Birthday Rice Treats

1 small box fruity pebbles
1 box generic rice cereal
2 10 oz bags marshmallows
1 stick butter

In your largest mixing bowl, measure out 12 Cups of cereal. In 4 qt. saucepan on stove, melt 6 Tbs. butter, and gradually add 20 oz. marshmallows so they melt down. When your mallows are melted, (add sprinkles!) pour over the rice cereal. Mix with spatula. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray, such as Pam. Pour cereal into pan. Spray the top of the cereal pile with Pam, and use gloves or waxed paper to press cereal tightly into pan. It gets very sticky, so don't be afraid to spray down your gloves with Pam as well. Press mix firmly and pack it in there really good. Now if you turn the pan over, the whole loaf should fall out, and you can cut into squares without it falling apart.
Wrap them in plastic right away so they don't get stale.
Makes 24 adult sized treats.

"Lobster" Linguini

1 package imitation lobster chunks
1 small tub blue cheese
8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced
2 Tb. butter
splash of 1/2 and 1/2

Saute mushrooms in butter.  After mushrooms are soft, add lobster chunks to heat them up. Season generously with black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, fresh herbs, or whatever you have.  Add the splash of cream and 1/2 the blue cheese; it should melt and become creamy.  Serve over linguini. Garnish plate with extra cheese crumbles.

DIY Foaming Soap

1. Buy some nice smelling soap or shower gel from the dollar store.
2. Fill 1/3 to 1/2 of foaming bottle with soap.
3. Very gently add water to fill bottle the rest of the way.
4. Tilt bottle back and forth to mix soap. Do not shake or it causes soap bubble to form and overflow bottle.
5. Enjoy foaming soap for a fraction of the cost.

Fancy Sneakers

String Cheese Chicken

Butterfly chicken breasts as well as you are able. Insert a stick of string cheese and close with toothpicks or string.  Season chicken and bake as usual. (Convection 400* for 25 minutes is usually enough)

Nature

Caramel Corn

I had to create my own caramel corn recipe because they all called for corn syrup or heavy cream or some type of organic sugar that I don't have.  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

1 C. unpopped corn
1 C. party peanuts - Optional
1 C. brown sugar if you have it or 1 C. white sugar and 3 Tb. molasses
1 Stick butter
1/4 C. water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Pop all the popcorn and spread it on two baking sheets lined in parchment, removing any unpopped kernels you find.  In a saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, and water and bring it to a boil. Boil for about 8 minutes until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda (Do this quick cause it will bubble and puff up). Pour it over your popped popcorn and peanuts and toss it till all the popcorn is coated. Bake for 45 minutes stirring several times during baking.

DIY Broken Flower Pot

During the big wind storms we have been experiencing, one of my flower pots took a dive off the patio.  I was going to throw it away until I remembered seeing something on Pintrest about recycling your planters.  Thought I'd give it a shot.

1. Glue your planter back together a little bit. I am using a 6" pot.

2. Fill bottom of pot with some moss or wood chips so the drainage hole wont leak all your dirt out.

3. Layer succulents and broken pot chunks. (bottom to top)I used Pachyveria 'Blue Pearl', Crassula Calico Kitten, Elephant Bush, and Blue Chalk Sticks.

4. Water your planter. Lots of stuff will settle in better, and you will have to pack and rearrange your pieces

5. Add decorative pea gravel or whatever you have to fill spaces and make it look pro.

DIY Laundry Soap

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean-  I used the 5lb container because it was the same price
4 Bars of Fels Naptha,
4 lb of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 (LARGE) Bottle of Gain Fireworks

Directions
1. Grate soap with your cheese grater.  It's just soap, it washes off. Also, its is soft like Parmesan cheese.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bucket. I used an empty cat litter bucket.
3. Place a small amount in a easy to use jar.  Store the rest in an air tight container.
4. Use 2 Tablespoons per laundry load.

Pretzels

D and I made pretzels after dinner tonight. Delightful!!

Pork Loin

Blue Cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped pork loin with rosemary and golden beets.

Opening a coconut

I swear I have posted this before, but I did remove a lot of content last year when my hard drive crashed and took my pictures with it.

5 ways to open a coconut

1. Martha Stewart.  Preheat oven to 400*. Place coconut inside for 10 mintues until outer shell is visably cracked.  Let cool.
2. Tap a tap  a tap.  Use a hammer to gently strike entire surface before delivering the opening blows. You can break the entire outer shell without damaging the meat.
3. Smash. Least preferred method. The meat stays glued to the husk.
4. Freeze.  First, freeze the coconut for day or overnight and then when ready to remove the meat, defrost the coconut and crack it open after it has fully defrosted. The meat can then be peeled away from the cracked husk. The dark skin can be removed by using a vegetable peeler or knife.
5. Boiling. Use a sharp knife to crack coconut in half.  Boiling the halves for about 5-10 minutes, then running them under some cold water and letting them sit for another 5-10 minutes. The softer flesh shrinks back to its original shape quicker than the harder shell and you can very easily slip in a knife or a spoon and pull the whole flesh out in one go.

Beaver

Leftover Eggs

I love coloring eggs, but sometimes find it difficult to use all the hard boiled eggs after Sunday. You can only eat so many deviled eggs. Here are 5 more ideas:

English-Muffin Egg Pizzas
Dress up English muffin halves with sliced hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, and mozzarella, then broil until toasted and gooey.

Cobb Salad With Garlic Vinaigrette
Quarter your eggs and add to salad drizzled with a simple dressing of minced garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.

Sliced-Egg Sandwich With Herb Mayonnaise
Crisp, peppery watercress and a parsley-mayo spread give this sandwich a big flavor boost.

German Potato Salad
Served warm or cold, you can't go wrong with this class side dish.

Soups
Chopped hard-cooked eggs make a great garnish for soups like hearty black bean soup and gazpacho.