Snow ice cream!

Yesterday in the "blizzard," I was wishing I had sweetened condensed milk in my pantry so I could give this recipe a try.  I didn't... so it had to wait until today.  Although the snow wasn't "freshly fallen," I know it had not been touched.  No footprints were anywhere close to it!

Here's where I got the idea...

Source: wannabesoutherncook.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I had just been out with my parents so invited them in for the experiment.  I went out to the back yard, scooped up the snow, and mixed it all together.

It all happened so quickly that my dad said, "Did you just make this?"  I said, "Yes!  With SNOW!"  He said, "Clean snow?"  Hahaha. :)

YUM!  Highly recommended!

More funfetti!

So we had my nephew's birthday party a couple of weeks ago, but today was the actual day.  I got to host the family tonight so I volunteered to make the cake.  After the successful funfetti cupcakes, I decided to attempt to make a cake with the same mix.  I have a horseshoe cake pan to use for Colts parties, and he loves the Colts, so it seemed like a good fit.

So pretty!

All mixed up and in the pan, ready to bake... I had to guess at how long to bake it since I doubled the recipe and the original timing was for cupcakes...

Baked, frosted, and ready to eat!

Homemade funfetti?

We had a staff birthday at church this week.  For staff meeting on Wednesday night, we needed to celebrate!  After the whole scenario with the delicious not-out-of-a-box brownies, I felt I needed to try to make cupcakes from scratch, too.  So I looked on pinterest for funfetti cupcakes.

Found them here...

Source: sweetpeonyblog.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Here's the final product.

I told the staff I needed to blog about this, and everybody thought they were pretty tasty.  Already made something else with funfetti last night but will tell you about that in my next post...

Family Movie Night: The Polar Express

We had our second Family Movie Night at church since the first was a great success.  We showed The Polar Express... kids wore their pajamas and we gave them popcorn and hot chocolate.  During the movie, kids can come back to tables and work on activities if they need something to do during the movie.  One of the crafts they got to do was make reindeer ears.

The idea came from here:

Source: storytimekatie.com via Christina on Pinterest

And here's the final product:

It was hard to get the ears to stand up.  We ended up taping popsicle sticks behind them so the ears wouldn't be floppy.  And I think we did figure out a way for Rudolph to not have staples on the front of his face... this was just try #1!

Very cute!!

I may never make brownies from a box again

So a few weeks ago (yes, I'm so behind on this blog, but let's overlook that for now), I was at my sister's.  She was gone to get her haircut and I was leaving to get mine cut in about thirty minutes.  The twins said, "Essy, let's make something!"  I surveyed the fridge and cupboards and found many ingredients, but no butter.  I told them we might not be able to make cookies without butter.  They then said, "What about brownies?"  I got on pinterest and quickly searched "brownies no mix" and the rest was history.  I may never make brownies out of a box again!  Delicious!

The recipe came from here:

Source: food.com via Nancy on Pinterest

And here is a picture of how they turned out:

Enjoy!

Group fun!

This weekend we had our first presbytery youth retreat... first one in a LONG time, at least.  We needed to divide the kids into groups a few different times and wanted to use different methods to do it so it wasn't the same old thing with counting off.

I had seen this...

Source: craftgawker.com via Nancy on Pinterest

and it worked like a charm.  Everybody got into groups, they were divided up evenly and fairly by their color of dot... and everybody got to eat a piece of chocolate, too!

Indoor tulips?

I love tulips.  They are, without a doubt, my favorite flower.  So when I saw this idea of a way to grow them inside, I knew I had to try.  It's a pretty inexpensive project, so if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.  But here's hoping!

I got the idea from here...

Source: imgfave.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I had one glass container, but I went to the Dollar Tree and bought two more.

I also bought the clear glass beads there.  The website said that if you want to see the roots grow, you should get the clear ones.  Put some of those in the bottom.

Then place a bulb on top of those and put a few more glass beads around it not to cover it, but to support it.

Then put water in the container so that it's almost up to the bulb, but not touching it.

Now we wait... I'll let you know if flowers grow!

The post in which I start to make up for lost time

I'm behind and I know it.  I'll make up for it soon.  This post includes two pins, if that makes it any better.

So this first one, I saw the pin and clicked through, hoping to find a recipe.  Unfortunately, it was a link to try to get me to buy a mix.

Source: jotpress.com via Nancy on Pinterest

So I decided I could just make it up myself.  I made brownie mix and I made cookie dough and tried to drop the cookie dough into the brownies and bake.  I tried it a number of different ways.  The first batch I threw straight into the trash - it was a major flop.  Then I tried cooking the brownie batter a bit before adding the cookie dough.  I finally got an outcome that I was okay with passing on to others to eat.  But I still don't like the look of it.  They basically looked like cookies baked on top of brownies, instead of one inside the other.  Oh well - people said they tasted good!

The other recipe was a repeat for me.  I made these last fall and they were delicious, so I made them again.



Another success!  They are yummy, they are pumpkin, and they are really even pretty good for you!

Brownie Marshmallow Cupcakes

I hung out at my sister's house for the evening.  As soon as I walked in the door, one of my nephews said, "Aunt Nancy, I want to bake something with you!"  Good thing my sister knew this was coming and had something in mind.

The inspiration came from here....

Source: springraine.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Step 1: Make brownie mix as directed.  Put some in each muffin cup.  Do not fill to top.  We had great helpers!!!

 Step 2: Put mini marshmallows on top of brownie mix.  Our addition was to drizzle butterscotch on there, too.

Step 3: Top with more of the brownie mixture and bake @ 325 degrees.  It ended up taking them about 32 minutes.

Step 4: Remove from oven and enjoy!

Our review is that they were good.... but could probably be better.  As you can see, most of the butterscotch cooked out, and the marshmallow may have, too.  Next time, we'll put less batter below the "extras" and maybe make a few more cupcakes instead.  They still tasted good, but there is room for improvement!

Front door

So the wreath is now hanging on the front door...

And I used an upside-down Command hook to hang it from the inside!  Found the Command hook idea on pinterest, too...

Fall is officially here!

Fall Wreath

Time for a break from recipes... and time to try a craft!  This is the first time I've ever attempted making my own wreath.  It was a quicker project than I thought it might be, but I already know how I would fix it the next time around.  This is a yarn wreath and I think I might do two layers of yarn the next time around.  I was just ready to get it done and put it on my door!

This was my inspiration....

Source: danielleburkleo.com via Nancy on Pinterest

And here is my creation (sorry about the crooked picture)....

I will try to update once it is hanging on my red front door!

A Pinterest weekend!

Weekends in the fall tend to fill up pretty quickly pretty early.  So when I realized I had a free weekend, I decided I would try several pinterest recipes.  Having friends over for game night helped the cause!

I was looking for things that were snacky-type foods, yet dessert-ish, too, since we were gathering after dinner.

I settled on Apple Pie Dip and cinnamon sugar tortilla chips...

Source: thepeachkitchen.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Here's my version:

I also made brownie batter dip.  No eggs in this one, so you can snack with a little less guilt (except for that whole weight gain thing!).

Source: oureverydaydinners.com via Nancy on Pinterest

I served it with graham crackers, raspberries, and pretzel sticks.

It was decided that all of these get a thumbs up.  Great for entertaining... definitely too yummy to just make and eat at home -- you might eat all of it! :)

Nutella Banana Bread

Delicious.  Simply delicious.  I didn't even put the chocolate topping on it and it was still really, really good.  It was dangerous to make this, because banana bread will not be the same ever again.



serves 16 ( 5 points +)

• 5 T. Nutella ( chocolate hazelnut spread)

• 3 T. + 1 tsp. canola oil, divided

• 3 T. butter, softened

• ½ c. packed brown sugar

• 2 medium bananas

• 2 eggs

• 1-½ c. flour

• ¾ tsp. baking soda

• ½ tsp. baking powder

• ½ tsp. salt

• ⅔ c. low-fat buttermilk

• 1 oz. chopped semisweet chocolate

• 1 T. skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.
Combine 3 T. oil, butter and brown sugar. Beat until blended. Add bananas and eggs, one at a time, mixing until blended.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to banana mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared bread pan. Top with Nutella mixture. Add remaining batter and swirl with a toothpick. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
Cool 10 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack. Cool.
Microwave semisweet chocolate and milk until melted; stir well. Spread over bread and let set.


Combine Nutella with 1 tsp. oil. Microwave for 30 seconds or until melted; stir.

Next time I might add the chocolate topping just to give it a try, but it really didn't even need it.  YUM!

Family Movie Night: The Lorax

We had our first Family Movie Night at church!  Everybody gathered in the Fellowship Hall and we got popcorn donated from a movie theater.  Families brought camping chairs and blankets to spread out and enjoy a fun evening.  We had a couple of tables set up in the back with activities for kids who couldn't sit straight through the whole movie.

Masks that many of the kids made:


Truffula Tree seeds!  Everybody needs a take-home treat, right?


I couldn't find Nerds jelly beans, but they still looked cute!

All in all - a great evening!

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Please forgive me for no picture.  I promise to get better at taking pictures of things I make from pinterest.  The Middle School Youth at church were making dessert for our Wednesday evening program as one of their "electives."  On Wednesday we made these.  Two thumbs up and will repeat these for sure!

But this also made me wonder if I could just make my "regular" chocolate chip cookie recipe - which I practically have memorized - and just add nutella.  Might try that, too!  Enjoy...

Source: littleleopardbook.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Colts cupcakes!

Here is is... red velvet cupcakes... but blue!  And we wanted to get a little bit fancy and creative, so figured out how to add filling, too.  They were very sweet, but I'd give two thumbs up!

Here's the pin for the cupcakes:

Source: familybites.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

We didn't make the frosting - we bought that.  But we did make our own filling:

Source: squidoo.com via Erica on Pinterest

And then I went to the party store and bought football candies to put on top.  Go Colts!

Bulletin Board: Line Drawing of Church

We needed an idea for a church bulletin board in a well-traveled hallway.  Something interactive and something that could be done at the fall kickoff.
My inspiration was this pin:



And then I combined it with this pin:

Source: millies.actieforum.com via Nancy on Pinterest

We made a line drawing of the church (using an opaque projector), cut the poster board into squares, and let people write and color all over the white space... words and pictures of things they think about when they think about our church.  It was put back together and hung on the bulletin board.  We are the church together!