Coolest New Product EVER!

Have you ever seen these? I think they're new. At least I haven't seen them before at Fred Meyer (where I shop a lot) and I would see something this cool. They are nail polish strips. (AKA stickers, but nail polish strips sounds much more posh, doesn't it?)

Of course we had to try them out. They were even on sale so how could I not buy them. Right?

How cool are they? So cool! My daughter and I have been getting lots of compliments on them and questions about who does our nails.

The box says it contains 16 nail strips. Because I have such short, squatty nails (blech) I was able to cut them down and use one strip for 2 nails. So we did both of our hands and there is still enough left for another time for my daughter.

Cool? We love it!

Puppy Love

I think I should just rename my blog "All the ideas I steal from Family Fun". Seriously. Because whenever we get the magazine we all look through it and say "Oh, we have to make that!" about a million times. This was no exception. We had to make this, of course. I mean really... hot dogs and Valentine's? What's not to love, right? =o)

My kids loved it. Not that the hot dogs were anything special. But the presentation was what got them. They sat down at the dinner table and both smiled so big. And then came the "ah, Mom. This is so cool. You did this because you love us so much, right?" Dang. They know me so well!

You will need:
* hot dogs (duh)
* uncooked spaghetti noodles
* cheese

That's it! Heart away! And don't you just love the name? I stole that too =o)



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Valentine Heart Lollipops

I just thought these were too cool. Totally Valentin-y and so easy to make. What's not to like, right? But the fact that my daughter about screamed when she saw them was the icing on the cake. She LOVED them!

I saw the idea over on Pleasant Home.

Ingredients
* Small candy canes (left over from Christmas) =o)
* White melting chocolate
* Valentine's sprinkles
* Lollipop sticks

First you position the stick between the candy canes so that they form a heart.


Melt your chocolate. I used mint chocolate because it smells so yummy and tastes so good! Use a spoon or squeeze bottle and fill in the hearts.

Sprinkle with sprinkles.


There you have it! Totally cool, right?



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You're A Blast! Valentine Rocket

I thought this Valentine craft would be fun for my kids to make. We did something very similar to this back in September for the first day of school. (You can check it out here.) And we loved making our Valentine iPods but needed another fun Valentine to give to friends. We got the idea from Family Fun. Are you getting the idea that I love that site? =o)

They were easy to make.

Stuff:
* Rolos
* Hershey Kisses
* aluminum foil
* red and yellow construction paper
* double sided tape
* glue

Glue the Kiss onto the end of the package of Rolos. Cover with aluminum foil.Wrap with red construction paper covering the Rolos (but not the Kiss.
Make a "flame" out of the yellow construction paper and glue onto the end.

You can write whatever you like on it. We wrote "You're a Blast"!My kids are excited to give these to their friends. They were easy to make and who doesn't like Rolos?!

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"Stained Glass" Valentine Cookies

I'm on a roll with the Valentine baking and crafts. I'm not sure what happened. We just started and now we can't stop! When I saw these super cute cookies over at Family Fun I knew I had to try to make them. They are so clever and they look super cool, don't you think? The Jolly Rancher in the center melts down and is transparent like. It actually looks like stained glass!

I have a good recipe for sugar cookies but I didn't feel like making it. Do you ever get like that? I just wanted to try something new and I was looking for a recipe that you didn't have to chill. I mean, I don't mind taking a pause in my baking but sometimes it throws me off. I get on a roll, pause for a couple of hours, and then can't get back into it. So I went surfing to find a new sugar cookie recipe. Where to start??? I knew Sue over at Munchkin Munchies wouldn't let me down when I saw her No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe. So we started with that.

Ingredients:
* 6 cups flour
* 3 tsp. baking powder
* 2 cups butter
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 tsp. vanilla
* 1 tsp. salt
* Jolly Rancher candies

- Preheat over to 350 degrees.
- Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.
- Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture.
- Roll to desired thickness. I always hate this part. I need those great rubber band things that you put on your roller to make the dough even. Mine always turns out wonky and uneven. But we try =o)
- Cut out shapes making a hole for the stained glass effect.
- Unwrap a Jolly Rancher and place in the center of your cookie - Bake for about 8 minutes on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (Maybe you don't have to line it but I think with the candy it's a good idea.)
- Let cool on the pan. This step is important because the candy needs to cool and harden up. And there you have it - Stained Glass Valentine Cookies! We ran out of Jolly Ranchers before we ran out of dough so we made frosted sugar cookies as well. These just look so festive to me. The frosting is just the powdered sugar and milk combination with a little bit of food coloring in it and then sprinkles on top.
And thank you, Sue! This sugar cookie recipe is wonderful! It's definitely better than the one I have (and thought was the best!)

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Chocolate Emergency Valentine Craft & A Winner

In an emergency what do you do? Do you panic? Cry? Stress out? Eat chocolate? I eat chocolate. Does that make me strange or normal? I'm going to go with normal. So I thought I would make some Valentine's for some friends that were a little different but still had to do with chocolate. But for some reason everyone is on this low fat, I need to eat healthy thing right now. What's up with that?!

But how cute are these? It's chocolate but it's not out there in the open chocolate so for those who only eat it in an emergency, this is the Valentine for them!

Yep, you're seeing that right. The can is closed... and full of chocolate =o) Yum and clever!

I had a hard time finding these cans with the pull tabs with the bottoms that didn't have rounded corners. Ours came from Mandarin orange cans (and pears, I think.) And I used my handy, dandy Pampered Chef can opener. It rocks. It takes the entire lid off the can, not just the inside of the lid (with all those sharp edges.) This can opener is a must if you are going to do this project.

Remove the bottom of the can and eat the contents =o) I mean, wash out the can. Remove the label and let it dry. Decorate your can however you would like. You could do any theme. Wouldn't these be great party favors at a birthday party?
We made a fun tag to tie on the top.
Now turn over and fill with whatever you would like. Of course I chose Hershey Kisses. I love those things. These one's a re cherry. Yum.
Then we added some shredded, crinkly paper.
Now glue the bottom back on.

And there you have it.

People look at them and wonder how we did it. It's magic, I tell them. Then they think it's really filled with chili or soup. Oh gosh, how many will get thrown away because they think it is filled with chili? Yoikes.

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And the winner of the totally cool apron from Wives With Knives is Tiffanee! Congrats Tiffanee and thanks to everyone who entered!

Brasilian Fudge and An Amazing Experience

When I found Manu's blog Dessert First I was thrilled. Not only because she makes amazing things but also because she lives in Brasil. I had the amazing experience when I was in high school to be a foreign exchange student to Brasil. I went the summer between my junior and senior year. I know it's totally cliche to say it changed my life... but it did. It was an amazing trip! And not just because Brasil is a beautiful country, the family that I stayed with was... hmmmm, what's even the word? Amazing? Fantastic? Awesome? I don't think any of these words really fits them. They were the best part of my experience and I will never, ever forget them. I stayed in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo. Here's where it is. Awesome, right?

Here's a picture of my Brasilian family.

This was taken in 1984 (yep, I'm that old!) My parents and 5 Brasilian brothers: Paulo, Beto, Ricardo, Caique and Tunico. The only brother who lived at home at the time was Beto. He was the best big brother. He taught me Portuguese and showed me all around. My Brasilian parents were amazing also. My Mom taught me how to cook and they took me all around the country to visit family and see the sites.

My pictures aren't very good. They pretty much downright stink. Remember it was 1984 and we didn't have digital cameras back then.

Here are some of the amazing places I was able to see while I was there.

And the food? Oh man! Do I miss the food.

So when I saw the recipe for Brigadeiro (Brasilian fudge) on Manu's blog I was thrilled. I immediately wanted to make it. Not only because I remember eating this amazing and yummy dessert but because it brought back so many great memories for me.

I had to convert the measurements because they were in grams. This was harder than you might think. (I'm not a math teacher) =o) But I think I did a good job.

Ingredients:

* 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

* a little less than 1/4 cup of good quality dark chocolate chips

* a little less than 1/4 cup of good quality milk chocolate chips

* 1 Tbsp. butter

* chocolate sprinkles

- Add milk, chocolate and butter in a pan.

- Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until everything is melted and mixed.

- Reduce heat to medium low and cook another 10 minutes (stirring frequently so it doesn't burn.) The mixture will be thick and needs to moved away from the bottom of the pan when you push it aside. (Does that make sense?)

- Let cool.

- Butter your hands and form into small balls. (Buttering your hands is important. It's super sticky!)

- Roll balls in sprinkles (This is a great job for little helpers) =o)

We used the traditional chocolate sprinkles and also some heart sprinkles since Valentine's Day is coming up. My daughter thought they looked very festive and girly.

Thanks for taking a stroll down memory lane with me. It makes me want to travel and return to Brasil. I can only imagine how much the country has changed in the last 25 years. But my heart tells me it's still amazing and beautiful and home to friendly and loving people. Someday I'll return and take my kids with me. At least that's my dream. And we all should dream, right?

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