Monthly Archives: March 2012

Easter Decorations

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I made a few things for Easter to help decorate my house . They turned out really cute. I’ve seen some on blogs and some on Pinterest. I had a few decorations but needed some new ones so I googled Easter Wreaths and found a ton of really cute ones. Wow are there some crafty talented people out there. I found a good tutorial for a Ribbon Wreath and Topiary on debbiedoescreations.com. The great part is you can do them for fairly inexpensive. You can buy most of the stuff at the dollar store.  Here’s a few pictures of what I did.

 This was easy and really cheap because I had leftover ribbon from my wreath. It only took me about 45 minutes.

I love candy displays and they fit in easily along a garland or table landscape. So hilarious that I found gummy carrots to go with my bunny mallows. There’s a lot of cute Easter candy out there that you can use. Those eggs are actually wooden eggs that I painted and I found the cute chicken wire wrapped glass bowl at Ross for $4.00. Love that place to find different things you can use to decorate and for a great price.

I also made a Peep topiary. My kids love Peeps! Me included. I started using a toothpick to attach these to the styrofoam ball but a lot were falling off after I finished so I had to hot glue some. I would go that route unless you want them to be a display for a dessert table and to be eaten.

The next morning they were drier and therefore shrunk a bit which then makes spaces show in between. Even so its so cute. I used the tutorial by thehungrymouse.com but that is the toothpick way and I would recommend hot gluing.

I’d have to say these are the cutest craft and so simple. I found this on thecsiproject.com by a guest blogger called JC’s Loft, but when I tried to find her blog or site it kept saying not found. Sad because i’m sure she has some great ideas after seeing this one. Aren’t they Eggcellent?! Sorry Ha!

My last picture is of some decorations I already had I just added the subway art. I love Subway Art for Holidays so cute and you can usually find quite a bit out there that’s free.:0)

This subway art was from eighteen25.blogspot.com. You can google Easter Subway art and take your pick of many.

Thanks to all these talented people I have a whole bunch of new Easter decor. Check out their blogs or websites for more holiday crafts.

Travel Costa Rica

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Manuel Antonio

Monkeys everywhere

Neon colored crabs

shrooms

Iguanas run wild

Crocodiles lurking in the Mangroves

The "sloth"

Costa Rica's crazy lil creatures

Breathtaking views (from La Mansion Hotel)

Jerk Chicken Sweet Potatoes

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Jerk Chicken stuffed Sweet Potato

I love Sweet Potatoes and Yams and I love Jerk chicken. I love spicy food. I had something like this at a restaurant and loved  it so I created it at home. The mango, mandarin orange salsa provides some extra sweetness to balance out the spiciness of the Chicken and the sweet potato rounds it all out.

Jerk Chicken
3T. allspice
1/4t. nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
6 green onions sliced
3-4 garlic cloves minced,
1 inch chunk of ginger grated
3T. brown sugar or 2 T. agave nectar
3 jalapenos or hot chilies like scotch bonnet if u can find cut up.
1T. soy suce
1 lime juiced
1/2t. salt
1T. oil
2t. thyme
1 bay leaf
Puree all in blender and put over:
6 Chicken breast in a pressure cooker with 1/4c. water
Pressure cook about 12-15 minutes.

Shred chicken

If you don’t have a Pressure cooker marinade the chicken in half the jerk sauce and grill it or put in crock pot with have the jerk sauce on high for 4 hours then shred and add rest of sauce to it.

Bake sweet potatoes in oven or microwave until tender

Fruit salsa
1 mango diced
1 can mandarin oranges chppd
1/4c. chopped cilantro
3T. red onion
1 T. lime juice
salt to taste
pinch of cinnamon

Put shredded chicken on top of cut open sweet potato. put some of pan drippings on sweet potato too. Top that with fruit salsa and enjoy. I did three days in a row for lunches. My kids liked it too which I was a little surprised about.

Sushi as Dessert?!

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Biggest hit at the party

Ingredients~
Rice crispy
Swedish fish
Green fruit roll ups
Directions~
1. Cut rice crispys into small pieces related to the rice in sushi
2. Place swedish fish on top
3. Cut roll up into small strips to wrap around swedish fish and rice crispy.
Enjoy!

Pecan Coconut Granola to go with your Homemade Yogurt

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This is an awesome Granola that you can tailor to your likes It is really good you will end up eating a lot of it for a snack.

Granola

Preheat oven to 300

1/2c. honey

1/2c. brown sugar

1/3c. coconut oil (melt if its solidified)

1t. salt

Microwave these ingredients in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved.  About a minute or two then add:

1T. vanilla

1tsp cinnamon

3 cups of oatmeal

2c. Pecans

Mix together well until all is coated well then spread on a lightly Pam sprayed baking sheet and bake 15 minutes stirring about half way through. Then add:

1c. finely shredded dried coconut (I prefer unsweetened you can get this at Sprouts)

Stir this into oatmeal mixture and return to oven for 15 minutes more until golden brown.

Let cool completely and add 1c. dried fruit if desired such as  Craisins, blueberries, raisins, apricots.

There you have some awesome granola for your homemade yogurt.

Enjoy

Best Edamame Recipe

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Cooked edamame

Over medium heat
melt 2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
Once melted toss edamame in pan until edamame covered in mixture

Enjoy!