Lime Slush

This is one of my family's FAVORITE drinks to serve at parties... basically because it's so amazing!! I have made it a lot lately and have had a couple requests for the recipe. (I guess I have been on a lime kick lately!!) Would be great to serve with your Easter dinner.

Refreshing Lime Slush - Favorites

serves 25 or so

1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeade, diluted

3 cups sugar

8 cups water

juice of 5 fresh limes

green food coloring (optional)

2 liter bottle 7 up/ Sprite

Stir together (all except 7up/sprite) until dissolved and freeze until solid. Spoon chunks of frozen slush into punch bowl and pour in 7 up or Sprite. Mix slightly and serve. Garnish with fresh lime slices

enjoy!!

(p.s. some spring crafts are coming your way- vacations/ spring break put a well needed break on my craftiness)

Some random facts....

I came across some of these great ideas while living it up at work in the ER all weekend in my Real Simple magazine. The article is NEW USES for OLD THINGS.

Here are some of the ones that I liked

Ketchup bottle as a Pancake Batter Dispenser- Squeeze out perfect circles every time- clean and easy trick!! (I would probably remove the labels!)

Tea Strainer as Sugar Duster- Fill it up with some powdered sugar and tap onto your baked goods

Rubber Bands as Egg- Dyeing Aids- Arrage rubber bands in a pattern around hard- boiled eggs, then dip them into dye. Remove the bands when the eggs are dry... awesome

Lifesavers as Birthday- Candle Holders- Protect your perfectly frosted cake from dripped wax by inserting candles in the candy holes. (They say to look for the original rolls, the holes in the bagged versions are too large for most candles)

Tissue Box as Plastic- Bag Dispenser- Stash sacks in an empty tissue box for easy access when the bathroom trash can needs a liner

Check out some more ideas here. Do you have any new uses for old things???

Key Lime Pie

This is one tasty treat and it only takes 3 ingredients to make!! I made it last week and was reminded what a great easy recipe it is. You have to try it!

Directions

Preheat oven to 325

Mix together:

One can of sweet and condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

3 eggs

Pour into graham cracker crust-

Bake for 30 minuets. Allow to cool and top with whipped cream, fruit or whatever your heart desires!!!

Show off those baskets!

St Patricks Day was a lot of fun... but the minute its over- i'm so over it and ready to celebrate Spring and Easter!!

 This year I got some new Easter baskets and thought they were too cute to keep in a corner or closet until Easter so I decided to tie them onto my chairs with ribbon.

I used two types of ribbons- including this one

Thought it added some extra texture!!

I was happy with how they turned out- Just a fun way to enjoy them all season!

$3 Wreath

I have been wanting to make a wreath for Easter for awhile and while browsing through the dollar store last week I came upon a material I have never used before...

MOSS

I have always been a fan of all the moss wreaths, topiaries etc from Pottery Barn and have wanted to try to create one myself

so I decided to give it a try

The best thing about this wreath, is it cost me $3

$1 styrofoam wreath

2 bags {$1 each} of moss

{I didn't even use all the moss}

Now dollar store moss isn't the greenest moss I have ever seen, but it works... at least I am pretending it does

So all you do is get your styrofoam wreath

and place it over a towel or table {just not the carpet}

{if your wreath is not green like my classy high valued one, it may be wise to spray pain green, so the white doesn't show}

Get your hot glue gun and moss & go to town!!

I tried to cover every inch, even on the back

Sometimes I had to do a layer of glue on top of the moss to cover up the spots

Then take some Spray Adhesive {heavy duty hair spray}

and spray the wreath down.

Now attach a bow, little eggs, flower, ribbion hanging from top etc... and your done!!

There are so many ways to decorate this wreath... so let me know how you do it if you make one!!

Scotcheroos!!

Well it's Monday, so time for a new recipe-

 but first I wanted to thank everyone for their sweet comments with my previous post. Gosh, I'm only used to my mom and a couple close friends reading this blog so getting to know a lot of new people on here has been a lot of fun for me!!

I decided that I needed to post my ALL TIME FAVORITE treat (ok I say this about a couple things...)

Scotcheroos!!

Have you heard of them?????  My family has been making scotcheroos for as long as I can remember. They are quick and easy to make as well as scrumptious. They are the greatest to take to a party, dinner, picinic etc... I make them all the time-They are the treat that you make for your new neighbor that seem to disappear before you are able to deliver them (um this may have happened more than once... oops!)

 SO here's the recipe- Let me know what you think, they may just bring tears to your eyes!!


Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 cup Karo Syrup in large saucepan, bring to boil then take off heat immediately

Add to it:

1 cup peanut butter

Stir together and add:

7 cups Rice Krispies

Pour and press into greased 9X13 pan

Topping

1 (6 ounce) package milk chocolate chips

1 (6 ounce) package butterscotch chips

Melt together in microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring after every minute, or melt in a saucepan but watch carefully- if they melt too much they become hard and won't spread evenly.

Spread melted chips on top of Rice Krispies. I let mine cool and sometimes put in refrigerator for a half hour (not too long) or so to harden them up.
Enjoy!!

Celebrating St Patricks Day

Hey everyone.... so if you haven't heard- I am guest posting over at Tatertots and Jello today- and it's ALL about St Patricks Day!!! Click here to check out some of the crafty ideas I posted over there-

So now that we have decorations, shirts and pot's of gold covered- lets move onto traditions!!

Traditions-

As I mentioned before, St Patricks Day was a big deal for us and we have a lot of traditions that I would LOVE to share

Morning-

First, when we would wake up in the morning there would be a trail of shamrock confetti from our beds  to our little Leprechauns filled with treats that were somewhere hidden in the house.

During the night, the leprechaun turned many things green- the milk, toilet water, water, bread etc...

We always had fun running around seeing what he turned green.

My wonderful fun aunt also shares the same love as me for this fun holiday and also has some great ideas... seriously, it is her favorite holiday!!!

When my cousins were young, my aunt would sneak into their rooms at night and paint footprints on their faces and arms and hands (She used a q-tip dipped in green food coloring). It was just her way of starting the day off with excitement!

Attire-

We of course loved getting dressed up in our green- this of course is a must-   Green wigs, blinking head gear/ jewelry, googly glasses, arm socks etc

Basically- the tackier, the better!!

 One fun idea is to collect a bunch of outrageous green hats and have everyone wear them for dinner!!

(here are some we have collected)

It is also a must to use an Irish accent whenever possible- a good CD of irish songs would help with this

Movies

Some great movies are the Gnome Mobile & Darby O Gill and the Little People

Food-

An important aspect of any holiday.

 For breakfast, we love having Lucky Charms with our green milk (sorry I know many don't like the idea of green milk.. including my husband- but its fun and hasn't killed me yet) We also like to make heart shaped waffles to form a shamrock or just plain green pancakes. Other ideas used would be french toast used with green bread, bacon with little leprechaun footprints (food coloring), green juice etc....

Dinner we like to have the traditional corned beef and cabbage. My grandma loves cooking corned beef in the crockpot and adding cabbage, potatoes and carrots and a big onion. Very good.

My family also makes a Lime Green Slush and believe me, it's amazing. Also have you tried Pistachio Pudding Salad... also a perfect festive treat.

I have never tried Irish Soda Bread, but am going to this year. Anyone have any good recipes??

I also made these fun shamrock cupcakes this year to give to neighbors and friends. I saw the idea at Family Fun awhile back

What you do is place paper liners in muffin cups and fill each halfway with the batter. Next take some foil and roll three balls per cupcake and insert them evenly around the space between the liner and the tin

Allow the cupcakes to cool, then remove them from the tin.

Cover each with green frosting. I used a little piece of green licorice for a stem

or another idea is making rainbow cupcakes I made my son a rainbow cake for his birthday last year and it was so fun- sure would be cute for St Patricks Day

SO have I convinced any of you to celebrate St Patricks Day??? Or have I scared you all off by my crazy amount of love for the holiday??? How do you celebrate St Patricks Day??  I would really love to know

Decorating the boy's room: take 1

You should feel bad for my child.... his room at the moment is kinda boring

I mean look at this wall

so bare and plain

It has been on my TO DO LIST ever since we moved here

to get his room all cute and decorated

So here is my first attempt

 this idea is probably not new to any of you

but thought I would share it anyway!!

Personalized wall hanging

This was very easy to do

You can find wooden, plastic, cardboard letters at any craft store

Take the letters you wish to use and decorate them how you want to

All you need is some wonderful Modge Podge and paper for the letters

and some ribbon to hang

(still deciding on the ribbon choice- and the borderline girlie owl paper,should I keep it??
I just loved the owls)

I was happy with how they turned out

they sure brightened up that dull and boring wall!!!

Salad De Maison

When I was pregnant, my aunt had us over for dinner and made this incredible salad. I don't know if it was the fact that I was pregant and craving salad at the time (cravings quickly switched to french fries don't worry) or what... but I couldn't stop eating it. Since then it has been one of my favorite salad recipes to make. I made it last night and my friend wanted to recipe so I thought I would share it with all of you too.

Salad De Maison

The Junior Leasuge Heritage Cookbook

Juice of 1 lemon

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 cup veggie oil

1/4 lb. bacon

2 heads romaine lettuce, torn in small pieces

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup coarsely grated Swiss Cheese

2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup croutons

Dressing- Combine lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Beating continuosuly with a fork, slowly add veggie oil in a stream. Let stand for 3 hrs. Saute diced bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towel. In a salad bowl, combine romaine lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss Cheese, almonds, and bacon. Toss with dressing, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Garnish with croutons.    Yield :8servings

oh it's so good. you MUST try it!! garlic goodness

enjoy!!!

How do YOU organize your Recipes??

I have had a problem lately and it has to do with all my recipes

They are starting to show up everywhere in many different forms and a very unorganized manner-

and I 'm getting sick of it

I have many great recipe books that I cook from all the time (this one especially-seriously the best- EVERY recipe is fabulous)

 along with some recipes cards on a flip book my mom gave me

plus a three ring binder with sheet protectors that I started to put all my recipes I printed off the internet

(but they are just pilling high on top it now)

then an occasionaly clip out from a magazine

oh and I almost forget the little recipe box that holds some cards

Seriously, it's a mess and driving me crazy!!

So I am just wondering how you organize your recipes??

What do you do with recipes you get off the internet??

Any fun/creative way of storing them??

I really wanna know!!

I will try and post some ideas I have received and how I went about organizing them all soon!!

ps- you wondering where all the St Patricks ideas are that I promised I would post....

well they are coming. I was picked to be a guest blogger here and my post (which may or may not be all about St Patricks Day) will be posted on March 11th. SO stay tuned!!

Solution to those Duvet/Comforter woes

cue cheesy infomercial voice...

Has your comforter ever ended up looking like this??

Have you ever pulled your comforter over you only to feel the thin layer of your duvet cover..

Have you been seeing large bumps, lumps and other clumps randomly placed located across your bedspread??

If so, have I got the solution for you......

K sorry, I just had to- but really I FEEL this way. Nothing irrates me more than having my comforter all bunched up and LOST in my duvet cover.

Thankfully my mother in law told me how to solve my problem.

Here are the steps, super easy and quick!!!

1: First get some ribbon- Grosgrain holds the best in my opinion

2- Next cut 8- 12inch strips

3-Now take your comforter and 4 of your ribbons and sew (hand or machine) each ribbon to each corner

4- Now turn  your Duvet inside out

5- Now do the same thing as you did with the comforter- sew the remaining 4 to each corner

6- Spread your comforter out on the ground

7-Lay the inside out duvet on top and tie the top two corners

8- Now go inside the duvet and grab a corner to pull the duvet right side out. Then tie the remaining two together

And that's it!!

AHH it will be sweet dreams tonight!!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken & Samoa Bars

It's Monday so here is my recipe for the week!!
This recipe is one my family has used for as long as I can remember- and it's one of my favorites so you must try it- Super easy too!!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Prep Time: 20 min Cooking time: 3hrs Preheat: 275
You need:
8 chicken breasts
16 slices Chipped Beef (comes in a package in deli meat section)
8 slices bacon
1 cup sour cream
 1 can cream of mushroom
Wrap 2 slices of beef diagonally around thawed chicken
Then wrap a slice of bacon wrapped the center of the chicken over the beef
Place in baking dish
Mix sour cream and soup together
Pour over chicken
Bake uncovered for 3 hrs
SO SO SO good. Let me know if you try it!!

Also since it is the first of March I wanted to post a recipe that goes along perfect for this time of year!!
 Samoa Bars

Don't they look amazing!!

Recipe and Photo via Baking Bites

Baking Bites also has recipes for Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and my favorite Samoas- , never tried them because they seem like a lot of work- These would probably be best to make during the off season when Girl Scout Cookies are not available -the real deals will always taste better.... and besides- I would hate for the little girls to miss out on getting their patches...