How did the lowly and oft overlooked pretzel get it’s start? I took a little cruise around the internet and found that most agree the first pretzels were created around 600 AD by Catholic monks using left over dough which was twisted into the pretzel knot we know today. Some say the knot shape symbolized The Holy Trinity, and others say it represented arms folded in prayer. Either way, hooray for the monk with leftover scraps of dough!

If you want a FREE!!! pretzel today, head on over to the mall because Pretzelmaker is giving free pretzels to any brave souls who will sing or dance for their reward (or for those more reserved and equally deserving patrons, just say, “National Pretzel Day”).

Here are some easy and clever pretzel recipes to help you celebrate National Pretzel Day… G0 right ahead and live it up a little (or a lot), you choose.

Pretzel Turtles

Ingredients:

Pretzels
Rolos
Pecans

Directions:

1. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place pretzels on foil.

2. Put an unwrapped rolo on each pretzel.

3. Bake at 250* for about 4 minutes until chocolate becomes soft.

4. Place a pecan half on top after removing from oven. Cool and ENJOY!

Ranch Pretzels

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
• 1 tsp. dried dill
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 3.4 cup olive oil
• 1 bag hard pretzels broken into bite sized pieces

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2, Mix the first four ingredients together and pour it over bite sized  pretzels. Toss until pretzels are evenly coated.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, stir and bake for  8 more minutes. Let cool and serve. ENJOY!

So go on and celebrate National Pretzel Day!

Now this is one awesome prank. It’s “Happy Valley” guys. This is how we roll.

Enjoy!

The chaos began about 8:15 last night, with a call from my brother:

“Is Colton still up? Why isn’t he in bed, yet?”

First, I’d like to point out that even on school nights, Colton is never in bed by 8:15. But I played along.

“He’s on spring break this week – burning the midnight oil.”

“Uh… you may want to  double check that.”

What did he meeeaaaan “double check that”?!?!?

It seemed my brother’s wife had been talking to a teacher at one of the district’s other schools, and the subject of spring break had come up.

“Spring break is next week,” he said.

How can that be? I’d planned for spring break to be this week for …. well… weeks, now. I had it in my smart phone calendar and everything. I’d wondered what we’d do all week, because Colton is a.) on crutches and b.) the weather forecast is calling for unseasonably cold temperatures. I’d planned to take him to see Rango today, and the first showing of Hop on Friday.

I’d looked forward to sleeping in. I’d looked forward to no homework, except for reading. I’d looked forward to a well-deserved break from what has been a really tough school year, quite frankly. And a change in spring break plans wasn’t going over well for me. I imagined how well it would go over for Colton.

Phase 2 found me calling Summer. Not that I don’t trust my brother or anything ( ). But this had all the makings of an April Fool’s Day joke coming a few days early. Except that Summer confirmed everything my brother had said: Spring break was still another week away.

This whole fiasco has me wondering what else I’ve mis-scheduled. And whether or not we could actually pull off an extra week of spring break…

-Liz

We think this post from a few years back is worth a Second Glance, especially since it’s spring break and we’re off frolicking with our kids. Enjoy!

Ahhhhh…spring break is finally here. Seems like we’ve been waiting for it since the day after school began last year.  A break from the routine of alarm clocks, bed times, endless homework, car pools, nagging.   I am as excited as the kids are.  It’s hard work to parent school children.  A lot of stress.   A lot of responsibility.  A lot of effort trying to  keep up with the  perfect parents who are probably busy trying to keep up with a whole other set of perfect parents.  It’s a vicious cycle…one from which I am ready for a break.  I went to bed last night with “visions” of  relaxation, going to the park, eating sand coated sandwiches  at the reservoir,  soaking up the first glorious rays of the summer soon to come.

It seems that my ‘visions” were slightly off, as I am now, on the first afternoon of spring break, staring forlornly out my window at snowflakes. Three inches of snowflakes to be  exact, and I fear there is more to come.  How could this happen?  How could Mother Nature be so cruel as to  single-handedly destroy MY spring break?  MY time to sit outside and read a frivolous paperback while the kids frolic. There will be no frolicking this week, only whining bored kids and a frustrated mom.  Snow has long ago worn out its welcome.  That happens at about the same time as the after Christmas sales wind down.  I have lost  count of how many times I have already heard today, “Mom, what can I do?”  It’s the same phrase I’ve been hearing for the past 3 months.  I want to say, “Go outside and frolic in the sun!”  Oh, wait a minute…there is no sun!

Thankfully, there is a little angel in the form of a 9 year old girl, who lives down the street.  She came over minutes ago to rescue my son from the gloom and doom pervading  my home.  They are now outside in full winter gear: snow pants, puffy coats, snow boots, hats and gloves.  I’m not joking! If I didn’t know better, I would think it was the middle of winter, not the first day of spring break.   I can see them playing outside in the snow.  Their cheeks are rosy.  They are laughing, throwing snowballs and generally having a great time.  Dare I say they might be frolicking?

Maybe I should take a lesson from the kids.  Maybe it’s time to roll with the punches, even if the punch means one more blast of winter.  If a couple of 9- year-olds can do it, so can I.

I say if  Mother Nature can break the unspoken spring break rule  of warmth, sunshine, and frolicking, well then it’s high time I break some rules as well.  Drastic measures are now called for.  I am now putting on a Michael Buble Christmas cd  in an attempt to lift my spirits.  This will mean breaking my set-in-stone Christmas music rule.   (I made a rule years ago that Christmas music could only be played from Thanksgiving Day until New Years Eve in an attempt the keep the music “special”. ) Strains of  “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” are now flowing through my house. Liz suggested presents and Santa cookies might be in order.  I say “Let’s not go nuts, here.”  Perhaps Liz does not realize what making sugar cookies entails. I mean it is Liz we’re talking about.  She’s probably on a first name basis with the employees at the local bakery, so how could she know!

I think chocolate chip cookies are a suitable substitute, and perhaps I can find some hidden for a rainy (snowy)  day dollar store treasures in a closet somewhere.  Maybe we’ll even blow up a beach ball and toss it around in the snow.   It’s spring break, after all…might as well have some fun frolicking!

-Kate

“Will we be eaten? Or tossed to the curb with all that shiny fake green grass?”

Which is where I make a confession. As much as I love boiled eggs and deviled eggs, I have a real problem eating them after they’ve been dyed for Easter. Oh, sure. I know the dye is OK to eat, but there’s something about seeing that cooked white turned every color of the rainbow that just doesn’t sit well with me. Am I alone on this?

Anyway, I digress. Because a refrigerator full of eggs is opportunity in the making! So many things to do with those boiled eggs. So few hours in the day… So instead of me grumbling about the yucky color on the egg whites, let’s operate on the waste-not,-want-not premise – at least for today. May I present…

Liz’s Top Seven ways to use boiled eggs

• Deviled – or dressed – eggs. Mom often asks me to bring dressed eggs for family dinners. Does that mean the other eggs are naked? Or is it a throw back to the old saying “dressed for dinner”? Anywho,  cut the eggs in half, remove the yolks, mix some mayo, a pinch of sugar, maybe a dash of mustard, salt, pepper and paprika with the egg yolks and fill the egg white halves. When I’m feeling really creative, I put the yolk mix in a plastic baggie, cut off a corner of the bag, and pipe the mixture into the egg whites. Clearly, that doesn’t happen very often, but it sure looks good when it does.
• Egg salad. As far as I’m concerned, this is another way of saying easy deviled eggs. While this one may be a given, I also think it is often overlooked as an easy use for boiled eggs. It can be as simple as chopping up the eggs and throwing in a little mayo, salt and pepper. Or you can kick it up a few notches with some tuna, olives, capers, onions or whatever floats  your boat. Can be eaten on bread or toast, or straight out of the bowl.
• Spinach salad. What better way to go healthy than by throwing chopped or sliced boiled eggs on a mound of fresh spinach? Add some onion, mushrooms, and crumbled bacon, and whip up a nice hot bacon dressing. Dinner is served.
• Cobb salad. If you’ve never eaten a cobb salad, here’s a pretty traditional recipe to check out.
• Potato salad. What is more American than a good potato salad? Boil a few potatoes, add some mayo, pickle relish, onion, salt and pepper and fold in a few chopped boiled eggs. Summer comfort food, if you ask me.
• Giblet gravy. A hands-down favorite of mine. Ladle over fried chicken, turkey, pork chops or mashed potatoes.
• Easy chicken-rice casserole, courtesy of Cooks.com:

• 3 c. cooked chicken
• 3 1/2 c. cooked rice loosely, tossed
• 2 c. diced celery
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 tbsp. chopped onion
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. water
• 5 sliced hard-boiled eggs (optional)

Mix chicken, rice, celery, cream of chicken soup, onion and lemon juice. Add mayonnaise which has been mixed with water. Add hard-boiled eggs. Fold all together gently and place in 9 x 13 greased pan. Make the day ahead. Take out 1 hour before baking. Top with crushed barbecue or regular crushed potato chips.

Bake at 375°F for 45 to 60 minutes. Don’t overcook.

Enjoy your boiled egg leftovers!

-Liz

Happy Easter!

Easter Pops

(aka Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Treats on a Stick)

Ingredients:

*Rice Krispie treats cut into bars 2 x 21/2 or so. You can go bigger or smaller, you get to be the boss here. You can make them from scratch (here’s the recipe) or you can buy the pre-made Rice Krispie treats at the grocery store.

*Melted chocolate (I used CandiQuik)

*Popcicle sticks (I got 150 for $1 at the dollar store)

*Decorations – sprinkles, candies

3 easy steps…

Put the sticks into the RIce Krispie Treats. They will stay better if you dip the tip pf the stick into the melted chocolate before you put them into the treats.

Dip the treats into melted chocolate. I used an extra stick to scrape off the extra chocolate.

Add sprinkles or candies and then put on waxed paper to harden.

I wrapped them individually in little treat bags and added a bow.

How cute and impressive does that look?! No one has to know how easy they were to make. I won’t tell…

HAPPY EASTER!

Since Easter is only days away, I’ve been out stocking up on my Peeps supply. Heaven forbid I leave my Peep shopping to the last minute, and to my horror, find the shelves bare of the ooey, gooey, sugary marshmallow treats. I would be forever disowned as head holiday empress of my kingdom.

I love me some Peeps! Do you love Peeps, too?

I’ve gathered a few peep-a-liscious ideas in case you’d like to impress your peeps with your Peep skills .

How to make S’meeps: S’mores + Peeps

Serious Eats.com

How to make Peepshi: Peeps + Sushi

Serious Eats.com

How to make Peepsicles: Peeps + Popsicles

Serious Eats.com

How do they make these things, anyway?

How Peeps are Made, from the Chicago Tribune

FYI, I found an official Peeps Fan Club, should you wish to add this impressive club membership to your resume.

There’s also the annual Washington Post – Peep Shows I, II, III, IV, & V

And for the brave – Peep Experiments at Peep Research.org

I wouldn’t recommend this next one unless you’re a complete kook who wants to mess with perfection. But in case you are, here’s a recipe for making your own Peeps – How to make Peeps.

Last but not least, Miss Liz got creative with some Peeps this week with a Peeps on a string.

And in completely unrelated Peeps news: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

~Kate

Hey, Kate! Great post! But I think you forgot one very special use for Peeps… (howling with laughter).

Anyway, how incredibly easy, cheap and FUN would it be to have a different Subway Art for each holiday and season during the year!? Then you could just use the same frame and rotate out the different themed prints. So easy, cheap and fun that it’s totally doable for anyone, even the craft challenged. Besides, I’ve done most of the work for you so get to it.

For my own subway art I found some white spray paint in my cupboard and painted an old 8×10 black frame for a fresh clean look. Practically any old frame will look amazing with a fresh coat of paint.

Here are some bright and happy Subway Art choices for Easter…

Go to Easter from Curds and Whey to download

Go to A Matter of Memories to download

Go to Eye Candy to download

Other subway art…

St. Patrick’s Day Subway Art

Happy decorating and enjoy your Coffee Break!