B-Movie Star

Here's a few ideas I've seen around the web for updating your decor for fall.

The first ones are from Mad In Crafts - she has a fantastic tutorial for making these.  (and a good warning - don't burn the fake leaves!!) She has lots more easy and lovely ideas on her blog, so check all of them out!

She shows you how to get a similar look from Pottery Barn inspired decor - so easy to do, and it looks so nice and would be a wonderful centerpiece! I just love all the things she does with leaves!

This next one would actually be awesome for Thanksgiving - or any harvest party! Jelly Bean Indian Corn! The tutorial to make it can be found at Kelley Highway. Wouldn't these be so awesome as party favors - or even tuck a card into each one and use them as a name card holder! I am so planning to make these for Thanksgiving!

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Yep, I'm doing pretty good with the no gluten, no dairy diet.  I have discovered that I don't care for Hemp Milk, but Coconut and Almond is good . . . My dad even attempted to make me gluten free bread yesterday which was really nice of him. The loaves were a bit flat, but the taste was good. Add a bit of jelly and who cares how little the slice is!

Here's a quick and easy no-bake recipe for you and it's good even if you aren't eating gluten free.  I got it from the Chex website - did you know Chex is gluten free. Yeah, I even tried making meatloaf with it instead of using crackers or oatmeal to hold the meat together. Not too bad, but more experimentation is required before I can give you the recipe.

Ingredients:
6 cups Honey Nut Chex® cereal
1/2 cup honey-roasted peanuts
1/2 cup honey or light corn syrup

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Butter 9- or 8-inch square pan. In large bowl, mix cereal and peanuts; set aside.

In 3-quart saucepan, heat honey and sugar just to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter until smooth. Pour over cereal mixture in bowl; stir gently until evenly coated. Press firmly in pan. Cool 15 minutes.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds, until melted and smooth. Drizzle over top of bars. Let stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes until chocolate is set. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 6 rows. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

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I've found a new to me blog   Maddy Lane's Make It Yourself (MIY) Blog. It has tons of great ideas, recipes, crafts, etc., for  "make it yourself Eco-friendly creations & inspirations for the home & family ~ inspired by nature"

Sounds good to me!  A couple of things I found that caught my eye - first this recipe for Summer Sangria - oh yeah! Sangria is one of my favorite summer drinks and this one sounds so refreshing!

White Spirit Summer Sangria
Directions:
Fill half of a large pitcher or thermos with ice. Combine all of
the ingredients and stir well. Garnish with slices of limes,
oranges, and lemons. It’s quick, easy, and you can make
them ahead of gatherings or parties.
• 1 bottle dry white wine
• ¼ cup Grand Marnier
• ½ bottle white cranberry juice
• 2 cups freshly sliced fruits, lemon, lime, and orange
• Garnish with lemon, lime, and orange wedges,
as you please

She also has a recipe for Summer Beach Party,  Sweet Curry Rice Salad Recipe. It looks so delicious - I'm going to try it this weekend!

There's also beautiful outdoor lanterns made from recycled bottles:

Right here you have the perfect makings for a nice romantic summer dinner! Go visit the blog and see what else you can discover!

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Since it's so hot outside around these parts, it seems crazy to turn on the oven - but what if you just have a craving for cookies? Well, the soulution is NO BAKE cookies!! We made some the other day and they are so easy and so good! I also found a healthier version of these cookies if you want to cut out the butter and some of the sugar! (and they still taste great!) I'm including both recipes so you can make them however you prefer.

Old Standby No Bake Cookies
* 2 cups sugar
* 4 tablespoons cocoa
* 1 stick butter
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 cup peanut butter
* 1 tablespoon vanilla
* 3 cups oatmeal
* Waxed paper

Directions
In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute

then add peanut butter and stir until it's melted into the mixture

Add vanilla and oatmeal and mix well

On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.  So easy and delicious, right?!

Here's the updated healthier version too, I found this version on RecipeZaar
Ingredients
* 3 tablespoons skim milk
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
* 1/8 cup wheat germ (heaping)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground flax seeds (optional)
* 1 cup quick oatmeal

Directions
Heat milk, sugar and cocoa powder over high heat until boiling, stirring constantly.
Take off heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter; stir until peanut butter has melted completely.
Stir in wheat germ and oatmeal.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto wax paper or eat immediately.

The writer of  this recipe added that this version is " VERY flexible. If you don't have wheat germ or flax seed, just use more oatmeal. The recipe above should work out just perfectly and does most of the time, but if your cookies come out crumbly, use less oatmeal next time. If they never set, use more oatmeal next time."  Others suggested adding more cocoa powder for a more chocolaty cookie - so you can pretty much make this cookie to your personal tastes!  Have fun!

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If you know us, you know that my family eats a LOT of salsa, really, a LOT.  I made salsa last year and my husband was hoarding jars of it in his closet . . . I kid you not. He wouldn't let just anyone eat "the good stuff" he ran out in mid winter and all I've hear about recently is that we need to make more salsa! What can I say? He's a spicy guy!

I did run across some incredible and intriguing salsa recipes - the first one that I'm going to try is Fresh Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips. Okay, so this isn't my husband's idea of salsa, but it sounds like a wonderful refreshing treat on a hot summer day!

Recipe and photo from Chef Mommy

Isn't that just delightful?!

Ingredients

Fresh Fruit Salsa
1 pint fresh strawberries, stems removed and berries chopped
1 banana, peeled and chopped
2 kiwifruit, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup blueberries
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

In a medium bowl, combine all the fruit. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Drizzle, the lemon sugar over the fruit and stir gently to coat all the fruit. *I actually only used 3/4 of the lemon sugar*
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Cinnamon Crisps
Flour tortillas
vegetable cooking spray
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Firmly press cookie cutters into the tortillas and place the tortilla cut-outs onto an ungreased baking sheet. Lightly spray with the cooking spray, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the tortilla cut-outs. Bake for 6-8 min or until lightly browned. Cool and serve with the fruit salsa.

Over at Tip Nut she has a whole slew of salsa recipes - if you love salsa in all it's variations, I suggest you get on over there and check some of them out!

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Remember making Kool-Aid Popsicle as a kid in the summer? Yeah, we did that. We would pour kool-aid into ice trays, cover them with plastic wrap and poke in toothpicks for the handles. Good times.  Now that I'm slightly older,  the thought of a Kool-aid Popsicle is not the most appealing thing . . . while iced coffee is. This got me to thinking, "hmm if we take the iced coffee and pour it into a mold and alter it's molecular structure from a liquid into a solid form (yeah, this is the way I talk to myself) we could produce a frozen item that would be appealing to adults."

Then I found this recipe and voila! Thank God for the internet folks! This is a pretty complicated recipe, print it out if you need to:

Easy coffee-cicles! Combine cold coffee and your favorite creamer (about 2/3 coffee and 1/3 creamer) Pour into ice pop molds and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

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At the florists where my niece bought me some flowers they included a bottle of room spray. You can choose whatever scent you like and they will create the spray for you. You can take your bottle back and get refils when you run out. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I researched how I could make my own. I found this recipe at Re-nest and it's very simple and you can personalize it to whatever scent you like.

• 1 oz gin, vodka, or rubbing alcohol
• 6 oz filtered water
• 20 – 40 drops of essential oil (any scent you like!)

Simply mix in a spray bottle and spray around for instant freshness. This mix will keep well for at least a month.  I've been using bergamot, which smells very orangey and citrusy - it's cheerful and clean smelling without being overpowering, but I think Jasmine would be nice, or lavender for a bedroom would be relaxing - and since you're making your own, you can change it up whenever you like!

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I've been looking for a good coffee cake recipe. I found this one at Taste of Home and tried it for Easter. I really like it because it's not too sweet, and it was very easy to prepare!  Go ahead, give it a try!

Ingredients
* 3/4 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk

Directions
* In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
* In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon; sprinkle over coffee cake. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
* Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Combine confectioners' sugar and milk; drizzle over warm coffee cake.

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We had a really busy weekend - Saturday was spent spring cleaning and getting ready for a brunch I was hosting on Saturday. I signed up at a site called House Party, where you can apply to host parties featuring different products. The site will send you free products for your party and then you post information and reviews about the products and party. If you're interested in checking it out, or applying just click on this link and it will take you right over.

The party that we had was a Maxwell House Coffee & Velveeta Cheese Spring Into Brunch House Party. They sent us a free box of velveeta, cups, napkins, spatulas for all the guests, a velveeta oven mit, recipe cards for the guests, and coupons for free coffee and $1.00 off boxes of velveeta.  I set up a coffee bar, and I wanted to try something different so I made a Paula Deen recipe for fudge that includes Velveeta cheese - it sounds weird I know, but I all the reviews just raved about this, so I wanted to try it. Well, I don't know what the heck I did wrong, but the fudge did not set up. It was more like fudge pudding. The taste was great, it was just very gooey! Oh sure, the kids ate it anyway - they just used a spoon - but I don't think I'll make it again. If you try it, I hope you have better luck.

The Maxwell House coffee thankfully, was great. I did not mess up brewing the coffee! I also made French Toast, and we had fruit salad as well as sliced strawberries and blueberries for the french toast, and grapes to snack on.  I think everyone had a good time. I know that Easter is such a busy weekend for most people so I thought it would be nice for our family to get together the weekend before so there wouldn't be so much to DO. There's church to get to,  like three egg hunts for the kids, and relatives to visit, and dinners to cook and eat and clean up afterwards . . . you know the deal! It's wonderful but so BUSY!

Here's the coffee bar - and even though outside there was melting snow on the ground, inside, we tried to make it cheerful and spring like, because spring just can't come fast enough for me!

Here's some details - and product placement! (Do you like how I snuck in those Maxwell House Coffee Cans? So subtle huh? I should work for the film industry!)

Here is the centerpiece that Gabby and I made the night before at 11:00 p.m. - we just had all this weird stuff laying around . . . that's how we roll! The chicken was from last easter and after you wind it up, little bubble gum eggs pop out of it's butt while it walks. That's hours of fun for me!

We also made a paper butterfly art installation - that sounds a lot more impressive than we taped up a bunch of butterfly cutouts to a glass door. If you want to be impressed, I cut all the butterflies by hand and it took about 2 hours!  That's dedication to your art!

I waited until dark to take the photo so you couldn't see the snow outside the door - it ruins the spring effect, but I have to say I'm not that skilled of a photographer to get a really nice photo of this without either my reflection, or a big flash spot . . . I'll work on it.

We taped two butterflies together then folded one side of the wings out to give it a little dimension.  This way, the butterflies also look pretty from the outside. If you printed them onto colored paper, you would get that effect also, but I printed them onto white so one side was a bit boring! Obviously I didn't think that project all the way through, but sometimes you can make it work out anyway!

Happy Spring Everyone! Let's all wish for nice weather! And gumballs to shoot from chickens butts!

p.s. the model is not to scale - notice the size of the bugs in comparison to the chicken - maybe that's she looks so shocked! "What a MEAL!"

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We live in the midwest and it's a really long way to any decent Thai restaurants.  I found this recipe that combines two of my favorite things - slowcooking and Thai and I was like, sure I'm going to try it and see what happens. You know what? I didn't think it was half bad, in fact it was so good my extremely picky husband ate it and he LIKED it. He wants me to make it again.

I have forgotten where I got the recipe, so I apologize to the source.  I also apologize to any Thai chefs who read this and wonder what the heck I'm trying to pass off as Thai food. Cut me some slack ok, I said it was a long way to any authentic Thai food.

SlowCooker Thai Chicken and Noodles

1 1/2 lb chicken cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, cut into short thin strips

1 1/4 cups chicken broth, divided

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tbsp cornstarch

3 green onions, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/3 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter

12 oz hot cooked vermicelli pasta

3/4 cup peanuts or cashews chopped

3/4 cup cilantro chopped

Place chicken, bell pepper, 1 cup of broth, soy sauce, garlic, and red pepper flakes in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Mix cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup broth in small bown until smooth. Turn slow cooker on High. Stir in green onions, peanut butter, and cornstarch mixture. Cover and cook 30 minutes or until sauce is thickened and chicken is no longer pink. Stir well. Serve over vermicelli. Sprinkle with peanuts or cashews and cilantro.

I hope you enjoy this!

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