Oreo Lollipops For St. Patrick's Day

I have always wanted to make Oreo Lollipops. So today I finally made them! However there is a learning curve.

I found Cool Mint Oreo's today at Ralph's.

I think that the mint is perfect for St. Patrick's Day.

Seriously, don't you love the green creme filing.

The first thing that you need to do is melt some white chocolate. Then dip the top of your lollipop stick in to the melted white chocolate - then wedge the melted part of the lollipop stick slowly into the Oreo. I broke several Oreo's in the lollipop stick process. Let the lollipop sticks dry inside the Oreo's for about five minutes.

Now dip the Oreo's in the melted white chocolate - do this slowly as well - because I broke some of the Oreo's in the dipping process. Once you have dipped the Oreo's in the chocolate twist them a little so that the extra chocolate drips off. Then lay the dipped Oreo on parchment paper to harden.

Now melt some green chocolate and use a fork to splatter the melted green chocolate over the Oreo's. Once the Oreo's are completely dry you can package them.

I had the plastic baggies in my craft closet. But I did not have any green ribbon (shocker). But I found some gold ribbon which I think relates to St. Patrick's Day - you know the pot of gold under the rainbow.

I think these would be a really cute birthday party favor - you can dip the Oreo's into any color of chocolate and add sprinkles or splatters in any color to match your party color scheme.

Sports Headbands

I started making some sports headbands. This time instead of using Super Glue I used my glue gun. The results came out the same.

I put a dot of glue (from the glue gun) on the back of a football.

Then I pressed the headband onto the glue dot.

I did this with footballs, basketballs and baseballs. If it was play off time - you could write the play off teams in Sharpie pens on the sports balls.

You can buy cans of all sorts of foam shapes at Michael's. They have cans filled with princess crowns and butterflies etc. This would be a fun birthday party craft. You could make headbands as party favors or the girls could make headbands as a party activity.

My Kitchen

If you had seen my kitchen when I bought this house - well it was hideous. The cabinets were oak without any hardware. The appliances were white. Need I go on....

So two of the first things that I did was replace all of the appliances to stainless steel and have the cabinets professionally painted white. Todd added chrome hardware to all of the cabinets and drawers. I had some of the cabinets routered and glass inserts added.

I try to keep the island clear with just the cookies.

I always keep my kitchen clutter free - it is not important to me to have a fancy kitchen. I just make basic food for my family homemade soup,  tacos (fish, chicken or beef) and pasta and Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies. Therefore I don't need or want a big expensive or fancy kitchen.

So this is my basic kitchen. It works for me!

Happy President's Day

I like to make mini cherry tarts in honor of President's Day. However, I just started to feel a little better - not time to bake better. Alas, now I will be able to share the cherry tart recipe next President's Day.

But I thought that it would be fun to show some of my Kennedy books.

I also have some of the books on the days after the assination and the funeral.  Which I didn't get out this year.

I have a lot of books about various First Ladies.

One of my favorite books. Jackie looks so beautiful lighting the candles before a dinner party.

I also use my President's placemats throughout the weekend.

So even though I didn't have a special recipe to share - I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of my book collection. I try to make every holiday special. In fact, the smaller the holiday - the more I enjoy making a little something.

I Am Sick

Please excuse my inability to post anything new for the next couple of days - I have been sick since Valentine's Day and I feel like I have been run over by a truck.

However, keep checking back because I have some great St. Patrick's Day ideas, some fresh Spring ideas and some new headband designs.

Valentine Trail Mix for Kids

Today I made Valentine Trail Mix to bring to Christian's class Valentine party.  It is a wonderfully sweet and colorful mix!

First I sorted through two boxes of Fruit Loops and put all of the pink and purple Fruit Loops in a bowl.

I love the smell of Fruit Loops! I just want to put the Fruit Loops in a bowl with some milk - NO! I must focus! I am making Trail Mix.

Then add a bag or a couple of cans of salted peanuts.

Now add three bags of freeze dried strawberries. Note: I bought the above dried strawberries at Target.

Once again - I sorted cereal! I pulled out all of the mini pink marshmallows from the Shining Stars cereal.

Isn't this colorful?

The above recipe makes approximately 36 bags of Trail Mix! I think this will be a hit with the kids!

Valentine Headbands

Today Noelle and I made Valentine headbands for her to give to friends tomorrow. Yesterday Noelle bought some pink and purple jelly headbands at Walgreens. And I bought some Super Glue and felt hearts at Michael's.

They were super easy to make - we just added a dab of Super Glue to the back of the heart and pressed the headband on the glue.

Headbands like this are all over Etsy. But it is more fun to make your own! Then you can say "I made this for you!"

Although these were super easy to make - we did get some Super Glue on our fingers. Super Glue is really strong! We were able to rid our fingers of the Super Glue with nail polish remover and hot soapy water.

I am going to make some sports themed headbands next week - so keep checking back! However, I have learned a valuable lesson and I am going to wear surgical gloves the next time I work with Super Glue!

Mini Sodas and Straws

I brought some mini sodas to the tennis match. So to spruce them up I added ribbons and straws.

 I cut regular sized straws in half and tied them onto mini cans of Diet Coke. Then I placed a little plastic heart inside of the straw. The red plastic heart was meant to be a cupcake decoration.

I tied the Coke Zero cans with white ribbon which made a wonderful contrast against the black can.

I also tied ribbon around the mini 7-Up cans. The 7-Up cans were too small for a straw - so I just tied a ribbon around the can and added the cupcake decoration inside the ribbon knot.

This is a fun and easy project to do for a sports team (tie the ribbon and straw around a Gatoraide). This is also a fun project to do for a birthday party.

They have straws in neon colors, stripes, bendy straws etc. Visit a party or craft store and get inspired.

Those of you who have been following my blog for awhile know that I have been trying to use my own ribbon for all projects. I am trying my hardest not to buy ribbon or wrapping paper until I use of most of my ribbon, wrapping paper and other craft supplies.

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New Valentine Trail Mix

I made a new Valentine Trail mix and I added peanuts and red hots. And I must tell you that it is sweet, sour, salty and crunchy. So super yummy!

My favorite addition is the red hots they are hot and chewy.

I put the mix in pretzel bags and tied them with thin red satin ribbon.

These are a great classroom, sports team or party favor idea. Add your favorite red and pink candy.

Valentine Cinnamon Rolls

This morning I made heart shaped cinnamon rolls from a Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll canister.

Preheat your oven and spay your pan with non-stick cooking spray.

I just pinched the cinnamon rolls into heart shapes. If you have any marbles - you can place the marble in the top of the heart. I could not find my baking marbles! Oh no - I am losing my marbles! Help me!

It just took a minute to pinch the cinnamon rolls into heart shapes.

Bake the cinnamon rolls according to the package instructions. After the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven - repinch them into the heart shape.

Once the cinnamon rolls have slightly cooled you can frost them with the icing inclosed in the cinnamon roll canister.

Wouldn't these be cute to serve on Valentine morning? Or on your Anniversary?

Another idea is to frost them with chocolate frosting to make it look like a chocolate heart!

This is a "Will you be my Valentine?" breakfast.

Crudites For Super Bowl

I made a big crudites basket for my tennis team and I thought it would be a fabulous addition to a Super Bowl party.

First find a shallow basket or tray and line it with plastic wrap and wax paper. Then cover the wax paper with large pieces of curly green lettuce.

Put your favorite veggies in your basket. The trick is not to put the same colors of vegetables next to each other. That way the basket looks more colorful and appetizing.

Notice that the dip is enclosed inside of the red bell on the right hand side.  I didn't include crackers or breadsticks in this particular basket. But some nice whole wheat crackers or breadsticks would also be a wonderful addition inside of the basket.

The vegetables that I used (in no particular order) are: red, yellow and green bell peppers, grape tomatoes, celery, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, snap peas, string beans, radishes and garnished with fresh basil, chives and rosemary sprigs.

This is an easy, inexpensive and impressive item to bring to a party or to make for your own party!