Tomato Soup with Sour Cream Hearts

I saw this idea on Pinterest last week and decided to try it myself. You just need some sour cream and tomato soup. Trader Joe's has a great organic tomato soup or you could buy your favorite tomato soup or  if you are really ambitious make your own soup!

Heat your tomato soup and put it into the individual bowls. Now put some sour cream into a small ziplock bag and twist so that the sour cream is down at the bottom,  snip the end and pipe your hearts. So cute for Valentine's Day. But you could also do this with numbers for birthday or anniversary dinners!

The Pinterest website suggested adding milk to the sour cream - I bypassed that step. I am a recipe rebel.

Football Sugar Cookies

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe - or use my sugar cookie recipe from my Numbers Cookie post on December 29, 2011.

My football cookie cutter came in a sports cookie kit from Michael's but Sur La Table has huge bins of cookie cutter for $1 each - check it out!

I baked these footballs for about 7 minutes.

Once the footballs had cooled I was able to start the decorating process. But first I must say these look a little like chocolate Easter eggs! Yes?  Back to the decorating - I melted some chocolate and spread it over each football with the back of a spoon. High tech! I know!

Once the chocolate was dry I used a white icing pen to add the laces.  Super Bowl easy! These are also great treats for the team, lunch boxes and after school snacks. Go team!

Valentine Nutella Linzer Cookies

I made some Valentine Linzer cookies over the weekend. And I have finally been able to sit down and  post this fun and easy recipe!

I have always thought that these cookies looked complicated. But they were very easy to make.

I bought this Linzer cookie kit at Michael's for about $5.00 (use a coupon for 40% off). It comes with a heart cutout, circle, star, spade and triangle.

The kit tells you how to make the cookies - it actually gives you a sugar cookie recipe - but I used my sugar cookie recipe from my numbers cookies December 29, 2011 post. Although next week I am going to try Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe and compare. I will let you know - what recipe I prefer.

You just cut out 15 bottoms and 15 tops and bake. Then I spread Nutella on the bottom cookie. Before I pressed the cutout cookie on top I sprinkled it with confectioner's sugar.  You could use your favorite jam instead of the Nutella.

Oreo Basketball Cookies

These are super easy to make! You just need some Double Stuff Oero's, lollipop sticks. melted orange chocolate and melted milk chocolate. I made these for my son Christian's basketball team - the boys loved them!

Lay the Oreo's out on parchment paper and dip the end of the lollipop into the melted orange chocolate and wiggle it gently into the Oreo frosting.

Dip the Oreo's into the melted Orange chocolate. Use a spoon to help completely coat the Oreo.

Once the orange chocolate is dry - take some melted milk chocolate and put it in a plastic bag. Twist the bag so that the chocolate is down at the bottom and snip off the end.  Then pipe the basketball lines!

I also made some without lollipop sticks.  These would be cute to make for your March Madness party!

Basketball Cookie Treats

I made treats for the boys on the basketball team.  Basketball shirt sugar cookies!

I made some sugar cookie shirts.

Then I frosted a basketball shirt in white ( the color of our uniform).

Once the white icing hardened I used blue icing to outline the shirts and pipe some numbers. Yes, these look exactly like our uniforms!

More Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Party Favors

I bought a bunch of these at Michael's on Super Sale for .80 and I can't decide if they should be used for a Thanksgiving Day craft or in the Thanksgiving party favor bag!

These little sun catcher kits can also be made into ornaments. They come with little pots of paint and a small brush.

I Need To Stop With the After Christmas Sales!

A few days ago I bought my daughter Noelle some anti-bacterial hand sanitizer. They had a plethora of different scents - but I bought her the Noel scent.

So I bought ten of these little bottles. They were .37 each at Bath and Body Works. A few for Noelle and her roommate and some for Noelle to pass out to her friends.

I also bought her some Noel notecards that she can use next holiday season. They were at Papyrus for 75% off - I paid about $3.75 for the box!

These Old Navy sox sets were originally $8.50 a set. But I purchased them for $1.55 each! I am going to make a special project with them next Christmas!

Easy Homemade Granola

Perhaps one of your resolutions is to eat more fruits and vegetables every day. A fun and healthy breakfast is fresh fruit with low fat yogurt sprinkled with homemade Granola.  This recipe can easily be doubled if you want to give some away or you are planning a brunch.

Ingredients:

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons of melted butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Toss all of the above ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Pour the granola onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and mix the granola with a spoon and return to the oven for about 13-14 minutes. Remove from the oven - mix the granola again. Let cool before serving or storing.

Once my granola is completely cooled - I store it in some Tupperware and keep it in the pantry.

Okay - I know this isn't that healthy but this granola is also delicious on frozen yogurt and ice cream.

More Christmas Sale Items

Yes, I had to buy more super sale items. But remember I don't use these items for Christmas. I use them throughout the year.

These spoons and forks were $1.19 each at Pier 1 Imports. I am  going to use them to tie on to cookbook and other kitchen themed gifts that I buy throughout the year.

These fun oversize rings would be cute to tie onto a fashion themed gift. I also bought them at Pier 1 for $1.19 each and they came in both red and green.

These little boxes of jingle bells were .99 at Pier 1. I will be tying them onto gifts next Christmas.  I could also use them to make ornaments.

I am actually going to use the above boxes of sequined little balls for Valentine Day and St. Patrick's Day crafts. They were also from Pier 1 for .99 a box. I will keep you posted.

I bought the above snowflakes at Target for .30 a packet - each snowflake packet came with four snowflakes. I am thinking about framing the snowflakes. I will keep you posted.

Valentine Candy Cane Lollipop Kit

I made some Valentine Lollipop Kits. If you need to know how to make Valentine lollipops out of mini candy canes please see my post on January 31, 2011.  And you need to buy your mini candy canes ASAP - they will be gone soon.

The kit includes a box of mini candy canes bought on sale at Target for .74. Then I added a bag of lollipop sticks, some plastic bags and thin ribbon and tied everything together with a big pink ribbon.

Note: I already had the bags, lollipop sticks and ribbon. But you could buy the other supplies at a craft store. But I think that this kit cost $3 or less. It is a fun gift for anyone who likes to make crafts.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

We love Charlie Brown movies at our house. This year we want to have a Charlie Brown themed Thanksgiving.

But you can't just have a Charlie Brown themed Thanksgiving on the last minute. It will take one whole year of planning. Really? Yes. So whenever I see any Charlie Brown themed items I am going to pick them up and put them in a special box. So far I have bought some Charlie Brown post-its from the Target dollar section.

Happiness is.....Having someone who listens. How sweet. These will go in the party favor bag.

I bought a bunch of these Charlie Brown themed wooden coloring projects on super sale at Michael's and they were .89 each.

I could use these for the party favor bags or a Thanksgiving Day project.

This one is my favorite — when Charlie Brown kicks the football.

 I will post Charlie Brown items that I find throughout the year. Does anyone else want to have a Charlie Brown themed Thanksgiving?

Star Cookies on Lollipop Sticks

I made some Star Lollipops for our 6th grade Bible Study class. We are going to study the  Epiphany and discuss the visit from the Wise Men and separate fact from fiction. I thought a Star treat would be appropriate.

As the saying goes "Wise Men Still Seek Him."

I used the same sugar cookie recipe that I have used on my last two posts. Really I know it is time for me to try another recipe - maybe next week?

Before I baked the cookies - I pressed a lollipop stick underneath the Star. These need to completely cool on the cookie sheet and must be removed from the cookie sheet slowly and carefully.

I gently stacked the star cookies while I gathered my icing and sprinkles.

I used this icing - which I picked up at Ralph's. It said on the package that it dried quickly for easy stacking.  And it really did dry quickly!

After I decorated the stars with the white Betty Crocker icing - I liberally sprinkled them with some white glitter sprinkles from Williams Sonoma.

Once everything was completely dry - I put them in little bags tied with silver ribbon and ran out the door!

Chicken Enchiladas

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and underneath the photo it said that this recipe had gone viral and had received over 300,000 hits. So I had to try it!

I have made these twice - they are so quick and easy to make! They are from the Joyful Momma's Kitchen Blog. And Joyful Mama has a lot of really great recipes!

Ingredients:

10 soft taco shells
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chili's

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Mix chicken and 1 cup of cheese. Roll mixture into tortillas and place in pan seam side down.

In a sauce pan melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and chiles. Pour sour cream mixture over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 22 minutes and then under the broiler for 3 minutes to brown the cheese.

If you want to make really authentic Mexican Enchiladas check out my sweet friend Adriana's blog - she writes her blog posts in both Spanish and English. Her blog is AdrisMexicanKitchen.blogspot.com. She is actually from Mexico City so her recipes are authentic and fantastic.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients:

For the French Toast

1 loaf of cinnamon raisin bread (Paula used a loaf of French bread)
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash salt

For the Praline Topping

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Arrange the bread in a generously buttered 10 by 15-inch flat baking dish in two rows, overlapping the slices.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and salt - beat with a mixer or by hand with a whisk until blended. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, making sure that all of the bread slices are covered evenly with the egg-milk mixture. Spoon some of the mixture between the bread slices. Cover with foil  and refrigerate overnight.

It is morning! What a beautiful day!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put all of the praline topping ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Spread the praline topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 - 45 minutes until the casserole is puffed and lightly golden.

This recipe was delicious! The best part was that the majority of the work was done the night before. It would be a fantastic recipe to serve for a special brunch with some fruit salad.

After Christmas Sales - I Love Them!

Yesterday when I was at Sur La Table the Christmas items were on sale for 75% off! So I bought ten of these whisk ornaments.

I am not going to use them for ornaments. I buy a lot of cookbooks for gifts and I am going to tie the little whisk ornament on to the package. So cute! These ornaments were $4.95 each before  the holiday - but I purchased them for .99 each.  I am a super saver!

Happy New Year Cookies

I received a lot of fun little food related gifts for Christmas and my Birthday (just a few days before Christmas). So I will be experimenting and posting with all of my little gifts from personal pie pans to cupcake inserts.

One of the items I received was a little ABC cookie cutter set. I looked it up online it is from Williams Sonoma and was $12.00.

It comes in a small tin box and this is what it looks like inside:

So I decided to write out Happy New Year with my new mini cookie cutters! I used the same sugar cookie recipe that I used in my number cookies. It is my new favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Figure out what you are going to say and make a full cookie for the back and the cut out cookie for the top.

Then put a small amount of jam in the middle of the bottom cookie and place your cut out cookie on top. You can also sprinkle these with powdered sugar. So easy! And you could spell all sorts of holiday or birthday messages.

Be creative! And send me a photo if you decide to make these! I will post it for everyone to see!