. Katie has so many good recipes! I just had to make this Malted Chocolate Tart too. And I'm so happy I did. It was amazing!!!

But I have to admit that if I actually read a recipe from start to finish before I started cooking and really paid attention while I was reading, it would make my life so much easier. Because I read tart pan and in my brain I saw torte pan. Because seriously, there's a difference? Well, apparently there is. A torte pan is one that you flip the cookie/cake/torte out of and the "well" is then on the top of the dessert. With a tart pan apparently you just remove the outer part of the pan and leave the bottom on the dessert and serve it that way. Huh.

For this dessert you need a tart pan. I had a torte pan so it was a little bit of a challenge after I realized this. But no worries. We made it work (whew!) And good thing because seriously, this is one of the best desserts I've had in a long time. It's that good!

Here's what you'll need:

1 1.2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup malted milk powder (Seriously! I couldn't find this anywhere in this darn town I live in. So I crushed up malt balls and they worked fine.)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1" cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup malt balls, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If you have a food processor (I don't have a big one, so I just used my mixer) add the flour, malt balls or powder, sugar, salt and butter and pulse until blended. Add vanilla and pulse briefly.

Turn the dough into a large tart pan (not torte) and press the dough on the bottom and sides of the pan. I cut a circle out of parchament paper to put on the bottom since I had a torte pan and not a tart pan. What the heck!

Bake for 25 minutes or until a light golden brown.

While the cookie is baking, heat the heavy cream in a pot until it is hot but not boiling. Pour over chocolate chips and let sit for about 30 seconds. Whip until it's blended and glossy.

Roughly chop the malt balls. You don't want them dust! Of course I had a helper with this part.

When the cookie crust is done, remove from oven and pour the hot ganache over the cookie. Top with malt balls. Let cool.

What do you think? I say pure heaven!

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{Secret Recipe Club} Cinnamon Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

I just love participating in the Secret Recipe Club each month. It gives me the opportunity to read new blogs and find amazing recipes and learn new techniques and cooking styles. Our amazing host Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking does a great job coordinating it all and helping Amanda from Amanda's Cooking out.

My blog assignment this month was {Sweetly}Serendipity. Taryn doesn't have much about herself on her blog but I can tell from her recipes that she loves to bake. And her recipes are fantastic! Such a great variety. From her Sopapilla Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars to her Raspberry Chocolate White Chocolate Whole Wheat Waffles and her Honey Dijon Chicken Tenders. I'm in love with everything! But when I clicked on the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecakes Bars I knew that was the recipe I was making. It's all my favorite things in one! (And I've never made the cookie dough you can eat raw before.)

One thing I changed was I switched the chocolate chips with Hershey's Cinnamon Chips. I fell in love with them when I made my Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies and I've been searching for something to make with them. This sounded perfect. And I was totally NOT disappointed. It was amazing!!! I will be making this again for sure.

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers, crushed (we used cinnamon graham crackers)
5 Tbsp. butter, melted

For the cookie dough:
5 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cinnamon chips (or chocolate chips)

For the cheesecake:
10 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with non-stick cooking spray.

In a food processor, crush graham crackers. Add the melted butter and mix until blended. Press into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake for 6 minutes or until lightly browned.

To make the cookie dough, mix the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in flour and vanilla and mix well. Add cinnamon chips. Refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes). Roll dough into 1 inch balls (or smaller) and place on a plate. Place back in the fridge while you are making the cheesecake filling.

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Remove the cookie dough balls from the refrigerator and toss with flour. Add to cheesecake filling and mix carefully. Pour over crust, making sure the filling covers the crust evenly.

(Next time I will probably put the cookie balls on the crust and then pour the cheesecake filling over them That way there won't be lots of cookie dough balls in one spot and none in another.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheesecake is set and doesn't jiggle. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

The butter kind of pooled while it was cooking so I'm thinking the next time we make this I'll add less butter to the cookie dough mixture.

Using the parchment paper as handles, remove bars from the bar. Cut into squares.

If you have any leftovers (ha!) store in the refrigerator.

Come take a look at all the amazing recipes from this months reveal.

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Christmas Candy Bar Wrappers - How Cute Are These???

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've decided candy bar wrappers are my new favorite things. They are cute and make the perfect little gift for teachers. We made our Thanksgiving Pilgrim candy bar wrappers and they were huge hits with my kid's teachers. So when I started finding all these great Christmas ones, I figured I'd share them all with you.

So cute, right?!?!


Reindeer Wrappers

Santa Suit Sliders

I like these because they are "sliders" or pockets. You make them and then slide the candy bar in. So clever!

Snowman

This snowman is a free printable! How cool is that!

	Now the hard part... which one will we make???

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{Crazy Cooking Challenge} Root Beer Float Fudge

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

I think fudge is my weakness.  Well, okay, fudge and donuts.  Ummm.... fudge, donuts and fried food.  Okay, fudge, donuts, fried food and diet Coke.  Yeah, that's them.  Is that bad?  At least with fudge I only eat it once a year.  And yeah baby, that time of year has come!  Yipee!

I am serious when I say I love the stuff.  But not just any fudge.  It has to be awesome!  I make an awesome milk chocolate fudge =o)  And when I made my white chocolate peppermint fudge I am pretty sure I heard harp music play when I first took a bite.

So when Tina emailed the Crazy Cooking Challenge for this month I about fell over in my chair: FUDGE!!!  You mean I get to make fudge, eat it and then see almost 150 other fudge recipes?  Ummmm, yes please!  Sign me up!

I was so excited to search blog-land (because the recipe needs to be from blog-land) and find an amazing fudge recipe that I wanted to make.  It was so darn easy.  All I had to do was look on my Fudge board on Pinterest.  Yep, I have a Fudge board =o) I have been wanting to make Aimee's recipe for Root Beer Float Fudge ever since I saw it on her blog Shugary Sweets. BTW - I love her blog!!!

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
3 cups white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream
3 tsp. root beer extract

This is the root beer flavoring that I was able to find.  It's super concentrated so I only used 1/2 teaspoon.

In a large saucepan, heat sugar, butter and cream until melted.  Bring to a boil and stir continuously for 4 minutes.  (I'm kind of a nut about fudge so I have to use a candy thermometer.  If you do, make sure your fudge reaches 236 degrees.)

Remove from heat.  Quickly stir in white chocolate chips and marshmallow cream.  Whisk in vigorously until smooth.  Be patient, this may take a little while but it'll be worth it =o)

Pour half of the mixture into a parchment lined 13x9 inch pan.  In the remaining fudge, add root beer extract and whisk again.  Pour over white fudge.  Using a knife swirl the fudge to make a marbled affect... kind of.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Let me tell you, this fudge is AWESOME!  It's so strange to bite into it and have it really taste like a root beer float!  This may be my new favorite fudge!
(Sorry white chocolate peppermint fudge.)

Enjoy!

Now let's check out all the other amazing recipes.  Oh yeah, and don't forget to vote for your favorite fudge recipe.  (It is a challenge and all.)=o)

Oh yeah - I'm number 21... just so you know =o) 

My First Guest Post!

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

I'm guest posting over at My Favorite Finds today. Come take a look at Carrie's great blog! She hosts a Monday Linky party (I love linky parties) and has some great kid friendly ideas. (I also love kid friendly ideas!) =o)

It's her big birthday celebration so there are guest posts all day! Come help her celebrate!

{Secret Recipe Club} Double Chocolate Caramel Mousse Cookies

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

I know, you're thinking "this isn't your normal reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club. What's happening?" I get the pleasure of visiting two amazing blogs and making two delicious recipes this month. I know! Two! How lucky am I?!?!

On Wednesday I received an email from Jane from The Heritage Cook. She's the host for group A on the Secret Recipe Club. One of the bloggers had to back out at the last minute and that left an orphaned blogger. Just the name "orphaned" makes me sad. And it's Christmas-time for heaven's sake. That wouldn't be fair. But man. It's December and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with everything that I am doing (and need to do) in the next couple of weeks. But I thought I'd check out the blog and see.

Yowza! When I clicked on the link to Passionate About Baking to see if there was something I wanted to bake I immediately email Jane back and said "YES!!!" Oh the possibilities!

The Coffee Chocolate Pound Cake looked heavenly!

The Creme au Chocolat Shots, oh man!

The Nutella and Fresh Cherries Chocolate Tart, yowza!

But I decided on the Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies. The only thing I did differently was instead of making a semi-sweet chocolate filling, I used caramel. Don't they look yummy!

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 + 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
7 Tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
3/4 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted
(I think I converted everything okay.)

For the caramel filling:
20 caramels, unwrapped
1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and cocoa powder until fluffy (about 4 minutes.) Scrape down the bowl and sides. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Add vanilla. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix just until blended (about 30 seconds).

Mix flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda and add to sugar mixture. Mix well.
I used my totally handy Pampered Chef medium scoop to get them a consistent size.
Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat and cook for about 8 - 10 minutes (until tops are puffed.)

Note: if you want a harder, crisper cookie, bake for an additional 7 minutes.

When the cookies are just out of the oven, use the back of a 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon and push a small well into the tops of each cookie.
Let the cookies sit for about 4 minutes to cool and then transfer to a wire rack.
Do you see the little "wells" on them?

Prepare caramel:
Melt caramel and cream in the microwave, stirring after each 30 second interval.

Pour a small amount of caramel into each cookie well.

I like this caramel rather than using ice cream topping. I like that it sets up so they can travel well and it doesn't stay runny or sticky. Oh yeah, and it tastes awesome too =o)

Now try to not eat them all in one sitting =o) They were really good. My kids gave them the thumbs up which is huge. My kids are pretty picky when it comes to desserts.

Enjoy!

Come take a look at all the other bloggers from Group A and see what they have created!

And don't forget to come back on Monday to see Group B's reveal!

I'm also linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Have you seen these before? I've heard of them but I haven't ever seen them in the stores. But the other day my Mom brought me a bag and said "try these." Okay! You don't have to tell me twice!

I wasn't quite sure what to make first. The possibilities! But there was a recipe on the bag for Oatmeal Cinnamon Chips Cookies. It sounded pretty good so that's what we made.

Oh mama! When I cut open the bag I knew I was going to be in heaven. They smelled wonderful! All cinnamon-y and delicious! Maybe my new favorite cookie =o)

Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter, softened

* 1 cup packed light brown sugar

* 1/3 cup sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

* 1 1/2 cups flour

* 1 tsp. baking soda

* 2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

* 1 (10 ounce) package Hershey's Cinnamon Chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour and baking soda. Add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in oats and cinnamon chips.

Drop by heaping teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for about 1 minute and then remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen.

They got a huge thumbs up by my kids. Oh yeah, and by me! They were fantastic: especially warm!

I'm on a hunt for more cinnamon chips now! My freezer needs some of these in there for later =o)

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Pin It

Weenie Men - A Fun Dinner for Kids

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not even sure I can type this post. I'm laughing too hard. 'Cause seriously... this meal cracked me up. But even more hysterical than these totally adorable weenie men (that I found over on Casa de Luna) is the conversation that I had with my son. Are you ready for this???

My son: "Don't forget today is Saturday so we get a fun dinner."

Me: "You're right. What should we do tonight? How about Weenie Men?"

My Son: "Oh yeah, or Super Weenie."

Me: "Um, what?"

My Son: "You know, Super Weenie."

Me: "What's a Super Weenie?"

My Son: "Mom! It's a crime fighting hot dog. Duh."

Me: "Of course. Could you show me how to do that?"

Are you ready for this.....

I'd like to introduce you to Super Weenie - Crime Fighting Hot Dog!

Is that hysterical or what?!?! I laughed so hard I cried. He was so proud of his weenie creation.

Way better than my weenie men.

They were easy to make and my kids loved them. Just cut a hot dog and then place in a pan with water in it. Cook like you would a regular hot dog and voila! Weenie men!

To make the hair on Super Weenie, my son added some uncooked spaghetti noodles. Then we put them in a pan of boiling water and cooked these crime fighting bad boys until the pasta was cooked.

I love being a Mom always. But there are days that make my heart burst and I thank the heavens that I was blessed with such amazing kids. This was one of those days!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Free Christmas Printables and Gift Ideas

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Keep Calm

I am so excited that Christmas is on it's way. I just love Christmas. I love everything about it! It makes me happy... even when I'm not really that happy. And I love printables. Especially free ones that are out there in blog land just waiting for me to print off.

I've been collecting printables for awhile now on Pinterest. If you don't yet know about Pinterest, you are truly missing out. You must go check it out and see all of the amazing things there and start pinning all of your favorites!

So I thought I'd share some of my favorite Christmas printables with you. Just click on the link below the picture and it'll take you to the awesome blog/website that created it.

Believe in the Spirit

Gift Tags or Mini Candy Bar Wrappers

Holiday Penguin Labels

Holiday Tags

Gift Ideas

Holly JOLLY Christmas

Candy Cookie Mix

We Wisk You a Berry Kissmas

Merri-mints

Snowman Soup

Christmas Blanket Poem

Grinch Pills

We hope you enjoy our collection! If you have a great Christmas printable that you would like to share, please leave a comment with the link. I'd love to see it!

I'm partying at the linky parties on my sidebar.

Glow In The Dark Bath

2011-11-26T18:52:00.000-08:00

When I saw this idea over on You'll Thank Me One Day I knew I was going to try this for my kids. I mean seriously... how cool is this!

I went to the Dollar Store and spent $6 on 6 packages of glow sticks. I went upstairs and filled the bath without telling my kids and cracked 3 packages of glow sticks in the bath. Then I turned off the lights and told my daughter to come up stairs. She walked into the bathroom and just stared at the tub. After about 45 seconds (seriously! It was so cute!) she dropped her jaw and saw "Oh my gosh! The bath is glowing!" Then she screamed at the top of her lungs "CODY, GET UP HERE NOW!" I filled the other bath for my son.

So for $6 my kids sat in their baths for almost an hour, giggling and hollering to each other "totally cool, right?!" It was so worth it!

Some people think that you need money to make special memories. Some people think it's the big things in life that we remember when we're old. Some people think that expensive gifts show someone you care about them. I disagree with those. It's the small moments that make up our lives. It's the simple things that we remember when we are old. It is the small and simple things that we do for or with our children that shows them how special they are.

You can live an ordinary life or you can live and extra-ordinary life. I'm going for extra-ordinary!

How will you make your day special?

I'm linking at the linky parties on my sidebar.

Homemade Butterfinger Candy Bars

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

We had to do it. We had to jump on the Butterfinger bandwagon. They looked so good. And the thought of making your own Butterfingers out of candy corn kind of intrigued me. I mean really... candy corn and peanut butter? Who knew? And we just love candy corn. It's just so pretty.

Katrina from In Katrina's Kitchen knew. That's where I first found these bad boys. She has a fantastic blog that I just love!

Here's what you need:

Yep, only 3 ingredients: candy corn, peanut butter and milk chocolate.

Add 16 ounces of candy corn to a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until melted. Remove from heat.

Add 16 ounces of peanut butter and stir until combined.

Turn into an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper.

Allow to cool completely.

Melt chocolate.

Cut candy corn mixture into squares (or small rectangles) and dip in melted chocolate.

Let cool on waxed paper.

So simple! And they taste wonderful. Totally like a Butterfinger candy bar. The inside isn't crunchy like a Butterfinger but it's not creamy either. It's hard to explain but they are delicious!!!

Enjoy!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar!

Thanksgiving Pilgrim Candy Bar Wrapper {Free Printable}

2011-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with this printable when I saw it over on Pittypat Paperie. She got them from Laurie Furnell's site. (Thanks, Laurie!!!) It's a printable!!!

I knew my kids and I had to make them for their teachers. (I'm a big believer in appreciating my kids teachers!!!) And who wouldn't fall in love with these very easy to make candy bar wrappers. All the work is already done for us!

I just printed them off from here. The directions are even printed on them. How easy is that??!! And how cute are these???

Print them out. Cut them out. Wrap a regular sized Hershey Bar and add a bow. Easy as that!

The middle one is for my daughter's teacher. She wanted it to have a pink bow. =o)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar!

You've Been Elfed and Free Printables

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

You've Been Elfed

I just love the whole "You've been elfed (or jingled, or whatever) thing." At Halloween time we do the "You've been booed" thing with our neighbors and then at work. It's fun. The kids love it. And who am I kidding, I love it. I love walking out on the front porch and seeing a treat for me and my kids. It brings great joy to my life.

The other day it occurred to me that it's almost December. Wait, perhaps I didn't have the correct amount of emotion in that statement... IT'S ALMOST DECEMBER!!!! I'm both scared and super excited by that. So it's almost time to start elfing (or jingling or whatever you chose to call it.) And I found some great printables on the internet. I mean really, hasn't everyone heard the expression "why reinvent the wheel???" So I'm going to share them with you.

Enjoy! And get cracking! It's almost December!!!

This site explains about being "jingled" and has some great printables.

We've Been Jingled

You've Been Elfed

You've Been Star'd

I found a great site that has 52 gift ideas that are simple and inexpensive. 52!!! Head on over to Brassy Apple and see what they are up to.

I'm linking to the great linky parties on my sidebar!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

2011-11-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Do I even need to say any more? I mean seriously... pumpkin... gooey... butter.... and cake? Delicious times four! Oh yeah... and Paula Dean. I love her. She's my mentor.

We've been making this amazing bars for years and I had no idea these were a Paula Dean recipe. But now it all falls into place. They are that good. You have to try them! They are pumpkin pie-ish and cheesecake-y and the crust is more of a cookie than a pie crust.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes
Adapted from Paula Dean (need I say more???)

Cake:
* 1 box packaged yellow cake mix
* 1 egg
* 1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter, melter

Filling:
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 3 eggs
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter, melted
* 1 (16 ounce) box powdered sugar
* 1 tsp. cinnamon
* 1 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Combine the cake mix, egg and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and butter and beat well. Next add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well. Spread the pumpkin mixture over the crust and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake. The center should be a little gooey.

Having a little helper definitely makes cooking more fun! =o)

Let cool and enjoy!

I thought it needed something a little more =o) so I added a drizzle of cream cheese frosting. Doesn't cream cheese frosting make everything better?

Store in the refrigerator (if it lasts that long.)

A huge thank you to Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for taking over the Improv Cooking Challenge. Not sure what this is? Check it out here.

Now check out all these amazing recipes with the two key ingredients in them: pumpkin and cream cheese. I know right?! It's like asking for heaven with a little more heaven!

I'm also partying at the linky parties on my sidebar.

{Secret Recipe Club} Chai Tea Bread

2011-11-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

I just love participating in the Secret Recipe Club. I love getting my email from Tina telling me which blog I am assigned to for the month and I LOVE going through said blog and looking at all the amazing recipes and trying to narrow it down to just one recipe to make. Call me crazy, but it makes me happy.

My blog assignment this month was The Jey of Cooking. Her blog is wonderful! It was so hard to narrow it down to just one recipe to make. So, of course I'll be making these other recipes in the near future: Artichoke Dip in Wonton Cups (oh my!), Cinnamon Chip Cream Cheese Cookies (drool), Zesty Shrimp Past with Leeks and Arugula (yowza!) and her Homemade Pasta with Creamy Zucchini Sauce (heavenly!) But I chose to make her delicious looking Chai Tea Bread for this post. I just love bread and I absolutely love Chai Tea.

Chai Tea Bread - from The Jey of Cooking

For the bread:

* 1/2 cup butter

* 3/4 cup sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 Tbsp. vanilla

* 1/2 cup prepared black tea, cooled

* 1/3 cup milk

* 1/4 tsp. cardamom

* 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

* 1/8 tsp. cloves

* 3/4 tsp. nutmeg

* 2 tsp. baking powder

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 2 cups flour

For the glaze:

* 1 cup powdered sugar

* 1/4 tsp. vanilla

* 3-6 tsp. prepared black tea, cooled

* additional cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a loaf pan with cooking spray.

I used a Chai Spice tea rather than black tea. I loved the smell of it and thought it would taste really good.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, tea milk, vanilla and spices on low speed until well combined. Slowly add the baking powder, salt and flour. Stir just until moistened. Pour into prepared pan.

Can you see the spices in there?

Bake for 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla and 3 teaspoons of the tea, adding more of the tea until it is a spreadable consistency. Spread glaze over the bread and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing.

It made my house smell so good while it was baking. The smell screamed fall to me.

Don't forget to visit the other bloggers in today's reveal. It's always so much fun seeing what others have baked. And so many great recipes in one location. Yeah!

Pepperoni Pizza Cresent Rolls

2011-11-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit it - I am in love with bread.  Yep, you read that right.  I love it.  I love everything about it.  I get extremely sad when I hear people can't eat it.  It's just not right.  But something I love more than bread?  Donuts!  But that's a different post.  Cresent Rolls.  I love them.  I love how buttery they are.  I could eat the entire package.  But I don't.  Let me add that again... I don't.  I just want to.

So how does one make these buttery wonders into something more healthy?  Okay, so not so healthy, just a meal.  Yeah, into a meal?  Add mozzarella cheese and pepperoni!  Oh yeah, baby!  Little pizza Cresent rolls.  (Drool.)

They are super easy and taste great.  A prefect "I don't have time to cook anything but I'm tired of chicken nuggets" kind of meal.  

Open you can of Cresent rolls and lay them out on a silpat (or counter or baking sheet.)

I cut a string cheese stick in half and added one piece of string cheese and some slices of pepperoni.

Then rolled them up.  They weren't perfect (as you can see.)

Then baked them according to the package directions.

Delish!  Serve with warm marinara sauce or pizza sauce.

COme join me at the linky parties on my sidebar!

Angry Birds for Dinner

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Angry birds seem to be the thing right now. When we were trick or treating there were so many houses that had Angry Bird pumpkins. They were super cool. So when I saw this cute sandwich over on Jill's blog, Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons, this just seemed like the perfect fun meal. And my kids agreed. They loved it!

You'll need:

* bread

* strawberry jelly

* raisins

* 1 large marshmallow

* orange slices

We made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut it into a circle. Then added another layer of jelly on the top slice of bread. (My kids were thrilled with this part.) =o)

Then assemble the face.

What do you think? Does it look like an angry bird?

{Crazy Cooking Challenge} Bacon, Broccoli, Cheddar Mashed Potato Bites

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it's that time again. A month has passed since the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge. This month... the ultimate mashed potatoes. I don't know about you guys but I love mashed potatoes. They make me happy. And what better way to serve mashed potatoes than all loaded up with goodness and then fried! Right? So delicious!

I got my recipes off two different blogs. The recipe came from Mommy's Recipes Blog. Her Creamy Loaded Mashed Potatoes spoke to me. I got the idea to fry potato balls from Life's Ambrosia. Check out her delicious looking post for Cheesy Roasted Garlic Potato Balls.

Ingredients:

* 3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed

* 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

* 2 cups cooked and chopped broccoli

* 1 cup sour cream

* 1 cup mayonnaise (we used Ranch Dressing)

* 3 green onions, finely chopped

* 6 slices bacon, cooked crispy and chopped

Cover potatoes in water in a large pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and mash.

Stir in 1 cup cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, broccoli, green onions and 4 slices of bacon (crumbled.) We used Ranch dressing in place of the mayonnaise. I thought it would give it a little more flavor.

Turn into a greased shallow baking dish and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Top with remaining cheese and bacon and cook an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

If you stopped right here you would be in heaven! But wait, it gets even better!

Have your amazing loaded mashed potatoes with your dinner and refrigerate the rest. The next day, remove them from the refrigerator and form them into balls about the size of a golf ball.

In one bowl beat 3 eggs.

In another bowl add 1 cup bread crumbs and 1 cup Panko crumbs.

Dip each ball into the egg and then the bread crumbs.

Fry in hot oil for about 3 - 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove and place on a paper towel.

Now enjoy every single one of them! They were so darn good. I loved the bacon and cheese in there and the Panko crumbs added an extra crispiness to the outside.

But let's look inside..

Oh man. My new favorite thing to eat. Seriously. Is it terrible that I ate these for breakfast too???

Again, a huge thank you to Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking for hosting this awesome challenge. If you are interested in joining us, let her know!

And don't forget to vote for your favorite mashed potato post. I'm number 49 (hint, hint) =o)

I'm also partying at the parties on my sidebar.

Oreo Turtle Bars

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Is it any secret that I have a sweet tooth? I know. It's horrible. But I think I'm on the quest for the perfect dessert. Yep, I'm going to call it that. A quest. So I'll keep making desserts until I find the ultimate, hands down, holy cow I think I might die and go to heaven dessert.

This was a pretty darn good one on my quest for greatness. My co-workers all raved about it. Co-workers, if you're reading this, I bake for praise. I really do. I love it when people tell me that I've made something wonderful and delicious and they oohh and aahh over it. I have no shame. I'll admit it.

A couple of months ago I was making a delicious recipe, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip, that I found on Connor's Cooking. I also found this recipe for Oreo Turtle Bars. But this is the girl version. Know why???

Here's what you'll need:

* 1 regular package of Oreos

* 1/2 cup butter, melted

* 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

* 3/4 cup white chocolate chips

* 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

* 3 cups mini marshmallows

* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

* 3/4 cup chopped pecans (we left these out)

Crust:

Put Oreos in a food processor and grind them into crumbs. In a mixing bowl, melt butter and add Oreos. Mix well. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray and press cookie crumbs into bottom of pan.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips and marshmallows evenly over crust.

Carefully pour your sweetened condensed milk over all layers and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Cool to room temperature before serving. (I had a hard time with this step. I cut into them when they were warm and gooey and oh my were they yummy!)

They are even better the next day (and a couple of days later!)

Enjoy!

I'm partying at the linky parties on my sidebar.

Stained Glass Candy AKA: Homemade Jolly Ranchers

2011-11-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what the "official" name of this candy is. It totally depends on which website you look at. The site that I found called it Stained Glass Candy. My daughter said "wait a minute. These are Jolly Ranchers." (She's a genius.) =o)

This is the recipe we used for our Broken Glass Cupcakes (which were a huge hit.)

Stained Glass Candy
Source: CooksRecipes.com
* 4 cups sugar
* 1 3/4 cups light corn syrup
* 1 cup water
* food coloring (if desired)
* 1 Tbsp. flavor extract OR 1 tsp. flavored oil

Line a large baking sheet with tin foil and either spray with a light coating of non-stick cooking spray or dust lightly with powdered sugar.

In a large pan add the sugar, corn syrup and water. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Turn heat up to high and let boil (without stirring) until temperature reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Immediately remove from heat and stir in flavoring and food coloring.

Pour into prepared pans and let cool.

(We used raspberry flavoring but didn't put any food coloring in the batch for our cupcakes to make it look like actual glass.)

When candy has hardened, break into small pieces and roll in powdered sugar.

This part is important because if you don't roll them in powdered sugar, they will all stick together. Unless, of course, you use them for the Broken Glass Cupcakes. Then just break them up and stick them in cupcakes.

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Pumpkin Carving: I Wish I Could Do That

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

If I had a ton of free time and wasn't working and raising two kids on my own, I would take a pumpkin carving class. Do they have those??? Well, they should. Because if they did I would take them and do amazing things like these.


Spider Man

This one's great!


Gizmo

Totally cool eye

Jack

This is absolutely amazing!

Smile Face

Bulldog

Apple


WOW!

Super cool, right? We will be sticking with the basic triangle eyes, nose and a mouth. =o)

Happy Halloween!

A Fun Halloween Meal for the Kids: Puking Pumpkins

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm totally having fun with this whole fun food for dinner Saturday night. I love seeing my kid's faces when I put their plate on the table. I love hearing "no way. Great job, Mom." It makes my entire day!

And how could I not make this for Halloween?!?! I'm not sure where I saw it. A Heart Full of Love made stuffed pepper jack 'o lanterns but they were a little different. Taste of Home also did something similar, but different. But I knew my kids would love this idea. I mean really, which wouldn't love a pumpkin barfing up spaghetti??? My son had me "fill 'er up" four times!

They were really easy. We used orange peppers and carved little faces in them. Then we made spaghetti and filled them up. Take a fork or a knife and pull some of the noodles out through the mouth. And voila! Puking pumpkins.

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Witch Finger Cookies

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever just wanted to give someone a finger???  Not the finger... a finger.  Ha!  I crack myself up sometimes.  (I'm hoping that's not a bad thing....)  

I found this great finger pan from Wilton last Halloween but never got a chance to use it.  So it was calling our name from the pantry this year and we just had to make Witch Finger cookies.

We used our favorite shortbread cookie recipe.  We just love shortbread cookies!  And what's better than shortbread???  Shortbread dipped in milk chocolate.  Right?  So we covered the back side with chocolate (so you can still tell they are fingers.)  =o)

And there you have it.  I'm going to take them to work tomorrow and tell everyone I'm giving them the finger.  Ha!

I hope I don't eat them all!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Mummy Burgers

2011-10-24T06:00:00.001-07:00

Oh, the pressure. My son's request to make "fun food" every Saturday night for dinner is already getting to me. How do people come up with all these ideas??? Well, however they do it, I'm just grateful they do. That way I can copy them and my kids think I'm amazing =o)

Jill over at Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons made these adorable Mummy Burgers. Hers look much better but I didn't show my kids her pictures (so they'll never know.) =o)

They were really simple and a huge hit.

Grill up your hamburger patties.

We used mozzarella cheese because that's what my kids like. We sliced it into strips and placed it on the hamburger patty. Cut small circles out of the cheese for the eyes and draw on a pupil with your black food marker. You could also use ketchup for eyes.

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Gory Cupcakes for Halloween

2011-10-22T06:00:00.001-07:00

For Halloween do you do silly fun or gory? We always do silly fun but I do like a little bit of the gross. So when I saw these cupcakes over on Pinterest (my new love) from Cakehead Loves Evil I knew we had to make them. Totally cool, right?!?!

We made stained glass candy (which we'll post about in a little bit) and stuck them into frosted cupcakes. My kids thought they were so cool. And my daughter loved the glass candy.

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Spider Web Snacks

2011-10-20T06:00:00.001-07:00

I love that I found these over on Mom Endeavors.  I knew immediately that this was a Halloween snack we had to make.

Super easy which means little helpers can do this one all on their own!

What you'll need:

* stick pretzels

* white melting chocolate

* raisins

* milk chocolate melting chocolate

Arrange the pretzels like this

Squirt some white chocolate in the middle to secure the pieces and then make 3 circles around the pretzels.

Add 2 raisins to look like a spider.

Cover the raisins in milk chocolate (if you want.)

Make sure there's a lot of giggles and laughter while you're doing this =o)

Let them set!

And then eat up!

I think my helpers had fun.

These were my daughters spider webs. Hmmmmm..... But she had fun. That's all that counts!

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar.

{Secret Recipe Club} Cinnabun Cheesecake

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to get my blog assignment this month for the Secret Recipe Club --- Betcha Can't Eat Just One. As soon as I clicked on Katie's blog I knew I was in heaven. Her blog is amazing and I just love every single one of her recipes! Katie lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. (Thank you for not posting your recipes in metric.) =o)

It was so hard to pick just one thing to make. I seriously had about 6 recipes that were a "must try" but how in the world was I going to narrow it down to just one. I mean really. Her Baked Pumpkin Spiced Donuts look amazing! And then there's her Danish Pastry - oh my! But as soon as I clicked on her Cinnabun Cheesecake post - I'm pretty sure I heard harp music and a dim light started to glow off the walls. It was a sign.

Do you want to know more about the Secret Recipe Club? Check out the website and see how it works. Amanda of Amanda's Cooking explains it all. There are so many bloggers that participate each month we were assigned into different groups. So a huge thanks to Tina of Mom's Crazy Cooking for hosting my group!

Now on to this amazing recipe.

For the crust:

* 1 1/2 cups finally crushed cinnamon cookies (I couldn't find cinnamon cookies so I used cinnamon graham crackers.)

* 1/4 cup butter, melted

* 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

For the filling:

* 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened (3 packages)

* 1 cup sugar

* 1/2 cup whipping cream

* 4 large eggs

* 2 tsp. vanilla extract

* 1/4 cup flour

* 1 cup course chopped cinnamon cookies

* 2 Tbsp. cinnamon plus 1/4 cup sugar

* caramel sundae topping

Note: Katie put raisins in her cheesecake but we opted to leave those out.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spray a 9" springform pan with cooking spray.

For the crust, mix the cookies, butter and sugar and press into the springform pan.

In the bowl of a mixer, blend cream cheese, sugar and whipping cream until smooth (about 3-4 minutes.) Stir in the eggs, flour and vanilla and mix until smooth (about another 3 minutes.)

Pour 1/3 of the filling over the crust and sprinkle with crushed cookie crumbs and cinnamon and sugar. Repeat with more filling, cookies and cinnamon and sugar to make 3 layers.

Bake for 60-75 minutes. Make sure you start checking the cheesecake after about 60 minutes. If it's jiggly, continue cooking for another 5 minutes and check.

DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE OVEN!

Turn oven off and open the door a crack to allow the cheesecake to cool for one hour.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. (This is the torture part!)

Before you serve it, ~~cover~~ drizzle caramel syrup over the top.

My thoughts on this recipe? HOLY COW!!! It was so darn good. I'm so sad that I only made one =o) Definitely a recipe we will make again.

Here are the other amazing bloggers who are participating in group B. Wow, right???

Pumpkin Joes

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

The other day my son said to me "Mom, we should have every Saturday dinner a fun dinner. You know, like the Aliens and race cars that we had." Bless him. I love that they want to help me in the kitchen and eat fun things.

So we decided to make something similar to our space ships but make them more Halloween-y. So we decided on Pumpkin Joes.

They were really easy and tasted pretty darn good.

Ingredients:
* refrigerated biscuit dough
* hamburger (we used ground turkey)
* sloppy joe sauce
* orange food color

Separate the biscuit dough and then separate each biscuit in half (to make 2 circles that are half as thick.) Press them out a little to make them bigger and thinner. This is a great job for a helper.

Cook the hamburger and drain. Add the sloppy joe sauce and heat through.

Add a small amount of the sloppy joe mixture to the center of one piece of biscuit dough. Dip your finger in water and run your finger around the edge of the circle. Top with the other circle of biscuit and seal with a fork. Repeat with the other biscuits.

In a small bowl add a few drops of orange food coloring and mix with some water. Paint this on the tops of each "pumpkin".

I scored little lines in the tops to make them look more like pumpkins.

Bake according to the biscuit directions.

Color pumpkin faces on them with your totally cool and now my most favorite kitchen item, food markers. I won this fantastic package of food markers over on Sweetology. I love them!

What do you think?

My kids thought they were totally fun!

Hmmmm... now what to make this weekend???

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar!

Hot Chocolate - Halloween Style

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've decided I love my food markers. I mean seriously. Who ever came up with that idea is a genius. Because we're having so much fun with them. Who wouldn't love a cup of this hot chocolate in the morning?!

My kids thought it was great. They thought I bought the marshmallows like this. Heck no. "I'm a Halloween genius" I told them. They are still young enough to agree with me =o)

But what do you think? Cute right?

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar.

Dirty Q-Tips - Oh My!

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! Have I mentioned that? Yep, love it! And how could I not when this is what decorates my kitchen? Cool, right?! Dirty Q-Tips! Ha! I saw these over on Pinterest too. Along with the Bloody Band-Aid Cookies that we made. It originally came from Katherine Marie Photography.

Super simple but the reaction from the kids is priceless!!!

What you will need:

* toothpicks

* butterscotch chips, melted

* mini marshmallows

Totally simple!

What do you think???

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar.

{Crazy Cooking Challenge} Oreo Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookies

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

I had so much fun with last month's Crazy Cooking Challenge I just had to do it again this month! And this month's theme - the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. How could I not participate in that?!?! If you missed last month's you must check it out. It was the ultimate macaroni and cheese. Soooooo many great recipes!

So of course I'm participating again! Are you ready???

The requirements for this month were pretty simple: find a delicious cookie recipe that contains chocolate chips in it and that recipe has to be from a blog, not a major cooking site (or someone famous.) Pretty simple right?

There was no question in my mind which cookie I was going to make. I had bookmarked these cookies a little while ago when I saw them on Moments of Twenty and they were all I could think of. They looked so amazing.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

* 3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

* 1 cup sugar

* 1 tsp. vanilla

* 1 cup flour

* 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

* 1 cup crushed Oreos

(I first have to say that this recipe only makes 1 - 1 1/2 dozen cookies. So, of course, I doubled it. I mean really. Who only makes a dozen cookies. I My kids can eat that in one day. )

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour. Gently stir in chocolate chips.

Place the crushed Oreos in a bowl. Scoop the cookies into about 1 - 1 1/2 inch balls. The dough will be sticky but that's good. Roll them in the Oreos to coat.

Place the cookie balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. This is important. I cooked a batch lined with parchment (the cookie on the right). On the left is how they looked when I cooked them on my Silpat (which I thought was the best thing ever... until now.)

Cook in a 375 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes or until slightly golden brown around the edges.

Cool for about 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container (assuming they last long enough to store.) They are seriously that good!

My daughter said these are the best cookies I have ever made! That's all I needed. We'll be making these again often!

So another huge thanks to Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking for organizing all of this. What a great idea of hers!

Check out all the other AMAZING chocolate chip cookie recipes! And don't forget to vote for the Ultimate recipe.

Bloody Band Aid Cookies

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween means fun food, right? At least in our house it does. I have to spice it up a little for my kids. So how could I not make these bloody band aide cookies??!!

I saw these over on Pinterest (who got them from Katherine Marie Photography.) Do you pin? If not, you are so missing out. I've decided it's my new cyber love. I can waste a ton of time searching around and categorizing all my finds. =o)

So what do you think? Do they look like bloody Band Aides?

Super easy. Ready?

Graham Crackers

White frosting

Red frosting

There you have it. That simple!

My kids thought they were so cool. And delicious!

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar!

Monster Mouths for Dinner

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I love fun food. I love making it. I love serving it to my kids. It makes me smile. So this was right up my alley. And it's kind of Halloween-y, right? Kind of?

This recipe came out of the cookbook Simple 1-2-3 Cooking for Kids.

Ingredients:
* Jumbo past shells
* hamburger
* spaghetti sauce

Cook the jumbo pasta shells according to the package directions. Let them cool so you can work with them.

Cook the hamburger. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce. You want it to be thick so don't add very much spaghetti sauce.

Fill the shells with meat mixture.

Put in a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan and cook for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Just enough to get them warm again.

Garnish with eyes and teeth. We used cut carrots, a pickle for the tongue and cheese for the teeth.

Totally cute right?

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar.

{Repost} All Things Halloween

2011-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah! It's October! That means we can officially start planning for Halloween. Well, we've been planning, but not out loud until now. =o) So many projects, so little time!

I was about to write that this is my favorite time of year. But I think every season is my favorite. There are great things about them all. But Halloween? Ooohhhh yeah!!! We love it!

Here are some great Halloween ideas that we posted last year.

My daughters favorite candy! Homemade Candy Corn.

Candy Corn Kiss Cookies

Do you do the Boo thing in your neighborhood or at work? Here are some great free printables and a super cute gift idea made from frappuccino bottles.

I loved these cute Corn Husk Cookies.

Severed Finger Pens! So cool!

This was a huge hit in our neighborhood and so easy (and inexpensive!) A Line Up of Ghosts!

Gruesome Green Toe Cookies

Yummy Mummy Cookies

How's this for a snack bag?

Milk Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Dress up your pumpkin with some bling.

Check out these Brain Cupcakes.

What are you doing for Halloween? We have lots of things planned for this year so come back and visit!

Oh yeah... have you heard of a site called All Free Holiday Crafts? It's so cool. There are so many holiday craft ideas it's crazy! Rachel, the editor, wrote a free eBook to download with Halloween ideas in it. So cool. And even cooler??? Our milk jug ghosts are in it! So check it out. And thanks Rachel for including us!!!

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar!

Cinnamon Sticks & Some Winners

2011-09-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

We seem to be on a cinnamon roll.  Ha!  Get it... cinnamon roll.  Cinnamonroll?  Oh man.  It's early.  I haven't had enough sleep and I'm getting rummy.  But what do I do when I'm super tired and my kids won't let me sleep?  I bake.  Yep.  I know, it's crazy.  But I do.  Have you noticed that most of the pictures of my kids helping me in the kitchen they are in their pajamas?  That's because it's most likely before 8am.

I knew my kids would love these cinnamon sticks.  They're everything we love: cinnamon, frosting, dough.  Oh man!  And they were so easy to make.  I love things like that.  I have a feeling these will be a favorite for my kids when we have people over. 

Thank you Jam Hands for this awesome recipe!

Ingredients:

* refrigerated pizza dough

* melted buter

* cinnamon and sugar

Frosting:

* powdered sugar

* milk

* butter or butter flavoring

Unroll the pizza dough and roll either out into a circle or a rectangle.

Cut with a pizza cutter into strips but don't separate them.

Brush with melted butter.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  Make sure you don't over cook the dough.

While it's cooking, make the frosting.  Its the simple powdered sugar and milk frosting.  You could use cream cheese frosting (yum) or maple frosting too.  That would be tasty!

Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Drizzle with frosting and serve warm.

Yep, my kids LOVED them!!!

And now for the winners of my giveaway for a years subscription to Disney's Family Fun Magazine.....

Pretend Chef

and

Mamie!

Congratulations! Email me with your address and I'll get that in the mail!

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar!

Sending Some Love From the Oregon Coast

2011-09-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all you know that I love the beach. I'm not sure what it is about the beach - the calming noise of the ocean, the smell of the beach and clean air, the feel of the warm sand on my feet. Maybe it's a combination of all of that. I've been going to the Oregon Coast my whole life. When I think of the beach, that's what I think of. It's beautiful!

This summer we had some friends come and visit us for awhile from South Dakota. It was the first time some of them had ever seen the ocean. It was so much fun watching their faces as they saw the waves crashing on the sand. Instantly they turned into 6 year olds and ran around and splashed and played. It was a blast! It reminded me how fortunate I am to live so close to such an amazing place.

So when they left I wanted to send them a little reminder of their visit.

What do you think?

When I put the bottles on the counter at the post office, the women looked and me and started laughing. Everyone behind me started asking questions and they all agreed that it would be so much fun to get something like this in the mail!

Super easy. I cut a clear pop bottle. I used a 2 liter bottle for the taffy but just a large water bottle for the sand and treasures. (The sand was pretty heavy so I didn't want to have to mail 3 pounds of it.)

We filled it with our treasures and then taped it back up.

Then we put an address label on it.

We filled one up with salt water taffy (delicious!)

And one up with beach treasures we found.

Wouldn't this be fun to find in your mailbox?

I'm linking up to the linky parties on my sidebar!

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

2011-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that my kids and I have a thing for cinnamon rolls. We made homemade cinnamon rolls, cinnamon roll bites with maple frosting and cinnamon roll pancakes (all super yum!) So when I saw these cinnamon roll cookies over on Everyday Sisters I was so excited. They looked delicious and super easy to make. I like that combination! =o)

Ingredients:

* 2 refrigerated, roll out pie crusts (you can make your own pie crust if you would like. But I don't make pie crust, so I bought some)

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon (depending on your taste)

Simple right?!?!

Roll out one pie crust. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture and roll up.

Cut into 1/2 inch slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 - 12 minutes (until lightly browned and delicious looking!)

Repeat with the other pie crust.

Cool on cooling racks and try not to eat all of them while they are still warm. Seriously. This will be difficult! They are awesome!!!

If you want to frost them (but you don't have to. They are delicious without it.) But even better with it =o)

* 1 cup powdered sugar

* milk

Add milk to powdered sugar, a little at a time. Make sure you don't add too much all at once or it will be lumpy and too thin.

Frost and enjoy!!!

Here... let's take another, closer look at these...

If you haven't entered my giveaway for a years subscription to Disney Family Fun Magazine, go here to do so!

And have you been doing your Swagbucks? What? You don't know what Swagbucks is? Then you need to click here and sign up.

All you do is search through their search engine and then you earn points! I already have 2 gift certificates purchased that I'm going to use for Christmas. How cool is that??? Check out my post that explains more.

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2011-09-21T05:45:00.000-07:00

Have you entered my Disney Family Fun magazine giveaway? If not, you can enter here!

I don't even know what to say about this recipe except... IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am totally serious. It's one of the best desserts I've had in quite awhile. (I use dessert kind of loosely... I had it for breakfast a couple of times.) =o)

I first saw this over on Mickey's blog, Monster Mama. It was love at first site. Doesn't it look wonderful?!?! And it's so easy!

Ingredients:
* 2 cans of Cresent Roll dough
* 2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
* 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup butter, melted
* Cinnamon and sugar

Roll out on of the can of cresent dough in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. You'll have to squish it out to cover the bottom of the pan and seal the holes.

Combine cream cheese, vanilla and 1 cup sugar.

Spread over cresent dough.

Top with the other can of cresent dough.

Drizzle with melted butter and then sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar over the top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. When it's lightly golden brown and bubbly it's done. (Or when you can't take it anymore because it smells so good!)

What do you think? Heaven, right? I had to cut into it when it was still warm. I about passed out. It was so good!

Oh yeah, and don't forget to refrigerate it =o)

I'm linking to the linky parties on my sidebar!

{Secret Recipe Club} Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze

2011-09-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's month two for me and the Secret Recipe Club. Last month was so much fun. I loved seeing what everyone made and finding so many new great recipes and blogs!

What is the Secret Recipe Club? If you missed my Mt. Bachelor Bars from last month ~~you're missing out!~~ then I'd better tell you about it. Amanda from Amanda's Cookin (awesome blog!) started this great club. We are assigned a blog each month (a different one each month) and have to make something from that blog and write a post about it. Fun, right? Well the response has been crazy so Amanda got some help from Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking (another one of my favorite blogs!) So now Tina is our host. Thanks Tina! =o)

My original blog I was assigned backed out of the club at the last minute so I was reassigned to a new blog. Can I just say how happy I am that my new assigned blog is Sheryl's blog, Lady Behind the Curtain. I love her blog!!! This wasn't a new discovery for me. I've been a follower of her blog for sometime so finding a recipe I wanted to make? Piece of cake (no pun intended.) =o) I was waffling between her amazing Caramel Banana Cake Roll, her Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Squares (um, yes please!) and this delicious Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze. I knew my kids would LOVE this cake and gobble it up so I decided on this recipe to make.

Oh my gosh! Delicious!!!

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter

* 1 3/4 cup cake flour (not self rising)

* 2 tsp. baking powder

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 1 cup sugar

* 3 large eggs, room temperature

* 1 tsp. vanilla

* 2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature

* 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

* 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.

Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes.) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with the flour.

Set aside about 1/3 of the batter.

In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth. Add the cocoa to the reserved cake batter and stir until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, alternating colors. Make it look kind of like this.

To marble, run a knife through the batter in a swirling motion. Don't swirl too much or else you'll just mix it all together.

Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Turn cake out of the pan and cool on a cooling rack until cool.

Glaze!

White Chocolate Glaze Frosting:

* 3/4 cup powdered sugar

* 2 Tbsp. milk

* 2 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled.

In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and milk. Add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar, too thick, add more milk.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Yeah right. Like it lasted 3 days in my house. Not even close. My kids loved it!!!

Amazing, right?

Here are the other fantastic bloggers in today's reveal. I can't wait to check them all out!

I'm also linking to the parties on my sidebar.