Baseball Decorations for Opening Day

M baseball decorations are so cheerful. The day after Easter you can buy sports themed baskets for 1/2 off! Stock up on your favorite sports!

I wrapped some regular sized Hershey bars with baseball wrapping paper.

I bought some baseball erasers at Party City for .25 cents each.

The I used some wooden skewers to make the erasers into plant stakes.

I had some extra little plastic bottles from another project - so I filled them with red m&m's and decorated the top of the jars with a piece of round paper with hand drawn baseball lines.

I decorated the shelf with Cracker Jacks and the little candy jars. The little baseball basket holds the regular sized Hershey bars. The big baseball basket holds the Baseball S'more kits.

The red pots have plants decorated with the eraser sticks. There is also a red polka dot bowl filled with mini Baby Ruth bars.

I hope your team has a winning season!

Baseballl Themed S'more Kits

March 31st is Easter Sunday and Baseball Opening Day. I am feeling a little lazy this year and instead of getting all of my pastel Easter decorations out - I am having an Opening Day brunch on Easter Sunday. After Mass on Easter Sunday our families are coming over for brunch. I will post a lot of pictures! I made these little baseball themed S'more kits for party favors.

Buy the snack sized Hershey bars and wrap them in baseball themed wrapping paper or scrapbook paper.

Then you add the 2 graham crackers, two large marshmallows and the baseball wrapped Hershey bar into a plastic bag.

Instead of tying a ribbon at the top I decided to staple a folded piece of the wrapping paper.

These would be a cute treat for the team or a party favor at the end of season party.  They would be a fun snack to serve at a tailgate party. And you can change this idea for any other sport by simply changing the wrapping paper.

I hope your team has a winning season!

Baked Crab Cakes

Every Friday during Lent I make Crab Cakes - I often experiment with different Crab Cake recipes. I like to shake things up a little. Although I almost always make my Lemon Dill sauce to accompany my Crab Cakes.

These are so easy to make and I can make the salad and set the table while they are baking.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup bread crumbs plus a few tablespoons for sprinkling on the top

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons Old bay Seafood Seasoning

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs - lightly beaten

1 pound fresh lump crab 


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.

Combine all of the ingredients (except the extra tablespoons of breadcrumbs) in a large bowl and stir to combine.

Shape the Crab Cake mixture into 10 - 12 Crab Cakes. Place the Crab Cakes onto the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with the extra bread crumbs.

Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the Crab Cakes over with a spatula and bake for another 15 minutes.

They come out golden brown and are a little more figure friendly - since they are baked instead of fried.

Serve warm with your favorite sause and a salad. These would also make a great appetizer.

Hockey Gift Wrap Idea

I am waiting for the day when my son says to me - "Mom, can you just put the gift card inside a birthday card?"

If you have been reading this blog for awhile - you know that I save pieces of cardboard to wrap and  use to present the gift card. This week the gift is for one of Christian's friends who plays Hockey and is a Duck's fan.

I bought the round Duck's disk for .99 at Party City.

In the upper left hand corner I taped a Hockey Rubic Cube also from Party City.

 In the bottom corners I taped lollipops and sugar sticks.

  

In the upper right hand corner is and orange lip shaped whistle.

As you can see I taped the gift card in the bottom center of the gift wrapped cardboard. I hope this gift wrap inspires you to be creative the next time you decide to give a gift card. And don't forget to save your cardboard!

Teddy Bear Cookies

I made Teddy Bear Cookies! They are so yummy and easy to make!

Ingredients:

I cup of sugar

1 cup of butter, (2 sticks)  softened

1 egg

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

powdered sugar

miniature chocolate chips

red hots


Directions:

In large bowl,  combine sugar and butter. Beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat well. Add flour and cinnamon. Blend well . Cover dough with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For each cookie shape dough into 1-inch balls and space them on your baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Flatten slightly. Shape 3 (1/4 inch) balls. Place two balls for ears and one for a snout.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes.

The cookies will be firm and slightly golden brown.

Immediately sprinkle with powdered sugar. Add a red hot on the snout and two miniature chocolate chips for the eyes.

Don't they look cute? These also look really adorable on popsicle sticks.

This recipe makes approximately 2 dozen cookies. And they would be fabulous to serve at a Baby Shower. 

Quick Tips: Make sure that the eyes are not melty when you stack the cookies. Also a flour sifter works great for distributing the powdered sugar.

Leprechaun Wafer Cookies

These are really simple cookies to make. And you can make them for any holiday by simply changing the color of the chocolate melts and sprinkles.

You just need some wafer cookies.

And green candy melts with some coordinating sprinkles.

Lay the wafer cookies out on parchment paper. Melt the green chocolate wafters. I added a little mint extract to the melted chocolate.

Just dip the wafer cookie about halfway into the melted green chocolate and add a few sprinkles.

These will be perfect to serve with my homemade Shamrock Shakes.  They would also look cute in a cellophane bag and tied with a green ribbon.

May joy and peace surround you, contentment latch your door, and happiness be with you now and bless you evermore. - Irish Blessing.

Wrapping a Gift Card - St. Patrick's Day Theme

I save large pieces of cardboard - just so I can use them to tape the envelope with the gift card. For this gift I wrapped the cardboard in green paper.

I taped this funny St. Patrick's Day bow tie onto the green wrapped cardboard.

I also taped some chocolate gold coins (from the Leprechaun) in the upper right hand corner.

I used my shamrock punch on green scrapbook paper and green gingham scrapbook paper to decorate the outside of the card and on the green wrapped cardboard. The gift card is inside the orange envelope which also contains a fun birthday card!

I bought the birthday card, gift card, bow tie and chocolate coins at Walgreens! I had the cardboard and green wrapping paper at home.

It only takes a few extra minutes to make something look special!

For each petal on the shamrock - this brings a wish your way good health , good luck and happiness for today and everyday.  -Irish Blessing

Pie Pops!

Today is International Pi day! So I made some Pie Pops for dessert. I think they came out super cute!

I just used simple store bought pie crust and canned cherry pie fruit filling. The next time I make them I will probably use homemade pie crust and filling.

Ingredients:

Pie crust - store bought or homemade

Fruit filing - store bought or homemade

Flour for rolling out the pie dough

Egg white and pastry brush

Lollipop sticks

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, Roll out the pie dough and cut out 2 1/2 inch circles. Even though I used store bought pie crust - I still rolled it out a little so that everything was the same thickness.

Place the circles on the baking sheet.

Press a lollipop stick onto the dough circle and cover with your favorite fruit filing. I used cherry filling.

Cover the cherry dough circle with another dough circle and crimp the edges using a small piece of lollipop stick. I just broke a lollipop stick in half. Then using a pastry brush - light brush the top of each pie pop with the egg white and bake for approximately 12 minutes.

So easy and such a fun presentation. You could also omit the lollipop sticks and simply make little pies.

When they come out of the oven they should be golden brown. Wait a few minutes before you take them off the pan.

Quick tip: Just put a tablespoon of filling - if you use too much filling - it is hard to crimp the edges.

Happy International Pi Day!

Rainbow Fruit Tart - Perfect for St. Patricks Day

i always use a different fruit combination each time I make a fruit tart. This is the first time that I have used mandarin oranges.

To find the recipe for the fruit tart - click on the fruit tart under labels and it will take you to the recipe .

I think this would be a perfect rainbow themed dessert to serve for St. Patrick's Day. And I always end my St. Patrick's Day posts with an Irish Blessing. Sooo....

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

Winter Quarter Finals Treat Bags for the Sorority Girls

I am finished with the Sorority Good Luck Winter Quarter Treat Bags! I made 41 bags! They are currently all over my dining room table!

The theme of the bags is "Breakfast at Tiffany." The items are in black  bags with the girls name written on a Breakfast at Tiffany handmade card. For privacy issues I am not showing the tags I made but take my word for it - they are really cute!

Each bag contains:

A cup of chicken soup.

A box of Cracker Jacks (an idea from the movie).

A packet of hot chocolate. They say chocolate helps with your concentration.

And a packet of instant oatmeal.

An individually wrapped blueberry muffin. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

A granola bar in chocolate themed flavors.

And an oatmeal creme cookie.

.

Each girl also gets a small diamond tiara. You can't have a Breakfast at Tiffany themed bag without a diamond tiara!

A Tiffany decorated cookies and cream Hershey bar - I made these special for the girls. I always say it just takes a minute or two to make something look a little special - these took hours to make special. But I enjoyed making them!

A Tiffany blue lollipop with a silver heart charm - I also made these special for the girls!

I also made these little blue boxes filled with silver Hershey kisses and tied with a diamond ring.

The final thing that I made the girls is a Breakfast at Tiffany necklace, ring or pin and I put them in a handmade modge podged little box.

Here are some photos of the rings.

Here is a picture of the little jewelry box that I made.  I put the handmade ring, necklace or pin inside this little box.

I really enjoyed making all of these treats for the girls and putting the bags together. I am also going to add a small Starbucks card - hopefully I will be able to go to Starbucks during an off time in the next few days - I am sure they are going to enjoy making 41 cards for $3.50 each! Then I will send the bags to the sorority house.

I also wanted to tell you that I had a few extra muffins, granola bars etc. I put them in my food pantry bag - each week I buy a few items to bring to the food pantry at our church - so the extras will be helping a hungry family.

I hope all of the girls ace their finals!