Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Easter Recipes for the Slow Cooker
Easter Recipes for the Slow Cooker: "
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posted by by
Happy almost-Easter!
If you're hosting, or bringing along something to share this year, I've got you covered. The slow cooker is your friend. Use it! And enjoy your family.
Main Courses:
Side Dishes:
Appetizers:
We have dessert covered thanks to Zest Bakery, but if you don't:
rice krispies treats (hey, the REAL rice krispies are going gluten free in about a month. score!)
but whatever you do: DO NOT HARDBOIL YOUR EGGS IN THE CROCKPOT.
you're welcome!
:-)
If you're entertaining, and need a bit of help getting the house in order, no worries. I've got you covered with that, too!
and! I'm hosting a giveaway of Michelle Stern's fantastic new book, The Whole Family Cookbook along with a WebTV interview of her. Enter the contest, I've got a book to send to you!
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Flirty Aprons: 60% Off Select Apron Styles
Flirty Aprons: 60% Off Select Apron Styles: More aprons styles have been re-stocked. Flirty Aprons is currently offering up a *HOT* coupon code. Just use coupon code MARILYN60 at checkout to score Thank you Hip2save
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Playing Around with Beautiful Brown Eggs for Easter
Playing Around with Beautiful Brown Eggs for Easter: "
I've been playing around with brown eggs this week!
Having never even considered using brown eggs at Easter, I was more than a little apprehensive last year when I learned that Sophia and Antonio had been dying brown eggs for Easter.
Turns out - brown eggs are beautiful when dyed and tomorrow I will show you Sophia's and Antonio's tricks!
Today, however, I wanted to share some beautiful brown eggs I have been playing around with - revisiting techniques I have used in the past and some great ideas from fellow bloggers.
The Magic Onions has given us a wonderful tutorial for dying eggs with silk scarves. I don't happen to have a silk scarf in the house but I do have a hank of sari silk yarn and I decided to use that instead.
Because I used the yarn instead of the silk scarf, I made a few adjustments in the process which I am sharing. However, the tutorial for dying with silk belongs to the Magic Onions and you will need to go to the original tutorial to get all the details.
Note: All the eggs used in this post and the one to follow were blown out.
I followed the instructions except that I wrapped my egg with Sari silk yarn. I found that wetting the egg and the yarn prior to wrapping makes wrapping MUCH easier.
Using a piece of old muslin, I wrapped the egg tightly and secured it with twine.
The tutorial suggests using a rock as a weight. I tried a technique I use when softening corn husks - I place a smaller pan of water in the large pot of water and on top of the husks to weigh them down and keep them submerged.
This system seemed to work very well. My egg is actually behind the smaller pan.
Once the suggested boiling time ended, I removed the egg and unwrapped it. Judging from the pale colors that bled onto the muslin, I didn't have very high hopes.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the colors in the silk yarn had transferred to the egg beautifully.
And what I love is that every egg will be different. And - I dried the silk yarn and it can still be used in a knitted or woven project.
Three or four years ago, Diane and I took a Pysanky class together. And despite my obvious lack of skill, I have to say - I had a ball! (The egg looks MUCH better at a distance. Funny how that works.
Here is a fantastic tutorial for making Pysanky from That Artist Woman.
I am still very intimidated by the wax application so I haven't tried again, even though I have all the necessary dyes and tools carefully stowed away in my craft cabinet.
Since I am not intimidated by Sharpies, I decided to try to duplicate my little Pysanky using a blown brown egg (background color is already done) and some purple, turquoise and lime Sharpies.
You have got to try this! What fun! No special equipment needed.
And if you need inspiration or want to use authentic designs, you will find bunches of them here!OMG - there are Christmas Pysanky Designs!
One Pretty Thing recently featured a tutorial on Martha Stewart for applying napkin cut-outs to eggs using Mod Podge.
And it just so happens I have some very pretty butterfly napkins!
Since my egg is brown and the napkin background is blue, I actually cut right at the edges of the design leaving the antennae behind. They were added with a black Sharpie after two coats of Mod Podge were dry and before applying a coat of acrylic spray.
Go to Martha's tutorial for full instructions.
It has occurred to me that the wonderful temporary tattoos available almost anywhere should work beautifully on the eggs and would be great fun for kids. And much less messy.
And check out this tutorial on The Magic Onion. She used transfers and rub-ons to create very similar results.
It has been at least six or seven years since I played around with applying dried, pressed flowers to eggs using Mod Podge. They have all held up beautifully. (Of course I only used white eggs!)
Pansies and Lobelia seem to hold their color better than the other flowers I used. I still have a supply from the flowers I dried for decorating gourds, so I decided to apply a few to a brown egg.
I think Mod Podge and Pansies have a special thing going because when I place a pale dried Pansy blossom onto a Mod Podge covered surface, it instantly turns back into it's beautiful, vibrant former self! This rarely happens with most other flowers.
Since I was playing with my dried flowers and eggs long before I started Gingerbread Snowflakes, I have never made a tutorial, but guess who has? Yup! The Magic Onions! So if you are interested in a great "how-to" you will find it here.
Now here is my big fat failure! One of those ideas that pops into my brain when I am awake in the middle of the night! They are not always great! They just sound great at 3:00 AM.
Anyway, I got this idea that since Pansies have saturated colors that hold up well for application to eggs and gourds, maybe - just maybe - if I secured one to the surface of an egg and boiled it, the color and shape would magically be transfered to the egg.
Well some of the color was transfered alright, but there was nothing magical about the results! To me it looks more like a tattoo gone bad.
And finally for today - my little mosaic egg which was made using a brown egg and bits and pieces of the Kool-aid colored eggs made last Easter. I couldn't bear to toss out the shells - the colors were so pretty - so I saved them and broke them into tiny pieces and with the help of good old Mod Podge, have saved them forever!
Tomorrow - come back to see how Sophia and Antonio dye brown eggs!
"Japanese Inspired Thread Wrapped Easter Eggs
Japanese Inspired Thread Wrapped Easter Eggs: "
Diane wrote a "guest" tutorial for making Japanese Inspired Ornaments during the very first holiday season on Gingerbread Snowflakes; and three years later, it still remains one of the top ten posts, so I thought I would share a few simple techniques for making similar Thread Wrapped Easter Eggs!
In my opinion, a beautiful way to combine and honor age old traditions from East and West.
You will want to refer to her post for the techniques for thread winding, beginning and ending embroidery threads, simple embellishment like applique or adding beads or sequins, and links to several simple embroidery stitches.
As Diane points out, Japanese Thread Balls or Temari, are usually very complicated involving lots of measuring and marking and complicated stitches.
For example - these lovely eggs which Diane made for me long ago.
Refer to the first photo of this post and you will see that the egg designs I am sharing are much simpler!
Once again a great big thank you to Meg over at Mega Crafty for providing the styrofoam eggs for this project! I won them as part of her ginormous crafty giveaway last month!
All you really need to make the Japanese thread ball eggs are styrofoam eggs, sewing thread or serger thread, perle cotton embroidery floss, needle, ball head pins, and scissors.
With Diane's instructions, a few styrofoam eggs, some serger thread and a little time spent watching reruns of Mr. Monk, before you know it those styrofoam eggs will transform into beautiful thread wrapped eggs.
In my opinion, a bunch of these wound in Easter colors and pilled into a basket would be gorgeous even without adding designs or embellishments.
So both you and I can avoid one of my famous 30 picture tutorials, I am breaking the instructions for adding design into three posts.
Today I am featuring the purple and green eggs! Tomorrow the pink egg and finally the third post will feature the white egg with the zigzag pattern.
The surface of the thread wrapped eggs is perfect for embroidery. Some of our outstanding embroidery talents like Rachel and Carina could transform these eggs into wonderous and beautiful creations.
But the whole purpose of this series of tutorials is to keep it simple! So - lazy daisy flowers it is!
Begin by making French Knots placed randomly over the egg surface. I found that winding the thread around the needle three times instead of two times helped to keep the knot from sinking into the thread base.
Once all the French Knots are in place, simply revisit each one and using the Lazy Daisy Stitch, embroider petals, making as many and any size you like. Again, I kept this very simple by adding only four petals, but six or eight petals would be even prettier.
You could embroider flowers in many different colors on a white or cream egg, or embroider your flowers in a floss that matches the egg thread for an interesting textural effect. Beads could be used for the centers. Let your imagination go wild.
More Video tutorials for hand embroidery stitches from Needle n' Thread.
This little guy is my "tester" so there are a few less than perfect things going on here! But I wanted you to see that beads can easily be attached using needle and thread; and that had I not been so hasty in removing the guide threads, I could have repeated several rows of pattern and beads to create a very cute little egg design. Something you might want to keep in mind when we get to post 3!
You will find tutorials for the other eggs in the basket above here and here.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit
Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit: "
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By the end of the week, I have five or six miscellaneous pieces, and since we are trying to cut down on our food waste, one of my many creations of French Toast are put to use.
Typically, when you hear Stuffed French Toast Casserole, especially with strawberries, one thinks of saving this recipe for only special occasions, but there’s really no need. It’s easy, fairly quick to assemble, and I use what ever fruit is in season or has been marked down in the produce aisle.
Since I always have a large group to feed for brunch type events, my French Toast Bake is one of my easy “go to” items, along with my hashbrown casserole, Sausage Egg Cresent Roll Recipe and baking bacon in the oven.
Ideally, you should take the time to remove all the crusts from the bread slices, and cut the bread into nice, petite one inch cubes, but when I cook for large group my goal is to get it done quickly, while still being yummy, so often I leave the crusts on and make it with full slices.
Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Fruit
- 10 slices firm bread, cubed
- 8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed or softened (depending on your preference, you may use up to 16 ounces)
- 10 – 12 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup of syrup
- 2 cups of milk (or mixture of half and half, cream and milk equaling two cups)
- Fruit, your preference – strawberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries etc.
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
Butter 9×13 baking dish. Layer half of bread slices or cubed pieces. Cover with cream cheese, either by spreading on bread slices or layering cubed cream cheese pieces, and then layer your choice of fruit. Have fun with the fruit choices. I have used a mixture of every fruit imaginable. Cover with remaining bread. Blend eggs, milk, syrup, cinnamon and vanilla, and pour over bread; cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.
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Enter to Win an Olay Beauty Bundle (100 Winners)
Enter to Win an Olay Beauty Bundle (100 Winners): "Head on over to the Olay Facebook page, “Like” them and click on the “You Could Win Olay” tab to enter to possibly win one of a hundred various Olay Beauty Bundle prizes! Good Luck! Thank you Hip2save
Sunday, April 3, 2011
~ Lowes $10 off of $50. March 3 & 4, 2011
~ Lowes $10 off of $50. March 3 & 4, 2011: "
Click on Coupon To Get Yours!
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Click on Coupon To Get Yours!___________________________
Lowe's is hopping right now with lots of lovely flowers to get you in the mood for spring and summer! And what better way than by saving $10 off your $50 purchase. And with plants, that doesn't take to much time to get to that total.
You can use more than one coupon if you split up your purchases and make sure each time you total comes to $50 or more. So if you have some shopping to do, print out more than one coupon.
(It does say one per household, but I think they like you buying more anyway.)
(It does say one per household, but I think they like you buying more anyway.)
thank you
Taste of Home Magazine Subscription Only $3.99
Taste of Home Magazine Subscription Only $3.99: "Once again, Tanga is offering up a sweet magazine subscription deal! You can currently score a 1 year subscription to Taste of Home magazine for ONLY $3.99. Just use coupon code TASTE at checkout. You can also score up to 3 years for ONLY $11.97! …And as I’ve said before, magazine subscriptions make great gifts!
Thank you Hip2save
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