Here is the game board:

To print, just right click on your mouse and go to copy.  Then open your favorite program and right click again and paste.  You can then print it out.  It is in an 8 1/2 x 11 format, but you can print any size that you would like.

This is not a holiday that we normally really celebrate at our house. The grand kids are out of school but most everyone in my family still have to work today.  But I decided that we could at least celebrate with this super easy little cherry dessert!  This is one that even the kids will eat, because it is a cupcake!

I started with this box cake mix.  I really kind of like these “Fun-da-middles because they have a filling in the middle and they only make 12 cupcakes, which is just the right size for us!  This is a new spring one that I found that has a pink filling!  So cute!

But you can use any cake mix that you like, or make your own cupcakes from your favorite recipe from scratch!
I simply opened a can of cherry pie filling and put that on top of the cupcake and then used the canned whipped cream for the whipped cream.  It looks so pretty and it tastes so good and I don’t think it could of been any easier! :)So does anyone want a bite?  YUM!

One of my DIL’s showed me this great new product.  It is foaming dish soap!  I love it for when you want to just wash a dish or two or wipe up the counters. It works like a charm and since it is foaming you do not get a gooey slimy mess all over!

Then she told me that it is refillable too!  Bonus!  But what is even better is that she told me about this nifty little soap trick!  You do not have to use the refillable soap for this you can make your own!

You have to have a foaming pump bottle to do this, but once you have purchased one you can refill it over and over!   Just fill your bottle about 1/4 of the way or less, with any dish soap. Go easy, though, if you get too much “regular” soap the end result is slimy. Slowly add water to about 2/3 of the way to the top. You need to leave a little breathing room. It helps to tilt the bottle and pour the water in at an angle, hitting the side of the bottle first so it doesn’t go directly into the soap and create premature bubbles. Put the lid back on, shake it all up, and you are good to go! A brand new bottle of foaming dish soap, for pennies.

My friend gave me this cute foaming hand soap dispenser for Christmas and I am so excited because I can do the very same thing with my hand soap!Just use your regular refill soap and make it into foaming soap!  I think that this big refill bottle will now last me through the millennium! :)Do any of you have any great household tips?  I would love for you to share them with me!

If any of you would like to view my DIL’s blog to see about this go here.

It seems like every winter that I get the urge to start knitting these dishcloths.  They are the most wonderful  things because they are made with all cotton yarn and they absorb the water when you are wiping your kitchen counters.  They are also a nice big size for washing dishes!  I have made so many different colors and styles, but this is the pattern that I always come back to.  I use the Sugar  and Cream yarn and I can get two dishcloths out of one skein. Although the with new “twist” Peaches and Cream yarn, I could only get 3 dishcloths out of 2 skeins of yarn, even though they are the same yardage and weight, it is a finer yarn. (They are the red and green ones.)

You knit this pattern in a diamond shape by increasing half way up and then decreasing the other half.  It is a simple pattern if you are familiar with knitting at all.

My pattern is written on a recipe card!  It is my sister’s handwriting but I am not sure how many years I have had it.  A long time!

So here is the “Recipe” pattern for Good Knitted Dish cloths

Cotton Yarn-I use Sugar and Cream or Peaches and Cream

Size 9 or 10 needles

Cast on 4 stitches

Knit 3 rows

Row 4- knit 2, YO (yarn over) knit 2

Row 5- Knit 3, YO, knit to end of row

Repeat row 5 until you have 45 stitches.

(this makes a nice sized dish cloth)

To decrease- knit 2, knit 2 together, YO, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.

Repeat until 6 stitches remain.

Knit 2, knit 2 together, knit 2

Knit 2, knit 2 together, knit 1

Cast off.

Use a crochet hook to weave the ends in and you are done!

Enjoy!

The “Yarn Over” makes the cute border with the holes!

My husband is my Best Friend,

my confidante,

my sounding board,

my cheerleader,

He instills confidence,

makes me feel beautiful,

is a great provider,

has a very soft heart, in a tough, rugged exterior,

is a wonderful father and Grandfather,

has a listening ear,

is very understanding,

patience is something he needs to work on, but don’t we all?

he encourages me,

he has great faith and wisdom,

he is strong,

he is gentle,

he is handsome!

And he is an avid hunter,( I don’t know that I love that as much as I love                               his passion for this sport!)

I could go on and on, but I don’t want to get too sappy!

So I will say that I love him very much and I am so glad he is mine…

Happiness is being married to your Best Friend!

Happy Valentines Day!

These were quite simple to make with the sweetened condensed milk.  You do need a candy thermometer but they are easy to make and I would say that it would have to be pretty close to a no-fail recipe!

Salted Caramels

1 c. butter

1 (16 oz.) pkg. brown sugar (2 cups firmly packed)
Dash salt
1 c. light corn syrup
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

kosher or sea salt

Generously butter 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan. In heavy 3-quart pan, melt butter. Add sugar and dash of salt. Stir thoroughly. Stir in corn syrup. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, to 245 degrees (firm ball). Mixture should boil gently over entire surface for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into pan and sprinkle with Kosher or Sea Salt. Cool completely. Cut with wet, sharp knife. Wrap in wax paper.

This is how my caramels looked in the pan after I had sprinkled the salt on them.  (Don’t mind the messy sides, I was trying to take pictures and pour the caramel at the same time… didn’t work!)

I happened to find these waxed paper squares at Gygi’s this weekend and so it was perfect for these caramels!

Here is my bowlful of Valentine Caramels!

There is only one thing wrong with them…you can’t eat just one!Wouldn’t your Valentine love these in a fun little container like the Chinese take out boxes, a cellophane bag, a cute bowl or mug, or a little basket!

When you roll the dough out, you want them to be about 1/4″ thick or even a little more! I cut out some of the great big hearts and some of these smaller hearts.I had two of the best little helpers here with me today making our favorite sugar cookies!The Ultimate Sugar Cookie adapted from rubyglen.com

(These tender sugar cookies have a delicious buttery flavor with a hint of almond or lemon. For an extra festive touch, put a little food coloring in the dough.)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond OR lemon extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a medium bowl, sift or stir the flour, (You must sift or stir flour, or the cookies will be too heavy!), baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, whip butter until creamy.  Add sugar and mix well.  Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond-or-lemon extract until well combined.

3.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Mix until just combined.

4.  Divide the dough and form into two disks.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5.  On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with cookie cutter.  Brush off any excess flour and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

6.  If not icing the cookie, you can sprinkle with granulated sugar.

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are just lightly browned on the bottom.  Do not over bake if you want soft cookies.

8.  Place cookies on a cooling rack.  Wait until they are completely cooled before icing.

9.  Frost cookies and decorate as desired.

Ultimate Cookie Icing

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (do not use light or fat free, they will not thicken up)

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract

5-6 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream (can substitute with canned milk)

1.  Place the butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with a mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

2.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla or almond extract, and 5 Tablespoons of the cream.  Mix until incorporated.  If the icing is too thick and needs to be thinned, add an additional Tablespoon of cream, if too much cream is added, add a little more powdered sugar. ( I find that this a very soft icing and usually have to add a little more powdered sugar).  Add food coloring if desired.  Frost cooled cookies.

Here are the cookies cooling on the rack.  You do not want them to be brown on the top, only a little bit on the bottom, unless you like a crispy cookie, not a soft one.

Now you can frost and decorate your cookies any way that you would like!

Don’t I just have the cutest little helper here?

I used the no mess frosting idea and I piped the frosting on the cookies.  This is a very soft frosting, so it is a little bit harder to work with, but the taste is well worth the effort!You can add sprinkles, edible glitter, Ju Ju’s or anything that your little heart desires!The smaller cookies fit perfectly in the little Chinese take out boxes.  I could fit two in each box!Or perhaps you can just make a fun plate full to give to someone special!Even clean-up was fun with these two monkeys to help me!Valentine sugar cookies have been a tradition in our house for many years, and it was fun to spend the afternoon with two of my grandchildren making memories and carrying on this fun tradition.  Do you have any fun traditions that you like to do?  When my kids were younger and all at home, I used to make a nice dinner for Valentines day.  We would use the good china and silverware and try to work on some of our etiquette rules.  Sometimes this worked out well and sometimes we didn’t learn much, but we still had fun!  :)  It was good practice for them when they got older and were dating, at least they had a little knowledge, right?

new Glade® Expressions™ fragrance mist new Glade® Expressions™ oil diffuser

Oh wow!  Have any of you tried the new Glade® Expressions™  I decided to try the fragrant mist and I was very pleasantly surprised with it.  I sprayed it in my kitchen which is a big open room along with the dining room and also in a small bathroom.  I left the house for a couple of hours to go to lunch with a friend and I had forgotten all about the spray.  When I returned home I was welcomed with the most pleasant fragrance!  I was surprised by how much I could still smell the aroma.  Even my husband made a comment about how he could smell something good, which is surprising because he is has lost a lot of his sense of smell!  But what was even more pleasant was the next day when I woke up I could still smell the wonderful, fresh, pineapple and mangosteen smell!  I was sold. It comes in some wonderful scents like: Cotton and Italian Mandarin, Fuji Apple and Cardamon, Spice Lavender and Juniper Berry but  the one I liked the best was the Pineapple and Mangosteen.  It has the most refreshing clean, citrusy smell that really made me feel like it was spring inside when outside it was a cold wintery morning.  I like the easy to squeeze trigger and that it is refillable. Glade® Expressions™ has a  fragrance satisfaction guarantee or your money back at http://bit.ly/xMScbO and right now you can buy it at Walmart and they have a money saving coupon of $1.50 off, available at http://bit.ly/zus6F5)

Glade® Expressions™ also has an oil diffuser that last 30 days and does not require any electricity.  It has a fun no-spill design and would fit in any décor and you can use the coupon for it also.

So let’s celebrate with a little chocolate!

I saw these in an ad that came in the mail and I decided to give it a try and see if I could make some on my own. I liked the results and my family loved these!

They are beautiful to look at and oh so yummy and wouldn’t these be a fun little Valentine gift for that special little someone?So does anyone else want to try their hand at making these little beauties?

I used my mini muffin tin and lined it with papers.Melt your chocolate.  I used the Guittard apeels, but you can use any good melting chocolate.  If you have a condiment bottle it works wonders for putting the chocolate into the bottom of the cups.  I just keep the chocolate in this bottle and reuse it over and over.

To melt your chocolate, put it in the microwave for 1 minute on 50% power.  Stir and repeat for 30 seconds at 50% power.  Stir and repeat if necessary.  It is better to go slow and stir the chocolate to melt it and not let the chocolate burn!

Squirt or spoon into the bottom of the cups.Using the back of a spoon spread the chocolate all the way up the side of the cups.  The one thing I learned is that you want the sides to be thick enough that they won’t break when you remove the paper, so be sure to get plenty of chocolate up the sides.Let them cool and set upAfter they have set up, remove the paper.  Don’t they look cute already?Add your washed and dried raspberries.  I could fit 3 in each cup. (I added a little bit of chocolate in the bottom of each cup to hold the raspberries in place)Drizzle with some white chocolateOh so beautiful!  Wouldn’t your Valentine absolutely love you if you made these? :)

These little beauties taste as good as they look with the fresh berries in them!

Even though the strawberries in the stores are not the very best yet, I could not resist  dipping a few to go with the raspberries and they did look so pretty side by side!  

It is a very simple line-up for this recipe.  All you need is tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and olive oil.Here is the recipe that my daughter used.  It is adapted from a California Pizza Kitchen copycat recipe.  So I guess that makes it a copycat of a copycat, or something like that!  :)

Bruschetta

2 lbs tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic (she used the bottled kind, but you can use fresh garlic)

1 tablespoon dried basil (can use fresh, just use a little more-to taste)

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup olive oil

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Cover and refrigerate to let flavors blend until serving time.  Serve with any flat bread or hard bread and enjoy.

Doesn’t this look wonderful.  This would also make a great appetizer for a Valentines dinner with all the red tomatoes!