○Wonderful Stuff○

When Doug and I were first married I tried this.  I really didn't want to because I HATE coconut and nuts.  But boy was I hooked!!  It is so ooey-gooey melt in your mouth goodness.  I guess that's why they call it WONDERFUL STUFF;)  My mom makes this all year long for her Seminary students - it was a huge hit with her YW too at girls camp!!  You can't go wrong wrapping this up and giving it away to neighbors and friends!!!!!

Wonderful Stuff -
1 box Rice Chex (we actually like Corn better)
(OR - the original recipe calls for 9 cups Chex and 8 cups Golden Grahmns)
1 cup coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
3/4 cup butter

Stir together chex, coconut and almonds in a large bowl and set aside.  Bring sugar, syrup and butter to boil in saucepan.  Boil for 2 minutes without stirring.  Take off heat and pour over cereal mixture.  Stir until well coated.  Store in air tight container.  ENJOY - and TRY not to eat all in one sitting - LOL!!:)

{Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Seeds}

I have never been a fan of Pumpkin seeds...

Till I found THIS recipe!!  Boy oh boy are they tasty!!!!

Cinnamon Toasted Pumpkin Seeds -

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 Tblsp. butter, melted
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 F
2. Wash pumpkin seeds by rinsing in a colander until the water runs clear, picking out any remaining pieces of pumpkin. Drain well and spread out on a cookie sheet and pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Pile pumpkin seeds on the cookie sheet and drizzle melted butter over the pile of seeds and sprinkle on the sugar, cinnamon and a pinch or two of kosher salt.
4. Gently toss seeds until evenly coated and spread the seeds out evenly on the cookie sheet.
5. Bake in 275 F oven for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring seeds every 10 minutes and checking for doneness each time.
6. Remove from oven and let the seeds cool for a few minutes.
7. Remove seeds from cookie sheet and serve!

Chances are there won't be any leftovers, but if there are, store seeds in an airtight container for a few days to preserve freshness.
Enjoy! :)

-Pepperoni Poppers-

I found this new cooking blog from Celeste's friend called THE PIE HOLE!  On there she posted a yummy recipe for these cute little things.  She suggested they looked like eyeballs and to serve them for Halloween.  So we whipped up a batch and served them for lunch.  They were a HIT - we plan to make them a lot at our house:)  BTW they are so kid friendly, my daughter loved helping make these.

Pepperoni Poppers -

1 can thin crust pizza dough
4-5 pieces of string cheese
pepperoni or ham (my favorite)
ranch or marinara for dipping

Directions:
Separate the pizza dough into 15-20 small balls, around golf ball sized or a little smaller.
Cut the string cheese into 4-5 pieces and stuff into the center of each dough ball. Seal the cheese inside the ball.
Lay on greased baking sheet and press down slightly.
Place a pepperoni on top of each ball.  And an added olive for an eerie look - hehehe!!
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through

○RESURRECTION ROLLS○

So I know that Easter is over but after hearing my mom rant and rave about how GOOD these were I thought we would give them a try.  We missed having family night since my kids went home for a few days with my parents so tonight we made these as a family and went over this lesson with the kids.  I was very proud of my kids when they started going over the story with us and how they understood why the rolls were hollow:)  I loved their excitement to see that the marshmallow had disappeared. 

Oh and BTW these are so YUMMY!!  I think you can use the recipe any time of the year to teach your kids the importance of Christ's Resurrection and enjoy a tasty snack to go along with it!

RESURRECTION ROLLS
----------------------------------------------
Crescent rolls
melted butter
large marshmallows
cinnamon
sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a large marshmallow cut in half, this represents Jesus. Have them dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming. Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represent the spices used to anoint the body.

Then wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Place in cupcake liners and in a muffin tin. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb.

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, He is risen. (The marshmallow and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

(Somewhere Over the RaInBoW)

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Day we made festive RAINBOW cupcakes!

YUMMY!!

I have been seeing them around on other blogs and have been dying to try them out myself.  Even though they are a very LoOoOoNg process I LOVED the way they turned out!  I found a wonderful recipe to make your cake box mix taste good too.  We topped them with a delicious marshmallow frosting which gave it a fun cloudy look:)  And they tasted DE•LI•CIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES:

1 white cake mix

1 sm. pkg instant pudding - vanilla

     (Tip -- you can use same recipe for any cake mix, just use chocolate pudding for chocolate cake)

8 oz. sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. oil

First mix together cake mix with pudding, then add remaining ingredients and beat well. 

Seperate batter evenly into 6 different bowls and add food coloring to get desired colors.  I just mixed till I got it bold enough....

Today I found this guideline or someone even suggested using gel dyes and it creates more vibrant colors ....

RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING --
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops

Than place about 1 tsp of each color batter into cupcake liners to fill 1/2 - 3/4 full.  I even saw someone do layers, which was just as cute:)  Bake 350* for 15 minutes.  Frost when cooled.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 lb. butter - softened
2 jars marshmallow creme
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat all ingredients till fluffy!  I then put the frosting in a ziploc baggy, cut the tip and swirled frosting onto the cupcakes.  I would have used my frosting bag but I don't have a tip big enough, but the baggie worked just as good!

Here is another frosting recipe if you don't prefer marshmallow:)

COOL WHIP FROSTING:
2 sticks butter (1 cup) - softened
3/4 bag powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and slowly add milk to get desired thickness.  She adds about TBL at a time.  Than fold in a tub of Cool Whip.  I haven't tried this one so let me know if you do and I need to tweak the recipe!

♣HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY♣

Another fun festive RAINBOW treat is fresh fruit served with YUMMY fruit dip --

My kids and husband devoured this creative snack and really thought it was fun.  Here is my fruit dip:

MARSHMALLOW FRUIT DIP:

1 8 oz. cream cheese - softened

1 jar marshmallow fluff

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat till creamy and fluffy.  Chill.  Serve with favorite fruit!

I came across this idea on another blog and she included fruit ideas and another version of fruit dip --

Red - Strawberries, apples, cherries, watermelon

Orange - Mandarin oranges, navel oranges, canteloupe

Yellow - Pineapple, banana, apples, pears, lemons

Green - Apples, pears, grapes, limes

Blue - Blueberries

Violet (Purple) - Plums, grapes, pears
Pot of Gold - Bananas
Clouds - Sm. Marshmallows

(I cut the apples and bananas over two hours before I served it and they weren't brown. How? Using a basting brush, spread lemon juice over the cut sides. EASY!!!)

FRUIT DIP:
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened works best)

8 oz. Sour Cream

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix it all together. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve. And DEVOUR!!

•Scrumptious Soft Pretzel's•

I have been doing a little preschool with my kids each week and since our letter for the day was "P" we decided to make pretzels.  I found an easy kid friendly recipe and gave it a try...

Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 C warm water
1 pkg yeast (or 1 T)
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
4 C flour
Add sugar to warm water then sprinkle yeast on top. let it float for a min. then stir to dissolve the yeast. Let sit for 10 min. as yeast activates and starts to foam. Add salt and flour and knead 5-10 min; adding more flour as needed to reduce stickiness. Divide dough into 12 pieces and roll into snakes. Twist into pretzel shape and place on nonstick baking sheet.  Make an egg wash with one egg and 1T water, lightly beaten together. Brush pretzels with egg wash then sprinkle liberally with kosher salt. Bake @ 425 for 15 min. or until lightly browned.  Serve with nacho cheese or brush with butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on them!:)
*For left over pretzels, brush with butter and sprinkle with parmesan and broil one minute. It makes a yummy treat.

I let the kids roll, shape and brush on the egg wash so our pretzels looked very "pretty!"  They didn't turn out as golden brown as I had hoped...I think it was from not enough egg wash, but they sure did taste good:)

SuPeR eAsY SoFt PrEtZeLs

Super Easy Soft Pretzels as seen on Kara's Kitchen Creations:1/2 cup warm water2 Tbsp yeast (I use SAF)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
4 cups flour
Add yeast to warm water. Add milk, salt, and sugar. Stir in flour to make a stiff dough. (Unlike most bread recipes, you want plenty of flour. That makes the pretzels chewier.) Knead on floured counter a few times. Let dough sit for about 5 minutes. Form into pretzels following the instructions below. Bake at 400 for about 15-18 minutes. Yum! -Makes about 10-12 pretzels
Pinch off a small ball of dough.
Roll it into a rope about 14" long.
Cross the ends over.
Now bring the ends down to the bottom of the pretzel.
Place the pretzel on a greased cookie sheet and tuck the ends under.
Keep forming pretzels till you run out of dough. Then brush all of them with milk.
If you want, you can sprinkle toppings on the pretzels.
We have tried poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic salt and Parmesan, and cinnamon/sugar. Or you can sprinkle them with salt. Most of the time I just leave them plain-and they are still heavenly!
Notes:
-Sometimes I replace some of the white flour with freshly ground whole wheat flour and it works wonderfully and is more healthy.

[Party Pleasers!]

This weekend I hosted a party and everyone really enjoyed the food so I promised to post the recipes. I made the cake pops and brownie/cake balls for dessert and I already posted them so check out this link for the recipe - CAKE POPS. I got creative using the left over chocolate and vanilla almond bark and double dipped the red velvet cake pops I had made and I thought they were easier and looked really fun:) I served these in a fun glass vase and the cake pops in fun cups full of sugar. The rest of my menu was spinach dip served with crackers and sourdough baguette, veggies with dip, fruit with dip and a lemonade slush

Spinach Dip
1 pkg Pic-A-Sweet chopped frozen spinach
1 16 oz. Sour Cream
1 c. Mayo
1 pkg Knorr Spinach dip
1/2 c. chopped water chestnuts (optional)
Place frozen spinach in pan, cover with water, bring to boil and boil for 3min. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 4 minutes. Drain well. Cool spinach in fridge and than add remaining ingredients. Chill for 4-6 hours. Serve with crackers and sour dough baguette.
(I didn't have time to chill that long so I made sure the spinach was nice and cold and chilled the dip for an hour before I served - it still tasted really good:))

Fruit Dip
2 pkg 8 oz. Cream Cheese
2 jars Marshmallow Fluff
2 tsp. Vanilla (optional)
Use blender to mix all ing. well. Serve with fresh fruit: Apples, strawberries, bananas, etc.

Lemonade Slush
3 c. Sugar
8 c. Hot Water
1 can Frozen Lemonade (or favorite frozen drink)
2 liter Sprite
Dissolve sugar in hot water, add thawed can lemonade, mix well and place in gallon freezer bag. Freeze. When ready to serve partially thaw, dump into bowl and pour Sprite over top. It will turn slushy. You can garnish with lemon wedges:)