Christmas Treats

Here are some cute treat ideas for Christmas goodie plates.  The first is a Rudolph cookie from Jill's Recipes:

 The second is from Jill's Recipes too.  These are little Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites:

I love these little oreo truffles.  This recipe is all over out there.  It is so yummy!  I did white chocolate and red accents:

Last for this post is the Pretzle Hugs that I believe I posted before.  I made them w/ Rolos and regular M&M's (one per pretzle):

I just found another one:
This is yummy Peppermint Bark popcorn. 

Enjoy!

Dirt Cake

This was a cute idea from Heather Dr:

For the baby shower, in addition to the cookies I made for favors, I also made a bugs-themed cake--you know, for dessert. :)


I used my big jelly roll pan (10.5 x 15.5") and made a gigantic chocolate fudge cake. And OK, I'll admit it. I cheated. The cake was from a box. Good ol' Betty came to my aid yet again. (It was good stuff.)

Once it was done, I did cut it into two layers. The filling? Oreo buttercream. Then I frosted it with vanilla buttercream that I colored bright green. I put a couple handfuls of Oreos through the food processor to make "dirt," and then spread that around on the top of the cake in a big rectangle. Then, using one of my Wilton piping tips, I piped all of that awesome looking grass onto the top edges and the sides. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it was worth it in the end. I absolutely loved how this turned out.

To finish it all off, I placed several gummy worms on top, then made a little sign with a quote on it that tied the cake back into the "baby boy" shower theme. "Boys are meant for kisses and hugs, for watching rainbows, and catching bugs."

Perfect!

We didn't stop with just a "dirt and grass" decorated cake. No, sir. On Friday night, when were doing the food preparation at my mom's, Marie and I also threw together a "real" dirt cake. And we served it right out of a bucket!

It was the cutest. Vanilla pudding, cream cheese, cool whip, butter... all mixed together and then layered with... you guessed it, more "dirt." The dirt for this dessert was made up of about 1.5 packages of Oreos. It was a lot of dirt!

Topped it off with more gummi worms and stuck a small bunch of fake flowers in it. Also made another little sign with another quote on it that related to boys and dirt. "Trucks and dirt and shades of blue, little boys are angels, too." Put together, and with the rest of our decor, it was really quite adorable.

Here is what it looked like once it had been mostly devoured. It was a huge hit! (Such a hit, in fact, that Kara's 6-year-old cousin told me she wished I was her mommy! *gasp* It was really sweet, I just wish she hadn't said it right in front of her real mommy!)

I wasn't sure how many people were going to want to eat the dirt cake AND the chocolate cake, but everyone wanted both. Since the dirt cake was kind of like "cookies and cream," it went really well with the chocolate cake--it served as a good ice cream substitute. In case you're interested in trying this out, I'll share the recipe that we used.

Dirt Cake

(Source: Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter, softened

- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

- 2 (3.5 oz.) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

- 3 1/2 cups milk

- 1 (12 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

- 32 oz. (2 packages) Oreo cookies

Directions:

1. Chop Oreo cookies very fine in a food processor. The white cream will disappear.

2. Mix butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a bowl.

3. In a large bowl, mix milk, pudding mix, and whipped topping together.

4. Combine pudding mixture and cream cheese mixture.

5. Layer in flower pot or bucket, starting with cookies, then cream mixture. Repeat layers.

6. Chill until ready to serve.

7. Add gummy worms, artificial flowers, and trowel. Enjoy!

Butterscotch Pecan Pie

This Pie looks really yummy! Bakerella used this recipe:

Shepherds Pie

My mother in law who lived the first 20+ years of her life in Ireland said she had never had Corned Beef and Cabbage. So in our family, we have Shepherds pie for St. Patrick's Day. I use my mother in laws recipe:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef browned
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen corn (I used a can of corn)
1 pkg brown gravy mix
3-4 carrots peeled and chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1/4-1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Combine all of the above ingredients and spread in a 9X13 pan.

Cook and mash 7-8 small potatoes with salt, pepper, milk and butter. Spread this on top of the meat mixture. I used my cake decorating tips and piping bag to pipe potatoes around the edges. My husband says the Irish do NOT make it like that! Add Cheese to cover the top.Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bunny Poop

I would love to be the kind of mom that does this. This is from Little Miss Crafty Pants:
I have had a box of reindeer poop given to me before. It was a Whoppers box decorated like a reindeer with a puff brown ball for the tail and a little cut out so when you lift up the tail, out comes the poop. One day I will find the photo I took and post it for you to see.

The Easter bunny came last night

So listen here's the scoop

He left a special treat for you

A bit of bunny poop!

(I always do little funny things like this for my kids....they just think I'm crazy)

Fondue Party

Fondue party from Life Frosting:



This is a perfect get-together for a large group or a small group. This particular time it was for a large group...for a shower. We did 2 cheeses and chocolate.
So, for this event you will need: 2 fondue pots and a chocolate fountain (or another fondue pot)
Wheat, Italian, French, Pumpernikel, and Rye bread (cubed) (ok..you can just do one, but I love the selection)
Vegetables cut up (anything that doesnt need to be cooked to be dipped:broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celerey, mushrooms, peppers, apples, etc
Yummy things to dip in chocolate including: strawberries, pretzels, brownies, bananas, cream puffs, pound cake, cheesecake, marshmallows, etc
For swiss fondue...I buy the packets (gourmet grocery stores carry them in the imported cheeses.)
For Cheddar fondue (my husbands favorite) You just mix cheddar cheese soup with real grated cheddar
For the chocolate, you can use a recipe or buy fountain chocolate. You can also use chocolate chips and add veggie oil
Dont forget the skewers!

Baseball Party

This one is in honor of my brother in law Hock. I found this on Life Frosting:

I did a baseball party for Robbie's first birthday. It was SO fun that I think Ill do it again in a couple of years, and I think Ill do it in the summer instead of the winter.

The invitations were a white circle with red ribbon laced up both sides (just like the banner above)

We did simple food...but theme oriented. Licorice, crackerjacks, peanuts, baseball cupcakes, rootbeer floats and...

mini pigs in a blanket (from Costco) if you do it outside,you could do REAL hot dogs!
I used the wilton "ball" cake pan (which I have used every party since for one thing or another)

Since I always use jars, I just kept them filled with various treats around the house.
I also used some old baseballs in one, and this framed picture of Rob as a baseball player in highschool.

It is one of the easiest parties to do because there are SO many things that go!

Hot Chocolate Bar

From Life Frosting. This girl knows how to throw a party!


You may be starting to think about your fall get-togethers or showers, so here are a couple of my favorite ideas from last year!Think simple! This was a shower for a friend that was around 8:00 in the evening.


The hot chocolate bar is always the main attraction for me. We had the hot chocolate maker going in the kitchen and brought out fresh glasses of hot chocolate. (You know Ive also done it with a coffee urn serving hot water, and had guests mix their own hot choc. from a variety of flavors.) You need mini marshmallows, coconut covered marshmallows, whipcream, and flavored chocolate covered spoons (so easy to make). Melt milk chocolate chips and dip plastic spoons in it...then dip the spoon (or just the tip of the spoon) in peppermint candy, cinnamon, or coffee. Yum!

I made mini pumpkin cheesecakes with fresh whip cream and bought different flavor doughnut holes for the refreshments.

Of course caramel apples were perfect for fall. These ones werent my best, I cant remember what I did wrong. But, they were cute anyway!

Pretzel Rods

From Life Frosting:


For the past four years I have made caramel and chocolate covered pretzel gifts for neighbors...so I thought Id better continue the tradition!

You will need: pretzels rods, kraft caramel squares, white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips.

I add a little water to the caramel and then melt it in the microwave, and dip the rods in caramel. I use the back of a spoon to roll the caramel off and leave a thin layer. I lay them down on parchment paper and stick them in the fridge.

I dont add anything to the chocolate before I melt it, I put it in for 1 minute and then add 15 seconds if it needs it. I dip the rods in the chocolate just as I do with the caramel, using the same technique with the back of the spoon.

After they harden I drizzle the opposite color on them and then, WA LA!

Kids General Conference Baskets

General Conference Baskets from Creative Holiday Gift Ideas:



This is a post from a while back on my personal blog that I thought was appropriate to share since for those who read this and are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (learn more at www.mormon.org) it's almost time for Conference again. I love General Conference. I look forward to it and so do my kids, and I really love that. I know that the reason it's such an enjoyable and uplifting experience for all of us is that we are prepared. It wasn't always that way, but it is now. Here is a link to some ways to make Conference memorable for your family, we love the "tents" toward the temple idea and use it every time, the kids insist.

Another great help I received last Conference was a booklet of Conference related activities, coloring pages, and games for kids that a friend forwarded to me. I updated it the best I could for this time and plan on using it again. I am not kidding when I tell you that my 4 and 6 year old sat in the family room with us and listened to almost all 8 hours of Conference. (email me if you want a copy at delightfuldistraction@gmail.com, I already sent it to a bunch of you yesterday).

A few Conferences ago I started a little tradition of doing something fun for the families of the women I visit teach to help them enjoy Conference weekend. The first time I made sticky buns for all of them and dropped them off the night before so they could bake them fresh in the morning. Last time I made the baskets pictured above for their kids. They included an activity booklet for each child, pencils and crayons, and some apples and toffee apple dip. This weekend I plan on delivering "Overnight French Toast" with strawberries and whip cream to them on Saturday night. They can put it in their fridge and bake it Sunday morning to enjoy. I have not been a faithful Visiting Teacher lately and need to do better so hopefully this will start me off on the right foot!

TOFFEE DIP FOR APPLES

1 (8oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 (8oz) bag Heath toffee bits

Mix all ingredients together and serve with sliced apples or refrigerate till ready to serve. Makes about 3 cups.

So, here's my little nudge to you to be prepared so that you really can feast upon the words of Christ. It makes all the difference!

P.S. I'd love to hear any other Conference related activities/ideas your family enjoys.

submitted by Emily (delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com) email: delightfuldistraction@gmail.com

Lego Birthday Party Ideas

Lego Party from Creative Holiday Gift Ideas:

(click to enlarge)

Each picture above is numbered and a coordinating number is below with a description/explaination:

1. We decorated in traditional Lego colors with balloons streamers, and different colored plates, cups, forks, etc.

2. One of the games we played I printed off of Lego.com, it had two similar pictures and the kids had to find and circle the 15 differences between the two pics. The winner got to pic a lego person keychain/bag charm as their prize.

3. For another contest we had everyone build anything they wanted to out of legos. We had spaceships, Star Wars ships, a house, and other things that I had no idea what they were, but everyone loved what they made and loved playing with all their creations together after this game. For this game everyone got a bag of Lego Brick candy that I got at the bulk candy store in the mall for a prize.

4. Here are the Lego Brick Candy prizes. We had one for the most colorful creation, one for the fastest looking one, one for the person that used the most people, etc.

5. These were the prizes for the other games. They are Lego figure keychains that the boys like to hook on their backpack zippers. I took Mark to the Lego store at the mall and he picked them out so of course they are all Star Wars.

6. These are the gift bags I put together for the boys. I found the idea online and just bought bags and coordinating cardstock and then used a craft punch to punch the circles out of the cardstock and then attached them with pop dots to the bags. Inside the bag was a lego poster again a download from Lego.com that I had printed on 8x10 photo paper at Fred Meyer, and a set of lego stickers (from Lego.com) that I printed on sticker paper from the office supply store.

7. The first game we did as the boys arrived was to have them guess how many Legos were in this jar. They all guessed super low, and I would have too if I didn't know how many were in there. Can you believe there are 300?

8. We had a tallest tower contest to see who could build the tallest tower in 2 minutes and it couldn't fall over.

9. I used the bags as place cards at the table so that boys who knew each other would have a friend to sit by (some of the kids were from church and some from school so they didn't all know each other before hand)

10. I found the basic idea for these Lego cakes online from Betty Crocker and thought they turned out great. I'm not a cake decorator by any means so they definitely aren't perfect, but the boys thought they were great!

The time actually flew by and the boys were totally content to just build and play with their Lego creations. I had to pry them away to eat the cake before their parents came to pick them up.

submitted by Emily (www.delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com)

Caramel Apples

Make and Takes has a great Apple post. I want to do the Mini Caramel Apples from Family Fun. Warning, do NOT click on the Apple PB Stack.

From Creative Holiday Gift Ideas- This one is for you Maren!



Caramel Apple Recipe

1 pound brown sugar

2 sticks butter, at room temp

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

12 apples

12 dowels


Topping:

1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 TB shortening

Combine ingredients in a 2-3 quart saucepan. Heat at medium low temp, stirring constantly but slowly and frequently scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook caramel to the soft ball stage (236) degrees. Pour into a small deep metal or heat proof bowl and let cool to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Push a dowel or stick into the top of each apple. Dip apples into caramel using a straight up and down motion. (Too much agitation causes the caramel to separate and become oily). Place dipped apples on baking sheet and place in the fridge for 15 - 20 min. Next, dip caramel apples into melted chocolate, then sprinkle with decorative candy.

TIP: Granny Smith and Fuji apples are the best apples to use. Make sure you wash and dry them because there is a waxy film on the apples which will make the caramel not stick.

To make the sticks I cut a 12 inch dowel in half. Then cut out 5 inch by 1.5 inch scrapbook paper. I spread Mod Podge on the back of the paper and rolled it on the stick. It sealed perfectly!!

Submitted by Brandy Dunaway
www.dunawaydivasanddad.blogspot.com

More Meal Planning Tips

Little Miss Crafty Pants has this to say about Grocery Lists:
I found a free website that helps with the grocery list. It is called Grocery Wiz and you can find it HERE. It also has coupons that you can print out that might apply to what you are buying. I also use a print out similar to THIS to write down my menu.

Mique at 30 days gives these sites and suggestions:

At For church I am in charge of planning activities for the women and next week we are having a menu planning, couponing & food storage activity at my house.
I've been into menu planning & couponing in the past but not food storage (though I am vowing to change). Anyway- it has been on my mind A LOT.
So- I'm posting here some of my favorite sites/blogs/resources. Who couldn't use some ideas on how to pinch pennies these days? If nothing else, save your pennies so you can buy more stuff to craft with (just a thought :).

Just great blogs in general:

Prudence Pennywise
Practicality Meets Frugality
The Obsessive Shopper

Grace Violet's cash system fabric wallet

Couponing:
Couponing for Dummies from my personal blog
Coupon Binder from Thrifty & Chic Mom
Junie Moon's organizing coupon post
Tip Nut's making a coupon organizer post

Joann's market bag & coupon holder
Grocery shopping coupon worksheet from Coupon Council

Menu Planning:

Monthly menu planner from Rachel @ Apron Girls
Just Organize Yourself's menu planning tips
$5 dinners' monthly menu plan post
Living Locurto's Menu Planning post
OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday

Organized Home's free menu planning printouts

I heart food 4 thought's diy weekly menu board

And I made some printouts too.
Feel free to use them.
Right click and save them.
Then print how you wish.


Food Storage:
wow these are sooo great-
Everyday Food Storage
Food Storage Made Easy
the Fun Food Storage Network
My Food Storage Deals

After looking over this post I realize it's probably a bit overwhelming. Just start small but go for it!!
I'd love to hear other suggestions/tips/tutorials that are out there. Please share. ;)

Meal Planning Ideas

This idea is because I have to teach a class on Meal Planning at Enrichment next month. This idea comes from Apron Girls:

I have been meaning to post this FOREVER!!! I just have been out and about and on vacation--and I just realized I hadn't done anything with this. So, apologies go out to you all...this is in response to the request for a way to cut down on grocery budget, plan meals effectively and frugaly.

What is it? 3 1/2 business card holders taped together at the top and bottom. All you do is write your main dish on the blank business card, and on the BACK you write ONLY the ingredients you need for that dish. Mine looks worse for wear right now, and I have a set of new card holders waiting for me when I get back...plus a million new recipes to add to cards.

I LOVE this method--you can essentially plan your month out based on items you ALREADY have, but rearrange the meals according to the sales at your grocery store. This way, you also are eating 28 different meals each month! So, you could start your month just putting in the meals you want to eat, and when you see chicken go on sale, put a chicken dish or 2 that week to take advantage of the sale...I am sure you get the idea. Also, a really effective way to shop is to go on Tuesday night. That way you can compare the sales from one week with the ones from the next because the new ads come OUT Tuesday and start on Wednesday...SO all of you living in the boondocks can still save money too!! (that is unless your store doesn't HAVE sales...which would be a cryin' shame!)

I personally like to shop for 2 weeks at a time, at least for non-perishables. Then I fill the rest in with the sales and coupons as the time comes up to eat that meal. Then you KNOW you have what you need, it is easy to get out ahead of time, and you're not sitting there at 4:35 p.m. wondering what on earth you are going to make...

When I make my grocery list, I just do a tally of things as I go...example, cheese...this recipe uses 1 pound, that one uses 2 cups, etc. and then write the total needed. It's pretty easy.
I loved it so much I even did a whole menu for BREAKFAST! We ate SO much better this way--not depending on cereal EVERY day...we still eat it, yes. But it is nice to have warm meals thrown in there.
Sorry for the nastiness of my pics...It wasn't until I took the pics that I realized how dirty it was! Yuck!!
ALSO, Meals ONLY make it to the card holder menu planner when we LOVE THEM. I like to throw a card in every week or so that says "try a new recipe"...but I only make a specific card once it's been family approved. I also put all the recipes that go to the ingredient organizer in a cookbook (mine is a photo album because I loved having my cards protected and seeing through the back side.) So, I don't have to hunt for the recipe instructions come dinner time. They are all in one place. But I still have a stash of cookbooks I love to look through for fun and inspiration... :)

Freezer Meals

One I have wanted to do for a while but I need to buy a deep freezer 1st. From Crafting Chicks again!

I don't know about many of you, but I have such a hard time deciding what to cook and then having the motivation to actually cook. At our last project group my friend Kristin, was telling us how she and some of her friends had started to make freezer meals so they could save time and money...and not stress about dinner. I jumped on board. So last Saturday night a group of us got together and made 6 meals, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Parmesana, Chicken Broccoli Casserole, Chicken Rollups, Lasagna rolls, Ham and potatoes, and pulled pork. We got at least 16 meals out of this and it only ended up costing each of us $91.60. I don't know about you, but that is one trip to the grocery store for me if I am loading up.

So here are the details so you can start if you want.

1. Get a group of girls together. (We had 5 total, I don't know that you would want many more people than that unless you have a large kitchen.)


2. Have a pre-dinner making meeting to decide what meals you would like to make. Each person should bring their family favorite recipes. As you can see, we made a few chicken things, but tried to incorporate different meats as well.


3. One person should gather the recipes and make a list of the different ingredients and how much of everything is needed.


4. Shopping lists are made--We sent a group to Costco (we had two shopping carts full of food), and a group to Wal-Mart to gather supplies.


5. Each person was given an assignment for prep-work. Mine was to brown the sausage for the Lasagna Rolls. Having the prep-work done helped out so much. It saved us so much time.


6. Everyone meets together and the labor begins. We got all 6 meals done in 3 hours.


7. Start over!

Our group has been so excited about this. We have started to plan out what our next meals will be. I think we will get together every other month so that we can have a stocked freezer and a variety of meals.

If you are interested in getting any of the recipes or more information, just let me know. I am so in love with this concept, especially with a baby on the way. Who wants to cook when they have a newborn?