White Chocolate Covered Caramel Apples

If you like caramel apples then you have to try this beauty! It is extremely simple to make and extraordinarily delicious!

Ingredients:
Green Apples (as many as you want to cover)
Caramel Sheets (or I prefer homemade caramel)
White Chocolate Chips
Cinnamon
Sugar
Popsicle Sticks
Wax Paper

Directions:
Stick a popsicle stick through your apple to make it easier for dipping. You may have noticed that I didn't use any sticks (I was just extra careful). Use homemade caramel (straight from the hot pan), melted caramels, or store bought caramel sheets to cover your green apple. Set on a sheet of wax paper on your counter. Let dry completely if using homemade caramel or melted caramels. Melt white chocolate chips (a 12 ounce bag should be good for 2-3 apples) in a double boiler. Dip caramel apple into the melted white chocolate and use a spatula to make sure it is completely covered. Immediately sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over the outside while the chocolate is still melted. Set on wax paper and let cool completely. Mine only took about 20 minutes to set up! Slice, eat, and ENJOY! These can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days if you want to save a few for later enjoyment!

Crib Bumper

I finally finished the bumper for our little guys' crib! I love how it turned out and I have to admit that I am especially proud of myself on this project. There are definitely a lot of mistakes, but none of them are really visible to the naked eye. Now the crib is all set up with crib skirt, crib sheet, and crib bumper attached! Only the quilt to add and the crib set will be complete.

Front view of the crib all ready to go!

And here is a better view of the bumper! You can kind of see on the left side that there are pockets on the sections that cover the ends of the crib. I love these pockets and I look forward to using them for stashing books and toys when he is older!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This year for St. Patrick's Day I wanted to try something festive for dinner, but I couldn't really come up with anything fun. I ended up serving tortellini pasta with alfredo sauce, peas, and a spinach salad with fruit. Dessert is where I got pretty festive!

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles! But it's not just any yellow cake...

It's green! I used green food coloring to create a green cake! I love how it looks on the inside with the chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles! And it was delicious! Sometimes the traditional yellow cake is the best way to go!

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day! Next year I am hoping to be much more festive! I suppose I should do a bit more research on what the Holiday is actually about!

The Countdown Begins!

Approximately 10 weeks from today our house will be in need of this beautiful crib...

Which will be arriving next week! I have been a busy bee working on the bedding! It was so much cheaper for me to sew the bedding than it would have been to purchase a set. Besides, it was so much fun to custom design the nursery with colors and fabrics that I loved!

Today I finished the crib skirt! I love how it turned out! Of course it will look so much better once it is actually on the crib, but here is a peek of what you will see in a little over a week:

ABCs

I am loving my alphabet letters that I am working on for our nursery! They are turning out so cute! I can't wait until they are all finished and up on the wall! Once the crib arrives next week we can put the room together. 10 weeks and counting!

Beanbags

My church has a play group every week for the moms and kids to get together and hang out! Once a month I teach a "Music & Motion" class for this playgroup. We have done lots of fun activities, even though it is tough with 25+ kids ranging from ages 10 months to 4 years. Today was beanbag day! I whipped up these fun beanbags last night! I think they turned out super cute and they were extremely easy.

I was pleasantly surprised today that beanbags could entertain children for an hour or more! What a great toy! I think I will just make a bunch of different shaped beanbags for our little guy on the way instead of buying toys.

I actually filled mine with rice instead of beans and I think it works a lot better! Now I have beanbags on hand for kids to play with when they're at our house!

PS: If you are interested in making beanbags but aren't sure what you would do with them then let me know! I have tons of games/activities to do with beanbags to help get your kids' wiggles out!

M&M Oatmeal Brownies

Tired of those plain old brownies? Want to spruce them up a bit? Try this recipe! It is delicious, with fudge-like brownies sandwiched between a crunchy oatmeal and M&M crust. The recipe calls for miniature M&M candies but I used regular ones because I had them in my cupboard. I think the miniature ones would be even better! These would be perfect for any Holiday treat if you used Holiday M&Ms.

M&M Oatmeal Brownies

1 ½ cup quick cooking oats
1 cup M&M miniature candies
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup butter, melted
1 package fudge brownie mix

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine the first 6 ingredients; mix well. Set aside a cup of mixture for topping. Pat remaining mixture into greased baking pan. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spread over M&M mixture. Sprinkle with reserved M&M mixture. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Winter Vegetable Soup

There's nothing like a bowl of hot soup on a cold and rainy day. We were privileged to have one of those cold and rainy days today so I whipped up a batch of this delicious veggie soup! My grandmother gave me this recipe, and after some minor changes I must say that it is the best vegetable soup in the world. It is so flavorful! Hope you enjoy!

Winter Vegetable Soup (10 servings)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

6 cans (84 ounces) vegetable broth

1 stalk celery, washed & sliced

6 large carrots, peeled and cut in ½ inch cubes

1 15oz can of garbanzo beans

2 cups fresh or frozen green beans

1 cup fresh zucchini, sliced

1 tsp salt

1tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp dried basil, minced

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, celery and carrots. Bring to a boil. Add garbanzo beans, green beans, zucchini, salt, pepper and basil. Return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Let’s eat!