Dinner Braids

I was bouncing along Pinterest one day recently when I came across this idea to stuff dinner inside a bread braid. I thought about how lazy I am when it comes to baking breads. And how generally lazy I am in making dinner when I have no other adults to feed any give night. So, I immediately wrote off the bread braid idea.

One night while staring at my fridge - praying a fully prepared dinner would randomly show up on a shelf - I noticed a tube of Pillsbury crescent dough. You know, the kind that rolls out in one whole sheet. And that's when I realized I, too, could be fancy!

Bread Braid:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Unroll crescent dough. Roll out or press out slightly with fingers.

3. Fill center third with whatever filling you want (see below for ideas)

4. Make cuts about an inch apart along the remaining two-thirds of the dough.

5. Braid pieces over each other.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Simple, right?

Isn't it pretty?

Filling Ideas:

- Ham and cheese

- Pesto, mozzerella & sliced tomato

- Peanut butter, banana, and jelly

- Small meatballs, marinara, mozzerella

- Pizza fillings

- Grilled veggies and cheese

- Taco fillings

Go Try it. See how awesome it is. Everyone will think you're fancy, too!

If you try any other fillings, let me know! I love new ideas!

Brownie Bottom Cupcakes

The premise: A cupcake with a layer of brownie on the bottom

The reality: A cupcake with brownie on the bottom

Here's my attempt at here. I'd say it worked out. It was yummy and easy to make. Two boxes of mix. Twice as many cupcakes as normal. All around, it's a simple, lovely way to make a "fancy" cupcake.

Rolos Butter Bars

I'm addicted to a blog called Cookies and Cups. This chick makes super yummy looking desserts. I'm a fan. I haven't tried everything on her blog, but I have stared at the screen and drooled for hours. Of the few things I've made, they've been winners...

Except this one:

The blogger did a series on desserts using cake mixes. I'm not a purist. Cake mixes rock my world. So, I showed the pic of the Rolos Bars to my officemate and he started drooling. So I made them. And they weren't that exciting. They tasted an awful lot like cake mix and Rolos. I guess I imagined a buttery, caramelly, chocolately goodness. And it just wasn't that.

I know I didn't botch the recipe (read it - you'll see why you can't botch it.) And I know the author of Cookies and Cups knows her stuff. But even when you're the best whatever-er in the world, you're going to make something less than a homerun every once in a while.

Now, I must get off the computer before I drool over her other blog entries.

Silly Elfkins (Part 2)

The continuing saga of Elfkins, our Elf on the Shelf.

Again, some ideas are found from the pictures on Pinterest. Some are my own.

Elfkins didn't quite make it back inside before Toddler Moose woke up. Good thing he flies with his ear muffs and scarf on! Silly Elfkins.

Elfkins brought a new puzzle to play with. He even almost finished it by the morning. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins hid out on a wall sculpture. This particular one is about 9 feet off the ground. Silly Elfkins.

Elfkins dusted our fan, but got caught up there when Toddler Moose woke up the next morning. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins hid Toddler Moose's stocking and replaced it with one he made at preschool. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins started building a snowman army out of Marshmallows, toothpicks and Sharpie Markers. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins doesn't know the password to the iPad, so he had to go with the physical Angry Birds game. Silly Elfkins!

Toddler Moose woke one morning to find Elfkins in the midst of partying hard. He was caught with pretzels everywhere and even a few Hershey's Kisses. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins used some glitter to make a snow angel. Silly Elfkins!

The night of my birthday, Elfkins found himself helping to hang my birthday sign. Silly Elfkins!

Not shown (the only picture I didn't get): Elfkins brought us a gingerbread train kit, and he even took the time to frosting-glue the pieces together. He must have known how impatient we are with that step in the process. Silly Elfkins!

I have it on good authority that Elfkins will likely stop in a few times throughout the year to check on the boys.

The Best Bread Ever

I've started 2012 by going to heaven. One bite of this bread and you'll grow wings and don the white gowns and everything. You'll hear imperial sounds and see shining lights that can only be from the maker Himself. Really. It's that good.

Friends, crafters, countrymen, I offer to you Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread.

The recipe comes from this awesome blog. I didn't modify a thing. I see no rel need to. Those who know me know how rare it is for me to accept a recipe as written. This is a big deal.

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 C peanut butter

1/4 C oil

1 egg

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

8.5 oz bag of Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350*

Grease loaf pan(s) (choose whatever size you want. I uses mini loaf pans)

Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Stir together bananas, oil, peanut butter, and sugars.

Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Stir until moist. The batter will be lumpy.

Fold in Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups.

Pour into prepared pan(s).

Bake at 350*. 8x4 pans will bake for approx an hour. Smaller pans will bake less time. The mini loaf pans I used baked for 35-45 minutes.

Let cool in pan for 10 min. Then remove from pan and let cool, if you can.

Do you see how awesome this bread is? Have you gained five lbs just looking at it? Wait until you taste it. Your life will be changed forever.

Moose Tracks:

I used almost the whole bag of mini pb cups. In fact, I used all but one. because somebody has to do quality control.

I prefer mini loaves to one large loaf. For many reasons. 1) They cook faster 2) They tend to brown evenly without the edges getting burnt and 3) I feel much less guilt when I admit to having eaten a whole loaf.

If I were to make any changes to this recipe, it'd probably be to coarsely chop the pb cups before folding them into the batter.

Noon Year's Eve Party Invites

So, I love celebrating holidays with my boys. But I also love their bedtime. And that just doesn't kive with New year's Eve. Heck, I'll likely be in bed before midnight. So, i'm throwing a noon Year's Eve party for the under 10 crowd.

First step is always the invite, right? I saw this confetti cannon idea and just had to do it. So I did (and you'll see i'm showing all of you on my lovely worksurface that's been through hell and back. Feel free to ignore the lime green lines and whatnot. they're not a aprt of the invite)

First step was figuring out the party details. then making an invite on a long string of confetti. Confetti canons are about 1" in diameter, so you don't have a lot of room to work with. I used one side of the squares to write "It's a NOON Year's Eve Party" and the other side to provide details. We're starting the party at 10:30 so the kids can play, make a craft., eat lunch, and do the countdown (complete with balloon drop) at noon. Anywhoodles, make the invite.


Then empty the confetti cannons. Two ways you can do this. 1) take off the label and remove the "seal" at the top. Dump everything out. or 2) Release the cannon, shooting confetti and streamers in your house. then reset the cannon by pushing down real hard and twisting until the cylinder is locked again. Up to you.

Fill the cannons: fold your invite in. Add 1" discs of paper or pretty paper napkin (like I did) to separate the invite from the cylinder pusher thingy and the confetti. Fill as full as you wish.

Confetti!

Cover the cannon with a piece of paper cut larger than the top. Use another strip of paper/napkin to hold the cover on. Tape the edge of the strip down, but not the paper (just like how the cannon was assembled when you bought it).

Cover the outside with paper/napkin. The napkin had the colors I wanted, so it was an easy solution.

Add a strip of paper at the bottom (made on your home computer) that says "Twist Me" and then has a directional arrow. My graphics abilities are limited to MS Word, and even I can do this. you can too!

Tape it on.

Hand out the invitations. See your invited guests' faces light up.


I've passed out a few of these already (the party's Saturday, afterall), and everyone has loved the invitation! So easy and festive.

Breakfast is served

This is straight from Pinterest. Well, sort of. They used waffles. I used french toast. They used bacon. I used sausage. They used yogurt. I used powdered sugar. But yeah, it's from Pinterest.

Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins is a lovely little creature that's joined our family this Christmas season. And like all little Elf on the Shelf recruits, he gets into a bit of mischief while we sleep.

Every morning Toddler Moose goes on the hunt for Elfkins. And I always know the second he's spotted because I hear "Silly Elfkins!"

Below you'll find the many different ways we've found him when we wake up in the morning.

Elfkins stole the star on the top of our tree. I'm guessing he was jealous of the position, so he took it over. Silly Elfkins!

All the little boys in my house have colds. Looks like Elfkins might be coming down with one too. And we all know lots of rest is exactly what you need when you're sick. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins took s a bubble bath in our sink. And washed his back with a new toothbrush for Toddler Moose. Silly Elfkins.

Elfkins found our orphaned sock stash and decided to play in it. He also wore a new pair of Christmas socks (Dollar Spot at Target), and brought a new pair for me and Toddler Moose, as well. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins must love hot chocolate as much as I do. He snuck into the stash and decided to have a cup. Silly Elfkins!

We've been in a bit of a cold spell in Mooseville, so I imagine Elfkins jumped into the fridge to warm up. His pipe cleaner and pom pom ear muffs and felt scarf are sure to speed up the process. Silly Elfkins!

Elfkins started his career in our main living areas. His first foray outside of the norm was into the playroom. Here he was found spying over all the toys from a wall hanging. Silly Elfkins!

Looks like Elfkins got into the pantry and the playroom again. The goldfish from the pantry and the fishing pole from the fishing game. Silly Elfkins!

One night I wrapped all the presents to go under our tree. But I'm lazy, and didn't bother with bows or ribbons. Elfkins was just trying to help me out. Silly Elfkins!

High atop our cabinets Elfkins got high centered while flying around in the barn from our Uno Moo game. Silly Elfkins!

Toddler Moose had been behaving so well - even being kind to his little brother - so Daddy moose and I wanted to treat him to a movie. Elfkins must have overheard our plans because the morning o the movie we found him sipping on soda from a movie theater cup, eating popcorn, and hanging out with a gift card to the movies. Silly Elfkins!

Every year we get an ornament for our kids. The ornament always symbolizes something that happened during the year. 2011 marked many things, among them the first plane ride for both. Elfkins made the job easy on us and found airplane ornaments for the boys. Silly (and thoughtful!) Elfkins.

On Elfkins' second night with us, he spent a long time decorating the dining room with garland and snowflakes. He must have needed to rest after all that hard work. Silly Elfkins!

On his very first night with us, Elfkins made it quite easy on Toddler Moose. He hid in a stocking while munching on a candy cane from our tree. Silly Elfkins!

Moose Tracks:

Many of the ideas are inspired by pins I saw on Pinterest. Many are original, at least to me.

I'll post again with all the fun Elfkins gets into in a few days. weeks.

Cinnomn Roll Ring

I saw quite a few people pinning this a few weeks ago. It looked lovely. I pinned it myself, but only because I liked it for the inspiration aspect. I haven't tried the recipe as it's written on the source blog. It might be great or horrible. I wouldn't know. I just knew I couldn't go wrong with the version below.

Sticky Bun Wreath

1 can refrigerated cinnamon roll dough (like Pillsbury)

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 Tbsp light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In small saucepan, heat sugar, corn syrup and butter over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Pour sugar mixture into a greased bundt pan.

Place cinnamon rolls around pan, overlapping slightly (Pillsbury Grands tend to have 5 biscuits. Non-Grands have 8. That seemed to work. I probably could have gone with 1.5 cans)

Bake at 375 for twenty minutes, or until rolls are puffed, dry-looking and browned slightly.

Let set for 1-2 minutes.

Place large plate over pan. Invert (use pot holders or oven gloves!). Let pan sit on plate for a bit, allowing syrup to drip onto rolls

Enjoy!

Grandparent Christmas Gift

This puppy's straight from Pinterest here (Note: I tried to link the blog this came from, but it doesn't exist anymore. Sorry.) I can't embroider. At all. needle crafts aren't my thing. If I can't duct tape it I usually don't do it. But this I could do.

Materials:

Cloth (like muslin or something easily embroiderable)

Embroidery thread - one color for each hand

Needle (and threader)

Washable marker (I used a sewing-specific one)

Embroidery Hoop

Cardstock

Scissors

Frame

Step 1: Use the cardstock to trace each family member's hand print. Cut out each hand slightly smaller than the tracing.

Step 2: Place fabric in embroidery hoop, aiming for the middle of the fabric (if framing.) Pull fabric taut.

Step 3: Trace around the largest hand outline with washable marker.

Step 4: Thread needle. Start sewing/embroidering along the drawn hand.

Step 5: Continue until the first hand is done. Layer the second hand over the first, following steps 3 and 4 with a different color embroidery thread color.

Continue until all the hands have been embroidered.

Optional: Using the washable marker, write the year or family name near the hands. Embroider with yet another thread color.

Step 7: Remove fabric from hoop. Wash lightly in cool water. Let dry. Iron flat.

Step 8: Trim fabric to frame size. Frame.

Step 9: Wrap and put under the Christmas tree.

Moose Tracks:

Of course I forgot to take a pic before I wrapped the frames. So, you don't get a fully framed shot. My apologies.

I used a gradient of blue colors to donate the boys in the family. I used pink to highlight me (the only chick in this joint.) I feel like it gives another element to the project.

I chose to embroider (ha!) the year underneath the hands. The first one I tried was with a smaller date. That's hard to embroider. So, the second time around I went with a larger "2011". It came out much better.

Again, I have no idea if the stitch method I used is actually embroidery. I'm sure it's not. I went purely on instinct and I'm happy with how it turned out. In an effort to not develop my own language, I'm simply calling my hot mess of a stitch embroidery. Don't flame me.

Turkey Ts

My boys are young enough they still allow me to dress them. And with Thanksgiving coming up, I needed something to dress them in. So, I went to Pinterest. And found this. But, I couldn't find the right fabrics to pull it off. Instead, I found a bunch of fat quarters in coordinating Fall-like colors. So I got a bit creative and came up with a tshirt idea similar. And, because I'm lazy, I went the no-sew route.

Need:

Plain tshirt

5 small pieces of cloth for feathers (I used fat quraters for everything)

1 orange-flavored fabric

1 brown-flavored fabric

2 googly eyes

Wonder Under or Heat N Bond (craft section of Walmart carries this stuff)

Cardboard or cardstock

Fabric Glue

Step 1: Wash and dry shirt - do NOT use fabric softener or any kind.

Step 2: Using cardbaord/cardstock, draw out templates: Large raindrop for the feathers, Snowman-like stacked circles for the body, triangle for the beak. Cut out templates.

Step 3: Trace 1 body, 1 beak and 5 feathers onto paper side of Heat N Bond/Wonder Under. Cut out shapes, leaving a border all the way around the traced lines.

Step 4: Iron shapes to the wrong side (back side) or fabric - Brown for the body, orange for the beak, and one feather for each of the ramining fabric pieces. Follow directions on back of package for Heat N Bond / Wonder Under.

Step 5: Cut out body and beak. Cut out feathers (I used pinking shears for that extra feathery look. Not necessary.)

Step 6: Remove paper backing from each piece. Align Body and beak in the center of the front of the shirt. Iron on. Let cool.

Step 7: Arrange feathers on the back of the shirt. Iron on. Let cool.

Step 8: Glue googly eyes on using fabric glue. Let dry.

Ta-Da