Sarchix Finds

I have been trying to think of something my youngest (age 4) can do for his class in pre-school for Valentine’s Day.  When I saw this over at Chica and Jo (an amazing crafting site) I knew I had found it. They include both the recipe and the template for the bag!

Jo posts her take on V-day Kettel corn for the kiddies and it really seems simple.  It took a bit to track down  a place that sells a “wirlly pop” in the area since I really don’t want to have to wait for delivery (Target sells it online only) but alas, I did have to resort to mail order.  I can still remember the days of my parents making popcorn in my Mom’s old stainless steel pot and then the air popper.  The idea of going back to the stove top to make popcorn is refreshing and brings me back to childhood while taking the Microwave out of the equasion.  At least its better than movie theater popcorn, right?

Chica and Jo – Valentine Popcorn Treat

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I love to decorate cakes!  The bigger the better in my eyes.  Unfortunately I do not make many cakes because if I did I would be the size of a house.  Cupcakes are fun too but I can’t just make cupcakes because I want something to decorate.

Gum-paste and fondant decorations can be stunning, even on the simplest of cup cakes but they take a lot of time to make.  I feel that they are worth the effort for the beauty of the cake.  I still remember the hours I spent making hand made daises for my sister in law’s bridal shower cake.

And now I found the most amazing cake decorating tool EVER!  The Circut Cake is a new product (by Circut) that utilizes the precision die cut of the Circut machines that you may know from scrap booking and beautiful cake decorations that are almost fool proof.  Over at their site there is a great video that shows how easy it is to make and apply the decorations.

I have always loved the Circut machines even thought I am not a scrapbooker (but I wish I was).  Die cut paper makes me drool and custom die cut paper is amazing.  Because I am not a scrap booker, I have never seen the point in getting one of these machines.

Now that they have them for cake decorates, I so want one.  The only two things keeping me from running out and getting one right now is 1) It’s not out yet and 2) the price tag of $399.99 MSRP.  The good thing is, it uses both the Circut Cake cartridges AND the regular Circut cartridges.

Note:  I do not represent or have any relationship with Circut.  If they want to send me one for a testimonial, I will be more than happy to help them out. (Bats eyes and says “pretty please”).

Circut – Circut Cake

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I love potatoes.  Red potatoes are probably my favorite kind but it doesn’t really matter to me as long as I can have enough to feed my family (and maybe some leftovers too).

Normally, I don’t make baked potatoes since I always forget about starting them in the oven until after its too late so I usually make mashed or roast cubed pieces in olive oil and garlic.  The mashed potatoes are usually cooked in the microwave as I dash around to get the rest of the meal competed and I’ve never had any complaints about them.

Jennifer over at CraftSanity has posted not only the directions to make “baked” potatoes in the microwave but has also posted a video tutorial on how to make these bags.  Using your microwave, a paper towel, one of these bags and some potatoes and you can have yummy potato goodness in 4-8 minutes.

Yes, this does require sewing but its very simple so even a beginner could handle.

There’s still plenty of winter left where a quick baked potato would fit the bill.

CraftSanity - Microwave Potato Bag

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Who doesn’t love marshmallows?

Meaghan over at The Decorated Cookie shows us how to decorate these lovely little houses for your ghomes or fairies, depending on the creatures that happen to inhabit your homes.

I know my daughter will love to setting up these “fairy” homes but I’m not sure if they will survive the day due to her brothers and the fact that they are made completely out of marshmallows and fondant.  All I need is a set or two of some fine tipped edible pen/markers to do this.  I can’t wait to see what the kiddies come up with.  But the real question is, how many houses will be completed and how many will be eaten as “mistakes”?

If you have the pens that are food safe, this would make a spectacular rainy day project.  If you don’t have fondant just hanging around, could I suggest maybe a roof made of construction or left over scrap booking paper and tape.

Leaving this around too long could be a “bad” thing since marshmallows are mostly sugar but this could make a very cute cake or cupcake decoration or a decoration for a table-scape.   How cute would this be for a baby shower?!?!

If you do this, I’d love to see the pics!!!!!!!

The Decorated Cookie – Marshmallow Village

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I do like to cook, but only when I have time and not someone either saying “Mom, what’s for dinner?” or “Ewwww, we’re having that for Dinner?”

Over at WiseBread, I have found 3 really easy (and inexpensive) dishes that will be sure to make the family happy or at least not make faces at me when I tell them what we are having.

I plan on trying out each recipe with only minor modifications to suit the family’s various tastes.  Each sounds simple enough and for the most part I either have the herb/spices on hand or need to pick them up anyway.  There is nothing too exotic in any of these recipes but I’m sure if you hate something, it could either be eliminated or substituted.  For those who are vegetarians, I’m sure it would be easy to substitute the protein in the first two with something like tofu or beans and still by WAY yummy!

WiseBread – 3 Easy (and Cheap Dishes)

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This is the real stuff!

I found a treasure.  Lehigh Valley Farms – Long an East Coast purveyor of plain old mik  – has a new product called Over the Moon.  This is skim milk – you know that watery bluish-grey-white liquid to avoid.  But this stuff mouths like whole milk!

Creamy, solid tasting and NO Fat. (They have a version that is 1%, but why bother?)  My grandkids drink it like they were fish.  We got it just to give it a try, and were amazed.  How often do you get a product thinking, “Well, maybe it is ok, but its healthy”, then find that it is better then you ever hoped.

Yesterday afternoon we discovered a strange property of this stuff.  We tossed the leftover morning coffee, some ice cubes, and some of this stuff into a blender, and let ‘er rip!  What we got was something that looked like a badly poured Guinness Stout, that took about as long to settle out.  After about 3 or 4 minutes of settling  it started to look like a real Guinness, but boy did it taste different.  We had also put in the end of a bottle of “Thrilla Vanilla”, but you probably would do better with Jamiesons.  Except that it tasted so good, it would be an interesting April fools joke.

So overall, it is really tasty, good for you, and has surprising properties.  Better yet, there is a $1 off coupon here.

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My kids love it when I get funky with their food.  They are huge fans when I make “squidapusses” (hot dog cut to look like a octopus) and when I saw this over at Plum Pudding, I’m sure I’ll be making this over the weekend.

Sure it looks funny but that’s half the idea!

Like making “squidapusses” the creativity occurs before the hot dog is cooked.

Head over to Plum Pudding to see how it’s done.

Plum Pudding – Spaghetti Dog

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I love basil!  It is my favorite herb but I don’t seem to ever be able to use up the whole clump that they sell at the grocery store.  I really dislike using the dried stuff because I know the fresh stuff is just so much better.  In addition to the traditional uses for basil, i.e. anything Italian, I like to use it in pressed sandwiches that are a hit in the summer with my whole family.

I’ve tried to grow basil, from seed, and failed miserably.  I’ve tried it from plant from Home Depot to similar results.

The thing is, I didn’t follow any directions or guidance.

Now that Chez Larsson has published a SUPER easy way to not kill a basil plant makes me feel confident in trying again.  Even better, I can pick up the plant at the grocery store and not another trip to Home Depot or some garden store.

Nice and easy steps and the cool thing is, I can do this in my kitchen and just snip off what I need and then more will continue to grow in its place.  I can’t wait to have fresh basil on my pasta and home made pizzas!

I know it won’t last forever but if I can not kill it AND get 4-6 months out of it, then I consider this one for the win column.

Chez Larsson – Grow your own basil

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I’ve been thinking of starting a garden.  My Mom always had one growing up and I remember being stuck eating way too much zucchini.  There were the fond memories of eating peas right off the vine and always enjoyed watching the morning glories appear in the morning then disappear in the PM.  It wasn’t until I became an adult that I understood why we composted in the garden although I remember helping bury coffee grounds and egg shells.

The Seattle Time have written an article on how to grow potatoes without using vast amounts of land.  They claim that at the end of the growing season, you can end up with about 100 lbs. of potatoes!  I don’t know about you but I love potatoes, all kinds.  This is so tempting to try out and the directions make me itch to seek out my power tools and run to Home Depot for wood and dirt.  Sure this year might mean some bigger costs, but as long as the wood doesn’t rot or get super icky, its reusable for many years to come.  They do say not to re-use the same dirt to grow potatoes in back to back years but that just gives me dirt for a raised bed near by.

I really hope this is as easy as it say it is because having 100 lbs of potatoes sounds like a long winter of potato fun in my house!

The Seattle Times – Grow your own Potatoes

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By now, you’re probably sick of all the leftovers from Easter.  One can only have so many ham sandwiches with a side of sweet potato before you got batty.

Candy is something different.  If allowed, the kids would have eaten all the candy by now.  We’re trying our best to limit how much candy they actually eat, so we should still have some come the end of the summer.

My downfall has to be the Peeps.

I can polish off an entire 12 pack of those little marshmallow treats with out even thinking.  Every once in a while, my Dad will place a box of them on my desk at work.

Enough about my little Peep obsession and onto today’s find.

As you can see in the picture, the idea is to use the Peep as the marshmallow in a s’more, thus making what the creation calls a S’meep. How brilliant is that!  I love that the color really seems to stay intact during the heating process.

This is going to be so oohey-gooey and I’m sure my youngest will be a royal mess after eating one of these, but what a great little treat to make up.  If I have my way, we will be “testing” this one out tonight.

Note: This week is also “Peeps Week” over at Serious Eats.

Serious Eats – S’meeps

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