Patriotic Pretzel Sticks

 

 

These Patriotic Pretzel Rods are super easy to make which makes them a great snack to bring to any 4th of July festivity...or to any event! Simply change the color of the sprinkles you use and you'll be ready for any occasion!

You'll Need:
-Pretzel Rods
-White Chocolate Candy Melts
-Colored Sprinkles (I used red, blue, and a mix of red, white, and blue)

What You'll Do:

-Melt the white chocolate candy melts according to the directions

-Dip the pretzel rod into the melting chocolate

-Sprinkle selected color sprinkles onto the dipped pretzel over a covered surface or cookie sheet

-Let pretzel rods cool for at least 20 minutes

    --I put my pretzel rods into small rocks glasses to cool instead of lying them down on the cookie sheet to prevent one side from flattening

 



I also made Patriotic Bark which I combined into a festive basket...

 

 

 Wrapped in cellophane and tied it with a festive bow!

 

 

Enjoy! =)

Patriotic Bark

Summer is officially here!! With it comes BBQ's, river trips, pool parties, beach days and one of my favorite holidays, 4th of July!

We are celebrating America's 238th year as the "land of the free" BBQ-ing and soaking up some California sunshine at the beach with friends. Naturally, I wanted to bring something festive and easy to munch on. I decided to do a spin on my "Easter Bark" and make "Patriotic Bark". I liked this version a lot better...it's the perfect mix of sweet and salty...making it dangerously good!!

You'll Need:
-Pretzel Sticks
-Roasted Peanuts
-White Chocolate Candy Melts
-Red, white, and blue M&M's (which I couldn't find - I just bought original M&M's and picked out the blue and red ones)



 What You'll Do:
-Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Spread out peanuts and broken pretzel sticks

 

-Melt the white chocolate candy melts according to the directions
-Spread melting chocolate over peanuts and pretzels
-Add red and blue M&M's
-Let harden in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes

-Break apart and serve

I am serving my Patriotic Bark in a festive basket with the Patriotic Pretzel Sticks.

 I wrapped it all up in cellophane with a cute ribbon!

Enjoy!! =)

White Chocolate Cookies n Cream Cookies

White chocolate chips AND a Hershey's Cookies N Cream bar...in a COOKIE...need I say more?

 

 

 

I was scouring Pinterest to see what kind of cookies I was going to make to send with my boyfriend and his crew for this weekend's upcoming off-road race and stumbled upon this recipe at Lil Luna. Before I could even read the full name of the cookies he wanted them!!

 

What you'll need:

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1/2 cup oil

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- 1 tsp. salt

- 1 tsp. baking powder

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

- 3 cups flour

- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

- 1 cup Cookies N Cream Bars chopped

 

What you'll do:

- Preheat oven to 350.

- Cream butter, oil and sugars. Add eggs and beat until fluffy.

- Add remaining dry ingredients and extract.

- Fold in white chocolate chips and chopped up Cookies N Cream bar.

- Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes.

 

Enjoy! =)

 

 

P.S. I got a text about an hour into their drive and one bag of cookies (about 30) were already gone! I think it's safe to say these cookies are a hit!

 

I'll definitely be making these again!!

 

 

Easter Bark

This year I wanted to make something festive for my family. While browsing the Pinterest boards, I stumbled upon an Easter bark recipe from The Browy Blog that looked too good to not try!

 

Not only was this super easy to make but it also tasted really good - perfect combo! ;) 

- First, you'll need to get several different colors of chocolate melts. I got one bag of lavender, yellow, bright white, and blue from Michael's Craft Stores; however, almost all craft stores have them and even some supermarkets!

 

- Next, I separated each color into a microwave-safe bowl and melted each color down.

 

- While the chocolates are melting, line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

 

- Once the chocolate is completed melted, spoon it out onto various areas of the cookie sheet (as opposed to having each color in just one spot). Doing this will make it easier to swirl all the colors together.

 

- After you have poured each color onto the lined cookie sheet, tap the pan on the counter to draw the colors together.

 

- Grab a toothpick (or knife) and swirl away!

 

- I dropped Cadbury Mini Egg's onto the mixture for an extra treat! However, any Easter candy will work...

 

- Let cool in the refridgerator for 10 - 20 mins or until chocolate is hard.

 

- Break the bark into small pieces.

 

- I placed my Easter bark in an Easter themed goodie box (also from Michael's Craft Store) with some Easter basket grass, cellophane, and some ribbon before giving them out!

 

 

Enjoy! =)

 

Lucky Treats

Inspired by the "luck of the Irish", here's a spin on traditional rice krispy treats - lucky treats!

 

 

I found the idea and recipe on Sweet C's Designs...These were SO good and SO easy to make!

You'll need:

-3 cups of marshmallows
-4 cups of Lucky Charms
-1/4 cup of salted butter

What you'll do:

-In a large pot, melt butter
-Add in the marshmallows, stir constantly until mallows are completely melted, remove from heat
-Add Lucky Charms, continue to stir
-Pour mixture into a well greased cookie sheet or dish
-Let cool and cut into squares

Enjoy! =)

In a large pot, add butter and begin to melt on medium.

Add marshmallows and stir constantly until mallows melt.

You may see slight browning- if your mallows aren't fully melted as the sugar browns, pull them off the stove and continue stirring. They should melt from the heat.

Add lucky charms to pan and stir well to combine.

Pour mixture into well greased casserole dish and let cool.

When set, cut and enjoy!

Read more at http://sweetcsdesigns.com/homemade-lucky-charms-treats/#oKV9UIr6Z384ZcQD.99

3 cups marshmallows (if using jumbo, make them heaping cups)

4 cups Lucky Charms

1/4 cup butter, salted

Read more at http://sweetcsdesigns.com/homemade-lucky-charms-treats/#oKV9UIr6Z384ZcQD.99

3 cups marshmallows (if using jumbo, make them heaping cups)

4 cups Lucky Charms

1/4 cup butter, salted

Read more at http://sweetcsdesigns.com/homemade-lucky-charms-treats/#oKV9UIr6Z384ZcQD.99

T-Shirt Quilt

Do you or someone in your life have a TON of t-shirts that you don't wear anymore but don't necessarily want to get rid of? My boyfriend has this problem. My solution...a t-shirt quilt!

I searched the web to get ideas on how to begin and saw sites charging up to $600 for you to send in your shirts and then they assemble the quilt for you and ship it back. While I'm sure it would turn out absolutely perfect, I wanted mine to have the "handmade" aspect to it - I think that makes things more sentimental. Luckily, I was able to find a website, You Can Make This, that had a PDF pattern guide for a simple, do-it yourself t-shirt quilt. I did have to purchase it for $7.50 in order to download it - but it was well worth it!

Don't be intimidated it wasn't really as hard as it sounds. Fortunately for me, I had my mom to provide her sewing machine and to  help and supervise with the actual sewing but if you can sew in a straight line - you'll be fine!

The pattern called for 12 shirts (keep in mind you will be cutting these up so make sure they are shirts you plan on no longer wearing) in order to make a 4 foot x 5 foot quilt.

After a quick trip to JoAnn's or your local fabric store to pick up the other essentials:
- 6 Yards of Fusible Interfacing
- 2 Yards of Cotton Fabric for Sashing Strips
- 2 Yards of Fleece
- Marking Pen or Chalk
- Thread to Match Fabric
- 1 Size 14 Universal or Knit Sewing Machine Needle
...you're ready to begin!

Mind you, there is A LOT of cutting, pinning, and sewing but it totally doable. We finished the quilt over the span of a weekend but if you really put your mind to it, you could have finished it in one day.

Here is my finished product...

T-Shirt Quilt



My shirt consisted of all racing related shirts since he is a race mechanic but you can use any type/theme of shirts. I ended up giving this quilt to my boyfriend as part of his Valentine's Day gift and he LOVED it!

 

It ended up being about the size of a twin bed quilt and is actual really warm! It is a perfect blanket to use on a chilly night! 

One Pan Chicken

Looking for something easy and healthy to make for dinner? This dish has it all in one - your protein, your vegetable, and your starch...that's about as easy as it gets!

One Pan Chicken...

You'll need:
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- 2 Sliced Potatoes
- Veggies (I used broccoli this time but have used zucchini, squash, and asparagus - all are great!)
- Butter
- Packet of Italian Salad Dressing

Place items into a baking pan as shown...

Once your items are in the baking pan, I sprinkle the entire packet of Italian dressing all over the chicken, potatoes, and veggies. Then I cut and place some tabs of butter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour .

ENJOY! =)