Unforgettable Childhood

Our newest Easter treat creation was Bird’s Nests. These were another super easy treat. Not quite as much fun to make for the girls because the hot stove was involved so they couldn’t help as much as they would have liked.

The only ingredients you need are 2 cups of marshmallows, 1/4 cup of butter, 4 cups of Chow Mein Noodles and whatever you would like to fill your nests with.

First you melt the marshmallows and butter.

Then you mix in the Chow Mein Noodles until they are fully covered.

Butter your fingers and press the noodles into 12 muffin cups.

Place them in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.

Add goodies to your nest. I have seen these with Jelly Beans. We like to use Robin’s Eggs (Malted Milk Balls). This time we also made a few birds out of Twinkies, Lemon Slices and a little Decorator’s Gel and White Frosting.

Here is our finished product.

Stay tuned next week for more Easter fun.

I am linking to the Girl Creative’s Just Something I Whipped Up!

We are starting to gear up for Easter at our house. Today we tried a new recipe that has been in my recipe box for years, Peanut Butter Eggs. They really were easy to make and they were very yummy. Ours are already gone. . .

Here are the ingredients.

6 T butter softened

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup marshmallow creme

1 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

3/4 pound milk chocolate candy coating, chopped

2 tsp shortening

Colored Sprinkles

My Little Helper

In a small mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and marshmallow creme until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar. Drop by the tablespoon onto waxed paper lined baking sheet (we made ours a little bigger than that). Form into egg shapes and freeze 10 minutes.

My recipe says to melt candy coating and shortening until smooth in the microwave. I don’t ever use my microwave to melt chocolate, I do it the old fashioned way.

Dip eggs into candy coating; allow excess to drip off. Return to baking sheet, immediately decorate with candy decorations. Let stand until set. (See the word immediately, they really mean that. I started dipping like crazy and forgot to sprinkle half of them. Then they were already set and didn’t get sprinkles)

I am glad I took pictures right away because they were gone by bedtime.

Stay tuned for more Easter fun at Unforgettable Childhood.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This morning the girls woke up to this note. . .

They went on a hunt for Leprechaun’s Gold (yes. . .I spelled Leprechaun wrong in the note, but they didn’t notice)

Treasure Found.

Last night we made Rainbow Cupcakes for the girls to share at school today. I first saw these cupcakes at The Idea Room. Thanks for the great idea Amy. She got the recipe here.

You mix up the batter and split it into different bowls. You just need to decide how many colors to use. We decided to do four.

Here is the finished product. Yum!

Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your kids?

Little one got left home on Sunday. Her sisters went to a friends house and she was not happy. I told her that we could make something, so she picked Chocolate Chip Cookies.

She said, “I want to pour everything in and I want to start the mixer.”

I took a deep breath, put her apron on her and really let her help in the kitchen.

She loves using the mixer.

And sneaking dough. . .

Do you let your kids help in the kitchen? What are you favorite recipes to make with your kids?

We didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day until Saturday night. Last week we were crazy busy preparing for a Dinner Theatre at church. I was in charge of the decorating. Try decorating a dinner for 124 on a very limited budget. This is what I came up with.

It really was beautiful with all the lights off and all of the candles lighting up the room. The cookies on the table. . .they are the sugar cookies that I posted last week on The Girl Creative site.

So, we decided on Saturday night to go out for supper and then come home for dessert. I wasn’t sure what I was going to make that everyone would enjoy so I made two things.

For my hubby I made miniature cheesecakes. Nothing fancy here, just out of the box with a little caramel and chocolate drizzled on top.

For the girls, a giant chocolate chip cookie. It was really yummy, despite the fact that I almost caused a fire in my oven. The recipe said to put it in a 14″ Pizza pan. I put mine in a 12″ pizza pan which resulted in it overflowing onto the bottom of my oven. Oh well, I added a little frosting to make it pretty and everyone loved it.

I am taking the time this morning to get back to my meal planning. I bought a new cookbook yesterday that I planned a majority of my week by. The Cooking Light – the essential dinner tonight cookbook. There are amazing recipes in this book and every recipe has a picture. That is my kind of cookbook. The rest of the week is from The Sneaky Chef  to the rescue cookbook. This will be the first time I try a few recipes from this book, too.

Monday: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday: Pork Medallions with Olive Caper Sauce

Wednesday: Honey Battered Popcorn Shrimp &

Pasta with Better Butter Sauce

Thursday: Oven Fried Chicken

Friday: Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers

(I have posted this recipe before. It is so good. I even got my husband to eat the peppers!)

Click on any of the recipes for a link to the recipe online. Enjoy!

I am linking up with OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday

When I was a little girl I remember this popcorn popper that my dad used. It had a yellow dome top and it stirred the popcorn around as it started popping.

For Christmas this year my sister surprised me with my very own Crazy Stir Popper. I was so excited, I knew the girls and I would have a blast with this wonderful little appliance.

A couple of nights ago we got it out to try our first bowl of popcorn. The girls thought it was great and it took me back to when I was a kid. I love it!

Nadia helped me put the butter on the holes to melt into the popcorn.

The girls started screaming at me, “It’s Popping, It’s Popping!”

And it was good! I guess we know what we will be having to eat at our next family movie night.