Think pink | and sage green...

Pink and green is one of my favorite color combinations and this might be one of the most beautiful ways I have seen the colors used. The rosy pink and sage green are gorgeous together and the details in this dessert bar are amazing. [Found via Pepper Design Blog]

[October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Think Pink!]

Think pink | princess party...

This princess party from Glorious Treats is too sweet. It makes me want to call my cousins and play Pretty, Pretty Princess. :) Check out this post for more photos.

These cookies would be perfect for Valentine's Day or a bridal shower...

[October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Think Pink!]

Think pink | candy buffets...

I love everything about candy buffets - the colors, the containers, the whole display and, of course, the yummy candy. Here are some great candy buffets with lots of pink candy...

[Setting the Mood]

[Thoughtfully Simple]

[Hostess with the Mostess]

I am particularly fond of the navy and pink one, since it is the same colors we used in our wedding and for our candy buffet.

[October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Think Pink!]

Mini key lime pies...

In getting ready to move, we cleaned out our freezer [not entirely voluntarily, but that's another long, annoying story] since frozen food wasn't going to make it on a 13 hour drive in the middle of August. With no food in the freezer, that meant no ice cream and no popsicles. So, what's a girl to do other than get creative and make her own frozen treat? And so my frozen, mini, key lime pies were invented. :)

To make them, I crunched up graham crackers and mixed in just enough butter to get the crumbs to stick together. I packed the graham cracker "crust" into a mini muffin pan. Then I filled them up with key lime yogurt and popped the pan in the freezer. They took about six minutes to prepare and just a few hours to freeze. Yum! :)

Another quick meal...

I already showed you my Asian salad that I'm obsessed with, but my repertoire of quick and easy meals doesn't stop there. :) Next up is zucchini and rice...which you can make in eight minutes flat. [Yep, I timed it...it takes exactly eight minutes.]

 

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 zucchini
• Spices / seasonings
• A teensy bit of oil / butter
• A serving of microwave rice

Instructions:

• Add a teensy bit of oil or butter to a skillet on high heat.
• Slice the zucchini into thin slices and add to skillet.
• Start the microwave rice [following directions on the package].
• Add spices / seasonings to the zucchini to taste [I use onion powder, garlic powder and seasoning salt].
• The zucchini and rice should be done at about the same time.
• If desired, add a teensy bit of butter to the rice.
• Put the zucchini on top of the rice and enjoy. :)

Missing Mr. W | part one...

So, I told you about our upcoming big move, but I haven't told you yet that the move is actually well underway. As in, Mr. W has been living and working there for well over a month already. And I have not. Bummer, huh? Luckily, I have been able to see him a few times recently, but I still miss him like crazy. Since he's been gone, I've noticed that there are a few sort of silly times when I really notice how much I miss him, so I thought I'd share those with you....

Every single day at dinner time.

I am a very lucky lady and Mr. W does 95% of our cooking. [My five percent primarily consists of making cookies. :)] Generally when Mr. W is gone and I have to "cook" for myself, I eat cereal or chips and salsa. But now that it has been a while, I've had to expand my meal choices a bit. So, lately I have been making lots of Asian salad. Yum! And super quick and easy - must haves for me.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of beef (or chicken) flavored ramen noodles
• 1 package of coleslaw salad
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• Sunflower seeds

Instructions:

• In a small bowl, mix up the sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil and packets of seasoning from the ramen noodles. [When we make it, we actually use a little more vinegar and a little less vegetable oil, but it's all up to what you like best.]
• In a large bowl, pour the liquid mixture over the coleslaw salad.
• Crunch up the ramen noodles and add them to the large bowl.
• Add sunflower seeds to taste.
• Mix everything up.
• Enjoy.

See, I told you it was easy. And, other than the package of coleslaw, we always have the other ingredients on hand which makes it extra easy.

Speaking of the coleslaw salad, I had another "missing Mr. W" moment the other day when it came to buying the coleslaw. See, Mr. W also usually does about 95% of our grocery shopping. So, silly me, when I had to do it myself, I totally bought the wrong thing and came home with "broccoli salad." Who knew that even existed!? But it still tasted good. :)

Couples' shower | yummy desserts...

On to my favorite part of any meal or party...the desserts! Yum!

The sign above the table said "just (about) married" [like the invitations]. The table had more chalkboard food labels and chalkboard painted wine bottles like the ones I showed you here. And another spray painted dollar store frame like the one I showed you here.

The dessert menu included...

• Caramel brownie bites [my favorite treat!]
• Mint brownie bites [my even more more favorite treat!]
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Lemon bars
• Pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate and milk chocolate with green sprinkles
• Fruit kabobs [I love the way fruit kabobs look - they make me want to serve everything as a kabob! :)] 

The two white plate stands above started out like this...

I made the cake stands using dollar store plates and dollar store candlestick holders. I stuck them together with Gorilla Glue and gave my weights a workout holding them in place to set them. I figured my weights needed a little use sometime! :) After they were dry, I just gave them a few coats of spraypaint. [Don't worry, I didn't serve food directly on the cake stands. I covered them with scrapbooking paper and the brownie bites were in mini cupcake liners.]

I'm planning to check the dollar store for matching salad plates, so that I can make a coordinating multi-tiered version. I looooove cake stands.

Couples' shower | bbq & drinks...

Mr. W manned the grill for the party, making hamburgers, hot dogs and brats. We also had Asian salad and a variety of chips. Everything was served on white platters and in big green bowls. There aren't any pictures because I was too busy eating and forgot. :)

Somehow I did manage to get some pictures of the drink table though. We had water, tea, soda and margarita punch [my favorite!]. The big green tub to the right was filled with Boulevard - a must have in KC and the groom's favorite.

The tables were covered with Kraft paper. And you'll notice two more chalkboard projects - wood circles labeling the food / beverages and chalk around the middle of wine bottles. I made the wine bottles the same way as the chalkboard signs - by painting them with mod podge first. I'm not really sure that step is necessary, but it worked well, so I stuck with it. :) I taped off the area I wanted to paint with painter's tape [and masking tape when I ran out of painter's tape].

The baby shower...

It's time for some pictures and details from my sister's baby shower. First, the adorable mommy-to-be...

Isn't she the cutest!? :)

Behind her, you can see part of the food table and banner. I made the letters on the banner using my Cricut. Love that thing! You can barely see them in the picture, but both ends of the banner had cute little jungle animals to go along with the giraffe invites. The animal pictures were cut out of wrapping paper I found at the dollar store.

Speaking of the invites, we displayed one in a frame near the food table...

Back to the important stuff...the food! Here's a closer few of part of the food table...

We purchased a lot of the food from a bakery, Costco, etc. But of course, I had to make my favorite brownie bites made with both caramel and mint filling. Yum! With the leftover white chocolate, we also made teeny tiny little chocolate-covered, sprinkled pretzels. The table also had flowers [obviously], cute little wooden jungle animals and little ribbons sayings "It's a boy!".

I forgot to take a picture...but we also had a mimosa bar at the shower. We had champagne, a few juices to choose from and raspberries, blueberries and strawberries to add. [We also had sparkling water and club soda as non-alcoholic options.]

Cheerleading cookies [part two]...

About forever ago now, I mentioned that I was going to make cheerleading cookies as an end of the season treat for the squad of little girls I coached this basketball season. Well, as I was going through my camera recently, I realized I never posted the pictures of the final product. So, here they are...

I ended up making sugar cookies with green and white frosting (our squad colors) in clear bags with green poms and a little note. The girls loved them!

[P.S. If you want to see the cutie little girls in action, check out this video. And for the adorable video Mr. W made for his basketball team, check out this video.]

Cheerleading cookies...

For the past few months, I have been coaching an Upward cheerleading squad of kindergarteners and first graders. They are absolutely adorable and I have loved every minute of it. Yep, even the minutes when they splashing each other with the water from the water fountains, hiding behind furniture, running through the halls or doing silly dances [and trying to convince me that I had taught them the silly dances].

Actually, looking back, those might have been some of my favorite moments.

Or maybe my favorite moments were when they told me that they couldn't cheer for boys basketball "because the boys wear tank tops and that's GROSS!" Or when they said "Miss Paige, you're the best teacher ever." [They really said that, I swear I didn't make it up!] Or last weekend when they completely rocked out their pom routine at halftime.*

Or maybe my favorite moments were during the devotion times when they told me that "reading the Bible is fun" and "they love talking to Jesus." Or when they all told me they really wanted the white star for showing Christ-like behavior.

Basically, everything about the experience has been really great. So, I want to do something special for these special little girls this weekend at our last game...and I want that to be cookies. I can't decide exactly what I want them to look like, but here are my ideas...

Source

Basketball cookies, since that's what we cheer for...

Source

Megaphone cookies in the team colors...

Source

Or letter cookies with a "G" and "O".

[This is the idea I'm leaning towards...I would put both letters in a bag and tie on a note with words to one of our cheers. Oh yeah, I would also have little green and white pom poms tied on. Wow, I should really get to work instead of jabbering!]

I will try to actually remember to take photos and let you know what I end up doing. Go cookie-making, go! :)

*[Side story, but I was seriously beyond proud of them...Every time we did the routine in practice last Friday I let them count the beats out loud. And they counted really, really loud. Not sure why, but they did. I was incredibly impressed by how well they were doing though because we had just finished learning the routine and they had to perform the next day, so I decided not to worry about it. Well, Saturday I changed my mind and decided to tell them to try to at least count quietly...but then I forgot and said nothing. When halftime came around, the music came on and they all start doing the pom routine...and not a single one of them was counting out loud. And not a single one of them missed a motion. I seriously sat watching them in complete awe with a giant goofy grin from being so proud of them all. And I'm pretty sure I had the goofy grin of excitement the entire weekend. :)]

Caramel apple deliciousness...

I love to bake. Cooking, not so much really. But if it involves sugar, sign me up for making it. Cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins, pies - you name it.

So for Christmas at my in-laws this year, I offered to make a pie for dessert. The unanimous request was for a caramel apple pie like I had made last Easter. Well, between the long drive back in a snowstorm, getting stuck in the snow when we stopped at our house to pick up the gifts, and a few other random things happening, I didn't have time to make the pie on Christmas. Or the three days after that when while we were all snowed in together. Turns out we were way too busy playing games, watching movies and napping.

This past Saturday we all got together for, you guessed it, another game night. And we decided it was about time we had a pie.

Enter a delicious caramel apple pie [and the actual point of this post]...

Okay, so this isn't the actual pie we made. We ate our whole pie before anyone could even say the word picture, so this picture is a random caramel apple pie picture from here. It is the same type of pie though...and has a lattice crust...and was made with Pillsbury pie crusts...and makes me very hungry just like the one we made.

Back to the point [sorry, I get really side-tracked when I talk about pie], the pie is incredibly easy to make. Here's the quick and easy, pretty much made up as I went, recipe:

1. Peel and cut apples until it looks like enough to fill a pie pan.
2. Mix the apples with two heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and two heaping tablespoons of Bisquick.
3. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to the apples until they are all sorts of yummy.
4. Put one Pillsbury pie crust in the bottom of the pie pan.
5. Squiggle caramel syrup all over the bottom crust.
6. Add a layer of apples and squiggle more caramel syrup all over.
7. Add the rest of the apples and, of course, squiggle more caramel syrup all over.
8. Put on the top crust. [I always do a lattice top because they make me look fancy...but really I learned how to make them in cooking class when I was a sophomore in high school and never really learned how to make any other type of top crust.]
9. Bake the pie at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.
10. Enjoy some deliciousness.

The first time I made this pie my mom and I actually used caramel squares. So, we unwrapped about a bazillion of them, cut them in half and then melted them to add them to the pie. Umm...yeah, using caramel syrup was wayyyy easier.

Fruit shooters...

I am quite possibly a mega dork, but I love when we get the free HyVee Seasons magazine in the mail. Seriously, I get crazy excited. Especially when there are awesome ideas inside it like these fruit shooter recipes...

Watermelon and Raspberry Juice

3 cups watermelon, rind removed, cubed and seeded
1 cup raspberries, rinsed and dried
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cherry-Berry Juice
2 tablespoons Nature Blessed Cherry Concentrate
12 oz. of water
3/4 cup blueberries, rinsed
1 apple, washed, cored, cut in wedges and seeded

Cantaloupe Surprise
4 cups of cantaloupe, rind removed, seeded and cubed
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Green Apple and Kiwi Popper
2 kiwifruits, peeled
2 apples, cored, seeds removed and cut in wedges
1 tablespoon lemon juice

I am definitely looking forward to trying these out. I don't know about you, but whenever Mr. W and I buy a watermelon or cantaloupe, it seems like we can never finish it. I have a feeling these little ideas will come in very handy. :)

Marshmallow-y goodness...

In case you haven't noticed, I have a thing for sweets...and marshmallows. So, naturally marshmallow pops are right up my alley.

Sweet ones...

Or spooky ones...

And while we're talking about marshmallows, be sure to check out A Cup of Jo's great post on marshmallow willpower. The video is adorable and the article is very interesting!

Sweet fall treats...

I apologize in advance to anyone reading this that is trying to diet...but I seriously cannot resist sharing all these yummy treats...Chocolate dipped peanut butter pretzels...and check out the blueberry breakfast cake, spider web cookies and other spider treats.

Eye ball cupcakes...and about eight bazillion other awesome Halloween treats

Reese's® Puffs® Sticky Balls

Football cupcakes

Spiced pear cake...Centsational Girl just keeps on amazing me.

Spicy fall cupcakes - and check out the whole Cupcake Bonanza in the sidebar menu!

Peanut butter gooey butter cake

Oreo truffles found here with fun Halloween ideas

And don't forget the other treats I posted here.

Can I can pickles?

Lately, the husband and I have been thinking that canning pickles would be fun. This post from Little Birdie Secrets may have just inspired me to get going with it...

For more homemade pickle how-tos, check here, here and here. If When we finally get around to making our own pickles, I will be sure to let you know how it goes. :)

Trick or yummy baked treats...

For Halloween this year, my brave friend is attempting this haunted house cake...

I, however, would be scared out of mind to take on the haunted house. But I would love to make these candy corn cookies...

Or this little peeking monster...

I love free things...

Hurry!!! Go to this link! Schwans is giving away $10 worth of free food to the first 500,000 people to go to the link. I have creamy Parmesan risotto coming on Wednesday. Yum! I haven't had anything from Schwans since I was a kid, but have a feeling we might rekindle a great friendship! :)

Thanks to Made with Love and Glue for sharing the free food fun!

Oh, how I love Oreos...

Ever since my husband and I bought the limited edition baseball Oreos this weekend, I can't stop eating them. Seriously, I've had them as part of two meals today. But don't judge me - I just really love them. Anyways, imagine my excitement when I found these two "Oreo cakes" today:

I love this cookie-shaped pan from Williams-Sonoma found here.

And this looks delicious! (I also love the name of the blog where I found this one - "3 B's....Baseball, Baking, & Books"!)

Recipe ideas...

Okay, so I am definitely not an expert (or anywhere close) on cooking or baking, but I'm going to pretend to know at least a little for a few minutes. :)

After my bridal brunch baking bonanza, I got a lot of compliments on the food I had made so I thought I'd share. First, the Rachael Ray's monkey bread minis were awesome! And if I can make them, so can you! And most of the ingredients were things I had at home, which always makes me happy. Of course, I didn't notice the recipe called for buttermilk until I was halfway through, but Betty Crocker told me I could substitute milk with lemon juice and it worked. :)

Another favorite at the shower were the caramel brownie bites. My mom made these a couple months ago for our family reunion and I finally had a reason to make them. Check out the really easy recipe I put together here.

Everyone at the shower also thought all of the muffins and breads were made from scratch...but I was actually a cheater and used box mixes for all of them. I did make some kind of topping for each one though that give them that homemade-feel. Most of the ideas came from my Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook: Bridal Edition (awesome, by the way!), but I adapted them to be all things I already had at home. Check out these easy ideas here.

I'm done pretending to be some kind of master baker now. Thanks for hanging with me on that one. :)