Easter treats

After our first school spring break week it has sure been hard to get back into a routine! I didn't get to do all the things I had originally planned for her since I wasn't feeling well. On the Saturday before Easter we dyed some eggs while Nick put in a new bathroom sink with the help of one of his uncles.

I made this bunny cake on Saturday too for Sunday's Easter gathering but Nick only had time to snap one photo on Sunday before it was completely devoured from nose to tail (except those paper ears of course!). The side view looked way more like a bunny than this front view. It wasn't as short and fat as it looks.

Puppy Chow: Nut Allergy Version

A friend of mine recently introduced me to Sunbutter, a nut allergy friend alternative to peanut butter. This was a welcome addition to our pantry since my husband is not only allergic to peanuts but also tree nuts. I know he won't ever make a Sunbutter and jelly sandwich like I do with peanut butter but it will be great to have around for baking and cooking.

When I first heard about Sunbutter, the first thing that came to my mind was Puppy Chow, Muddy Buddies, etc. Whatever name you know this crunchy chocolate and powder sugar covered snack by, you know that it contains peanut butter. So finally in his 30s, Nick had Puppy Chow for the first time in his life and he loves it. 

Here is the nut-free version of Puppy Chow:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
9 cups rice cereal squares - I used Chex
1/2 cup Sunbutter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
gallon size ziplock bag


Pour powdered sugar into gallon size ziplock bag. In a saucepan (large enough to hold all your cereal) over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Stir in Sunbutter until smooth. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until the cereal is coated. Pour cereal into ziplock and shake until well coated. Store in an airtight container.


(Link parties I'm posting this to are found HERE)

Homemade Cherry Limeade

While growing up we always had a Sonic nearby and an old fashioned soda fountain that made the best cherry limeades. After we moved north, the closest place to find a cherry limeade was in the middle of Iowa on the way to visit family. In the past couple years we've since gained a Sonic but it's still about 30 miles away. For L's birthday party I went searching around the internet through the millions of recipes for cherry limeades. Okay, maybe not millions but there are tons of them out there. This is the recipe that I finally started with and went from there with a little modification.

This is now my go-to homemade cherry limeade recipe:

1 - 2 liter of Sierra Mist

1 can of limeade concentrate - thawed

1 cup maraschino syrup

2 limes

8 maraschino cherries (optional)

Add first 3 ingredients to a large pitcher. Cut both limes into quarters, squeeze a little juice out of each of them into the pitcher before dropping into pitcher. Add maraschino cherries to the pitcher, stir and enjoy over ice.

Calendar and Menu Organization

Since I still can't put baby things out being in limbo between waiting for the house to sell and not having a new place to go to yet I needed to do some sort of organization or decorating of something since I'm going crazy not doing baby decorating. I have been looking at all these great ideas for different calendars and menu planning boards but since we don't have much extra space in our little 866 sq ft, I figured whatever I made needed to serve a dual purpose. This is the "before" of the side of the fridge.

And this is what it looked like this afternoon when the warm sunshine was still streaming into the house. Can't wait to show you the "After" photo tomorrow!

Chocolate Chip Heaven

We are in chocolate chip heaven! And I know both Nick and I gave ourselves stomach aches last night for eating too many of them!!

I started separating my recipe boards on Pinterest so I have different boards for recipes I'd like to try (aka the "Looks Yummy" board) and recipes that I have tried and would make again (aka the "Yummy" board) so I can weed out the ones I tried that were duds. These chocolate chip cookies have been moved over to the Yummy board and will definitely be made over and over again. One thing I did differently was to squish the scoop of dough a little bit on the cookie sheet because the first batch I made the cookies stayed in the shape of the scoop I used and the top of the cookie wasn't done all the way.

Showing it's ugly face

Pregnancy swelling has unfortunately been showing it's ugly face this past week. And with as bad as my preeclampsia was the first time around I am trying to do everything I can including trying to have a low sodium diet. I know I can't prevent preeclampsia but I have already been able to tell I can control some of the swelling with my diet and daily routine. My dinner tonight has become a familiar site in different variations.

I found this great guideline for a low sodium diet tonight that opened my eyes to something I don't think I'd ever have thought of: Avoid softened water for cooking and drinking since it contains added salt. We have well water that runs through a water softener! I like drinking water and normally get a good daily amount and I've been making sure that I have kept that up for this pregnancy. I don't know how much sodium actually makes it through softened water but I don't think I'm going to take a chance. I'll stick to drinking the salt free water from the store!

Weeding the Recipe Box

Does anyone else out there have a recipe box overflowing with recipes that you thought sounded good and had every intention of trying... someday? Or recipes you've asked for from parties but never actually made? I'm guilty of it and it needs to change! I want a recipe box I can go to that's filled with dishes I've made, have liked and will make again. I did a quick sort of recipes that I knew were staying but I had an even bigger stack that I don't know if I've ever made before or even like! I'm going to keep a stack at the back of the box that I can slowly go through and to see if they'll make the cut to the good part of the box or to the trash.

I also have TONS of recipes we've printed from the internet that are on 8.5x11" paper that I want to convert to recipe cards if they are a favorite. Tonight I made one of those recipes that I knew we liked but had forgotten about - Layered Meatball Bake from Kraft Foods. And you'll be proud to hear that I've already copied the recipe onto a card and put it into the box!

 And have I mentioned lately how much I love my marigold Fiesta bowls?

Christmas Treats: Fudgy Macaroons

Finally, we're doing some more baking! Fudgy Macaroons were a staple Christmas cookie growing up. They are super easy, super fast and no heating up the oven to make these cookies.

In a 2 quart saucepan, mix 1/2 cup evaporated milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp margarine. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and is bubbly all over top. Boil and stir over medium heat 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract and 6oz package chocolate bits. Mix in 2 cups corn flakes (plain or sugar), 1 cup coconut and 1/2 cup chopped nuts(black walnuts). Drop from tablespoon onto waxed paper. Let stand until set. Makes 2 dozen.

And you can't forget the best part... licking the spoon!

Christmas Treats: Chocolate Covered Pretzels

The Christmas gifts are bought, mostly wrapped, all out-of-town packages have been shipped and L is off school. We are going to enjoy the rest of the week baking and cleaning up the house to get ready for Christmas Eve. Our first treat we made is a favorite of mine and L's - Chocolate covered pretzels. I know people usually dip the big pretzel rods like this but I decided to dip the little sticks this year instead of the traditional pretzel shape. It's so much faster and kid friendly! I just melted the chocolate in mugs so even L can help dip the pretzels. 

She's so serious with her sprinkle job!

The Hunt for Round Pretzels

Did anyone else pin the round pretzel, hershey kiss and M&M treat onto their Pinterest boards recently? I was thinking this would be the perfect little quick treat for L to help me make for her preschool teachers. Boy was I wrong. First of all, we couldn't find the round pretzels anywhere! No luck at Aldi's, Walmart, Meijer or our local grocery store. After sending my husband on the hunt for the round pretzels and him calling me from every store and telling me no one had them, I got back online only to find out how hard they are to find and you could use the waffle pretzels instead. And a friend on Facebook told me she had in fact used the waffle pretzels with success too.

Great, we're back on track. Wrong. One website had said not to melt the kisses too long or you would get a crust on the outside and the M&M wouldn't push into them right. But I'm thinking I didn't even melt them long enough because when we went to bag them up for her two preschool teacher, half of the kisses popped right off of the pretzels and weren't even melted into the pretzel.

Don't they look so cute though? We packages up the ones that didn't pop apart and I went and got Starbuck's gift cards... epic fail on my first teacher gift. Being crafty I was hoping for something more crafty, creative and useful, not a gift card. But there is always a mom bring them both coffee to at least I know they will use them.

A happy Polish husband

How do you make a Polish husband happy? Learn to make pierogis!

 I had never even heard of a pierogi until I met my husband. Now it's becoming a Christmas tradition the past few years to make a bunch with my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law makes the dough and the filling, Nick rolls out the dough and him and I fill and seal them up then pass them back to his mom who boils them. Of course in the process of making them she fries some of them up in butter to snack on. She always makes sauerkraut and we bring a mashed potato filling. This year was with onion and roasted garlic. L will not eat mashed potatoes and never has but give her a pierogi filled with mashed potatoes and it disappears!

L usually sits and plays with scraps of dough and then runs off and plays. This year we got her to make a few of them. This is me helping her the right amount of mashed potatoes on.

Grandma said she needed to look messier for the pictures!

 Normally they do all the sealing up by hand which leaves a lot of excess dough that I don't care for but it's their Grandma's way of folding them by hand. Last year I bought the Pampered Chef Cut-n-seal tool hoping it would help get less dough and a nice seal on the edge and it works perfect! L is cutting out her master piece here.

 And now we have a freezer with a stack of potato pierogies (and a few sauerkraut for my husband because L and I don't really like them!)