Foodie Friday: Koolaid Popcorn (Skelita's Sugar Skulls)

Here is another tutorial from the Monster High Party.  This is also a great snack when you do movie nights or to take to the park.  

2 cups Sugar

1 cup Light Corn Syrup

⅔ cups Butter Or Margarine

6 quarts Plain Popped Popcorn (I think I may have used more popcorn so maybe pop a bit extra and if you have extra sugar sauce, add more popcorn)

2 packages Kool-Aid (Any Flavor You Want)

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 225 F.
2. Boil sugar, syrup and butter/margarine together for 3 minutes.
3. On a large shallow ungreased baking dish, spread out popped popcorn.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the Kool-Aid with the baking soda.
5. Remove sugar syrup from the stove and carefully stir in the Kool-Aid mixture. (This will make the sugar mixture puff up. Be careful to not get burned.)
6. Now take sugar mixture and pour it over the popped popcorn. Carefully mix all till combined.
7. Place it in the oven and stir every 10 minutes. Repeat this 3 more times.
8. Take popcorn out of the oven and when it starts to cool, break it apart into pieces.
9. Enjoy!

DIY Thursday: Decorative Picture Frame

Just the other day my husband brought this picture frame home for me. Apparently his work will sometimes get salespeople that will come in and they leave little items like this picture frame, metal slinkys, pencils, just a bunch of random stuff for employees. So being a thoughtful man he brought me home the picture frame and a slinky for the kids to play with. This is a great picture frame, but you got to admit it is a little dull and boring. I thought I would spice it up a bit. Decorating picture frames are easy and lots of fun. These are great to do for young womens activities, youth camps, super saturdays, or if you just want to do something fun and crafty!

The frame before:



And after:



Supplies needed:

• A picture frame ( a wood one works best. I know most craft stores will sell unfinished picture frames)
• scrapbook paper (You want paper with a small pattern)
• scissors
• modge podge
• paint
• embellishments (flowers, jewels, ribbon, etc.)

Step 1:
Trace your frame onto your scrapbook paper and cut it out. Make sure the paper is upside down!

Step 2:
Remove the frame glass if it has some and trace the hole. Make sure to pay attention to how your paper is laying so it will look ok when you go to glue it on the frame.

Step 3:
Set the paper aside. Paint only the edges where the frame shows and the scrapbook paper doesn't cover. You will want to use a color that will match up well with your paper. I used black, but could have used white instead if I wanted. Let dry completely.

Step 4: 
Glue your paper on by applying a thin layer of modge podge on the frame. Slide your fingers across the paper to make sure to get rid of any bubbles. After that if you want to you may go over the egdes of the frame with some paint VERY LIGHTLY! I think this really makes the paper and its design pop. You can do this using a makeup sponge which I think works best or your paint foam brush. You will want just a little bit of paint on there and you will want to dab it on a paper plate a couple of times in case there is too much paint on there. After that you will just lightly dab the paint along the edges and then let it dry.

Step 5:
Apply a thin coat of modge podge over your the top of  the paper to seal and protect it. Let dry and then put your picture in.

 Step 6:
You could just stop at Step 5 if you want but I like to add a little more to frames by tying on some ribbon at the top. You could also do something like sticking a big flower in a corner or even put a few flowers on. Just experienment, see what looks good with the paper and enjoy looking at your cute new frame :)



Tiffany

Sweet Tooth Tuesday: Sweet Sushi Rolls (Laguna's Sushi)

Here is the tutorial from the Monster High Birthday Party I did awhile back.

6 cups rice crisp cereal
3 tbsp. butter
1 10 oz. pgk. marshmallows
gummy candies (worms, twizzlers, ect)
fruit roll-ups

In a saucepan, heat the butter and marshmallows until the marshmallows are melted.  Then stir in cereal.  In a greased 9x13 pan,  flatten until the bottom is filled (like you would normal rice-krispie treats)  Once it has cooled, cut them into rectangles.  I cut mine in half longways in the pan and then cut across.  you can get about 16 out of one pan if you do them a little smaller than I did mine.  Then get your fruit roll ups and cut them into about 6 in. strips (you want it long enough to wrap around treat)  then lay it down and put a rice-krispie square on top, and then add your worms or licorice and roll it up.  If your fruit roll up is longer, that's ok, that will help seal it closed.

another way is you can get fruit rolls, lay out the rice krispie on that, with some worms and licorice, roll up and then cut into small pieces.

Foodie Friday: Chocolate Pancakes with Homemade Syrup

I am a total believer in breakfast and get sick if I end up skipping it. I get kind of tired of having a bowl of cereal every single morning so I enjoy switching things up every now and then. My kids really like these-especially my little guy which I was a little surprised about! The pancakes are not too sweet, but the syrup makes up for that :). The recipe doesn't normally call for chocolate chips, but I think the next time I make these I may put in some chocolate chips. Yum! See what your family thinks of these!

Chocolate Pancakes:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 6 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 1/4 C warmed milk
• 4 Tbsp butter or margaring, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten

Mix and sift together dry ingredients. Add milk, butter, and eggs and beat until smooth. Add extra milk if the batter is too thick. Cook as you do regular pancakes. Serve warm with syrup.

Syrup

• 2 C sugar
• 1 8oz can evaporated milk
• 1 Tbsp butter

Boil sugar and milk, stirring constantly until all the sugar is dissolved. Cook over high heat until the mixture starts to boil. Do not leave unattended as it comes to a boil quickly. Remove from heat and add butter. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir and enjoy!

DIY Thursday: Homemade Garbage Disposals Refreshners

I hate when my garbage disposal smells.  It makes me wanna puke.  I always buy those disposal freshners but they can get kind of expensive.  I came across this homemade disposal recipe on pinterest and thought I would give it a try.

What You'll Need:

• 3/4 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap
• 1 lemon
• Sheet pan
• Parchment paper
• Small spoon or scoop 
  

1. Mix the baking soda and salt in a bowl together.  Make sure to get rid of any lumps.
2. Then zest your lemon into the bowl.  After zesting the lemon cut in half and squeeze the juice in the bowl. 
3.  Add the dish soap

4. Mix the zest, juice and the soap together.

5. Scoop out using a spoon or cookie scoop and put onto parchment paper

6. Let dry overnight. When they are hard put in plastic bag or jar.

When you disposal is smelly grose pop on in and turn on the switch.

Notes: I like these alot.  They work well when you need to freshen your disposal.  I still really like the ones from the store better.  But I think I will be using these inbetween when the disposal isnt that bad.  The ones from the store really clean out your disposal. 

I also got lemon juice and dish soap happy.  I used two lemons and more dish soap which make it wet so they didn't harden.  I guess I should learn to follow directions.  I just love the lemon smell apparently.