7 Layer Dip

My mother-in-law shared this yummy dip with me. It is so delicious. It goes great with any Mexican meal. Give it a try, you'll see what I mean!

7-Layer Dip

Layer in a 13x9 dish in the following order:
1. Bean dip (I use 1 can of refried beans)
2. Cheese dip (I use salsa con queso)
3. Guacomole (I buy it in a 3 pack at Costco and use 1 package)
4. 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonaise, and 1 pkg. taco seasoning (mix these 3 ingredients together to make 4th layer)
5. Chopped green onions
6. Diced Tomatoes
7. Olives

Top with a layer of cheese and serve with tortilla chips

Strawberry Cream Puff Cake

I have been meaning to post this delicious recipe ever since I made it before my little boy was born. Unfortunately it got caught in the drafts and forgotten. So here it is finally! This is my absolute favorite dessert now, but I only make it when strawberries are a good price. Except, now that I am posting this I have a strong desire to make it right now. I may have to find some strawberries at the grocery store this week!

This is another delicious recipe from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe. I am always drawn to her recipes. And for good reason too!

Cream Puff Base:

5 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup flour
3 eggs

Cream Cheese Mixture:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar

For the cream puff layer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the mixture until smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is shiny with a satiny sheen. Don’t overbeat. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan (or in a pinch, you could use a 9-inch circle cake pan). Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture on the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and prick pastry with a toothpick 10-12 times. Return to the oven and bake 5-10 minutes more until golden brown but not overbaked (you can insert a toothpick into the center and if it comes out with sticky dough, it still needs longer in the oven). Cool completely.

For the cream cheese mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar (if you want to ensure there are no lumps, sift the powdered sugar into the cream cheese) and beat with the cream cheese until mixture is smooth and light. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread onto the cooled cream puff shell.

Top with fresh sliced strawberries (I mixed 2 cups of strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar and let them hang out in the fridge while I was prepping the cake) or you can use a 16-ounce bag of frozen strawberries that have been thawed. Mix the thawed strawberries and juice with 1-2 teaspoons sugar and bring to a simmer in a saucepan. Cook until slightly thickened. Cool completely and use as topping for the cake.

Banana Bread

I have been making this banana bread ever since my sweet husband found the recipe on allrecipes.com! We had very ripe bananas and we decided to whip up some banana bread. Fortunately for us he picked a great recipe and it quickly became a family favorite. I like to make it in the mini loaf pans so that I can share it with friends! If you use mini loaf pans then it takes 3 for 1 batch.

Banana Bread

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a wooden spoon, mix butter and mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last and mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Manicotti

This Italian dish is my absolute favorite to make and eat. I use it as my go to lasagna even though it is called Baked Manicotti. I love the addition of red pepper flakes. It really gives it a kick. I hesitate to ever make another lasagna recipe in my life. And the homemade sauce would be great even for spaghetti or baked ziti. Another thing I love about this recipe is that I can make it a day ahead and have it in the refrigerator. That makes my Sunday meal preparation much easier and more relaxing and Sabbath worthy.

Recipe from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe.

Tomato Sauce
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (in juice)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil

Cheese Filling and Pasta
3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 cups)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (or 2 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried basil)
16 no-boil lasagna noodles

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan chese, mozzarella cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs; set aside.

To assemble, pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish.

Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. (You should be able to fit 8 manicotti in each row, allowing all 16 to fit in the dish). Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.

Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Bake until cheese is browned and bubbly, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

The manicotti can be prepared right up until the baking step then covered with a sheet of parchment paper, wrapped in aluminum foil, and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. (If frozen, thaw the manicotti in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.) To bake, remove the parchment, replace the aluminum foil, and increase baking time to 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

Dry Erase Board

I recently saw this on A Feathered Nest and thought that it would be a lot of fun to make one. We really needed a place in our kitchen where we could write down phone numbers, reminders, things to buy, etc.. So today I got out some old frames from underneath our bed and looked in my fabric stash for some fabric. I came up with this...


It was such a fun and easy project! From start to finish it took me about 5 minutes! The tutorial can be found HERE. Now I cannot wait to get it on my wall and start using it!

PS: If you decide you want to make one I would suggest using lighter colored fabrics so that your dry erase marker shows up better. It is a little difficult to see my black marker on top of the black parts of my fabric. Even still I love my new decorative dry erase board.

Nursing Cover

I am working my way back into crafting. And more especially I am working my way back into blogging about my crafting. Last year I made this nursing cover for a friend:


I used THIS tutorial! I finally decided I would make one for myself because the one I have is not very large and my little guy is getting bigger. I love how it turned out. I actually bought some other fabric and will be making one more! I love having options and things that match different outfits. Lets face it, a girl has got to match!

New Design

After a lot of playing around with GIMP (a photo editing program) and the new blogger templates I finally found a good fit for this blog! Since having a baby I have learned that the more simple it is the more beautiful a product can be. This must be because I have a lot less time. I have especially noticed this in my own home. The less stuff around, the easier it is to keep clean so I have been working on simplifying my life. I have also decided that the lighter (color wise) an area is in your home, the more cheerful it appears. For a very long time we have had dark brown bedding. It is beautiful bedding, but it does not make me feel cheerful. I have been searching for new bedding for quite some time and I have not been able to find anything that was in my price range that I loved. I kept finding things I loved that were too expensive. Then I decided I would try to make something. However, I quickly realized that I really do not have the time for that big of a project right now, but I want new bedding now. Thus I made a compromise. I found this simple, inexpensive duvet cover (with matching shams) at Walmart of all places.


I asked my sweet husband for it for my birthday and he, being the wonderful husband that he is, willingly obliged. Now that I have the duvet and shams I am going to make a white bed skirt and decorative pillows to complete the set! So that means more sewing projects coming your way! Hooray! Hopefully I will be able to get them done within the next month, but we will see how busy I am. I still have tons of catching up to do on recipes here on the blog, so stay tuned!

Stuffed French Toast

I found this AMAZING recipe on The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog. We tried it out on our anniversary about a month ago and it was the best french toast I have ever had (and I usually don't like french toast). You really have to try it!

• 1 loaf French Bread (I used Wheat)
  
• 3 Tablespoons Any Flavor Fruit Spread (I used fresh strawberries mashed up with a little sugar)
• ½ package Cream Cheese (4 Oz), At Room Temperature
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• ½ cups Skim Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

Heat skillet or electric griddle to 325 to 350 degrees.

Cut french bread into 2-3 inch wide slices. Then, with a paring knife, go back and cut halfway into each slice, in the center, creating a ‘pocket’ that your fruit mixture can be stuffed into.

In a bowl, place the room temperature cream cheese and three tablespoons of fruit spread of your choice. (I used all organic blueberry spread in the picture.) Combine well.

In a separate bowl, break 2 eggs; add cinnamon and milk and combine well.

Now, take fruit mixture and stuff into the ‘pockets’ of your french bread slices. Place on a baking sheet.

When done stuffing each piece of bread, completely coat each piece in egg mixture. Make sure all sides are covered. Do all pieces before starting to fry.

Put 2 tbsp (you can use less!) of butter into a hot skillet and melt completely. Add all of the bread to the skillet and cook roughly about 3-6 minutes on each side, until it reaches a nice golden brown. You want to make sure the cream cheese mixture heats through.

When done cooking, serve immediately with butter and syrup.

New Posts

Plenty of new posts coming your way soon! They are all in the works! Enjoy some pictures of our cute little guy for now!

Baby Bennett

All crafting has been put on hold for the time being. Why you ask? Because of this sweet boy who joined our family 1 week ago:

Isn't he adorable? We sure think so!

Tissue Pom Poms

This week I helped plan and throw a baby shower for one of my good friends who is expecting a baby boy 3 weeks after me. For the decorations I made tissue pom poms. They are a Martha project but I first saw them HERE at homemade by jill. I love how they turned out and already have plans for using them in the future because they are cheap, fun, and super easy!


I also made the diaper cake in the center. It is not nearly as fancy and beautiful as this diaper cake my mother made for my shower...


But let's face it - I am not nearly as talented as my mother. So my simpler version will have to do!

Last but not least, I whipped up some burp cloths for her little one on the way:

Now I just need to make myself some of these wonderful burp cloths and then we will pretty much be set to have this little baby join our family. He really could come any day now! How exciting!

Burp Cloths

I saw THIS adorable tutorial on how to beautify cloth diapers and turn them into burp cloths. I knew that I wanted to make them as gifts for family and friends, as well as make some for our own little one. These were my first attempt:


I made some for my sister-in-law who just had a darling little baby girl. And I also made a couple for one of my friends who also just had a baby girl! I absolutely love the fabric and am saving the rest to use if I ever have a little girl of my own!

Almond (Or Lemon) Sugar Cookies

These cookies are seriously the BEST sugar cookies I have ever made (or bought probably). I tried the almond version this time, but am so excited to make the lemon version next time. If you love sugar cookies like I do then you have to try this super easy recipe. I found it over at The Sisters Cafe!

Almond (or Lemon) Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. almond OR lemon extract

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Glaze: 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. almond OR lemon extract, 4-5 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and extract in a large bowl. Mix well, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients. Beat 1 to 2 more minutes. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with the bottom of a floured glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at for 7-9 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. I like mine almost under-baked, remember they stiffen up as they cool. Cool 1 minute.

Stir together glaze ingredients with a wire whisk. Decorate cooled cookies with glaze and sprinkles.

Mint Chip Cookies

I saw THESE yummy mint chip cookies on Picky Palate and thought they would be fun to try out! They are absolutely delicious! And don't worry, the mint flavor is not overbearing. It is absolutely perfect!

Rocking Chair (Completed)

I finally figured out what to do for a seat cushion on our rocking chair! I found a CUSHY seat pad at Cost Plus and made a slipcover for it! It was very simple to make and I think it turned out great. Now our rocking chair is PERFECT and COMFORTABLE for all of those readings, late night feedings, and rocking our little one to sleep.

Here you can see the glossy finish that my husband added!


A close up of the seat cushion!


Gearing up for story time!


And preparing for the late night feedings and rockings to sleep!

Basket Liners

I have been doing finishing touches on our baby's nursery and one of the things I wanted to do was buy baskets for his toys and make cute basket liners to tie in nursery colors. I really love how they turned out and I love the fabric.

Now he has toys and books ready to go!


A close up of the liners!

I am also using this same fabric for my seat cushion on the rocking chair (coming up soon)! And we are thinking about using this fabric for the bassinet skirt and bumper pad! I can't wait to get it all finished and see the nursery complete!

I used THIS tutorial, for the liners, from "Make It and Love It." I found it last summer and made these...


for my snack baskets in the kitchen. Keep in mind that we live in an apartment so that is why we have our food storage out in the open for everyone to see. I at least tried to make it look as cute as I could. Of course how cute can you really make cans of food look?

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

I saw this delicious recipe from Your Homebased Mom and knew that I had to try it! I love poppy seed anything, but especially lemon poppy seed bread! It was delicious! We kept two mini loaves and gave away the other two! I think 4 loaves was a bit much for just me and my husband!

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Land O’Lakes Best of Baking Recipe Collection

2 1/4 C all purpose flour

1 1/4 C sugar

1 C butter, softened

3/4 C milk

3 eggs

2 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon peel

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Glaze

1/2 C sugar

3 Tbsp butter, melted

4 tsp lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of four (5 1/2 x 3 inch) mini loaf pans. Set aside.

Combine all bread ingredients in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until well mixed.

Spread batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Stir together all glaze ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle over warm bread loaves. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.

Rocking Chair

For the past few months we have been searching for a rocking chair for our nursery. We finally found one on Craigslist for the right price ($25)! However, it was bright red. We snatched it up and decided we would sand it down and paint it green! Fortunately for us, my mother-in-law knew about a specific Primer you can use instead of sanding everything down. We found it and my husband got to work.


We forgot to take a Before picture so we got one before we finished the primer.

After the Primer coat!


All green now! We love the color and how it turned out! Now we have a beautiful rocking chair to rock our little guy to sleep! We also put a gloss coat on the top to finish it off, but I haven't taken a picture of it in the nursery yet. Now it just needs a nice, soft cushion to make it perfect! Anyone know how to make a seat cushion?

Pizza Sandwiches

Growing up my mom used to make these delicious pizza sandwiches! They are super easy and absolutely delicious!

Take two slices of bread and spread pizza or spaghetti sauce on one side of each slice. Layer mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza toppings (I like plain pepperoni because we always have it on hand). Then put the two sides together, and spread butter on the outsides of the sandwiches. Grill in a sandwich maker, or on a griddle like a grilled cheese sandwich.


Serve with sliced fruit and veggies and dip! Enjoy!!!

ABC Letters

I finally finished and hung the Alphabet letters in the nursery! They turned out so cute and I am so excited about them. Every time I walk into the baby's room I smile because they look so darling on the wall!

Now the other walls need some serious help in comparison. Boring, blank, white walls just won't do next to these...


Sorry the lighting is not fantastic. Once the entire room is finished we will try to take some nice photos with natural sunlight and everything!