Friday, January 28, 2011

Cardboard Letters

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Okay, sorry it took me a while to post something.  I was in Hawaii basking in the sun :)  I'll post pictures soon.  Here is a little something I started before Hawaii and decided to finish up today.  I love those cute block letters everyone uses to decorate with, but rather than buying some I decided to make my own for free.  Sure they don't look perfect, but they get the point across and I'm sure when people come over they aren't noticing the little details.  Here's what I did:

I drew the letters on some cardboard I had left over from a box of diapers.
 Cut out my letters
 And painted them.
 I also painted a piece of cardboard for the base.  I used white pipecleaners around the base so you couldn't see into the cardboard.  I used hot glue to assemble them and wa-la!  In this picture you can really see the lines from the cardboard, which I don't love, but at my place they aren't as noticeable.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tissue Gift Wrap Kissing Ball

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I have zero decorations for Valentine's Day so today I decided to make my first one.  The best part is that it was free!  I made a kissing ball out of computer paper and tissue wrapping paper.  Here's how I did it:

First I took some paper and crumpled it into a ball.  I continued adding layers and crumpling it until I got to the size I wanted.  I then glued the paper down to keep it in place.
 Then I made flowers using some red tissue gift wrap that I had on hand.
I glued the flowers to the paper ball as I went along.
I added a ribbon before I put the last flower on it so I could hang it up.  And that was it!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Dried Oranges

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I saw this post a while back on Delia Creates and today I decided to start one of my own.  So far I have only dried the oranges and haven't done anything with them yet.  I'm super excited to do something of my own with them.  I'll show you what I come up with once it's done.

On Friday I'm leaving to Hawaii for a week :)  So it probably won't get done until I get back since I have a ton to do to get ready!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Molten Chocolate Cake

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This would be a great Valentine's Day dessert. I got the recipe off of kraft.com. It looks cool and is yummy too. I have also put strawberries on top.  Delicious!

Ingredients

          • 4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
          • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
          • 1 cup powdered sugar
          • 2 eggs
          • 2 egg yolks
          • 6 Tbsp. flour
          • 1/2 cup thawed Whipped Topping
PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Butter four 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflĂ© dishes. Place on baking sheet.
MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with wire whisk. Stir in flour. Divide batter among prepared custard cups.
BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately, topped with whipped topping and a side of ice cream - depending on your oven you may need to cook it less. DO NOT overcook. I cooked mine for 12 minutes.
If desired you can store the batter in the fridge - just make sure to let it sit at room temperature for an hour if you do so.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Garden Bounty Tortilla Soup

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This soup is very good for you and is a great way to get your kids, spouse or anyone for that matter to eat their veggies.  I am a picky eater and really don't like a lot of veggies, but this soup is delicious!  The only downside to this soup is that it requires a lot of chopping, but it makes a lot.  I even freeze it which makes up for all that time spent chopping.  You MUST try this soup.

Ingredients
8 cups chicken broth (you can use chicken bouillon cubes - 1 cube to 2 cups of water)
1 red onion, diced
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 carrots, pealed and diced
2-4 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup tomato paste (more if desired, to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 whole pepper of the canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (I use the La Costena brand)
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 small to medium zucchini, diced
1 yellow summer squash, diced
1 Red bell pepper, chopped
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs freshly squeezed lime juice
2 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
Fresh, frozen or canned corn - optional

In large stockpot over high heat, combine chicken broth, chicken, onion, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, garlic, chipotle pepper, jalapeno, oregano and cumin.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  When the chicken is cooked, remove from pot and shred it.  Add salt and white pepper.  Add zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers and corn if desired.  Bring to a boil again.  Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes.  Add cilantro, lime and orange juice.  Stir well and remove from heat.

Garnish: Tortilla chips, shredded cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, sliced avocados, jalepeno rings, lime wedges.  (I usually just do chips, cheese, cilantro and a bit of lime juice).

Makes approx. 3 quarts

Monday, December 27, 2010

Cheese ball

Pin It We always have a cheese ball during the holidays.  I have yet to find one that I like better than this one.  It is delicious!

2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 can - crushed pineapple, drained
1 Tbs - seasoning salt (I actually put less so it's not so salty)
2 Tbs -green onions - finely chopped
1/4 cup - green pepper - minced

Mix together in a large bowl until well blended. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to set back up. Take mixture out of the bowl and using your hands - mold it into a ball or log. Once it is the desired shaped roll it in chopped pecans. Serve with a variety of crackers.

Friday, December 24, 2010

White Chocolate Snowflakes

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To make You first need a pattern of a snowflake.  My printer is out of ink, so I had to draw one.

 Next place the snowflake design under wax paper.
 Melt some white chocolate bark - 30 seconds at a time in the microwave.  I used one square to make a bunch of snowflakes.

 Put the melted chocolate in a ziplock bag and cut a small hole on the corner.
 Trace the snowflake design with the white chocolate.

 Carefully pull the snowflakes off the wax paper after they have hardened.

If you flip the snowflake over, it will be smooth and flat.
 If you don't flip it over, you'll have a little more rustic looking snowflake.
 I went with the rustic look :)  I had baked some cookies so I decided to add the snowflakes to the tops of the cookies.  You could add them to cupcakes or any other treat you want to add a little something special to.