Taco Seasoning

I grew up with pops using the taco seasoning packets and that's just what I used. You know, use what you know. Well, I was making tacos the other day and lo and behold I didn't have a packet. Well, this may not be of any interest to all those that already knew this, but for those who don't like change like me, you can make your own seasoning very quickly and it tastes better! Seriously, if this blog has done anything for me I use way less pre-packaged food. I love it.

Here is the recipe I found. It equals about a packet of purchased taco seasoning.

Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all together. Add 2-3 Tbls. with 3/4 cup of water to 1 pound browned hamburger. Simmer about 5 min.

This recipe is pretty adaptable. I didn't have onion powder so I doubled the garlic powder and I didn't have crushed red pepper so I sprinkled in some cayenne pepper. It still ended up a little to spicy for the kids so maybe ex the cayenne pepper. Your choice though.

Source: All Recipes

So then I called up Erica and said, "Hey, guess what? I made my own taco seasoning!" and she says, "I do that all the time". Oh fine. So much for me being cool. Anyway, she sent me the recipe she uses and it makes a bulk recipe so you can have it on hand when you need it.

Bulk Recipe Here

Okay, one more thing. We never heard from our Shutterfly Photobook winner. If we don't hear from you by Monday, we'll draw another name. Email me at cholita41 (at) yahoo (dot) com. Have a happy Thursday!!!!

Brownies

I know we've posted a lot of brownie recipes, but it's a favorite in our house and we are always in search of the perfect homemade one.  My husband seems to think I have found it with this one.  It's not too sweet...and that's what he likes about them.  He cleaned them up within a day so that's saying something.  Especially for a guy who doesn't like sweets.  I threw these together super fast after our Sunday dinner for our dessert.  They are crusty on the outside and soft and moist in the center.  The way a brownie should be.  Mmmmm...

So what are you...A middle of the brownie person or an edge person?  I personally LOVE the edges.  I've been known to cut all the edges out and eat them in one sitting.  :o)  Isn't that like 1 whole brownie?  I think so!  I will keep telling myself that. 

Brownies
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. walnuts, optional

Mix all ingredients in the order given.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

These ones taste like my Grandma's.  I don't have a recipe for hers.  I need to start searching for it.  Cause i'm pretty sure it's a good one. 

Happy Wednesday!

Digi Day

I went to a service auction on Saturday night. Everyone brought crafts, goodies, or promised service (i.e. babysitting) and we received points by filling out a questionairre. We then used those points to bid on others' items. It was super fun. I was reminded how many talented women I surround myself with AND I went home with a darling baby quilt, a knitted baby ear warmer, and some cute hair clippies. Nice haul, right?

Anyhoo, I didn't get as many pages as I would have liked done, but two are better than none so I'll take it! I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with my list of things to do this week which includes two more pages, awards for a cub scout pine wood derby, and a photobook for a friend. All of which, I'm happy to do it's just fitting in everything else. You know the mom duties. Darn kids get in the way of my crafting mojo. (Please know I'm kidding, I adore my kiddos!) But I will prevail, if you're like me, somehow we always do. 

This photo was taken by my sis-in-law Jamie. Getting 12 children to look in the same direction happily is a hard task and has been proven a few times before with failed photo shoots of above children. I didn't get my hopes up and was very skeptical but we ended up with this beauty. It just takes a lot of bribery (chocolate chips), moms jumping up and down acting crazy, and of course photoshop. I'm still impressed everytime I look at this photo. Good job Jame! Full Credits Here. You can find all these digi goodies at JessicaSprague.com.

This is my little niece Mailey. Oh how I adore this kid. She is a serious little thing and only smiles for very worthy causes. Occasionally I'm worthy. Ha ha! Full Credits Here.

Also, I'm finally getting around to starting the Mouse Paper Scissors Class from JS.com. Life got crazy and I had to put this one on the back burner. But to refresh your memory, it is a hybrid class taught by Jessica Sprague (the digi side) and Heidi Swapp (the paper side). So far I'm loving it and am anticipating the cute projects coming up. Here is my first project.

This is a dressed up notebook I'm using as an observation journal (part of the class) but could be used for anything. It's so cute right?! I love it and I love writing in it. It makes writing things down so much more fun! Anyway, more to come from this class too.

Okay, well if you're still reading, I'm proud of you. Somedays I just have a lot to say. Have a wonderful day! And do something crafty. It's good for the soul. :)



Homemade Pizza

Nothing like shooting out 4 big ole' pizzas and having hardly any left for leftovers the next day.  It's a good feeling when my food gets eaten up and I get compliments saying how yummy it was.  :o)  This pizza dough is the easiest to throw together and with the best results.  I seriously prefer these pizzas over any pizza place in this little town.  The recipe makes 2 big sheet pans, but I had to feed 10 adults and 8 kids, so I doubled the recipe and 4 sheets was perfect!  I made a pepperoni, pepperoni and olive, meat lovers, and hawaiian.  I think next time I'm gonna try a chicken bacon ranch or something fancy.

Homemade Pizza Dough
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water
4 c. flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/3 c. olive oil, plus more for drizzling

In a small bowl add water and yeast together and let it sit about 10 minutes or until it's good and bubbly.  In your mixing bowl add your flour and salt and stir to combine.  Slowly pour in olive oil while your stirring.  Stir until oil is incorporated.  Gently stir yeast mixture and pour into flour mix.  Mix until it forms a ball.  Drizzle a big bowl with olive oil.  Throw in dough and roll it around to coat your dough.  Cover with saran wrap and let rise somewhere warm for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.  Drizzle 2 big sheet pans with olive oil.  Divide dough in half and spread each half out into pans.  You might not think it's gonna spread all the way but it does.  It is a thinner crust.  Top with pizza sauce, cheese, and your favorite toppings and throw it a preheated 500 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until edges of dough are golden brown.  DELISH!!

Dough can be refridgerated for up to 3 days after it's made, or if you wrap it up good and tight it can be frozen for up to 6 months!!  So that's a plus too!!

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.  Have a wonderful week!!!!

Source-Pioneer Woman

Friday Favorites

Being on the JS.com creative team gives me the opportunity to be surrounded by talented beautiful ladies. Seriously, their skills amaze me. And some of these ladies crank out gorgeous pages so stinkin' fast! Anyway, one of my fellow CT members inspires me over and over again. Even before she was selected to be part of the team her layouts would always stick out to me in the general gallery. I was so happy I would get to work with her when she was selected. Since then, I have become a blog stalker.

There is a lot I love about Mindy. Not only is she amazingly creative in the scrapbooking area, but she is a wonderful photographer, she sews (yay!), and she bakes (double yay!!!). This is my type of girl. Even with that her personality shines in her writing and she really is one of the sweetest gals ever. She is always full of compliments and builds everyone else up around her. Hopefully one day I'll have the chance to meet her in real life and we'll get to craft together. I wish we were neighbors! You can find her crafty blog here.

This is my all time favorite layout of Mindy's. Not only is Mindy a talented creative scrapbooker but she is an awesome photographer. Such a gorgeous photo. She captured that sisterly love. Love it. You can check out Mindy's photography blog here.

She made this mini album in the Mouse Paper Scissors class at JessicaSprague.com. Check out her blog for more details. It's gorgeous.

Are these not adorable? See! We would make great neighbors.

This is a gorgeous hybrid card. So cute.

She makes the cutest banners and holiday home decor. She's so creative.

I'm in love with this. Makes me happy.

Another stinkin' cute cuppie.

Anyway, if you're looking for some eye candy. Check Mindy's blog out. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Think Spring...won't be long! :)

Giant Pretzels...And a Winner!!

First of all I need to announce our winner of the Shutterfly Book!  So exciting.  We appreciate all the entries, and can't wait for another giveaway.  They are so fun!  So with Random.org the winner is....drum roll, please....Whitney Blaisdell!!!  Congrats!  You need to e-mail Monica to claim your prize at cholita41 at yahoo dot com. 

Now the Pretzels...

...you know...like the ones in the mall!?  Oh baby!  Every time I do go to the mall, which isn't very often, I have to stop by Pretzel Maker and get me one.  I was craving one so bad one day when I was pregnant with my 2nd baby, that I had to make some, because I wasn't driving an hour to get one.  I found the perfect recipe.  These taste even better than the ones you can buy.  I've been making them since, and my family and I gobble them up.  Jason likes his dipped in pizza sauce, I like mine dipped in butter...lots and LOTS of butter.  They are best fresh out of the oven, but are also good the day after microwaved.  I would have one for breakfast if there were any left.  :o)  These are so simple to throw together.  Give them a try, and i'm sure you will be so happy you did...or mad at me, because they are so amazing that you can't stop at 1.

Giant Pretzels
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or 1 packet
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. warm water, about 110 degrees F (make sure it's not too cold and not too hot.  It's gotta be just right to get that yeast growing.)
3 c. flour
1 c. bread flour
2 c. warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
3 Tbsp melted butter
Coarse Kosher Salt

In your mixing bowl add yeast, brown sugar and salt.  Pour in water and give it a quick stir.  Leave it alone until you start seeing that yeast bubble up and grow, about 5-10 minutes.  Then add your flour and with your hook start mixing it until it's smooth and elasticy.  (Is that a word?)  If you don't have mixer with a hook then you'll need to knead the dough about 8 minutes until it's smooth and elasticy.  Pour a little veggie oil in a big bowl and plop your dough in there and move it around to get that oil all over the dough.  Cover and let raise for about an hour or until double in size. 

Combine your 2 c. warm water and baking soda in a pie pan or 8 inch casserole dish.

When the dough is done seperate dough into 12 parts.  Roll your pieces out into 3 foot ropes, (Roll it out about half way and set aside, and when your done rolling out your last one go back to your first and it will be easier to roll it out into a 3 foot rope.)  Shape them into pretzels, and dip them in your baking soda solution and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Let rise 15-20 minutes.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until a golden brown.  Remove from oven and brush on melted butter and sprinkle with salt.  These are also good with parmasean cheese, cinnamon sugar, garlic salt, or whatever else you would want to experiment with. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Have a happy Wednesday!!!

Digi Day

Hi Friends! Happy Tuesday! We just spent a wonderful weekend in St. Louis. It was kinda our last hurrah before Aaron started school again. Life is back to normal which is good and kinda sucks at the same time. If you know what I mean. But I'm realizing we only have 4 months before this wiggly new little person joins our family and I have a lot to get done. So, I'll take my everyday routine again.

Okay, first and foremost. Today is the last day to enter our drawing for a FREE Shutterfly photobook. It is a 20 page 8x8, perfect for documenting an event in your life. These are great little coffee table books that get picked up again and again. My sis in law displays hers in her living room and I almost always pick one up when I'm there and flip through it. ENTER HERE.

As far as my own scrapping goes. I have had a rough month. I seriously can't believe how fast March has gone. Yikes. I have lots to do. I did get done Lesson 6 from Digi in Deeper. I had been holding off on this lesson because I didnt' have any cool cities we had visited. Well, my little family had a great time in St. Louis seeing the sites and I was ready to get this one done. I think it turned out well. Lots of cool techniques with this one.

Okay, I plan on doing some serious late night scrappin' this week so I'll have some layouts to share next week. In the meantime, check out JessicaSprague.com. There are a lot of fun new products over there. Plus, some fun classes coming up. Have a great day!!!

Baked Custard

I wanted to do a yummy dessert for after our Sunday dinner, and I wanted to use up some of the gazillion eggs we are getting daily from our beautiful Reds.  Nothing better than fresh eggs.  I decided to do a custard, and it was a hit.  Jason thought it would be even better inside a doughnut.  His favorite doughnut being bismarcks with custard filling. Maybe one day I'll tackle that project.  When I think of custards I think a hard dessert to make...kind of like Creme Brulee.  But this one was simple!!  I like simple.  :o)

 

Baked Custard
4 large eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat eggs, sugar, and salt together until it gets a good bright yellow color.  Then stir in milk, water, and vanilla.  Pour into 6 oz. ramekins, and place in a 13x9 casserole dish.  Fill 13x9 with hot water to about the middle of the ramekins.  Sprinkle tops with nutmeg and place oven baking for 35-45 minutes or until knife comes out clean.  Remove and place on cooling rack and cool completely.  Refridgerate until ready to serve. 

Hope you all had an awesome weekend!  Don't forget to enter our giveaway HERE...not much time left!

Source: Allrecipes

Friday Favorite

I just wanted to show you some eye candy today in the sewing world. This blog is called Once Upon a Thread. This lady is pretty darn talented and all I can do is drool and wish I had a smidgen of her talent. I was first tipped off by her while semi-following the Project Run and Play blog. It's a sewing competition where the contestants have to design a child's outfit based on a theme. It was fun to follow along. They will be doing another competition next fall but will be doing tutorials and such until then. Find them here.

Anyway, Katy on Once Upon a Thread uses children's books as inspiration and designs fun, beautiful clothing based on a book. Fun, right? Here are just a few of her creations. Drool then run over to her blog to drool some more. Oh, by the way, Katy won the Project Run and Play competition. All the entries were amazing but I loved her entries. Amazing.

This was Katy's last entry in Project Run and Play. Look at those Ruffles!!!! Oh man. You can find her full post here.

Another Project Run and Play entry. Wouldn't you just feel gorgeous in this dress?! Full post here.

So cute. Full post here.

This cute outfit is inspired by the book A Tree is Nice. The shirt has a leaf print and I love the cute pants with leaf pockets. Full post here.

Alrighty, check out her blog for some more drool worthy eye candy. And don't forget to enter out GIVEAWAY! You know you could use a free Shutterfly Photo Book. Go Here to enter. Have a great weekend!!!

Breakfast Casserole...Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Yeah yeah yeah...I know it has nothing to with St. Patricks Day, but I did my green on Monday!  :o) 

I make this quite a bit, because it's one of my husbands favorite dinners.  Funny thing...I've never made it for breakfast.  It's quick to throw together and oh so tasty when it comes HOT out of the oven.  I had my Daddy-O over for dinner and he had 3 helpings!  3!  Good stuff.  Give it a try.

Breakfast Casserole
26 oz. Southwest Hashbrowns
1/2 c. butter melted
Season Salt
1 lb ground sausage, cooked
6 eggs, beat
1 1/4 c. milk
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. shredded swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put hashbrowns in a 13x9 dish and pour melted butter over top.  Shake some season salt over the hashbrowns.  Bake for 25 minutes.  While it's baking brown your sausage, and when it's done add the meat and remaining ingredients in a big bowl mixing well.  When hashbrowns are done take them out and pour sausage mix over top and put back in oven at 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes.  So good!!

Source: Krishel  :o)

The weekend is almost here!  I can't wait.  Hope you are all having a great week, and  don't forget to enter our fun GIVEAWAY!!

Digi Day

Erica called me a slacker yesterday. What's up with that? Monday I spent all day traveling with my kiddos alone. That's a tough thing to navigate airports towing two kids. They did great though. Anyway, yesterday was spent recovering and spending time with my hubby who is on Spring break. Yay! We are so glad to have him back. It's been nice.

Anyway, so I'm back in Missouri and ready to resume life again. This is my first digi page this month. I can't believe we are mid March already? Time flies, and speaking of...my lil' girlie turns five next month and I've been thinking a lot about that. It's crazy. *Sigh* So my layout this week is my thoughts on my girlie growing up.

This kit is by the Queen of Quirk. You can find it here and here.

Cute, right? Oh she's a doll. :)

So I've been teasing you with a giveaway for about a week. It's a great one and whether you like to digi scrap, showoff your photography, or make a gift for a family member you will love this! I have a FREE 20 page 8x8 Shutterfly Photo Book to giveaway. This is a $20.00 value.

Not bad, right? These are a great way to get your pictures from your hard drive into a book you can handle and show off! I've done a few books by Shutterfly and have been impressed with all of them. Check out some samples here.

Okay, to enter in our drawing you can do three things. You need to comment for each thing you do to count as an entry.

1. Become a follower

2. Like us on Facebook

3. Link us on your blog or on Facebook telling the world about our fun lil' blog

Also, if you refer someone AND they become a follower we'll give you an extra entry. Sound good?! Yay! I will pick a winner next Wednesday morning. You have until midnight Tuesday. Good luck!!! Oh, and I just wanted to thank one of my besties and the culprit that got me hooked on digi scrapping, Rachael for donating this giveaway. She is a Gallery Guru over at Shutterfly. She's so cool!

Green Chocolate Mint Cookies

Better late than never!  What a morning!  Not only is it a gorgeous dreary day, but me, and my 2 boys have a nasty head cold.  It's been quite challenging trying to get cookies baked and keep my boys happy.  Why didn't someone tell me being a mother of 3 is so tough.  It's worth it though, right?  :o)

I found these babies on foodgawker.  I wanted to do something green and festive for the upcoming St. Patrick's day and thought these not only sounded easy, but yummy too!  I made my basic sugar cookie dough and added green food coloring to it, and then stirred in some chopped up Andes chocolate mint candy.  I think they are scrumptious.  Not too sweet, and the right amount of minty-ness.  :o)  The center is soft and cakey.  I think next time I will add more green.  I'm glad I baked these.  I felt like I accomplished something today.  Now...if I could just stop eating them.  Grrrr....

Like I said at the first of the post I used THIS sugar cookie recipe and added green food coloring.  And then I stirred in chopped up Andes.  My local store didn't bave brown mint chocolate chips.  They had green, but I thought brown would be much more pretty.  My good friend brought me some from her local Walmart.  How sweet is that?  Pays to have good friends that live in big cities.  :o)  I used my cookie scoop and baked on 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Don't bake them too long, or they will dry out fast! 

Hope you have a great week!!!

Thoughts...

Sometimes blogging seems so pointless when there are others in the world grieving and going through trials. I read what I call a "sad blog" today. It was of a woman with two young children who recently lost her husband to cancer. I hate cancer. It sucks. I think too many of us have been affected by cancer. It steals loved ones away. It tests everything I've ever believed in about life and why we're here. You know, it's just so unfair. You can check out her blog here. The good thing about these stories are the appreciation I gain for the people I love. I saw this video the other day that fits with my thoughts for the day.

Anyway, I'm sorry to get all deep on you. Just had to share my thoughts.

I'm holding off the Giveaway till Tuesday. Give your family a hug today and say a prayer for the people in Japan.

Pasta Carbonara

I know I know...Another pasta dish with creamy goodness and bacon!  I just posted one similar to this a few posts back, but I think this one is tastier, so I had to share.  I first tried this dish when my ex mother in law brought it over after I had the baby.  We all loved it, so I had to get the recipe.  It was pretty easy to throw together.  The sauce is so tasty and delicious.  If you like it lots creamier, you can double the sauce.  I made mine ahead of time and it was still pretty creamy a couple hours later.  But the noodles do soak it up, quite a bit.

Pasta Carbonara

8 oz. thin spaghetti, cooked

4-6 slices of bacon cut up

3 Tbsp onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. parmesan

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/8 tsp black pepper

3 large chicken breasts, cubed, and cooked

Cook your chicken and noodles before hand. I like to fry my chicken in some butter and salt and pepper.  Fry up bacon, and when it's starting to brown throw in onion, cook til almost crisp then add garlic stirring around for about 30 seconds to get the good garlic flavor.  Don't over cook your garlic.  Remove onto paper towel to drain leaving about 1 Tbsp of oil in the pan.  Add heavy cream and heat to it's almost boiling, stirring every now and then.  Add cheese and turn to low and let it simmer for 3 minutes.  Add noodles, chicken, parsley, and black pepper.  Stir to coat and enjoy.

This is another recipe where adding other ingredients is fine.  Such as broccoli, or mushrooms.  Maybe trade the meat for shrimp.  Yum!  This was an awesome meal with some steamed asparagus on the side!  Enjoy!!!

Owl Taggies

I sewed. Can you believe it? Niether can I. :) My friend had twins recently and I made these adorable little Owl Taggies for her sweet little babes. As you know, owls are huge right now. They are everywhere and so stinkin' adorable. What is it about those pointy ears and large eyes?

The pattern is mine but I have seen stuffed owls here and there on the web. As far as the tags go though, my friend Megan makes these stinkin' cute stuffed blocks with tags and I figured the owl would be cute with tags too. Since I've made these, I've seen some stuffed owls with tags. Go figure, goes to show that hardly any ideas are original. Anyway, here are my cute lil' Owl Taggies. If I ever get my scanner to work I'll share my pattern with you. Would anyone be interested? Cause if there's no interest, I'm not going through the trouble. Let me know. :)

Have a happy Wednesday! Get ready, because Friday we have a Giveaway! It's a good one! Stay tuned!



Friday Favorite

Is it seriously already Friday?  Holy cow!  This week flew!!!  I hope it keeps going at this speed so Spring can hurry and get here.  I am so sick of the muddy mess outside.  I just want to put my yard clothes on and go work in the garden and flower beds.  Who here agrees with me?!

Anyhoo...onto my pick for Friday Favorites.  I've been kind of slacking on the blog browsing lately, but I have been searching high and low the past few days and I found a website that will "Feed Your Eyes".  I was using the amazing Stumble Upon that Monica recommended for us, and found this amazing place.  It has thousands of photos of food that people submit.  If you are interested in one, you just click on it and it takes you directly to their blog and recipe.  AMAZING!!!! They publish new food images all day every day, so there is always something new to feast your eyes on.  I sat there for quite awhile looking at all the awesome food.  I have so many bookmarked it's ridiculous!  They also have a Craft Gawker too.  Oh heaven help me...or my family, because I am gonna be glued to this computer with all the great ideas!

Here's a few on my list...

Pork Cracklins

Some of you may think I'm crazy for wanting these, but i'm a LOVER of Pork skins, so i'm pretty sure i'd love these.

Irish Cream Ice Cream Pie

This diet is seriously killing me right now.  I want this pie NOW!

Coffee Panna Cotta with Bittersweet Mocha Sauce

This one looks super challenging to me...so that is the reason I want to try it. And I love all desserts with the flavor of coffee in it...i know i know..i'm a sinner.  :o)

Seriously head on over to Food Gawker.  You will be drooling all over your keyboard. 



I've been hearing...

from people here and there..."so I've tried one of your recipes". You know what, they always seem to be Erica's posts. Which is fine! No jealousy here. :) It's fun to hear of people trying various things and enjoying new recipes for their families. So I started thinking about all the recipes I've made that Erica has posted and just wanted to share with you a few. We like to think that we are only sharing and passing along original, passed down, and found recipes that really are pretty good. So with that...

Daddy's Rice Pudding

Okay, you have probably heard that I'm a pudding fan. LOVE it! When I saw this recipe I had to give it a go. The fact that my dad created it was only a plus. It was super easy and was delicious. You really only need 1/2 cup of sugar and YES 1/2 cup of rice is correct. I kept calling Erica and saying, "are you sure?"

Sloppy Joe's

This is another quick and tasty recipe. It is so basic but turns out so great. I added a little more seasoning here and there. My kiddos gobbled it up. That's what I love.

Simply Done Chicken Legs
You can click on the link. For some reason blogger is not cooperating and I can't get a picture. I have made these twice for my family. My little girlie loves chicken on the bone and these are pretty tasty. Make sure you season them well.

PW's Blue-berry Muffins
These turned out awesome. I will never make a muffin from a mix again. Fresh blueberries rock. Next time you go to the store, grab some blueberries. These were another hit with the kiddos.

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup

Erica just mentioned this recipe while featuring the Our Best Bites blog. You can find it here. Just so you know, it is to die for. Seriously, amazing. You can drizzle it on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, use it for fondue, or drizzle it on hot cereal. Probably not awesome for your health, but definitely worth the calories for special occasions. Yum!

So there you go! Recipes I've tried of Erica's. Happy Thursday!

Cadbury Egg Cookies

As I was doing my weekly grocery shopping, I seen the Easter candy out.  My mouth started watering instantly for these heavenly Easter treats.  Cadbury Mini Eggs.  OH MY!  There they were.  They were calling my name, so I bought a bag.  I promised myself I wouldn't pig out on these and think of something to bake up with them.  My sister came to visit and I opened the bag to share with her and the kids thinking there's no way we'd eat the whole bag and I'd do my baking the next day.  Well...we almost did eat the entire bag, not leaving enough to do anything with them...SO...I finished them off myself *TEE HEE* and had Monica bring another bag the next day.  I decided to make a cookie with them, and experiment.  I made them 2 different ways, and decided in the end that if you put the crushed up eggs in with the dough then plop some of them on top that they would probably be perfect.  The taste of the eggs didn't really come through, but I think if you added them to the dough and on top that they would.  Or Monica said she seen a dark chocolate version and I bet the flavor of those would come through.  

This is the first way I made them.  I smooshed the dough down a little then plopped them on top.  They spread out a lot.  The cookie was good, but not perfect.

Here's the recipe-

Cadbury Egg Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. shortening

2 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

5 c. flour

1 lg bag of Cadbury Eggs, crushed.

Mix butter and shortening together until light and fluffy, and then add your sugars, mixing until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Mix well and then add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Stir in Cadbury eggs reserving some to sprinkle on the tops of the cookies.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  Mine took 10 minutes and they looked a little doughy still, but once they were cool they were PERFECT!

This is the 2nd batch I did.  Isn't it pretty with the colors coming through?  I liked these better than the first and I loved the crunch the hard candy shell made.  Mmmm...

It's still an experiment, and if I try something different and it's better, I will for sure let you all know.  If you try something different and better, let us know! I'd love to hear what you create.  Hope you are all having a wonderful week. 

Digi Day

Well, I went from cold to colder. Ha ha. I thought Missouri was cold but being back in Utah/Idaho, well, it's cold here too. BUT, and that's a big but, I love love love home. Miss my hubby, but he is getting ready for finals and wasn't that personable anyway. I got to Idaho late Saturday night and stepped out into the cold air. The first thing that hit me was the view of the stars. The stars are just better here, if you've been to the country or the mountains, you know what I mean. Also, the smell. Nothings says home like deep fresh air and a hint of cow manure. Most people think I'm nuts, but I love it, I do. It's home. It's family. Anyway, I've been having a great time and we'll be headed South today for a little family time there. 

Okay, for this week I have three layouts to share. The first is Lesson 5 from Digi in Deeper. I'm still loving this class. This is another messy Freestyle layout. I really do love this style. It's just fun. This week we are focusing on shabby/chic layouts, so I'll have some of those to share for next week.

These are from our trip to Big Springs in Idaho. Nice to have some photos scrapped from that trip.

Here is a fun layout from our recent Mid West big storm. Full Credits Here.

Just a random layout. Love these cute lil' faces of mine. Full credits Here.

Have a very happy Tuesday. Don't forget to check out the Digi Lovely Blog for a Free Template Tuesday. You can't beat it! It's Free!