Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake Pops

This was last years Valentines Day treat that I had lots of fun creating with a friend. I shared on my last blog but thought I'd share it again here this year. Hope you have fun making them!

Ingredients:

1 box strawberry cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup sour cream

1 container cream cheese frosting

Lollipop sticks

Candy melts

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, milk and sour cream, mix well. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add the frosting and mix with your hands, or the back of a spoon. Form into small bite sized balls and freeze for several hours until firm. Remove from freezer. Reshape balls so they are completely smooth. Push the lollipop sticks into the center of each ball. Melt desired color of candy melts according to package directions and dip cake pops, place on parchment paper to harden. Store the leftovers in the fridge.  Enjoy!

Tip:

I make the cakes balls a few days in advanced and leave them in the freezer. The day I need them is when I decorate them.

Bean's Valentines

Ever since Daddy took Bean and Buggy to see the Disney movie Frozen they have been obsessed! They both can sing every song word for word as they do the actions/dancing that goes along with them. So naturally, when it came time for Bean to choose the Valentines she would like to take to preschool she wanted Elsa and Anna ones. After searching for them in lots of stores, I was only able to find them online but wasn’t impressed, so we did the next best thing and made our own. I got my idea and with Daddy’s Photoshop skills it came to life!

Do You Want to Build a Snowman is one of the girls’ favorite songs from the movie so I had the idea to use that and give treats for building a snowman. So included in the bag are: Three large marshmallows for the body, two small marshmallows for his feet, two pretzel sticks for arms, five raisins for eyes and buttons, and of course an orange candy for the nose! I found a picture online that we liked, and Daddy added in the words I came up with on Photoshop. Hence our Frozen valentine was created! Bean absolutely loves them and can’t wait to give them to her friends on Valentines day!

 I left a boarder on the top of the cards when I cut them out to fold over with the bag then to attach the card and close the bag I stapled at the top corners. On the back white boarder I wrote, Love Bean.

3 Ingredient Red Velvet Cookies

I came up with this recipe the other day while grocery shopping. I knew I wanted to create a new dessert recipe for Valentines Day, yet at the same time I'm trying to eat healthy and lose weight. So what better way to indulge in sweets than to make them healthy right? I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do! Seriously, how much easier (and  healthier) can making a cookie get...

Ingredients:

1 box red velvet cake mix

1 ½ cups vanilla Greek yogurt

1 cup milk or white chocolate chips or ¾ cup mini chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl combine the cake mix and yogurt. Mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips. Scoop cookie dough in about 1 inch balls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven, cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in an air tight container. ENJOY!

Tip:

This recipe is also good as a dip, serve with Vanilla Wafers and/or pretzels.

Microwave Potato Skins

This is a super easy, yummy, and fun snack to make for the "big game" on Sunday. Hope your families enjoy them as much as mine!

Ingredients:

4 medium sized potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

4 pieces of bacon

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Salt

Sour cream for dipping

Method:

Wash potatoes very good. Prick each potato several time with a fork. Place potatoes in microwave at least an inch apart and cook on high 4-6 minutes or until slightly firm, turning in two minute increments. Set aside to cool. Place bacon on a plate between two paper towels, microwave for 2-4 minutes, rotating every minute, until crispy. Cut each potato in half and scoop out the centers leaving about a ¼ inch boarder. Place the potato centers into a small bowl. Once all the potatoes are scooped, mash the centers with butter until smooth (add a little milk too if desired), salt to taste. Arrange skins on a plate. Place filling back into skins making them level. Top each with cheese pressing into the filling slightly. Crumble bacon and sprinkle on top. Microwave for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream for dipping. (You can also broil them to melt the cheese if doing a larger quantity). ENJOY!

Dress Up Aprons...Part 1

Bean and Buggy LOVE to dress up, I love to encourage their imaginations and play but at the same time putting dress up after dress up on and off drives me crazy! I saw ideas for dress up aprons on pinterest, there are a lot out there! So I do what I do best, show daddy my idea, tell him I want them for the girls, and I put him to work! That's right Daddy does the sewing in this house! I'm all for making blankets and quilts but daddy does everything else! We came up with a list of all the Disney princesses and then added other people the girls know, we came up with 25+ ideas. We are hoping to have them all done for the girls for Christmas.

I thought I would post the first few that we have done so far and will post the others as they get done. Keep in mind these are Daddy's original ideas of what each princess/character's apron should look like. He did use a basic apron pattern for the general shape and size but has created each unique one himself...I know he is talented, much more than me in this aspect, hence he does the sewing projects! Enjoy!

 Snow White

Princess Sofia (Sofia the First)

 Merida

 Minnie Mouse

 Belle

 Strawberry Shortcake

 Aurora

 These are the ones we have done so far, stay tuned for more fun dress up aprons to come, some include: Doc McStuffins, Sally (from nightmare before Christmas), Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Jasmin, Ariel... and many more!

Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

Christmas is by far my all time favorite holiday! I love everything about it, the decorations, giving gifts, the reason why we celebrate, and of course all of the baking and candy making! I grew up making candy with my grandma and mom for every Christmas for as long as I can remember! I have so many memories of that and love that my girls get to enjoy it as well. It's now four generations making candy not three and I love that my girls get to make the same memories as i have of this beautiful holiday season! We only made two kinds of candy when I was growing up but now I have created more recipes and fun candy recipes. This one was created especially for my dad, he absolutely loves mint and his favorites are mint sandwiches so I came up with a super simple way to make them at home! Hope you can use this easy recipe to create many memories of candy making with your family!

Ingredients:

6 cups milk chocolate wafers, divided

3 cups green mint wafers

Method:

Melt 3 cups chocolate wafers in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring each time, until melted. Pour melted chocolate onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan. Spread evenly across entire pan. Let set until barely tacky. Melt the mint wafers in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring each time until melted. Pour over first layer of chocolate, spread evenly. Let set until barely tacky. Melt remaining chocolate the same way. Pour over the mint layer, spreading evenly. Let set until hard. Remove from pan by lifting out the parchment paper. Cut candy into squares. ENJOY!

Christmas Countdown

I know this is a last minute post but hopefully you can use some ideas for your own fun!

This year I decided to do a count down calendar for my girls where we will do some sort of Christmas activity everyday rather than getting treats or toys! So here is my idea!

First I did the containers, it took me a while to come up with how I wanted to do them. I finally decided to use Crystal Light containers. We go through a lot of Crystal Light at my house so I started saving the containers. Next I went through all my scrapbook paper for Christmas print and also red and greens. You could also use wrapping paper to cover the containers. I glued the paper down with Mod Podge. Cut out circles with my Cricut and printed the numbers on my computer. I used fancy edge scissors to cut out the number circles. I used mini glue dots to stick them all together and onto the containers.
Next I came up with a list of activities to do. Typed up a list. I printed them on red and green cardstock paper. cut up the strips and put them into the right numbers. Make sure to print a list for yourself so you know what days are what so you can be prepared with the materials you will need. Here is the list that I came up with.

1: Put up window clings (I bought a couple sheets at the dollar store)
2: Write letter to Santa
3: Make snowflake craft(Use coffee filters, fold in a triangle, paint with water colors. Let dry then cut out little designs, unfold and hang up)

4: Make Christmas cards and take them to the post office
5: Make Christmas wreath craft (trace kids hands on green cardstock or construction paper cut out and glue together in a circle. Use finger tips in red paint to make berries. Hang up)

6: Christmas shape Pancake dinner 
7: Christmas tree craft (http://goo.gl/4tMeXK)

8: Read Christmas stories
9: Play Christmas Don’t Eat Pete (Print and Laminate)

Instructions: place a small treat (m&ms, skittles, smarties, cheerios...) on each square. Send someone out of the room and decide who "pete" will be. have them come back into the room, they choose one treat at a time and get to eat it. When they choose the designated "pete" everyone else yells "Don't Eat Pete" that person puts back that treat and their turn is over.

10: Go look at Christmas lights
11. Decorate a gingerbread house
12: Make snowman craft
13: Grow a candy cane (instructions and printables here http://goo.gl/JshgQx)

14: Color wrapping paper/wrap presents (we bought white wrapping paper to have the girls color on)
15: Color a Christmas picture and hang it up on the wall
(a great website:  http://goo.gl/zL217B)

16: Decorate Daddy like a tree (Daddy holds his hands out, wrap him up in green crepe paper and tape shapes cut out of paper onto him)
17: Make Christmas ornaments (I bought a kit for foam ornaments)
18: Have a Christmas dance (dress up the girls in their Christmas dresses and let them dance to Christmas music)

19: Make Santa face craft (make a face on a paper plate, glue on cotton balls for his beard)
20: Christmas action card game (original idea came from here but we made our own http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com)
 (Print and Laminate)

 21: Tell the Christmas story with nativity set
22: Make cookies
23: Go caroling and deliver goodies to older neighbors
24: Open a present early

Next step is to have the kids open one a day and see what fun lies ahead. I hope you enjoy these ideas and have as much fun with them as we will!