Pumpkin Energy Balls

Well Happy Tuesday! 
This has got to be the best fall weather we have had in years!
We are actually getting fall! 

 I can smell leaves burning in the distance, hear the wind in the trees, our doors have been open for 3 days in a row allowing our home to be cooled off with God's free air-conditioning.  It has been cool enough at night that we are able to sleep in our fun fall pajama's and under blankets without turning on the heater!

Yes, my friends, this is going to be the best electric bill ever and in the process it has inspired me to craft, organize, clean and bake!  So with that said I'm so far behind on blogging I wanted to start with a quick one that I made the other day and well suffice to say .... it's pumpkin so has been a hit!

These are not only healthy, super easy and no bake!    All is good!

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 box 8 oz - Chopped Dates
• 1/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 1 TBS Flax seeds 
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 Tsp Ginger
• 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg ( I use whole nutmegs and grate them into recipe )
• pinch of salt 
• 1 Cup Dry Oats ( I used instant because it's what I have )
• 1 Cup Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)

So put the dates, pumpkin puree, honey, flax seeds, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in food processor and pulse until smooth and mixed.

Transfer into large bowl, stir in the oats and pumpkin seeds (pepitas) until evenly combined.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer so that when you get ready to roll into balls it is easier to work with.  

Scoop out with small scoop 1'' or  a spoon, your desired size and roll away.  Kids can have fun helping too.  They are a little messy and want to almost fall apart but manage to stay together.

Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.   

I doubt they will last that long and what a healthy little snack.  

HAPPY FALL AND LOVE ME SOME PUMPKINS

MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH

SunShine Joy and Smiles  :)

Mmm Turkey Chili

Well yesterday we were at the park, wearing shorts and today it's cold windy and 40 degrees cooler!

Laugh out loud! That's Texas for ya!
To go along with this cold and not have to leave I used stuff I had on hand. We had gone camping this past weekend and I had bell pepper and onions that needed to be used when it occurred to me chili!

Super quick, easy, healthy and delicious!

1lb ground turkey
1 bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 cup chicken broth or 14 oz can
1 large can tomato sauce
2 tsp chili powder or more ;)
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tsp cider vinegar

Put a little oil into skillet, brown turkey with onion and bell peppers, break up and cook until no longer pink.

Combine all ingredients into slow cooker or just add to skillet for super quick dinner.
Simmer till done 4-5 hours on low or
Cover skillet let cook 30 to 45 minutes.
The longer the better for the flavors to really infuse. Enjoy!

May this dish bring SunShineSmilesamdJoy to you and your family :)

Pizza Cheese Toast

We all love pizza but don't like the frozen ones and it occurred to me I needed to use some bread before our camping trip this weekend and pizza toast just popped into my mind.

I had everything to make it so I did and my 11 year old daughter said "it's the best!" So easy here it is:

Bread
Pepperoni
Pepper Jack Cheese or Mozzarella, shredded
Tomato paste
Itialian Seasoning
Granulated Garlic

Put some tomato paste on your bread
Sprinkle with spices
Top with pepperoni
Then shredded cheese

I put my toaster oven on medium and just perfect timing, just till cheese melts!

Pizza Toast = quick, delicious lunch

A Meal in One - Favorite Pepperoni Pasta Salad

I always love pasta salads and they are sometimes so expensive. I have discovered instead of paying 4$ for a small container I can make enough for a party but t feed my family two times, understanding that we all have 2nd and 3rds! Super quick, easy and a family favorite!

1pkg Pepperoni, I use 1/2 a pack and slice in 1/2 (so I can make again or use for pizza cheese toast )
1 box or pkg Veggie Pasta
1 or 2 cans black olives, drained
1 pkg grape tomatoes, rinsed
1 pkg Feta cheese, crumbled
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 bottle Italian Dressing

I use extra spices and we like a lot I don't measure it's for your taste of:

Granulated Garlic
Italian Seasoning

Boil the pasta, while its cooking according to package directions grab a colander and rinse your tomatoes, dump in your black olives ( I do not rinse these just put right into colander ) chop your bell pepper & slice the pepperoni and separate after.

Transfer Pepperoni, Tomatoes, black olives and bell pepper in a large serving dish or container and add your Feta cheese.

Use the colander again to strain pasta, rinse with cold water and add to container.

Add your Italian Dressing and spices if you choose, chill and enjoy!

That simple and delicious :)

$$ Saving Laundry Color Catchers and Up-Cycled Container

Hey just a fun thing that I did the other day to help save $$.....

We have lots of reds, oranges and bright colors and always hearing about the color catchers from friends but  I just can't see spending the extra $$ to keep my colors from bleeding and luckily they don't that much, at least I don't think so but I'm going to find out after I give these a try!

I bought some Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and cut up some white felt squares I had into 4 pieces
and so out of 3 felt white felt sheets I have 12 squares!  Awesome to see if they work well will be a test and
I'm already to do that!

I will let you know how that goes and link up to the blog I got the recipe from if it in fact does a good job later.   For now, I wanted to show you the container that I made out of a cute little wooden bucket I received several years ago from my sweet sister in law on my husbands side.  I've had it as a decoration in our utility/laundry room for at least 5 years but with no purpose; until now.  So here it was:

So it was a nice afternoon, I saw my paint from Kendall's $$ earning Chore Chart and light bulb moment; this would be perfect color for my laundry room.  I love the Ocean Blue/Turquoise color!  I'm finding I use it more and more.  So before the sun went down I untied the rope that you can hang it by and removed the twine band that was glued from the pot and painted it.

I didn't sand it or prep it other than removing the cord and ring decor.
It took about 3 to 4 coats and:

When it was dry, I put the decor back on up to the original glue mark and next got out my hot glue gun and glued it back.

All glued on, gotta love hot glue it dries so fast you can do tons of crafts in a short time frame!  I love the quickness!

I added my white felt color catchers and loved it but still needed something and another; ah ha moment!
Yes, the same vinyl letters I had used for the Chore Chart and Laundry Loot would be perfect; if I had enough and well;

I did!!!  I did have to use the lower case in order to spell correctly but my laundry room is coming along nicely!  I look forward to sharing it's transformation after I'm through but sharing the crafts I do as I move along with inspiration to up-cycle things I already have to transform them to things that I didn't use; to things that make everything about doing laundry better!

May you have a day filled with SunShine, Joy and Smiles........share your crafts with me..... and I will link the color catchers in the next few days!  God Bless you!

$$ Earning Chore Board for extra responsibility's

So we all know how money doesn't grow on trees!  Oh, how we all wish it did!

Our 11 year old daughter has an array of things/responsibility's that she has to do daily such as feeding the cat's that she willingly wanted the responsibility for along with keeping her room clean, making her bed, and replacing the trash bag in the kitchen if there is not one already there, on top of getting ready for the day.

Kendall has always dreamed of owning a Persian Kitty.  She has seen the pictures of the Persians that I had and of course has heard the stories.  She also loves Build A Bear and has quite the collection, along with loving and collecting Littlest Pet Shop everything...... along with her heart of gold and wanting to share everything with her friends we realized it is time that she do some extra things to help around the house to earn extra money to save for some of these things she loves so much.

This really hit home for us as a family when my precious husband brought it to our attention that we had spent almost 300$ last November at Build A Bear as we were on our 2nd visit around Christmas in December!  I am just as guilty of loving the little Holiday babies, and I know sometimes I tend to over compensate being that she is our only child.

I've been plagued with "how do I help her get the things she wants without caving in all the time and respecting our financial situation?"  With that in mind, regular allowance wasn't cutting the line, it flat out didn't work for us.  I have seen many Chore Charts in the store, on Pintrest and just couldn't find things that pertained to us.

Well, I did see a chart on Pintrest for Chores where the idea for using a cookie sheet and making holes in the top to hang with ribbon gave me the idea for how to make one for Kendall.

Here's my tutorial on how I did this and you can pick and choose to make it your own, any way, any chore but very excited about it and she is too!  There are a couple of chores that will teach her home skills, responsibility and even 2 that will take away $ for not completing/doing them.  Let's take a look!

Yes, I had a can of paint from what project, well, I can't actually remember :) and an old stained cheap jelly roll pan/cookie sheet!   So on a relatively warm afternoon I took this outside, lined some news paper onto the ground and sprayed the old cookie tray into a beautiful blue one!

I highly recommend putting the holes in the top to hang with a ribbon before painting!  You will see what happened to mine when I repainted from the dust in the later pictures but perfect.... doesn't matter, the goal is to get it up and working to move us along to financial gain/responsibility's nothing more!!!!
I had my husband drill holes in the top so there is no picture, use your imagination and or a hammer an nail, or super glue a picture hanger on the back or have the chart lay flat.... 

Next, you need to find some magnets that will hold your chores onto your board.  I got this pack at Hobby Lobby and they were for another project that I didn't do so I used them for this Chore Chart and for My Valentine Car Bingo, plus, I still have over 1/2 the pack for whatever else I can come up with!

I have vinyl letters from scrap booking that I also used in my Laundry Loot post and now for the $$ Earning Chore Chart.  I had my husband drill the holes into the top, picked a fun grosgrain ribbon I had and put it through the holes and tied a bow where it will actually hang.  ( this was done after I painted, I warned you before and you will see why in a minute or two!)

So, we have the holes drilled, ribbon in place, the old cookie sheet painted and another piece of scrap book stuff that I thought would be cute glued onto the magnets.  I don't have a machine to make all my perfect lettering, don't really have the ink to print everything so plain old hand writing on the ones I want to use for Kendall's board.

So I punched out the shapes I wanted.  ( I also had some really cool scrap book paper I thought about ) but went for these as they were a little more sturdy and carefully decided the things my husband and I discussed to put on them, what we wanted her to learn and do and wrote them onto the shapes.

Next, I used the glue gun and put a dot onto a magnet, attached a chore and moved onto the next one until they were all finished.  ( we have room for add more in the future also! )

Hung it to see needed a place to put them after they were completed and so with the same ribbon I glued
a completed line onto the board.

I use my Iphone for all my pictures; this is that cool blue even though it looks like yucky pea green!

See the difference?  Same one!  Anyway, there is the completed line....ribbon....glued down.....

You can see the handwriting, the magnets keep them raised off the board

2 carefully, selected things to do that IF not done will take $$ away!!!

What kid doesn't want to play outside on a good day?  That's an easy one!

Bible Scriptures should not be up for discussion and if not completed 1$ will be taken from

all the chores completed.

My husband and I love these as we know our daughter and it is important to understand give and take.  Completing a job = pay     Not completing a task = losing something

I will say this was her least favorite but is working perfectly.... doing both with a joyful heart!

I sure hope this is something that you want to do for your child or maybe we could even tailor them for ourselves?  Your imagination is a gift from God.....use it well and have fun!

Comments welcome; help me build my blog :)

May your day and project be filled with SunShine, Joy and Smiles ...... God bless you!

Super Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Bars

I must admit I am a Pintrest addict!  I am trying my best not to be but I had broke my arm back in April, which is another story, and was on the couch for seriously 2 full weeks with only 1 hand working right and Pintrest became my relaxing, get my mind off the pain, fun way to plan all the things I want to do!  

I have over 8,000 pins and with each one it is something I find wonderful, beautiful, special, heart-warming, funny or something that I want to do, make, create, sew, craft, bake, cook or do!  So, with that said I went on my To Do board which has a ridiculous amount of pins and trying to accomplish at least 2 a day to whittle it down!  

I have to admit, I also have a board of Things I have Tried some are from Pins and others just from myself.  I move my To Do and Delete when done to the the Tried Board and then post a comment.  

Some of them, well, leave something to be desired.  :0  While, others are excellent, fun or easy.  

I'm going to share the one I did tonight and believe I have figured out how to link it so here goes!

I made the Super Easy Chocolate Chip Cake Bars tonight and here's how I did it and my take on it. Hope it helps and will post the link for the wonderful recipe at the end.

 Okay, Ingredients:  Yellow Cake Mix or White ( I used yellow ) 1 package = 2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips, 5 TBS butter and 2 eggs.    Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Pre-heat your oven.

 I then greased my 13 x 9 pan with some Crisco.  ( Every since I saw The Help I have used Crisco more than ever! ) No more Pam, fumes or paper towels wasted using to spread my oil.  I use my $ store rubber brush dip in Crisco and rub away and stick that sucker in the dishwasher!

Next, melt your 5 TBS butter.

 I have a Kitchen-Aid Mixer thanks to my wonderful husband on Mother's Day several years ago after I blew up 3 hand held mixers making home made Dog Treats for my Pampered Pets recipe!  :)   You will need a little muscle if you don't have a paddle attachment.

Beat your 2 eggs, then add the package of Cake mix, melted butter and chips.  It gets really stiff; think about it, like a cookie .... dough, literally!


 Scrape it off into your greased pan and pat it down till it covers the bottom of your dish..

 Then put it into the oven and bake it for 20 minutes:

 The result:  is delicious and to me tasted like a cake with chocolate frosting!  Love it and so did my husband and daughter!  Woo Hoo!

Super easy, shared with friends and it is a hit!  Hope you enjoy and here's the link to where I got to try this fun, yummy and easy Cookie Cake Bar!    
http://www.imalazymom.com/2011/02/lazy-cake-cookies.html

"Under the Sea" happy dinner

With Finding Nemo 3D coming out this Friday, September 14, 20120  I was inspired to do a fun dinner from my childhood that my Grandmother and Mom used to make for me. If you want a quick, easy and yummy dinner that brings smiles just looking at it this is the one!!

I made this and our daughter asked me to please make this again and again, even my husband went back for seconds. Here it is and the tutorial to guide you too! Enjoy!!

Just look how cute these Octopus Hot Dogs on Mac-n-Cheese and Green Beans is!  We love their smiles and they make us smile!  Looks like these guys are holding hands!  :)

30 minutes start to finish for a dinner that will give you joy serving as your family smiles at these cuties!

Hot Dogs
Mac-n-Cheese ( I use Kraft) 
Frozen Green Beans

I open the bag of green beans and put into a microwave safe bowl and steam them for 20 minutes

2 pots filled with water on stove to boil. 
 I get all the things ready for the Mac-N-Cheese to be made.

While the water is coming to a boil I put 2 slits into top of hot dog for the eyes

Then I make another slit under the eye for their smiles 

Then about 1 inch under the smiles I make a slit down the middle to start their legs

Then lift the hot dog up put onto cutting board and carefully cut more legs I make 8 legs

By the time you've gotten through slicing your hot dogs ( I make 6 for the 3 of us) your water should be boiling!

Now add the hot dogs to the boiling water one at a time!  Easy!  Just plop them in doesn't matter how!  This is also when I add my macaroni for the Mac-N-Cheese, they cook about the same time 10 minutes... I prepare the Mac-N-Cheese right before I take the hot dogs out.  I add Dill Weed to our Mac-N-Cheese for taste...

When the Octopus look like star fish they are ready!  Now use tongs get them out and put them onto your plate and be ready for your family to be pleasantly surprised!