Peppermint Creme Bars

These are delicious. They are like a peppermint patty with an oreo layer. Pretty easy to make, just need a food processor and time (they are a bit time consuming, it seemed to me at least).

• 1 package crushed chocolate sandwich cookies with white filling
• 
  
  6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  
  6 cups powdered sugar
• 
  
  6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 
  
  6 tablespoons milk
• 
  
  2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 
  
  1 pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips (or 1 1/2 depending on how chocolatey you like it)
• 
  
  4 teaspoons shortening

1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 9x13-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil over the pan edges; set aside.

2.

In a medium bowl, combine crushed cookies and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on a wire rack.

3.

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar and softened butter in a food processor. Cover and process until butter is evenly distributed. With processor running, add milk and peppermint extract to make a paste. Spread peppermint mixture evenly over the prepared crust. Put in freezer for 45 minutes.

4.

In a saucepan, melt chocolate and shortening over low heat. Pour chocolate over mint layer and spread evenly. Freeze again, or let set out until chocolate in firm (I put in freezer for about 20ish minutes). Using the edges of the foil, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Cut into square.

*I added Christmas sprinkles to the mint part, and snowflake sprinkles on top the chocolate part (before the chocolate hardens).

*adapted from HERE. The original recipe is in a 8x8 pan which I thought was way too small for the amount of time put into these, and I made a change in the peppermint layer part, I like more peppermint creme, so I more than doubled the original recipe, but don't worry, it's been tested and works just great.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

So I've been a little lazy, tired, {other excuses}, so I am just going to put up links for St. Patrick's Day things I did last year. I made the Pistachio bread today and the kids love it. I also put it in my husband's lunch for a fun surprise, although he probably won't even think about it being green or that it is St. Patrick's Day; he doesn't consider it a holiday :). I am trying to get this blog running again, but we will see.

Pistachio Bread

Little Leprechauns

Yo-Yo Hair Barrettes

Pot of Gold / Rainbow Cupcakes

Edible Pot of Gold

Hair Accessories

Other fun St. Patrick's Day stuff from other blogs:

Double Rainbow Pancakes

Green Velvet Baby Cakes

St. Patrick's Day Rose Wreath

Shamrock Pretzel Snack

Shamrock Button Art

Leprechaun Pie

Corned Beef and Cabbage (for the die hard celebrators)

And as usual, my Mom sent a package filled with things for the kids (I'm so lucky!). I couldn't tell you how to make them, but maybe it will give you some ideas.

St. Patrick's Day Leggings

A St. Patrick's Day "Lucky" Pin

Easy Patriotic Flag Dessert

I made this last year and everyone loved it. I'm looking for something new this year, but this is pretty good that I might just make it again and call it a tradition.

3 cups boiling water, divided

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Berry Blue Flavor Gelatin

2 cups ice cubes, divided

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin, or any red flavor

2 cups halved strawberries

1/2 cup blueberries

STIR 1-1/2 cups of the boiling water into dry blue gelatin in medium bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add 1 cup of the ice cubes; stir until ice is completely melted. Pour into 13x9-inch dish. Refrigerate 20 min. or until gelatin is set but not firm.

PLACE cream cheese, sugar and half of the whipped topping in large bowl; beat until well blended. Spoon over blue gelatin layer in dish; spread carefully to evenly cover gelatin layer. Stir remaining 1-1/2 cups boiling water into strawberry gelatin in separate bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add remaining 1 cup ice cubes; stir until ice is completely melted. Let stand at room temperature 5 min. or until slightly thickened. Spoon over cream cheese layer in dish. Refrigerate 3 hours or until set.

SPREAD remaining whipped topping over dessert just before serving. Decorate with strawberries and blueberries to resemble a flag. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator

To see TONS of 4th of July recipes, crafts, and decorations, check out the link party at craftaholics anonymous:

Mother's Day Roundup

So I am going to try a link party. With Mother's Day coming up, I would LOVE to see all the good ideas for presents out there. It's also Tuesday, so I am going to feature a blog. I think this craft would be an awesome Mother's Day (or Grandmother) present.

Mod Podged Hand Trees from At Second Street

Click HERE to see the tutorial, or click on the button to go directly to the website

These two things are things I am doing for the kids in my primary class at church:

Mother's Day Questionnaire, which I am SO excited to see how the kids answer the questions, found HERE

Mother's Day Hand print and Poem:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing -

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a little handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

(to look something like this, this is actually my husband's from a long time ago that he gave to his mom)

Now for the link party,

1. Link up your Mother's Day crafts, recipes, presents, whatever you have Mother's Day

2. Make sure you link to your actual post and NOT your blog's home page

3. Here's my button if you want to link back to the party from your blog post.

<a href="http://www.mommieguide.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt<img src="http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr185/kyleeduff/Picture15.png

" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /&gt</a&gt

Thanks. I'm excited to see what you all have!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone. I wanted to make a little treat for my husband to take to his scouts (he is a webelos leader) and since today is Earth Day, I thought this would be perfect. It was really quick and easy and the kids LOVED it. I am sure you have all had this before, or know the recipe, but just in case, or just as a reminder, here it is:

2 boxes of instant chocolate pudding

1 box of instant vanilla pudding

small clear plastic cups

oreo cookies

gummy worm/bugs/frogs (whatever you like)

whipped cream (optional)

Crush the oreo cookies (I used my magic bullet and made them really fine). Mix up the vanilla and chocolate puddings according to the package directions. Now you are supposed to mix them with whipped cream, but I forgot to get that at the store, so I just used the pudding as is, and it worked fine. Now this is how I did it, but you can creatively come up with whatever layering or what not you want. I put one spoonful of crushed oreos in the bottom of each cup, then one spoonful of vanilla, then a spoonful of oreos again, then a a couple spoonfuls of chocolate pudding (till it's almost full), then top it off with more crushed oreos and stick some gummy worms on top.

...and to really make them Earth Day appropriate, make little 'Happy Earth Day' flags with toothpicks.

Happy Easter!

Yep, that's my boy. Hope you all have a Wonderful Easter!

Fabric Carrots

These fabric carrots were made by my mom using strips of orange fabric, styrofoam cones, a hot gun, and fake grass, or whatever you want for the stem part.

Get cones like this, I found different sizes, but you can make different sizes by shaving part of the tops off to make them different lengths. It is messy though so do it in a plastic bag.
Cut a square of fabric and hot glue it down over the top and bottom parts of the carrot, (like in picture below). Glue the edges of the fabric down over the cone part (it will be covered up by the strips of fabric).
Then take orange fabric strips (about 8-10 inches long - ripped about 1 inch wide), and hot glue them on as you work your way down the cone.
Then use scissors or a knife and poke a hole in the top and cut a small circle. Stab your grass or stem part into the cone and hot glue it in.

Chocolate Nests

These easy no-bake sweets are the perfect addition to your Easter dessert menu, and kids LOVE helping you make them:

You'll need:

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

2 Tab. vegetable shortening

1 cup crisp rice cereal

1 cup chow mein noodles

mini candy coated chocolate eggs

Line baking sheets with waxed paper. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate and shortening. Microwave on medium stirring at 1 minute intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 2 minutes). Gently stir in the rice cereal and chow mein noodles until throughly blended. Drop chocolate mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Using the back of a spoon, make an indentation in each spoonful of chocolate mixture to form a nest. Place chocolate nests on baking sheets in the fridge chill until set, about 1 hour. Remove nests from baking sheets. FIll each nest with candy as desired.

Sock Bunny Family

Here is my sock bunny family (I got my idea from Family Fun, but I did mine a little different)

A close up on the back of them, cause I love the little fluffy tails

Close up on the baby bunny

To make these, you will need:

kids socks (I used girl's size 3-5 years, and an infant sock for the baby)

3 Clear hair elastics

ribbon (whatever color you want, I used pink, blue and yellow)

rice

cardboard

goggly eyes

pom poms (little ones for the noses, and medium ones for the tails)

hot glue gun and scissors

• First, cut out circles in the cardboard, I used the lid of a juice container to trace them.
• Put the cardboard circles in the bottom of the sock so it stands up.
• Fill with rice to just above the heel of the sock.
• Use a clear hair elastic to tie the top of it together (leaving an inch or so)
• Use some ribbon and tie it below the heel part to make the head/neck of the bunny
• Cut two slits in the top of the sock to make ears, and round them to an ear shape. (the infant sock worked perfectly for this, but the girl's sock didn't lay right, so I hot glued them in half, like this:

before

after

• Then glue on the googly eyes, and pom pom nose, and tail.

I am linked up with these parties:

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com/

Pistachio Bread

My mom got this recipe from one of her friends a long time ago. This bread is so good. It does bake green, so it is perfect for St. Patrick's Day. However, I did add about 3 drops of green food coloring to make it a little brighter green. Here is the recipe:

Mix together 1 yellow cake mix, 1 small pkg. pistachio pudding (dry mix), 1 cup 7-up, 3 eggs, and 1 cup MINUS 2 tablespoons of oil.

Bake in a greased loaf pan (or bundt cake pan) at 375 for 35 minutes. Can be drizzled with a somewhat thin mixture of powdered sugar and milk.

*I think it takes about 35 minutes in the bundt pan, but when I made mine in the loaf pan it took about 40ish minutes, just keep checking it.

Little Leprechaun

Our Leprechauns

(I made the boy one and my daughter made the girl one - she said she was a girl so she had to make a girl leprechaun and she did not understand why I made a boy one. She kept saying "But mom, you're a girl, why are you making a boy one?" At first I told her, "I think there are only boy leprechauns," then I thought...if we are saying there are leprechauns at all, we can definitely say there are girl ones.)

the back of them

the one from family fun

These are easy to make and you probably have most the stuff you need to make it already. Here is what you need:

toilet paper roll

green craft foam

green, brown, pink, and skin-tone paint

black permanent marker

tacky glue

brown pipe cleaners

And a decorative button if you have one

*We used construction paper rather than painting which I liked A LOT more. We also made a little clover out of sparkly green pipe cleaner for the top of the hat instead of a decorative button. I tried to make it a lucky four leaf clover, but it looked too much like a marijuana leaf, so we opted for the three leaf clover. We also used the googly eyes instead, which the kids liked better. We used a glue stick, tape, and hot glue gun to stick everything on.

Click HERE to see the instructions from Family Fun.

St. Patrick's Day Yo-Yo Barrette

My Mom made this adorable St. Patrick's Day yo-yo barrette.

Pot of Gold

I got this idea from Love, Actually, and then I just went off from that. I found small clay pots at the dollar store in a pack of three; then painted them all black. Then I just got some pipe cleaner at Target ($2), and a bag of rolos. I twisted red, orange. yellow, green, and blue pipe-cleaners together at the ends, put them deep into the clay pots, and then filled with rolos.

I also thought these cupcakes were so cute, and I think I will attempt to make them tomorrow. Find the recipe at Family Fun:

Edible Pot of Gold

My kids would love this. I am planning on making it on St. Patty's Day, but thought I would put the recipe out there to give anyone time to make it. Did you know there are like 3 or 4 different flavors of yellow jello. I got the 'Island Pineapple' flavor. I will probably just put my jello a.k.a. gold in a little bowl and just skip the whole lime part (I'm not that fancy), go to family fun to see directions.

St. Patrick's Day Wreath

I saw this over at 'Me and My Scraps' and I thought it was so cute! I really wanted to make one, but got too busy. Maybe I could do Easter, or a spring themed one.

St. Patrick's Day Hair Accessories

Once again, my Mom made these very adorable St. Patrick's Day hair bows. I thought I would put them up in case anyone needed ideas. If hair bows don't stay in your girl's hair, then try this secret: You know the rubber stuff you line shelves with and put under rugs to keep them in place, cut a tiny piece and hot glue it into the clip part (you can see in the bottom picture). It works awesome, keeps them bows in place.