Back To School Teacher Gift

 

 This last week was my boys first days at Pre School and Mother's Day Out. I LOVE their teachers and wanted to give them a small back to school treat to show our appreciation. I baked them a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies, placed them in cellophane bags, and attached this cute note. They loved them! If you would like to make this same treat for your child's teacher you can go below the image below and click the word HERE to print.

Click HERE to print above image.

What's Cooking on Labor Day? Our Menu and Grocery List

 

Labor Day is this Monday! Can you believe that Summer is over. :( Boo Hoo!! We are sad to see our neighborhood pool close after Monday. A ton of wonderful memories were made there this summer with friends and family.

 My boys  became little fish in the water which made their mama so Proud!!

Don't get too sad for me though because I do LOVE Fall and everything about it! I look forward to decorating all year from September through the New Year. It's one of my most favorite times of the year. Last night there was a cool breeze in the air while we were riding bikes outside and it made me look forward to getting my decor out. YEA!

So, Monday is Labor Day the kick off to football season! LOVE it!! Have you started to think about how you are going to spend your day?  We are hopefully going to swim and enjoy being outside together as a family. We are also not going to go hungry this Labor Day and I thought that I'd share with all of you our menu for the day.

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Will be light and easy: Sandwiches, Fruit, & Chips (hopefully enjoying this at the pool or in the backyard) :)

Dinner:

Dessert:

If the above options don't sound good to you then maybe you would like to try:

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Chicken Salad

 

Ingredients:

seasoned shredded chicken
mayo
grapes cut into halves or quarters
1/2 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of sliced celery
cheese slices
croissants

Directions:

When I make chicken salad I like for my chicken to be seasoned. I love buying a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and using it to make chicken salad. It's so yummy! Today, however, I was craving a different flavor. I was wanting something that would give my chicken a tangy kick with a little bit of sweet. While shopping I found Lawry's Hawaiian seasoning and gave it a try. It turned out to be just the flavor I was looking for.

I placed 5 small chicken breasts in my slow cookers and poured the seasoning over each side of the breasts. I then let it cook on low for about five hours. I let it cook until I can easily pull my chicken a part with two forks.

After shredding your chicken add your grape halves, pecans, celery, and enough mayo to lightly cover the whole salad.

I love chicken salad on a croissant with cheese. My husband loves to add a tomato & lettuce. It's all up to you....  How do you like to eat your chicken salad? I'd love to hear. :)

Super Mario Duck Tape® School Supplies

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

My 4 year old is starting Preschool next week and is very excited! We have been shopping for school supplies and all he wants are Mario Brother’s supplies. Well, there are some items with Mario out there like backpacks and lunch boxes but I haven’t found many other items. So I decided to make our own!

My older two children recently had told me about how kids are personalizing their school supplies with Duck Tape®. I wasn't really sure about this idea because I didn't know about all the different prints and ways of using Duck Tape®. I thought it just came in silver....little did I know.  After talking with my older two kids and looking around on the computer for ideas we came up with a plan on what to make using Duck Tape®. We decided to buy Duck Tape at Walmart thinking that they would have the largest selection.  Oh my goodness did they ever! They had so many different kinds. I honestly thought that I would be buying basic Mario colors like red, yellow, or blue and then be embellishing our supplies with Mario stickers. Never did I think that they would have Super Mario Brothers Duck Tape®.  Walmart did though, but then again, I think they have everything! My son is super excited!

 

The first project that we worked on was his supply box. This can hold his pens, pencils, glue stick, or even scissors.

Supplies:

Plastic narrow container

card stock

hot glue

Duck Tape®

scissors

Directions: Cut and glue cardstock onto the plastic container leaving about an inch in between. Using Duck Tape® fill the areas that are not covered in card stock. Embellish the cardstock areas by cutting out shapes from your tape.

Our second project was his ziplock pouch. Oh my goodness he loves this so much! He is trying to fit everything possible into the pouch. It's so cute! He said that this was his best present ever!! The pouch would be perfect for notes to the teacher, lunch money, or a small notepad. I really love the way this project turned out.

Supplies:

1 Ziplock bag

scissors

Duck Tape®

Directions: I used a gallon sized ziplock, because when I made this pouch I had just run out of sandwich size, and folded it in half. I then taped around the outside of the bag overlapping a small edge of each strip of tape. The Duck Tape® makes for a very sturdy pouch. It's water, tear, and really 4 year old proof. ;) I'm hoping that this pouch will last all year. He loves it so much!!

Our last project was his Mario bookmark. This one is fun because I tied one of his Mario figures to the top. I hope he does more looking at the book though then playing with his bookmark. ;) We'll see...

Supplies:

2" x 6" piece of cardstock

Duck Tape®

string

scissors

hole punch

a small embellishment (I used a Mario figure)

Directions: Using your scissors cut a strip of cardstock 2"x 6". Tape your Duck Tape® down the middle of each side of the cardstock. Punch a hole in one end of the bookmark. Tie the string through the hole attaching whatever embellishment of your choice.

Have you made or embellished any school supplies using Duck Tape®? If you have I'd love to see or hear what you have made. My son and I had a lot of fun designing and making these together. This is a great activity to do as a family before school starts. I hope everyone has a great start to their school year!

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Apple Puff Pancake

This thick and puffy pancake has such a pretty presentation. And, it is extra yummy if you top each slice off with warm pancake syrup or a dollop of whipped cream. Your whole family will devour this breakfast...mine did!! :)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 cup milk

Dash of salt

1 can (21oz) apple, peach, or cherry pie filling

Toasted walnuts, optional

Directions:

Place butter in a 10 inch oven proof skillet. Place in a 425 degree oven until melted. In a large mixing bowl, beat the flour, eggs, milk and salt until smooth. Leaving 1 tablespoon melted butter in the skillet, pour the remaining butter into the batter; mix until blended. Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

In a small saucepan, warm pie filling over low heat until heated through. Pour into center of puff pancake. Sprinkle with walnuts if desired. Serve immediately.

Source: Taste of Home Simple and Delicious

If you like this recipe then you might also like my Mini German Pancakes.

I would love for you to follow me and receive updates from Gloriously Made. Let me know that you are a new follower and I will gladly follow you back. I LOVE making new blogging friends. :)

Green Chile Enchiladas with roasted tomatillo and garlic

 

I was at the grocery store the other day buying something else on the baking isle and this Green Chile Enchilada sauce caught my eye. The recipe looked and is very easy so I thought I'd give it a try. I love Verde (Green) sauce on my enchiladas and this one is really good. Tastes very similar to authentic Verde sauce. I made this with just cheese, but think I'd enjoy them with chicken and cheese next time. Very tasty!! :)

 Ingredients:

8 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded Jalepeno  Jack & Mild Cheddar Cheese

2 Pouches Frontera Enchilada Sauce with roasted tomatillo and garlic

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap tortillas in a wet paper towel. Microwave on high until steamy hot, about 1 minute.

Roll 1/4 cup cheese into each warm tortilla. Place side by side in an 9 x 13 baking dish seam side down. Completely cover tortillas with sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Put into oven right away. Bake until bubble hot, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Variations:
Substitute shredded cooked chicken or beef for the cheese in the filling.

This recipe was adapted and modified from: Frontera Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

Double Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies

 

 

These cookies should be renamed SIN!! Oh my goodness they are everything bad for you, but oh so good. The cookies themselves are very rich so you could easily eat just one, I didn't of course. ;) The icing is soft and creamy which is the perfect topping for these cookies. It's like whipped cream on your favorite dessert.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, cold and cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Mascarpone glaze
4 ounces Mascarpone cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the cream cheese and beat until combined (it's okay if small clumps form), then beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until combined. Use a spoon to stir in the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, just until it's slightly less sticky and easier to roll into balls. Roll into golf-ball sized balls and place about 2 inches apart on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are set. Let cool completely before covering in the glaze.

Mascarpone glaze
Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Use a spoon or spatula to spread the glaze on the cookies or use a pastry bag (I did!) to pipe it across.

Source: How Sweet It Is

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Learning to Crochet

Disclosure: I have graciously been given the opportunity to review an online crocheting class through Annie's Crafts. All opinions that I write about are 100% my own.

I have always wanted to learn to crochet. I've tried picking it up a few times but have never followed through. You see, I'll have some one teach me, like my sweet mother in law. Then I go home to start the project and will get stuck with a question or I will get frustrated and there is no one there to help me!! So I quit every time! :( So sad...

So, when I was asked to review this beginners crochet class I was so excited to try again!! Once you decide on which class to take, you purchase the class, and then it shows up under your classes tab and it's yours to start anytime you are ready.

This is the class I chose below. Once you download the class it is yours to keep. You can go back to it anytime you need to watch a section again.

Above image from Annie's Crafts

Each class has an instructor that walks you through step by step on how to begin. The instructor for this class was very thorough and would repeat herself a couple of times in the difficult areas. On the right hand side of the screen the lessons are broken down into segments. This way I was able to start a new lesson each day without having to start over. Or could go back and just watch what I needed refreshing on.

Above image from Annie's Crafts

It was so nice taking the online class because I could go back and review any section that I needed to. I also could  pause the video when I wanted more time to work on something. Look how clear the picture displays what she is doing. I was always able to follow along well.

Above image from Annie's Crafts

Below, is a picture of me crocheting!!  YEA!! I think it looks pretty good so far.  I'm only starting by practicing different stitches with this tutorial, but I will then start on a project. I'd love to make baby blankets for friends and family.

Above image from Gloriously Made

I am a very visual, hands on, and auditory learner. I have a difficult time doing projects like this if I were to just read it from a manual. It helps me to see someone demonstrating it, explaining it, and then allowing me to practice while I'm learning. You can email the instructor anytime with a question and they will get back to you shortly. That's really nice! So when things get difficult you are not alone and you can have someone to walk you through where you are stuck.



Above image from Annie's Crafts

Look at me go!! I am so proud of myself and having so much fun. This class has made learning to crochet easy.  This is only the beginning folks.  Stay tuned for more projects! :)

Above image from Gloriously Made

 

Go like Annie's Craft Facebook page for updates, watch Annie's Craft You Tube videos, or go directly to their website below.

 

  https://www.facebook.com/AnniesCatalog

  http://www.youtube.com/user/anniescraftvideos
  http://www.anniescatalog.com/


Annie's Crafts would also like to offer their readers 50% OFF all of their online classes with this link:

        http://www.anniescatalog.com/promo.html?code=eyftbcs

 

How many of you enjoy crocheting? What have you made? I'd love to hear. :)