kisses!

This is a silly recipe because it's so easy, and it's one of those I can make really quickly (because I totally cheat!) and they're super yummy! I've been asked several times for my peanut butter cookie recipe... love that! All I do is roll the dough into balls, roll them is sugar and bake them for 7 1/2 minutes (I like anemic cookies- ask my mom), and then my girls love to help unwrap the hershey kisses (with clean hands mind you) and we squish them in the middle together!
Ta-da!

Wanna know what my "secret" is???

Good ol' Betty C. saves the day!

Baby burp cloths

When I was getting all my baby needs ready before Claire was born, I knew I didn't like the look of the plain white burp cloths... so for my birthday my mom made up some of these for me (not these actual ones but some like it) I Loved them! So now we have made more for baby gifts. They are so easy to make all you need is cloth diapers, cute ribbon, and a sewing machine!

Chocolate Chip pancakes

I was watching the news this morning and saw that it was National Pancake Day- and I thought that sounded like a good thing to make for dinner. I had to go to Macey's to pick up a few things and I passed by this pancake mix (on sale this week too by the way)-since it's also Heart Healthy month I thought I would make this. Sorry it's not a homemade recipe but it was easy and who doesn't love those nights where you have breakfast for dinner! I did add a ½ cup of mini chocolate chips to spice up the mix,
they tasted great!

Our old friend Mickey Mouse appeared in my pan :)

Scottish Short Bread

Scottish Short Bread

4¼ c Flour
1 c sugar
1 c powder sugar
1 lb butter
1 t vanilla
½ t salt

food coloring (optional)

Mix sugars with butter... add flour, salt, & vanilla gradually. Pat into a jelly roll pan & bake at 350º for 20 minutes. While still warm, cut with metal cookie cutter into cute shapes, or cut with a knife into bars. These are really tasty!! (food coloring may be added for a cuter look or to fit an upcoming holiday)

**Entered on behalf of Diane Crook

Cheesecake

This is my Mom's recipe for yummy Cheesecake. I used Vanilla Wafers in cupcake tins instead of baking the crust in a 9x13 dish. (a trick I learned from my Mother!) And I used cherry pie filling for the topping. Super easy!

Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups flour
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix together and pat into 9x13 or 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filing:
1- 8 oz. softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 small container of Cool Whip

Mix cream cheese & sugar. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour over crust.

Topping:
2 pkgs Danish Dessert (for a 9x13 pan) or
1 pkg Danish Dessert (for 8x8 pan)

Prepare as directed on package. Can add fruit (strawberries or cherries). Pour over filling. Chill for 12 hours.

Primary Teaching Helps

My husband and I teach the CTR 5 class. I am going to use this during my lessons as a way to keep the attention of my little 5 year olds.

(I realize that it looks like a messy block of tape right now... when I find a way to make it look cute... I'll post a picture of it)

I took one of my sons blocks and covered it with colored paper. (I wanted it to be a fairly small block, so it can stay in my primary bag all the time) Then I printed up things that the kids will get to do during class. Ex. Sing your favorite song, color a picture of ______, play CTR matching game, etc.

I hope to start my lesson and then once I 'loose' the kids (due to those long attention spans) - I will ask someone to roll our block and we'll do that quick activity before we begin our lesson again.

Here is the CTR Matching Game mentioned above. I found it on Mormon Share - I just made 2 copies of the pictures and pasted them on red paper. (so you can't see through the papers) They are all pictures of people making right choices. There are only 9 matches - so it should be a fairly short game.

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Another yummy recipe found on the Picky Palate. I did a little adapting of my own- I added a little vanilla, and I only had crunchy peanut butter which worked out just fine. I also made it into a bundt pan and one small loaf pan instead of the 3 loaves. This turned out so delicious!! I will definaltly be making this one again. (Even my mom who is not a peanut butter and chocolate fan liked this recipe) We took this to the baby shower today also and everyone loved it.

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

3 Sticks softened butter
2 Cups sugar
5 eggs
¼ Cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 small box vanilla pudding mix (4 serving size)
2 Cups flour
5-6 ripe bananas

20-30 reese's peanut butter cup minis

½ Cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
2-3 Tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs until smooth. Add peanut butter, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, pudding mix and flour until combined. Stir in bananas and Reese's.

2. Pour batter into 3 greased bread pans. Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center of each loaf. Let cool.

4. Place powdered sugar, milk and peanut butter in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and drizzling consistency.

5. Drizzle over each loaf.

Adorable baby shower idea

Debra was looking for a little favor to make for a friends baby shower, and ended up finding the cute Mary Jane shoe on splitcoaststampers website. They were time consuming but well worth it in the end as they turned out so cute. You can find the template here. We filled them with candy and they were a huge hit!

Love day treats!

Last night for Young Womens, we had to come up with a last minute activity and we decided to just do some molding chocolates and do some valentines day fun stuff. It was a lot of fun and the girls all got to take some home and they were in heaven! I had at least 1 or 2 girls ask me for the recipe and I had to laugh because, um- there isn't such thing!
The pink in these pictures is a mixture of red, pink and white... Abby & Brenna had that idea!
We have LOTS of these, so in case you were desiring to eat one of these decadent treats- they'll be here on Sunday for the birthday party! I know you can't wait!

Hair bows

Since Claire doesn't like to wear her cute headbands anymore I had to find something else to put on her head. We made these at our Super Saturday activity and they were so simple. You just use those 2 prong clips (AKA Aligator clips) you can find them at any beauty store then hot glue your choice of ribbon and your done... you can add a bow or other decoration. Best of all Claire doesn't pull these out. (I did find that the grosgrain ribbon works the best!)

Here's some of the finished products

upclose look at the bows

This is what the bottom of the clip looks like when you are finished

Pretty Flowers!!

I brought flowers home from work yesterday and was able to make a couple of arrangements. I thought I would share them with all of you. I see some amazing creations done with flowers. Spring will come, I promise!! (I am not into cooking as much as the 'girls' are -- but their creations all look YUMMY!!)

Snickerdoodles

*If you can find cinnamon chips they are a great addition to this recipe! (Lately we have only been able to find them during the holidays)

Snickerdoodles

1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
3 ¾ c. flour
¼ c. milk
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
* 10 oz. bag cinnamon chips

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs & milk. Slowly add cr. of tartar, soda, salt, & flour. Roll into balls about 1½ inches in diameter and roll into sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place 2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until set. Immediately remove from baking sheet.





These are really delicious when they first come out of the oven- yummy! We have found that underdone is much better, they stay soft.