Simple Girl

Ella has a super creative first grade teacher and this year she has a pirate theme running throughout the classroom. Since Ella's birthday landed on the third day of school, I thought it would be fun to bring in a pirate themed snack. Here's what I came up with - Pirate Cookie Pops! Start with double stuffed Oreo cookies.   Dip one end of the stick in melted white candy melts. "Screw" the sticks in, being careful not to break the cookies. Freeze. Once frozen, dip the entire cookie in melted white chocolate. Once the white chocolate is dried, dip just the top at an angle in melted red candy melts to form a "bandana". I found these adorable candy eyeballs at Michael's.  As you can see, I only needed one per treat!   Heart sprinkles made up the mouth and bandana tie.   The eye patch was piped on with melted chocolate. Of course, since Ella is my little princess, I had to make pink pirates, too! ...

White.   Perhaps my favorite color.   Clean.  Simple.  Full of possibilities. Looking for shells on a white sandy beach.

Sometimes I bake something in hopes that it will be heavenly delicious.  Sometimes I bake something to feed a crowd.  But sometimes I bake something just to watch my kids eyes get big and to hear them say WOW! These cupcakes fell into the WOW! category and they turned out to be the perfect treat for Ella's family birthday dinner.  The inspiration for these came from one of my favorite cupcake books, What's New Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. I super-sized mine by starting with three jumbo muffins.    For the "Ice Cream", divide a batch of white frosting into three bowls.  I used homemade cream cheese frosting (because it's my favorite), but the book suggests frosting right out of the can. Leave one third of the frosting plain Add 2 Tablespoons low sugar strawberry jam to the second bowl Add 1 Tablespoon a cocoa powder to the third bowl.   Put bowls in the freezer for 30 - 60 minutes.   Next, scoop the frosting with an...

WELCOME TO MOE'S! We eat there sometimes on Saturdays.  Kids eat free.  Three adult meals and three free kids meals.  We have it all figured out. But on this day something was different.  Something loomed in the distance and beckoned us with its seductive neon lights.  Like a spaceship from afar, it was the Coke machine of the future. It was filled with choices.  Over one hundred of them! Simply click your product...... (Diet Coke).... .... and more choices appear!   Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke, Diet Lime Coke, Diet Raspberry Coke... Diet Orange Coke? Peach Sprite, Grape Sprite, Raspberry Sprite, Cherry Sprite, Orange Sprite.......  Endless Choices.  Endless Decisions! Please forgive my over-funkified photos.  It's my Instagram iPhone app.   I can't help myself. Twenty Menu Choices with unlimited topping selections ...... Five kinds of salsas....... Two kinds of tea... (Perhaps...

It was Ella's birthday and I wanted to send a little treat in for her Sunday School class. I had a little more complicated idea for her school treat, so I considered these my practice round. Double Stuffed Oreos dipped in yellow candy melts with chocolate piped faces. On a stick. THIS POST IS PROUDLY LINKED TO  MONDAYS :  MOUTHWATERING MONDAYS ,  MADE BY YOU MONDAY , MINGLE MONDAY  ,  HOME SAVVY A TO Z ,  TUESDAYS :  TUESDAYS AND THE TABLE,   TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY ,  TASTY TUESDAY ,  IT’S A BLOG PARTY ,   TIP JUNKIE  , GET YOUR CRAFT ON ,   WEDNESDAYS :  SHOW AND TELL ,   WORKS FOR ME WEDNESDA Y ,   THIS CHICK COOKS ,  LADY BEHIND THE CURTAIN ,  GINGER SNAP CRAFTS ,  WHAT'S COOKING WEDNESDAYS     THURSDAYS :    IT’S A KEEPER THURSDAYS ,  STRUT YOUR STUFF ,  FULL PLATE THURSDAYS  ,   CHIC & CRAFTY PARTY ,  RECIPES TO RUN ON .  ...