Snickerpoodles: Homemade Dog Treats

My kids have been invited to a birthday party ... for a dog.  Yep, you read that right.  For a dog!  I'd better be careful how much sarcasm I put in there.  I would have totally done that for my dogs when they were alive.  They were my first babies and I spoiled them rotten.  Here is a picture of Daisy... too cute, right?

So after I was done giggling I knew my kids and I had to make Lulu (that's the birthday dog's name) some homemade cookies.  And when I saw these I knew they were the ones.  I mean really!  Snickerpoodles!  How cute is that?!?!

Snickerpoodles
Source: Bullwinkle.com

* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 1 cup honey
* 2 eggs
* 3 3/4 cup white flour
* 2 tsp. cream of tartar
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1/2 cup corn meal
* 2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix vegetable oil, shortening, honey and egg.  Mix well.  Add flour, soda and cream of tartar.  Knead dough until well mixed.

Shape into 1 inch balls.

Mix the cornmeal and cinnamon together and roll balls to coat.

Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and gently press each ball down.  My daughter did this part.  Can you tell?  =o)

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an air tight container.

Cute right?  They look a lot like actual cookies so make sure you label the container =o)  But I guess if you ate one, it wouldn't hurt you.

We can't wait to give them to Lulu. We wrapped them up pretty in a celo bag and tied a ribbon around it. Presentation is everything, right?

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

"You Da Bomb" Candy Valentine

We just loved this cute Valentine idea when we saw it over on Make It Do.  What a perfect gift for my kid's teachers, don't you think?   Have you noticed that we are into all this corny stuff?  I like the goofy sayings. 

These were so easy to make (double bonus!)  We used Rolos (my favorite) but then found Mentos on sale, so we used those for some of them.  We wrapped them in red paper and used a small piece of a pipe cleaner for the wick.  I glued them together at this point so they wouldn't fall apart.  Then wrap a black ribbon around it and add a cute tag.

Boom!  Valentine.  (No pun intended.)  =o)

You could write "You're Dynamite" or "You're the Bomb" or "You're a Blast". 

I hope they like them!

I'm linking to the parties on my sidebar.

Gnome Sweet Gnome Valentine Kisses

I just thought these were too cute to not make. Little Gnome kisses! The idea came from my favorite kid friendly go to craft site, Family Fun.  I just love that site (but I've said that a thousand times.)

They were easy to make (minus the burns from my darn glue gun.)  All you need is felt (any color), Hershey Kisses and googley eyes.

Cut the felt into circles and then cut into 4 equal parts.  Make the circles as big as you'd like but not so big they completely cover the Kiss =o)

I tried to roll the felt and make a cone.  Ouch.  That was extremely unsuccessful.  Perhaps because the only felt I had was super thick.  I'm going to blam it on that =o)  So instead I glued it like this:

Then glue the hat on and glue on eyes.  That simple!  (My daughter LOVED them!)

I'm going to put them in co-workers mailboxes as a friendly hello.  The kids will probably take some to school for their teachers as well.  Because who wouldn't love a gnome?

What great ideas are you doing for Valentine's Day?  Do you make Valentine cards for your kids to give out or do you buy them?

I'm linking to the great parties on my sidebar.

My Memories Giveaway

Are you a scrapbooker?  I am.  I love it.  I've been scrapbooking for years.  It's totally therapeutic for me to sit there and "zone out" and get into my creative groove.  =o)  The one part about scrapbooking that I don't like, though, is the amount of "stuff" that you have to have.  There's papers and ribbons and tape and brads and all the paraphernalia to cut and punch said papers.

When Liz at My Memories contacted me about digital scrapbooking I was totally intrigued.  I could lay on the couch with my lap top and scrapbook???  Whoo hoo!!!  And here's the best part.  She is letting me giveaway their digital scrapbooking software to one of my readers.  (Thanks Liz!)

My Memories Suite is the #1 rated scrapbooking software out there.  And not only is is affordable and fun, it's also easy.  That's important in my book!

Here are a few things you can do with this wonderful software:

Anita over at Aunt Nubby's Kitchen was having a My Memories Giveaway and she was kind enough to let me share her amazing creations with you.  Thanks, Anita.

There is a Gallery page over on their site so you can see other ideas for this software as well.  Here a couple of more examples.

Are you intrigued yet? 

Here's how you can win the My Memories digital scrapbooking software...

Mandatory entry:  Be a follower (on GFC) of Making Memories With Your Kids (that's me) and leave me a comment that you are.

Additional enteries (make sure you leave a separate comment for each one.):

1) Go over to My Memories and tell me which kit is your favorite. 

2) Like Making Memories With Your Kids on Facebook

3) Like My Memories on Facebook

4) Because Anita was so sweet to let me use her layouts, go over to Aunt Nubby's Kitchen and follow her via GFC

That's 5 ways to enter!

If you don't win but would still love to try out this great software, the great folks over at My Memories are giving you all a code so that you can get $10 off the kit!  How cool is that!  When checking out, use code: STMMMS75179

Good luck!  Giveaway will end on February 7th.

Trisha Yearwood's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I absolutely love casseroles!  I don't know what it is about them, but they rock my world.  But combine this love with a small amount of pickiness and I have a hard time finding really good casseroles that I love. 

When a co-worker emailed me this recipe I quickly read all the ingredients and did a little "whoo hoo".  I liked everything.  And I was so happy I made it!  It is absolutely delicious!  Really!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Source: Trisha Yearwood's Cookbook: "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen"

* 3-4 cups cooked rice

* 4 cups cooked broccoli cut into "chunks"

* 1 cup sour cream

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise

* 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

* 1 10 ounce can of cream of chicken soup

* 4 cups of grated cheese

* 4 chicken breasts cooked and chopped

* 1/2 tsp. salt

* 1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread cooked rice evenly in pan.  Make a second layer with the cooked broccoli.

In a large mixing bowl mix sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, soup, 1/2 of the grated cheese, chicken, salt and pepper.  Pour over broccoli.

Top with remaining cheese.

Bake 30-40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

It really is delicious!  And it freezes great!  I put a serving size in a tupperware container and freeze them.  Then for lunch I can take out a container in the morning and microwave it at work for a home cooked, delicious lunch!

Enjoy!

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Valentine's Day Ideas

We're on the search for the perfect Valentine's Dad candy or cookie.  Something to mail to my nephew.  At Christmas time I told him that he was officially a member of the Dessert of the Month Club.  That means Aunt Erin has to send a dessert to him every month.  The only problem is, he lives in Chicago and I want a dessert that will mail okay and get there in one piece and not get stale.  Hmmm....

Until we find that ultimate dessert, I thought I'd share some of our Valentine's Day ideas we posted last year.

Stained Glass Cookies

Milky Way Stuffed Sugar Cookies

Heart Lollipops

Candy iPods

Chocolate Emergency Can

Valentine Rocket

Puppy Love Dinner

Now for this year.  We'd better get started!


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Bird Seed Biscuits

Aren't these Bird Seed Biscuits adorable? Well, if you were a bird and hungry you'd think so. If you would like to see how we made them hop on over to Passionately Artistic today to visit us. We're hanging out over there!