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!

Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day. As you probably know, I’m all about the holidays. I like to have a reason, any old reason, to take what could be an ordinary day and turn it into a celebration. In my house, there are no little holidays, and St. Patrick’s Day is no exception.

When my kids were really little I tried making a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. That did not go over so well. I soon learned if I was going to have some St. Patrick’s Day fun, AND expect my family to eat, I was going to have to try a different approach.  That’s when my green meals began. We’re talking entire meals of green food, here. If you’re going to do it, you may as well go over the top, right?

Over the years, news of my green food shenanigans spread to  my children’s friends who would just happen to be over to visit at dinnertime. Thanks to this green food, for at least one night a year, I get the Cool Mom Award. I couldn’t quit this tradition if I tried. My children won’t let me.

So here is the dinner I’m serving this year: green noodles with green alfredo sauce, green salad with green ranch dressing, green rolls, sliced green kiwis, green jello with green cool whip (not pictured), and green sprite (also not pictured).

The key to success in making a disgustingly green St. Patrick’s Day meal is GREEN FOOD COLORING. Practically any food can be made green, but it works especially well with foods which are light in color.  Just use your imagination. Green food coloring is your best friend on this holiday.

For the green noodles and green alfredo sauce I just boil the noodles in water with a generous amount of green food coloring. As the noodles cook, the green soaks into the pasta. Then, just add some green food coloring to you favorite homemade (or bottled) alfredo sauce.

Stunning, right?!

Add a quick little green salad with green food coloring mixed into the ranch dressing.

A green roll is always a nice touch. You can usually find green bread products in the bakery of your grocery store on St. Patrick’s Day. If you want to take it a step further, mix some green food coloring into some butter to add to the rolls.

Cut some delicious naturally green kiwis.

Now just add some green jello and green whipped topping and mix some green food coloring into any light colored beverage and you’re all set to go. Easy peasy, right? Now go impress your family and friends. I dare you!

Check out my other St. Patrick’s Day meals here and here.

Kate

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to wear green. You don’t want to get pinched!

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There is an old Irish saying that goes something like this…

“There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.”

My husband and kids fall into the Irish category, and I am but a lowly Irish wannabe.  Perhaps that’s why I go a little over the top with my St. Paddy’s Day celebrations.  Maybe I’m trying to prove to them (and myself) that I deserve to celebrate this holiday just as much as as the real Irish folk.

Well that, and the fact that I love a good reason to torture my family just a little bit once in a while. The torture…an entirely GREEN meal made up of foods that have no business being green. (The photo above is completely un-retouched. That is actually what the plate of food looks like.) Today I’m going to show you the Green Dinner option. On the Menu – green chicken, green mashed potatoes, green rolls with green butter, green jello with green cool whip and green kool aid.

Let me introduce you to your new best friend in this adventure…

Green Food Coloring

Practically any food can be turned green for your St. Patrick’s Day feast.

By far the most disgustingly amazing item on the menu…Green Chicken.

It is just wrong and repulsive and that’s why I love it so much! In the morning I just put some frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot  with a bottle of Italian salad dressing to which I have added green food coloring. By dinnertime the chicken has turned a delightful and delectable  green.

The rest of the food is simple. Just make up the mashed potatoes according to directions on package and add the green food coloring to the water. Same goes for the gravy. The green rolls, I buy from our local grocery store, Maceys. Add a side of green jello and cool whip, and some apple juice with green food coloring or some green kool aid and your green meal is complete.

It also helps the visual effect to serve the food on green paper plates and to have a green tablecloth.

So I say, give it a shot. Try a green meal out on your family this St. Patrick’s Day. It’ll be a meal they won’t soon forget, and by next year (when they forget how hard it was to eat that green chicken) they’ll be begging for more…heehee.

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

I can tell Chicago is my kind of town.

St. Patrick’s Day is coming right up and I’m kind of a kook for this holiday. I’m well know ’round these parts for my grossly green St. Patrick’s Day dinners. It’s my own special way of torturing my family and friends, all while under the guise of providing a semi-nutritious, completely green home-cooked meal.

You have two days to get ready to freak out your family and friends with a fun St. Patrick’s Day feast. They’ll  think you’re the COOLEST mom/dad/neighbor/friend around. Trust me.

I’ve got two green meal ideas just for you.

Here’s a green dinner consisting of green chicken (yes it looks as sick as it sounds), green mashed potatoes with green gravy, green roll with green butter, green jello with green cool whip, and green kool aid. (Here’s the story.)

I should warn you this photo is not re-touched. This is really how the food looks. For that extra special green touch, use green paper plates, green napkins and a green tablecloth. You'll feel like your eyes are playing tricks on you.

If a green breakfast is more your style, try out these green pancakes with green syrup, green scrambled eggs, green hash browns and green juice. (Here’s the story.)

Also, just for fun here’s a video…

How to speak with an Irish accent. If you’re going celebrate, you may as well go all out, right?

And finally, are these people for real? Seriously?

Kate

Enjoy!

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.

First up is St. Patrick’s Day Subway Art. All you have to do is click the links, print out one of these babies, and slip it into your frame.

Go to That’s What {Che} Said to download

Go to Funky Polkadot Giraffe to download

Here are some  green food ideas for an all green St. Paddy’s Day feast…

Green Dinner

Another Green Dinner

Green Breakfast

Have a great day, folks, and enjoy your Coffee Break.

Valentine’s Day is almost here. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve probably been stewing over what to do for days.  If you’re still looking for that perfect idea to make that certain special someone feel loved and appreciated, look no more because I have just the thing for you.  Personalized Fortune Cookies! And let me tell you, someone’s gonna be super impressed with this  fun, unique, and easy Valentine’s Day idea.

Personalized Fortune Cookies

It’s surprisingly simple and uses store bought fortune cookies. You just take out the lame-o fortunes that are already inside, and replace them with your own unique messages. It’s a great idea for your spouse, your kids, your significant other, your best friend, or whomever you’d like to make feel special.

How to make personalized fortune cookies

1) Buy a package of pre-made fortune cookies and unwrap cookies. I usually get the La Choy brand.

2) Prepare your messages either by handwriting them on small strips of pretty paper, or by printing them out on a  computer printer and cutting them into small strips (about 1/2″ x 2″ at the largest)

3) Take a damp paper towel (not dripping, just damp) and wrap it around one of the fortune cookies so that it completely covers the cookie. Do this one at a time.

4) Microwave the wrapped cookie for about 15-40 seconds (time will vary, depending on microwave and dampness of the paper towel… experiment with it. I would start with 15 seconds and then increase the time in small increments if necessary.)

5) After microwaving, the cookie will become flexible a for about 20 seconds or so…  QUICKLY  take the paper towel from the cookie. Gently  open up the cookie and remove the old  message,  and put your new message in.  Fold the cookie back up. It will naturally fold back into the original fortune cookie shape.  Then let the cookie sit to cool and harden.

6) If you’d like, you can then dip the cooled fortune cookie half-way into melted chocolate and add fun sprinkles to the chocolate before it hardens. Let cool on waxed paper.

Put personalized fortune cookies in a fun, cute container. It’s a great way to show someone special that you love them.

See, easy peasy and sure to impress. Enjoy your Valentine’s Day.

~Kate…Enjoy your Coffee Break!

I made a game for you to play using photos from Kate’s Adventures. Go ahead and try it out.

Kate’s Match the Memory Adventure Game

See if you like it, then sign up for your own free account and start creating a game.

Also…

I also found two cute Valentine’s Day card ideas, courtesy of Family Fun Magazine

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Materials

• Scrapbooking paper or card stock
• Scissors
• Lollipops
• Tape

Directions

1. For each Valentine Flower, cut three heart-shaped petals, two leaves, and two flower centers from scrapbooking paper or card stock.
2. Poke a small hole in each heart petal, leaves and flower center. Crease the petals and slide onto lollipop stem in this order, flower centers, heart petals, leaves.
3. Tape the bottom to secure. Write messages on leaves.

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mMaterials

• Sticks of gum
• Licorice strings
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Heart stickers
• Tape

Directions

1. Place two pieces of string licorice between two sticks of gum, taping the top and bottom closed to secure the antennae in place.
2. Next, cut two heart-shaped wings from construction paper, write your valentine message on them, and secure them to the top stick of gum with a heart sticker. Add other stickers to give personality to your butterfly.

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Candy Crackers

(submitted by reader, Karen Smith-Morganti)

INGREDIENTS –

• 2-3 sleeves of Club Crackers (regular or whole wheat, your choice)
• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 sticks butter
• 3 tbsp. white corn syrup
• 2 tsp good vanilla
• 1 large package fresh Pecans – (chopped or pieces, your choice)

DIRECTIONS –

1. Line jelly roll pan with non-stick foil.  Spray foil with non-stick spray (just in case).   Spread out your crackers evenly, covering the bottom of the jelly roll pan (you may have to break a few crackers here and there).

2. Combine first 3 ingredients (sugar, butter and corn syrup) in sauce pan and bring to a boil.

3. Pull from heat and add vanilla.  Stir.

4. Pour over crackers and spread as evenly as possible.  Quickly sprinkle on pecans.

5. Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Don’t over cook. Let cool and break apart.  Store tightly covered.

No need to calorie count or watch fat.  They’re too good for anyone to care!  Besides, it’s December. Calories don’t count in December.

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Cookie Cutter Wreath

Supplies:

• metal cookie cutters, about 16 – 20. (I used 18, which came in a little tub from Walmart.)
• glue gun and glue sticks
• a ribbon or bow to put on top

Directions:

Arrange the cookie cutters into the general size of circle you’d like your finished wreath to be.

You will have to spend a little time re-arranging the cookie cutters to get them to fit together like a puzzle.

I discovered as I started to glue the cookie cutters together, the pieces would shift and need to be re-positioned constantly. Solution: Trace an outline on the inside of the wreath onto a piece of posterboard or large paper. (I pulled the cookie cutters away from the outline so I could take a picture to show you.)

Notice where the cookie cutters touch each other and apply hot glue to those spots.

Work quickly to attach cookie cutters before glue cools and set. Continue gluing until wreath is complete.

Let glue dry completely and attach a bow to the top.

Hang and enjoy!

And yet, it is one of the most important holidays of all, because instead of focusing on material things and “stuff to buy”,  we can spend this time focusing on family, gratitude and thankfulness…the things which are truly important in life.

In my family we started the tradition of a Gratitude several years ago as a way to spend some time reminding ourselves of all the many great blessings for which we have to be thankful.

A Thanksgiving Gratitude Tablecloth

This is an easy and inexpensive way to  start a Thanksgiving tradition in your home.  All it takes is an inexpensive, washable, light-colored cloth tablecloth and some permanent fabric markers, which can be bought at any craft or fabric store.

On Thanksgiving Day, before  your family sits down for the Thanksgiving Feast, spread out the tablecloth and have them gather around the table.  Ask each family member to think about 3 things that they are thankful for this year. Have them write on the tablecloth these three things, along with their names and the year.  The idea is to help your family (and yourself) focus on the things they are thankful for.  As you bring the tablecloth out each year it will bring back many happy memories as the family reads and reminisces over what they wrote in previous years. This memory tablecloth is a simple, yet meaningful,  Thanksgiving tradition.

Perhaps the feeling of gratitude can be best summed up by this quote…

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
– Melody Beattie

~Kate

Enjoy your Coffee Break!

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