It's been a Crafty week here

It has been a crazy past few days here at the house! It is just me and the boys right now while we wait for word to go pick up my husband from the hospital. His numbers are starting to come back up after the chemotherapy but his platelet count is being stubborn, so he is stuck there until they decide to come up. Meanwhile back here at the house we had that lovely winter storm come through and dump at least 16 inches of snow on us in just about a 24 hour period. There was a couple days where my oldest (3) and I were able to get outside and get some fresh air, and get some energy out!

When stuck in the house we have been doing many crafts, from coloring to working out of our Green Kid Crafts box, our WonderBox (which sadly they are discontinuing, we are going to switch over to Kiwi Crate) and lately water color painting! I have also taken up some crafting and have been working on my quilt that I started, and a second quilt piece that I started while waiting on more fabric and fusible interfacing for the first one. I also took the time to finish up a diaper liner/doubler for my cloth diapers and I think it turned out pretty good for my first one, of course you learn as you go and I can always make improvements in my design for the future ones.





I also took the time to roast up some chickpeas which turned out super tasty! Here is a recipe if you want to try it for yourself!

Roasted Chickpeas
You will need:
2 Cans of Chickpeas
A drizzle of Olive Oil (maybe 1Tbsp)
Seasoning of your choice, this is such a great snack you can really make it any way you want! I recommend plain old Salt and Pepper, Paprika, or even Cayenne if you want a kick. (I wanted a sweet snack so I used a sprinkle of Salt, Brown sugar, some Cinnamon and some Vanilla and Almond extract).

Preheat oven to 375 (I use 400 because my oven is off)
Open your canned chickpeas, wash/rinse them well.
Dry them off! Be sure they are super dry or they won't get crunchy when you bake them. I let mine sit in the pan and air dry for 10-15 minutes before I proceed.
Add your Olive Oil to the pan and shake it to coat all of the chickpeas.
Sprinkle your spices and shake the pan again to make sure they all get coated.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until crunchy, they will get too hard if you overcook them, again my oven is off so I end up baking for around 55+ minutes.
Pull them out and let them cool for a few minutes on the pan and then transfer to a container of your choosing!
These are such a great snack, instead of reaching for those unhealthy chips or anything else, you can munch on these versatile, delicious and healthy (they are full of fiber too) roasted chickpeas!


Got more free stuff in the mail today! My sample of Elmer's ProBond Advanced arrived, which is super neat and I can't wait to try it, it is supposed to work on just about any surface! I also got my new L'Oreal Advanced Haircare sample, I chose Color Vibrancy--plus it came with coupons! Last but not least, I received my TV Diary from Nielsen and CASH for incentive to complete it! Great mail day today, I love getting freebies in the mail, do you get a lot of free stuff? I don't think my mailman likes his route some days!


Stay warm!

Cherry-Almond Cheesecake Bars

On a plate for devouring!

So here is the recipe I promised the other day! These are super yummy and unfortunately I printed the recipe a while back (without headers or footers) and I cannot remember where I printed it from so I cannot credit the source! Sorry! We did not end up using whipped topping for this recipe which is fine because they taste excellent without it! I must say mine did not look like the one in the picture but it tasted fantastic!

Before going into the oven!

Cherry-Almond Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
2/3 Cup all-purpose flour
2/3 Cup quick-cooking rolled oats
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar or 1- 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar substitute
2 Tablespoons finely chopped almonds
1/4 Cup butter
2, 8 ounce packages of reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)
1/3 Cup granulated sugar or sugar substitute equivalent to 1/3 Cup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 Cup refrigerated or frozen egg product, thawed, or 4 eggs lightly beaten
1/3 Cup finely chopped dried cherries

Topping:
10 Tablespoons fat free frozen whipped dessert topping, thawed (optional)
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds (optional)

After baking!

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, and almonds. Using a mixer, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes.
2. Meanwhile in a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, and almond extract with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add egg, beating on low speed until just combined. Stir in cherries. Spread cream cheese mixture over partially baked crust.
3. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until cream cheese layer is set. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours before serving.
4. Cut into bars to serve, garnish individual servings with the dessert topping and/or almonds, if desired. Store in refrigerator.

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods!

Today my oldest (3) and I took the time to make some tasty treats! Pretzel Rods dipped in melted Almond bark and rolled in sprinkles! My aunt makes these and sends them to the boys on occasion but I thought I would give it a go myself!

You need:

Pretzel Rods

Almond Bark

Sprinkles (optional)

Wax paper

Spoon (for stirring)

These are super easy to make and you don't even need to use the stove to melt the Almond bark. I used the microwave in a glass measuring cup to melt my Almond bark, but be sure to keep it in small increments and stir it each time you microwave it--15-30 seconds each time. Then just dip your pretzels! Roll them or sprinkle the sprinkles on top, or you can just leave the pretzels and chocolate plain! Lay them on the wax paper to cool. I recommend putting the wax paper on a plate or platter of some sort because half of my pretzels were stuck to the counter as the heat melted the bottom of the wax paper to the counter top! These took a little while to cool probably 20-30 minutes is good, but you could put them in the fridge if you are on a time constraint. Then you're done! Eat and be happy!

CrockPot Cider

 So today we are making mulled cider in the CrockPot, I got the recipe from my mom and have been wanting to try it since she left to fly back to Washington. The ingredient list is very short and simple, and this is easy to throw together! I did have a hard time finding the cheesecloth as you can see I managed to find some natural spice bags instead. I also had a harder time finding the Whole Allspice which I had looked at a couple different stores for. Shane and I put everything in the crockpot this morning and we are letting it all blend together today for later consumption!

Mulled Cider In A Crockpot

Ingredients

1 gallon cider (preferably filtered, but not necessary)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. allspice, whole

3 tsp. cloves, whole

4 sticks cinnamon

2 dashes nutmeg

Orange, cut in half

Directions

• Pour cider into crock pot. Stir in brown sugar.
• In a coffee filter or cheesecloth, place the allspice, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Carefully fold up the coffee filter, making sure none of the spice can fall out. Tie up with butcher's twine and place into the cider.
• Slice an orange in half and place sliced side down into the cider. Cover and heat on low for several hours before guests arrive, or can be heated on high for an hour or two until it's hot enough and then turn the heat down to low. 
• Keep spice bag and orange halves in the cider the entire time.

One thing I really wanted to get posted was my prize I got from InPink! These are the bracelets I ordered with my $40 gift code I won over at Wildflowers & Whimsy! These came packaged in the cute little box in the bottom photo with a decorative stretchy tie that could be reused on other presents! Each bracelet came wrapped in its own InPink tissue paper and had a security tag on it. These bracelets are very high quality, aside from the corded bracelet the other two were pretty heavy duty leading me to believe that they will last a lifetime! You will definitely get your money's worth from InPink! They have other jewelry as well, necklaces, earrings and rings as well in a variety of styles and colors. Check them out at InPink.com.